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Pictures and Illustrations.
VIEW ON LUCAS PLACE. ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
JEWISH SYNAGOGUE BENAIEL. Located on the South-east corner of Sixth and Cerre streets.
OLD SPANISH FORT. (Foot of Greene street.)
SOUTHERN BANK. E. B. KIMBALL, President. JAMES H. BRITTON, Cashier.
MO. STATE MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. STEPHEN M. EDGELL, President. RICHARD S. ELLIOTT, Secretary.
MECHANICS' BANK. J. W. WILLS, President. CHARLES EVERTS, Cashier.
HOME MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. ISAAC L. GARRISON, President. T. L. SALISBURY, Secretary.
MOUND CITY MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. DANIEL R. GARRISON, President. DAVID H. BISHOP, Secretary.
ST. LOUIS. — ENGRAVED FROM A BEAUTIFUL PAINTING, BY PROFESSOR DEVRAUX, OF PHILADELPHIA, TAKEN IN 1854, EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK.
BRADDOCK'S BATTLE-FIELD NEAR PITTSBURGH.
VIEW OF PITSBURGH, PA., IN 1859.
FATHER MARQUETTE INTRODUCING JOLIET TO THE INDIANS.
VIEW OF CINCINNATI FROM MOUNT AUBURN.
VIEW OF THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.
BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF THE CITY OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.
COLONEL JOHN O'FALLON, (p. 77) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
JOHN SAPPINGTON, ESQ., (p. 83) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXEL.
HON. EDWARD BATES, (p. 87) ENGRAVED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK.
HENRY VON PHUL, ESQ., (p. 91) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HON. JOHN. F. DARBY, (p. 95) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
KENNETH MACKENZIE, ESQ., (p. 99) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
SAMUEL GATY, ESQ., (p. 103) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
COLONEL THORNTON GRIMSLEY, (p. 107) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
COLONEL LEWIS V. BOGY,President of the Iron Mountain Railroad Company. (p. 111) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
CAPTAIN JOHN SIMONDS, ESQ., (p. 115) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
GEORGE R. TAYLOR, ESQ.,President of the Pacific Railroad Company. (p. 117) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXEL.
ADOLPHUS MEIER, ESQ., (p. 121) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HONORABLE TRUSTEN POLK, (p. 125) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
BERNARD PRATTE, ESQ., (p. 129) Late Mayor of St. Louis (p. 129) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HENRY D. BACON, ESQ., (p. 133) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
PETER G. CAMDEN, ESQ.,Late Mayor of St. Louis (p. 137) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXEL.
ROBERT M. FUNKHOUSER, ESQ.,President of the Chamber of Commerce (p. 141) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
DR. M. L. LINTON, (p. 145) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HON. JAMES S. GREEN, (p. 147) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HON. LUTHER M. KENNETT, (p. 151) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
SAMUEL B. WIGGINS, ESQ, (p. 155) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXEL.
JOHN HOGAN, ESQ.,Postmaster of St. Louis. (p. 159) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.
Daily Peoples Press. Ladew, McKee, Mitchell, Keemle, Knapp, Paschall.
JAMES H. LUCAS, ESQ., (p. 183) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
ROBERT A. BARNES, ESQ., (p. 189) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
LOUIS A. BENOIST, ESQ., (p. 191) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
COLONEL JOSHUA B. BRANT, (p. 195) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
CAPTAIN JOHN J. ROE, (p. 157) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
GENERAL NATHAN RANNEY, (p. 203) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
THERON BARNUM, ESQ., (p. 207) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY LONG.
REV. S. J. P. ANDERSON, D. D.,Central Presbyterian Church. (p. 211) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
SULLIVAN BLOOD,President of the Boatman's Savings Institution. (p. 213) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
JOHN A. BROWNLEE,President of the Merchants' Bank. (p. 217) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HENRY AMES, ESQ. (p. 221.) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HENRY T. BLOW, ESQ.,President of the Collier White-Lead and Oil Company. (p. 225) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
REV. DR. M. McANALLY, (p. 229) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
GEORGE PARTRIDGE, (p. 231) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
WILLIAM GLASGOW, JR.,President of the Missouri Wine Company. (p. 235) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH (ROMAN CATHOLIC). Corner of 17th and Chestnut Streets. REV. JOHN BANNON, Pastor.
MISSOURI INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE BLIND. Morgan Street, Corner of 20th Street. T. M. POST, President. C. HAYWOOD, Secretary.
TRUSTEES. James E. Yeatman. S. Pollock, M. D. George Partridge, E. F. Pittman, George S. Drake. J. B. CHAPIN, M. D., Principal.
VIEW ON FOURTH STREET, between Washington Avenue and St. Charles.
ST. LOUIS HIGH SCHOOL. Corner of Olive and 15th Streets. CALVIN S. PENNELL, Principal.
FIRST CONGREGATION CHURCH. Corner of 10th and Locust Streets. TRUMAN M. POST, D. D., Pastor.
VIEW ON MAIN STREET. Corner of Locust Street.
CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH (UNITARIAN). Olive Street, corner of 9th Street. REV. WM. G. ELIOT, D. D. Pastor.
CONCORDIA COLLEGE. Carondelet Road, south of the Arsenal. REV. C. T. W. WALTHER, President. PROFESSOR SEIFERT. PROFESSOR SACHSE, Treasurer.
GRAHAM Olive Street, near 3d Street.
BANK OF ST. LOUIS. J. J. ANDERSON, President. D. C. VAN ARMAN, Cashier.
CUSTOM HOUSE AND POST OFFICE. JOHN HOGAN, Postmaster. DANIEL DONOVAN, Collector. ISAAC H. STURGEON, Sub-Treasurer.
UNION PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Corner 11th and Locust Streets. Rev. J. J. PORTER, Pastor.
O'FALLON POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. Corner of Chestnut and 7th Streets.
JOHN HOW, President. GERARD B. ALLEN. Vice-President.
DIRECTORS. C. A. Pope. G. F. Filley. J. B. Eads. R. E. Carr. R. Sellen. N. J. Eaton. S. Treat. Ed. Brooks. James Luthy. D. K. Ferguson. F. Dings. R. M. Parks. C. Todd. S. H. Laflin. Jos. O'Neil. Wm. Patrick. J. J. Reynolds. L. S. Faucett.
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY. Corner of Washington Avenue and 17th Street. WM. G. ELIOT. President. WAYMAN CROW. Vice-President. S. A. RANLETT, Treas. and Sec. SAMUEL TREAT. Cor. Sec.
DIRECTORS. Wm. G. Eliot. John How. Wayman Crow. John M. Krum. Samuel Treat. John O'Fallon. James Smith. S. A. Ranlett. John Cavender. Thos. P. Gantt. Charles A. Pope. P. R. McCreery. Geo. Partridge. Jas. H. Lucas. H. E. Bridge. Henry Hitchcock.
FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SOUTH. Corner of 8th Street and Washington Avenue. REV. ENOCH M. MARIN, Pastor.
STEAMER SUBMARINE, No. 12, Belonging to the Western River Improvement and Wrecking Company of St. Louis. S. H. LAFLIN, President. W. C. BUCHANNAN, Secretary.
DIRECTORS. T. A. Buckland, W. S. Nelson, James B. Eads. Charles K. Dickson. Charles Tillman. S. H. Laflin. J. H. Oglesby.
MISSOURI MEDICAL COLLEGE. JOSEPH N. MCDOWELL, Dean of Faculty.
CHRISTIAN BROTHERS' SCHOOL. BROTHER PARTICK, President.
NEW MASONIC HALL. Corner of Market and 7th Streets.
MERCANTILE LIBRARY HALL BUILDING. 5th Street corner of Locust.
NORMAL SCHOOL. Corner of 17th Street and Christy Avenue.
ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Corner of 17th and Olive Streets. REV. R. E. TERRY, Rector.
OLD HOUSE. South-East corner of 2d and Spruce.
OLD HOUSE. North-West corner of 3d and Plum.
1ST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LUCAS PLACE. Rev. HENRY A. NELSON, Pastor.
VIEW ON LUCAS PLACE. Residence of WILLIAM M. MORRISON, ESQ.
ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY. — 9th Street corner of Washington Avenue. F. COOSEMANS, S. J. President.
CITY UNIVERSITY. Corner of 16th and Pine Streets. HAMILTON R. GAMBLE, President. EDWARD BREDELL, Vice-President. DAVID H. BISHOP, Secretary.
FACULTY. Rev. E. C. Wines, D. D., President. John W. Atcheson, A. M. David B. Tower, A. M. Edward Keller, A. M.
SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Corner of 5th and Walnut Streets. — REV. JAMES H. BROOKE, Pastor.
CHRIST CHURCH. — REV. MONTGOMERY SCHUYLER, Rector.
CENTENARY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. South corner of Pine and 5th Streets.
OLD RUSSELL MANSION. Residence of THOMAS ALLEN, ESQ., Decatur Street.
PETER LINDELL, ESQ. (p. 419) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL DAVID M. FROST. (p. 425) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
M. W. WARNE, ESQ. (p. 429) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
WASHINGTON KING, ESQ.,Late Mayor of St. Louis. (p. 433) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
THOMAS ALLEN, ESQ. (p. 435) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
ISAAC ROSENFELD, JR. (p. 441) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
RICHARD H. COLE. (p. 443) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
WILLIAM G. CLARK, ESQ. (p. 447) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HON. J. R. BARRETT. (p. 451) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
GERARD B. ALLEN, ESQ. (p. 455) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
WILLIAM L. EWING, ESQ. (p. 457) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
LOUIS A. LEBAUME, ESQ.President of the St. Louis Gas Company. (p. 461) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
REV. S. B. MCPHEETERS. (p. 465) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
ISAAC H. STURGEON, ESQ.Assistant United States Treasurer. (p. 469) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
JOHN D. DAGGETT, ESQ. (p. 473) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
REV. TRUMAN MARCELLUS POST. (p. 477) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
WILLIAM T. CHRISTY, ESQ. (p. 479) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
THOMAS A. BUCKLAND, ESQ. (p. 483) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
EDWARD WALSH, ESQ. (p. 487) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
JONATHAN JONES, ESQ. (p. 491) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
F. L. RIDGELY.President of the Board of Underwriters. (p. 495) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
JOHN H. GAY, ESQ. (p. 497) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
ALONZO CHILD. (p. 501) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
DR. CHARLES A. POPE. (p. 505) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
ROBERT BARTH. (p. 509) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
JOHN WITHNELL, ESQ. (p. 511) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
This map is copied from the original map drawn by Colonel AUGUSTE CHOUTEAU, who was at the founding of the city, in 1764, and first surveyed the land. The map was drawn in conformity to an order from the Department, at Washington.
This old map represents the town of St. Louis, nearly as it was laid out in 1764. Its breadth from the Mississippi, to the West, was to the line of Rue de Grange (now Third street), and its length was some few blocks shorter than the map represents. The wall of fortifications was completed in 1780. The letters have the following significance:
A THE TOWER.
B HALF MOONS.
C BASTIONS.
D GATES.
E GOVERNMENT HOUSE.
F THE CHURCH.
G THE MARKET.
H THE LITTLE RIVER.
I PRIVATE TRACTS OF LAND.
The roads leading from the gates were what are now known as Carondelet Avenue (then the well known Vide Poche Road; the Manchester Road; the St. Charles Road, with its branches; and a road which led towards where Bremen now is. What looks like blocks of wood represents fields of cultivation, and the dots show timber. The mark of timber is only given for the purpose of guiding the reader as to the cardinal points. It must be borne in mind that in some of the localities the direction of the streets has been slightly altered, which may account for some apparent discrepancies which may appear to subsist between the map and the main narrative as to the locality of the old fortifications.
The names of the streets that were given at the laying out the town were
MAIN STREET,
CHURCH STREET,
BARN STREET,
NOW
MAIN STREET,
SECOND STREET,
THIRD STREET,
RUNNING NORTH AND SOUTH.
TOWER STREET,
MARKET STREET,
MISSOURI STREET,
KICKAPOO STREET,
NOW ARE
WALNUT STREET,
MARKET STREET,
CHESNUT STREET,
PINE STREET,
RUNNING EAST AND WEST.
MADAME ELIZABETH ORTES. In her 96th year, 92 years a resident of St. Louis. ENGRAVED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL, EXPRESSLY FOR THE "GREAT WEST."
PIERRE CHOUTEAU, ESQ. (p. 531) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A MINIATURE PAINTING.
BARNUM'S CITY HOTEL, OCCUPYING A PORTION OF THE SQUARE ON WHICH THE OLD CHATEAU MANSION FORMERLY STOOD.
THE OLD CHATEAU MANSION. ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM AN OLD DRAWING IN THE POSSESSION OF J. C. BARLOW, ESQ.
JAMES SOULARD, ESQ. (p. 539) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
THE RIGHT REV. CICERO STEPHENS HAWKS, D. D., Bishop of Missouri. (p. 545) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
JOHN McCUNE, ESQ., President of the Pilot Knob Iron Company. (p. 549) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HON. JOHN MARSHALL KRUM. (p. 553) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
HENRY BOERNSTEIN, ESQ., Publisher of the "Auzeiger des Westens." (p. 557) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HON. FRANCIS P. BLAIR, JR. (p. 561) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
ALEXANDER KAYSER, ESQ. (p. 565) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
MAJOR HENRY S. TURNER, Treasurer St. Louis Agricultural & Mechanical Association. (p. 567) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
JOHN J. ANDERSON, ESQ.,President of the Bank of St. Louis. (p. 573) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
B. W. ALEXANDER, ESQ. (p. 577) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY TROXELL.
AARON W. FAGIN, ESQ. (p. 581) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
JOSEPH CHARLESS, ESQ. (p. 585) ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY BROWN.
HON. EDWARD BATES. FROM A PORTRAIT LATELY TAKEN EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK BY TROXELL. — (SEE PAGE 87.)
FIRST GOVERNOR OF MISSOURI. PRESENT GOVERNORE OF MISSOURI. FIRST MAYOR OF ST. LOUIS. PRESENT MAYOR OF ST. LOUIS. GOVERNOR McNAIR'S HOUSE, ST. LOUIS.
COLLINS STREET ENTRANCE TO THE IRON WAREHOUSE OF LYON, SHORB
MISSOURI SPINNING COMPANY. Menard Street, between Geyer Avenue and Emmet Street. LOUIS BOSSE, President. HENRY PRANTE, Vice-President. CHARLES F. BLATTAU, Treasurer. JOHN REUGG, Superintendent. RICHARD BOESEWETTER, Secretary.
MISSOURI STEAM PLANING MILL. 9th Corner of Walnut Street.
LACLEDE MILLS. Corner of Soulard and Decatur Streets. S. G. SEARS, & Co., Proprietors.
ST. LOUIS STARCH FACTORY. Clarke Avenue, between 16th and 17th Streets. ANDREW F. HUMMITSCH, Proprietor.
WASHINGTON FOUNDRY, 2d Corner of Morgan Street. J. T. DOWDALL & Co., Proprietors.
PATENT DRESS OIL WORKS. 2d Corner of Columbia Street. WYMAN, RENICK, & Co., Proprietors.
VIEW ON SECOND STREET. Nos. 106 and 108.
STEAM BAKERY, Corner Franklin Avenue and 17th Street. G. GARNEAU, Proprietor.
VIEW ON WASHINGTON AVENUE. Between Main and Second Street.
UNION BREWERY ON MARKET STREET. Corner of 18th Street. J. WINKELMEYER & SCHIFFER, Proprietors.
VIEW ON BROADWAY — BRANCH OF CROOKES OLD SAW WORKS.
ST. GEORGE MILL. Jackson Street, between Emmet and Lesperance Streets. KALBFLEISCH, LANGE & LEONHARDT, Proprietors.
VIEW ON BROADWAY CORNER OF ASHLEY STREET.
VIEW ON SECOND STREET. Numbers 102
ST. LOUIS STEAM LAUNDRY. Moore Street, between Clark Avenue and Market Street. JOHN K. BRETTALL, Proprietor.
VIEW ON MAIN STREET, NORTH WEST CORNER OF CHESTNUT.
PHOENIX CHAIR FACTORY. Madison Street near Broadway. FATE & Co., Proprietors.
ARCHITECTURAL IRON WORKS. Chestnut Street corner of 10th Street. McMURRAY, WINKELMAIER & Co., Proprietors.
BIRDS EYE VIEW OF THE MISSISSIPPI FOUNDRY. Occupying Block Main, 2d, Morgan and Cherry Streets.
FULTON IRON WORKS. — 2d Street, Corner of Carr Street. GERARD B. ALLEN & Co., Proprietors.
ST. LOUIS PLANING MILL. O'Fallon Street corner of High Street. LADD, PARTICK & Co., Proprietors.
49
Copyright Page.
RICHARD EDWARDS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Missouri.
THE proprietor of this work having been at great expense and some years in collecting and preparing the information contained in this volume, which is entirely original, would respectfully remind all persons that the copyright has been regularly secured.
TO BOOKSELLERS AND DEALERS. — Any persons selling copies of a work which is an infringement of an existing copyright, are liable to a fine on each copy.
PERSONS purchasing copies of a work which is an infringement of a copyright, are reminded that they are liable to prosecution.
50
Dedication.
The Great Metropolis of the West,
THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY THE AUTHORS.
CITIZENS OF ST. LOUIS,
Greeting:
IT is the custom of most nations to have a Patron Saint for the purpose of protection and conciliation, and most hooks have some powerful Maecenas to introduce them to the world under favorable auspices. To you we dedicate this book, and claim you as our Patrons. It is you who have developed the great resources of this Western Metropolis. It is you who have given it its fame, its wealth, and its business. You have given it reputation abroad, and prosperity at home. You have made it also famous for its hospitality, and the pilgrim and the stranger feel conscious when they enter the Mound City, that there are warm hearts and friendly hands to welcome them. St. Louis is still young, though in growth a Titan, and this history has recorded many of your names, as being instrumental in carving out its progressive destiny. There is scarcely a family in it, but in turning over the pages of this book, will see the name of some friend or relative, perhaps now festering in the shroud, who have acted well their parts, and have honorable mention in this record. And since St. Louis has become worthy of a history through the enterprise of her citizens, it is good and proper that "The Great West and her Commercial Metropolis," be dedicated to the Citizens of St. Louis.
53
Preface.
IN commencing this preface, the authors readily yield to the emotions which animate them. They are emotions of gratitude to those who, with a good heart and a desire for the complete success of this work, have imparted most essential information, and have furnished some of the chief materials that are woven in this history.
To Madam Elizabeth Ortes, the only one now living who recollects the founder of St. Louis, Pierre Laclede Liguest, we are under lasting obligations. She is the only living record of the early time of this city, and on every occasion was happy to answer our inquiries, and furnish us, from the ample storehouse of a memory garnering incidents for nearly a century, interesting narratives and anecdotes. To Madame Yament, James G. Soulard, Dr. Robert Simpson, Henry Von Phul, Jean Baptiste Hortez, some of them born in St. Louis, and all of them, with but one exception, past the threescore and ten years allotted to human existence, we likewise tender our thanks, for contributing much that was necessary for our purpose; and to Nathaniel Paschall, Colonel Charles Keemle, Augustus Kerr, and others, whose names are legion, we cheerfully and gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness for invaluable facts.
It is now meet and proper, in giving this work to the public, to state the great difficulties which encompassed the undertaking. We do this, not to crave indulgence for imperfections, but to elicit a just and dispassionate examination with the light of surrounding circumstances. All that was known of the early history of St. Louis, previous to our undertaking, consisted in some few isolated facts and traditionary narratives, which, from time to time, had been published, and, if woven together, would have been meagre indeed — mere disjointed fragments, and not a centime of the material required for an historical fabric. Some of these narratives were also wrong in historical fact, and this coming to our knowledge, made us suspicious of the whole; and it was only after a cautious examination of their authenticity that we adopted any of them as history; and, consequently, the few pioneer marks left by others, have not assisted our search, or subtracted from our labors. It has been over three years since this work was conceived, and for the last eighteen months we have been sedulously and absorbingly employed in collecting the necessary information. All of the French and Spanish archives have been consulted in the original manuscript, for fear of errors creeping in the translated copies;
54
the Livre Terrein,From 1808, the chief events of St. Louis were preserved from the oblivious influences of time by the establishment of a journal, now The Missouri Republican, and to its present proprietors we are under infinite obligations, for cheerfully consigning to our possession its files, that preserved in their columns so much of narrative incident which would otherwise have inevitably perished; and our progress from this date was much easier. However, it was constantly necessary still to advise with those of the inhabitants who lived at the time, and had a perfect knowledge of concurrent events. As the city enlarged, the materials for history constantly increased, and we had to select those portions that were most fraught with interest and utility. It was impossible to embody all, and there may be some who would have been most interested in the rejected portions. For the disappointment of those we cannot justly be accountable, and hope we have alleged a sufficient explanation.
The getting up of a work of this magnitude, and in such style, has been attended with an immense outlay of capital, all of which has been borne and risked, in this enterprise, by one of the authors; nor has state or municipal aid been received or solicited.
We have been compelled to change the design of this work, contemplated at its commencement. Then we intended to embrace in it the business of St. Louis. Had we done so, the history of St. Louis would have been but a meagre sketch, unworthy of the name of history; for we could not have given to it more than one-third of its present space, as it would not do to make a book of this nature too voluminous; and, from the same cause, so as to give a greater latitude to the history of St. Louis, we have omitted the sketch of the Mississippi Valley and the state of Missouri. However, at a near day, in a series of publications, we will embrace what was then omitted; the "Gazetteer of the State" being in incipient progress. Had this volume been larger, it would have been out of taste and unattractive.
55
The biographies, which make a portion of this work, are replete with interest, and serve more fully to illustrate the history of our great metropolis — for they have for their subjects those who have become prominent in their respective spheres of life, and have materially served to develop the elements which have given to the city its business importance and honorable position. We will here give the names of many other prominent persons, whose biographies are not found in this work. They were all written to; some declined, from too fastidious a delicacy, from appearing in the work, while the rest unfortunately did not receive the letters addressed to them, and their miscarriage was not discovered until too late to rectify it. There were also some photographs and biographies received too late for insertion. The names of these gentlemen are as follows, viz.: Hon. Daniel D. Page, Hon. George Maguire, Hon. John M. Wimer, Hon. James G. Barry, Hon. John How, Hudson E. Bridge, Judge Peter Ferguson, Hon. Wayman Crow, Right Rev. Archbishop Kendrick, Rev. Dr. Elliot, James Clemens, Jr., William Renshaw, Sen., Asa Wilgus, William G. Pettus, Colonel Robert Campbell, James Harrison, William M. McPherson, Amadee Vallé, Wilson Primm, Captain J. C. Swon, Daniel Hough, M. J. Swarmger, D. A. January, H. R. Gamble, Dr. J. N. McDowell, David Rankin, Judge R. J. Lackland, Judge Alexander Hamilton, D. R. Garrison, J. T. Dowdall, J. Finney, S. D. Barlow, Gabriel S. Chouteau, Francis Saler, John B. Carson, Dr. J. W. Hall, Rev. E. C. Hutchinson, John G. Priest, Henry Clay Hart, Captain Andrew Harper, Frederick Dings, Dr. Robert Simpson,
In conclusion, we tender our heartfelt thanks to the journals of St. Louis. We thank them cordially for the many encomiums whilst in progress, and as we read their articles so flattering to our prospects, so fraught with predictions of certain success, we felt encouraged and sustained in our labors, and hurried up our lagging Pegasus, that their friendly and liberal promises to the public might, at all events, be measurably fulfilled. They wove the bay wreath for the book before it was finished, and before its merits had been tested. It now goes forth to the world under the happiest auspices, and if it meet with disfavor, it must be because unworthy.
RICHARD EDWARDS.
M. HOPEWELL.
It is but an act of duty and justice for me to say that this work was first commenced over three years ago by Mr. Richard Edwards, and all the pecuniary risk attending it is at his hazard.
M. HOPEWELL.
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Introduction.
IT is necessary to preface the History of St. Louis by a few preliminary remarks, so that the reader may have an intelligent conception of some things which, unexplained, would leave a doubtful impression upon his mind, and perhaps subject the authors to the imputations of neglect or error. The founder of St. Louis has always been known by the name of Laclede, and it is almost universally believed that it was his family name, when his full name was is Pierre Laclede Liguest. This error was a very natural one, as we shall proceed to explain, and it is most probable that all who landed at the contemplated trading post on the 15th of February, with but few exceptions, believed that his surname was Laclede.
At the time that a settlement was made upon the site of St. Louis, nearly the whole of the great Mississippi Valley was a wild, with the exception of the immediate neighborhoods of New Orleans, Natchez, Fort de Chartres, St. Genevieve, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and a few more military posts. From the sparseness of the inhabitants in the villages and even in New Orleans, the capital of the Province of Louisiana, there were no castes in society, and, with the exception of the commandants, and a few royal officers, there was a perfect equality among the others. They were almost all hunters and trappers, those being the leading pursuits at that period, and consequently rough, ignorant, and characterized by a freedom of manner always incident to the Caucasian race, when free from the refining influences of education and society. Hence, in their intercourse with each other, they were known by the first, middle, or last names, as accident
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prompted. The first, or Christian name, was the most frequently used, as it is now among school-boys, and among the pioneers of civilization to this day. Probably some companion of Liguest, who had known him from his infancy under the appellation of Laclede, and accompanied him from France to New Orleans, called him by that name, which became henceforward his title among his new friends and followers.It has been said by some that it was the custom of the French at that early day to transpose their names at pleasure, and, to confirm this declaration, it is asserted that Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, the first commandant of St. Louis, in all his signatures to the grants he made, signed himself St. Ange. This is no support to the evidently erratic idea of such a custom prevailing. De Bellerive was evidently a titled name, and in his signatures he had a right exclusively to retain it, or link it with his first and family name, or even to drop it altogether. His signatures show that he did the latter; he signing himself simply St. Ange, which was his patronymic.
Some of them, having an honorable title appended to their family names, pursued an entirely contrary course. La Salle, whose untitled name was Robert Cavelier, always signed himself La Salle, dropping altogether his patronymic. But there is no instance on record where the titled name and family name are both dropped, and either the first or middle name signed. From conclusive recorded facts, we must henceforth reject the name of Laclede as the family name of the founder of St. Louis, and adopt the proper one of Liguest. We will now proceed to give some of the instruments to which Liguest has affixed his signature. There is a deed No. 9 in the armory of the French and Spanish Archives, in which there is a conveyance of a house and lot by Liguest to Madame Chouteau, for the benefit of her children. The grantor signs himself Laclede Liguest. The deed is dated May 12th, 1768. There are two more deeds among these ancient records, numbering 38 and 39, in which his name is signed in the same manner — one a conveyance to Jacques Noise, alias Labbe, dated December 10th, 1768, and the other, No. 201, a conveyance to Ignace Laroche, dated May 15th, 1768. In the Livre Terrein, Piernas confirms all the cessions of St. Ange de Bellerive, and among the other signatures to the instrument appears that of Lignest. We could give a dozen more instances; in some of which he signs his name Pierre Laclede Liguest. In all of his signatures, he claims Liguest as his family name.
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Part I.
Chapter I.
A CENTURY ago all west of the Alleghany Mountains was a wild, untravelled and unknown by the white man, and the home of the Indian, then enjoying the wild independence incident to his mode of life, and uncontaminated by the vices of civilization.
In the month of July, 1755, a gallant army, under the command of a gallant general fresh from the Albion Isle, was marching through a dreary wilderness, with slow and toilsome progress, being compelled to cut its way through a forest which impeded its advance, and which for ages had formed a secure cover for the panther, the bear, the deer, and the wild sons of the forest, who sought in the chafe these animals for their subsistence.
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The army was commanded by General Braddock, and the object was the reduction of Fort Duquesne, then in the possession of the French, and on the site where the flourishing city of Pittsburgh now stands. How that gallant army was surprised in the narrow defiles of the mountains by a large force of the French and Indians, and their commander mortally wounded, and was buried in the unknown wilds, belongs not to the province of this work to depict. The fact has been merely touched upon to illustrate our design, and to strengthen by an historical allusion our subsequent narrative.
A century and four years have elapsed since that period. The tall forests have been felled; the howling of the wild beasts has long since ceased to be heard; the red men that owned these vast regions have all disappeared, and are only known to the present inhabitants from the pages of history and the wild memorials of uncertain tradition. Crops and gardens, fruits and flowers, thrifty villages and large cities now flourish on the land where then waved a primitive wilderness.
It was many years after the defeat of Braddock; and the country had been ceded by the French to England, and the latter country had also lost her rich provinces in her turn by the war of the Revolution, before Pittsburgh, now one of the most considerable manufacturing towns in the Union, was laid out. In 1784 the town was planned and named. Previous to that time it was Fort Duquesne. It now contains more than 150,000 inhabitants, and is noted for its iron manufactures and the extent of its coal exportations; in this last-named business there are more than five thousand hands employed.
Let us look from the Iron City a little farther west. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri spread over the vast area with their fertile territories; their inhabitants are marked for their enterprise and intelligence; vast cities adorn the shores of the lakes and the margins of the extensive rivers; flourishing villages everywhere dot the prairies; railroads run through every part; and all the rays of refined civilization radiate in every direction through their extensive domains.
Let us go farther back in the track of Time, when the wild buffalo roamed over the vast prairies, and the ploughshare of the white man had not torn the virgin turf. In the year 1673, at the farthest point on the Fox River ever visited by a white man, there were assembled in council the chiefs of the Miamies, the Macoutins, and other neighboring tribes; and among them were two Frenchmen, accompanied by five of their own nation and two Algonquin Indians. The two leaders were Father Marquette, a monk and missionary from France, and M. Joliet, a French trader of daring courage and enterprise. According to the wishes of the Governor of Canada they were then on their way to discover the great Mississippi, whose existence was vaguely known to the Indians in Canada; and from the reports of its magnitude, the whites thought to be identical with the great river discovered many hundred miles farther south, by De Soto, more than a century before; or, it may be, flowing into the Pacific Ocean.
Father Marquette and Joliet had stopped at that point to gather whatever information they could obtain regarding the perilous journey, and also, if possible, to get some assistance.
Father Marquette for many years had been a dweller among the Indians,
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and such was his meekness, his patience and his goodness, that he was more adored than loved by the untutored tribes with which he dwelt. In accordance with the wishes of the representative of his king in America, and to carry into still more remote wilds the name and history of his Redeemer, he undertook, with M. Joliet, the perilous adventure. When the chiefs met in their great council he fearlessly stood among them. "My companion," said he, "is an envoy from France to discover new countries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the gospel." These distant Indians treated them with the most marked respect, but did all they could to deter them from a continuance of their voyage. They told them that the river was filled with strange monsters which would devour them, and that the tribes of Indians that inhabited its banks were cruel and hostile to strangers. Finding all of their dissuasions fruitless, they assisted them to carry their little canoes over the narrow portage which divides the Wisconsin from the Fox River,70
and left them on the banks of the first mentioned river, expecting never to look upon them again.It was the tenth of June, 1673, that they glided down the stream of the Wisconsin, sometimes skirted with prairies stretching far in the distance like a vast sea, until blended with and lost in the horizon; and sometimes the thick forest waved over the margin, bounding and impeding the vision with its thickness. On the seventeenth, they saw the "Father of Waters," and chanted the Me Exaudiat and De Profundis on his eddying current; and in a few days afterward had a conference with the Illinois Indians. It was from this tribe that the flourishing state of Illinois takes its name, and the word is very suggestive — meaning, in the significant language of the Algonquins, "We are men."
It is not our purpose in this part of our narrative to dwell any farther on the voyage of the gentle Marquette, or disclose more of his history; in another portion of this work, when we will thoroughly treat of the Mississippi valley, we will give a full description of the life of this self-sacrificing missionary, and relate, in detail, all the incidents of his perilous undertaking. At present we are merely mentioning these first pioneers of the wilderness in our rapid and general view of the Great West, merely for the purpose of dating the era of the advent of the white man in this important part of our Union.
The next daring spirit who ventured in those unexplored wilds was Robert Cavalier de La Salle, of an illustrious family, formerly of the order of Jesus; but who, becoming moved by the spirit of chivalrous adventure, had forsaken the convent, and by his address had obtained from his sovereign, Louis XIV, of France, the right to discover, subdue and govern, in his name, a country stretching over an immense area, yet in a state of nature, and inhabited only by the Indian. We find him on the Illinois river in the autumn of the year 1679, accompanied by Father Hennepin and the chivalrous De Tonti. At this time the expedition had nearly all perished; and the star of La Salle, which had just arisen on the horizon of fame, had nearly disappeared as soon as seen. Famine and winter both assailed him; discontent, which had almost broken out in open mutiny, prevailed among his followers; and the maladies incident to a new and malarious climate had thinned their numbers and reduced their strength.
Assailed by such a combination of misfortunes, almost any other nature but the iron one of La Salle, had yielded to the force of circumstances, and submitted to what appeared a manifest destiny; but he, self-reliant and persevering, roused the drooping spirits of his followers, and built a fort just above where the flourishing city of Peoria now stands, with its twenty-five thousand inhabitants, and gave it the significant name of CrÄve-Coeur (Broken Heart). His fortunes were sombre at that time, and the name had a poetical allusion.
As we have before said, it is not now intended to give any other than a passing allusion to incidents at this place, and therefore we will not dwell any farther at the present on the explorations and voyages of this illustrious Frenchman. Let it suffice, that he established several French posts or fortifications in the state of Illinois, which formed the nuclei around which the hardy pioneers from Canada could settle with a prospect
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of safety, and commenced the first efforts to reclaim the wilderness, and advance the cause of civilization.Attendant upon these early exhibitions were men burning with a pious zeal, and intent only to light the torch of faith in the wigwams of the savages, who dwelt in the darkness of a heathen creed. The Jesuit missionaries were often a thousand miles in advance of civilization, and, armed only with the crucifix and breviary, visited the most savage tribes, that they might turn them from a mistaken faith; teach them the hopes and blessings revealed in the Apocalypse; and by degrees curb their savage appetites by learning them the gentle amenities of life. Without a shudder, they sought a people who joyed in the gratification of these bloody instincts; fearlessly breathed the poisonous malaria arising from the rivers, ponds and watercourses; and without a murmur or a thought of regret, lived upon roots for their sustenance. They lived a holy life and devoted it to the enlightenment of their benighted brethren; and when they died, a prayer was on their lips, and their joyful spirits, uncorrupted by the impurities of earth, winged their victorious flight to their native skies. We could dwell with interest and admiration on the trials, sufferings and labors of these holy and undefiled men, but in this general sketch it would occupy more space than is consistent with our intention. The names of Fathers Mesnard, Allouez, Marquette, Rasles, Gravier, Marest, and many others, are interwoven with the early history of the Western wilds, and their goodness, rectitude and Christian virtues gleam brightly, when contrasted with the dark selfishness and cruelty which subsequently characterized the conduct of the white men in their intercourse with the savages.
The great states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, were first settled by the French, Ohio by emigrants chiefly from the Eastern and middle states, and Kentucky and Tennessee by natives from Virginia and the Carolinas. It has only been since the Revolutionary war that the Great West of the Union occupied to any extent the public mind, and that her great natural resources became known and partially developed. We will take a transient glance at some of her large cities, and see how many years they have been growing to their present magnitude and importance.
Cincinnati, now containing more than two hundred thousand inhabitants, was founded in 1789. Louisville, in 1788, contained but thirty inhabitants; Milwaukee, in 1834, contained only twenty houses; the first house was erected in St. Louis in 1764; and Chicago, with its 160,000 inhabitants, was laid out in 1830. In the fertile state of Illinois, now with her thousand miles of railroad in operation, and numbering now a million of souls, the population in 1812 was but little more than twelve thousand inhabitants; and all over the great West, the flourishing cities that adorn the banks, and pulsate with all the healthful elements of business prosperity, were but the growth of yesterday. Less than a century ago the elk and the buffalo roamed over the wide prairies, and the red men, in their wild independence, sounded their warwhoop and prayed to their Manitos. The whole country, stretching from the Alleghany to the Mississippi, has filled up in a shorter time than ever regions did before, and now the great West is the granary of the Union, and to it the enterprising of all classes, conditions and avocations, not only from
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our Atlantic cities, but from the European continent, flock in almost incredible numbers, to better their fortunes and increase the population of the favored regions.The number of bushels of wheat, corn, oats, barley and rye, shipped from Chicago the last year, reached the astounding number of 18,032,076 bushels; and the number of surplus hogs, raised in the West at the same period, amounted to 1,818,468 — the value of which would exceed $30,000,000. The number of cattle sent from the rich prairies to the Eastern markets is almost incredible, and the trade in alcohol and whiskey is, unfortunately for the good of mankind, immense — Cincinnati alone distilling half a million of barrels annually.
The mineral resources until recently were comparatively unknown, and even now they are not fully developed. Coal, iron and lead exist in large deposits in almost every state of the West. Rich veins of copper are also found, and California, Oregon, and their contiguous regions, now furnish such annual yields of our most precious metal, that gold, which was formerly carefully garnered in the Eastern cities, and kept for commercial purposes, has almost become the natural currency in every portion of the Union, and has given an increased vitality to every branch of national industry.
A score of years past emigration rarely passed the Eastern bounds of the Mississippi River, but since the annexation of California, so as to promote a direct intercourse between that rich and important country and its sister states, an overland mail route has been established between St. Louis and San Francisco, a distance of 2,795 miles, which will attract attention to that extensive intervening country, and soon its resources will be developed by an enterprising emigration. Railroads are gradually extending toward the setting sun, and the whistles of the ponderous engines, with their rushing trains, will ere long be heard where the waves of the vast Pacific wash our Western borders. When that great connecting link, with its various branches, will have been finished, and not until then, will the wealth and resources of the "Great West" be fully unfolded, and its importance be fully displayed to the world. Even now, as we before observed, it is the granary of the Union, and principally feeds the crowded manufacturing and commercial cities of the East, and supplies the rich cotton and sugar plantations of the South with the stamina of subsistence.
The exports from the United States in the year 1857 amounted to the enormous sum of 338,987,065 dollars — the value of our domestic commerce. Of this the valuation of wheat was $22,240,857; in flour, $25,882,316, and in Indian corn, $5,184,666. This immense aggregate of the three great staples of the West, amounting to more than $53,000,000, that was exported in produce, must have all come from those fertile regions, left of the superabundance, after affording a supply to the East and South.
It is something surprising in the history of the West, that all of the first settlements should have never obtained, at a subsequent day, any respectable size, or business importance. Green Bay, Calokia, Kaskaskia, CrÄve-Coeur, Fort Chartres, and St. Vincent's, (now Vincennes) which were the earliest settlements in the West, have not only been far outstripped by cities of recent birth, but most of them have fallen into a state
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of decline, and some into ruins. CrÄve-Coeur is no more, and Fort de Chartres, which at the time it was built was more than a half mile from the river, is now wholly abandoned, and the rapid current of the Mississippi has changed its course and flows through the old fortifications. We give below in a tabular form the names of the principal cities of the West, with the periods of their being founded by the French, who laid claim to all of the western country, and commenced the early settlements:Detroit was founded in 1700, and now contains 65,000 inhabitants.
Pittsburgh was founded in 1784, and now contains 150,000 inhabitants.
Louisville was founded in 1785, and now contains 75,000 inhabitants.
Cincinnati was founded in 1789, and now contains 220,000 inhabitants.
Milwaukee was founded in 1834, and now contains 50,000 inhabitants.
Chicago was founded in 1830, and now contains 160,000 inhabitants.
In the body of the preceding pages a reference to the Mississippi Valley has been made on several occasions, stating at the time that it was a portion of this history. It was the intention of the author, at the commencement of the book, to let a history of the Mississippi Valley form a portion of it, and it was written with that intention. It has since been withdrawn, owing to the voluminous nature of the work, but will in a short time be published in a separate volume.
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Biographies.
Introduction.
ST. Louis contains a population of one hundred and ninety thousand inhabitants, and is gradually advancing to a most superb destiny. Her magnificent location — the centre of the great Mississippi Valley — and her present importance have become apparent to the world, and now, without a rival to dispute her pre-eminence, she is the acknowledged metropolis of the great western country.
Biographies of those who have become identified with the progress of the great city, who have guided and directed its business currents year by year, swelling with the elements of prosperity, and who have left the impress of their genius and judgment upon the legislative enactments of the state, must be sought after with avidity, and must be fraught with useful instruction. It will be a source of satisfaction to the reader to know that the engravings of individuals who adorn this work are not drawn by the flighty imagination from airy nothingness; but represent the lineaments of men, nearly all of whom are living and breathing at this time, who have achieved lofty positions, are still active an the busy, bustling world, and afford sterling examples of business excellence and moral and social virtues.
In writing the lives of these men, the author has not attempted to swell facts beyond their proper magnitude, for the incidents which make up the biographies are of sufficient importance in themselves to vest them with interest, without the adventitious aid of the imagination.
Colonel John O'Fallon.
The subject of this memoir was born on the 23d of November, 1791, near Louisville, Jefferson county, Kentucky; and is consequently sixty-eight years of age. His father, Dr. James O'Fallon, was an Irish gentleman of education, and lived in Roscommon county, Ireland, and immigrated to this country in the year 1774. He settled in Wilmington, North Carolina, and when his young adopted country, conscious of the justness of her cause, threw down the gage of battle to the most powerful nation on the globe, Dr. O'Fallon took a prominent part in the contest, which, after seven years' struggle, so fortunately accomplished our independence. He raised a troop of a hundred Irishmen in the state of Georgia, and, being appointed the captain, served in that capacity from 1775 to the Battle of Brandy wine, in 1777. His professional services after that period were called into requisition, and so accomplished was he in the art of surgery, that he received the appointment of principal surgeon of the General Hospital of the United States, which important position he occupied until the close of the Revolution in 1783.
While the elements which brewed the tempest of the Revolution were
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actively at work, Dr. O'Fallon, for having expressed his republican principles rather too freely in a little Journal called the Mosquito, was thrown into prison by an English governor, where he remained until rescued by General Ashe with eight hundred militia, and then he turned the tables upon his English excellency, forced him to take refuge in an English vessel in Cape Fear River, and so heartily was he frightened, that he never again ventured upon American soil.After the close of the revolutionary war, Dr. O'Fallon married the youngest sister of General George Rogers Clark, and from that union sprung the subject of this biography. From his youth, the young O'Fallon was remarkable for his popularity among his companions for his judgment, generosity and a predisposition for military glory. At the age of nineteen, in the summer of 1811, he joined General Harrison's army at Vincennes, Indiana, and in the autumn of that year took a prominent part in the memorable battle of Tippecanoe, in which he was severely wounded.
After the battle of Tippecanoe, he received a subaltern's commission in the first regiment of United States infantry, and arrived in St. Louis in January, 1812. In the spring, he received from Governor Howard a captain's commission, and with his company of eighty proceeded with an expedition, commanded by Colonel Whiteside, of Illinois, against some bands of marauding Indians, who were invading with all the horrors of savage warfare the defenceless settlements in the northern part of the state of Illinois. He was then ordered to take charge of some government boats bound for Pittsburgh, which arrived at their place of destination July, 1812, and afterward he proceeded to Louisville for the purpose of equipping himself to join General Harrison, who was in Ohio. He joined General Harrison in October, at Franklinton, opposite Columbus, and was at once appointed to his staff. He had the entire confidence of his distinguished chief, and was with him at the siege of Fort Meigs, May, 1813, and afterward at the assault and capture of a British battery, on which occasion he was highly complimented for his chivalrous behavior by his commanding general. In the autumn of 1813 he was at the memorable battle of the river Thames, still serving as aide-de-camp, and performing the duties of deputy-adjutant general, and remained with General Harrison until that general's resignation in May, 1814. At the close of the war in 1815, Colonel O'Fallon was the commandant of Fort Maiden, in Canada, opposite the mouth of the Detroit River.
In August, 1818, Colonel John O'Fallon resigned his commission in the army, there being no field to invite his military aspirations, and since that time has turned his attention to the more solid business avocations of life, and always resided either in St. Louis or its vicinity. In 1821 he was engaged as contractor of the army, and traded extensively with the Indians. He was elected to the legislature in the same year, and served with honor and usefulness in that body for four years, the last two years being a member of the Senate. Whilst at Jefferson city, he took an active part in the passage of the celebrated Loan Bill.
In 1821, Colonel O'Fallon was married to Miss Stokes, sister of William Stokes, who owned nearly a million dollars of landed estate in St. Louis. He was again married March 15, 1827, to Miss Caroline Sheetz, who came with her parents from the state of Maryland in 1824. By this marriage
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there are five children, at present living, Caroline (now Mrs. Dr. Pope). James J. O'Fallon, married to Miss Nannie Harris, of Kentucky, grand-daughter of the late General Taylor, Benjamin O'Fallon, married to Miss Sallie Carter, daughter of Walker R. Carter, Esq., of St. Louis, Henry A. O'Fallon, and John J. O'Fallon.Perhaps there is no man living as much identified with St. Louis as is Colonel O'Fallon — not on account of his immense wealth, but for the useful purposes which he has made it to subserve the city and adorn it. With a charity unparalleled in its munificence, he has already bestowed more than a million of dollars to advance the cause of education and science, and to relieve the wants of suffering humanity. He gave the ground where St. Louis University now stands, and also the site where the first Methodist church stood on Fourth Street, now occupied by Clarke's buildings. He gave the five acres of land on which the water-works of the city are erected, and endowed the O'Fallon Polytechnic Institute with property valued at $100,000. He gave most liberally to Washington University, and built the Dispensary and Medical College over which Dr. Pope so efficiently presides. He gave fifteen acres of land to the "Home of the Friendless," and his private charities are "legion."
Liberality, so rarely found in the possession of wealth, forms one of the dominant traits of Col. O'Fallon's character; and he once offered to make the city of St. Louis a present of a hundred acres of land, if Peter Lindell, Esq., would do the same; each one of the gifts to be laid out into two magnificent parks; but the condition of the offer was not acceded to.
Colonel O'Fallon was president of the Branch Bank of the United States Bank during its existence in St. Louis, and under his superior and honorable management it was wound up with the loss only of one hundred and twenty-five dollars, while tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands dollars were lost in the various places the branches were located, in consequence of the frauds committed by the unprincipled officers connected with them; and he was also agent for the United States Bank of Pennsylvania from 1836 to 1841.
The possession of unbounded wealth, the high and responsible positions which he has filled in the military, civic and business relations of life, have never generated pride and arrogance in his character, and made him forgetful of his duties to his Creator and his fellow beings. He was the first man who organized a Sabbath-school west of the Mississippi River, and is a regular attendant of the Episcopal church. Unostentatious in his bearing he can be approached by all, and his manner possesses much of that freedom and frankness which lend a charm to conversation, and is characteristic of the early settlement of the West.
When Colonel O'Fallon first saw St. Louis, it was but little more than village of log-houses, containing but a few thousand inhabitants. Its commerce consisted only of the furs and peltries which were brought by the hunter and trader from the Missouri, the Mississippi and the Illinois; and on their waters a few canoes and flatboats were sufficient to carry all of the required trade. Colonel O'Fallon has seen the Mound City through all of its progressive stages of advancement, from his first advent in 1812, to the present time, and has contributed more liberally to all public and private enterprise than any other man now living. He has won the
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respect and love of every class of society, and in 1849, when the great fire threatened to reduce the whole city to ashes, such was his popularity and such his claim on public gratitude, that the firemen, knowing that some property must be destroyed, encircled his, and saved it on many occasions from the devouring element.Colonel O'Fallon has been identified with the great railroad enterprises of Missouri, which like a network will soon thread every portion of the state, and develop its vast resources. At the first meeting of some of the prominent citizens to create a company to form the plan of the Pacific Railroad, Colonel O'Fallon was chosen president, and after a charter was obtained from the assembly of Missouri, he was nominated as a candidate for the presidency, but declined, and at the same time nominated Mr. Thomas Allen, who was duly elected.
Colonel O'Fallon was the first president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, and also of the North Missouri. He was a director of the State Bank of Missouri, and subscribed liberally to the building of the Planters' House, and more recently to the building of the Lindell Hotel, now in the course of erection. He is now in the autumn of his life, and the golden fruits of a clear head and good heart are around him. He has abundance beyond his most sanguine wish, the love and respect of zealous and admiring friends; and thousands of young hearts who are educated by his bounty breathe his name with gratitude.
Colonel O'Fallon has liberally dispensed his charities, and seen and enjoyed the fruits of them while living. His good works live around him, and he can enjoy them; and when the sands of his life are all spent and he will be gathered to his "narrow house," he will be mourned as a public benefactor, and his name will not be forgotten.
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John Sappington.
JOHN SAPPINGTON was born May 28, 1790, in Madison county, Ky. His parents were of a respectable family in the state of Maryland, and his father, after whom he was named, when he became a resident of Kentucky, served in its legislative halls as senator, at the same period that Henry Clay was serving as a member. Mr. Sappington had a large family of eighteen children, and moved to Missouri in 1806.
Young John Sappington was early put to work on the farm of his father, and was regularly brought up to the business of a farmer. When he came to St. Louis with his father, the now great city contained but a few hundred inhabitants, and were made up of such a low mixture of French, Indians, and negroes; of ruffians, robbers, swearers, and swindlers; that the forty families which had come together from Kentucky determined to purchase land some distance from the town, rather than mingle in such rascally society, although they could have purchased most of the land on which St. Louis now stands for one gallon of whiskey per acre.
The place on which Mr. Sappington now resides, consisting of six hundred and forty acres, was purchased at that time for the usual current price, one gallon of whiskey per acre. This was the golden epoch in the history of whiskey. It represented the currency of the time, and was known and esteemed in every domicile.
Young John Sappington was delighted with his new abode. The rich soil had lain fallow probably for hundreds of centuries, and the yield in all kinds of grain was almost fabulous. In 1812 when the military enthusiasm spread abroad in the land, on account of the rupture between this country and Great Britain, he volunteered under Colonel Nathan Boone, son of Daniel Boone, the Kentucky pioneer, and served under Governor Howard; and was the first one of the fifteen hundred horsemen, to plunge into the Mississippi and lead the way across to Illinois, where they were going to join Governor Edwards. John Sappington was held in high estimation by Governor Howard, and he was appointed one of the trusty scouts, who were sent in advance of the army to detect ambush, and apprise of danger.
Mr. Sappington was married January 8, 1815, to Miss Sarah Wells, daughter of John Wells, and has had eleven children. He has lived upon the farm where he now resides since 1806, to which he has added six hundred and forty acres, and so perfected is its condition, and so high its state of cultivation, that he was awarded a diploma, which was given as the premium at the last fair in St. Louis for "The Model Farm." He takes a great interest in all things pertaining to agriculture, and joined with the Hon. J. R. Barrett and others, in organizing the Agricultural and Mechanical Association, which is now so well-known throughout the Union. He has also served in the legislative council of Missouri for three periods, and was always popular with his constituents. He is still hale and vigorous, and early hardships appear not to have affected his iron constitution.
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Hon. Edward Bates.
THIS distinguished Jurist was born, September 4th, 1793, in Goochland county, Virginia. His ancestors were of English origin, and can be traced back even previously to their arrival in this country, in 1625, at the colony of Jamestown. They were of the denomination called the Quakers, and strictly lived up to the tenets of their church. In common with the early settlers of that clay, they doubtless had to endure the hardships incident to that early period, when the ambition of the pioneer extended no farther than to rear a little log cabin, to feed his family on the products of the chase, raise the maize of the country, and protect them from the scalp-knife of the Indian. It belongs not to the province of this work to follow the ancestors of Edward Bates through the trying and romantic variety of their chequered existence, when the state of Virginia was a wild, and the white men were so inferior in number to the sons of the forest.
T. F. Bates, the father of Edward Bates, though reared in the strict creed of the society of Friends, when the war-cry of the Revolution rung through the infant colonies, joined in the cry of resistance, and with all the ardor of the patriot seized his gun to defend his country's rights. It was then that he was excommunicated by the society of Friends, whose peace doctrines he had violated, and from that day he was no more a Quaker, and his family was reared out of the pale of that church.
Edward Bates, the subject of this memoir, was the seventh son of his parents, who had a large family of twelve children. He was sent early to school, but was often suffered to leave at interims, and from this irregularity, his attendance was almost wholly profitless. Fortunately for him, his father possessed a considerable amount of useful knowledge; and Edward Bates garnered much from the frequent conversations he had with his father, who always directed his mind to useful subjects. He had also the advantage of instruction for two years, from his kinsman, Benjamin Bates, of Hanover, Va., who was an able instructor, an accomplished scholar, and a pure and exemplary Christian. After leaving the instruction of his relation he was sent to the Charlotte Hall Academy, where he went through a regular academic course, and then his education was completed.
On leaving school Edward Bates, in selecting a pursuit to follow for a livelihood, was strongly predisposed to join the navy, but yielding to the entreaties of his mother, declined a midshipman's warrant, which had been procured in accordance with his wishes. However, to gratify a spirit for military glory, during the last war with Great Britain, he served six months in the army, at Norfolk, Va., as a volunteer in a militia regiment.
On reaching the age of twenty, Edward Bates removed to St. Louis under the auspices of his elder brother, who was then secretary of the territory, and who afterward became Governor of Missouri. He studied law under Rufus Easton, then eminent at the bar, and who afterward
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represented a portion of the state in the national Congress. After being admitted to the bar in 1816, he used all his industry, for which he is now remarkable, to qualify himself thoroughly in his profession. In 1819 he was appointed Circuit Attorney, which he held until 1820, when the state of Missouri was formed.Edward Bates, by his talents, business abilities, and integrity of character, early won the confidence of the people of Missouri, and was elected a representative to the State Convention, which formed the Constitution in 1820, and the same year was appointed Attorney-General of the state.
From the popularity of Edward Bates he was, contrary to his wishes, nominated as a candidate for the legislature, and was elected several times as member to that honorable body, serving in both houses as a leader of the old whig party, to which he belonged. He was never a virulent factionist, and was popular even in the opposite faction, whose opinions he respected; and if he could not win them as proselytes, he conciliated their regard by his gentleness and respectful conduct.
In 1823 he was joined in wedlock to Miss Julia D. Carlton, and has had a large family of seventeen children, eight of whom still survive.
In 1824 he was appointed by President Monroe as United States Attorney for the Missouri district, which office he held until he was elected member of the Twentieth Congress in 1826.
In 1828 he was again a candidate for Congress, but the auspicious star of General Jackson had risen upon the political horizon, and all the great lights of the whig party grew "beautifully less." Edward Bates was defeated, and from that day to the present has never meddled in the turbulent current of politics; since that time he has earnestly been engaged in the arduous duties of his profession, excepting the three years he served as Judge in the St. Louis Land Court. As a member of the St. Louis bar, by the consent even of his professional brethren, he "stands proudly eminent," and the emolument arising from his practice is most considerable. He is profound as a lawyer, and as a speaker before court and jury, tries to convince the judgment, and never attempts sophistry to delude, nor adorns his argument with the weak and transient beauties of a prolific imagination.
At the time that the convention for internal improvement was held at Chicago, Judge Bates was called to the chair. In 1850 he was solicited by President Fillmore, to become a member of his cabinet, and was offered the honorable appointment of Secretary of War, but he declined acceptance.
Judge Bates is sixty-five years of age, and now with his mind matured by experience, with an influence second to no one in the Union, and with a character that is spotless, he is looked upon as a fitting candidate of the American people for the next presidency. We have only to say, that his name would add lustre to any party, and the highest gift in the power of the people in this great republic, would be nothing more than a fitting tribute to his excellence
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Henry Von Phul.
HENRY VON PHUL, the senior partner of the well-known firm Von Phul, Waters and Co., is the oldest merchant now living in the city of St. Louis. He is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was born in that city August 14th, 1784. His father was a plain and respectable man, and his mother, whose maiden name was Graff, was the daughter of a well known merchant in the city of Lancaster, a town in Pennsylvania, composed at that time almost entirely of a German population.
All the advantages of education which Henry Von Phul enjoyed, he received from the common schools in the city of his nativity. At the early age of seventeen, he emigrated to Lexington, Kentucky, at that time a small village, and engaged as a clerk in a store (J. Jordon's), which in a country place always embraces in itself the different branches of grocery, drug shop, and dry goods business, and is not devoted to any particular subdivision.
During his residence in Lexington, Mr. Von Phul, by his business habits and integrity, won completely the confidence of his employer (Mr. Thomas Hart, jr., who was brother-in-law to Henry Clay, and after whose father the late Thomas H. Benton was named), and was sent South on a general trading tour. He visited the city of Natchez, and went a considerable distance up the Red River, bartering with the planters and Indians who dwelt upon its margin. There was no steam at this time, and Mr. Von Phul navigated the rivers in a keelboat, pushing it up the swift current with a long pole.
In this place he remained for ten years, and finding that Lexington was not advancing in population and business as rapidly as he wished, he started for St. Louis in 1811, having heard it favorably spoken of as a place of trade, and feeling confident, from the natural position which it occupied, that it must in time become a place of importance.
On the advent of Henry Von Phul in the city of St. Louis, it was a small town made up of log-houses and other inferior buildings, and containing some fifteen hundred inhabitants; almost all of whom were French, and principally devoted themselves to the trade of lead and peltries. All of the country west of St. Louis, and over the Illinois side of the Mississippi was in its primitive wild state and unreclaimed by the settler. Marauding Indians roamed over every part of the country, and murdered and mangled many a bold pioneer who had rashly advanced too far into the wilds from the assistance of his countrymen.
Less than a year after the arrival of Mr. Von Phul in St. Louis, there was a rumor that the settlers on the Missouri were attacked by the Indians, and immediately a large body of volunteers, commanded by Nat. Boone, son of the Kentucky pioneer Daniel Boone, hastened to their relief; among the number who enlisted was Henry Von Phul, then in the prime of his life, being twenty-eight years of age. He was always of a fearless disposition, and during the war of 1812, he made several trips on horseback between St. Louis and Louisville, and what was most remarkable, though the Indians were very troublesome at that time, and shuddering
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details of tragical scenes in which they were actors, were daily bruited through the country, he never saw a single Indian in his solitary pilgrimage.In 1816, Henry Von Phul married Miss Saugrain, the daughter of Dr. Antoine F. Saugrain, and of this marriage have been born fifteen children; of which ten still survive, six sons and four daughters. He commenced his business career in a little store situated in Main-street, north block No. 8, and kept for sale dry goods in all their varieties, and also all the numerous other articles required in domestic life, and which country stores usually supply.
In 1831, Mr. Von Phul removed to the corner of Olive and Front streets, where he was largely engaged in the general commission business and steamboat agency. In some of the fine steamboats which float upon the Mississippi he has owned a large portion, and was one of the few now living who saw the arrival of the General Pike, the first steamboat that landed in St. Louis; this was in 1817. Steamboats at an early day were the speediest channels of communication, and were the making of the Western country and Western commerce; and soon Mr. Von Phul invested largely in those natural vehicles of commerce on the Western waters.
Always directing his conduct by principles based upon the soundest morality, Mr. Von Phul has deserved and gained the confidence of all classes of citizens, and has filled several important positions connected with the municipal government and welfare of St. Louis. He acted as one of the Board of City Commissioners for several years; he was an efficient officer of the School Board; he was connected with the Chamber of Commerce; was president of the Union Insurance Company; is a director in the Iron Mountain Railroad, and has in some manner been connected with most of our public and private institutions, both civil and charitable. He has already passed the age usually allotted to man, and in the course of an active life has been brought in connection with many men and many transactions. There is not a word of reproach against his character, nothing to sully his fair fame — nothing to dim the lustre of his life, now so near its setting. Among the merchants he is looked upon as a patriarch, being the oldest one now living in St. Louis, and his name has become a household word in the Great Metropolis, and invested with the attraction of all the moral attributes. In his sear of life hosts of friends are around him, and when his spirit will calmly and hopefully glide from earth, his honored name will not be forgotten.
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Hon. John Fletcher Darby.
JOHN FLETCHER DARBY was born December 10th, 1803, in Person county, North Carolina. His father, John Darby, was a respectable planter, who removed to Missouri in 1818, and settled in the western part of St. Louis county, then inhabited only by the pioneers of the country, and requiring much labor to bring the land into a proper state of cultivation.
Young John F. Darby was early sent to school by his father, and had at first all the advantages that the log school-house could give him, and being ambitious of mental culture, he devoted all of his leisure moments to the improvement of his mind. His father reared him in the habits of industry, and he was accustomed, in busy seasons, to assist in the farming operations, but so anxious was her to store his mind with knowledge, that he first commenced to study the Latin grammar while he was engaged in ploughing; using the time in turning his horse to catch a hasty glance at his book. At Colonel Post's there was a young tutor, who, seeing the untiring devotion of the young man to the improvement of his mind, though surrounded with difficulties, took much pleasure in assisting him to master the Latin language, and in a little time young Darby was conversant with many of the Latin authors, and highly relished the beauties of Horace, Virgil, and other Latin poets.
In 1823, when young Darby had attained the age of twenty, he lost both of his parents; but he did not relax his efforts, and continued his habits of industry. He then paid a visit to his grand-parents in North Carolina, and receiving some pecuniary assistance, he determined to complete his education, and placed himself under William Bingham, of Orange county, one of the most accomplished scholars in the South. He then, in 1825, applied for an appointment in the military academy at West Point, but for the want of influential friends, he was not successful. This disappointment served to incline his mind toward the law, and disposing of his small patrimony, he commenced the study of the legal profession at Frankfort, Kentucky. His money, however, becoming exhausted before his profession was mastered, he applied to Mr. Swigert, clerk of the Supreme Court of Kentucky, who, taking an interest in his welfare, gave him some copying to do, from the proceeds of which he could live, and also prosecute his studies. He, in a short time, received license to practise from the Supreme Court of Kentucky.
Mr. Darby then returned to Missouri, and to familiarize himself with the office routine of his profession, remained for some months as a student under Judge Gamble, until he was admitted to the bar in St. Louis, in 1827. Filled with an honorable emulation, with a fair field before him, it was not long before he became known as a rising man in his profession, and crowds of clients soon began to throng his office. He became a favorite with the people, was a popular stump orator, and in 1835, a year replete for him with honor and happiness, he was elected mayor of the city, and was married to a daughter of Captain Wilkinson.
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Mr. Darby, when he became mayor, took no sinecure. It was almost equal to clearing out the Augean stables, to get the city under a proper police system, and under the healthful jurisdiction of municipal authority. He established the Mayor's Court, where his summary manner of dealing out justice soon cleared the city of the gamblers, vagabonds, and other worthless characters which infested it, and in a few months after he commenced his official duties, an efficient police was established, salutary laws were enforced, and every thing bore the aspect which indicated that an efficient officer was at the head of the municipal government.
Whilst mayor, Mr. Darby got an act passed for the sale of the Commons, with the consent of the inhabitants who had a right to vote on that occasion; and finding that the city was paying ten per cent, interest on its liabilities, he borrowed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, at six per cent., which much relieved its financial embarrassments. He was untiring during his administration, in advocating all measures that would redound to the advantage and beauty of the city. In his message he advocated the purchase of public squares, as parks and parade-grounds; and through his influence Washington Square was purchased from Mr. T. H. Smith for thirty-five thousand dollars. This beautiful square was for a long time called Darby's Big Gulley, because the short-sighted could not see how a piece of land consisting of a multitude of gutters could be converted into a handsome park. He also in his proclamation, in 1830, urged the necessity of sending memorials to Congress, to induce that body to authorize, as quickly as possible, the completion of the great national road, and that its route should be through St. Louis. This was the time when a national road was the hobby of Congress.
In 1838 and '39, Mr. Darby, whilst a member of the Senate of Missouri, introduced a bill for the charter of the Iron Mountain Railroad. This failed, in despite of all his efforts to the contrary, owing to the fact that the state of Illinois, at that time, stood on the verge of bankruptcy, owing to her railroad mania. In 1850, he was elected to Congress, and whilst there had many measures carried, of great importance to the city. By diplomatic tactics he secured for the custom-house and post-office an appropriation of $115,000; was mainly instrumental in getting the grant of land to the Pacific Railroad Company, and the Hannibal and St. Joseph's Railroad; and also the consent of the general government to the right of way for the Iron Mountain Railroad through the grounds of the Marine Hospital, the arsenal, etc. Unfortunately, while he was serving so well his constituents, he received an injury on a boat, from the effects of which he will never wholly recover.
The incidents of Mr. Darby's life would be sufficient to fill a volume, but the limits of this work forbid us dwelling any longer upon them.
Mr. Darby is now in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and the senior partner of the well-known banking-house of Darby & Poulterer. He has been a stirring, practical man, both in his public and private life, and his good constitution being still vigorous and unenfeebled, and his fine intellect ripened by experience, he would do honor to any official function in the gift of his country. He has done much, and all honorably; and now, dwelling in the affluence and honor gained by his industry and talents, he can look upon the past unsullied career of his chequered life with conscious pride and satisfaction.
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Kenneth Mackenzie.
ALEXANDER and ISABELLA MACKENZIE, the parents of Kenneth MacKenzie, resided in Rossshire, Scotland, where their son, the subject of this memoir, was born, April 15, 1797. He enjoyed good educational advantages in his early youth, being for some time under the instruction of a parson who was a friend of the family, an exemplary Christian, and a profound scholar.
Being desirous of seeing the world beyond the sea-girt isle of Britain, in 1818 Kenneth MacKenzie was about to start for the West Indies, but being opposed by the counsel of his friends, abandoned the project. He then received a cordial invitation from a wealthy uncle, Sir Alexander MacKenzie, who owned immense tracts of land in Canada, to emigrate to North America, and there to commence business, as the field to wealth and position was less occupied than in the country of his nativity.
This invitation of his uncle was hailed with rapture by Kenneth MacKenzie, and operated like electricity upon his sanguine temperament. America was the subject of his day thoughts, and he dreamed at night of the distant regions. He determined upon visiting the land which a prophetic feeling told him was to be his future home; and determined to gain the consent of his parents, whom he tenderly loved. He was then placed in one of those dilemmas so frequently experienced by youth, a sense of duty or a gratification of a controlling desire. Affection, duty, instinct, all prompted him to gain the consent of his parents and ask their parting blessing; but he dreaded their refusal, and the hopes of the future had been so long connected with the transatlantic country, that he clandestinely started from home, with a heart almost bursting for his filial disobedience, and took shipping from Glasgow to Quebec.
A little while after his arrival in Canada, Mr. MacKenzie connected himself with the British North-West Company, and in their service gained the first lessons in the fur trade, which he carried on so extensively a few years afterward. He remained in the employment of the company for four years, and after well becoming initiated in all the mysteries of that lucrative business, he determined on removing to St. Louis, and engaging in the same pursuit, where he could extend his trading operations with the Indians from the Mississippi to the Pacific.
In 1822, Mr. Mackenzie having wound up his business in Canada, started for St. Louis, where he established a company, known as the Columbia Fur Company. This company did a very lucrative trade, and Mr. MacKenzie became known to all the different tribes of Indians who inhabited the banks of the Missouri, from its mouth to the Rocky Mountains. He possessed singular control over those savage tribes, and often soothed their discontent, and prevented them from assailing government agents for the wrongs and the frauds they often committed. They looked upon him as their friend and readily submitted to his counsel.
In 1827, the Columbia Fur Company was merged into the American Fur Company, of which the late well known John Jacob Astor was at the head, and much of that princely wealth, which has made his name famous
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over the globe, was garnered at that time in the trade with the Indians. Pierre Chouteau, whose name is so intimately blended with St. Louis, was also connected with the company.At this period the labors of Mr. MacKenzie were Herculean. He travelled more than twenty-five times across the plains, and one summer alone performed the distance of more than three thousand miles on horseback, through a country where the Indian roamed, and where the axe of the pioneer had not then been heard. The open prairies were his bed and resting place, and a piece of dried buffalo meat satisfied his appetite. With this company he remained connected until its dissolution in 1834. He then joined the western branch of the company, of which there are living besides himself Mr. Pierre Chouteau, and Mr. Ramsay Crooke of New York.
In June 26, 1842, Mr. MacKenzie became united in wedlock to Miss Mary Marshall, the accomplished daughter of Colonel Marshall, of Tennessee. In 1826 and 1836 he visited Europe, for the purpose of gathering information relative to the process of manufacturing wine, and visited the most celebrated vintages of that country. He is now the efficient agent for the Missouri Wine Company, and his experience renders him most suitable to that position.
The life of Mr. MacKenzie has been an eventful one, and most of the large fortune ho possesses has been gathered amid toil, fatigue and danger. His mind is stored with interesting anecdotes, which lend a still greater interest to his natural social qualities. He probably knows better than any man living the early history of the settlements on the Missouri.
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Samuel Gaty.
A MAN, who, from an humble position and by his own efforts, has risen to affluence and social position, and through all the events of a chequered life, has preserved his integrity unimpeached, well deserves the pen of the historian, and to be held up a model to posterity.
Samuel Gaty was the youngest of nine children, and born of poor parents, August 10th, 1811, in Jefferson county, Kentucky. In his youth, at a very early age, he received eight months of schooling, and directly he reached the age of ten years he was put to earn his bread, by serving an apprenticeship to a machinist in Louisville; his father, who was a cooper, being anxious that he should be put in the way of doing for himself. Some time after entering upon his duties as machinist, the employer of young Gaty died, and he was thrown upon the world to shift for himself; but he resolved, as young as he was, to adhere to the golden maxim of "sticking to one thing," and, finding another competent machinist in the person of Mr. Keffer, he completed his time, and fully learned all of the details of his avocation.
He then commenced business in New Albany, where he worked a short time, and in the autumn of 1828, he came to St. Louis with two companions, Morton and Richards. Their capital was too small to remain long idle, and they commenced the foundry business together on the little sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, which Samuel Gaty had saved in New Albany. This firm soon dissolved, and Mr. Gaty went to daily work with Mr. Newell at the low figure of one dollar and twenty-five cents. For many long days, he worked for this small sum, and in 1829, he again visited Louisville, but, not seeing any brighter prospects, after a short sojourn, he returned to St. Louis, and went into business with Mr. Newell, but the concern did not prosper, and they were compelled to wind up their affairs.
Samuel Gaty, always self-reliant and confident of success, purchased the stock of tools for twenty-five hundred dollars, for which he gave his notes, which were punctually paid at maturity, with the exception of one, which lay over one day before it was taken up. Mr. Gaty is now a wealthy citizen, and through all the extensive transactions through which he has amassed his fortune, he has never had another note that was protested. The very place that Mr. Gaty commenced business, he does his business now; but the aspect of the concern is quite different. The little, small shop is replaced by a building of extensive dimensions, and the amount of the business reaches many hundred thousands of dollars annually. Many changes have been made in the name of the firm; but Samuel Gaty has always continued a member, and was the originator of the concern, which is now being conducted on the most gigantic scale.
In March, 1843, Mr. Gaty was joined in wedlock to Miss Eliza Jane Burbridge, daughter of Benjamin Burbridge, Esq., of Louisiana, Pike county, Missouri, and they have a large family of children, six of whom are now living. It is a boast of Mr. Gaty's that the large fortune which
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he has amassed, has been made legitimately in the business which he chose at his setting out in life, and he has never strayed into other channels. He has never speculated in real estate or any other property; never played broker by shaving notes and taking advantage of the pecuniary distress of others; but has attended exclusively to one pursuit, and to it alone is indebted for the handsome fortune he has amassed. His motto in life was, "to excel in all he undertook," and his success in life shows how well he has lived up to the maxim which he set before him as a guide.Mr. Gaty has been ever averse to the turbulent currents incident to political life, and has ever kept from being drawn into the disturbing excitement; but feeling an interest in all that affected the welfare of St. Louis, he consented to become a candidate for the City Council, and was elected a member of that body in 1839, and served four years with much advantage to the city and credit to his constituents. He has always been a stanch friend of railroads and all other internal improvements that would develop the resources of the country, and add to its wealth and grandeur. He has been liberal in subscription of stock, and is at present a director both in the Pacific and the Ohio and Mississippi railroads. When in the city council he was active in every measure that would contribute to the growth and welfare of St. Louis. He took a prominent part in locating the avenues; advocated the necessity of a work-house; and used all of his influence and exertion in causing the erection of the water-works, which now supply the city so plentifully with the healthful element.
A history of Mr. Gaty's life is useful for its practical instruction. He has amassed a fortune that would content the extravagant requirements of royalty; yet he has never risked a dollar in the precarious investment of speculation, but day by day added to his little commencement, and, attending wholly to the one business, has become honored for his integrity and known as one of the princely manufacturers of St. Louis.
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Colonel Thornton Grimsley.
COLONEL THORNTON GRIMSLEY was born on the 20th of August, 1798, in Bourbon county, Kentucky. His father, Nimrod Grimsley, was a resident of Fauquier county, Virginia, and having a large family removed to Kentucky at an early day, and helped to make up the number of that enterprising population who immigrated to what was considered the richest soil in America. His father and mother did not long live in the new homes which they had chosen, but died during the years 1805 and 1806, leaving a helpless family of eight children.
The subject of this memoir, by the dissolution of his parents, was left an orphan at seven years of age, and three years after losing his parents he was apprenticed to the saddlery business. He served his master faithfully for eleven years, and the only compensation which he received was three months of schooling; yet, by his diligent application to business, and a mind naturally of a superior order, he soon won the respect and confidence of his master, and in 1816 he was sent to St. Louis in charge of a valuable assortment of goods, at which place he completed his term of indenture; and on reaching twenty-one years of age, the first act he performed in his independent manhood, was to return to Kentucky and attend school for six months, from the proceeds of extra work which he had performed during the term of his apprenticeship.
After having exhausted his slender resources, in obedience to the invitation of his old master, Thornton Grimsley returned to St. Louis, and took charge of his business for about fourteen months, and then, feeling that he could succeed better untrammelled by the dictates of a superior, in 1822 he placed his name upon a sign-board, and boldly commenced his fortune.
St. Louis at that time was young in years and weak in business resources; and the gross amount done by the three little saddle and harness shops it contained, did not exceed twelve or fifteen thousand dollars per annum.
Thornton Grimsley had to encounter all of the obstacles incident to the lot of an aspiring young man commencing business on a small capital, and, joined with his pecuniary difficulties, his health for five years was in a precarious condition.
On commencing business for himself he married Miss Susan Stark, of Bourbon county, Kentucky, who was sister of the wife of the master under whom he learned his trade. Not long after commencing his business, and just as he was beginning to gather the fruits to which his industry entitled him, a fire destroyed the property which he had accumulated during three years of toil, and left him "poor indeed." When this misfortune occurred he was in ill health, but did not waste a moment in idle regrets, and set about immediately in repairing what accident had deprived him of, and in a little time he was again advancing in a prosperous career.
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From the frankness of his disposition and natural goodness of heart, Thornton Grimsley had always made himself hosts of friends, and in 1826 was elected an alderman, and introduced into that body the subject of grading the wharf in front of the city, and strongly advocated that the western edge should be raised three feet higher than its present grade. Had his proposition been acceded to, Front-street would not be inundated at every high flood of the river, and its property would be much more valuable.
In 1828 Colonel Grimsley was called to the legislature of the state, where he was a useful and efficient member. He used his efforts to have completed the national road to Jefferson City, and advocated other important measures. In 1835 he was again elected alderman, and did much for settling satisfactorily the important claim of the St. Louis Commons. From this tract was selected Lafayette Park, and the spacious avenues about it. From the liberal dimensions of this park, some of the shortsighted citizens, in derision, called it Grimsley's folly — now it is one of the chief ornaments of our large and growing city.
So useful was Colonel Grimsley in his political life, that in 1838 he was sent to the State Senate, and lent all of his influence for the passage of the bill for the construction of the Iron Mountain Railroad, and also for the establishment of a workhouse.
Though Colonel Grimsley was so liberally rewarded with civic honors he was not unmindful of military glory. He has filled all of the stations, from an orderly to division inspector; in 1832 he raised a volunteer company and tendered their services to the Governor of Illinois during the Black Hawk war, and in 1836 received from General Jackson a captain's commission in the dragoons of the United States army. He declined this honor as it was in time of peace, and wisely stuck to his business pursuits. He has now been engaged thirty-seven years in his only pursuit, and does now a business of three hundred thousand dollars per annum.
In 1846, in less than twenty days he enrolled a regiment of eight hundred men for the Mexican war, but being politically opposed to the Governor of Missouri, he was refused a commission and another appointed in his stead.
Colonel Grimsley has been the father of ten children, four of whom are now living and happily and prosperously settled in life. He has now amassed a competent fortune, and in the autumn of life is enjoying the fruits with which industry ever rewards the managing and persevering.
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Colonel Lewis V. Bogy.
COLONEL Louis V. BOGY is emphatically a Western man. His father, Joseph Bogy, who was of Scotch descent, was a native of Kaskaskia, Illinois; and his mother's family, of the name of Vital, were among the earliest settlers in Missouri; the mother, Mary Vital, is still living at an advanced age. Joseph Bogy filled the responsible position of private secretary to Governor Morales, while the states of Louisiana and Missouri were under the Spanish domination; when Missouri became a territory, he became a member of the territorial council; when she was received into the national confederacy, he was elected to the legislature; and for many years he was cashier of the old Bank of Missouri at St. Genevieve. He had a family of seven children, of whom Lewis V. Bogy, the subject of this memoir, was the fourth.
Lewis V. Bogy was born April 9th, 1813, in St. Genevieve county, Missouri, and learned the rudiments of the English language under a Swiss instructor, who kept the little school of the place. Much of his time was spent in working on the farm, until he was attacked by a malady which rendered him unfit to work for two years. While he was powerless and suffering from a "white swelling," he carefully cultivated his mind, and read all of the books he could obtain; by this means he garnered a variety of desultory information, and contracted a passion for information which probably influenced his after destiny. In 1830, he took the situation of clerk in a store at a salary of $200 per annum, half of which he had, according to contract, to take out in trade. However, by the frugality of his habits, he managed to purchase some books from his income, and read by snatches of time some of the elementary books of law, and also resolutely undertook the study of the Latin language under the guidance of Father Condamine, a Catholic priest and accomplished scholar. In January, 1832, he went from St. Genevieve to Kaskaskia, and read law in the office of Judge Pope, till May of that year. He volunteered for the Black Hawk war, was engaged in two desperate battles with the Indians, and was present at the taking of Black Hawk.
After the conclusion of the Indian campaign, Lewis V. Bogy returned to Kaskaskia, where he continued reading law till 1833, when he determined to go a short time to the distinguished University of Transylvania at Lexington, Kentucky, where the facility of getting books was so much greater than at Kaskaskia, He received a flattering letter of introduction from Judge Pope to Judge Mays at Lexington, and commenced reading under that eminent jurist. In the spring of 1834, he commenced teaching a country school, so as to liquidate the debt he contracted with Judge Mays, while studying in the winter, and also to gather resources to complete his course. With a will that never yields to opposing obstacles, he did complete his course, and returned to Missouri in the spring of 1835, settled in the city of St. Louis, and commenced the practice of his profession. From the very first Colonel Bogy was successful as a
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lawyer, and the first offering which he received from his clients he sent to Judge Mays, to discharge a debt due for instruction, and also interest on the amount. The worthy judge, however, returned the interest with a complimentary letter.Colonel Bogy, by the popularity of his manners, and by the rare success which crowned his efforts, soon acquired an extensive and lucrative practice, and was nominated for the legislature and elected, in 1840. He also served in that respectable body in 1854-5, and made an effective speech on the passage of the railroad law, which Governor Price vetoed, but which was passed by the house over the veto. In 1847, he purchased an interest in Pilot Knob, the most distinguished iron deposit in Missouri, but owing to its great distance, forty-seven miles from the Mississippi, many owning shares in the corporation became discouraged, and disposed of their interest, which Colonel Bogy immediately bought up, having faith in the ultimate value of the country. The Iron Mountain Railroad, in which the Pilot Knob Iron Company invested $50,000 in stock, has now reached Pilot Knob, and the works are now carried on in full operation, and the business is of a most profitable nature. Colonel Bogy now owns one half of the stock of the company, and was its president for nine years.
Pilot Knob, the present terminus of the Iron Mountain Railroad, is one of the most romantic spots in the world. The village is situated at the base of the mountain, and lands which a few years ago could scarcely be given away, now are in great demand, and day by day are increasing in value. The Pilot Knob Company, over which Colonel Bogy so long presided, have made the beautiful little village, which is now so rapidly growing into importance.
For many years Colonel Bogy has retired from the legal profession, and devoted himself to developing the resources of that portion of the iron country in which he is so largely interested. He married a daughter of General Bernard Pratt, and has filled with honor the most important positions. He was first President of the Exchange Bank of this city; has been a Commissioner of Public Schools, and taken an active part in promoting their welfare; and in 1852, was the chosen candidate of the democratic party, and took the field against the late Honorable Thomas H. Benton, and is now the President of the Iron Mountain Railroad.
Colonel Bogy is a child of Missouri, and has been nursed amidst her institutions. He has, through a long course of successful life, shown himself worthy of all honor, and, still in the meridian of his existence, the state in which he first drew his breath can hope all things from his talents, patriotism, and integrity.
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John Simonds.
JOHN SIMONDS was born March 13th, 1800, in Windsor county, Vermont. His parentage was respectable, and his father could boast of being descended from the Huguenots of France, and his mother could claim as a progenitor one of the self-exiled bands of Pilgrims who landed in 1620 on the rocky promontory of Plymouth. John Simonds, the father of the subject of this memoir, came to St. Louis in 1817, and the year following he wrote to his wife to join him, which she soon did with young John and his sister. Mr. Simonds filled the important post of "harbormaster" for several years, and died in 1839.
The only advantage which John Simonds, jr., enjoyed in the way of education he received from the common schools, which at that time were very limited in the degree of education they could impart. However, by his own efforts, he stored his mind with much valuable information, and qualified himself to fill with honor the important positions in life which he has since occupied. He was appointed deputy constable in 1819, which was the first office he held in the city of St. Louis. In 1821 he was deputy sheriff, which office he filled with credit and satisfaction. In 1825 he was appointed United States marshal, but being politically opposed to General Jackson, was removed in 1828. Mr. Simonds then determined, for the future, no longer to be a candidate for political office, which exists by so precarious a tenure, and applied himself to steamboating; and between the years 1828 to 1835, Captain Simonds was as favorably known as any officer who plied between the "Mound" and "Crescent City."
In 1835 Captain Simonds opened a large commission house, which he successfully pursued until the year 1852, when he commenced the banking business with James H. Lucas, with whom he continued as partner until January, 1857; and then, retiring from that firm, the same year again commenced the banking house known as Simonds and Taylor, in which responsible business he still remains.
Captain Simonds has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Theresa Geyer, sister of the late Hon. H. S. Geyer, whom he married March 4th, 1824, and there are still living by this marriage two daughters. After losing his first wife, he married Miss Susan M. Kennett, his present estimable lady, May 5th, 1852. He has filled many important offices. For many years he was president of the Citizens Insurance Company, and also for a considerable period president of the Board of Underwriters.
For some years Captain Simonds has been a ruling elder in the Second Presbyterian church, and to the character of the prompt and successful business man, he adds the adornment of Christian piety.
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George R. Taylor, President of the Pacific Railroad Company.
GEORGE R. TAYLOR is a Virginian by birth, having been born in Alexandria, November 11, 1818. His father, Evan P. Taylor, was engaged in manufacturing and mercantile pursuits at that place, but dying when George was but six years old, his education devolved upon his mother, who, intending George for the law, gave to him the preparatory education suitable for his future vocation.
Immediately on completing his education, George R. Taylor commenced reading law under Thomas Semmes, Esq., of Alexandria, and for two years and a half remained under his instruction. Afterward he went to Staunton, Virginia, where there was a law school of high repute under the charge of Judge Thompson, an eminent jurist. After enjoying the benefit of that institution he returned to Alexandria in 1841, where he received license to practise his profession.
Being properly fitted to enter upon the current of life, young Taylor was, for a little while, in doubt in what waters he should launch himself with the greatest prospect of success; and every thing in Alexandria appearing too stagnant for his ambitions views, he started for the West, and arrived in St. Louis in June, 1841. Possessing in a high degree that frankness so characteristic of the Virginian, and animated by friendly and honorable motives, he quickly made a favorable impression, and could soon number, as his friends, some of the most prominent citizens of St. Louis. He formed a partnership with Wilson Primm, Esq., which continued until 1849.
The people of the ward in which George R. Taylor resided soon gave to him an evidence of their high esteem and confidence, by electing him a member of the Common Council, when his devotion to St. Louis was exemplified by the liberal measures he took to advance its interest, and to adorn it. After the destruction by the great fire of so much of the lower part of the city, he was the first to propose and advocate the widening of Main street, whose original dimensions were so unsuitable to the magnitude of its business. His resolution was adopted, and Main street was widened. He then proposed to widen the levee by purchasing Commercial street, and adding it to the narrow strip of land which is so uncomfortably loaded and jammed by the business which forms the immense commerce of St. Louis. Had his wishes been acceded to, we should have had a levee creditable to the city, and sufficient for the comfort and extent of the business which is transacted upon it. At his suggestion, a piece of land was purchased for the purpose of erecting a City Hall, but an opportunity of reselling it at a considerable advance, being offered, it
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was sold and dedicated to other purposes.George Taylor has always been friendly to the railroad policy, and acted as secretary to the first meeting that was held at the Planters' House. So popular was he with the people, and possessed in so high a degree, their confidence, that ho was again elected to the Common Council in 1856-'7; and still again in 1859. He always officiated as president of the board.
Until recently the buildings of St. Louis were sadly deficient in height, and to him belongs the credit of creating an era in building. He was the first to have erected a six-story house in St. Louis, and people finding the style to architecture which height necessarily gives, soon followed his example, and buildings commenced to go up, which widely contrasted with the pigmy architecture formerly in fashion. St. Louis for many years had been in want of a first-class hotel, and several attempts had been made to supply the necessity, by meetings, subscriptions of stock, &c., but all of the efforts made resulted in nothing. This public necessity was supplied by Mr. Taylor, who had the spirit and enterprise to build, unsupported, the large structure known as Barnum's St. Louis Hotel, which was two years in building, and reared at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars. He was also the leading spirit who brought into existence the Merchants' Exchange, which was reared on the site of the "Old Market;" and so satisfied were the stockholders of the active part that he took in this particular, that in appreciation of his services, they presented him with a beautiful set of silver as a testimonial, at a cost of $1,000. He was president of the board of trustees who had charge of the building, and still continues in office. When the city was suffering many years ago for a building suitable for a Post Office, he organized an association, of which he was elected president, and built on the place to which the Post Office was removed, on the corner of Second and Chesnut streets.
Mr. Taylor married Miss Theresa L. Paul, August 9, 1846, daughter of Gabriel Paul, and granddaughter of Colonel Auguste Chouteau, so well known in the annals of St. Louis. Since he has been a resident of St. Louis, he has been identified with measures that have been prolific of the greatest good. During the different terms he served in the Common Council, he has been liberal in his municipal policy, and anxious for the welfare of the city. In all public-spirited measures, he has taken a prominent part. Through his efforts and influence, the Merchants' Exchange came into being, and he had the nerve to build, unassisted, Barnum's St. Louis Hotel, when St. Louis greatly needed a public house of that description. He was one of the corporators of the St. Louis Railroad Company, and subscribed to its stock the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars. He is just in the prime of active manhood, eminent for his public enterprise; popular with all classes of citizens; and is now the efficient president of the Pacific Railroad Company.
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Adolphus Meier.
ADOLPHUS MEIER was born in the city of Bremen, Germany, on May 8, 1810. His father, Dr. G. Meier, occupied a very honorable and influential position, being a lawyer of that city, and secretary of the Supreme Court. He gave his son, Adolphus, all the opportunities of an early education, which were ample in Bremen, and further to improve it, sent him for some time to Switzerland.
After completing his education Adolphus Meir spent three years in a large banking house, where he became instructed in the diplomacy of banking; but wishing for a more active field of pursuit engaged for some time in the shipping business. On May 9, 1831, he commenced business on his own account, and was successful from the very onset; and feeling comfortable in life, on April 21, 1835, was married to Miss Anna R. Rust, daughter of a respectable merchant of his native city. Mr. Meier having freighted many vessels with emigrants, at Bremen, had heard much of the United States, and particularly of the fertility of the great valley where flows the "Father of Waters." After satisfying himself beyond doubt that the representations were facts, he started from Bremen for New Orleans, on October 20, 1836, with his wife, child and "household gods." After landing at New Orleans, Mr. Meier took passage for St. Louis, and arrived there on March 2, 1837. He opened a hardware store in an old ricketty building on the corner of Main and Chesnut streets. He occupies that spot to the present day, but the old building has been torn down, and a splendid edifice erected in its stead, where the firm of Adolphus Meier & Co. conduct their extensive operations. The firm consists of Adolphus Meier, his eldest son, and Mr. John C. Rust.
In 1844, Adolphus Meier & Co. started a cotton factory, which was the first spinning-mill west of the Mississippi River. It had at first eight hundred spindles, which soon increased to double the number, and the firm soon erected a new and commodious building, where they could conduct their operations on a more extended scale, with new and improved machinery. The factory did a successful business until 1857, when it was totally destroyed by fire.
After the accident by fire the firm agreed to transfer the business to a company under a charter from the state, which was incorporated as the "St. Louis Cotton Factory," most of the stock being owned by Adolphus Meier & Co. Mr. Meier is president of the company, and the factory is doing a lucrative business. The name of Adolphus Meier carries with it a great weight and influence in the mercantile world, and the purity of his character, and frankness of disposition hare endeared him to a large circle of friends.
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Hon. Trusten Polk.
TRUSTEN POLK was born May 29, 1811, in Sussex county, state of Delaware. His parents were placed in a respectable position in life, and, being designed from a boy to pursue a profession, his education, from the very commencement, was conducted in accordance with his future position in life. He was sent to the schools in his neighborhood, and then to an academy at Cambridge on the eastern shore of Maryland, that he might have every advantage of a proper preparatory education previous to entering college. He was then sent to Yale College at New Haven, and after graduating, he was still continued amid the classic associations of that celebrated institution, and in the Law School began the study of his future profession.
After going through a finished course at Yale, Mr. Polk returned home, and was for a short time engaged in learning the practical duties of his profession in the office of an eminent attorney, before he was admitted to practise. He soon found that the business of his little state was monopolized by a few old lawyers of long practice and extensive acquaintance; and that a young lawyer, no matter what were his abilities, would have to spend the first years of his life in comparative idleness, before he could hope for any thing like a proper remuneration for his services. These prospects were not favorable enough, for one of Mr. Polk's aspiring disposition; so he cast his eyes toward the West, where the states were new, and all entered the field on an equality. There talent would at once meet its reward, and the country being peopled with strangers, a young lawyer's merit would at once be tested, and he would not be doomed to spend the first golden days of youth in indolent obscurity, as he would be compelled to do in states that have been long settled, and where there is no immigration. Influenced by these considerations, Mr. Polk started in 1835 for the state of Missouri, and located himself in St. Louis.
It is often asserted, but without a shadow of reasonable support, that if a man have genius and talent he will become eminent in the sphere he moves in, even if he has not the advantages of proper previous training. Examples are often given of men, who, by the mere force of intellect, without its being strengthened by proper training and preparation, become lights in the various professions and avocations of life. These incidents are as rare as "angel visits;" and if youth were not prepared by fitting instruction for the different professions, the bar, the pulpit, and the laboratory would soon present a sorry figure, and would receive the ridicule of any intelligent order of citizens. Fortunately for Mr. Polk, he had received all the adventitious assistance of thorough training in mental exercise, previous to commencing the study of the law, and when he had mastered his profession, he possessed an untold advantage over those who had
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been deprived of a suitable preparatory education. His polished eloquence, the fund of knowledge which he could draw from a thousand sources to strengthen and adorn it, and his suavity of manner, soon won him hosts of friends, and made him eminent as a lawyer.Two years after his arrival in St. Louis, Mr. Polk united in marriage, December 26, 1837, with Miss Elizabeth W. Skinner, the second daughter of Curtis and Anne Skinner, who had been long residents in Missouri, and had emigrated from New Windsor, Connecticut. For several years afterward, he pursued an extensive and lucrative practice, until the labors incident to a successful career in the legal profession, began to tell upon his constitution, and threaten a premature decline. He was compelled to retire from his pursuits, that his health might be recruited. During this interval of relaxation, which was a portion of 1844 and '45, he spent one winter in Louisiana and the Isle of Cuba, and the ensuing summer, he travelled in the New England states and Canada. During his absence as a valetudinarian, he was selected by the citizens of St. Louis county as a member of the convention which met in 1845 for the purpose of remodelling the constitution of the state, and did good service in the honorable capacity in which he served.
It was not to be supposed that a man of Mr. Polk's ability and popularity should not receive from the public, some demonstration of its confidence, by an appointment to some high official position. In 1856 he was appointed by the Democratic party as candidate for governor. It was at a time of much political excitement; for the "Know Nothing" party and the "Free Soil" party had their strongest champions in the field, and each were exerting themselves to the utmost to obtain a supremacy. In this warm contest, Mr. Polk was elected to the chief magistracy of the state, and in due time was invested with all the honors of his new appointment. He had exercised his prerogatives but a few weeks before he received still further evidence of the estimation in which he was held by the public, by receiving from the legislature of the state the appointment of United States Senator. In possession, at one time, of the two highest political gifts which it was in the power of his state to bestow, it was incumbent that he should resign one of his official stations, and he gave up the gubernatorial chair, that he might represent his state in the Senate of the national Congress. This honorable position he still enjoys, and is an efficient member of the august body to which he belongs.
In his profession, Mr. Polk deservedly occupies a place in the first rank. He is characterized by his honorable bearing, his urbanity of manner, and perfect freedom from vituperation in debate. His eloquence is of the Chesterfield style, impressive, conciliatory, but always free from the gusty excitement of passion. In politics he belongs to the Democratic party, is firm in his political faith, and warmly attached to its principles. He was a warm advocate of the common-school system, when in its incipiency, and has been for many years a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
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Bernard Pratte.
THE Pratte family is one of the most ancient families in Missouri, and came to the state when it had nothing but pioneer attractions. Bernard Pratte was born in the city of St. Louis, December 17, 1803. His father, General Bernard Pratte, and his father's mother, were both born in St. Genevieve, and his grandmother and her mother were born in St. Louis. His father was a respectable merchant, and completed his education in Canada, as St. Louis at that time possessed none of the advantages of education. He filled positions of trust and responsibility, and was a leading man in the growing city. From his education, his integrity and the confidence of the people, General Pratte was an acquisition to Missouri, and was appointed one of its territorial judges, a post which he held with entire satisfaction, and filled with consummate ability. He was patriotic in his feelings, and when war was declared in 1812, he commanded an expedition to Fort Madison, and served his country until a permanent peace was established. His great weight of character and unimpeachable integrity had a wide reputation, and during the administration of Mr. Monroe, unsolicited on his part, he was appointed receiver of public moneys at St. Louis.
Young Bernard Pratte was raised under the most salutary influences. He had the presence and example of his father continually before him, to form his character, and incite him to honorable emulation. His father being highly educated, greatly appreciated mental cultivation, and he was sent early to the schools of the city, where he was kept until he was fifteen years of age, and then sent to Georgetown, Kentucky, where he remained until he graduated at that institution.
In 1821 Bernard Pratte returned to St. Louis, and it then being required that he should enter upon his business career, he commenced under the tutorship of his father, and spent many years of his life in trading between St. Louis and New Orleans, doing a very extensive and a very lucrative business. He was taken in partnership by his father, and the firm of Bernard Pratte & Co. had an enviable reputation in the commercial world. They were extensive dealers in fur, peltry, and Indian goods; and successful in all their operations.
Bernard Pratte was always of a venturesome and ambitious nature, and anxious to occupy a prominent position in his business. It was as late as 1832 when no steamboat had navigated the Missouri as far as the mouth of the Yellow Stone. The whole of the Missouri River had been explored, it is true, as far as its source, and adventurous spirits had many years traded with barbarous tribes of Indians living contiguous to the Rocky Mountains; but the river was so filled with snags and stumps, that it was deemed too perilous to risk a steamboat in a current so filled with dangerous
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obstacles. Bernard Pratte, in connection with Pierre Chouteau, in 1832 resolved to attempt the passage of the Missouri as far as the Yellow Stone, and, contrary to the predictions of the oldest navigators, he successfully accomplished his undertaking. This feat established an era in the navigation of the Missouri River, and since that time, the whistle of the steam-engine has been heard in the wild regions occupied by the Crows and the Blackfeet.In 1833, the copartnership existing between Bernard Pratte and his father was dissolved, and a new firm established, entitled Mulligan & Pratte. The new firm came into being under favorable auspices, and maintained a high reputation until it was dissolved by the withdrawal of Mr. Mulligan in 1840. Mr. Pratte still continued in business, until a new partner was taken in, and a firm was established, known as Pratte & Cabane, which had an honorable and successful existence for six years, when, Mr. Pratte having amassed independence, retired from the business arena, on which he had for many years been a prominent actor. Two years before he gave up his commercial pursuits, he was elected mayor of the city, which honorable office he held for two administrations, during the years of 1844 — '5 and '6. He was a faithful public servant, and carried with him in office those working qualities which formed the basis of his success in business life. He was diligent in advancing the interest of the city, and during his term of office, the city was lighted with gas, and the levee, on which the commercial business of the city was conducted, was properly paved.
Bernard Pratte has filled many positions of trust; for he has always been found worthy, and his fellow-citizens on many occasions honored him with their confidence. In 1838 he was solicited to become a candidate for the General Assembly, and was elected to that body. He has been president and director of the Bank of the State of Missouri, and in all business of finance his opinions received attention and respect.
Mr. Pratte entered into matrimonial relations in 1824 with Miss Louisa Chenie, daughter of Mr. Anthony Chenie, of St. Louis, and has a family of six children. He has been successful in all of his business pursuits, from a rare combination of industry and judgment, and has gained the confidence and respect of the community, by at all times exhibiting a rectitude of character, which never wavered from the proper direction. His ago sits lightly on him, and his health gives promise of many years of usefulness in any position in which circumstances might place him.
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Henry D. Bacon.
THERE are some men whose characters are so nobly planned by nature, and so plentifully adorned with those virtues which ennoble humanity, that it is a duty and a pleasure to write their biographies and hand them as memorials to posterity for its benefit and instruction.
Henry D. Bacon was born May 3, 1818, at East Granville, Massachusetts. His grandfather participated in the trying scenes of the Revolution, and made a part of that memorable expedition to Canada under Arnold and the lamented Montgomery; holding at that time the commission of captain in the army. His father was an intelligent farmer, and early inculcated among his children the love of integrity, industry, and charitable feeling, which always guided his conduct and marked his career. The subject of this memoir is one of eight children, who are now living, and all well known and respected in the localities where they reside. William, the eldest, lives at the old homestead; Sherman, the second son, is senior partner in the extensive drug business carried on by the firm of Bacon & Hyde, of New York, and which has a large branch in the city of St. Louis; and all of the sisters are most respectably married.
For some time Henry D. Bacon assisted his father in his agricultural pursuits, but feeling that the sphere of the farmer was too circumscribed, and also wishing to move to a place where he could have access to a good library, that he might improve his education, which had not been as liberal as he wished, he went to Hartford, Conn., and entered a commercial house, in which he remained but a short time, and emigrated to St. Louis in 1835; and bearing the highest testimonials of character and capacity, he was soon engaged as partner in one of the most respectable dry goods firms in the city. He then entered into the iron trade, which he pursued successfully for several years, until his marriage in 1844 with Miss Julia Page, daughter of Daniel D. Page, when he became associated with his father-in-law in the flour business!
In 1848 the banking house of Page & Bacon, afterward so extensively known, was organized, which in a few years so won the confidence of all classes of people, that it did the heaviest banking business in the whole of the western country. A branch was established in California in 1850, and in 1854, the exchanges reached the almost staggering amount of eighty millions. Mr. Bacon was the active partner, and so readily and cordially did he at all times respond to the wants of the commercial community, that to this day, many of our leading citizens feel under a debt of gratitude to him for his accommodating liberality at that period.
The house of Page & Bacon was remarkable for its enterprise, and in 1853, knowing how fraught with advantages to St. Louis would be a direct
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communication to the East, through the rich American bottom of Illinois, they advanced the immense means necessary for the building of the greater part of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. This drew out an immense capital from their business, and a pressure shortly after taking place in the money market, the firm was compelled, in January, 1855, to suspend payment. The suspension caused for a short period almost a stagnation in business, as the house was the financial source from which a large portion of the business world drew the elements of their vitality.In the crush, which he could not avoid, and which must have torn with anguish his sensitive organization, Mr. Bacon gave way to no despondency, to no selfish grief, but bent all of his powers to complete the railroad, which had ever been one of his darling schemes, and which had to stop its operations at his failure. He went to New York, where he was well known, and induced Eastern capitalists to advance sums requisite for its completion. This road, which now forms one of the main arteries of the prosperity of St. Louis, owes its existence to his efforts.
We have now to speak of Mr. Bacon in the retired walks of life, disconnected with business pursuits. When the Mercantile Library was in its infancy, and tottering for the want of pecuniary assistance to sustain it, he came forward and gave the required assistance, and stood its powerful friend, until his influence gathered other friends around, and to-day it is one of the most cherished ornaments and institutions of our city. The members have not been guilty of ingratitude; for they have graced the walls with a splendid portrait of their early benefactor. The splendid building known as the Union Presbyterian Church, in which the Rev. William Holmes officiated, he built and furnished, and donated to the church forty thousand dollars of the immense expense he had incurred.
The Webster College and the Home of the Friendless are beneficiaries of his bounty; and his daily charities in the humble walks of life have relieved a plenitude of suffering.
Perhaps the golden estimation with which Mr. Bacon is held by the citizens of St. Louis, would have never been so apparent, had he always been a favorite of auspicious fortune. There would have been nothing to call forth the spontaneous tribute of the heart in a disinterested moment; but when misfortune lowered upon him, and the community knew how much he suffered through his delicate sensibilities, there were expressions of sympathy from all classes of society, and no enemy's poisoned breath connected his name with dishonor, or rejoiced at his misfortune. He has ever been the friend of humanity, to science, and religion, and he is looked upon as the soul of honor and human uprightness.
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Peter G. Camden.
THE parents of Peter G. Camden occupied a most respectable position in life, and were residents of Amherst county, Virginia, where the subject of this memoir was born, May 23d, 1801. His father, William Camden, and his mother both died in his infancy, and he was adopted by his uncle and aunt.
Peter G. Camden, after going through the usual routine of other schools, at the age of twenty was sent to Washington College, Virginia, to complete his course of study. After leaving college, he entered on the study of the law, and became a pupil under the instruction of Chancellor Taylor, an eminent jurist of Cumberland county, in the "Old Dominion." His legal education being completed, with all the ardor of the youthful aspirant, he came to the state of Missouri in 1827. At this time, the trade carried on between St. Louis and Santa Fé was becoming well established, and the fame of the beautiful country of New Mexico was luring many enterprising spirits within its borders.
So well taken was Mr. Camden with the reputation of the country, that he made every preparation for the journey, when a spell of sickness attacked him at Old Franklin, which made him forego the intended project. He then returned to Virginia, and, settling up his affairs, again started for the West, and became a resident of Lincoln county, Kentucky, where he had an uncle, who resided in that portion of the state. He married his cousin, Miss Anna B. Camden, February 16th, 1830, and for the seven ensuing years practised, with success, his profession in that state.
Mr. Camden had always been of the opinion that Missouri, when her great resources would commence to develop themselves, would become one of the most populous and wealthy states in the Union; and he had always determined, again to imigrate to her soil directly she had become a little older and more thickly settled. In 1837, he put his design in execution, and came to St. Louis, accompanied by two brothers of his wife. Abandoning the profession of the law, he established, with them, a dry-goods house, and the firm was titled J. B. and M. Camden & Co. This continued till 1840, when Mr. Camden became sole owner of the establishment, which he carried on for three years, and then commenced the provision business. In December, 1858, he again made a change in his business relations, and became a general commission merchant, and as such continues to this day. He is well known upon "'Change," and his house has the entire confidence of the public.
In politics, Mr. Camden was identified with the old American party and, as its candidate, became mayor of the city in 1846. It was during his administration that the city issued their bonds for $25,000, and it was used in purchasing stones to raise a portion of the eastern bank of the Mississippi, which threatened to forsake its old bed, and make for itself a
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new channel through the American bottom. The mayor strongly advocated the measure, for he did not wish to see the "Father of Waters" forsake the city which had so long been nurtured by the commerce which floated on its bosom. The harbor of St. Louis was also considerably improved during his term of office; it was owing to his efforts, while chief municipal officer, that gas was introduced as an agent for lighting up the streets. His administration was popular, and order was maintained in the most efficient manner.Mr. Camden was one of the first directors in the Marine Insurance Company after its reorganization, and for many years has been a member of the Baptist Church.
Peter G. Camden possesses all the frankness of manner, cordiality of feeling, and hospitable disposition so characteristic of the true Virginian. He necessarily has become popular in St. Louis, and can number as his friends many of the most influential citizens. He has passed through many phases of private and public life without reproach, and in the evening of his life, a retrospect of the past must be associated with the most pleasing reminiscences.
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Robert M. Funkhouser.
THE biography of such a man as Robert M. Funkhouser is fraught not only with a readable interest, but has a useful moral effect upon the present time and posterity. It teaches youth, what industry and moral worth can achieve; and that they can hope for all things if they make honor their guide, and are prompted by honorable emulation.
The subject of this memoir was born at Equality, Gallatin county, Illinois, March 31, 1819. His father, Robert R. Funkhouser, was a native of Greenbrier county, Virginia, and his mother was the daughter of Z. Cross, who served during the Revolution, and was a relation of Colonel Cross, of Revolutionary memory. The father removed from Virginia to Kentucky at an early day, and believing that Illinois offered greater inducements he emigrated to that country, and soon after was elected to the legislature, where his sterling good sense made him an efficient member. He had a large family of children, nine in number, of whom five are now living.
The early days of the subject of this biography were partially spent at school, but directly he became of size sufficient to make his labor available on the farm, he assisted his father in his agricultural pursuits, and on his demise in 1833, rented the farm, and by strenuous efforts made money sufficient to spend some time profitably at school, and then engaged with his uncle, until he was offered the situation of supercargo, in a trip to New Orleans, and did his business most satisfactorily to his employer, who was his brother-in-law. For some time he pursued a rambling, irregular life, and was unsettled as to what was the best vocation for him to pursue. On his return home, he was invited by an uncle, who resided on the National Road, at a place called Ervington, and there for some four months he kept school, and saved from the proceeds seventy-five dollars. He then went to Alton, where he had a friend in the banking business, who told him that the little town was thronged with enterprising young men anxious for situations. Acting with that decision which is one of the chief elements of his character, he leaped on a boat that was about leaving the wharf for St. Louis.
Mr. Funkhouser, while on the boat, made the acquaintance of Mr. Sparr, of the Virginia Hotel, and stopped at his house. This was in April, 1840, and his entire capital did not exceed fifty dollars. The second night after his arrival, in wandering through the streets, he was attracted by an auction sale, and seeing looking-glasses selling at what he considered dirt-cheap, he purchased four dozen, which he commenced to retail through the city. Whilst crying out his looking-glasses, he attracted the attention of Mr. T. R. Selmes, with whom he engaged as clerk, at two hundred and fifty dollars a year and board. He continued two years as clerk before commencing business for himself. Some time afterward,
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he commenced a dry-goods business with Mr. Mattox, on a small scale, which he subsequently carried on himself, and made it lucrative. He continued this for four or five years, and this may be said to be the commencement of the large fortune he has since amassed.Amid the political agitation to which Missouri has been subjected, and drawn so many into its wild and unhealthful excitement, Mr. Funkhouser was never allured from his business, to take part in the factional disputes. His business engrossed all of his time, and its extensive operations required all of his watchfulness.
In April, 1848, Mr. Funkhouser married Miss Selmes, daughter of the Mr. Selmes who first took him in his employ, when he was a young vender of looking-glasses. It may be proper here to observe, that Mr. Selmes is still living, and is a wealthy and influential citizen of Hannibal, Missouri.
As a business man Mr. Funkhouser has but few equals, and the success which he has met with, is the best criterion of his business excellence; as a man of integrity the following responsible positions which he holds are testimonials of the regard of the community. He is a director in the Southern Bank; in the Millers' and Manufacturers' Insurance Company; in the Western Wrecking Company; of the Real Estate Saving Association; and is President of the Chamber of Commerce, and Vice-President of the Building and Saving Association. He has been for years connected with the Fire Department, and has done much to bring it to its present state of efficient usefulness. He is still young, and is in the very prime of physical vigor and matured experience. He can enjoy the fruit of the seed he has sown, whilst his nature is susceptible of enjoyment, and the stamina of life have not weakened and decayed. He has all the elements of happiness within his reach, and they are of his own creation.
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Dr. M. L. Linton.
THIS eminent physician was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, April 12th, 1808. His father was a respectable fanner, who had immigrated to Kentucky from Loudon county, Virginia. Young Linton was raised as the sons of industrious farmers are usually raised in Virginia and Kentucky, by going to school and occasionally working upon the farm; but the schools in which it was his fortune to become the inmate were of a very inferior quality. However, there was a grammar-school established in his neighborhood, to which he went for a few weeks, and learned effectually the principles of the English language.
A little circumstance will often give a direction to the life of an individual, and turn the thoughts into channels for which they have a natural affinity, and from which they never after depart. A physician dwelt in the house of young Linton's father, and the young boy, anxious to glean knowledge from every source, would read the medical books thus accidentally thrown in his way, and at once evinced a strong inclination to become master of their contents. This influenced him in the choice of his profession, and, on arriving at the age of manhood, he went to Springfield, and studied medicine under the instruction of Dr. J. H. Polin. With him he remained two years, with great benefit, and possessing rare advantages; for Dr. Polin was at once biased in his favor, and not only carefully gave him the instruction necessary for his profession, but, being an accomplished scholar, instructed him in the Latin and Greek languages, and other branches which had before been neglected, and which are so essential to the education of the physician and the gentleman. After leaving Dr. Polin, he graduated at Transylvania College, Lexington, and commenced practice in Hancock county, where he remained for two years, and then went to Springfield, where he entered into partnership with his former friend and instructor, Dr. Polin. In 1839 Dr. Linton went to Europe for the purpose of accomplishing himself still more in his profession, by visiting the various hospitals and institutions with which that country abounds. He passed one year abroad; a portion of the time was agreeably spent in the company of Dr. Charles A. Pope, whom he fortunately encountered in Paris.
On Dr. Linton's return to the United States, he was invited to take a professor's chair in the medical department of the St. Louis University, which he still occupies.
Dr. Linton married Miss Anna Rachel Booker, daughter of Judge Booker of Kentucky. He has never strayed from the orbit of his profession, and has been untiring in his devotion to the pursuit he has chosen. He established the St. Louis Medical Journal in 1843, which has always been edited with great ability, and has the entire confidence of the profession. Dr. McPheeters is associated with him in the editorial charge of the journal. Dr. Linton has contributed many ably-written treatises on medical subjects, and is the author of a volume called the "Outlines of Pathology," which, by its simple and lucid arrangement, was not only suitable as a text-book for the student, but for general instruction. He has the confidence of the public, a most extensive practice, and is the president of the Medical Society of St. Louis.
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Hon. James S. Green.
VIRGINIA has ever been prolific in giving birth to eminent men, and the subject of this memoir was born near Rectortown, Fauquier county, in the year 1817. From a boy he sedulously devoted himself to the cultivation of his intellect, and the few advantages which he possessed he embraced to the utmost. He did not receive the collegiate finish of an education; but his own application to the advancement of his mind supplied every deficiency, and when he grew to manhood, there were few who possessed his fund of information.
James S. Green was of an aspiring disposition, and, at the age of nineteen he determined to leave the precincts of the "Old Dominion," and seek his fortune in a clime where the business current was not so stagnant, and his efforts for future distinction more certain of accomplishment. He went first to Alabama, and after a short sojourn, he ascended the Mississippi, on a visit of observation to Missouri. This was in 1847. The visit was perfectly satisfactory, for that state has ever since been his home. He was admitted to the bar in 1840, and, being qualified in his profession, and possessing that suavity of manner so natural to the Virginian, he soon obtained a lucrative practice.
Feeling conscious of superior abilities, and anxious for distinction, he entered the political arena as champion of the Democratic party, and in 1844, was a Democratic presidential elector for Missouri. It was at this time that his star commenced to rise in the political firmament, and the people of Missouri became convinced, by the talents which he displayed in the campaign, that he would at a future time become one of the guiding lights of the Democratic party. He was appointed in 1845 one of the framers of the present constitution of Missouri, an appointment significant of the highest trust, and which was shared by the most talented citizens of the state.
In 1846, Mr. Green was elected to Congress. His advent in the White House was at a time it was rife with excitement and agitated by a storm of political debate. It was when the troops of the United States were reaping their laurels at Resaca de la Palma, at Buena Vista, and other battle-fields in Mexico. The party opposed to the administration tried to bring it into disfavor, because it took measures to chastise a country that had been insultingly encroaching on our national rights since the Texas annexation. Mr. Green defended the policy of Mr. Polk with that lucidness and strength of argument which are characteristic of his oratory, and from that time he was looked upon as one of the leading spirits of the Democratic party, and was regarded with respect by his opponents.
In 1848, he was elected to serve another term in the national Congress, and, the great boundary question between Missouri and Iowa coming
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up at that time for argument, the governor of Missouri paid the young representative a high compliment by appointing him to defend the rights of the state. His effort before the Supreme Court of the United States was worthy of the subject and the expectation of admiring friends. His constituents were so well satisfied with him during his representative capacity, that they nominated him for a third term, as possessing the greatest weight of political influence that could be brought to bear against the powerful odds that were arrayed against that part of the Democratic party which had remained true to the creed of its political faith; many having apostatized through the influence of Colonel Benton, thereby cutting up and weakening the party. He was defeated in the election of 1850, but, in 1853, was appointed minister to New Grenada. In 1854, he resigned this appointment, and returned to Missouri, and practised his profession till 1856, when he was again elected to Congress, but, prior to taking his seat, the legislature of Missouri, knowing his ability and confident in his honor, elected him to the United States Senate, and he resigned his claim to a seat in the House of Representatives.Immediately on taking his seat in the august body to which he had been elected, Mr. Green entered warmly into the debate at that time taking place on the Lecompton Constitution. He supported the position of Mr. Buchanan in a speech so effective in argument and perspicuous in its style, that it called forth the commendations of the whole Union, and perplexed the designs of the talented but factious spirits who had arrayed themselves against the acts of the administration.
As a speaker, Mr. Green has not that fault so characteristic of politicians, of speaking for sensation effect. He never rises to his feet on any occasion until he is master of his subject. His eloquence is of the argumentative order, displaying facts in their natural attire, without trying to array them in rhetorical beauties that might make them please the imagination, but weaken their effect. One of the effective attributes of his popularity is the purity of his character. It is this which has given him the esteem of all men and the unbounded confidence of his constituents. He will leave as a heritage to his children, wealth, honor, and position — and all has been his own work.
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Hon. Luther M. Kennett.
LUTHER M. KENNETT was born at Falmouth, Pendleton county, Kentucky, March 15th, 1807. His father, Press Graves Kennett, was a respectable and influential citizen of Falmouth, holding for many years the office of clerk of Pendleton county and Circuit Court, and was likewise president of the Falmouth Branch of Commonwealth Bank. He was a man of fine information, and consequently was anxious that all of the avenues of education should be opened to his children.
Luther M. Kennett, after receiving a good English education and some knowledge of Latin, from the most respectable seminaries of learning, was sent to Georgetown, Kentucky, where he remained for two years, under the instruction of the Rev. Barton W. Stone, a distinguished Baptist divine, who was a profound scholar, and faithful in his duties of instructor, both in a pastoral and secular capacity. He boarded in the family of that gentleman, and became a good Latin scholar, and was making a fair progress in the Greek and French, when his father, meeting with reverses, he was taken from school, at fifteen years of age, and, at once, had to seek a situation, that he might do something toward his livelihood. He obtained a situation as deputy-clerk of the county court of his native place, where he remained for eighteen months, with his uncle, Wm. C. Kennett, who then had charge of the clerk's office, and, at the invitation of General James Taylor, of Newport, who was clerk of Campbell county, he removed to that county, and performed the duties of deputy-clerk, and devoted his leisure hours to the reading of law. In 1825, when he was eighteen years of age, animated by that feverish desire of change of place, so often an attendant upon young ambition, he came to St. Louis, then insignificant in size, resolving to prosecute the study of the law, which he had pursued during some interims of leisure, and for which he had formed a predilection. To carry out this design, it was necessary that he should make some business arrangement by which he could live while completing his studies; and, not being able to effect this double object, he engaged in a store, as clerk, and after a short time he went to Farmington, St. Francis county, and served in the same capacity. From Farmington he went to Selma, Jefferson county, now the residence of his brother, Colonel F. Kennett, where he became acquainted with Captain James M. White, a merchant of St. Louis, and nephew of Hon. Hugh Lawson White, of Tennessee, with whom he formed a copartnership, and with whom he continued fifteen years. This connection in business pursuits proved very fortunate to Mr. Kennett, and he amassed an ample fortune. His success was not accidental; it was the fruit of his energy, integrity and business capacity. His connection with Mr. White continued for many years, and resulted in a mutual and permanent friendship which subsisted until the death of Mr. White.
In 1832, Mr. Kennett was married to Miss Boyce, who survived her Carriage but three years, leaving a daughter, who is now the wife of Benjamin O'Farrar, of St. Louis county; and in 1842, having returned
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to St. Louis from the mining region, he was elected alderman of the fourth ward, and served three years. He was again elected, in 1846 but shortly afterward resigned, to make a tour to Europe to benefit his health, and to witness the luxuriant growth of science and art in that nursery of civilization.Mr. Kennett had returned but a short time from his continental tour, when St. Louis was visited by that dangerous malady, the Asiatic cholera, which has proved such a scourge to many of the cities and towns of the Union. At this visitation — the ever-remembered year of 1849 — St. Louis presented the spectacle of a charnel-house, so awful wore the ravages of that dreadful disease. In vain skilful physicians, for a time, would stem its progress; some boat from the south, freighted with the pestilence, would arrive at the wharf, and again it would spread over the city. The citizens were determined on establishing a quarantine, and Mr. Kennett was on the committee of twelve appointed to select the location, and carry out the wishes of the people. The very day of his appointment, in conjunction with his colleagues, he took boat to put the design in execution. That year he served as chairman of the committee who got up the Pacific Railroad Convention at St. Louis, and was vice-president of the company which was organized to commence the work. In the next year, 1850, being elected mayor of the city, he removed the first shovelful of earth, as a commencement of the great railroad, which, in time, will become one of the main arteries of the Union.
When mayor, Mr. Kennett was indefatigable in his exertions for the welfare of the city. He looked upon the health of the city as a blessing that could not be measured by dollars and cents. He was an advocate of, and efficiently adopted the practice of extensive sewerage, that St. Louis might be drained of its impurities; and his efforts in that particular will long be remembered gratefully by the well-thinking portion of our citizens. Ho served two terms as mayor.
In 1853, he was elected president of the Iron Mountain Railroad, and, as vice-president of the Pacific Railroad, delivered the address, on opening the first division of thirty-seven miles for travel. He was candidate for the Thirty-Fourth Congress, in 1854, and, on being elected to the national council of his country, proved himself an exemplary and efficient member.
Whilst a member of Congress, Mr. Kennett, being a member of the Committee on Commerce, contributed much to secure the appropriations made for the Mississippi Rapids, and also to procure the right of way from the general government through the grounds of the arsenal and Jefferson Barracks, for the Iron Mountain Railroad.
Mr. Kennett now resides at his fine country residence, appropriately called Fair View, in St. Louis county, happy in the pure enjoyment of the domestic circle. He has six children by his last marriage. He married Miss Agnes A. Kennett, daughter of the late Dixon H. Kennett, in the spring of 1842, who was his cousin, and now occupies a more dearing relation.
He was friendless and almost penniless when he came to St. Louis, and now he is in possession of friends, affluence, and position, and owes this possession to his honorable exertions and high moral attributes.
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Samuel B. Wiggins.
SAMUEL B. WIGGINS was born December 11th, 1814, in Charleston, S. C. His uncle, Samuel Wiggins, now of Cincinnati, in the year 1817, established a horse ferry across the Mississippi River, which proved to be very lucrative. In 1823, this uncle was joined by William C. Wiggins, the father of the subject of this memoir, who came to St. Louis in 1818. In 1828, there was an improvement made in the ferry arrangement. The proprietors were men of judgment and enterprise, and could see in the future the magnitude of the infant city. The horse of flesh and blood was thrown aside, and the iron horse, with his unyielding sinews, was substituted, to force the ferry-boat across the swift current of the "Father of Waters." The ferry became incorporated in 1832, and is known as Wiggins's Ferry Company.
Samuel B. Wiggins, who heads this article, first commenced business in the state of Illinois, where he was clerk for Mr. S. C. Christy, but finding little to encourage a residence in that state, he, as well as Mr. Christy, came to St. Louis, and commenced business as Christy & Wiggins, which was carried on for some time, and Mr. Christy retiring, Mr. Wiggins remained alone until he took his brother into partnership, and the new firm was known as S. B. Wiggins & Co. After a continuance of some time, the firm was again changed to Wiggins & Anderson, a well-known grocery and dry goods firm, which dissolved in 1859.
Mr. Wiggins was married to Miss Wilson, of Philadelphia, May 31st, 1838. He has been the architect of his own fortune. He has always followed the golden maxim, "Attend to your business and it will attend to you." As far as worldly wealth is concerned, he has accomplished a sufficiency, and is now retired. In review of his life, he does not have to mourn over an ill-spent youth, but can look upon the past and derive pleasure from the retrospect. He is extensively known in St. Louis, and has won golden opinions from all men. He has filled many important positions in business life, and is now a director in the Southern Bank, also in the Pacific Insurance Company, and was for fifteen years a director in the Citizens' Insurance Company. His life is a bright example to the living and to posterity.
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Rev. John Hogan, Postmaster of St. Louis.
JOHN HOGAN was born January 2d, 1805, in Mallow, county of Cork, Ireland. His parents, Thomas and Mary Hogan, without being wealthy, were in comfortable circumstances by their own industry, the father pursuing the avocation of a baker, and doing an extensive business. He had some relatives residing in the United States, and, from the favorable statements he received from them, and at their earnest solicitation, he sailed, in 1817, for America, and, on landing at Norfolk, immediately proceeded from thence to Baltimore, where his friends resided. The hopes of Mr. Hogan, from continual communications, had been highly elevated. He had formed extravagant expectations of the country across the Atlantic. He gave up his home, abandoned business, parted with friends, and sundered a thousand ties which naturally cluster around a person during years of residence in a place. Thus, when he looked upon the country which was to be the future home of his family, he was sadly disappointed in his expectations; and then a deep melancholy seized upon him, and he died from grief.
The situation of the family at this juncture was a distressing one — they were deprived of their natural protector and left in destitute circumstances. It was necessary to make some provision for the children, and John, who was the eldest, was apprenticed to a shoemaker, by the name of James Hance, father of the present Seth C. Hance, a well-known and extensive druggist in the city of Baltimore.
The elements which form the leading principles in the character of an individual, will make an effort to develop themselves under all circumstances; and John Hogan's anxiety for knowledge was evinced by the means to which he resorted to attain it. With some little assistance from his fellow workmen, he learned his letters, and then to read, from copies of the Federal Gazette, a popular journal at that time, and printed in large type. He also attended regularly the Sunday-schools, where he garnered both mental and moral instruction, and feeling the force of religious influences, became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at sixteen years of age.
After completing his term of indenture, he commenced preaching the gospel, and was sent by the Conference of his church, as an itinerant preacher, to the West. He joined the Illinois Conference, and traveled much through that state and Indiana. After spending some time in this preaching pilgrimage, he applied to the Conference for a location, and subsequently united himself in wedlock to Miss Mary M. West, of St. Clair county, Illinois. His application was finally granted, and Mr.
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Hogan opened a store at Edwardsville, Illinois. He remained in Edwardsville until 1833, and then located himself at Alton, and, whilst there, was elected to the Illinois legislature. In 1837, he succumbed, as most others did, to the financial revulsion of that period, having endorsed largely.Whilst a citizen of Illinois Mr. Hogan largely enjoyed the confidence of the community, and filled, very efficiently, several important offices. He was commissioner of public works for two years, and was appointed, in 1841, by General Harrison, register of the land office in Dixon, of that state. These appointments were very satisfactory to the people, and he filled them in the most creditable manner.
In 1845, Mr. Hogan lost his wife, and he determined to remove from the scenes which would continually remind him of his domestic affliction, and went to St. Louis the same year, and became salesman in the large grocery establishment of Edward J. Gay & Co. He continued in this house for several years, first as salesman, and then as partner. He then retired from commercial pursuits, and, in 1850, became agent for the Missouri State Mutual Insurance Company, where he continued five years; and it was during that period a series of articles appeared in the Missouri Republican, styled, "Thoughts on St. Louis," which were read with avidity by the community, and excited a general interest. The author who had displayed in such an attractive manner the commercial and manufacturing business of the city, could not remain incognito, and the merchants of the city presented Mr. Hogan with a beautiful service of silver, as a testimonial of their appreciation of his literary efforts, which had given the public an insight into the manufacturing and commercial world of St. Louis. In 1858, he was appointed postmaster of St. Louis, under the administration of Mr. Buchanan, which office he still holds.
Mr. Hogan has filled many positions of trust in St. Louis. He was president of the Dollar Saving Institution, now Exchange Bank, and was then a director; and, from the high order of his business capacities, he could have been connected with many corporations, but his time, absorbed by other pursuits, forbade too many connections of this kind. As a politician, he is well known as an able champion of the Democratic party, firm and fearless in the expression of his principles, but never indulging in the wholesale vituperation which ever marks the character of the blustering demagogue. As an author, he is well and favorably known, and has won "golden opinions," not only from the, work which we have before mentioned — "Thoughts on the City of St. Louis" — but also from being the author of the "History of Methodism in the West," and of a little pamphlet, titled "The Resources of Missouri." His style is terse, clear, and spirited, and characterized with an originality that is refreshing, in these days of literary productions — "Nothing new under the sun."
Mr. Hogan was married the second time, in 1847, to Miss Harriett Gamier, daughter of Joseph V. Gamier, of St. Louis. He has always been connected with the Methodist persuasion, and is now a trustee and member of the Methodist Episcopal Centenary Church of this city.
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Part II. History of the St. Louis Press.
The Publications.
THERE are few cities in the Union, with the same population, which can boast of journals of a higher order than the city of St. Louis. They are all ably edited, and none of them but have a respectable circulation. We will give a list of them all, with the names of the respective editors. There will be a slight historical sketch of the most prominent, and accompanying the whole will be found the photographs and biographies of those gentlemen who most effectually represent the St. Louis press. We would gladly have inserted some other photographs and biographies of the talented gentlemen who represent the other journals, but this work has swelled into a magnitude little contemplated at its commencement.
The people of St. Louis are emphatically a reading people, and are sensibly aware of the colossal influence over all business pursuits which a generous support of newspapers always produces; and it is one of the most infallible signs of the business extent and success in St. Louis to see her journals thus handsomely supported.
The Missouri Republican is the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi Valley, and, with but two exceptions, is the largest sheet in the Union. It was established in July, 1808, in a small room in a one-story building, under the name of the Missouri Gazette, and the man who set up the type for the first issue is still living in the state of Indiana, by the name of Hincle. He has been recently in St. Louis, and called to see the establishment of the journal that many years ago was no larger in dimensions than a quarto page. The paper has undergone many changes since that time. The little one-story house, in which first it had its being, has long since disappeared, and now a colossal six-story building is scarcely sufficient to afford room for the requirements of the journal.
The Republican, in the various gradations of its advance, is as sure an index of the growth of St. Louis as is a mathematical calculation. Its little small columns first suited the small village, and as year by year the town grew, it swelled in its dimensions; and when St. Louis became the metropolis of the West, it had outstripped in size and circulation every other journal west of the Alleghany Mountains. It has ever been devoted to the welfare of the city, and St. Louis owes much of its present important position to the influence of its columns.
The Missouri Republican is now owned by Messrs. George Knapp, Nathaniel Paschall, and John Knapp. It has a daily circulation the
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largest in the city, a tri-weekly, and weekly one, also two California editions. There are one hundred and seventy-six hands employed in its office, and the weekly expenses are $5,000. Nathaniel Paschall is its chief editor, assisted by an efficient corps of talented gentlemen.The Missouri Democrat was established in 1852 by William McKee and William Hill, under propitious auspices. All the patronage which had been bestowed upon the Sentinel and Union, two popular journals, was turned upon the new enterprise; for both of these papers were discontinued at the commencement of the Democrat; so that it could enter upon its career with the fairest prospects.
The wants of the community required the establishment of a journal of the political tenets advocated by the Democrat, for since the establishment of the "Barnburner" some years previously by Mr. McKee, in 1848, freesoilism had become very popular, and the new journal came into being with hosts of friends. In consequence of feeble health, Mr. Hill sold out his interest to Mr. George M. Fishback, a son of Judge Fishback, and a humorous and popular writer. He is the commercial editor of the paper, and is most efficient in that department.
Day by day the Democrat has been gathering strength and popularity, and now, in the eighth year of its existence, ranks second to no other paper in the great Mississippi Valley.
The Daily Evening News, jointly owned by Charles G. Ramsey and Abraham S. Mitchell, was established in 1852, and started with the small circulation of five hundred copies. It was ably edited and soon became regarded with favor by the community. Its circulation has continually increased until it has reached 4,000 dailies, 7,000 weeklies, and 500 triweeklies, and the weekly expenses of the establishment are nearly $1,000 Mr. Abraham S. Mitchell, editor, Mr. Daniel N. Grisson, associate-editor. There are also able reporters connected with the journal.
This already popular journal was established in 1859 by Messrs. Peckam & Bittenger, who, in a few months afterward, disposed of it to Mr. Eugene Lougmaier, a young gentleman of fine attainments, who has commenced his editorial career with much promise.
Mr. Longmaier is particularly suited to the atmosphere of St. Louis, for he was born in the Mound City — his parents also, and his grandparents; and his great-grandmother, Madame Elizabeth Ortes, is the oldest inhabitant of the place. His journal is decidedly partisan, and embraces the Democratic creed. It has a daily and weekly issue.
The St. Louis Daily Express was established in 1858, by Wm. Cuddy, a gentleman for many years practically connected with journalism. Its first issue was in a miniature form, which continued for some months,
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until its increasing patronage justified its increasing size. It is now a large and respectable sheet, and progressing in influence and circulation. It is published also weekly.This is the name of a highly promising journal, born at the commencement of the year 1800, and under the charge of R. V. Kennedy, T. M. Halpin, and James Peckam. It is truly a family and literary paper, and the only one that can lay claim to that appellation west of the Mississippi.
This popular sheet was established in December, 1852. It is at present owned and ably edited by Mr. James L. Faucett, under whose efficient management it has reached an extensive circulation. It has a daily circulation, and likewise an extensive weekly one.
There are also in the city of St. Louis several other daily and weekly newspapers published in the English language — the St. Louis Observer, published weekly by A. F. Cox, and edited by the Rev. Milton Bird; the St. Louis Presbyterian, published weekly by Messrs. Keith & Woods, and edited by the Rev. James H. Page; the St. Louis Christian Advocate, a weekly sheet, published by the Methodist Conference, and edited by the Rev. D. R. M'Anally; the Western Watchman, published weekly, and edited by the Rev. William Cromwell; the Central Christian Advocate, a weekly sheet, edited by the Rev. Joseph Brooks; and the Western Banner, published weekly, and edited by Mr. B. D. Killian.
All of these journals are edited with ability, have a respectable circulation, and exercise an important influence in the various circles of society.
The People's Press. — A daily journal, independent in politics and religion; its aim, the people's good.
The People's Weekly Press. — An Excelsior family newspaper.
Edwards' Monthly. — A journal of western progress, an organ of the progression in art, literature, science, agriculture, banking, internal improvements, etc., etc.
Edwards' Western Almanac — A correct and standard almanac for the million, containing also sprinklings in every department of knowledge — a yearly visitor which every family looks for with pleasure.
As the Germans form at least one-half of our Great Metropolis, it may well be supposed that their interest is fully represented by a number of journals in their native language. Wherever they are found the Germans are characterized by the possession of those elements of character which always contribute to their worldly prosperity. They are not as fast in their ideas as Young America, but they have more solidity of character, and are more constant and untiring in their pursuits, and are generally
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more sure of gaining the race in life and arriving at the goal of fortune They resemble the tortoise in the fable — slow, constant, and successful.This popular and influential journal was established October 20th, 1835. It is the oldest German newspaper in the city of St. Louis, but had to content itself with a small issue of only 500 copies the first year of its existence. The energy and talent of Henry Boernstein, to whom it owes its creation, soon made its merit apparent, and its circulation rapidly increased. Now it has a daily issue of 6,219, and a weekly one of 5,747. Editors, Henry Boernstein and Charles L. Bernays.
From the same office also issue two Sunday papers, the Saloon, established in 1854, and the Westliche Blaetter in 1859. They have conjointly a circulation of 1,500 copies. All of the papers are conducted in a manner which evinces a knowledge of the wants of the people, tact, and ability.
This ably edited paper is owned by Mr. Francis Saler and Mr. Adelbert Loehr. It has not been in existence many years, but has already a large circulation and a widespread influence. The St. Louis Weekly Chronicle, under the charge of the same proprietor and editor, is in increasing demand and gotten up in an attractive form.
Der Herald des Glaubens is a Catholic Sunday journal, under the charge of Mr. Anthony Bockling. It has many friends, and is rapidly increasing its circulation.
Wesliche Post is published daily and weekly. It is received with much favor by the public, and its columns bear ample testimony that they are under charge of talented and experienced editors. They are journals of intrinsic value, and have an extensive and growing circulation. Messrs. Daenzer & Wenzell, editors and proprietors. The Mississippi Blaetter, a popular Sunday paper, is issued by the same gentlemen.
This is the only German paper west of New York that may be called a thorough commercial journal. It was established by Mr. Robert Widman in 1857. It commenced in the very midst of great pecuniary pressure, but has met with the most sanguine success. It has doubled its size and has a large circulation. It is a weekly sheet and under the editorial charge of Robert Widman, Dr. Koch, and Joseph Bauer.
This ably edited journal is well known amid the educated portion of the French inhabitants of the city, and likewise among those American families, of whom there is a great number, that are familiar with the French language. It was established in 1854, and has now a circulation of 2,500. It is a weekly sheet, and Mr. Louis Cortambert, a gentleman of fine literary attainments, is its accomplished editor.
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Biographies.
Nathaniel Paschall, Editor of "The Republican."
IN writing the biography of Nathaniel Paschall it is but proper to premise that he is the oldest editor west of the Mississippi River, and from his long connection with the most influential journal in the west, is more extensively known than any citizen in Missouri.
He was born April 4th, 1804, at Knoxville, Tennessee. When he was but a child his father removed to St. Genevieve, where he remained but a limited time; for, having lost his wife in his new abode, he came to St. Louis. While in St. Genevieve, the little advantages afforded by the village school were enjoyed by the subject of this memoir, and when he came to St. Louis, though but twelve years of age, his business life commenced, and he became a worker in the busy hive of population.
At the time of his advent in St. Louis, the Republican, under another name, had been in existence some eight years, and being agreeable to his inclinations, which even at that early age tended to a love of knowledge, he was apprenticed to Mr. Joseph Charless, its proprietor, and commenced learning a pursuit for which a predisposition appears to have fitted him, and which he has pursued with so much success. His ambition, his tact, and natural talents quickly passed him through the various gradations of his art. He was not only ambitious to excel in the mechanical execution of his business, but having a thirst for literature, he read with avidity the standard authors of his language, and, studying their style, learned the art of composition, and long before he was free from his indenture, he could, and did write spicy editorials.
Two years after the retirement of Mr. Joseph Charless from the printing business, his son, Edward Charless, assumed the proprietorship, and under his charge the paper took the name which it now bears. The paper then underwent some changes in its proprietorship, all of which time Mr. Paschall remained connected with it, until, in 1827, the firm became Charless & Paschall, and while in this connection the little weekly sheet was increased several times in size, as the wants of the community required, and first came to have a tri-weekly and then a daily existence. From his first advent as a writer he became devoted to the interests of his adopted state and city, and the almost omnipotent influence of the Republican, from his first connection with it, was lent to advance and advocate all measures that were likely to forward the progress of St. Louis and subserve the interest of Missouri. He became one of the proprietors of the Republican in 1827, and in 1837 he and Mr. Charless disposed of the Republican to Messrs. Chambers, Harris, and Knapp.
When Mr. Paschall retired from the Republican he had amassed an ample competency, but, meeting with some pecuniary reverses, which rendered it necessary for him again to take up the pen, which before had been the means that raised him to wealth and position, he then commenced,
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in connection with Charles G. Ramsay, the publication of a journal styled the New Era, which was received with great favor by the people, and for some time exercised an important influence over the current events of the day. Being elected clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, he gave up, to some extent, the editorial chair, to fulfil the duties of his new appointment. About this time he was invited to become associate editor of the Republican, then under the charge of Colonel Chambers and George Knapp, and again became connected with the journal, which he had raised to importance and influence during his proprietorship. As associate-editor he continued in connection with the Republican until the death of Colonel Chambers; and when the family of the lamented deceased disposed of his interest, Mr. Paschall again became one of the proprietors of the journal, and the firm of George Knapp & Co. came into existence.In politics Mr. Paschall has ever been allied with the old Whig party, and during its existence was its most efficient champion in advocating and defending its principles, and the Republican was the organ of the party. When the Whig party died, Mr. Paschall, being identified with no other, in the presidential contest of 1856 advocated the election of Buchanan, as being the least objectionable of the candidates, without committing himself to the support of the party to which he belonged. Since the old Whig party, with which he was so long identified, is no more in existence, he has become pledged to no other, and reserves to himself the independence and privilege of supporting what men and measures will be most subservient to the interests of the state and country.
There are few men now living more intimately acquainted with the political history of the western country than Mr. Paschall, and, becoming a resident of Missouri while it was a territory, he has efficiently aided her in her colossal progress.
In his friendship Mr. Paschall is warm and constant, and those who possess it regard it as an invaluable boon. His name adds weight with whatever it is associated, and is familiar to almost every hearthstone in Missouri.
In 1832, Mr. Paschall was married to Mrs. Martha E. Edgar, and has a large family of children. He may be said to have spent a long life amid the wearing labors and mental excitement incident to editorial life. As a writer he is remarkable for his perspicuity, and his language possesses a massiveness which is overwhelming in argument. Though possessing sufficient acrimony as a politician to make him dreaded by his opponents, he never forgets the pride of self-respect, which prevents him from indulging in the low, brawling slang of Billingsgate abuse. He has exercised the duties of an editor for nearly forty years in St. Louis, and has ever been an advocate of every measure, and gave them the powerful support of his columns, which had for their aim the benefit of the city or state.
The pen is mightier than the sword —
The arch-enchanter's wand" —
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A. P. Ladew.
A. P. LADEW was born in Albany, New York, September 13th, 1811. His father, Stephen Ladew, was a man of fine abilities, following merchandising as a vocation, and served at one time in the confidential relation of secretary to Governor De Witt Clinton.
Young Ladew was sent to school until he was thirteen years of age, when he was put to learn the trade of type-making and stereotyping. He finished his trade in the well-known establishment of James Conner, now James Conner & Sons, whose establishment is one of the institutions of New York, and the most extensive in the city. After finishing his trade he was fortunate in forming the acquaintance and winning the confidence of Mr. L. Johnson of Philadelphia, whose magnificent type-foundry is well known throughout the Union, and under his patronage and that of George Charles, he came to St. Louis in 1838, and commenced the type-foundry business, the firm being styled George Charles & Co. This connection remained for four years, when Mr. Ladew bought out his associates, and to this day continues in the business. The St. Louis Type-Foundry is widely known in the West, and the firm of Ladew, Peers, & Co. is extensively and honorably known in the business world of St. Louis.
From the circumstance of keeping a type-foundry, Mr. Ladew has had more or less acquaintance with the different newspaper enterprises that have started in St. Louis since he has been established in business. The establishing of a journal is precarious in any city, but in St. Louis it is particularly unfortunate. The warm rays of hope always flood the hearts of those who are making preparations to issue a new sheet. They purchase their type with bright anticipations of the future, and soon the new creation is before the public. The rare combination of tact, talent, and capital is wanting to render it successful, and after a few days or a few months it dies and is heard of no more. It is the experience of Mr. Ladew, and all who own type-foundries, that newspaper enterprises are the most precarious of all ventures, and so rarely do they succeed, that any one who engages in them is almost certain of failure.
Mr. Ladew has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Catherine Leets of New Jersey; and his present estimable lady was Mrs. Lizzie E. Clark, whom he married, September 3d, 1856. He has been and is connected with some of the most important of our public institutions, which is evidence of the confidence he enjoys in the community. He has been a director of the St. Louis Building and Saving Association, was a member of the city council, was vice-president of the Commercial Insurance Company, and is a director in the Bank of St. Louis.
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Colonel George Knapp.
GEORGE KNAPP was born September 25th, 1814, in Montgomery, Orange county, New York, and when but a child, his parents immigrated to St. Louis in December, 1819. At the early age of twelve he entered as an apprentice in the Republican office, then owned by Messrs. Charless & Paschall. In 1834 he reached the age of manhood proficient in his business, and, by his uprightness of character possessed of the esteem of a large circle of acquaintances. He still continued in the Republican, and two years afterward, August of 1836, he received from the proprietors of the journal an expressive mark of their esteem, by being presented with an interest in the book and jobbing department; and when Messrs. Charless & Paschall sold out in 1837, he became one of the proprietors with Messrs. Chambers & Harris.
It is natural for all men to feel a commendable pride when they see that their merit has become acknowledged, and their efforts have become rewarded by a well-deserved success, and George Knapp must have felt to the utmost the whispering praise of self-respect, when he found that at the early age of twenty-three he had become one of the proprietors of the most widely circulated and most influential journals in Missouri. When a small boy he entered the office in an humble capacity, and by the possession of sterling merit, and with a will that was determined upon success, he carved his way to fortune and position. He has been one of the proprietors of the Republican through all of its changes, from 1837 to the present.
George Knapp, in 1835, took a part in the volunteer military service; and when the news flew through the Union like wild-fire that the troops of the United States and those of Mexico were in conflict, he was among the first to volunteer his services in 1846, and served in Mexico as lieutenant in the St. Louis Grays of the St. Louis Legion. He afterward became captain and then colonel of the first battalion of the St. Louis Legion. As an officer he has always been most popular and respected.
Colonel Knapp, by his virtues and his connection with the Republican is well known in St. Louis, and there is none whose fair fame is more pure. He is zealous in advocating and assisting all public-spirited enterprises; and many of the public buildings which now ornament the city owe their erection much to the zealous part he took in personally soliciting subscriptions. He has also been a stanch friend to railroads, and has subscribed liberally to their stock. He has, by his industry and business qualifications, amassed a large fortune, but it has not chilled or destroyed the warm sympathies which make him so sensibly alive to the misfortunes of others. He is social, charitable, and public-spirited — alive to misfortune, and ready to relieve it; and quick to advocate any measure that will advance the interest of St. Louis or his adopted state.
Colonel George Knapp was married December 22d, 1840, to Miss Eleanor McCartan, daughter of Thomas McCartan, late of St. Louis. He is of a retiring disposition, more ready at all times to advance the merits of others than display his own; and among the one hundred and ninety thousand citizens of St. Louis, there is no one more popular and respected.
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Colonel Charles Keemle.
IN October, 1800, in the good old city of Philadelphia, Charles Keemle was born. His grandfather was a respectable physician, who emigrated from Amsterdam and settled in the land of Penn. His father was a skilful mechanic, yet devoted but a little of his life to that pursuit, but as a commander of trading vessels, spent most of his time upon the rivers and the ocean. His mother died in the city of Norfolk, Virginia, when he was but six years of age, and he was placed in charge of an uncle until he was nine years of age, and then was put to learn the printing business in the office of the Norfolk Herald, where he remained until 1816. He is, consequently, the oldest printer west of the Mississippi.
The love of adventure was always a dominant trait in the character of Charles Keemle, and on leaving the office of the Norfolk Herald, at the suggestion of Dr. Jennings of Norfolk, who had a brother resident in Indiana, and looking forward to the chief magistracy of the state, he determined to go to Vincennes, Indiana, and there establish a paper. Accompanied by a fellow-printer of much more mature years, he started for his future destination, where he arrived March, 1817, having performed that portion of the journey on foot between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. On March 14th, the first number of the Indiana Sentinel was issued, published by Dillworth & Keemle.
Believing, from the location of Vincennes, that it would never become a great city, young Keemle accepted the invitation given to him by many influential citizens of St. Louis, and arrived there August 2d, 1817. He took charge of a paper called the Emigrant, which was the second journal west of the Mississippi, which was afterward merged into the St. Louis Enquirer, with which Thomas H. Benton was connected in the capacity of editor. The continued confinement beginning to tell on his constitution he gave up the printing business in August, 1820, and engaged as clerk to the American Fur-Company; and now commences a portion of his history which is filled with romantic incident.
The company started from St. Louis September, 1820, and spent the winter in trading successfully with the Kansas tribe of Indians.
In 1821, Mr. Keemle was selected by Major Joshua Pilcher to make one of a company of fifty-four, carefully picked for the occasion, to penetrate to the Rocky Mountains, to trade with the savage hordes of Indians who inhabited those far off wilds. The party started from Fort Lisa, in the vicinity of Council Bluff, and, after some perilous adventures, arrived at the mouth of the Yellowstone and commenced trading with the Crows, who inhabited that country, and sending out in all directions the experienced hunters and trappers that they might obtain as large a quantity of beaver-skins as possible, which kind of fur was most desired by the company. Mr. Keemle acted as agent and clerk of the expedition, and for three years suffered all the hardships incident to living and trading in the remote wilderness, far from the pale of civilization.
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While in these remote regions, he narrowly escaped with his life from a murderous attack by an overwhelming number of Indians upon the few daring spirits who had ventured into their country. It was the closing of the Spring of 1823, that the company, which had become reduced to forty-one men, were trading on the head-waters of the Missouri, and from significant signs discovered that the Blackfeet Indians, who roamed over those regions, evinced a hostile intention. They saw large companies of that warlike tribe roaming in their vicinity, and evidently watching their movements. The company immediately retraced their steps, and endeavored to regain the Crow country, where the natives were friendly and the feudal enemies of the Blackfeet. The last-named Indians, on discovering their intention, gathered themselves into a formidable body of more than a thousand warriors, and early one morning attacked the party amid deafening yells, as they were passing along the base of a small mountain skirting the Yellowstone. To have yielded to their enemies would have subjected them to captivity, then torture, and finally death. Resistance, though against such fearful odds, was the only alternative, and the party had previously made up their minds to defend themselves to the last extremity to save their scalp-locks from the clutch of the savage. In the murderous attack the two leaders of the expedition, Immell and Jones, fell early in the engagement, and then the command devolved upon Mr. Keemle, who ordered the men to fight while retreating from ravine to ravine, and after a conflict of eight hours succeeded in driving off their enemies, who had hung upon their path howling and yelling like so many demons — with considerable loss. The little party suffered severely, having had ten killed, nine wounded, and one was missing. They afterward reached a Crow village, and manufacturing some boats, arrived safely at the mouth of the Yellowstone.
Colonel Keemle remained connected with the company until 1825, when he returned to St. Louis and associated himself again with the printing business, and although he had several lucrative offers made to him nothing could tempt him again to the Yellowstone. He was associated with five or six newspaper enterprises, none of which had a permanent existence; but during their time were the organs of the Democratic party.
In 1839, Colonel Keemle was married to the only daughter of Thomas P. Oliver, now of Illinois, and has a family of three children. He possesses, in a high degree, the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and has been offered several honorable positions. In 1839 he was nominated for mayor, but declined running, and when General Harrison became president, he received the first appointment made by him in this state, that of superintendent of Indian affairs for Missouri. In 1840 he received the appointment of secretary of the interior, and under General Taylor's administration, that of Indian agent for the entire Platte River district, both of which he declined. In 1853 he was elected recorder of deeds for St. Louis county, which office he still holds.
Colonel Keemle is one of the most popular men in the city of St. Louis. He is in the sixtieth year of his age, but possesses health and vigor sufficient to have another bout with the Indians at the mouth of the Yellowstone.
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Abram S. Mitchell, Editor of the St. Louis Evening News.
THE subject of this sketch was born December 1st, 1820, near the city of Nashville, Davidson county, Tennessee. His parents were both natives of Virginia. His grandfather, Thomas Mitchell, was a merchant in Lynchburgh, Virginia, during the Revolution, and was a man of education and fine literary attainments. But his store was plundered by the British, and he was reduced to poverty. He next resorted to teaching; but died before his own children had derived much benefit from his instruction. The family being now quite destitute and helpless, were driven to emigrate to the wilds of Tennessee. There were two sons, Thomas and Robert J., and two or three daughters. After struggling in various ways to support himself as he grew up, among others, working at the shoe business, Robert J. Mitchell, the father of the subject of this sketch, joined the standard of General Jackson, who was raising volunteers for the Indian wars, and served under that leader in a campaign against the Creeks, and also in one against the Seminoles. Returning to Tennessee, he married, commenced farming, and in 1827 removed to the Hatchess River, in West Tennessee, and there, in Tipton county, the family still resides.
Abram S. Mitchell was sent by his father to the schools of the neighborhood, but he soon exhausted the little that the schools in that new country could impart, but was fortunate enough to meet at that time with an excellent teacher in the person of the Rev. James Holmes, who had formerly been a missionary among the Indians, and who earnestly advised him, when he could make circumstances suit, to complete his education at college. During intermissions of school, he sought work to aid in his own support. He applied for work unsuccessfully in a brickyard, where he was rejected for want of strength, and was afterward employed in tending a bark-mill in a tannery. In 1837, just as he was preparing to finish his education by a collegiate course, his father became bankrupt by having become security for a sheriff, and all of his property was sold to meet his bond. However, a few years later, Mr. Robert W. Sandford, a friend of the family, feeling an interest in young Mitchell, and appreciating his desire for an education, aided him in going to college at Danville, Kentucky, where he remained only eighteen months, and graduated with full honors, having, by dint of application, accomplished in that time what usually required a much longer time to perform. He taught school until he relieved himself of the debt he incurred in his education (about $700), and then studied law in Danville, and established a newspaper called the Weekly Kentucky Tribune, in connection with Mr. James S. Hall. That year he supported the whig candidate for governor, who, after election, before making any other appointment, bestowed upon him the office of assistant-secretary of state.
About this time Mr. Mitchell married Miss Bodley, of Lexington, Kentucky. After serving the term of his appointment, he and his father-in-law,
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law, Mr. H. I. Bodley, determined on removing to St. Louis, which they did in 1849, the season of the dreadful visitation by the cholera, by which he lost his wife and child. This domestic desolation induced him to return to Kentucky, where, in a short time, he received an invitation to become assistant-editor of the St. Louis Intelligencer, then about to come into existence. He accepted the invitation, but did not long remain connected with the paper. He received an invitation to become editor of the Republican Banner at Nashville, Tennessee, which he declined. He became land-agent, and then secretary of the Pacific Railroad Company, and some time after leaving this appointment, at the instigation of some of the most prominent citizens of Missouri, Mr. Mitchell, in connection with Charles G. Ramsey, established the Evening News. He is half-owner and chief editor of the journal.Mr. Mitchell is a vigorous and graceful writer, and his journal has an extensive circulation. He was married the second time, in September, 1851, to Miss Mary Brent Talbot, granddaughter of Governor William Owsley, Kentucky, whom he politically supported when he first wielded the editorial pen.
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William McKee, Senior Proprietor of the Missouri Democrat.
WILLIAM McKEE was born in New York city, September 24th, 1815. He is of Irish descent, and his father, after emigrating to this country, was successfully engaged for many years in the lumber business. He was captain of a vessel, and plied between Maine and the West Indies, carrying lumber from Bangor to Jamaica.
Captain McKee enjoyed the good-will of all who knew him, and had the confidence which years of integrity in business relations always establish.
William McKee had fair opportunities of education; for, after finishing the programme of common-school education, he was sent to the Lafayette Academy, where he remained for some time prosecuting his studies; and, at the age of fifteen, entered as clerk in the office of Major Noah, who was at that time the editor of the New York Courier and Enquirer. Some time afterward, when Major Noah sold out to J. Watson Webb, Mr. McKee still retained his place under the new proprietor, and remained altogether in the office for five years. At the expiration of that time, Major Noah, having a high opinion of his business ability, offered him a desirable situation in the office of the Evening Star, which he accepted, and remained in that connection till 1841, when, wishing to he a sharer in the advantages which the Western country offered to aspiring spirits, he emigrated to St. Louis.
William McKee enjoyed rare advantages of accomplishing himself in the art of newspaper publication, being so long in the office of Major Noah, one of the oldest editors, and one of the most finished scholars of the day; and on his advent in St. Louis, he determined to turn his knowledge, gained under such auspices, to some account, and purchased an interest in the Evening Gazette, in connection with Mr. Ruth. He remained part proprietor of that paper for two years, and then, disposing of his interest, commenced the job-printing business.
At that time, the political doctrines of the Hunker and Barnburner factions, originating in the empire state, commenced to spread over the whole Union, each party having its advocates. Mr. McKee was a supporter of the Free-soil doctrine, and started a campaign sheet called "The Barnburner" — the first Free-soil paper that commenced its career in the slaveholding state of Missouri. He then, in conjunction with William Hill, commenced the publication of the Signal in 1850, advocating the same political principles; and then, having purchased the Union, the proprietors merged the two papers into a new existence — and the present Missouri Democrat came into being.
It required all the enterprise, the hopeful faith, and energy for which Mr. McKee is so remarkable, to make a paper advocating Free-soil doctrines successful in Missouri; yet he accomplished the difficult feat. He
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purchased afterward the interest of his partner, and, after being some time sole proprietor of the paper, he took into partnership Mr. George W. Fishback, son of Judge Fishback, of Ohio, a gentleman of good attainments, and a fluent and graceful writer. Mr. McKee is still the senior proprietor of the Democrat.July 18th, 1855, Mr. McKee was married to Miss Eliza Hill, daughter of Samuel Hill, of New York. That he exerts a remarkable influence over the current events of his time, is evinced from the fact that the journal under his control is the organ of the Free-soil party in St. Louis, and, it may be said, of the whole state. He has hosts of warm friends, and the business relations of nearly twenty years' residence in St. Louis have given him the entire and deserved confidence of the community.
George W. Fishback, Joint Proprietor of the Missouri Democrat, and Its Commercial Editor.
THE subject of this memoir is a native of the old Buckeye state, and was born in the little town of Batavia, Clermont county, Ohio, in December 3d, 1828. His father was a Virginian, who emigrated at an early day to the southern portion of Ohio, when it was almost a wild, and commenced the practice of the law, which he pursued very successfully for thirty-five years, at one time being one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas.
George W. Fishback, being intended by his father for the law, had all the preparatory education so essential for the proper qualification of that profession. He was educated at College Hill, Ohio, and graduated at that institution. Being anxious to seek his fortunes in another sphere, go emigrated to St. Louis, and, disliking the monotony of a lawyer's life, he commenced the still more laborious life of a journalist, and connected himself with the Missouri Democrat as commercial editor, and soon after became joint-proprietor.
Mr. Fishback is devoted to his profession, and writes readily on the current events of the day, and his contributions can readily be known by the rich humorous vein in which he frequently indulges. He is still youthful, but exercises a wide and deserving influence in the home of his adoption.
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History of the Various Journals That Have Been Published in St. Louis.
OF all ventures in the business world, the publishing of a newspaper is the most precarious. It is far more hazardous and uncertain than commercial pursuits; is attended with toil that knows no cessation; and is daily liable to anathemas, which, if coming from holy lips, would consign it to eternal perdition; yet, in despite of this certain destruction of worldly hopes, which awaits the adventurer in a newspaper enterprise, there is some mystical fascination which causes thousands to venture upon its dangerous current, where they rarely escape the fate that awaited the mariners of yore when navigating the seas containing the fatal rock and eddying whirlpool.
It will be of interest to the reader, and a necessary portion of the history of St. Louis, without which it would be incomplete, to give a succinct account of the different newspapers that have had their existence in our city, and played their different parts in the political and literary drama of St. Louis existence. We will lift the curtain which has fallen, and once more look upon the parts which they played. We will not touch upon those again whose history we have before given.
The second newspaper was established by Joshua Norvell, in 1816, and was called The Western Journal. It was, soon after its birth, purchased by Sergeant Hall, who changed its name to that of the Emigrant and General Advertiser, a weekly sheet, which at first was somewhat popular, but, commencing to decline, it was sold to Isaac N. Henry, Colonel Thomas H. Benton, and Mr. Maury, and the name was changed to that of the St. Louis Enquirer, which, from the very first, became strongly partisan, advocating the Democratic political creed. It had an existence at the time when the question was mooted in what manner Missouri should be admitted into the Union — whether as a slave or free state. Colonel Benton, the editor in chief of the Enquirer, advocated the slave measure, and a pro-slavery constitution was adopted in 1820, when Missouri was admitted into the Union. A little while after this, the paper changed hands. Colonel Benton having been elected United States senator, and Mr. Henry having died, the remaining partner, Mr. Maury, disposed of the Enquirer to Patrick H. Ford, who, in 1823, sold it to General Duff Green, who was afterward the editor of the United States Telegraph at Washington, a democratic organ. He edited the paper until 1825, when he sold it to Charles Keemle and S. W. Foreman; and on the early dissolution of that copartnership in 1826, the Enquirer was sold to Luke E. Lawless, at that time a lawyer of high standing, and as a politician a stanch supporter of Colonel Benton. The paper, during the short period he held it, was edited with much ability. He became a jurist of much ability. In 1827, Charles Keemle, one of its old proprietors, again purchased the Enquirer, in conjunction with William Orr, and changed its name to the St. Louis Beacon, which name it continued to bear until 1832, when it died. It was always a weekly sheet, and Democratic through all its changes. During certain periods of its existence it exercised a very important political influence.
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In 1820, The Herald was established by Messrs. Orr & Fleming, which had but a temporary existence.
In 1827, The St. Louis Times, a Democratic journal, was brought into being by Messrs. Stine & Miller, and edited by S. W. Foreman. Though Democratic, it was anti-Benton, and rabidly opposed, without effect, the re-election of Colonel Benton to the senate. It afterward passed into the hands of Miller & Lovejoy, and then was conducted by Miller, Murray & Richards. It had some hopes at one period of its existence, but, from the want of popular support, soon became involved in pecuniary difficulties, and finally, in 1832, was sold under legal process, and the fixtures purchased by Colonel Charles Keemle. The journal was suffered to expire. When under Miller & Lovejoy, the paper was tinged with abolitionism.
In 1831, a paper was started by James A. Birch.
During 1831, The Workingman's Advocate was started by Mr. Steel, which strongly advocated the principles of the Democratic party, and, being bought out by James B. Bowlin & Mayfield, was changed to the St. Louis Argus. It was at this time very ably edited, advocating the cause of Democracy, and received considerable patronage. It was then transferred to Mansfield, Lawhead & Corbin. It continued under these last proprietors but a short time, with deserved popularity, and then came into the possession, successively, of Thomas Watson, Davis, and Colonel Gilpin. It was then purchased by S. Penn, a gentleman from Louisville, and an experienced and able journalist, who changed the title of the paper to that of the Missouri Reporter, and Samuel Treat was joined with him in the editorship — the Reporter becoming the organ of the Democratic party. After the death of Mr. Penn, it came into the possession of L. Pickering, when it underwent another change in name, being called The Union. It remained a short time in his possession, and was transferred to R. Phillips, who, finding it in a languishing state, sold it to William McKee, the publisher of the Signal, a freesoil sheet, and the Union and Signal were merged in a new name — the present Missouri Democrat.
In 1834, The Commercial Bulletin came into existence, under the conduct of Colonel Charles Keemle, William P. Clark, and S. B. Churchill. It then passed into the hands of William Clark, and shortly after was owned by Churchill & Ramsey, when it became Whig; and then afterward, being purchased by V. P. Ellis, it again changed its politics, and became the organ of a new political creed — "The Native American party," whose principles at that time were being promulgated in St. Louis. For a time, the new doctrines of political worship gained many advocates, and the paper flourished in the sunshine of popular favor; but soon the plausibility and novelty of the doctrines ceased to attract and delude, and the paper had but few readers. It was then purchased by Cady and Oliver Harris, and soon died for want of popular support.
There were some other journals that had so transient an existence that we shall not enter into any minute details concerning them — The St. Louis Pennant, a literary paper, established by G. G. Foster and Thomas Watson. The Evening Gazette was established in 1838, by David B. Holbrook & G. S. Allen; and was edited by William S. Allen. In 1841, P. A. Gould purchased Allen's interest, and the firm was titled Holbrook
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& Gould. In 1842, the Gazette was sold to Henry Singleton, and in 1843, was purchased by McKee & Ruth, and edited by Edmond Flagg. It was then sold in 1847 to Lord, and then died. The Mirror, established by Ruggles.In 1837, The Saturday News was brought into being by Colonel Charles Keemle and Major Alphonso Wetmore, both gentlemen having large editorial experience, and the latter was justly celebrated for his literary attainments. The journal was purely a literary one, but it did not succeed according to its deserts. Colonel Keemle retired from it a short time after its birth, and it was continued by Major Wetmore, and then died.
In 1841, The People's Organ was established by Higgens, and then sold out to Anderson & Staley; Staley sold out to Edmond Flagg, and the firm became titled, Anderson & Flagg; Flagg then retired, and it was finally conducted by Anderson alone. Its existence was short.
In 1845, the Reveille, a literary paper of undoubted merit, was founded by Colonel Keemle, Matt, and Jos. M. Field; few journals were better conducted, and during its existence it was a weekly welcome to every family of cultivated taste. In 1850, it was sold to Anderson & Company, proprietors of the People's Organ, and blended with that paper.
In 1846, The Native American was started by V. Ellis, and had a fine run for a time, but it soon found how uncertain is popular favor, and finally died through neglect.
In 1848, The New Era was established by Paschall & Ramsey, and at once occupied a large share of public patronage. Its forte was its commercial superiority, and in politics it was Whig. It was sold to Thomas Yeatinan and J. B. Crocket, and changed to the Intelligencer, and afterward passed into the hands of George K. Budd, and then was purchased by A. S. Mitchell & Co., the proprietors of the Evening News, and blended with that paper, which is still in existence.
We will now select the number of the editorial fraternity, which have been coupled with the foregoing pages, who are yet alive, and who have become worthy of mention, from the prominent position which they occupy.
Charles Keemle is the oldest newspaper publisher and printer, west of the Mississippi, and is now the efficient recorder of the county of St. Louis. James H. Birch resides in Clinton county; was one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the state, and then register of the land-office. James B. Bowlin was for a long time judge of the Criminal Court for St. Louis district, and minister to Paraguay. A. R. Corbin was clerk of Committee of Private Land Claims at Washington, and such was his fitness for the office, and the influence of his personal worth, that he remained its incumbent for more than fifteen years, undisturbed by any administrations, though advocating political tenets at variance with his own. Samuel Treat is now an able jurist, presiding over the Circuit Court of the district of St. Louis. Josiah Anderson is the present proprietor of the St. Louis Price Current. Charles G. Ramsey and A. S. Mitchell are now the proprietors of the Evening News. William McKee is senior proprietor of the Missouri Democrat, and Nathaniel Paschall is one of the proprietors and editor-in-chief of the Missouri Republican, the oldest sheet in the state. Paschall is the oldest editor with the harness on in the Western country.
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William Allen has been register of the land-office. He was secretary of the Territory of New Mexico, in 1851, judge of County Court, in 1856 member of the Missouri legislature, in 1850-51, and is now associate editor of the Missouri Republican.
It will excite no envy, and be a just tribute to departed worth, if we say a few words concerning the literary abilities of the late Joseph M. Field, one of the editors of the Reveille. He was connected a long time with the New Orleans Picayune, and wrote under the nom de plume of "Straws." His productions under that signature were quoted extensively by the journals of the country, and his name became famous in literary annals. As a poet, he well could lay claim to that consciousness of inspiration uttered by one of the Roman bards — "Deus est in nobis." He was the author of several plays, became an actor of acknowledged merit, and was the first manager of the "Varieties Theatre" of our city. His high literary merit and warm social qualities are still interwoven with the pleasing reminiscences of the past in the memory of many of the inhabitants. His brother, M. C. Field, also deceased, is deserving of the same tribute, and was well known in St. Louis as a sparkling and classical writer.
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Religious Newspapers in St. Louis.
[We are indebted to the Rev. John Hogan, of St. Louis, for the following history of the religious newspapers that have been and are published in St. Louis.]
The first religious newspaper published in St. Louis, according to my recollection, was The St. Louis Observer, Rev. E. P. Lovejoy, editor. It was started, I think, in 1833, and was the organ of the Presbyterian Church. Some time after its commencement, there were many and very strong articles in favor of "abolitionism" published in the paper, which very much incensed the community, and the consequence was, the press and office were destroyed, and Mr. Lovejoy removed to Alton, where he published the Alton Observer.
The next paper (religious, I mean) started here — I think, in 1834, or 1835, as the organ of the Catholic Church — was The Shepherd of the Valley. I do not now recollect who was the editor, nor yet when the paper ceased to exist.
In 1839, I think, another Catholic paper was started here, by Mr. Thomas Mullen. My impression is, its title was The Catholic Banner. I am not able to state how long this paper was continued.
In July, 1844, Rev. H. Chamberlin started a paper, mainly in the interest of the Presbyterian Church, denominated The Herald of Religious Liberty. Do not know how long it continued.
In August, 1851, The St. Louis Christian Advocate, Rev. D. R. McAnally, editor, was started into being, and still exists, as the organ of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for Missouri and Kansas.
In 1844, or 1845, Rev. J. T. Hinton, D. D., commenced here the publication of a paper called The Missouri Baptist, which was the avowed organ of the Baptist denomination in this and the surrounding states; but I am not now prepared to say how long it was published.
The Western Watchman, in the interest of the same denomination (Baptist), and which was commenced about 1848, by Rev. T. W. Lynd, D. D., as editor, most probably succeeded to the former, and only changed the title. Still continued.
In 1851, Mr. R. A. Bakewell started The Shepherd of the Valley, as organ of the Catholic Church; it existed some three years.
In 1852, The St. Louis Presbyterian, as the organ of the Presbyterian Church, was commenced by the Rev. E. Thompson Baird, as editor, and is still published, although the editor has been changed.
The Cumberland Presbyterian was commenced to be published here, I think, in 1852, as the organ of that denomination, by Rev. J. B. Logan, editor.
In the fall of 1853, I think, Rev. D. W. R. Trotter commenced here the publication of a paper called The Central Christian Advocate, as the organ of the Methodist Episcopal Church for Missouri, southern Illinois,
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Iowa, etc. This paper, after various vicissitudes, was finally adopted as a general Conference paper, and in 1856, or 1857, passed into the editorial charge of Rev. James Brooks, and is still published.In 1855, I think it was, J. V. Huntington, LL. D., commenced the publication of another Catholic paper, in place of The Shepherd of the Valley, called The Leader. This paper only continued as a religious paper about a year, when it became a political paper under the same name, and subsequently ceased.
In July, 1858, the Observer took the place and patronage of The Cumberland Presbyterian, and was edited by Rev. Mr. Bird, who has now given place to Mr. A. F. Cox, who is editor and publisher.
In 1850, The Western Banner, organ of the Catholic Church, was commenced by Mr. B. D. Killian, and is still continued.
In 1860, another paper was started, called The Missouri Baptist, but I do not know who its editor is, nor yet what particular church it is to be the organ of.
The Herald and Era, as the organ of the Universalist Church. I do not recollect when the publication of this paper commenced here. Mr. Libby was, I think, connected with its origin, but I have not been able to see him, to get the date. I believe it is now published simultaneously here and at Indianapolis, Indiana.
The above is, I believe, a pretty full history of the religious newspapers that have been and are published here in the English language. Mr. A. F. Cox publishes here a quarterly, which is the organ of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and is as yet, I think, alone in that species of religious publication.
I deem it proper to add the publications in the German language here, of religious newspapers, and have purposely kept them by themselves.
The Lutheran, organ of that denomination, was commenced here in 1844, by Rev. F. W. Walter, and is still continued under the same editorial charge.
The Gott's Freund (in English, God's Friend) was commenced in 1852, by Mr. Besel, editor, and is still continued. It is, I believe, a Protestant publication, but I do not know to what denomination it belongs.
Herald des Glaubins (in English, Herald of Faith), under the auspices of the Catholic Church, was commenced in 1852, under the editorial charge of Rev. Mr. Vincent, and is still continued.
Her Frieadensbote (in English, Messenger of Peace), a Protestant publication, under the auspices of the Evangelical Churches, was commenced here in 1849, by Rev. Mr. Wull, and is still continued as a publication, but has recently been removed to Marthasville, Missouri.
Another publication in German, denominated the Protestant, has recently been commenced here. I do not know who the editor is.
There is also published here a paper called The Icarian, of which I know nothing.
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Biographies.
Intoduction.
BIOGRAPHY is the most important feature of history; for the record of the lives of individuals appears to be invested with more vitality and interest than the dry details of general historical narrative. In biography the attention is not distracted by a multiplicity of leading and disconnected events, but every incident that is related serves to illustrate the character of some eminent person, and is another light by which we can see more clearly the elements which form their being.
The gentlemen whose biographies make so large a portion of this work have not been selected on account of their wealth, their social position, or their particular avocation, but from other and more worthy motives. In the number are embraced all of the professions, and most of the other callings of life, and they find a place in this book from the circumstance that they excel in their respective vocations, are men of sterling virtue, and in their efforts to establish position and fortune, they have given wealth, stamina, and character to the city of St. Louis. We have no favorites to support, no political or sectarian interest to advance, but in choosing the subjects of these biographies have been guided by a sense of duty, and a wish to pay some tribute to well-deserved merit.
James H. Lucas.
JAMES H. LUCAS can boast of an old line of French ancestry who were conspicuous both for their virtues and their talents. His father, John B. C. Lucas, was born in the province of Normandy, France, and graduated with distinction at the University of Caen, and received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Immediately after the Revolution, he came to the United States, bringing with him flattering credentials from Dr. Franklin, who represented the United States at Paris, to some of the most distinguished citizens of Philadelphia.
Wishing to remove farther west, Mr. Lucas went to Pittsburgh, and talents and integrity being in demand, he was appointed Judge of the District Court, and soon afterward was elected member of Congress. This was in the year 1800; and the same year, on the 12th of November, the subject of this memoir was born.
After representing Allegheny county, in the state of Pennsylvania, with honor in the national Congress, Judge Lucas, in 1805, removed to the city of St. Louis, having previously visited it in 1792, and became at once convinced of its future greatness. The state of Missouri was at that time a territory, and was termed the Territory of Louisiana, and Judge Lucas was appointed by Thomas Jefferson one of the Judges of the Territory, and Land Commissioner, and these appointments were renewed
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by the two subsequent presidents, Madison and Monroe, who were satisfied with his honorable administration. He kept this responsible position until eighteen hundred and twenty, when Missouri was admitted a state into the confederacy.Judge Lucas was blessed with a numerous family, and in 1811 lost his estimable wife, whose virtues had endeared her to a large circle of friends. One of his sons, Robert Lucas, was an officer in the United States army, and died in 1813, on the Canada frontier. Charles Lucas, who was United States Attorney in the state of Missouri, was killed in a duel with Col. Thomas H. Benton. Adrian was a planter, and died in 1804, William Lucas died in 1837; and Judge Lucas, the father, after being appointed, by the younger Adams, Judge of Land Claims in Florida, died August, 13th 1843. Of all the numerous family, there is only living at this time, James H. Lucas, the subject of this biography, and Mrs. Hunt, his sister, who is well known to the citizens of St. Louis for her many charitable donations. The early days of James H. Lucas were spent upon a farm, and it is probable that he owes to that circumstance much of that exuberance of health which he has always enjoyed. His father, who was highly educated, directly the physical system of James had become strong by wholesome exercise on the farm, sent him to school, and finally to Jefferson College in Pennsylvania, where he remained three years; and then to St. Charles College in Kentucky, at which he staid eighteen months. After completing his education, James H. Lucas, desirous of still farther pursuing his studies, resolved to teach school, at which he could, at the same time, earn a livelihood. He commenced the profession of teacher in the town of Hudson, state of New York, but did not long remain in that honorable and useful avocation. In that city he commenced the study of law under Judge Talmadge and J. B. Dexter. He, however, did not like the East, and soon returned to his home in St. Louis, and then removed to the territory of Arkansas, where he continued teaching school and reading law," till 1821, when he was admitted to the privileges of an attorney.
May 10th, 1832, Mr. Lucas married Miss Mary E. Desruisseaux, the daughter of one of the earliest settlers of Arkansas, who had removed from the town of Cahokia of Illinois; and from the time of his marriage until the year 1837, he devoted his attention to farming, and was very successful in the pursuit, having a very extensive and fertile tract of land. On the death of William Lucas, his brother, in 1837, Judge Lucas, his father, wrote him word to come and settle in St. Louis, as he was the only son that was living, and he was anxious that he should be near him. He then, according to the wishes of his father, removed to St. Louis, where he remained until the dissolution of his surviving parent in 1843.
Mr. Lucas has always been opposed to the turbulent life of polities, but was drawn by the persuasion of his friends upon the political arena, and in 1844 he was elected to the state Senate of Missouri, where he served four years with honor to himself and usefulness to the state; during this time was enacted the well-known Lucas law, which much simplified the confused process incident to land claims. After his term of service had expired, he retired from political life, and has been sedulously engaged since that time in attending to the large business connected
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with his immense property, and in various ways has been identified with the progressive advance of St. Louis. He was the early friend of the railroads in Missouri, and in every available manner advocated their utility, and assisted in their completion, while many old fogies laughed at the idea of any thing better for the country than the turnpike and the wagon. So as to give force to his advocacy to internal improvements, he was the first to subscribe to the stock in the large sum of $33,000, and this generous commencement by one whose business foresight was almost infallible, quickly made railroad stock a hobby, and the digging for the roads soon commenced.Mr. Lucas projected and built Lucas Market, and laid out that handsome portion of the city known as Lucas Place, and which has become the most recherché neighborhood in the city of St. Louis.
All corporations, in the election of their officers, are always careful to install those who have the character and influence to control the respect of public opinion; and Mr. Lucas was appointed the President of the Pacific Railroad Company, and by his moral worth and known wealth, and above all by his business capacity, did much for its advancement. After filling that responsible position for some time, he resigned his office, and started on a European tour. On his return to St. Louis, he was solicited to fill many responsible positions, and became director and an extensive stockholder in many of the various moneyed institutions of the city.
In 1851, Mr. Lucas established his banking-house, which had a branch both in New York and San Francisco, and such was the universal confidence that the public had in the institution of which he was the head, that at one time his bank in St. Louis alone contained deposits to the enormous amount of more than two and a half millions of dollars. After some little time, Mr. Lucas discontinued his house in San Francisco.
In the great financial panic in 1857, Mr. Lucas, with every other bank in St. Louis, had to yield to the unnatural convulsion of affairs, and for a short time suspended payment, and it shows how boundless was the terror of the community, from their being guilty of the folly of running upon a bank whose proprietor was worth millions of dollars in real estate in the city of St. Louis. However, Mr. Lucas gave his notes to his creditors, and in a little while his boundless resources becoming available, he was anxious to pay off all demands, but to this day many of his notes are carefully kept in the drawers of thriving citizens, who prefer them to any mortgage on fee-simple property in the city. Mr. Lucas has had a large family of children, eight of whom are now living. One of his daughters married Dr. J. B. Johnson, an eminent physician of the city.
The business habits for which he was always remarkable Mr. Lucas still adheres to, and can be found constantly at his counting-room, actively engaged in the details of affairs, naturally arising from his immense possessions, and is courteous and unassuming at all times, and to every one who makes a demand upon his valuable time. Wherever he goes in the city of St. Louis, he can see in the splendid buildings which he has erected monuments of his taste and industry, and when he dies, and the turf is green above his "narrow house," Lucas Market and Lucas Place will hand his name to posterity.
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Robert A. Barnes, President of the Bank of the State of Missouri.
ROBERT A. BARNES was born November 29, 1808, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia. He is descended from an old English family of great antiquity, who emigrated from the county of Norfolk as early as 1662, and settled near Port Tobacco, the county seat of Charles county, state of Maryland. There is still in England a large family bearing that name.
Mr. Barnes was designed by his parents for commercial pursuits, and after receiving a good English education, he was sent to his uncle in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, who instilled into him that business education, and those business principles which have so contributed toward his success in life, and won the respect of the community. He remained in Louisville from 1822 till 1830, and then came to St. Louis, which he believed, from the position she occupied, must eventually become the great emporium of the West, and one of the most important cities in the Union.
Mr. Barnes was thrown early in life upon his own resources. He could hope for nothing unless through his own exertions. Even if his inclination had not led him to form habits of industry, economy, and management, necessity would have compelled him. On his arrival at St. Louis, the first position he filled was that of clerk in the house of Messrs. Sproule & Buchanan, who were engaged in the general merchant business. After leaving them, he entered the house of Messrs. Vairin & Riel, After leaving the employ of the last-mentioned firm, Mr. Barnes having gathered some little money, commenced business on his own account, and was at one time connected with Captain John C. Swan. He has been gradually growing since that period in his business relations, until he now owns one of the most extensive wholesale groceries in the city, and has amassed a considerable fortune, in no other manner than from the legitimate profits of his business.
In January, 1845, Mr. Barnes was married to Miss Louise De Mun, of St. Louis. He has held the position of director in the Bank of the State of Missouri for nineteen years, and so highly is he esteemed for his integrity, his business and financial qualifications, that he has recently been elected president of this most extensive banking institution in the state.
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Louis A. Benoist.
Louis A. BENOIST is one of the few citizens of St. Louis who can boast of having first seen the light in its precincts. He was born in St. Louis August 13, 1803. His father, François M. Benoist, was a native of Montreal, Canada, and his mother, who is still living, is daughter of Charles Sanguinette, who came to St. Louis at the early day when the French surrendered Fort de Chartres to the English, according to the terms of the treaty of 1763.
Louis A. Benoist received from his father all the opportunities of education which the new settlement at that time afforded. He went to school to Judge Tompkins, one of the territorial judges, who kept for a short period a school, and at the age of fourteen went to St. Thomas College, Kentucky, kept by a Dominican priest, where he remained for two years, and returning to St. Louis, he commenced reading medicine under the instruction of Dr. Todson. After a trial of two years, medicine not being agreeable to his taste, he commenced the study of law in the office of Horatio Cozens.
There was a good deal of conveyancing done at that period in St. Louis, and Louis A. Benoist got employment in the office of Pierre ProvenchÄre, a conveyancer of some note, which furnished him the means of continuing his legal studies. In 1823, he went to Europe to look after an estate belonging to his parents, and fully accomplished his object; but on his return voyage, was wrecked in the Bay of Biscay. After some suffering and much detention, he finally reached St. Louis, when he commenced to buy and sell real estate, loan money, etc. He pursued this business for a short time, and in 1832 opened an exchange office, in which, in connection with the banking business, he vended lottery tickets, at that time a favorite mode with all classes of trying the fitful favors of fortune. This was the first banking-house established in St. Louis, and that very spot where he first opened, though in a different building, Mr. Benoist still carries on the banking business.
In 1838, the business of Mr. Benoist had increased to such an extent, that he deemed it practicable to establish a branch house in New Orleans, which he did under the firm of Benoist & Hackny, and which is the large banking-house now known in the Crescent city as Benoist, Shaw & Co. In 1842, there was a tight pressure in the money-market, and the banking-house in St. Louis was forced to suspend, though in one month after, its doors were thrown open, and ten per cent. was paid on all liabilities. The branch bank in New Orleans did not suspend.
Mr. Benoist may truly be said to be one of the favorite sons of fortune. The moment that he commenced the great battle of life his course has
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been onward. Whatever he has touched has prospered, and he is now numbered among the most wealthy citizens of St. Louis.During the great panic of 1857, the banking-house of Benoist & Company outrode the storm, which compelled almost every private banker and corporate banking institution in the Union to succumb for a while to the force of circumstances. It did not suspend, nor did the one in New Orleans.
Mr. Benoist, as has been seen, was not born to affluence, but began from an humble commencement, and owes alone to his efforts and industry his present position and fortune. What he has done can be done again if the same method be used for its accomplishment. Any young man who will copy his perseverance, economy, and industry, and like him be sedulous in preserving his reputation and credit, must attain affluence and reach a respectable position. Who properly sows in spring must reap a harvest, and he who in youth commences life with the practice of temperance, industry, and economy, must gather bountifully of the fruit they naturally produce.
Mr. Benoist has been three times married, and has had seventeen children, ten of whom are living. His first wife was Miss Barton, of Kaskaskia; his second, Miss Hackny, of Pennsylvania; and the third, Miss Sarah E. Wilson, daughter of John Wilson, of New Jersey. In 1851, he took with him on a European tour his eldest son, Sanguinette H. Benoist. It was during the World's Fair at London, when the English capital was thronged with strangers. Born in St. Louis, Mr. Benoist has witnessed all the wonderful changes in his native city since his boyhood. His youth, his manhood, all of his business relations, have been identified with St. Louis — he is one of the old landmarks, and no one better than he is known and appreciated.
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Colonel Joshua B. Brant.
COLONEL JOSHUA B. BRANT was born April 8th, 1790, in the town of Hampshire, Hampton county, Massachusetts. His father, John Brant, was a gallant soldier in the trying times of the Revolution, and lived to the remarkable age of ninety-nine years and three months, dying in the year 1852. His mother's maiden name was Bosworth, of a large and respectable family of that name who still reside in Massachusetts.
The early days of young Joshua Brant were passed in the healthful exercise of farming avocations, and he ploughed the land and drove oxen till he reached eighteen years of age. The schooling that he obtained he received at night, the day being devoted to bodily labor. At the age of eighteen, Joshua Brant determined to leave the wholesome trammels of parental authority, and try his fortune in the world uncontrolled and unguided except through the agency of his own faculties. When he left home his capital amounted to thirteen dollars in cash. He went to Troy, New York, and engaged in a drug store, kept by Erastus Corning, for twelve dollars per month and board; this gentleman has since become President of the New York Central Railroad, and a member of the national Congress.
Wishing to enter upon some occupation where he could advance more rapidly in worldly thrift, Joshua B. Brant removed to Dutchess county, New York, and in partnership with a Mr. Snyder, commenced the distilling business, and in a short time amassed the sum of seven hundred dollars. When the war of 1812 became known through his neighborhood, he was busily engaged in the harvest field, cradling wheat; but burning to serve the country, for whose independence his father had fought, he left all employment, and prepared himself for the battle-field. He joined a detachment of troops at Rhinebeck, commanded by Captain H. W. Odell, that were proceeding to rendezvous at Greenbush, where he received the appointment of sergeant, February, 12, 1813, in the twenty-third regiment, commanded by Colonel Brown. From Greenbush the troops proceeded to Fort George, where there was a hard-fought battle; the vanguard of the American army being led by Colonel Scott, now General Scott, and commander-in-chief of the United States army. From Fort George the army proceeded to "Forty Mile Creek," where another battle was fought, and then retired into winter-quarters at Plattsburg.
During the war of 1812, Joshua B. Brant was in other battles than those we have mentioned. He was in the battles of Lundy's Lane, Fort George, Salter, and Fort Erie. In July, 1815, he was appointed by General Brown ensign of his regiment, which appointment was confirmed by the authorities at Washington the subsequent month, and the same year he was made second lieutenant, James Madison being president, and James Monroe secretary of war. During the intervening years from 1815 to 1838, he passed through all of the progressive stages of military promotion under Presidents Madison, Monroe. Adams, and Jackson, until he
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was appointed by President Van Buren lieutenant-colonel of the United States Army, in 1838.Colonel Brant came to St. Louis in 1823, but was engaged in military duty until 1839, when he resigned. He took part in the various Indian wars in the West, and was also in Florida. Since 1839 he has devoted himself to his private pursuits, and was the first who had the spirit and enterprise to commence the erection of large buildings in St. Louis. He has always been a firm friend of his city, and by his individual efforts has contributed much to its adornment and prosperity.
Colonel Brant has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Elizabeth Lovejoy, of Stratford, Connecticut, whom he married January, 1818. She was the sister-in-law to General Leavenworth, so well known in the West. She bore him two children, one of whom is Henry B. Brant, of Booneville, Missouri. His second wife, whom he married December 31st, 1829, was Miss Sarah Benton, daughter of Samuel and Mary Benton, and niece of the illustrious statesman and author, Thomas H. Benton, who for many years represented the state of Missouri at Washington. Two children were the issue of this marriage, and a daughter is married to Doctor James McDowell, son of Governor McDowell, of Virginia, who is now consul-general at Constantinople.
Colonel Brant, by his business habits and talents has amassed a large fortune; yet, though he has been frugal, he never has been parsimonious in his manner of life, and with a liberal hand has dispensed his charities. He is a regular attendant at church, and for many years has been a member of the Presbyterian persuasion. Whatever of wealth and social position he has achieved, he owes it all to himself. He has been the architect of his own fortune, and his life will illustrate the old maxim, "where there is a will there is a way." Without injuring any one he has accomplished much; and as a soldier, a citizen, and a man, he deserves the esteem of posterity.
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Captain John J. Roe.
JOHN J. ROE was born April 18th, 1809, near Buffalo, New York. In 1815, his father removed to Cincinnati, then to Kentucky, and then to Rising Sun, Indiana, where he owned a ferry, and died in 1834.
After a few years spent in the country school-rooms, John J. Roe assisted his father in the labor of the farm, and also in the management of the ferry which he conducted. Two years previous to his father's death he went to the city of Cincinnati, and became engaged in various situations on steamboats, and was looked upon as one of the most efficient boatmen on the Ohio River, and on one occasion made a large profit for his employer, by acting as supercargo to Jacksonville, Tennessee.
John J. Roe, by his attention to business, and judgment, soon won the confidence and respect of all who knew him; and he gradually worked himself up the ladder of life until he became captain of a steamboat, and then owner. He then traded in boats for several years, commanding some of the finest that ran on the Ohio River; and at one time did a very lucrative business on Green River, in Kentucky. He built several fine boats; and having amassed a considerable fortune, he retired from business in 1844, and removed to St. Louis. After his removal to St. Louis he became largely engaged in the commission business, and the firm of Roe & Kercheval, then Hewitt, Roe & Co., then John J Roe & Co., were well known to all the business world of the West.
The position which Captain Roe has achieved he owes to his own efforts; and to his credit let it be told, that on the demise of his father, he was the support for many years of the whole family. In 1837, he married Miss Wright, daughter of Thomas Wright, of Cincinnati, and no one, more than he, appreciates the quiet enjoyment of domestic happiness. His rollicking good humor has made him most popular in the social circle, and his known business qualifications have caused him to be elected to fill many important functions. He has been a director in the Merchants' Insurance Company, is a director in the State Saving Institution, and President of the United States Insurance Company. By an industry that has never wavered, by an integrity that is unimpeached, he has gained esteem, position, and wealth, and if the youth of the rising generation would go and do likewise, they would in time achieve what he has done. One of the finest boats on the river is called by his name.
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General Nathan Ranney.
GENERAL NATHAN RANNEY was born in Bethlehem, a little village in the state of Connecticut, on the 27th of April, 1797. Reared in respectable circumstances, his early life was devoted to the cultivation of his mind, and to the inculcation of those business habits which have since made him so successful in life.
In 1812, when England sent to our shores her veteran armies, just victorious over the able marshals of Napoleon in Spain, young Ranney, then only sixteen years of age, animated by the patriotic fire which burned so vividly at that time in American bosoms, enlisted in the army contrary to the remonstrance of his friends, and refused to accept of a discharge which was procured for him by his paternal uncle, who was a colonel in the army; he had enlisted to fight for his country, and he was determined to do it.
This desire of serving his country in battle was soon gratified; for he was one of three hundred Americans who cut their way through a greatly superior British force near Plattsburgh, and was one of the forlorn hope who crossed the Saranac river right under the range of a British battery to a thick underbrush of dry pine. He was severely wounded in this gallant exploit; but in a little while after, wishing to distinguish himself by an act still more daring, he took twenty choice men, and in the dead hour of the night successfully surprised a town in possession of a large British force, and carried off three prisoners of rank, without the loss of a single man.
The gallant bearing of young Ranney soon won for him the respect of his commanding officers, and he was quickly promoted, first as a sergeant, and afterward as a provost marshal; and his conduct throughout the whole war showed that patriotism alone influenced his services, and not a love of military promotion. A few years after leaving the army, desirous of making for himself a name and fortune, he came to St. Louis in 1819, and commenced commercial pursuits.
In the year 1827, two important events occurred in his life, and which have greatly administered to his happiness — he married in that year Miss Amelia J. Shackford — and became likewise wedded to the Presbyterian church. His marriage has been blessed with a large family of children, and in the church of which he is such an efficient member, he has long been an elder. One of his daughters married Charles Hale, of St. Louis.
Though born in an Eastern state, and under a cold clime, General Ranney is neither a Northern nor a Southern maniac, but a conservative man, and his heart is as warm as a summer's sun. In 1836, General Ranney was appointed by Governor Dunklin, Brigadier-General in the Missouri Militia. In 1842, he was President pro tempore of the Board of Aldermen, and for years President of the Board of Public Schools. In 1851, he delivered an eloquent address at Burlington, Iowa, declaring himself a Union man. In 1855, he addressed the convention of the soldiers of 1812 at
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Philadelphia. In 1856, he spoke at a large American meeting in St. Louis; and there are very few his equal in a stump speech. In 1857, when the financial panic caused the money of other states to be refused, he called a meeting of merchants, and restored confidence in foreign currency, and thereby saved many frightened individuals from falling a prey to the money sharks, who, on such occasions, are always ready to make a glorious feast.In his military career, General Ranney showed himself ready and fearless in action, patriotic in his aims, and kind and sympathizing as a soldier and as an officer. In political life he is never violent, but while he is firm and frank in the expression of his principles, he is, at all times, courteous to all holding opinions different from his own. In the civil positions which he has filled, he has been marked for his attention, his industry, and his clear and discriminating judgment; and any office he holds, he never makes it a sinecure, but holds it as a responsible trust, and attends, with the most scrupulous exactness, to its minutest details. As a friend, he is confiding and generous; and as a merchant, his present affluence, gathered amid the uncertain fluctuations of commercial life, is an evidence of the possession of the requisites adapted to that respectable but precarious pursuit.
With the exception of Mr. Henry Von Phul, senior, General Ranney is the oldest merchant in St. Louis now living, and the store and warehouse of Shackford and Ranney were, for a long time, the only buildings of the kind on the levee, consequently, he has been a resident of St. Louis from its infancy, and his exertions and example have helped its growth and assisted its advance. Though upward of threescore years of age, from his regular life he is still hale and vigorous, and is now the cashier and general agent of the St. Louis, Cairo, and New Orleans Railroad line of steamers, and is always to be found, during business hours, giving his attention to the important position he knows so well how to fill. He is President of the Missouri Bible Society, and in all of the relations of his diversified life there is not a stain resting upon his character.
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Theron Barnum.
THERON BARNUM was born April 23d, 1803, in Addison county, Vermont. His father, Stephen Barnum, was a fanner in humble circumstances, and had the usual blessing of a poor man, a round dozen of children. He emigrated from Connecticut, in 1808, to Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where he continued his agricultural pursuits. Young Theron Barnum worked on the farm, and assisted his father until he was seventeen years of age, receiving in the mean time the indifferent instruction usually afforded by a country school. Wishing to cultivate his mind, and at the same time to earn a livelihood, young Barnum at the age of seventeen commenced teaching school, which took up six hours a day of his time; and so desirous was he for mental improvement, that he walked at night the distance of eight miles to a school taught by a proficient scholar, where he could receive proper instruction in English grammar, and the more advanced branches of English education.
For several years he pursued the vocation of teaching, and finding himself then, by his education, qualified to fill with credit almost any position, in 1824 he went to Wilkesbarre, and engaged as clerk in a store. He staid at that town till the year 1827, when he went to Baltimore at the request of his uncle, the late David Barnum, who gave Barnum's Hotel in Baltimore the deserved fame which it so long bore, of being "the best hotel in the United States." With much advantage to himself, he remained with his uncle in the capacity of confidential clerk, and became, under his able instruction, well instructed in the mystery of keeping a first class hotel. During the time he was with his uncle, there was a great celebration in Baltimore, caused by the opening of the first fifteen miles of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to Ellicotts' Mills. Mr. Barnum, with many thousands of others, visited the place, and, it being at that time a terminus, he determined to put into practical effect the experience he had gained in hotel-keeping, and opened what was long known as the Patapsco Hotel. So long as Ellicotts' Mills was a terminus the hotel did a swimming business. It was there that the stages received their passengers for the national road across the mountains, and on the arrival of the cars, the passengers for the West breakfasted with Mr. Barnum. In the summer, hundreds of citizens, attracted by the reputation of the hotel, and the natural loveliness of the romantic country, would come from the city in the morning, and after spending the day, would return in the evening.
Mr. Barnum remained at Ellicotts' Mills so long as it was a terminus and a harvest was to be gathered; and when these essentials ceased to exist, he sold out his establishment to Mr. A. McLaughlin, now one of the proprietors of Barnum's City Hotel, Baltimore.
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of the large packets that coursed between New York and Liverpool. The fruit of this marriage was two sons, Freeman and Robert, both of whom are living.In 1835, Mr. Barnum removed to Philadelphia, and bought the Philadelphia Hotel, located in Arch street, but having long before thought of arranging his business and starting for the West, he sold out in 1838, determining to settle in St. Louis, whose great future, from the force of location, he knew was evident. On his way to St. Louis he was induced to stop at Terre Haut, a thriving town in Indiana, and take charge of a hotel owned by Mr. Chauncey Hose; however, he did not long remain in that place, feeling convinced that though it would become a town of most respectable size and business, it would never support the kind of hotel of which he was desirous of becoming the head; so he removed to St. Louis in March, 1840, and rented the City Hotel, situated on Third and Vine streets. This hotel was a long time the favorite house of the public, and Mr. Barnum, during his proprietorship, enlarged and improved it to a considerable degree. He kept that hotel successfully for thirteen years, and in September, 1852, sold out.
The activity of Mr. Barnum's previous life precluded any thing like inaction, and in a short time, after selling out the City Hotel, he made an effort to raise a stock company, for the purpose of building a magnificent hotel at a cost of $300,000, which would be worthy of the great metropolis of the West; but his spirited efforts were not met with the encouragement they deserved, and the project was abandoned, though Mr. George Collier, Colonel Brant, and Mr. Swearergen, each subscribed the liberal sum of $25,000. Ho afterward took his present hotel, which was built by Mr. George R. Taylor, and admitted Mr. Fogg, who was his clerk, as partner. Mr. Barnum always adopts the safe plan of selecting his chief and responsible officers from the number of his numerous employes whose merits and talents fit them for superior positions; by this means he has well-tried, trustworthy, and efficient officers.
The furnishing of his hotel cost Mr. Barnum the large sum of $80,000. The house is well known throughout the United States, and the well-known reputation of Mr. Barnum is evinced by the crowd of arrivals which daily enjoy his accommodations; and in private life his integrity, his enterprise, his courtesy and generous disposition have made him universally loved and respected.
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Dr. Anderson.
THIS learned and eminent divine was born in Prince Edward's county, state of Virginia, December 5, 1814. His father, Stephen C. Anderson, was a respectable planter, and served as a magistrate of the commonwealth in which he resided. The early days of young Anderson were spent upon the farm of his father, and usually attending the little village school of the place, which afforded him instruction in the common branches of an English education; and with the aid of a tutor he was instructed in the mysteries of the Latin and Greek languages, until 1831; he then went to the University of Ohio, at Athens, and from there to Andover, Indiana, and graduated in 1835.
After having, by the study of years, formed the groundwork on which he could build any profession, young Anderson, following the bent of his inclinations, which had long fostered a love for religious pursuits, went to the Union Theological Seminary, for the purpose of fitting himself for the duties of the ministry. After passing through the fall course suitable to his future calling, Mr. Anderson went to Oxford, North Carolina, where he remained one year: and receiving an invitation from Danville, Virginia, he accepted the call, and for five years preached to a respectable and continually-increasing congregation. From Danville he removed to Norfolk, where he soon became most popular in his calling. The fame of his learning, his piety, and his effective delivery from the pulpit, soon spread beyond the precincts of the little city in which he lived, and his name became associated with the constellation of ministers whose talents can best invest Religion with her true and heavenly attributes.
After remaining in Norfolk for five years, Dr. Anderson came to St. Louis in 1857, and engaged as the pastor of the Central Church, which at that time was far from being in a flourishing condition. Nothing discouraged, he went earnestly to work, and by the daily example of a well regulated life, and by precepts from the pulpit, bathed in the Hyblaean dew of eloquence, he awakened emotions in hearts which had before remained indifferent to the duties of religion, and by degrees the congregation increased in number, and the church was soon relieved from the debt which had so long oppressed it. The church is now in the most prosperous condition.
Dr. Anderson was married April 9th, 1840, to Miss Lucy A. Jones, of Nottaway county, Virginia, and the domestic fireside and ministerial duties form the elements of his happiness. The secret of his success as a preacher is owing to his earnestness of manner, to the strength and purity of his language, and the possession of true piety, which gives that genial glow to his discourse, which, by sympathetic fervor, invites the listener to partake of the pure joys which spring from a religious life. He lives, and has lived, to good purpose, and his watchfulness over his congregation shows that he truly acts the part of a good shepherd to his flock.
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Sullivan Blood. President of the Boatmens' Savings Institution.
THE subject of this memoir was born in the town of Windsor, state of Vermont, on the 24th of April, 1795. His life has been one of progression; and, as we follow him from his humble commencement in the city of St. Louis, and see how step by step he has risen to position and affluence, we feel that his biography will exert a salutary influence; and many an ambitious youth, denied the influence of friends and wealth, will be encouraged to fight manfully and hopefully the great battle of life.
The parents of Sullivan Blood were natives of Massachusetts, and emigrated to Vermont, then called the new state, in 1793, there lived upon a farm, and both died during the years 1813 and 1814. Two years after losing his parents, Sullivan Blood, who always possessed an enterprising and ambitious mind, determined to emigrate to the far West, and there manfully to work out his destiny. After examining thoroughly on the map the different locations, he selected that of the city of St. Louis as the most proper place to commence his fortune, and in 1817 fixed his residence in that spot. St. Louis, at that time, was just passing the barrier in municipal existence which divides the village from a town, and according to an edict issued by the authorities, a night-watch was appointed the following year, and among the number of candidates for the new appointment Mr. Blood was elected as one of the watchmen; but when he became known, and his character and talents appreciated, he was soon exalted to the position of captain.
During the time that Captain Blood held his responsible position, the property of the city and citizens was well protected from the thief, the burglar, and the incendiary; and so efficient was he in the discharge of his duties, that he retained the position of captain for the space of some years. After remaining six years in St. Louis, Captain Blood determined to revisit the Green Mountain state, and, during his visit, married Miss Sophia Hall, whose mother still survives, at the venerable age of ninety-one years.
Captain Blood was a constable in the city for ten years; and served in the capacity of deputy sheriff during the terms of Robert Simpson and John R. Walker. In 1833, he was elected an alderman from the second ward, and served one year. Beyond this, Captain Blood has not been identified with political life, which he knew would interfere with his private business and domestic happiness. He has often been solicited to become the candidate for many important offices, but for the reasons we have given, has always declined political interference. Captain Blood early turned his attention to steamboating, and in the palmy days of steamboat navigation, before railroads had crossed the western prairies, he became engaged in the trade between New Orleans and St. Louis, and plentifully gathered of the harvest which belonged to
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those who were engaged in the profitable pursuit of steamboating. He built two boats, both of which he commanded, and by the kindness of his disposition, and the amenities of his manners, the boats he commanded became the general favorites of the travelling and commercial world. Many citizens of St. Louis, and inhabitants of all parts of the Union can call up pleasant reminiscences, while a passenger in the boats commanded by the careful and friendly Captain Blood. He probably knew the Mississippi, during the time he was an officer on its waters, as well as any pilot engaged upon it.The circumstance of Captain Blood being once a boatman, and his popularity with all who followed that profession, made it proper that he should be appointed a director in the "Boatmens' Saving Institution," which was created with especial reference to the wants, and for the benefit of that numerous class of individuals who follow the western rivers as a means of subsistence. It was thought that the name would enlist the attention of numerous hardworking but improvident individuals, who might be induced to deposit a small portion of their hard-earned money, and by that means contract habits of calculation, and a desire to create a store on which they could draw, should some malady assail them, or old age render them unfit for manual exertion. From the very first, Captain Blood became the supporter and friend of this institution, which, from an humble commencement, has become one of the most extensive and favorite moneyed institutions in St. Louis.
The confidence reposed in an institution necessarily arises from the character of its officers; and Captain Blood was appointed a director in 1847, and during the last five years has been its president, and the weight of his character is manifested by the popularity of the institution. He has always been a working man, and still works, enjoying a "green old age." He has not frittered away his time either in visionary impossibilities or slothful inaction, but "honorable labor" has been the maxim of his life, and to it he is indebted for the worldly comforts he possesses in the decline of his life; and to his industry, integrity, philanthropy, and domestic virtues, he owes the tribute of respect that is paid to his character.
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John A. Brownlee, President of the Merchants' Bank.
JOHN A. BROWNLEE was born May 8th, 1819, at Basking Ridge, state of New Jersey. His father, the Rev. William C. Brownlee, D. D., was an eminent Divine, and a most accomplished scholar, being a graduate of the University at Glasgow, Scotland, and, immediately on entering the ministry, removed to this country, and first commenced his ministerial labors in the state of Pennsylvania, as a Presbyterian minister. His thorough and varied learning, and the earnest devotion to the sect whose creed he had chosen to follow and advocate, soon gave him distinction in the literary world, and made him the champion of his religious order.
Besides filling with distinction various posts in his ministerial calling, the Rev. Dr. Brownlee was distinguished as an author in various departments of learning, and, at one time, was the President of Rutger's College, New Brunswick, of which the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen is now the head. Dr. Brownlee removed to New York in 1825, and became one of the associate ministers of the Reformed Dutch Church, and was considered the ablest pulpit orator of the day. It was while he was pastor of the Presbyterian church at Basking Ridge, that his son, John A. Brownlee, the subject of this memoir, was born.
As far as social position, paternal influence, and the well-wishes of troops of friends could subserve him, John A. Brownlee was born under the most favorable auspices. The position of his father gave him every opportunity of early improving his mind, and storing it with knowledge that might fit him for future usefulness. After receiving a liberal education, young Brownlee selected commercial pursuits as his business calling in life, and went to New York city, where he was engaged in the extensive wholesale silk house kept by Throckmorton & Co., and there remained for three years. Being of an aspiring disposition, which prompted him to be at the head of the avocation he had chosen, he determined to remove from New York and seek in the West a more favorable field, where to found his fortune and gratify his ambition.
Chicago, the Queen City of the lakes, had just commenced to attract attention, and John A. Brownlee removed to the then embryo city, where he remained one year, and then went to St. Louis, in 1839, where he believed the business inducements to be greatest. In St. Louis he commenced as dry goods clerk in the house of P. E. Blow, which soon after became known as the firm of Blow & Labaume.
By his business capacity, his integrity, and successful management, Mr. Brownlee soon won the respect and confidence of his employers, and by degrees passed through all the progressive stages of advancement until he became a partner in the establishment he entered as clerk, and the firm was conducted by him and his associate, Mr. L. B. Shaw; nearly at this time he was joined in marriage to Miss Ridgely, of Baltimore. At the death of Mr. Shaw, the entire business was purchased by Mr. Brownlee,
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which he conducted solely for some time, until the present firm of Brownlee, Homer & Company was organized.The ruling desire of Mr. Brownlee's life appears to have been to gain the highest round of usefulness in business life; and his present position his wealth, integrity, and influence, show how well he has accomplished his wishes. He is President of the Millers & Manufacturers' Insurance Company, and is the head of one of the most respectable moneyed institutions in the state, being President of the Merchants' Bank. He has never wished to stray from the business orbit; has never sought the uncertain honors which belong to political controversy; and only on one occasion do we find that he took an active part in the turbulent scenes of party faction, and that was when he was president of the state council of the American party. His sphere in life has been of a quiet and useful nature, and he is well and honorably known in the city of his adoption. His high moral worth, connected with his business capacity and rare intelligence, has given him an influence among all classes of citizens, who yield to his opinions, and readily submit to his judgment.
John A. Brownlee is only at the meridian of life, and with his mind stored with information, and rich in experience, and possessing a constitution vigorous and healthful, he has the promise of a long future of usefulness.
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Henry Ames.
THE subject of this memoir was born in Oneida county, New York, March 4, 1818. His father, Nathan Ames, was engaged for some time in agricultural pursuits, until, in 1828, he came to the city of Cincinnati, and engaged in the pork-packing business. His two sons, Henry and Edgar, who are all of the children that are living, were sent early to school, and taught thoroughly the useful branches of an English education. That accomplished, they were taken into the establishment of their father, and instructed carefully in all the duties connected with the pork-packing business.
In 1841, Mr. Nathan Ames, the father, believing that St. Louis, from her geographical position, would, in time, become the great metropolis of the West, and far outstrip the city in which he was located, established himself in the growing town in the same business he had pursued in Cincinnati, and died in 1852, aged fifty-six years, respected for his many virtues.
Henry Ames had been connected with his father as early as 1833, and for many years floated down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers on flatboats laden for the New Orleans market. At that time the Mississippi was filled with snags, and the navigation was most perilous. Henry Ames narrowly escaped with his life on several occasions, from his boat coming in contact with these obstructions, and rapidly sinking. He was looked upon, even when a boy, by the business men who knew him, as possessing all the elements suitable for the avocation he pursued; and many predicted that he would in time attain the first rank in his business, and stand at its head. That prophecy is already fulfilled; for we believe that Henry Ames & Co., are the largest beef and pork packers in the Union.
Henry Ames was married February, 1855, to Mrs. McCloud, daughter of Doctor Scudder. He is one of the most honorable and liberal of men; and his enterprise and business capacity are undoubted. He has been, and is, connected with many offices of trust and importance. He has been President of the Chamber of Commerce for two years, is Vice-President of the State Saving Institution, is a director in the Merchants' Insurance Company, in the United States Insurance Company, and other institutions. Still young and in the prime of manhood, he has already garnered wealth and reputation, without creating the envy which so usually accompanies success. He has won golden opinions from all, and there are none but who respect his name, and appreciate his character.
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Henry T. Blow, President of the Collier White-Lead Oil Company.
HENRY T. BLOW was born July 15, 1817, in Southampton county, Virginia. He is descended from a very ancient English family, and can trace his lineage to the days of the unfortunate Charles I. He has a portrait of one of his ancestors, John Blow, who was an eminent musician and composer of music at that time, hung in his parlor. Captain Peter Blow, his father, was a respectable planter in Virginia, and removed for a brief time to Alabama, and from thence to St. Louis in 1830, and became proprietor of what was known as the Jefferson Hotel. He died a year afterward universally lamented. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Taylor, of an old Virginian family, and had twelve children, six of whom are living, Peter, Henry, Taylor, Elizabeth, William, and Mrs. Joseph Charless. The gentlemen are all highly esteemed for their business qualifications, integrity, and intelligence, in the localities where they reside.
Henry T. Blow, the subject of this biography, was early sent to school, and had all the advantages of early mental culture, being designed by his father for the profession of the law. He graduated at the St. Louis University, an institution which has always been eminent for its thorough scholarship; and having given up all ideas of the legal profession, he obtained the situation of clerk in the drug establishment of Messrs. Joseph Charless & Son.
Mr. Blow was always remarkable for his industry, his energy, and ambition to excel in business pursuits. He very soon became indispensable to the establishment of his employers, and in 1836, after the elder Mr. Charless retired, he was taken as partner in the house by the son, and the firm was known as Charless & Blow. The firm did a very heavy and lucrative business, till 1839, when Mr. Charless wishing to retire, Mr. Blow bought out his interest, and became sole owner of the drug store. This continued until 1840, when Mr. Charless again became a partner, and the firm became Joseph Charless & Company. The business soon became much enlarged, and the White-Lead Works, which formed the commencement of the present Collier White-Lead and Oil Company were connected with their business.
In 1844, Mr. Blow and Mr. Charless dissolved partnership; the former having determined to carry on the White-Lead Works which he had set apart for himself on the dissolution of copartnership; Mr. Charless still carrying on the drug-store. Fortune had always been propitious to Mr. Blow, but she became lavish of her favors; for in the short period of tour years after his sole possession of the White-Lead Works he amassed all the wealth he desired, and then determined to retire, having an ample fortune. He applied for an act of incorporation of the White-Lead Works, and a charter was granted under the style of the Collier White Lead
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Lead and Oil Company. From the very commencement in its corporate character, Mr. Blow has been its President, and the works do a business of immense magnitude and profit.Mr. Blow was married July 15, 1840, to Miss Grimsley, the accomplished daughter of Thornton Grimsley, Esq., of St. Louis. He has never been an ardent politician, and never had much relish for the feverish excitement of political life, yet he yielded to the earnest importunities of his friends, and was elected to the state senate for four years. He was a hard-working and efficient member, and took an active part in all the important measures that were agitated. Whilst at Jefferson City he was chairman of the committee on banks and corporations.
Mr. Blow has been one of the directors of the Iron Mountain Railroad, and through his efficient exertion, assisted by others who possessed a taste for the fine arts, the Western Academy of Art came into being. This institution has been brought into existence by its corporators with much labor and expense, so as to form and encourage a taste for a love of the beautiful. Such an institution was much needed in St. Louis, and it will form a nucleus around which will cluster the votaries of art, who will contribute generously to its advance, and its refining influence will direct the sensibilities of the inhabitants in more delicate channels, and encourage a love of the elegant. Mr. Blow is president of the institution.
Mr. Blow has always taken a prominent part in the affairs of the Agricultural and Mechanical Association, now so widely known throughout the Union, and has been one of its most efficient officers since its incorporation. During the last Fair of 1858, so as to create a general emulation among the architects of St. Louis, he offered, as a private premium, the sum of two hundred dollars for the best plan of a suburban residence, the cost not exceeding $20,000. He is well known to the citizens of St. Louis; and in connection with his acknowledged business qualifications, he is highly esteemed for his moral attributes. He is now in the full vigor of manhood, and has already accomplished what most men lay out as the work of a protracted life — "wealth, honor, and the good-will of all men."
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Rev. Dr. M. McAnally.
THIS well-known Methodist divine, journalist, and author, was born in Granger county, Tennessee, February 17, 1810. His parents, Charles and Elizabeth McAnally, came to the state of Tennessee when it was almost a wild, and soon became possessed of a very large tract of land in that fertile state. Charles McAnally was a Christian and Methodist preacher for forty years, and died at an advanced ago in 1849. His son, the subject of this sketch, had the advantage in early years of a fine private school, and early evinced an inclination for study and the pursuit of letters. He occasionally worked on the farm, which served to complete his physical development; and after receiving a proper preliminary education, he commenced the study of the law, which he abandoned afterward for that of the ministry.
At the early age of nineteen, young McAnally commenced his labors from the pulpit, and in November, 1831, was ordained with full powers of the ministry. He was remarkably successful in making friends and proselytes; and his ardent zeal, and impassioned delivery, and his effective reasoning made him one of the most popular preachers of the Methodist persuasion. He preached in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and other places, until 1843, when he received the appointment of President of the Female Institute at Knoxville, over which he successfully presided for eight years; and the fame of the institution drew pupils from Maine to Texas. It remains to this day a first class seminary.
In 1851, the Rev. Dr. M. McAnally came to St. Louis, at the invitation of the St. Louis and Missouri Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to conduct the Christian Advocate, and take charge of the books published by his church. The concern was started with a capital of $1,800, and it soon became so profitable, that in 1853, the publishing business was connected with the bookstore, and a large quantity of standard works, equal in typographical excellence to any coming from the large establishments in the East, have already been published. There have been more than 100,000 volumes issued by the concern since it went into existence. The house does a most extensive business throughout the West, and belongs to the St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas Conferences.
Dr. McAnally's connection with the Christian Advocate, so widely circulated is well known. He is a fearless and lucid writer, and disseminates those doctrines which he believes will exert the most salutary influence over the temporal and eternal welfare of his fellow beings.
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George Partridge.
THE subject of this memoir was born March 27, 1809, at Walpole, Massachusetts. He was the son of honorable parents, who still are living at Templeton, in the state of Massachusetts. His father, Ezekiel Partridge, was a farmer, and George, who was one of twelve children, was early initiated in the mysteries of agriculture, and faithfully assisted his father in the cultivation of the farm till he was seventeen years of age, a small portion of time being given to his education. He had time to go to the country school in the winter — the rest of the year was devoted to hard work. When he arrived at the age of seventeen, being anxious to commence a start in life, he taught a little school during two winters, by which he earned a few extra dollars.
In 1828, an unexpected misfortune diminished very much the resources of his father, and George Partridge had to sever himself from parental guiding-strings, and seek a livelihood in the world among strangers. Though brave at heart, and early confident in himself, it was not without a full heart and moistened eye that he took leave of the parental roof, and went to Boston to seek his fortune. His cash capital on reaching Boston amounted to thirteen dollars, and consequently he could not delay in selecting what to do, as his means would soon become exhausted. He must commence work at once, or starvation would be the result; so he commenced, as the quickest mode of turning over his capital, the sale of books and papers, and also procuring subscriptions for the same. This was an almost starving occupation, and young George Partridge soon forsook it, when he was offered a situation in a grocery store, at a salary of fifty dollars a year and board. He remained in that employment for some time, and finding that, with all his economy, he could scarcely save enough to purchase his clothes, he resolved to start, if possible, in business himself, if he could get credit for his stock of goods. His industry, honesty, and attention to business had been noticed by business men, and he found no difficulty in procuring credit, and started his fortunes with a stock of goods, and a store at four hundred dollars rent, in which first investment he was very fortunate. He remained at that time in the grocery business eight years, the last years of the time engaged solely in the wholesale trade.
All who have reached the meridian of life must recollect the terrible financial crisis which visited the country in 1837, and swept from existence in the business world firms which before appeared to possess all the elements of healthful endurance. Amid the business prostration which was everywhere around him, George Partridge stood unmoved by the shock. His neighbors suspended payment, but he was always ready to cancel his debts.
It was the custom of groceries in those days, as now, to do a large liquor business, which formed the most lucrative portion of the trade, and finding if he did not sell that important article in Boston, that he could not keep
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pace with other grocers, Mr. Partridge sold out in June, 1838, and resolved on trying his fortunes in the Far-west.After leaving Boston he went to Burlington, a thriving town in Iowa, where he established a large grocery house, which went under the name of Bridgeman & Partridge, and did a lucrative business. Whilst in Iowa Mr. Partridge made an effort to establish a Unitarian society, but there were too few of that popular sect in Burlington and its vicinity to form a congregation, so the project was unsuccessful. Thriving as the town of Burlington is, Mr. Partridge wanted an ampler field, so he came to St. Louis, and bought a copartnership in the firm of Smith and Brother, and commenced the grocery and commission business, under the firm of Partridge & Company, and one of the conditions of the partnership expresses that no alcoholic liquor is to be sold.
Mr. Partridge has been twice married. In March 27, 1834, he was married to Miss Elmira Kenney, and on January 6, 1858, to Mrs. Clarace C. Cotter of Boston. From a long course of successful business pursuits, he has won for himself the confidence of all business men, and filled many important positions. He is a director in the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, also one in the State Saving Association, and was one of the Board of Public Schools, which he held for five years; took an active part in the building of the Unitarian Church; one of the trustees of Washington University, and most efficient in procuring the erection of the new Female Institute, the Mary Academy, to be connected with it; and is connected in divers ways with other institutions.
The charity of Mr. Partridge is munificent and unostentatious, and when one of the eleemosynary institutions of our city was in debt five hundred dollars, he paid the amount out of his own pocket, without requiring the public journals to sound the charity in their thousands of distributions. He is now approaching the "sear and yellow leaf" of life, but he is surrounded with troops of friends.
In March 31, 1859, the parents of Mr. Partridge celebrated at his house their "golden wedding," having been married fifty years, and lived happily in that relationship.
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William Glasgow, Jr., President of the Missouri Wine Company.
WILLIAM GLASGOW, Jr., was born at Christiana, state of Delaware, July 4, 1813. Some five years after his birth, his parents, James and Ann Glasgow, removed from that state to Missouri, and settled at Chariton, and removed from there to St. Louis in 1836.
William Glasgow, Jr., was the second child, and he received the rudiments of his education at Chariton, but on attaining a proper age, was sent to a fine school in Wilmington, state of Delaware, where he remained three years completing his education. After leaving school he commenced business in that town, where he remained until 1836, and, joining his father, came to St. Louis.
After a residence of some years in Missouri, William Glasgow became convinced that the soil of a large portion of the state was adapted to the growth of the grape. He drew his conclusions from the nature of the soil, the climate, and the plenty and luxuriance with which the wild grape abounded and flourished in almost every locality. So well convinced was he of the fact that the grape could be successfully cultivated, that he planted a small vineyard at his present residence, in 1844, amid the jeers of many who derided the idea that wine could be made in Missouri. However, the crop was an abundant one, and the experiment even surpassed the expectations of Mr. Glasgow. This was the first vineyard ever established in the state of Missouri, and to Mr. Glasgow belongs the credit of introducing into the state an article of agriculture, which will soon rank as one of its staples, and become one of the chief elements of wealth and national industry. Mr. Glasgow, in 1847, obtained the first premium for grapes and wine that was conferred by any society in the state of Missouri. It is natural for man to link himself with successful measures; and finding that the cultivation of the grape would prove profitable, in 1853 there was formed a company called William Glasgow, Jr., & Company, which consisted of William Glasgow, Jr., Amadee Vallé, and Allen H. Glasby, for the purpose of manufacturing wine from grape produced in Missouri, on an extensive scale. The company obtained a charter in 1855, under the name of the Missouri Wine Company, with a cash capital of $65,000, and Mr. Glasgow was chosen President, which office he still holds. The fame of the wine now extends over both hemispheres.
Mr. Glasgow was married April 16, 1840, to Miss Sarah L. Lane, daughter of Dr. William Carr Lane, first mayor of St. Louis. He has the confidence and respect which the purity of his character so well deserves.
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Part III. History of St. Louis.
Chapter I. French Domination.
Laclede Liguest and his companions start from New Orleans, August, 1763, and arrived at Ste. Genevieve in November. — Leave Ste. Genevieve and go to Fort de Chartres. He makes a voyage of discovery to the mouth of the Missouri. — Selects the spot for his trading post. — Settlement of St. Louis, February 15, 1764. — Visit of the Missouri Indians. — Treaty of 1763. — Secret treaty between France and Spain. — Increase of St. Louis. — Early habits of the settlers. — Rage of the people when informed of the secret treaty. — Arrival of Louis St. Ange de Bellerive at St. Louis. — Granting of land. — Popularity of the commandant. — The attachment of the Indians to the French, their hatred of the English. — Laying out of St. Louis. — Its extent in 1764 and 1780. — Its appearance before any buildings were erected. — Style of dwellings. — Names of principal inhabitants. — Grant made to Liguest of the land on which he first commenced to build. — Grant of land on La Petite RiviÄre. — Mills built thereon. — First mortgage. — First marriage. — Land reserved for church. — First baptism. — The place for a public square. — Unfavorable news from New Orleans. — The arrival of Rios. — The determination of the inhabitants to resist Spanish authority. — He leaves St. Louis when the news reaches him that the Spanish commandant was driven from New Orleans. — Joy of the inhabitants. — The common fields. — Their regulations. — Names of common fields. — Arrival of Pontiac. — His appearance. — His fame. — His visit to Cahokia. — His assassination. — His burial in St. Louis. — Extermination of the Illinois Indians. — The arrival of O'Reilly in New Orleans. — His reception by the people. — Five of the inhabitants are executed, and six sent to the dungeons in Cuba. — The first church is built in St. Louis. — Its consecration by Father Gibault. — Arrival of Piernas in St. Louis. — He takes possession of the town. — French domination ceases in Louisiana.
IT was in the summer of 1763, that there was a commotion of no ordinary kind in the town of New Orleans, then the capital of the whole province of Louisiana, which was almost fabulous in its extent. It had become bruited abroad that a charter had been given a company, conferring upon them the privilege of an exclusive trade with the savages of the Missouri, as far north as the St. Peter's River. The title of the company was Laclede Liguest, Antoine Maxent and Co., of whom the first-named partner was the active representative.
At that time, little was known of the waters of the Upper Mississippi, for above the mouth of the Missouri there was no trade carried on with New Orleans, the capital of the province. Nearly a century before, there had been few settlements formed on the eastern side of the Mississippi, at St. Philip's, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Fort de Chartres, villages on or near its banks, but on the west side of the "great river" there was no attempt made to colonize the territory north of Ste. Genevieve, then called La Poste de Ste. Genevieve, which, as far as tradition, with the suggestion of musty records, will avail us, was founded in the year 1755, and is the oldest town in the state of Missouri. The announcement that a company was going to establish a trading post and colony somewhere on the west
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banks of the Mississippi River, near the Missouri, created a great excitement among the inhabitants of New Orleans, who were principally made up of trappers, hunters and traders, fond of the wild romance incident to pioneer life. Many of them were anxious to make part of the new emigration, so soon to alienate themselves from their homes, and risk their lives in a region where the savages still claimed the immunity of their heritage, and believed that their hunting-grounds were free from the encroachments of the white men.The new enterprise was very popular, not only from the reason that we before advanced, of the love of the people, at that early day, of adventurous excitement, but from the circumstance that Antoine Maxant, one of the proprietors of the company, held an office under the king of France, in the province of Louisiana, it is probable that through his influence the charter was obtained from M. d'Abbadie, the governor of the province. Of Pierre Laclede Liguest, previous to this time, we know nothing, except that he came from a province in France bordering on the Pyrenees, and came to this country with credentials from the court of France, with the intention of trading with the Indians. Of him history has made no record, and even tradition, in her legendary narratives, preserves a singular silence. It is only from 1763, to his death in 1778, that we have any data that can furnish any materials for his biography, or enable us to form any estimate of his character. (See Errata 1)
The company, consisting of a large number of mechanics, trappers, hunters, with probably a few agriculturists, started from the Crescent City, in the rough, heavy kind of boats that were used at that time, for some spot on the west bank of the Mississippi that would be favorable for establishing a trading post and colony. The expedition was under the command of Pierre Laclede Liguest, who carried with him a large amount of coarse but strong merchandise, suitable for the trade with the savages. After a fatiguing trip, they made a short stop at Ste. Genevieve, the only French post op the west banks of the Mississippi that could furnish any thing like shelter or the comforts of life. It was the intention of M. Laclede Liguest to leave his merchandise at that place, until he could fix a location higher up the river, and more contiguous to the Missouri.
Finding that Ste. Genevieve could offer no accommodation for his party or sufficient shelter for his goods, M. Laclede Liguest, at the invitation of the officer in charge of Fort de Chartres, again ascended the river, with the intention of stopping at that place, and there disembark his companions and merchandise, until he could select a location suitable for his purposes.
On arriving at Fort de Chartres, he found that preparations were actively making to evacuate the place, and deliver it to the English, to whom had been ceded all of the French territory on the east bank of the Mississippi, with the exception of the city of New Orleans, by the treaty of 1703. The fort was commanded by M. de Neyon de Villiers, who, from the meagre accounts which history has left us, was of a haughty and imperious disposition, and gave to the voyagers not a very cordial welcome, although he had extended to them the invitation of hospitality.
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M. Laclede Liguest, after storing his goods, started with a few attendants for the mouth of the Missouri, resolving to fix on some spot between Fort de Chartres and the "Muddy River," at which he could commence a settlement in the early part of spring, it then being the month of December. After carefully examining the appearance of the land on the west bank of the Mississippi, he arrived at the mouth of the Missouri, the Pekitanoni of the Indians, and, without making any delay, he immediately turned his boat down stream and landed on the spot which has since become the seat of the great metropolis of the western country. He had observed the location in ascending the river, and seeing no other possessing similar advantages, he determined that it should become the site of the village he proposed to establish.
After closely examining the spot, he commenced slicing trees, saying to Auguste Chouteau, a young man who accompanied him: "You will come here as soon as the river will be free from ice, and will cause this place to be cleared, and form a settlement according to the plan I shall give you." After thus marking the place, he again set out for Fort de Chartres, delighted with the spot he had chosen, and on arriving at the fort, he told M. de Neyon and his officers, "that he had found a situation where he intended establishing a settlement, which, in the future, would become one of the most beautiful cities in America."
The place being selected for the establishment of his colony, M. Laclede Liguest occupied himself during the winter at Fort de Chartres, in making preparations to take possession of the chosen spot at the commencement of spring. Having early perfected his arrangements, and there being no hindrance from ice, he selected a choice body of men, consisting of the flower of the expedition, being nearly all mechanics, and placed them under the direction of Auguste Chouteau, who acted as his lieutenant, and for whom and his family he always entertained a singular affection.
There were about thirty men under the charge of the young man, and M. Laclede Liguest gave to him, with other orders, the following instructions: "You will go and disembark at the place where we marked the trees; you will commence to clear the place, and build a large shed to contain the provisions and tools, and some little cabins to lodge the men."
In so inclement a month as February, the hardy pioneers must have been subjected to exposure and hardship which most of the present pampered inhabitants of St. Louis can scarcely reconcile with human endurance.
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In those early days, the luxury of life consisted in braving its vicissitudes, and the Spartan education forced upon the inhabitants from necessity, created from habit, a love of danger and a wish for the wild excitement of pioneer life, though unfruitful of gain and subjected to every deprivation. To mingle with the savages, to follow the chase, and to live secluded in the wilderness for months, following the hazardous business of trapping and hunting, formed almost the entire occupation of most of the French inhabitants of that period. A little season of frolic with their light-hearted countrymen, when they returned to the haunts of civilization to dispose of their peltries, amply rewarded them for all their fatigue and danger; and then, quickly surfeited, they again sighed for the Indian and the wilderness. Even the artisans were often lured from their peaceful avocations, and following the chase for a brief season, were not strangers to the rough fare and hardships incident to the hunter's life. They learned to live upon and relish dried buffalo meat or whatever game fortune threw in their way. They could pillow on the earth and sleep unsheltered under the canopy of heaven, without thinking it a hardship.
The followers of Pierre Laclede Liguest were men of this stamp; brave, light-hearted, and inured to hardship. They probably spent the first night of their landing in sitting round their camp-fire, engaged in cooking and eating, in telling long stories of perilous adventure, in passing around the innocent jest, or in singing some national songs which brought to their memories all the pride with which Frenchmen regard their native land. In a few days the sheds and cabins were finished, and in the early part of March, Laclede Liguest having arrived, the plan of the village was laid out, and the site selected where he wished his house to be built. He named the place St. Louis, in honor of Louis XV., king of France. He little knew, at that time, his king had disposed of the whole of the vast country west of the Mississippi to the king of Spain. (See Errata 2)
Laclede Liguest remained but a very short time at St. Louis, being compelled to return to Fort de Chartres to make hasty arrangements for the removal of his goods, as it was daily expected that the place would be given up to the English. He therefore laid out a sufficiency of work for the men, who were left, as before, under the direction of Auguste Chouteau, while he returned to Fort de Chartres to attend to his merchandise. Before his departure, a large arrival of the Missouri Indians gave much uneasiness to the new settlement. They had heard of the large advent of the white men on the west bank of the Mississippi, and being nearly destitute of provisions, a whole village came down to St. Louis to get a supply of the necessaries of life — in other words, they came on a begging expedition. There were some hundred and fifty warriors, besides a fair proportion of women and children, and their arrival, at first, was looked upon with distrust, and probably with some emotions of fear; for they out-numbered the colonists five to one, and could have been very troublesome had they evinced any hostile intentions. However dishonorable their designs, they appeared to have no idea of personal violence, and satisfied themselves with what they could gain by begging, with the chances of pilfering, which they never neglected to embrace.
The presence of the Missouri Indians, notwithstanding their amicable bearing, was a source of continual uneasiness, as they always treated any suggestion of departure with an obstinate refusal. The whole colony was
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kept likewise on the alert lest so much temptation to their cupidity might excite them to some act of distrust and violence. It was thought best at this juncture by Laclede Liguest, to take some measures to cause the removal of these Indians, as their presence seriously conflicted with the advance of the colony. Already many who had come over from Cahokia, at that time called Caos, to take part in the future fortunes of the colonists, became alarmed at the presence of the Missouri Indians, and had removed again to their old homes; for they feared that the establishment of a colony on the west bank of the Mississippi River would be regarded with disfavor by the many warlike tribes on the Missouri, who might forget their ancient feuds, and make common cause against a people to whose advance there appeared no limit.Laclede Liguest, by his decision of character, joined with the knowledge of what measures have the most effective influence on the savage mind, soon forced the departure of the Missouri Indians, and relieved the colony of their presence. They were, however, very obstinate in their endeavor to remain. After receiving a supply of provisions, they became so well pleased with their new friends, that they professed their intention of always remaining near them, and of building a village around them. They said "that they were like ducks and buzzards, who sought the open water to rest, and could not find a spot more suitable for their purpose than the place where they then were."
The whole lot of ground situated between Market and Walnut, and Main and Second streets, three hundred feet square, where Barnum's hotel now stands, once made part of the large landed possessions of Laclede Liguest, and it was on it that the house was built which he first inhabited and the sheds and cabins of the men were on the east square. On these squares was the commencement of the city of St. Louis. The dirt from the cellar of the house was removed by the Missouri squaws, for beads and other trinkets which they highly prized.
It becomes now necessary to break off the thread of the narrative, which cannot be pursued any farther at the present time with lucidity. We have before alluded to the fact that when Laclede Liguest named St. Louis in honor of the king of France, he thought himself at that time the subject of Louis XV., and did not dream that the whole soil west of the Mississippi River had been ceded to the king of Spain. He was aware that the whole country east of the Mississippi, with the exception of New Orleans, had been passed over to England, together with Canada, and when the news reached the villages and settlements there was a general mourning among the inhabitants, who possessed a feudal antipathy to the English, and who cursed, without stint, the cowardice or policy of their monarch, who transferred them to the allegiance of their most detested foe. They envied the few inhabitants on the west side of the great river, believing that they were still the subjects of la belle France. They were, however, suffering a delusion, for the whole of Louisiana west of the Mississippi had been transferred to Spain, even before the treaty of Paris in 1763.
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France, placed under an imbecile monarch, and involved in pecuniary difficulties, entered into a secret treaty with Spain in 1762, and ceded to her all of her possessions west of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orleans. What the terms of this treaty were the world never knew, but the natural inference to be drawn from the mystery and secrecy which shrouded it was, that it was in a high degree discreditable to France. The time when this secret treaty became known will be developed in the natural course of this narrative, as it is intimately interwoven with the events which form a part of this history.
After thus premising, we will return to the direct events attending the settlement of St. Louis. On the departure of the Missouri Indians, the new colony, after finishing the necessary houses for their accommodation, soon gave indications of a thrifty appearance. The inhabitants of Cahokia, Kaskaskia and other villages of the Illinois, having a great aversion for English rule, left their homes and settled in the new town, swelling the number of its inhabitants and adding to its resources. To this large accession of the French inhabitants of Illinois, who thought they had removed to a soil long to be governed by the laws of Franco, may be attributed the increase, growth, and vital indications which attended St. Louis even at that early period.
Under the direction of Laclede Liguest, a man of rare energy of character, and every way competent to be at the head of a new colony, if from the little that is left us of his history we can form an opinion, the great business for which he had come from New Orleans was soon established, and the trade with the Indians commenced. Before this, all of the trade in peltry had been carried on at Cahokia and Kaskaskia, but at the establishment of the trading post at St. Louis, the trade in those places commenced to languish, and by degrees was transferred to the new settlement west of the Mississippi. The reason for this change of place in the peltry trade is not to be accounted for solely on the ground of the superior sagacity of the founder of St. Louis in directing the channels of trade to the place he had founded, but other circumstances had their force in effecting it,
As has been before observed, directly it became known that the English were about to take possession of the Illinois country east of the Mississippi (a large portion of Upper Louisiana at that time went by the name of the Illinois country), many of the inhabitants removed to St. Louis, carrying with them their business and their capital. This emigration from Illinois was chiefly from Cahokia and Kaskaskia, the chiet villages, thereby weakening their trade and diminishing their resources. It is also a well known fact that the Indians have always had an aversion to the English from their first intercourse with that people, and immediately that they received possession of the country east of the Mississippi, the savages, from a repugnance to their laws and their customs, no more sought to trade with the towns which were under their domination, but turned their attention to the new trading post on the west of the Mississippi, which was inhabited only by Frenchmen and apparently belonging to the domain of France. For the French the Indians had cordial feelings and a fraternal regard; for the English their feelings were wormwood and gall.
When St. Louis became the favorite place for the peltry trade, which
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it owed mostly to the reasons we have given and somewhat to its location being contiguous to the Missouri, upon whose waters so many tribes of Indians dwelt, it became a still farther inducement for a place of residence, which, together with the unpopularity of the English rule, caused a continual emigration from the villages east of the Mississippi; and a little more than a year from its establishment, it became evident, that it was going to be a town of importance, and would be the leading business place in Upper Louisiana.For more than a year after St. Louis was founded, the inhabitants were contented and happy, and lived in a state of perfect harmony. There were no statutes, no lawgivers, no prisons. There were a few leading inhabitants who were looked upon in the light of patriarchs by the rest, to whom were submitted any little differences that would arise, and whose opinions had all the force of judicial decisions.
The people who formed the first settlement at St. Louis were a different people from those which form the present population of the Great Metropolis of the West. Almost all of them were natives of the province of Louisiana or Canada, and consequently from their childhood had been unaccustomed to the luxuries of life, and were strangers to the artificial wants incident to older countries, and created by the indulgences of a more advanced stage of civilization. Divested of all extravagance in their wishes, they did not pursue wealth with the devotion so characteristic of modern days. They did not make it a god, for whom they were ready to sacrifice all of their temporal comforts and peril their eternal welfare. Contented with little, they had no motive to great exertion, and when their simple desires were satisfied, they endeavored to cultivate the art of being happy with each other.
At that early time there was a fraternal bond which united the community. There was but little division of interest, there were no castes of society, no temptations to test human weakness. All were on an equality, with the same habits and tastes. Their little cabins, formed by logs set upon their ends, and then roofed in, were the very rendezvous of happiness. The dance, the festive song, the uncontrolled mirth, all bore evidence that their spirits were untrammelled by the selfish cares of life, and revelled in the sans souci ecstasy of simple pleasures. Enjoyment was the aim and end of their being; and though they were wofully deficient in mental cultivation, their tastes did not flow into those vicious channels so characteristic of an ignorant people; they were marked by simplicity and untainted by degradation.
Such were the characteristics of the first settlers of St. Louis, who, though settling in a wilderness, and suffering the almost numberless deprivations inseparable from an infant colony, yet enjoyed a larger measure of happiness, and had less of culpable frailties than the inhabitants who now dwell in the city they founded.
It was in April, 1764, that M. d'Abbadie, the commandant-general of the province of Louisiana, received orders from the sovereign of France to proclaim to the people the surrender of all the French possessions west of the Mississippi to the power of Spain. At this intelligence the people of New Orleans were almost maddened with rage, and publicly avowed that they would not submit to the foreign allegiance which their imbecile sovereign would impose upon them. The treaty with England had been unpopular, and
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Louis had been abused for his pusillanimity; but when this secret treaty with Spain was promulgated, and it became known that France had not a tittle of claim to all of her vast possessions which were hers two years before in America, the ire of the French was aroused, their national pride mortified, they heaped curses on the head of their king and his ministers, and declared they would not be alienated from their mother country. M. d'Abbadie was so overwhelmed with grief at the orders he had received that he died of grief some months afterward.It was not many months before the distressing intelligence reached the new colony at St. Louis, that they were no longer subjects of France, and the same grief and rage were manifested by the inhabitants which had been evinced by the people of New Orleans. For a brief season there was an interruption to the dance, the song, and the festive hour; and the little cabins sounded with maledictions against a monarch who had transferred them to other laws, and a foreign allegiance. There was one hope to which they clung with all the ardor incident to sanguine temperaments, which was, that the subjects of France residing in the country west of the Mississippi would never consent to be governed by the laws of Spain. Whatever spirit of resistance was avowed by the inhabitants of New Orleans, was fully indorsed by the people of St. Louis; and it was this universal profession of resistance which prevented Spain from forcing upon them sooner, the laws she had a right to impose on the soil she had properly acquired. However, Spain attempted a conciliating policy, and determined upon waiting until the first ebullition of feeling had subsided, before she would attempt to exercise her authority. In the proper place we will state the time and events incident to the Spaniards taking possession of the country they had acquired by the secret treaty of 1762.
As has been before observed, for the first months of its existence, there were no appointments of officers in the little colony to put into force any prescribed law, or to arrest for its violation. The rights of person and property were respected, and the little community, without having the overshadowing power of the law and its terrors, were obedient to its maxims from a sense of duty, and in no formal mariner did they give up any of those natural rights which form the basis of constituted societies. There were among them those in whom there was a general confidence, and to those as to fathers, were submitted any trivial differences which disturbed the usual friendly relations.
Pierre Laclede Liguest, by the authority which naturally vested in him, by being the active representative of a company existing under the sanction of royal authority, was looked upon with superior respect and as the natural head of the colony. He had many implied as well as express prerogatives, and there is no evidence that he ever attempted to abuse them. From all the records which remain that throw any light upon his character, and all of the reports handed down by tradition, he attended strictly to his business as merchant and trader, and ventured upon no legislative authority — which he could have done undisputed, to a moderate extent. According to the rights of a company existing under a royal charter, he could possess himself of any quantity of land necessary for the requirements of the company, and had the power of apportioning
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it to individuals who wished to settle in the precincts of the village he had established. This possession of land was only a usufructuary possession, remaining in force until the legal appointment of proper officers vested with power to confer grants, and it then became necessary for the representative of a company and also for those who had received an apportionment to apply by way of petition for grants, which, if the conditions were complied with, would give them a fee simple right to the soil.In the summer of 1765, St. Louis received the addition of upward of forty soldiers, under the command of Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, from Fort de Chartres, which had been given up, with due formality, but with a sense of humiliation, to Captain Sterling, the English officer appointed to take possession in the name of his country. Whether this advent of Louis St. Ange de Bellerive was authorized by M. Aubri, the commandant-general at New Orleans, or whether it is to be attributed to a voluntary act on his part, can never with certainty be decided; we have only the light of surrounding circumstances from which to form an opinion, and we are inclined to the belief that he had received orders from his superior in New Orleans to remove to St. Louis; for the inhabitants, at that time, both of Upper and Lower Louisiana, had come to the firm conclusion of resisting to the last extremity, any attempt of the Spaniards to enforce their authority in the town of New Orleans or on the west banks of the Mississippi. These hostile intentions, so manifest at the time, probably induced the commandant-general to give St. Ange de Bellerive instructions to remove to St. Louis with the few troops remaining in his charge after the evacuation of Fort de Chartres. This, of course, is only a conjecture, but we would think it was inconsistent with the character of a royal officer's fame, on his own authority to remove to any post with the troops under his command. He was an officer under the king, and had no room to act, except in obedience to the dictates of his superiors.
The arrival of troops in a country during the time of peace is no profitable acquisition, and especially in a new colony where there is usually no surplus of provisions and a dearth of nearly all the necessaries of life. The arrival, then, of these forty soldiers from Fort de Chartres, in a commercial point of view, was of no advantage to St. Louis. They did not add to its number of industrious inhabitants, but had the effect of creating a still greater disposition to indolence, already too prevalent among them.
These soldiers, from their early manhood, had been subjected to military life, and from habit, were fit for no other purpose. A little while after their arrival, the effect of their presence became manifest, and there was more of a disposition in the community to indulge in idleness and the low vices it always generates. Quarrels and disputes, fighting and dissipation, and the invasion of the right of property, became rife among the inhabitants, and it became necessary that there should be established a power which should be effective in preserving the peace of the community, and at once to suppress the growth of those injurious predispositions, which were increasing to an alarming degree, and militated against the healthful advance of the settlement.
St. Ange de Bellerive was most popular, both as an officer and a man, and according to the general wish of the inhabitants, he was placed at the head of affairs, and exercised all the functions of a commandant-general. He was not only a favorite among his countrymen, but his name
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acted as a talisman in securing the respect and affection of the Indians. They knew him as the inveterate foe of the English, and that in itself was virtue sufficient in their eyes to enlist their affection; but there was another most potent cause — he was the friend of Pontiac, the great chief of the Ottawas — the demigod of the savages. It was only by the persuasions of St. Ange de Bellerive that the great Indian chieftain consented to bury the tomahawk, which had been raised for so many years against the English, and made his name a terror to their settlements. When all of his allies forsook him, and it became evident that success was impossible, St. Ange de Bellerive persuaded him to abandon a forlorn hope, and consent to peace, when arms could no longer avail him. Pontiac acted in obedience with his wishes, for he knew that St. Ange was no friend of the English, and would not advise him to peace were there any hope in a hostile policy.The regard of the Indian chief was sufficient to conciliate the regard of all the Indian tribes, and this known fact, together with his weight of character, made him the most prominent man in St. Louis, who combined in himself the proper requisites which suited the people in their emergency. By their unanimous wish he was vested with the authority of commandant-general, with full power to grant lands, and to do all other acts consistent with his office, as though he held it by royal authority. The people of St. Louis stood in need of some one vested with the power of commandant-general, who could give some title to property, and to keep off that confusion which was rapidly prevailing concerning a confliction of titles arising from priority of possession.
St. Ange de Bellerive was an intimate friend of Laclede Liguest, the founder of the town, and like him, never entered into the married relations of life, and was in every way worthy of the new trust reposed in him.
The first grant of land made by St. Ange in his new authority, is recorded in a book which was kept for the purpose, and appropriately called Livre Terrein, This grant of land, the first that is recorded, was made to one Joseph Labuxiere, and had a front of three hundred feet on Royal street (now Main), with one hundred and fifty feet in depth running to the river. All of our readers are acquainted with the block where the Bank of the State of Missouri stands. It was of this block that the first grant was made under St. Ange de Bcllerive, as recorded in the Land Book.
From a diligent examination of this ancient record we see that two judges, a procureur-general and a notary had been appointed, and this was done also most probably by the commandant-general at New Orleans, whose power was limited to the appointment of those officers, and did not extend to the appointment of any one invested with the authority of granting lands; as before a necessity of such a thing occurring in Upper Louisiana, west of the Mississippi, St. Louis had not been founded, and the sovereign of France, after that time, had no power of appointing officers over a country which he had transferred to another power. All that Aubri, the commandant-general of New Orleans, could do, he probably did, by the appointment of the officers which we have before mentioned. That it was by his approbation that St. Ange de Bellerive accepted of the authority with which the people vested in him, there is no doubt of;
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for he was too honorable an officer, and knew too well his duty, to consent to administer an authority which, until superseded by the Spanish government, was vested in the commandant-general at New Orleans, previous to the secret treaty of 1762. The first grant of land in the Livre Terrein is dated the twenty-seventh of April, 1766.After the occupation of the English of the forts on the east of the Mississippi, for many years there was but little intercourse between the inhabitants occupying the different banks of the river, and though the grant of property was of a precarious nature in St. Louis, from the circumstance that it did not proceed from a properly appointed officer, and whose grants could all be annulled whenever the Spaniards would enforce their claim, as St. Ange de Bellerive received his appointment after it was known at Orleans that the country had been ceded to Spain; yet the French inhabitants still continued to cross the Mississippi to St. Louis, anxious to be under the domination of laws which suited their habits of life, and averse to being brought in contact with a race for whom they had a feudal antipathy. They hated the English and English laws, and all who could remove without the greatest sacrifice of property did so.
The land where St. Louis stands was claimed by the Illinois Indians, yet they tacitly assented to its occupancy by the French, and never appeared to urge any remuneration for the heritage they had been despoiled of without their consent. In those days, the legality of Indian claims was not acknowledged by the white man, who settled wherever lucre or other selfish feelings prompted, and appropriated lands without any inquiry as to his right. In those early times they were termed savages, and were treated as beings having no benefit in any thing created by an act of civilization. Law was not made to protect them, and their property was invaded with impunity.
Though all the country between St. Louis and the Pacific ocean was a wilderness where swarmed the most numerous and savage tribes of Indians on the American continent, the inhabitants of the little colony established by Liguest appear never during his life to have become embroiled with their savage neighbors, and after the departure of the Missouri Indians never to have dreaded their interference. This was the more singular as St. Louis on every side was surrounded with them, and from any of the cardinal points, the war-whoops of thousands of warriors could have been heard at its doors, had a spirit of revenge excited them to a hostile demonstration. Had the English founded the settlement, history would doubtless have had to record a different state of facts. It appears to have been the nature or the destiny of that nation, to have provoked the hostility of the Indians in the formation of every new settlement contiguous to the wilds where they roamed. What it did in the way of civilization on the American continent, was done contrary to every principle of religion, and in violation of the natural promptings of humanity. On whatever soil it placed its foot, it had first to be drenched in human blood before it could be possessed in peace. They profaned the sacred name of civilization by sacrificing to it, in the same horrid manner that the heathen did to Moloch by human life.
The conciliatory policy of the French had always made them favorites with the Indians; nor was the settlement of St. Louis an exception to the general custom. Liguest had his agents established far in the wilds, where
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the beaver, buffalo and deer were the most plentiful, and where his emissaries were completely in the power of the Indian; yet these emissaries, with the pliancy peculiar to their nation, adopted at once the habits of the tribes with which they were brought in contact. They hunted with them, like them could endure the greatest fatigue, and live off meat, without bread and condiment. These characteristics would naturally have biased the different tribes in their favor, but the Frenchmen, never suffering a too severe morality to interfere with what they thought their rightful pleasures, would marry the daughters of the chiefs, which, besides having the luxury of a wife in the remote wilds, gave them an influence in the tribe, and a monopoly in the fur and peltry trade.The peltry trade, with some little of lead, formed the only articles of commerce of St. Louis, and for the first years of the settlement, Liguest, according to the terms of the charter, monopolized the whole trade. Whether he actually kept possession of the trade for eight years, according to the terms of the grant, there are no means of determining at the present day, but from the amount of property which he acquired, some idea of which we will furnish the reader at the proper time, it is probable that he insisted on the monopoly to the extent of its term. The secret treaty of 1762 did not interfere with his rights, as treaties never disturb the validity of contracts without proper indemnification. (See Errata 3)
When Pierre Laclede Liguest, in the spring of 1764, formed the plan of the village, though he may have thought he was liberal in the dimensions of its outline; yet the inhabitants of St. Louis will think that his ideas of its future grandeur was not evinced by the extent of its boundaries as disclosed by the map to which the reader is referred. What is now Main street extended from what is known as Almond to Morgan street, and upon it all of the first settlements were made. It was called La Rue Royale, which name it sustained for many years, until it was changed to that of La Rue principale. What is now known as Second street extended from Cedar to Morgan. In the curly grants it is merely denominated une autre rue principale. It was probably known by no other appellation until the church was built, or preparation was made to build the same in the block where the cathedral now stands; it was then changed to La Rue de l'Eglise.
The accompanying map exhibits the appearance of the town in 1780, just after it had been fortified by Cruzat, one of the most popular of the Spanish commandants. The town had swelled even in that short period beyond the dimensions assigned by its founder, names had been given to the streets, and the place had assumed the features of a respectable village, containing nearly seven hundred inhabitants.
When Liguest visited the spot in 1764, there was a narrow strip of
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wood which skirted the river, which extended as far back as Fifth street, but not in a direct line, as stated by some authors, running the whole length of the dimensions of the town. It varied in its breadth in different localities, and some portions of the margin of the river were entirely free from any timber. The largest body of wood was where the first buildings were erected. In the rear of the village was an extensive prairie, termed in the records La Grande Prairie.With the exception of the first house that was built in 1764, belonging to Liguest, which had its first story built of stone, previous to 1766 the houses were built of logs or poles, placed upon ends, and then the square shingled at the top. Some were daubed with mud, and others, whose owners were in a better condition in life, were plastered within. They, however, exhibited but little comfort, and though they answered well the purposes of the inhabitants, whose wants were few, and who were unaccustomed to the luxuries of life, they would have been looked upon by the denizens of the present day as little huts unsuitable for the purposes of a stable or a shamble.
After the advent of Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, from Fort de Chartres, when a government became instituted, things assumed a more flattering appearance, and several merchants of means, seeing the village under the salutary restraints of law, became residents of the place, and built more commodious habitations. Up to 1766, the names which appear to have occupied the most prominent place in the history of the little village are Cerré, Labadie, Liguest, Chouteau, Sarpy, Clamorgan, LabuxiÄre, LafÄbre, Condé, Ortes, and St. Ange de Bellerive.
It was on August 11th, 1766,
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on which he caused to be built two mills for grist purposes, one of which ran by water, and the other was termed a horse-mill. These were the first mills erected in St. Louis, and were probably erected some time in 1766.The first mortgage recorded in the archives bears date the twenty-ninth of September, 1766, and is made by one Pierre Berger to one Francis Latour. The mortgage is a curious instrument, and, amidst the dearth of other information, serves to give an insight into the business and habits of that interesting period. Both of the parties acknowledge themselves as merchants and traders largely engaged in the peltry trade, one a resident in Canada, and the other temporarily a resident of St. Louis. The mortgage was given on all of the goods owned by one of the parties as security in ease of the non-payment of so many bundles of deer skins at a stipulated time. This first mortgage on record was cancelled some years afterward by a simple receipt of the attorney of the mortgagee, acknowledging the payment, attested by the notary of the town, and placed on record.
The year 1766 appears to have been fruitful in events, and furnishes much of the data for the history of the town. The first marriage which is recorded among the archives as having taken place in the new settlement, is dated the 20th of April, 1766. The parties to the contract are Toussaint Hunau and Marie Bangenon. In those early days marriage appears to have been a much more important institution than in the present fast days of progressive civilization. Then the parties had to appear previous to the ceremony, and accompanied by their friends and in the presence of witnesses, had to declare their intentions.
In these marriage contracts there was a great deal of worldly thrift and policy. The god of Love did not send his shafts so deep into the veins of his victims as now, causing the blood to burn and seethe, and making them blind and forgetful of every thing else in their haste to be united in matrimonial bonds. Then there was no ill-timed precipitation; no "marrying in haste, and repenting at leisure." The parties, or at least their friends for them, looked upon marriage with a business eye, and consummated it in a business manner. The contract usually averred that neither of the parties was responsible for the debts of the other before marriage; gave the amount of property possessed by both, together with the declaration of the amount they were to receive from their friends, who were present, and whose promises were binding on them, and made part of the record. There was some gift of a small sum of money also made by one party to the other as a gâge d'amour, and there were the usual reservations made in case the marriage was unfruitful, and one of them surviving the other. These marriage contracts are singular documents, and savor too much of the chilling atmosphere of worldly prudence. True affection being a divine emanation of the great source of love, should be divested of every interested motive, and not be surrounded too much with provident influences.
In the grant of land made to Liguest, which we have before mentioned, bearing date the 11th of August, 1766, and containing the whole block where Barnum's hotel stands, we see that it is adjoining the land which
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was held in reservation for the church; so the land on which the cathedral stands was designed for a catholic church previous to 1766, and at the laying out of the town. The French, though gay and volatile in their character, have always a great respect for their church, and in the establishment of every colony the primary consideration has always been to establish a place of worship where they might assemble and enjoy the salutary influences of religion. Before the building of the first church, which took place in 1770, the religious rites were probably performed under some temporary shelter made for the purpose; for we see, by reference to an old record of baptism in possession of the Catholic church, that the first baptism in the new colony was performed in 1766, by Father Meurin, who, according to the record, "in default of a church," performed the interesting service in a tent.The founder of St. Louis, no doubt, intended that the neighborhood of his residence, which, as we have before observed, was built on the block between Walnut and Market, and Second and Main streets, should always be the most attractive part of the town; for the adjoining block on the east side, was designed, at the laying out of the city, for a public square, and was called La Place d'Armes. The large warehouse of the company was erected near the place, and stood upon the spot occupied by the old market.
On August 11, 1767, the town of St. Louis was thrown into a ferment by the arrival of news from New Orleans, of the intention of the Spanish government to take possession of the country, which had been ceded to it under the secret treaty of 1762. It was rumored that a large Spanish force would accompany the Spanish commandant-general to New Orleans, and, if necessary, would enforce, at the point of the bayonet, their authority.
The news, which had convulsed with rage the inhabitants of New Orleans, seriously disturbed the quiet of the people of St. Louis. The whole province of Louisiana had either to become subjected to Spanish laws, or else by force repel any attempt on their part to establish their power. All hopes from the interference of France were futile, and the remonstrance which had been sent to its sovereign, by deputations, had been unavailing. The cession had been made and the faith of the monarch pledged to the performance of the treaty.
It was while the whole province of Louisiana was agitated by the turbid feelings of distraction, that Ulloa, the representative of the sovereign of
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Spain, and holding the office of commandant-general of Louisiana, arrived in New Orleans, and his representative in Upper Louisiana, Rios, was despatched to St. Louis with a body of Spanish troops to exercise the functions which had been delegated to him. He arrived at St. Louis August 11th, 1768. However, when he found that the pulse of the people showed unfavorable symptoms to his authority, he never attempted to exercise the powers with which he was invested, and never came into any collision with the inhabitants, who were wholly governed by the actions of the people of New Orleans, and had determined at that time to resist the Spanish authority.When Ulloa was compelled to take his departure from New Orleans, he probably sent instructions to Rios to evacuate St. Louis. Whatever cause influenced him to this act, immediately that he became informed of the flight of his superior from New Orleans, he made preparations for his own departure in all haste, for the people were becoming impatient of his presence. He left St. Louis in the summer of 1769, with the few troops under his command, greatly to the relief of the inhabitants, who were kept continually, during his sojourn, in that uneasy state which the expectation of a coming collision always produces.
When the Spanish commandant had departed, a weight of oppression seemed to have been removed from the minds of the people, and their joyful spirits, which for many months had been imprisoned by the restraint put upon them by the peculiar circumstances which surrounded them, again bounded forth into the liberty of enjoyment which was so characteristic of their nature. The ringing laugh, the festive carol, the merry dance, again became the chief elements which formed the happiness of the light-hearted Creoles at that early day. With a smile on their brows, and the warm light of joy flooding their hearts, they sought their common fields, and cultivated the little lots they owned in severally, and which furnished them the little that was required for their subsistence.
What are termed "common fields," was a tract of land comprising a quantity of acres, according to the wants of the inhabitants, in which each inhabitant possessed a portion for the purposes of cultivation. They were enclosed at the joint expense, or rather each one furnished his proportion of labor. The lots were properly marked off, and laws were established in regard to the repairing fences, the time for gathering crops, letting in and turning out the cattle, &c. These lots were obtained by petition and grant, and belonged to the inhabitants as fee simple property, each one having the power to sell, devise, or dispose of the property in any of the forms incident to fee simple possessions.
The French and Spanish, who were founders of new settlements, invariably adopted this system of common fields, which were at some little distance from the town, and which the inhabitants jointly cultivated. It was done for protection, as it was necessary that the inhabitants should all reside in the village, so as to be ready to support each other, in case of attack from the natives; and when engaged in their agricultural occupation, being together, they could the more readily resist any invasion. Such was the theory which generated the institution of "common fields," which gave a certain degree of safety to the inhabitants, and a community of interest which brought them into daily intercourse, and served to cultivate and strengthen the feelings of mutual attachment. If one of their
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number was taken sick, his neighbors would cultivate his little lot, nor register the act in their memories as one of untold self-forgetfulness. Those were the golden days of happiness, and there was something like true affection subsisting among the human family. It was looked upon as a bounden duty, and even a pleasure, to do an act of mutual kindness.The first common fields were established in what was called La Grande Prairie, small at first in its dimensions, but increased in size as the inhabitants multiplied, until they extended, during the Spanish domination, over many hundreds of acres. These common fields were known by various names, such as La prairie des Noyers, La prairie de cul de Sac, La Petite prairie, La prairie Catalan, and La Grande Prairie.
In 1769 an event occurred which created in the village a sensation of pleasure and curiosity. It was the arrival of Pontiac, the great Ottawa chieftain, to see his former friend and acquaintance, St. Ange de Bellerive. The fame of Pontiac was as familiar at that time as "household words," from the Mississippi to the Atlantic. It was he who caused so many different tribes of Indians dwelling hundreds of miles asunder, occupying a territory extending from the Mississippi to the Alleghany, and from the lakes to the Ohio, to unite in a great confederacy against the English, and resist their power; it was he who matured the plan and appointed the time for the different attacks to be made upon the forts and settlements, and through his agency more than two thousand of the English had been "sent to their final account" by the rifle or tomahawk of the savage. He had won the friendship and esteem of the chivalrous Moutcalm; had played a conspicuous part in the ambuscade where Braddock fell; had planned the massacre at Michilmackinac; and had it not been for the interposition of an accident, would have massacred the whole of the English garrison at Detroit.
St. Ange de Bellerive, at that time, resided in the house of Madame Chouteau, which was then upon the square opposite the St. Louis Republican office, between Main and Second, and Market and Chesnut, or else he resided in the house of Laclede Liguest, situated in the adjoining square where Barnum's St. Louis hotel stands.
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some days, and was caressed and fÄted by the principal inhabitants of the village.Since his ambitious plans had all miscarried, he had sought as a relief the Lethean howl of intoxication, that he might forget the past, where his once bright hopes were buried, and that his sensibilities might be unaffected by the contemplation of the future. He was still Pontiac, but "how fallen!" and the people of St. Louis would look in his bloated countenance in vain for that sublimity of expression which they thought had radiated the countenance of one whose life had given such evidence of intellect and chivalrous devotion to his country and people. However morally he may have fallen, yet his fame lived, and he was the lion of the little village, and attracted all eyes toward him.
A few days after his arrival he expressed a wish to go to Cahokia, across the river, where many of the old French settlers had invited him, and contemplated a general merry-making. St. Ange de Bellerive, and his other friends of St. Louis, strongly attempted to dissuade him from crossing the river, as the English laws were in force in that country, and an English trader resided there, who had much wealth and influence, who had sworn vengeance against the life of the chieftain for some real or imaginary wrong. All the dissuasions of his friends were fruitless, and Pontiac, dressed in a complete uniform which he had received from the unfortunate Montcalm, and attended by a few followers, went across to Cahokia. His friends never saw him again alive, for when he had drunk deep, and his faculties were rendered obtuse and inactive, as he was wandering in the woods about the village, he was tomahawked by a Kaskaskia Indian, who had been bribed by the English trader, whose name was Williamson, to kill the great chieftain, and the price of the assassination was a barrel of whiskey.
When St. Ange de Bellerive heard that Pontiac was slain, he ordered his body to be brought to St. Louis, and, amid the general lamentation of the inhabitants, he had it buried near the only fortification of the city with all the honors of war.
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During the same year that was fraught with the fate of Pontiac, news came from New Orleans which sent a thrill of terror into the hearts of the inhabitants, and made them tremble in the anticipation of the future. The Spanish government had again sent a representative to New Orleans to take possession of a country which it thought — and that too with justice — it had been too long defrauded from occupying. It had awaited in vain for the people to become reconciled to the treaty made by their sovereign, and then determined to effect by force that which could not be gotten by conciliation.
Don Alexander O'Reilly was appointed commandant-general of Louisiana, and was sent with three thousand soldiers to enforce his authority. When these facts became known to the inhabitants of New Orleans, there were the same manifestations of resistance as when Ulloa attempted to take possession. In the case of O'Reilly, they assembled in vast numbers, determined upon disputing his landing, and were only kept from carrying their designs into execution by the persuasions of the magistrates and the chief inhabitants, who saw that all attempts to resist such a force would be useless. However, the Spanish commandant-general landed amid threats and execrations.
O'Reilly well knew that all the elements were ripe for a spirit of revolt, and he resorted to one of those acts of cruel policy which had frequently been resorted to before to quell incipient rebellion, by an execution of some of the principal men, which would strike terror in the hearts of the others and awe them into subjection. Twelve of the leading citizens of New Orleans were arrested, of whom five were shot, six condemned to linger out a suffering existence in the loathsome dungeons of Cuba, and one died by violence. This summary proceeding had its effect and chilled the inhabitants into submission.
All of the Americans have been universal in their condemnation of O'Reilly, declaring that his act was an outrage upon humanity, unjustifiable and uncalled for by the occasion, and naturally proceeding from the bloody instincts always so predominant in a tyrant nature. Nearly a century has now passed since that unhappy event, and we can look upon it in a manner different to what they did fifty years ago, when the circumstance was comparatively fresh in the minds of the people, when the relatives of the victims were still murmuring against the decree, and keeping in agitation the public feeling by continual complaints. Without justifying the act of O'Reilly, we only say, that for far less opposition to power, the sword has been used more freely, and history has recorded many bloodier pages. He saw all the incipient movements of open rebellion around him, and may have honestly thought that the act was required by administrative policy, as an evidence that he possessed the iron hand of power, and as a preventive of open rebellion.
The Spanish power was completely established by O'Reilly in New Orleans, and after things had somewhat settled into a system, Piernas was dispatched to St. Louis as lientenant-governor of Upper Louisiana. He arrived in St. Louis in the early part of 1770, and quickly received possession of the country from M. St. Ange de Bellerive, the commandant at the post.
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The people of St. Louis, seeing that New Orleans had submitted to the Spanish power, had made up their minds, previous to the arrival of Piernas, quietly to surrender to that government, to which their monarch had transferred them in the secret treaty of 1762. There was a universal regret, and tears streamed from the eyes of many when they saw the French flag, which had long waved over the town, removed from its position, and its place supplied by a foreign banner. It was a day of regret and gloom, and the future was threatening and lowering; happily the signs proved fallacious, for the new laws to which they were subjected proved to be fraught with more content and happiness to the people, than the code of their own country which they abandoned with so much reluctance.
It was in this year, 1770, in which ceased the French domination, when there was a great festival among the inhabitants of St. Louis, on the occasion of the consecration of their little log church, which was built according to the custom of the French, the logs being placed in a vertical position, and the interstices filled with mortar. It was built on the same block where the cathedral now stands, though located nearly at the corner of Second and Market. It was an occasion of much solemnity; the inhabitants turned out en masse, and filled to overflowing the little building. It was the 24th of June, 1770, that this interesting event took place, which had been looked forward to with hope and anxiety by the people, who, though jovial, unlettered, and accustomed to the roughness
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of pioneer life, yet were strict in the observance of the forms of religion, which, by the devoted and self-sacrificing French missionaries, had not only been kept in view before the inhabitants of every hamlet, but had been practised far in the wilderness, to turn the savages from their erratic faith, and induce them to worship in a Christian manner the only true God of the universe.At this period Father Gibault owned the inhabitants of St. Louis as his little flock, and when he saw them gathered in the fold of the church, where he could more effectually teach and guard them in his spiritual capacity, he must have tested that ambrosial happiness which can only be partaken of by the pure and holy. He said mass and administered the Eucharist, and chanted the Te Deum and the De Profundis with a heart overflowing with gratitude. At the laying out of the village, Liguest reserved the block of ground for a church, and when the benediction had been pronounced, and the people dismissed to their homes, there was a universal satisfaction that the church had at length been completed.
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Chapter II. Spanish Domination.
Pedro Piernas. — His policy. — His character. — His popularity. — Death of St. Ange de Bellerive. — His character. — His will. — Piernas is threatened with assassination by an Osage chief. — Cruzat becomes Lieutenant-Governor. — The American Revolution. — The hatred of the Spaniards to the English — Smuggled goods. — Ferry across the Maramec — Character of Cruzat. — Don Fernando de Leyba. — Death of Pierre Laclede Liguest. — His appearance. — His character. — Fear of the Indians. — Attack on St. Louis. — L'année du Coup. — Death of Don Fernando de Leyba. — Succeeded by Cartabona. — Arrival of Cruzat. — Flood of the Mississippi. — The Pirates of Grand Tower. — Pirates of Cottonwood Creek. — L'année des dix batteaux. — The danger from Indians. — Pain Court. — Administration of Perez — Trudeau and Delassus. — Large Grants. — Fever of Speculation. — Napoleon Bonaparte. — Cession of the Province of Louisiana to France. — France sells it to the United States. — End of Spanish Domination.
WHEN Don Pedro Piernas entered upon his duties as lieutenant-governor of Upper Louisiana, he found that the inhabitants were strongly attached to the laws which formerly had their sway, and though they had submitted to his authority, it was evidently with reluctance; and they entertained a hostility to the power which they had not the strength to resist. He immediately set himself to work to conciliate the people, and remove their prejudices. He made but little change in the existing government, the French and Spanish colonial laws strongly assimilating; and when any new regulation was introduced, it was so fraught with benefit to the colony, that the inhabitants, after a few months, ceased to regret the change of government, and were wholly disarmed of their prejudices.
Piernas had all the elements of character which suited the infant colony. What laws he established, he faithfully observed himself, and strictly required their observance; yet he was mild in his nature, and showed in every act that the welfare and happiness of the people were his guiding motives. He appointed a surveyor, so that the lines of the different grants could be properly determined, and whose seal would be conclusive evidence of their boundaries. This surveyor, called Martin Duralde, was a Frenchman, and the appointment was unexpected and agreeable to the people. He also made Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, the former commander of the fort, a captain of infantry, in the service of his Catholic Majesty, and always preserved with him the most friendly relations.
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even made him a favorite of the people, and effectually won their confidence. He also placed Frenchmen to fill many subordinate offices, and soon his wise diplomatic policy put to flight every vestige of dissatisfaction.It was in 1774, but a little more than three years after the commencement of the Spanish domination, that the house of Madame Chouteau, then situated on the block between Chesnut and Market and Main and Second streets, was visited with anxiety by the chief inhabitants of the village. St. Ange de Bellerive, the former commandant, was lying sick upon his couch, and it was evident that his life was fast waning to its close. He had already passed the threescore and ten years allotted to man, and had drawn severely upon, his constitution by the deprivation and suffering incident to a soldier's life in a new country. It was the twenty-sixth of September, 1774, that the dying soldier, surrounded by his most intimate friends, and in presence of the proper officers, made his last will and testament. He showed on his death-bed the characteristics of the brave soldier, joined with those of the hopeful Christian. Without being at all disturbed by his approaching dissolution, he made provision for the disposal of his worldly effects, and submitted his last moments to the guidance and teaching of his father confessor.
Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, beside possessing in an eminent degree all of the qualities requisite for a distinguished officer, was one of the most honorable of men. His will furnishes an index to his character. After declaring himself a good Catholic, and commending his soul "to God, the blessed Virgin, and to the saints of the Celestial Court," he appoints his friend Pierre Laclede Liguest, the founder of St. Louis, his executor. He then directs that the amount of his board should be paid to Madame Chouteau; that he owed for twenty-five cords of wood; that he was in debt to his tailor for divers articles of clothing; and with some other amounts carefully mentioned, all of which debts he desired should be paid by his executor. Then, in accordance with his creed, he ordered masses to be said for the repose of his soul, and left five hundred livres to the church. He died universally lamented, at an advanced age, and was buried in the Catholic burying-ground, with all "the pomp and circumstance" suitable to a Spanish officer of high rank, and consistent with his former high position. (See Errata 5)
Piernas did not long remain the superior officer in Upper Louisiana, and was succeeded by Francisco Cruzat, in 1775.
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A Shawnee chief had then come to St. Louis, on a treaty for some lands in the neighborhood of Ste. Genevieve, to which they had been invited by Piernas, so that they might interpose a barrier between St. Louis and the fierce western tribes, who had evinced a hostile disposition. The Shawnee chief, to show his friendship for Piernas, and having a far superior number of followers than the Osage, and also animated by a spirit of feudal enmity, drew the Osage into a quarrel and stabbed him to the heart. The Osage was buried on the high mound from which the present Mound street takes its name. It may be mentioned here, that both the Shawnees and Delawares had been invited west of the Mississippi, and a large grant of land offered them for acceptance. When that grant took effect, we will again allude to the subject.When Cruzat came into power, all of the English possessions on the east side of the Mississippi were in a state of strong excitement. From the oppression of the mother country, the English colonies had determined to free themselves; and having tried by a conciliating spirit, and finally by petition, to obtain those hereditary rights which had been refused them, they had at length declared their independence, and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, the people were preparing for the contest, and all gave evidence of the "dreadful note of preparation."
Since the treaty of 1763, when Spain had ceded to England all of the Floridas, the former power had remained dissatisfied. She had conceived a distrust and dislike for the English, which evinced themselves even in her distant possessions. In St. Louis, this distrust and dislike were also manifested, and a heavy embargo was laid upon English goods, which amounted almost to a prohibition, and created a regular system of smuggling. Some of the inhabitants of St. Louis dealt largely in contraband goods, and in that nefarious practice added much to their commercial profits. These goods were chiefly brought from Cahokia.
Cruzat was a mild and amiable governor, who, though giving no evidence of consummate ability or executive talent, nevertheless did nothing that was disadvantageous to the colony, and was content to let things flow in the healthful channels in which they had been left by his predecessor. He and his family were highly popular with the inhabitants, from possessing, in a great degree, a social and hospitable disposition. It was during his administration that a ferry was established on the Maramec, by a man by the name of John Baptiste Gamache.
Francisco Cruzat was succeeded in office by Don Fernando de Leyba, in 1778, a drunken, avaricious and feeble-minded man, without possessing a single quality that could recommend him to the important office he held.
It was in the early part of his administration that news was brought to St Louis, that Pierre Laclede Liguest, the founder of the growing town had died, while on a visit to New Orleans, from some of the maladies
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incident to a southern climate. He was universally regretted, and his large property was administered upon by Augustus Chouteau. Antoine Maxent, his partner, holding a high appointment in New Orleans, under the king of Spain, by showing claims upon Liguest for a large amount, got possession of his large landed and personal property, a large portion of which was sold for an insignificant sum at the church door, according to the usages of the times.Pierre Laclede Liguest was from the country Bion, in France, near the base of the Pyrenees, the dividing line between France and Spain. He was of a brave and adventurous disposition, and started from France with the avowed purpose of establishing a colony in the French possessions in America, bringing with him many followers. He was little above the medium size, of very dark complexion, with a large nose, expansive brow, and piercing and expressive eyes.
Pierre Laclede Liguest died, aged fifty-four, on the Mississippi River, near the mouth of the Arkansas River, June 20th, 1778, and was hastily buried in the wild solitude of those regions, and there was no stone or tomb to mark the spot. The place cannot now be recognized.
Directly war was declared between Great Britain and her colonies, the Indians were used as agents of destruction by the English, and throughout the whole of the western country, the colonies suffered all the horrors of savage warfare. From the circumstance of Spain sympathizing with the colonies, and seizing the time as auspicious for regaining the possession of Florida, the inhabitants of St. Louis justly dreaded some attack from the barbarous tribes of savages by whom they were surrounded; for
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the hunters and traders, whose pursuits carried them to the Upper Mississippi, could see that some mischief was brewing in the mind of the savages against the people of St. Louis.The inhabitants became alarmed, and as the town was almost defenceless, an effort was made to build a wall, formed of brush and clay, some five feet in height, encircling the town, and affording egress and ingress to the inhabitants by three gates stationed on the three principal thoroughfares. There was but one small fort, called La Tour, which afterterward became the prison, and was situated on Fourth Street, near Walnut.
The inhabitants having partially prepared themselves for an attack, and being kept on the qui vive for some months, and finding that no Indians had molested them, began to grow careless of all rumors, which had so long kept them in a state of alarm, and which proved to be nothing more than apparitions produced by the disturbing influence of terror. The fear of the Indians had almost prevented the cultivation of the crops of the preceding year, and the town was threatened almost with famine. The people then finding no truth in the reports which were continually in agitation among them, again went forth to their common fields, as was their custom, and planted largely in the spring of 1780, to supply the former deficiency.
In the mean time, the British commandant at Fort Michilimackinac used every effort to rouse into action the savage instincts of the Indian tribes of the Upper Mississippi, and at length there were more than a thousand warriors ready for the war-path. They were placed under the guidance of white men, who were principally French Canadians in the employment of the British, who, from long residence among the savages, knew how to operate upon their excitable temperaments. The names of the three principal renegade white men were Langdon, Calvé, and Ducharme.
The 26th of May was appointed for the attack, and on the 25th the savages had assembled on the eastern side of the Mississippi, and, carefully concealing themselves during the day, awaiting the morrow, when they fondly hoped to destroy and pillage the town. Quenelle, one of the unprincipled French traders who were in league with the Indians, feeling certain of the destruction of the village, and wishing to save the life of his brother, who resided in it, on the evening of the 25th of May crossed the Mississippi, and endeavored to persuade his brother to accompany him to the east side of the river, giving him to understand that the people of the town would be massacred the following day. This the brother refused to do, and communicated the purport of the interview to the governor and the inhabitants; but no one believed the truth of his statement, and no alarm was created.
The 25th of May, 1780, was the feast of Corpus Christi, a day consecrated by the Catholics with all the religious observances of their church. The little log church was decorated for the occasion, and on the morning of that day it was crowded by the happy villagers, in their best attire, to hear Father Bernard, the officiating priest. In the afternoon they went in crowds to the prairie to gather strawberries, which had just commenced to ripen, and after the day had closed in that social enjoyment to which they were so much predisposed, they lay down to sleep, unconscious of their fate on the morrow, and the contiguity of their murderous foes.
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On the 26th, when the morning star was still bright in the firmament, the Indians silently glided across the Mississippi, and landed where the city of Bremen now stands. They then took a circuitous course back of the town, so as to surprise the inhabitants, whom they expected to find working their common fields, and near where now are the Fair Grounds, they came to what was called Cardinal's Spring, and surprised two Frenchmen, one from whom the spring took its name, and the other called Baptiste RiviÄre; the former they killed, and the latter was taken prisoner to Chicago.
There is no question, but had the Indians shown even an ordinary amount of courage, that St. Louis could easily have been taken. That some of the inhabitants evinced courage it is true, but it is also true that there were but little more than a hundred fighting men in the whole village, and with the exception of a few choice spirits, the villagers were nearly frightened out of their wits. Don Fernando de Leyba, the governor, had locked himself in his house, and his lieutenant, Silvio Francisco Cartabona, and his soldiers, had, like frightened sheep, placed themselves in the upper part of the tower. So greatly frightened were the villagers, that it was many days before they dared to venture out of their enclosures; and, indeed, for some time they deserted their cabins, and assembled in the houses of the Spanish commandant, Madame Chouteau, and the other stone houses of the village, as affording more security in case of another attack.
The Indians, on this occasion, terribly mutilated the bodies of their victims, and had they not been frightened into a retreat, they would have left a bloody page for the historian to record. They recrossed the river, and soon after dispersed and joined their respective tribes.
Some authors contend that the appearance of General Clark across the river caused them to evacuate the country, but he was not near St. Louis at the time, and it is probable that the savages, once frightened by the discharge of artillery, did not recover from their fright. They had been taught to believe that there would be an effectual surprise, and seeing a battery opened upon them, they became disheartened. The prisoners
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that were taken, all, in some years afterwards returned to their homes after the peace was made in 1783, when they were released.In Hunt's Minutes, kept in the United States Recorder's office, there is the evidence of Baptiste RiviÄre, dit Baccané, that he was taken prisoner and carried to Chicago, from which he subsequently escaped. They were all treated cruelly by their Indian captors, and made to carry the heaviest burdens almost in a state of nudity, and, on wincing from any signs of fatigue, were whipped as lazy beasts, and kept in a half-famished state. Only one of the white men who accompanied the Indians was engaged in the attack; they stopped on the island in the Mississippi, where they crossed, awaiting probably until the slaughter was over, which, treacherous as they were, they did not wish to witness.
The register in the cathedral contains the following record: "In the
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year 1780, 26th of May, I, Capuchin priest and apostolic missionary, have buried in the cemetery of this parish the bodies of Charles Biset, of Aimable Guion, of the son of Calvé, and of a negro of Chancelier, killed by the savages. In faith of which, I have signed the day and year as above. — F. Bernard." Many other bodies were found afterward and interred where they were found, as decomposition had taken place, it being very warm weather. The year in which this attack was made, was ever afterward called L'annÄe du coup (the year of the blow).The opinion has been advanced by many, that the governor, Don Fernando de Leyba, had an understanding with the English, and for some stipulated sum had agreed to let the savages surprise the town. Certain it was, that he had sold most of the powder belonging to the garrisons to some traders just before the attack, and used no reasonable precautions to prevent surprise; but, on the contrary, always repelled any idea of an attack on the town as an impossible event. These were ominous signs, and appeared to carry with them the dark burden of guilt; but these circumstances are only suggestive proofs against him. The positive proof is wanting. On the other hand, he was very feeble in health, and addicted to dissipation in so great a degree as to stupefy his understanding. One or both of these causes might account for his inaction, and why he did not make reasonable preparations for an attack which had been threatened for so long a period. His sordid nature furnishes a motive for the sale of the powder. Be the facts what they may, there were suspicions afloat which have attached the foulest stigma to his name and blasted it forever. He died a little more than a month after the attack — some say by poison administered by himself. In the register of the Catholic church, we find the two following notices of burial:
"In the year 1779, September 7th, I, Capuchin priest, missionary, and apostolic curate of St. Louis, have buried in the cemetery of this church opposite the balustrade to the right, the body of the Lady Marie do la Conceptione y Zezar, wife of Don Fernando de Leyba, commandant of this post, captain of infantry, and have administered the sacraments of penitence and extreme unction. In faith of which, I have signed the day and year as above.
"F. BERNARD."
"In the year 1780, on the 28th of June, I, a Capuchin priest and apostolic missionary, curate of St. Louis, Illinois county, province of Louisiana, bishopric of Cuba, have buried in this church, immediately opposite the balustrade on the right, the body of Don Fernando de Leyba, captain of infantry in the battalion of Louisiana, and the commandant of this post, having received all the sacraments of our mother, the Holy Church. In testimony whereof, I have signed this present the day and year aforesaid.
"† F. BERNARD, Miss."
After the death of Fernando de Leyba, his lieutenant, Silvio Francisco Cartabona, exercised the functions of lieutenant-governor until the arrival of Cruzat, who had again been appointed commandant at St. Louis, and then the town, which had so narrowly escaped the attack of the Indians, was regularly fortified. A reference to the map attached to this work will show the course of this wall, which was a strong stockade of posts, with forts and bastions at proper intervals. However, the efficiency of these fortifications was never tested; for after the treaty of 1783, the savages, though often alarming the inhabitants by attacking some of the
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isolated settlements that were forming in the Missouri, never attempted another attack upon St. Louis. (See Errata 7)During Cruzat's second administration, there occurred the only murder that ever took place either during the French or Spanish domination. One of the soldiers of the garrison, in a paroxysm of rage, stabbed another to the heart, and was immediately ironed and sent to New Orleans.
Though St. Louis was no more disturbed by the savages, yet its commerce was very much damaged by a nest of pirates who used to station themselves at the Grand Tower, a large column of rock fifty feet in height, and situated nearly half way between St. Louis and the mouth of the Ohio. Before the propelling power of steam navigation became known, the current of the Mississippi was so swift about the tower, that the voyagers were compelled to go in advance of their boats and draw them by ropes close along the banks of the river. The pirates, who would be lurking near the tower, would suddenly attack them when off their guard, take the merchandise, and never spared any one to tell the tale.
The pirates consisted of lawless white men, runaway negroes, and half-blooded Indians. They became the terror of the Mississippi, and the foulest murders were committed by them for a series of years, until no single boat dared venture by that fatal place, where it was certain that the voyagers would have to run the gauntlet. It was necessary that several boats should associate together for protection, which course was pursued until the country began to fill up by the hardy pioneers, and an attack made by a well-organized band of voyagers induced the gang to disperse, and left the river free from molestation. The many murders that have been committed at the Grand Tower has given birth to many a wild legend of rapine and bloodshed.
In the early part of the summer of 1785, the inhabitants of St. Louis had a fright even greater than that they had received from the savages during L'année du coup. The Mississippi rose to such a height as to threaten to inundate the town and sweep it from existence. The whole American Bottom was a sea; Cahokia and Kaskaskia were surrounded by the angry waters; and a large quantity of grain and stock were swept away. Nearly all of the town was then situated on Main street, and when the waters rose above the bluff banks of the river, there commenced a scene of apprehension and terror that were more than painful from their duration. Just as the inhabitants were on the eve of removing what was valuable in their little dwellings, the river commenced to subside, relieving them from imminent danger and the agony of uncertainty. This was an event sufficient to form an era in the epoch of the times, and the year was denominated L'année des grands eaux (the year of the great waters).
From the Illinois Monthly Magazine, an excellent periodical in existence many years ago, we make the following extract of an article contributed by Wilson Prim, Esq., whose ancestors were at the laying out of the city of St. Louis. It speaks of a band of pirates located at Cottonwood Creek, commanded by two men named Culbert and Magilbray.
"In the spring of 1787, a barge belonging to Mr. Beausoliel had started from New Orleans, richly laden with merchandise, for St. Louis. As she approached Cottonwood Creek, a breeze sprang up and bore it swiftly by. This the robbers perceived, and immediately dispatched a company of men up the river for the purpose of heading. The manoeuvre was effected
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in the course of two days, at an island which has since been called Beausoliel's Island. The barge had just put ashore — the robbers boarded and ordered the crew to return down. The men were disarmed, guards were stationed in every part of the vessel, and she was soon under way. Mr. Beausoliel gave himself up to despair. He had all he possessed in the purchase of the barge and its cargo, and now that he was to be deprived of them all, he was in agony. This vessel would have shared the fate of many others that had preceded it, but for the heroic daring of a negro, who was one of the crew. Casotte, the negro, was a man rather under the ordinary height, very slender in person, but of extraordinary strength and activity. The color of his skin and the curl of his hair, alone told that he was a negro; for the peculiar characteristics of his race had given place in him to what may be termed beauty. His forehead was finely moulded; his eyes small and sparkling as those of a serpent; his nose aquiline; his lips of a proper thickness; in fact, the whole appearance of the man, joined to his known character for shrewdness and courage, seemed to indicate that, under better circumstances, he might have shone conspicuously in the history of nations. Casotte, as soon as the robbers had taken possession of the barge, began to make every demonstration of uncontrollable joy. He danced, sang, laughed, and soon induced his captors to believe that they had delivered him from irksome slavery, and that his actions were the ebullitions of pleasure. His constant attention, too, to their smallest wants and wishes, won their confidence; and whilst they kept a watchful eye on the other prisoners, they permitted him to roam through the vessel unmolested and unwatched. This was the state of things that the negro desired; he seized the first opportunity to speak to Mr. Beausoliel, and beg permission to rid him of his dangerous intruders. He laid his plan before his master, who, after a great deal of hesitation, acceded to it. Casotte then spoke to two of the crew, likewise negroes, and engaged them in the conspiracy. Casotte was cook, and it was agreed between him and his fellow-conspirators that the signal for dinner should be the signal for action. The hour of dinner at length arrived. The robbers assembled in considerable numbers on the deck, and stationed themselves at the bow and stern and along the sides, to prevent any rising of the men. Casotte went among them with the most unconscious look and demeanor imaginable. As soon as he perceived that his comrades had taken the stations he had assigned to them, he took his position at the bow of the boat, near one of the robbers, a stout, herculean man, who was armed cap-Å-pie. Every thing being arranged to his satisfaction, Casotte gave the preconcerted signal, and immediately the robber near him was struggling in the waters. With the speed of lightning he went from one robber to another, and in less than three minutes he had thrown fourteen of them overboard. Then seizing an oar, he struck on the head those who attempted to save themselves by grappling the running boards — then shot with the muskets that had been dropped on deck, those who swam away. In the mean time, the other conspirators were not idle, but did almost as much execution as their leader. The deck was soon cleared, and the robbers that remained below were too few in number to offer any resistance."Having got rid of his troublesome visitors, Mr. Beansoliel deemed it prudent to return to New Orleans. This he accordingly did, taking care,
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when he arrived near Cottonwood Creek, to keep the opposite side of the river. He reached New Orleans, and gave an account of his capture and liberation to the governor, who thereupon issued an order that the boats bound for St. Louis in the following spring should all go in company, to afford mutual assistance in case of necessity. Spring came, and ten keel boats, each provided with swivels, and their respective crew's well armed, took their departure from New Orleans, determined, if possible, to destroy most of the robbers. When they neared the Cottonwood Creek, the foremost boat perceived several men near the mouth, among the trees. The anchor was dropped, and she waited until the other boats should come up. In a few moments they appeared, and a consultation was held, in which it was determined that a sufficient number of men should remain on board whilst the others should proceed on shore to attack the robbers. The boats were rowed to shore in a line, and those appointed for that purpose landed and began to search the island in quest of the robbers, in vain. They had disappeared. Three or four flat-boats were found in the bend of the creek, laden with all kinds of valuable merchandise — the fruits of their depredations. A long, low hut was discovered — the dwelling of the robbers — in which were stowed away numerous cases of guns destined for the fur trade, and ammunition and provisions of all kinds. The greater part of these things were put on board the boats, and restored to their respective owners, in St. Louis."This proceeding had the effect of dispersing the robbers, for they were never after heard of. The arrival of ten barges together at St. Louis was an unusual spectacle, and the year 1788 has ever since been called L'année des dix bateaux (the year of the ten boats)."
The Mississippi, at that time, flowed through a vast solitude, which afforded an opportunity for banditti to exercise their unlawful propensities almost with impunity. There were but few forts from St. Louis to New Orleans, and these were so far asunder, that they offered but little protection to the commerce between the capitals of Upper and Lower Louisiana. It was at long intervals that the boats ran between the two places, and they were usually richly freighted, and offered strong inducements to the freebooters who infested the most secluded solitudes of the river, watching, like cormorants, the appearance of their prey. There was many a death-struggle on the bosom of the Mississippi, many a fruitless appeal to mercy, and many a death-shriek of torture, as the rifle, the knife, and the tomahawk did their murderous work. When all was done, plash! plash! were the signs that a watery sepulchre had received the bodies of the victims.
In the year 1788, the authority of Francisco Cruzat ceased, and Manuel Perez became commandant-general of the post of St. Louis, of the west Illinois country. It was during this time that the friendly relations, subsisting since the Revolution, between the east and west sides of the Mississippi were materially interrupted, by the Spanish government laying claim to the exclusive right of the navigation of the river. New Orleans and Mobile had heretofore been the chief markets for all the grain raised in the fertile regions of the Wabash and the bottoms of the Ohio, and the claims of Spain engendered bitter feelings of discontent throughout a most extensive region, and fast filling up with an industrious and thrifty population. It is not the province of this work to enter into a history of
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the intrigues carried on by the Spanish governor at New Orleans with some of the leading citizens in the South and West of the Union, in which was implicated an officer of high military rank, who, for his friendly feelings toward his Catholic Majesty, had received the privilege of navigating the Mississippi, his goods free of duty; but only to show the cause why the Americans on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, who had always been most cordial with the inhabitants of St. Louis, should exhibit a subsequent coolness. However, the French, who chiefly occupied the region west of the Mississippi in the vicinity of St. Louis, were but little affected by the quarrel between the two nations, and continued to visit their friends and relations in the towns on the west side as before.At this time St. Louis went by the name of Pain Court. This name originated from the circumstance of there always being a dearth of the "staff of life" in the early existence of the town, and hunters and traders who came from the neighborhood of the Wabash, wishing to replenish their stock of provisions, in making their purchase would remark the short allowance of bread they obtained for their money, and in revenge for the dearness of the article, conferred upon the town the sobriquet of Pain Court (short of bread).
St. Louis had rapidly increased in population, and in 1788 it and the adjoining villages contained eleven hundred and ninety-seven inhabitants, this without including St. Genevieve, which had grown likewise apace, and contained a population exceeding eight hundred. Pain Court then contained no tavern. There was no need of that institution — that mockery of a home which so often irritates the traveller with its pretended comforts, which it sells out at such extortionate rates. All of the little huts and more comfortable buildings were the abodes of hospitality. In Pain Court, the stranger would receive a shelter, and the pilgrim could rest from his wanderings without any remuneration. The desire of gain had not then chilled the warm gush of feeling which naturally flows from the heart of every individual, unless acted upon by the cold atmosphere of selfish considerations.
The Indians, though they made no direct attack upon St. Louis, frequently would come down the Missouri in small war-parties, and lurk about the neighborhood, and, if an opportunity offered, would take prisoner, or more frequently, kill any of the inhabitants who had indiscreetly wandered too far from the town. One of the inhabitants by the name of Duchouquet, whilst alone in the neighborhood now known as Chouteau's Pond, was set upon by a party of Delaware Indians, called by the French Les Loups (wolves), and immediately murdered and scalped. His brother was some distance from him, and seeing the Indians, escaped to the village with the news, and a company of soldiers started in immediate pursuit, under an officer by the name of Tayon. By taking a circuitous route, they came unexpectedly upon the party of Indians, and Francis Duchouquet singling out the Indian who had killed his brother, and whose dripping scalp-lock was hanging to his belt, brought him to the ground with his rifle, the ball taking effect in his thigh. He rushed upon the savage with the intention of stabbing him to the heart, but seeing him prostrate upon the ground and writhing in pain, he declared to a friend afterward "that he could not do it." However, he was dispatched
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by the soldiers, whose feelings were not so sensitive. Four more of the savages were killed in the pursuit.It was the policy of the Spanish government to encourage, as much as possible, emigration from the United States, and they offered the most liberal grants of land to induce the industrious and enterprising Americans to immigrate to the country west of the Mississippi. However, all of their liberal inducements were vain, and no Americans took up their residence in St. Louis or any of the adjoining villages until nearly the close of the Spanish domination. This arose in part from the difficulties existing at the time between Spain and the United States relative to the navigation of the Mississippi, and partly to the natural dislike of a people just freed from monarchical oppression, and enjoying the first fruits of liberty, to enter again under the subjection of any government that was not organized on the same broad basis of freedom as marked their own. There was, nevertheless, a considerable emigration from Canada, the east of the Mississippi, and New Orleans; and St. Louis continued to increase. Her traders and hunters were venturesome and enterprising, going far up the Missouri, and dwelling with the fierce tribes of Indians who dwelt upon their banks. Many of them paid with their lives the price of their temerity, and in some fitful mood of the savages, were cleaved with the tomahawk, or still more horrible, were impaled and burnt at the stake. These dreadful occurrences were not frequent, as the Indians found that such acts would keep the whites altogether away from their country, and the goods which they first looked upon with curiosity and esteemed as luxuries, after a few years became a necessity, and almost essential to their existence. Unfortunately, the habiliments of civilization had for them all the poisonous qualities of the shirt of Nessus — they brought suffering, decay, and death.
The trade of St. Louis was much interrupted when war existed between Spain and England, contemporary with our Revolution, as wealthy merchants from Canada were accustomed to come west to purchase furs and peltries for the European market. When peace was declared, in 1783, between the three powers — United States, Spain, and England — the trade with Canada, which had been suspended, was again resumed, and the traders at St. Louis had another market than New Orleans, and received better pay for their goods.
The administration of Perez was a prosperous one. He was mild in his authority, and of a frank and sociable disposition, very much resembling that of his predecessor. He mingled freely with the inhabitants; with his family attended the festive gatherings; and in the convivial hour threw off all of the austerity of the commandant. The surveys had much increased during his administration, and he performed one of those diplomatic feats which great minds alone can conceive and accomplish. The Osage Indians, a powerful tribe up the Missouri, had been always most troublesome neighbors, and at every opportune moment would make a descent upon the inhabitants on the outskirts of St. Louis or some of the adjoining villages, murder or take off some of them prisoners who inconsiderately had wandered too far from the towns, and drive off any cattle and horses which had strayed at a distance on the prairie. As
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when the fire ravages the prairie, it is found best to stay its course by opposing flames in a contrary direction, so Perez resolved to stop savage ferocity by staking against it some barbarous native force, as a protection to his own settlement. He therefore sent emissaries to the Shawnees and Delawares, two powerful tribes east of the Mississippi, who smoked with them the calumet, and offered them a large grant of land in the neighborhood of Cape Girardeau. This invitation many of the Shawnees and Delawares accepted, and settled in the neighborhood of Cape Girardeau, when they resisted the incursions, in a great degree, of other tribes, and afforded much protection to the infant settlements. It was through the agency of a man by the name of Lorimer, who afterward became the commandant at the post of St. Genevieve, that the Indians were induced to come west of the Mississippi, and as a reward for his services, he afterward obtained a grant of thirty thousand acres of land. (See Errata 8)Perez was succeeded by Zenon Trudeau, in 1793, who, from the mildness of his disposition and his affable manner, became very popular with the people. He did all that he could to encourage immigration, and for that reason the grants became more liberal in extent, and the surveys were extended far to the westward. The communication between St. Louis and New Orleans had become much more frequent, and St. Louis became the abode of many prosperous merchants. There were noble cavaliers, who had been ostracized by their governments for political offences, and many from a love of adventure sought the growing town on the west bank of the Mississippi, and forgetting the pride of birth, put themselves on an equal footing with the happy, light-hearted inhabitants, adopting their habits and mingling in their amusements. Some of them would go far up the Missouri, and live with the savage tribes who inhabited those regions, and so effectually identifying themselves with some favorite tribe, that they fought their battles with other hostile nations, and being skilful in the use of the destructive arms of civilized warfare, became great warriors, and finally chiefs of the tribes. The Indians had always a predilection for the whites whenever they would willingly adopt their customs, and one of their favorite feats was to lurk in the neighborhood of the settlements and steal a child, and hurry it to their homes in the forest. If the child proved a boy, after washing him a multitude of times, and, as they supposed, washing away all of its white nature, they would commence training him in their tactics to make him a great warrior, and after a few years the child would become like his savage associates, with the same barbarous instincts, love of forest life, and a darling desire for the fame of a savage warrior.
During the time that Zenon Trudeau was commandant, St. Louis and the adjoining villages having considerably increased, there became much less fear of the Indians, and the white men pushed farther into the wilderness. The surveys became much larger, and the extraordinary terms held out to settlers by conferring upon them large grants of lands, induced many citizens of the United States to cross the Mississippi and take up their residence on the Spanish domain. Business, in all its different amifications, became more extended; the log-huts were being replaced with neat one-story cottages, with piazzas in front and rear; and every thing indicated increasing thrift and prosperity. Still there was but little
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attention paid to agriculture, and the great emulation among the trading inhabitants was to engross the greatest amount of Indian trade. This trade was principally carried on up the Missouri River and its tributaries, as the Upper Mississippi was monopolized principally by traders from Canada. So fond did those persons become of living with the Indians, after pursuing that life for a little time, that they no more relished the habits and customs of civilized communities; and when by business forced into the pale of civilization, they became restless and discontented, and longed for their tawny friends, their wigwam hardships, and the unrestrained liberty of forest life. So perfectly Indianized did some of them become, that when, by controlling circumstances, they were compelled to live in the atmosphere of civilization, they drooped languished, and finally died, for the want of that wild excitement which, had become part of their existence.Some of the traders who went up the Missouri with goods, and returned when the exchange for peltries was effected, would bring Indian boys and attempt to raise them in their families; but every effort was unsuccessful. Some would escape, others would die, and others would again be returned to their tribes as incorrigible, after vain efforts had been made to induce them to become attached to the amenities of life, and become useful workers in the busy hive of a civilized community.
The Indians cannot exist with the white men. They were not formed by nature to subserve the purposes of civilization. They were made for the forest: their existence was identified with the trees, and when the axe did its work of destruction, it severed likewise the threads of savage life. Like the enchanted wood of Tasso, when a tree was felled a life was destroyed. Another century will pass, and the old forests and American Indians will have passed away together.
Like most of the Spanish commandants, Trudeau was of an amiable temperament and mild in authority. His family mingled freely with the natives, nor did he or they preserve any exterior emblem of position and importance, but associated with the citizens on terms of perfect equality. His administration was a popular one, and when he retired from the office of commandant, it was universally regretted. This popular commandant died some years afterward in New Orleans.
Trudeau was succeeded by Charles Dehault Delassus de DelusiÄre, in 1798 — a Frenchman by birth, but long in the Spanish service. For some years previously, he had been commandant of the post of New Madrid, and having given such satisfaction in his executive office, he was promoted to lieutenant-governor of Upper Louisiana. He was at this time unmarried, and being of a social disposition, untainted and unspoiled by the rays of authority, he became the favorite of the ambitious fair ones of the city, and "the observed of all observers" in the ball-room. His first act on coming into power, was to have the census taken of Upper Louisiana, which exhibited the following result: —
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| 1785. | St. Louis and villages | 897 |
| " | St. Genevieve | 594 |
| 1783. | St. Louis and villages | 1,197 |
| St. Genevieve | 896 | |
| 1799. | St. Louis | 925 |
| " | Carondelet | 184 |
| " | St. Charles | 875 |
| " | St. Fernando | 276 |
| " | Marias des Liard | 376 |
| " | Maramec | 115 |
| " | St. Andrew | 393 |
| " | St. Genevieve | 949 |
| " | New Bourbon | 560 |
| " | Cape Girardeau | 521 |
| " | New Madrid | 782 |
| " | Little Meadows | 72 |
| 6,028 | ||
| Whites | 4,948 | |
| Free colored | 197 | |
| Slaves | 883 | |
So great did the immigration become, that the frenzied feeling of speculation commenced to seize upon the settlers, and they used every possible device to get as many and as large grants of land, which they knew would rapidly enhance in value, and which, in a short time, they could sell at a remunerative value. It was not the healthful spirit of industry which caused them to solicit grants; the exciting fever of speculation had begun to rage in their veins, and they were anxious for land — not for grazing or agricultural purposes, but that they might sell it, and by the sale realize enormous profits. These grants grew very excessive, and we will mention a few to give an idea of their extent. James Mackay, who was once a Spanish officer in command of St. Charles, applied to Delassus for a grant of 30,000 acres of land, alleging in his petition that he had been a Spanish commandant, had been faithful in the discharge of his duties, and had received no compensation for his services. In consideration of these facts, the lieutenant-governor graciously granted him the lands. Francis Savier obtained a grant of 8,800 acres for nearly the same reasons, and Maturin Bouvet obtained a grant of twenty arpents square because he had been robbed of a few inconsiderable articles by the Indians while working a saline (salt-pit). There were many grants of the same nature, conferred with the same extravagant liberality on the slightest pretexts. There was one grant petitioned for and received, the petitioner alleging that himself and brother had never neglected to give proof of their zeal to the Spanish government, and being engaged extensively in the Indian trade, they had, on all occasions, made efforts to conciliate the tribes, and make them subservient to the Spanish government. He obtained the land.
From the Mississippi to New Mexico, the country was a wilderness, and consequently a part of the royal domain, and a few thousand acres' grant when they had such an extent to draw upon, appeared like taking a grain of sand from the sea-shore, and the Spanish commandants were not at all economical in their distribution, because there was no necessity. In the following chapter, the subject of grants will be more fully treated upon.
Under Delassus, there were two large grants of land for distillery purposes, and then an additional grant to furnish a sufficient supply of fuel for distilling grain; and after that time there was no more whiskey imported
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into the province of Upper Louisiana.During the year 1800, events were taking place in Europe of such magnitude that they were doomed to have a most important influence over the political currents of America. With the iron hand of power and a wily diplomatic policy, Napoleon Bonaparte had forced Spain into a treaty, by which she ceded to France all of her territory known as Louisiana west of the Mississippi, in consideration that the Prince of Parma, who was son-in-law to the king of Spain, should be established in Tuscany.
This treaty was very dissatisfactory to England, as she was jealous of the growing power of France under the auspices of that splendid genius which proved both her glory and downfall. The mistress of the seas determined that France should never take possession of her acquired regions, and for that purpose kept the coast of France under surveillance, so as to prevent any departure of troops for America. Napoleon saw that it was folly to attempt coping with the maritime power of England, which, when he was in Egypt, had nearly swept from existence the navy of France, and through the sagacious Talleyrand, determined to sell to the United States the property which controlling circumstances prevented him from occupying. Mr. Livingston was at that time the minister-plenipotentiary of the United States to France, and seeing the desire of the French government, he obtained the sanction of Mr. Jefferson, then President, to purchase the country which the marine power of England and absorbing events in Europe prevented France from occupying.
Mr. Livingston was a diplomat of the first water, but he had the prince of diplomatists to cope with in the persons of Talleyrand and Marbois, and it was thought advisable by Mr. Jefferson to dispatch Mr. Munroe to Paris as an auxiliary in effecting the purchase of Upper Louisiana. After some masterly moves on both sides on the political chess-board, the sale was effected, the United States agreeing to pay 60,000,000 francs for the extensive province, and assuming a debt of 20,000,000 more, owing by France by way of indemnity to American citizens for maritime spoliation. The treaty was concluded on the 30th of April, 1803, and signed on the 3d of May.
While the purchase of Louisiana was pending between France and the United States, in consequence of the large number of grants the surveys had been extended far into the wilderness, and in consequence, the surveyors and their attachés were exposed to the attacks of hostile Indians. One of the deputy surveyors, by the name of Bouvet, whilst surveying a piece of land west of St. Genevieve, was taken prisoner by a band of Osage Indians, and after being subjected to the torture, was burned at the stake. There were numerous murders committed by that savage tribe, who watched every occasion to attack isolated detachments of the whites when at a distance from the forts. There was no redress for these murders,
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for immediately they had performed their bloody work, the Indians would retreat to their own country through more than a hundred miles of wilderness, which the whites could not muster a sufficient number of troops to invade. The only safety for the inhabitants was to keep near their forts, to which they could retreat at the first warning of danger, and could render effectual assistance to each other. At this time (from 1800 to 1803) there was much excitement regarding the great mineral region in southern Missouri; and so as to locate their grants upon what was thought to be the most profitable part of the royal domain, the inhabitants, instigated by cupidity, often fell victims to the tomahawk and rifle of the savages, whilst straying too remote from the settlements.After the conclusion of the treaty for the purchase of Louisiana, Napoleon gave utterance to these remarkable words, in conversation to one of his ministers: "This accession of territory strengthens forever the power of the United States; and I have given to England a maritime rival, that will sooner or later humble her pride."
To this treaty the Spanish government at first protested, saying that France had no right to retrocede the province which she had so recently acquired, and which had been ceded to her with the condition that she should not again dispose of it. However, this puerile demonstration was disregarded both by France and the United States, and on the 20th of December, 1803, M. Laussat, the French commissioner, delivered the province of Louisiana and its dependencies to Governor Claibourne and General Wilkinson, commissioners of the United States.
Though this public surrender of the province of Louisiana comprised all of the territory and every locality, and at once gave the United States a recognized dominion over it; yet it was thought proper that a formal surrender should be made of the province of Upper Louisiana, of which St. Louis was the capital and the residence of the Spanish lieutenant-governors, as it was such a vast distance from New Orleans, which was the capital of the province and where the transfer had been effected. For this purpose, Major Stoddard, an officer in the American service, an accomplished scholar, and who wrote a most reliable history of Louisiana, was appointed commissioner of the French government, and on the 9th of March, 1804, received the transfer from Charles Dehault Delassus, the Spanish commandant; on the next day he transferred it to the United States. (See Errata 9)
When it became known in St. Louis that the United States had purchased Louisiana, the spirit of speculation, already so rife, received a new impulse, and the house of the Spanish commandant was besieged by a crowd of clamorous petitioners eager for grants; for it was well known that as soon as the laws of the United States brooded over the western banks of the Mississippi, the settlers from the eastern side would cross over and fill up the country, giving it increased value and consequently enriching its owners. Delassus was liberal in his grants, a petition scarcely ever being refused.
The love of liberty is inherent in all men, and consequently, when the news came to St. Louis that Louisiana was purchased by the United States, the inhabitants rejoiced in the change, although the Spanish laws, though springing from a monarchal source, possessed mildness almost at variance with kingly power. The love of wealth is also inseparable from human existence, and the prospect of selling their lands at vastly remunerative
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prices was likewise a powerful incentive to the inhabitants for hailing a change of government which would bring about so desirable a result. Consequently, when the stars and stripes floated from the government house of St. Louis, and Major Stoddard was inducted into office, the inhabitants manifested every symptom of joy; though they regretted the change some months afterward, when they found a population was gradually gathering in their midst, introducing different habits and customs, adopting another creed of worship, and giving another direction to political currents, which had so long run into fixed channels. They then regretted the change that had taken place, and often sighed for the blissful days of ignorance, content, and comparative poverty, which had been their lot under the Spanish domination. (See Errata 10)The Anglo-Saxon immigration to St. Louis possessed more industry, a superior knowledge in agricultural and mechanical pursuits, and above all, an enterprise and expansive views, which soon gave them a controlling influence, and were mortifying to the spirit of the native inhabitants, who were enabled to occupy only a secondary position. They assumed, at once, the control of affairs, occupied the most prominent offices, and in their worldly thrift far outstripped the French and Spaniards, who felt the canker-worm of envy gnawing in their bosoms when they saw the city, which had been founded by the one and governed by the other for many years, pass under the rule of another race, and whose principles of action and social feeling bore no affinity to theirs.
Upper Louisiana extended south to a place called Hope Encampment, situated nearly opposite the Chickasaw Bluffs, and its northern boundary is the same as what now limits in that direction the territory of the United States. It was bounded on the east by the Mississippi, and on the west, it was entitled, by the law of nations, to all of the unclaimed country drained by the rivers which emptied in the occupied portion; which would give its extent on the west, to the Rocky Mountains, in which the Missouri had its fountain.
The population of Upper Louisiana, at the time of the cession in 1804, according to Major Stoddard — who is more to be relied upon than any other author in that particular, as being on the spot at the time of the transfer — was nine thousand and twenty whites, and one thousand three hundred and twenty blacks. Education was in a very defective state; there was no post-office in the place, and no ferry across the Mississippi. Whenever a traveller or hunter by chance wished to cross the Mississippi
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appellation of Pain Court (short bread). Carondelet for many years went by the name of Vide Poche (empty pocket), indicative of the poverty of its inhabitants. (See Errata 11)The advent of the Americans and the change of government were propitious for St. Louis; for from that time agriculture, that firm basis of a nation's wealth, became the leading vocation of the industrious immigration, and from thence to the present Pain Court was a misnomer.
The extent of St. Louis at the time of the cession to the United States was very circumscribed. There were no buildings on Third Street, and where the Planters' Hotel now stands was an enclosed common, where cattle belonging to the villagers grazed. One public-house, newly opened in the place, was kept by Jean Hortez on a small scale; and indeed there was scarcely a necessity for any, for the inhabitants were so hospitable, that a stranger would be received anywhere as one of the family, and without charge, had his place at the table and the fireside. As we before remarked, there was no post-office; all communications had to be made by individuals coming to, and returning from the town to the sections of country from whence they came on a visit. Even between New Orleans, the capital of the province, and St. Louis, there was no established mode of transmitting letters by government, and official as well as private correspondence was sent by individuals who were visiting these places on business. There were gun-boats belonging to government that ran between New Orleans and St. Louis, but at such long intervening periods that it would have been inconvenient to depend solely upon this mode of transmitting communications. However, between St. Louis and Mackinaw, and St. Louis and New Orleans, and the few intervening points, the opportunities of transmitting communications were much more frequent than other sections of country, as the current of commercial trade ran between these villages. To the emigrants from Kentucky and Ohio, who a year or two before the cession had come to St. Louis in considerable numbers, contiguous to the town, was presented the greatest difficulty in communicating with their friends. They found but little difficulty in hearing from those they had left, because there was almost a continual stream of immigration to the Spanish country; but it was rarely that any one returned, and it was often years before the new settlers could send to their friends any account of the country they had adopted as their home.
The 60,000,000 of francs which the United States paid for the province of Louisiana, were given for a large extent of territory, with immense agricultural and mineral resources, but almost entirely undeveloped. The 50,000 inhabitants which the whole province contained were not desirable residents of a new country, and did not possess the elements of thrift and enterprise to make the soil or the mines yield the innate wealth which they possessed. They were but little skilled either in agriculture or mining, and the Indian trade, to which they almost exclusively devoted themselves, would soon have exhausted itself, as the deer, buffalo and beaver would become diminished; and their supplies in that quarter being cut off, they would have grown poorer as their trade languished, and have never reached any degree of prosperity, had not the vigor and skill of the Anglo-American race been precipitated in the country and given a new direction and new force to the small and sluggish currents of business. At the time of the cession the country itself was an acquisition, but not the inhabitants.
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Chapter III.
As it has been observed before, we know of no record which gave to Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, authority as commandant of St. Louis, with the power of granting lands to the inhabitants; yet there is scarcely a shadow of doubt but that he was first sent by M. Aubri, who, in the early part of 1765, was commander of the French forces in Louisiana, when M. D'Abbadie was governor of the province of Louisiana, to the post of St. Louis, with the few troops which he had in charge at Fort de Chartres, when that fort was delivered to the English. It was not probably intended at that time that he should exercise any other functions but those usually vested in the commandants of military posts; but, as there was need of some one in the growing town who should have the legal power of apportioning land, it is not only probable, but almost certain, that after the death of M. D'Abbadie, his successor, M. Aubri, delegated the power to M. St. Ange de Bellerive to grant the royal domain. In support of this opinion, we see by the archives a record of an order made by the Supreme Council of Louisiana, transmitted to Lefebre, who was one of the judges in Upper Louisiana, and LabuxiÄre, who was, at that time, the king's solicitor, for the sale of the effects of an absconding debtor, by the name of Legrange, who had property in St. Genevieve. This order to the judge and king's solicitor, after describing to them minutely their powers relative to the disposal of the property, and how and to whom the proceeds should be transmitted at New Orleans, tells them that M. Aubri, the governor, had sent private instructions to M. St. Ange de Bellerive, the commandant of the post of St. Louis, to aid them if necessary in the execution of the process. This shows that the governor of Louisiana recognized the authority of the commandant of St. Louis, and was in the habit of instructing him in his duties.
When Piernas took possession of the post of St. Louis, as the delegated officer of the Spanish crown, he confirmed all of the grants made by St. Ange de Bellerive, which gave a legality to the grants, which were before of equivocal tenure. A surveyor having been appointed immediately that he was inducted into office, whose duty it was to assign the lands to the petitioners, from an order of the lieutenant-governor, there arose a
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system connected with the granting of lands, which made almost impossible the occurrence of conflicting claims.By the provincial laws, after a grant had been obtained by the lieutenant-governor, the title was not deemed complete until it had been confirmed by the governor of the province at New Orleans; yet so great was the expense, time and difficulty of getting to the capital, that few of the titles were confirmed, and the inhabitants remained perfectly satisfied with the naked grants made by the lieutenant-governors, and sold and conveyed their lands with the same readiness as if the original grants had been sanctioned by the supreme power in New Orleans. Indeed, it would have been impossible for one-half of the inhabitants to have had their titles confirmed by the governor, as they had not the means to go to the capital of the province, more than a thousand miles distant; and the time of going from St. Louis to that place and again returning, occupied the best part of a year. All appeared to feel that the grants, as made by the lieutenant-governors, were all-sufficient; and the decisions, many years afterward, by the commissioners of the United States and the courts, went to show that grants were deemed completely and legally full when proceeding from the lieutenant-governors, even without the sanction of the governor.
Lands were only granted upon petition, and the petitioner usually assigned a reason or reasons why the grant should be acceded to; such as, he was a resident at the post, intended to live upon it, had a family of so many children, had rendered the crown some service, or something that would operate as a legal inducement upon the lieutenant-governor. Some of the petitions specified the particular locality where the petitioners wished their lands, and others merely giving the quantity, had the power, if the petition was acquiesced in, to select them where they pleased on the vacant lands of the public domain. Some of the grants had conditions annexed to them; such as the grantees were to make some improvements on the land in a year and a day, or intended to devote it to some specific purpose; and if these conditions were not complied with at the proper time, the lands reverted to the crown. There are some instances of land being granted, and afterward being reannexed to the public domain. This rarely occurred from a non-fulfilment of the conditions of the grant, as it was very easy for the grantee, at any time, to get an extension of time if they wished it — but usually proceeded from the fact that it frequently happened that persons found it to their interest not to conform to the conditions of the grants, from seeing some better locality which possessed greater attractions. They preferred to forfeit their old grants, and endeavored to acquire possession of those lands which they thought were of most value.
Nearly at the close of the Spanish domination, the lands most sought for were those the most richly impregnated with minerals; and all the broken wilds where lead was known to exist in the greatest plenty, were eagerly sought after, and many thousands of acres were frequently granted to one individual, covering immense mineral riches, which being situated at a distance from the rivers, and in the almost impassable solitudes of the mountains, were worked to but small extent, and for the want of the proper means of transportation could not be developed to one tithe of their value. Next to peltry, lead was the chief article of value in St. Louis.
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Salt was also of much importance as an article of consumption and commerce, and consequently the lands on which could be formed salines were in much demand, and soon became severed from the public domain, and were appropriated to individual possession. The lead mines and the salines were extensively worked, and though in so rough and unskilful a manner that it approached to savage awkwardness and ignorance, still considerable profits accrued, and a large portion of the inhabitants were engaged in these pursuits. Whenever a mine or a saline was to be worked, a small party, composed of Frenchmen and Spaniards, and many half-breeds and Indians, degraded by drink, all under the direction of one or two leaders, would start, with but little preparation, to probably a remote point of fifty or a hundred miles from St. Louis, carrying with them some few rough implements with which to work, and armed with their rifles and knives, with a few sacks of ground maize, would take their course through the wilderness, and by a skill made perfect by necessity, without a path or track would arrive at their place of destination, and erecting a shelter of poles, covered with grass and forest leaves, and sometimes partially cemented with clay, would form their mode of action and commence their operations under the direction of a leader, who was the chief personage of the expedition, and to whom the labor of the others was due for a compensation. These parties had to depend solely on themselves for defence, and were often cut off to a man by large marauding parties of savage Indians, who would discover their rendezvous, and by stratagem and force would effect their destruction. The bodies of many brave and manly spirits in this manner have been bereft of their lives by the savages, and left to fester unburied in the wild solitudes in which they had undertaken to lay the first landmarks of civilization.
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The love of gain, though always regarded as an infirmity of human nature, and certainly springing from purely selfish sources, yet, weakness as it is, is a most powerful incentive to human exertion, and is productive of the happiest results. For gain, the enterprising merchant seeks unknown shores and climes pregnant with the breath of death, which in pestilential vapors floats through the atmosphere, and where danger lurks in a thousand other forms incident to the stranger when in a savage land — where the amenities of life are unknown, and where war, rapine, and murder are regarded in the light of virtues by the inhabitants. Gain, more than a love of glory, led to the discovery of the Mississippi River; gain induced the governor of Canada to procure the services of the holy Marquette to seek the upper waters of the great river; gain influenced La Salle to attempt the colonization of the most fertile valley on the globe; and gain
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prompted the discovery of the site and founding of the "Great Metropolis of the West."Though parties who went to work the distant salines and the mines were continually harassed, and frequently entirely destroyed by the Indians, yet the profits attendant upon the lead and salt business were so seductive, that others, animated by the same motives, were found ready to encounter the same obstacles and dangers. It was probably owing to the dangers that were incidental to working the mines and the salines, that the lieutenant-governors made without hesitation such large grants in the wilds where the lead and salt were to be found. In the neighborhood of St. Louis it was only the wealthy who obtained large grants, as it was thought by the lieutenant-governors that they possessed the most ample means to improve them — at least such was the reason alleged for the extensive grants.
As has been observed, most of the grants made by the lieutenant-governors were deemed by the inhabitants sufficiently complete without having them confirmed by the governor at New Orleans; yet, just previous to the actual transfer of Louisiana to the United States, a panic pervaded the inhabitants of St. Louis that their grants, and the transfer of their grants, not confirmed by the supreme executive officer, were worthless, and many hundreds and thousands of acres were sold for almost nothing by those whose titles had not been completely perfected. It is thought that some of the most wealthy and speculative of the inhabitants of St. Louis originated the panic, that they might purchase the claims for a mere trifle. It is certain that the claims were principally purchased by those who were the chief instigators of the panic. It is also certain that many of the claims originating but a short time previous to the transfer, were fraudulent; some of them were so pronounced by the commissioners appointed by the United States some years afterward, and there were many that were fraudulent that were pronounced good, owing to the liberal constructions placed upon claims by the commissioners, who acted upon the liberal and legal principle, that every claim was good unless manifest fraud appeared. However, many of these old claims were subjects of legal litigation, and for many years afforded a fine harvest-field for lawyers, and swelled the dockets in the court-house. Even now, some of them are surrounded by legal trammels, and have run divers times the cycles of the various courts, without any prospect of a termination.
It was during the administration of the last two lieutenant-governors, that the grants of land became much more frequent and extensive. Previous to their time, it was granted in much smaller quantities, and one of the fundamental conditions of procuring the grant was, that the petitioner should be a Catholic. Under the last commandants, though the last condition remained in force on the books, it was not enforced in practice, and the religious creed of the grantees was seldom inquired into, as it was the wish of the Spanish government to allure within its domains as many Anglo-Americans as possible, for the purpose of increasing agricultural products.
At the time of the cession to the United States, St. Louis, according to Major Stoddard, contained one hundred and eighty houses, which were nearly all built of hewn logs, set up on end, and on the square a roof was formed and covered with shingles; on some houses the shingles were
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fastened to the scantling with wooden pegs, owing to the scarcity of nails. Some of the houses of the more wealthy and tasteful inhabitants were built of stone, with a large stone wall encompassing them and the gardens with which they were connected. These houses were of but one story, low pitched, with a porch the full length of the building, and frequently a piazza in the rear. Most of the town was situated on what are now known as Main and Second streets, and the main buildings were the Government House, situated on Main street, corner of Walnut, extending toward the river, and south of the public square known as La Place d'armes; the house of Madame Chouteau, on the square between Main and Second and Chesnut and Market streets; the "Old Chouteau Mansion," being a part of the first house built in St. Louis, and situated on the block between Main and Second, and Market and Walnut streets; and the fort which was called St. Charles, situated between Fourth and Fifth streets, and Walnut and Elm. In this fort the Spanish garrison had their quarters, and it was commenced in the early part of the spring of 1780, as the register in the Catholic church contains an account of the ceremony of "blessing the first stone." The nucleus of the fort was the tower — a stone fortress reared in the shape of a tower — which had numerous port-holes, and was probably built during the administration of Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, and for many years was used as a prison by the American government — the debtors being confined in the apartment above, and the criminals below. At the attack of the Indians in 1780, the tower was the only available fortress; the other defences were in an incomplete state.Many of the male inhabitants were married to Indian squaws, or lived with them in unseemly relations of intimacy. In the register of the Catholic church we see where eight children of a certain Jean Cardinal and Marianne, his Indian wife, were baptized at once; this same Frenchman was killed by the Indians in their attack upon the town in 1780, as stated in a previous part of this work. There are numerous baptisms of children whose mothers were squaws, and who had become the wives or mistresses of white men. This old and invaluable record book contains also the following baptism, which we have literally translated, and given in full to the reader: —
"In the year 1794, the 13th of April, Peter Joseph Didier, religious Benedictine priest of the congregation of St. Maur, has baptized Therese Victori, of Indian origin, of the nation of the Penis, about five years of age. The godfather has been M. Zenon Trudeau, captain commandant of the appointed regiment of Louisiana, and lieutenant-governor of the western part of Illinois. The godmother, Mary Genevieve de la Marche, religious superior of the Ladies of St. Claire de Tour, who have signed this present with us the day and year above."
This baptismal record not only shows the honor bestowed upon the Indian child by the high standing of its godfather and godmother, but gives us undoubted evidence that St. Louis was visited by some of the religious refugees of high quality in France, who were compelled, during the stormy period of the Revolution, to forsake their monasteries, and take shelter in foreign countries. The godmother in the aforesaid baptism was one high in authority in one branch of her creed, and doubtless received the homage incidental to her rank while at St. Louis.
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When the Spanish domination ceased, there was but one church in St. Louis, and that was of the Catholic persuasion. This church was built at the closing of the French domination in 1780, and which we have described in the first chapter of the work. There were many of the inhabitants, it is true, of different sects, yet they had carefully concealed their religious proclivities, and had no place of worship, as the Catholic creed alone was tolerated under the Spanish government.
During the French and Spanish dominations, the higher order of crimes were very rare in St. Louis, and though there was rather a liberality in their morals, yet there were none of those demoniac outbursts of human passions, which often appal us under other governments and in a more advanced stage of civilization. There were no instances of assassination, and but one of manslaughter — a soldier killing one of his comrades at the garrison — and even larcenies were unknown. The most immoral features that were reprehensible in the early inhabitants were their liaisons. These were looked upon in a charitable manner, nor affected to any degree the social standing of the party. This is only applicable to the male sex; the standard of virtue in the female sex was as high as at the present time; and though the man could deviate with impunity from a chaste life, yet the woman who did not preserve sacred her vestal and marital relations, was at once socially ostracized. In the archives we find where a man and wife jointly made a will, professing toward each other the most endearing relations, and requesting their executors to let the graves of both be as near as possible after death, as significant of the loving union that had always subsisted during life. In the next clause, the husband goes on to say that he bequeathed "five thousand livres to Marie, his illegitimate daughter." If a husband strayed from the connubial orbit for other attractions, he was forgiven, on the score of human infirmity.
Among the inhabitants, the most cordial relations subsisted: enmity was rare among them, and a brotherly feeling appeared to unite them in a family. There was seldom any legal litigation, for it was a custom among the inhabitants, in almost all cases, where there was a difference of opinion which would lead to legal controversy, for the parties to submit to arbitration, and in this reasonable way end a dispute, which, if it once became involved in the meshes of the law, would have been protracted with expense, and kept the parties in continual torture until determined; all the time attended with a thousand vexations, and increasing the unfriendly relations.
The inhabitants of St. Louis, during the French and Spanish dominations, though cut off by the remote position of their town from the enjoyment of what are termed the luxuries of life, were nevertheless, probably, the happiest people in the world. The little village was too small for society to form itself into clans, each with their array of vanity and paltry ambition, but the whole village was on a level in the social scale, and the inhabitants would gather around each other's firesides, like one family, undisturbed by the trivial niceties of etiquette, conscious that the glance and the voice which welcomed them took their warmth and their tone from hearts that were throbbing with the most friendly emotions. They were not an industrious people; they occupied themselves only sufficiently to procure a bare comfortable subsistence, and then,
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during the afternoons and evenings, there were continual interchanges of visits.The French are proverbial for their good humor, their gayety, and that innate philosophy which prompts them, at all times, to be as happy as possible, under all circumstances. The inhabitants of St. Louis possessed all of these national characteristics in their greatest degree, somewhat increased from their isolated position, which had a tendency to draw them closer together, and the total absence of all adventitious modes of pleasure, and their perfect dependence upon each other in that respect for enjoyment. During the summer afternoon they could be seen in groups beneath the shade of some tree, or perhaps sitting upon the bluff banks of the river, when the hill above the town had intercepted the rays of the sun, before his descent in the waves and coral reefs of ocean; or perhaps some, more venturesome, would glide with the suppleness of youth and spirit down the bluff banks, and would seat themselves on the rocks which at that time, at low-water mark, rose prominently from the bed of the "Father of Waters," along the shore, laughing at their own antics and activity, and exciting the attention, and contributing to the enjoyment of their friends, who were spectators of their exploits. Some of the old would gather frequently together on the long piazzas, which were frequently in both front and rear of the one-story dwellings of the wealthier of the inhabitants — and in a universal conversation, in which all played their part, and all enjoyed; and permitting not for a moment any care or subject to intrude, which would damp the warm and genial feelings always prevalent in their social circles.
Though education was limited — and indeed so meagre even among the very few who made any pretension to book information — still the little village had its romance and its music, its traditionary narratives, and the poetry of feeling which wakes in the heart of youth when touched by the powerful talisman of love. The lover would woo his mistress in the plain language of truth, and in humble attire, and, without the aid of guitar and verse, would enjoy in sober sweetness the brief scenes of courtship; and when the holy father would make them one, and gave them his blessing, they would retire to their humble cabins and commence their new life with as much prospect of happiness as though wealth and intelligence had been their lot.
Dancing was the favorite amusement of the inhabitants, and they frequently had their social meetings. At whosoever's house the meeting was going to be, all of the neighbors would contribute something to the feast which would be spread out for the occasion. Some would contribute sugar, some coffee (there was no tea at that time), some chickens, some one thing and some another, all what they had to spare, and in this manner made up the banquet. It was almost impossible, during the infancy of St. Louis, during the French domination, for but a few — and very few — of the inhabitants to have such a sufficiency of the necessaries of life as would enable them to entertain at their own expense any great number of their friends, and hence the custom which necessity originated of a general contribution for furnishing the repast whenever there was to be a social gathering. The only music was the violin, and the dances chiefly in vogue were minuets and the various kinds of quadrille. Madame Ortes informs us that waltzes were then entirely unknown, and not until late
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during the Spanish domination did she ever see one; the first one who introduced it into St. Louis was Mr. René Paul, a respectable trader and merchant of St. Louis, and who frequently, when the country was ceded to the United States, officiated as interpreter for the officers of government when treating with the Indians, as frequent intercourse had made him familiar with their language. The French love society and conviviality, and consequently these festive scenes were frequent.As St. Louis grew in years, the inhabitants grew in wealth, and most of them had the comforts of life in profusion, and soon could supply their houses with all that was necessary to entertain their friends, and then these general contributions ceased at their festive gatherings.
A few years after the Spanish domination commenced, though the gatherings were as frequent as ever, yet general contribution at these entertainments had altogether ceased, and the expense was borne exclusively by the individuals at whose houses the parties were held.
The customs and habits of the people of St. Louis after the transfer from the French to the Spanish government, underwent no change, except in some few immaterial respects, produced by the operation of new laws; for, but few Spanish families immigrated to the country, and those few were mostly connected with French families, and adopted their peculiar modes of life.
During the Spanish domination, whenever there was an entertainment, it was a municipal rule that a sentinel should be upon the spot, whose province it was to conduct to the calaboose any who raised any disturbance by gratifying belligerent propensities, or from too deeply imbibing of spirituous potations behaved in so noisy a manner as annoyed the company. At these banquets, the greatest deference was paid to the aged, and care was taken that they should be seated at the first table, when, from the number of guests invited, it was impossible for them all to be seated at one time.
At the time of the transfer of the province of Louisiana to the United States, there was but one baker in the town, by the name of Le Clerc, who baked for the garrison, and who lived in Main street, between what is now known as Elm and Walnut. There were three blacksmiths: Delosier, who resided in Main street, near Morgan; Rencontre, who lived in Main, near Carr; and Valois, who resided in Main, near Elm, and did the work for the government. There was but one physician, who was Dr. Saugrain, who practised many years after the possession of the American government, and who lived on Second street, and owned the property now occupied as the People's Garden.
There were but two little French taverns in the town, one kept by Yostic, and the other by Landreville, chiefly to accommodate the couriers des bois (hunters) and the voyageurs (boatmen) of the Mississippi. These little taverns, visited by the brave, daring, and reckless men who lived three-fourths of the time remote from civilization, in the wild solitudes of the forest and rivers, and in constant intercourse with the savages, were the very nurseries of legendary narratives, where the hunters, the trappers and the boatmen, all mingling together under the genial excitement of convivial influences, would relate perilous adventures, hair-breadth escapes; death of comrades and families by the tomahawk, starvation, and at the fire-stake; murder by the pirates of the Grand Tower and
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Cottonwood Creek; captivity in the wilderness and the cave, and protracted sufferings in the most agonizing forms incident to humanity. There is no record of these wild narratives, which could have been preserved for future times, had there been a historian, who by the embalming power of genius would have preserved them in an imperishable shape for posterity. Both of these taverns stood upon the corners of Main and Locust streets.The principal merchants and traders, at the time of the cession to the United States, were, Auguste Chouteau, who resided in Main street, between Market and Walnut; Pierre Chouteau, who resided on the corner of Main and Washington Avenue, and had the whole square encircled with a stone wall — he had an orchard of choice fruit, and his house and store were in one building — the store being the first story and the family residence the second; Manuel Lisa lived on Second street, corner of Spruce — a part of the building is now occupied as a boarding-house; Labbadie & Sarpy, in Main, between Pine and Chesnut; Roubidou lived at the corner of Elm and Main — a part of the house is still standing; and Jaques Clamorgan, corner of Green and Main — the foundry of Gaty, McCune & Co. stands on part of what was his property. The Debreuil family occupied a whole square on Second street, between Pine and Chestnut.
It would be too tedious thus to locate the residences of each one of the merchants and traders, and we will content ourselves by giving the names of some of the remaining merchants and principal inhabitants. They were as follows: — Hortez, Pratte, Gratiot, Tayon, Lecompt, Papin, Cabanne, Alvarez, Lebaume and Soulard.
It must not be understood by the reader, that a merchant at that time approximated at all in his business relations to the merchant of to-day. A place occupying but a few feet square would contain all of their goods; and indeed, during the period of the first growth of St. Louis, a merchant kept all of his goods in a chest or box, which was opened whenever a purchaser would appear. Sugar, coffee, gunpowder, blankets, paint, spice, salt, knives, hatchets, guns, kitchen-ware, hunting-shirts, and every variety of coarse dry goods, were stored together.
Owing to the tediousness of navigation, the prices demanded for all articles of importation were enormous. Sugar and coffee were each two dollars per pound, and every thing else in proportion. Tea was almost unknown until the advent of the United States government. Articles now regarded as indispensable to human existence, and occupying a low position in the scale of human comfort, were then esteemed the greatest luxuries, and so expensive as to be enjoyed only on state occasions, and then with parsimony; yet the inhabitants were happy. Their isolated position, their few wants, their removal from temptation always lurking amid the elegancies and flowering attractions of civilization, the simplicity of their life — all conduced to serenity of mind, which is so redolent of happy thoughts and so favorable to the growth of the finest sympathies. When they met at their balls, there was no ambition to excel in the display of costume and other butterfly follies incident to the summer of civilization — having no intrinsic value and deceiving by a specious attraction.
In speaking of the balls, it is necessary to take a passing glance at the musicians, who, with their instruments, contributed so much to the enjoyment
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of the inhabitants. The chief one was an old man with white hair, a droll expression of countenance, and dry humor. He was scarcely five feet in height, and almost as thick. He was called Monsieur Tardif, and at this distant day there is no means of ascertaining his patronymic. He was known usually by his soubriquet, and this name — which was given to him from his slowness of motion over space — had more notoriety than any other in the village. At every ball, seated by his side was another musician, in the person of a darky of the real African hue, but from his long, gaunt, fallow-deer appearance, was called Chevreuil. They were the perfect antipodes of each other, and have been the origin of many a jest among the happy people of the village.291
Chapter IV.
WHEN the Province of Louisiana was ceded to the United States, Major Amos Stoddard was appointed governor of Upper Louisiana, with all the power of a Spanish commandant. He lived in what was known as the Government House, on the corner of Main and Walnut and south of the public square, La Place d'Armes. He was an officer of much ability, an accomplished scholar, and for the short period he was governor of Louisiana, fulfilled with satisfaction his duties.
On the 26th of March, 1804, by an act of Congress, the province of Louisiana was divided into two parts — the territory of Orleans and the district of Louisiana — and all north of the thirty-third parallel of latitude was included in the latter. The district was placed under the domination of the territory of Indiana, with ample powers to regulate its civil and military government. Not a year elapsed before another act of Congress declared that the district of Louisiana should be changed into the territory of Louisiana, and should have a governor appointed by the president, and the legislative power should vest in the governor and three territorial judges. The first governor of the territory was general Wilkinson. It was in August of that year that one of the expeditions under Lieutenant Pike left their encampment near St. Louis for the St. Peter's. The governor resided in the old Government House, and in the early part of autumn, 1805, was visited by Aaron Burr, when that remarkable man, tormented by the furies of a complaining conscience for the death of Hamilton, in his restless excitement, was projecting schemes to gratify his overreaching ambition, even though they tended to the severance of the Union. He was betrayed by Wilkinson, whom he thought his friend, and was arrested before his schemes had matured. (See Errata 12)
In September, 1806, the little town of St. Louis was again excited by the return of Lewis and Clark, who had traced the turbid Missouri to its source, passed through a defile of the Rocky Mountains, nor desisted until they followed the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. They had been absent on their perilous journey for two years and a half, and their arrival at St. Louis, on their return to Washington, was an important event, which gave new excitement and set in brisker motion the quiet currents
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of the infant city. The chiefs of the expedition were feted by the chief inhabitants of the city, and the attendants received their due share of attention from other of the citizens, who, though not so high in authority as the rulers and the more wealthy, were equally as hospitable, and as anxious to receive with the most cordial warmth the heroic men who had accomplished so perilous an undertaking. The daring adventure became the theme of universal conversation in the town, and they who had traced the wild Missouri to its source; who had smoked the calumet with the most distant and ferocious tribes of Indians; who had forced their way through the dismal solitudes of the Rocky Mountains, and dauntlessly pursued their journey until they stood in view of the saline breakers of the Pacific washing the western borders of our Union — became the lions of the town and "the observed of all observers." So much did they like the inhabitants of St. Louis, that both Lewis and Clark became residents of the town, and filled the highest offices of the country. Even the negro, York, who was the body-servant of Clark, despite his ebony complexion, was looked upon with decided partiality, and received his share of adulation. It is said that York was much given to romance, and under the excitement of frequent spirituous potations, with which his kind friends furnished him in abundance, would relate the most thrilling incidents which befell him and the party during long voyages through the wilderness, and which would not have been discreditable to the imagination of the author of Baron Munchausen, when in his happiest flights of erratic fancy.Under the administration of the United States government, the population of St. Louis increased rapidly. Immigration poured rapidly in the borders of Missouri, and enterprising traders from the eastern cities took up their abode in the town and commenced successful business. The new buildings that were put up became more tasteful in their structure; a new vitality appeared to quicken the sluggish channels of business; and every thing gave indication of surrounding thrift and comfort. A ferry was established across the Mississippi, kept by a man by the name of Adams, and it became so lucrative, that in a few months after another was put in operation — there being a continual line of immigrant wagons crossing from the east to the west of the Mississippi. (See Errata 13) Some of them were kept sometimes for days on the east side, waiting for their turns to be ferried over. A post-office was also established in St. Louis soon after the establishment of the United States government.
It was in August, 1808, that one Sauk and two Iowa Indians were tried before the Court of Oyer and Terminer for murder. Messrs. Lucas and Shrader were the presiding judges. There was much excitement in the town of St. Louis, and the streets literally swarmed with Indian warriors, who had come to be present at the trial. There was much prejudice against the Indians at the time, as several mysterious murders had been
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recently committed, which were charged upon some of the marauding bands, and the wishes of the people were that those who were known to be guilty, should suffer the highest penalty of the law. However, their trial was conducted in the most impartial manner. A place was set apart in the court-house — which was the main building occupied by the Spanish garrison, near what is now the corner of Fourth and Walnut — for their friends to witness their trial, and good counsel was assigned them. The crime was clearly proved upon them, and they were convicted of murder, and sentence of death was pronounced against the Sauk: for some legal informality a new trial was granted to the Iowas. However, none of them were executed; for by legal finesse it was discovered there was a want of jurisdiction in the case, and the savages escaped the doom which they well merited.As has been before observed, the Delawares and Shawnees had been invited west of the Mississippi by the Spanish authorities, and a large portion of land assigned them in the neighborhood of Cape Girardeau. They were induced to settle there, that they might repel the assaults of the Osages, who kept the Spanish villages in continual terror of their invasion.
The Delawares and Shawnees built several villages in the neighborhood of Cape Girardeau; and after the establishment of the United States government, so sensible were they of the good results of its working, that they determined to fashion a government as near like it as their knowledge and circumstances admitted, and resolved to adopt the habits of civilization. They gave up the chase, buried the tomahawk, and devoted themselves for a little season to the pursuits of agriculture. In their first criminal court, three men were convicted of murder, and without any time for repentance they were taken back of one of the villages, there tomahawked, their bodies burnt upon a pile, and the ashes scattered to the winds. The efforts of the Indians to cast off their barbarous instincts and to acquire the quiet and useful lessons of civilization, proved unsuccessful. They could not change their nature, and quickly threw off the irksome trammels of Caucasian life — with which they had fettered themselves for the purpose of increasing their worldly thrift — and, relapsing into their old habits, followed the fate of the other tribes, who had sickened and dwindled before the influence of civilization; and now, of the Shawnee and Delaware tribes, once so numerous and powerful, but few are left.
The first execution that ever took place in the territory of Louisiana, was on September, 16th, 1808, when a young man in the prime of youth was hung for the murder of his stepfather. He had deliberately shot him, and it being the first foul and premeditated murder that had ever taken place in the territory, though every effort was made by his friends to avert his doom, he was offered as a victim to the offended laws of his country. In those days, hanging was conducted on very simple principles. Two posts were planted a short distance apart, with a fork at the uppermost ends, and on the forks a stout beam rested, over which was swung a rope. The convict was driven to the gallows in a cart, seated in a chair, upon which he stood when the rope was adjusted to his neck. When all was ready, the cart was driven away, and the unfortunate aggressor was left strangling and struggling in the agonies of death. It frequently happened that the victim, for the purpose of releasing himself
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from agonizing suspense, would, the moment that the cord was adjusted to his neck, kick away the chair and launch himself into eternity.In the first part of autumn, 1809, an event took place which caused a universal gloom among the inhabitants, and many a weeping eye in St. Louis distilled drops of anguish for the death of a magistrate, friend, and stateman. For many months Governor Meriwether Lewis had been subject to mental depression, without having any visible cause for his melancholy. His friends viewed the marked change in his conduct with disquietude, and bestowed upon him those thousand little attentions which respect and warm friendship will suggest, and all in vain. While on a journey, Governor Lewis deliberately ended his life with his pistol.
The municipal government of St. Louis was at that time under the control of a board of trustees, vested with nearly the same powers as now incidental to the common council and mayor. On February 10th, 1809, they issued a proclamation, requiring the citizens to form themselves into fire companies, and enacted the laws regulating their government. Among other things, they required that each inhabitant who owned a building should have the chimneys of the same swept once a month at least; and if a chimney caught fire, the presumption was that the chimney had not been swept according to law, and the occupier was fined ten dollars, unless he could prove that his chimney had been swept within a month. One of the ordinances provided that each occupier of a house should provide two buckets, to be kept in a convenient place, for the contingency of a fire. This year, by an act of the legislature, the limits of the city were adjusted.
The roads and bridges were made and repaired in a manner totally different from what they are at the present day. There were two assessors appointed, who assessed in their district so much labor, and the time for its performance, on every property holder or lessee of property. This labor had to be performed either in person or by deputy, who was required to be an able-bodied person, and all were under the direction of an overseer.
Even as late as 1810, the post-office arrangements for St. Louis and some of the chief villages in the territory, were very inferior. The mail started from St. Louis to Cahokia once a week; from St. Louis to Herculaneum, and Mine Å Breton to St. Genevieve, once in two weeks. Though the place had considerably improved under the business enterprise of the Anglo-Saxon race, and under the genial influence of our laws, yet business was still conducted on so moderate a scale, that it was not deemed imperative to have more frequent mails. According to a statement made by a writer, dated March 21st, 1811, the town contained 1,400 inhabitants. It contained also one printing-office and twelve
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stores. The writer then goes on to say that both population and business had been on a comparative stand for two years, but both were on the increase; and mentions the fact that every house was taken, rents on the increase, and the prospects of the town were brightening. Among other things, he states that six or seven buildings were put up during the last season (1810), and this season (1811) there would probably be twice the number. He also mentions the fact, that there were two schools in the place — a French and English one. The value of the merchandise and imports of the town was about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually. Small a sum as this appears to be, it was principally owing to the fact that St. Louis was the fitting-out point for the military and trading establishments on the Mississippi and Missouri.Even up to this date (1811), peltry, lead and whiskey made a large portion of the currency, and the branches of business were not at all fixed and definite. We find the following advertisements of some of the business at that time: —
"Cheap Goods. — The subscriber has just opened a quantity of bleached country linen, cotton cloth, cotton and wool cards, German steel, smoothing irons, ladies' silk bonnets, artificial flowers, linen check, muslins, white thread, wool and cotton; a handsome new gig, with plated harness; cable and cordelle ropes, with a number of articles which suit this country, which he will sell on very low terms.
"He will take in pay, furs, hides, whiskey, country made sugar and beeswax.
JOHN ARTHUR.
"P. S. — A negro girl, eighteen years of age, is also for sale. She is a good house servant."
"Notice. — C. F. Schewe will continue to give lessons in the French language, as well at his own lodgings as at the dwellings of those who may favor him with their employment. He flatters himself, that having heretofore enjoyed the patronage of the citizens of St. Louis, by which his talents have been made known, that he will be equally encouraged in future.
"He gives notice to the public at large, that he has a quantity of candles, moulded from the best deers' tallow, on hand, which he will sell cheap for cash.
"St. Louis, January 3d, 1810."
Most of the advertisements approximating that period are in the same strain, and even the editor and proprietor of the only journal west of the Mississippi advertises in his sheet that he will keep a house of entertainment for strangers, where they will find every accommodation except whiskey. He would also take care of eight or ten horses.
It was in January, 1811, that the board of trustees offered proposals for building a market on Centre Square,
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and Walnut streets, and Main and the river. The market was erected during the spring, and was not larger than a respectable barrack. Upon its site stands the present Merchants' Exchange. About this time also was passed an ordinance regulating the prices which boats had to pay which came to the wharf: and every boat of five tons' burden, within the territory of Louisiana, had to pay a duty of two dollars. There was also passed that year, "an ordinance for levying and collecting a tax within the limits of the town of St. Louis."It was in November, 1811, that a bill was laid before the Senate and House of Representatives for the government of the territory of Louisiana, so as to form the second grade of territorial government, which gave more power to the people, and somewhat unloosed them from their dependence upon the general government at Washington. In February, 1812, the Missouri Fur Company, with which so much of the important history of St. Louis is connected, was established. It was organized by General William Clark, Manuel Lisa, and Sylvestre Labadie, who were individual members of the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company, which commenced its existence in 1808, and was dissolved and somewhat merged in the new company. The laws regulating the government of the company were drawn up with lucidity and accuracy, and were well calculated to preserve the affairs of a company from confusion, and to keep the constituent parts in their proper orbits without danger of interference.
It will not be digressing from this narrative, if at this place we should give a succinct account of the working of the elements which formed the fur companies — on which, at that time, the very existence of St. Louis depended; for had she been deprived of her peltry trade, the chief nurture of her commerce was gone, and instead of increasing in strength and magnitude, she at once would have commenced a premature decline.
The first care of a company was to select a quantity of Indian goods, suitable to the trade with the various savage tribes in whose country they designed to execute their operations. There had to be much judgment displayed in the selection of these goods; for, if the blankets were of a color different, or a fraction larger or smaller, or of a different shape from those to which they had been previously accustomed, and which they had adopted as the standard of taste, they would have been rejected by the fastidious savages, and would have been unsalable lumber upon the hands of the company. It was the same with the tomahawks and the rifles, which had to be of a certain shape and length, or they would have been refused by certain of the swarthy sons of the forest, who, extravagant in their offers for every thing which suited their wayward fancy, could not be prevailed upon to receive, even as a gift, what their custom had not recognized as congenial to taste. From these peculiarities of the different tribes, it was very important that the selection of goods should be made by some one perfectly familiar with the customs and tastes of the Indians where it was the intention of the company to trade.
The next care of the company, after laying in a suitable quantity of goods of the proper kind, was to collect a number of skilful hunters and trappers, for principally upon them the success of the expedition depended as the Indians did not supply a moiety of the peltry which a fur company calculated on collecting. The savage is always improvident, and hunts simply to supply his necessities, and never his avarice; hence the
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quantity of furs and skins supplied by the Indians was always inadequate to the wants of a company.The hunters and trappers, who in 1812 formed a considerable part of the population of St. Louis, were chiefly half-breed Indians, and white men who, from continual mingling in savage life, had lost all taste for civilized life, and loved the forest and prairie solitudes, the wild excitement of the chase, and the sovereign independence of the swarthy Indian, better than the wholesome restraints which are necessary to the government of a properly regulated society.
These hunters and trappers carried into the wilderness all of the vices of civilization, with which they inoculated the simple savage, and when they returned for a season to civilized haunts, it was to bring back with them the same vices, with probably an increased love of strife, torture, and fiendish cruelty, which are so predominant in the Indian character. They had but two redeeming traits — courage and honesty. Their life was a series of dangers, and it may be said that danger was their element; and they would scrupulously pay to the trader any overdraw they may have made, which was a frequent habit among them, when on a frolic.
In the possession of the rifle and the knife, the hunter and the trapper had a Potosi in their possession, which supplied them with all the riches they required or desired, and a protection which, in their habits of self-reliance, they valued more than forts and bulwarks, with their bristling pieces of ordnance. With constitutions that were impregnable to external influences, and muscles and sinews which no fatigue could weaken or relax, they would pursue their hazardous vocation unaffected by the vicissitudes of climate, undaunted by the prospect of travelling hundreds of miles in their precarious pursuit, and through regions, probably, where some hostile all their might descry them, and with savages wile, lay some trap to take scalp-locks.
The usual dress of these hunters appeared somewhat in keeping with their character, and the wild attire showed the mongrel blending of civilization and barbarism. Short leather breeches with moccasins covered their feet and legs; a leather flap dropped from their waist to their thighs; and a shirt, sometimes of thick flannel or cloth, and sometimes of deer skin, with a cap made from the fur of some animal, and often nothing on the head, made the complete costumes of les couriers des bois, as they were significantly called. Some of them had wives in the village, — whom they sometimes visited annually, and sometimes in several years — who were left to their own shifts and the charity of their neighbors; and what was most singular, these women, despite this indifferent treatment, and frequently with the knowledge that their truant husbands had not been true to the marital relations, and had solaced themselves while in the wilderness by cohabiting with some of the swarthy beauties of those regions — would on their return, meet them with the warmest demonstrations of affection, and would endeavor to surround them with every comfort in their power during their short sojourn among the whites; and would mourn their departure with heart-felt sorrow. The hunters and trappers were an important portion of the population of St. Louis, and their services were always in demand by the rival fur-companies, and by many enterprising traders who individually carried on the fur-trade with the savages, which, at that time was the chief avenue to pecuniary success.
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After obtaining the goods and hunters, the next look-out of a fur-company was for a trader, who had to be a person skilled in the knowledge of Indian goods, and a good judge of all the variety of skins and furs; besides having experience with the Indians, and a complete insight into their customs, habits and character. A trader with these qualifications was invaluable, and could command almost a fabulous amount for his services; but so rarely was a person to be found with the proper combination of suitable qualities, that it usually was the custom of some member of the fur-company to take charge of the expedition, and besides his just proportion arising from the expedition, would receive in addition a salary equivalent to the risks and hardships he had to encounter.
The most important personage connected with expeditions of this kind was the interpreter. This was usually a half-breed, and was fashioned into existence somewhat after the following manner: some French hunter, in his vagabond life among savage tribes, would become enamored of some swarthy beauty, and persuade her to leave her tribe and become a resident in some little town or village on the outskirts of civilization, where these worthies usually made their rendezvous, when they had become satiated with the wilderness, and, for change or business, would visit for a brief season the abode of the white man. The progeny created by this strange alliance would learn in their infancy, as a matter of course, their mother's tongue, and likewise circulating among the whites, would become acquainted with their language. When the boys could shoulder the rifle, and were able to endure the hardships of the chase, they would accompany their father in his tramps through the wilderness, would visit their mother's tribe and other Indians, and probably would dwell with their relations for a time, and then return to the settlements. They were usually a desperate set of vagabonds, who thought the wilderness, the chase, and whiskey, a trinity, alone worthy of their worship. However morally worthless, and mentally depraved and ignorant, to the fur-companies they were talismans of power and wealth, and were petted, flattered and cared for with officious attention. They were the channels of communication, and without them it was impossible to carry on any trade with the Indians. Most of them lived with the Indians altogether, adapting tout Å fait their customs and habits; and from their superior knowledge, resulting from constant intercourse with the whites, had great influence with the tribes.
Mr. Joseph Philibert, who was long engaged in the fur-trade in the early part of the present century, and who is now in the eighty-ninth year of his age, has related to us some of his thrilling adventures when pursuing his arduous and venturesome vocation in the wild solitudes of the Rocky Mountains. We will give a succinct history of some of them, as they will interest the readers and give them an idea of the trials and hardships incident to the life of a fur-trader, and the daring courage they had to possess to surmount them.
As has been before observed, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Mackinaw were the markets for all the goods of the traders; the latter having the preference and receiving the largest amount of trade.
Mr. Philibert thus speaks of his experience as a fur-trader: "I always made it a rule, when I intended to sojourn any time with any tribe, to make the principal chief my friend. This I could always do by a few insignificant presents; a piece of vermilion, a pocket looking-glass, some
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flashy looking beads, and a knife, would effect completely my purpose and make him as a puppet in my hands. I could move him as I wished; and his protection and friendship were of almost omnipotent importance to me while hunting, trading, and trapping in the country."As singular as it may appear, the trader had principally to depend on his own trappers for a supply of the skins of those animals which are taken by bait and covert, for the Indians are only hunters, and previous to the advent of the white men, were wholly unacquainted with trapping. Particularly the skins of the beaver at that time were in the greatest demand, and having the friendship of the principal chief would prevent the tribe from robbing the traps, and from other molestations which would certainly take place if that necessary precaution had not been taken.
"On one occasion I went to one of the villages in the Crow country, and though most of the Indians have a penchant for stealing, yet the Crows have this weakness to a greater extent and excel all of the tribes by their superior dexterity. As was my custom, I sought out the principal chief and at once won his heart by carrying to his wigwam a supply of scarlet cloth, beads, and a few charges of powder and ball. In my possession at the time I had a horse of rare beauty and endurance which I prized very highly. Now the Crows are great lovers of horse-flesh, and despite the friendship and protection of the chief, my horse so excited the cupidity of two of them, who were the most noted horse-thieves of their tribe, that one night he was taken, nor could his whereabouts be discovered, though search was made for many miles around. I felt confident that he was stolen, and thought it best to offer some reward in the way of trinkets, that would cause him to be returned. This was done with the advice of the chief. The offer of reward proved fruitless; the horse was not forthcoming. I again went to the chief and told him of my unsuccess. He looked surprised and made me relate again how much reward I had offered, and after attentively weighing the same, by a cautious calculation, he said that it was sufficient to bring the horse, and now he would make them bring it back.
"I anxiously waited to know the expedient to which the chief would resort to have my horse returned. I was not kept long in suspense. He arrayed himself in his most fanciful attire, and, mounting his horse, he rode around the village speaking aloud to his people. After he had made the circuit, he told me not to be uneasy, and that on the following morning I would find my horse at my encampment. This was most comfortable information, for the horse was of great value and I had become much attached to him. I arose at daylight next morning and was ready to reciprocate a greeting with my restored steed, who knew me, and by a joyful neigh would evince his gladness at my approach. I was disappointed. My horse had not been returned. I immediately went to the wigwam of my friend, the chief, and related to him my disappointment. I could see by the convulsive twitch of the muscles of his mouth, and his flashing eye, that his temper was becoming disturbed. Without making a remark he again mounted his horse, and as he made the circuit of the village, closer to the wigwams than before, he spoke in a louder and more imperious voice, and in a manner expressive of the greatest disapprobation. After he had concluded, he told me that my horse would now be certainly returned to me on the following morning. I felt assured
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by his positive manner; but again I was doomed to disappointment — there was no appearance of my horse. Again I went to the chief, and when I told him that my horse had not been restored, he threw off all the stoicism of the savage and gave vent to the most terrible demonstrations of rage. He mounted his horse, and this time rode at a most furious rate among the wigwams, to the great danger of warriors, squaws, and papooses, who took shelter within their huts, and were anxious to be out of the reach of their chief, who was in such a fury. In his mad career through the village he spoke in a voice heaving and straining with rage, at the same time using the most violent gesticulations. He then told me he had given them a lesson of what would come if they would not restore the horse, and that I could rest content, for as soon as the following morning would break I would find the horse. In the last case his prophecy became true, for I found my horse, on the breaking of the following day, hitched close by our rendezvous."To the same gentleman we are indebted for other interesting and instructive anecdotes, and as they are illustrative of the kind of life led by a large portion of the inhabitants of St. Louis, and, though real, are vested with the brilliant and attractive hues of romance, we will insert them as a relief to the more sober colorings of other parts of this history.
"At the time I traded up the Missouri," said Mr. Philibert, "very little was known of the Rocky Mountains; and it was a matter of the greatest importance, in attempting to cross, to secure a competent guide, particularly during the inclement parts of the year, when the mountains were covered with snow, which concealed the landmarks of the passes, and which could only be discovered by those who were familiar with their intricate windings, and from experience could trace them, as if by a clew, through their labyrinthical mazes. I had a number of horses, with which I wanted to cross the mountains, and failing to secure a good guide, had to depend upon the little knowledge I possessed of the passes, and that of my companion who was assisting me in leading the horses. It was the last of autumn; but the Rocky Mountains form the natural throne of winter, and in autumn the snow-storms are abundant. We took what we supposed the right road leading through a small defile of the mountains, which for many miles we travelled with every assurance of being upon the right path. At length the defile commenced getting narrower and deeper, and the snow lay so thick that our horses could no longer advance. I thought it only a temporary barrier, and commenced to shovel away the snow, which in some places was more than fifty feet in depth. For three days we were engaged in this manner, making but little advance, and scarcely daring to reflect upon our situation, which was most critical. If we had been disposed to return we could not; for the snow had drifted and filled up the defile where we had passed. Our only salvation was in pushing forward and gaining the other side of the mountains, where we could winter in some of the valleys, which would furnish provender for the horses in the luxuriant growth of cotton-wood, and the grass, which was always fresh beneath the heavy coatings of its dried particles, which protected it from the winter. For three days and three nights we worked incessantly, and at last, accidentally, came upon the right passage and soon crossed the Rocky Mountains, where we thought, though we did not express our feelings to each other till afterward, that
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we should find our sepulchres. When we arrived at the base of the mountain, we discovered a temporary wigwam which had been built by some wandering party of Indians for protection during some hunting expedition. We took a great quantity of dried grass which had been used for their horses, and, placing it into a large heap, set it on fire and commenced thawing ourselves out, and as the grateful heat penetrated our flesh, shrivelled and shrunk from cold and hunger, we experienced the most delicious sensation. Our horses stood around the fire, and appeared to enjoy the warmth as much as ourselves. We wintered in that spot, faring most sumptuously. The big-horn, a mountain goat, was abundant, and we would range off to a good distance, where we found plenty of elk, and providing ourselves with the choicest parts of the animals we would shoot, would return to our wigwam and feast ourselves until the supply was exhausted. To be sure we had neither salt, pepper, bread, nor any thing that would supply the place of these articles, yet we had been accustomed to these shifts, and there is something in the cold, piercing air of those regions which creates appetite and lends more vigor to the vital functions. Spending the winter in this manner I actually became more fleshy and healthful than ever I was when sojourning amid the comforts of civilization."Mr. Philibert informed us, that from 1800 to 1816 St. Louis was the rendezvous of many hunters and trappers, who were ready to let themselves to any individual or company who might require their services. They were a careless, brave, and improvident set of persons, who would frequently form attachments during their intercourse with different tribes; and for the tawny beauties of the forest would consent to build their wigwams among a savage people and adopt their habits and customs. The interpreters connected with the traders and fur-companies were usually the issue of these renegado Frenchmen and the squaws they had taken as wives.
The white men who thus amalgamated with the Indians, were always hailed as a valuable acquisition by the tribes of that early period, from the effectual assistance they could render them in their wars against other savage nations, having a perfect knowledge of the destructive weapons used in civilized warfare, which but few of the Indians could possess, from the immense price demanded by the traders for rifles and guns of every description, owing to the great cost of transportation to so great a distance during the tedious navigation of that period.
The same gentleman informed us that the only victory the Snake Indians — a miserable and cowardly tribe — ever obtained over the Blackfeet, was when eight reckless white men, from a spirit of revengeful retaliation, from some injury they had received from the Blackfeet, joined their warriors and led them against a band of that fearful and warlike tribe.
The white men were all well armed with rifles and adepts in their use, and soon forty of the terrible Blackfeet were stretched on the battlefield.
When the Snake Indians returned to their village there was a universal jubilee. The fattest dogs were killed to regale the warriors, and the forty reeking scalps taken upon that occasion became one of the legendary records of the tribe.
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Mr. Philibert, on one occasion, in his zeal for the chase, and his desire to discover new trading points, wandered into the Mexican territory, was taken prisoner, and carried to Santa Fe. He was detained there for eighteen months, having the limits of the city, but not being permitted to leave it. He was afterward released by the interference of government, and M. De Mun, for whom he was trading, recovered a large indemnification from the Mexican government for the goods which his agent had in his possession at the time of his capture, and which were confiscated.Immediately after his liberation, Mr. Philibert again joined M. De Mun's company, and as they were on the way home they were set upon by a troop of three hundred savages, and the forty white men who composed the party, after a contest of some hours, using their wagons for a baricade, succeeded in repulsing them.
A fur-company, destined for the Missouri, in 1812, had many more difficulties to overcome and dangers to encounter, than a fur-company of the present day. There was no steam, with its gigantic power, to drive a boat through the wild waters of the rushing Missouri; but its rapid current had to be overcome by the appliances of oars pulled by the sinewy arms of man. An expedition starting from St. Louis in April would not reach the mouth of the Yellow Stone until the first or second month in autumn, so long and difficult was the voyage. The whole country, with the exception of a few small towns, then, from the mouth of the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean, was under the perfect control of savage and powerful tribes of Indians, who had it in their power, at every moment, to destroy every expedition in their country, without any immediate danger of retribution from our government; and many a daring trapper and adventurous hunter, confident in his own prowess, has fallen by the hands of savages in those wild solitudes, and the bodies left mangled and unburied, to fester by the gradual advance of decomposition, or to have the desecrating sepulture afforded by the wolves or the buzzards.
As has been before observed, there were many traders in St. Louis who carried on the fur-trade in their individual capacity, and with frequently but two or three attendants, would go into the wild regions of the Sioux, the Pawnees, the Crows, and the Blackfeet, to carry on trade with those warlike tribes; and it is something remarkable that, despite the hardships and privations incident to the fur-trade at that time, all who connected themselves with the expeditions became more robust in health, and appeared to gather from the pure atmosphere, in which they were compelled by necessity to live in an almost unsheltered state, new sources of vitality for the system, which enabled it longer to resist the infirmities of age and the approach of death.
By the articles of association of the Missouri Fur Company, the capital stock was limited to fifty thousand dollars, and the leading citizens of St. Louis became connected with it; but, like the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company, it did not meet the expectation that was formed at its commencement, and in a few years languished and died. The company has since been renewed, and at a proper time we will again allude to it.
Manuel Lisa, one of the chief directors of the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company, and also of the Missouri Fur Company, was a Spaniard, who came from New Orleans to St. Louis a few years previous to the transfer of the province of Louisiana to the United States. His sole occupation
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was trading with the Indians, and he appeared to have been formed by nature with a predisposition to the pursuit; for he loved the venturesome life incident to the vocation, and was well versed in all the strange and strategic elements which compose the Indian character. He was a thorough business man, and possessed an ample share of that peculiar cunning characteristic of the Spanish trader. There was also a dash of wild romance about his life. His first wife had been long a prisoner, with her child, among the Indians, until her release was procured by General Harrison. Her husband had been killed at the time she was taken captive. Manuel Lisa saw her and her child after she had regained her freedom, and pitying her misfortunes and destitution — for the charm of beauty had all fled — he married her, gave a luxurious home to herself and daughter, and treated both in the most affectionate manner until their death.Manuel Lisa had no children, though twice married. The house in which he first lived is still standing, a small portion of the northern part only being removed. It is situated in Second street, on the west side, near the corner of Spruce, and may be known by the extended portico in front, and a kind of pigeon-house roof. The house when built was looked upon by the inhabitants of St. Louis as almost a palatial residence, and was built and occupied by one of the merchant princes of the growing town. Manuel Lisa died near St. Louis, where the Sulphur Springs are, and his property went to the children of his brother. We will again speak of this enterprising merchant in another place.
It was in the year 1812 that so many earthquakes occurred in the Southern and Western country, causing villages to tumble in ruins, an entire change in the face of the country, and a vast destruction of property. In New Madrid particularly, one of those dreadful phenomena of nature occurred, which was distinctly felt in St. Louis, and caused much alarm to its inhabitants. This earthquake is thus graphically described by Dr. Hildreth of Ohio:
"The centre of its violence was thought to be near the Little Prairie — twenty-five or thirty miles below New Madrid — the vibrations from which were felt all over the valley of the Ohio, as high up as Pittsburgh. * * * New Madrid having suffered more than any other town on the Mississippi, from its effects, was considered as situated near the focus from whence the undulations proceeded. From an eye-witness, who was then about forty miles below that town, in a flat-boat, on his way to New Orleans, with a load of produce, and who narrated the scene to me, the agitation which convulsed the earth, and the waters of the mighty Mississippi, filled every living creature with horror. The first shock took place in the night (December 16, 1811), while the boat was lying at the shore in company with several others. At tins period there was danger apprehended from the Southern Indians, it being soon after the battle of Tippecanoe, and for safety, several boats kept in company, for mutual defence, in case of an attack. In the middle of the night there was a terrible shock and jarring of the boats, so that the crews were all awakened and hurried on deck with their weapons of defence in their hands, thinking the Indians were rushing on board. The ducks, geese, swans, and various other aquatic birds, whose numberless flocks were quietly resting in the eddies of the river, were thrown into the greatest tumult, and, with loud
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screams expressed their alarm in accents of terror. The noise and commotion soon became hushed, and nothing could be discovered to excite apprehension; so that the boatmen concluded that the shock was occasioned by the falling in of a large mass of the bank of the river near them. As soon as there was light enough to distinguish objects, the crews were all up making ready to depart. Directly a loud roaring and hissing was heard, like the escape of steam from a boiler, accompanied by the most violent agitation of the shores, and tremendous boiling up of the waters of the Mississippi in huge swells, rolling the water below back on the descending stream, and tossing about so violently, that the men could with difficulty keep their feet. The sand-bars and points of the islands gave way, swallowed up in the tumultuous bosom of the river, carrying down with them cotton-wood trees, cracking and crashing, tossing their arms to and fro, as if sensible of their danger, while they disappeared beneath the flood. The water of the river, which the day before was tolerably clear, being rather low, changed to a reddish hue and became thick with mud thrown up from its bottom; while the surface, lashed violently by the agitation of the earth beneath, was covered with foam, which, gathering into masses the size of a barrel, floated along on the trembling surface. The earth on the shores opened in wide fissures, and closing again, threw the water, sand, and mud, in huge jets, higher than the tops of the trees. The atmosphere was filled with a thick vapor, or gas, to which the light imparted a purple tinge altogether different in appearance from the autumnal haze of the Indian summer, or that of smoke. From the temporary check to the current, by the heaving up of the bottom, the sinking of the banks and sand-bars into the bed of the stream, the river rose in a few minutes five or six feet, and, impatient of the restraint, again rushed forward with redoubled impetuosity, hurrying along the boats, now let loose by the horror-struck boatmen, as in less danger in the water than at the shore, where the banks threatened every moment to destroy them by the falling earth, or carry them down in the vortices of the sinking masses. Many boats were overwhelmed in this manner, and their crews perished with them. It required the utmost exertions of the men to keep the boat of which my informant was the owner, in the middle of the river, as far from the shores, sand-bars, and islands as they could. Numerous boats were wrecked on the snags and old trees thrown up from the bottom of the Mississippi, where they had quietly rested for ages; while others were sunk or stranded on the sand-bars and islands. At New Madrid, several boats were carried, by the reflux of the current, into a small stream that puts into the river just above the town, and left on the ground by the returning waters, a considerable distance from the Missisipppi. * * * The sulphureted gases that were discharged during the shocks, tainted the air with the noxious effluvia, and so, strongly impregnated the waters of the river to the distance of one hundred and fifty miles below, that it could hardly be used for any purpose for several days. New Madrid, which stood upon a bluff fifteen or twenty feet above the summer floods, sank so low, that the next rise covered it to the depth of five feet. The bottoms of several fine lakes in the vicinity were elevated so as to become dry land, and have since been planted with corn."
These earthquakes being of unusual occurrence, set in motion the superstitious elements which so largely make up the character of the Indians
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and all barbarous nations. Some sixty miles below St. Louis, as has been before stated, the Shawnees and Delawares had, by the invitation of the Spanish government, built some villages and formed a settlement. These Indians could feel the shock of the earthquake which was so severe in the neighborhood of New Madrid, very sensibly; and as they felt the earth straining and heaving, as if in convulsions, according to their superstitious creed they thought that the Great Spirit was offended, and in this way was manifesting his displeasure as a warning and precursor of something still more dreadful emanating from his wrath if hasty propitiation were not made. A writer of that period thus describes the manner in which they attempted to conciliate their Deity:"After a general hunt had taken place, to kill deer enough for the undertaking, a small hut was built to represent a temple or place for offering a sacrifice.
"The ceremony was introduced by a general cleansing of the body and the face, the novelty of the occasion rendering it unusually awful and interesting. After neatly skinning their deer, they suspended them by the fore-feet, so that the heads might be directed to the heavens, before the temple, as an offering to the Great Spirit. This propitiatory solemnity usually continued three days, and all of the interval was devoted to such penance as consists in absolute fasting. At night they lay on their backs upon fresh deer-skins, turning their thoughts exclusively to the happy prospect of immediate protection, that they might conceive dreams to that effect, the only vehicle of intercourse between them and the Great Spirit.
"During this occasion, the old and young men observed the most rigorous abstinence from cohabitation with the women, under a solemn persuasion that for a failure thereof, instant death and condemnation awaited; and they gravely, and with much apparent piety, implored the attention of the Great Spirit to their unprotected and helpless condition, acknowledging their absolute dependence upon him, entreating his regard for their wives and children, their total disability to master their game, arising from a dread of his anger, and concluding by asserting their full assurance that their prayers were heard, and that for the future there would be a cessation of terrors, and game would again be in plenty, and they would have the strength to overcome it.
"These strange proceedings continued for three days, and they then believed that the propitiation was complete, and that they would no more feel the effects of the wrath of the offended Deity. They then commenced to congratulate each other, related their dreams, and finally, in the enjoyment of a feast, which three days' abstinence had made them capable of appreciating, they concluded their strange and superstitious rites."
It was in May, 1812, that the chiefs of the Great and Little Osage, the Sacs, Renards, the Shawnees and Delawares, met at St. Louis in order to accompany General William Clark to Washington city. It is proper here to mention that General William Clark was the brother of General George Rodgers Clark, the hero of the West during the Revolution. He was also the compeer of Lewis during the celebrated expedition to the sources of the Missouri and Columbia, and was remarkable for the singular power he had over the Indians, who both loved and feared him. He had well studied their character in his constant communication with them, and almost by intuition could read their secret thoughts. He would discover
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cover their most subtle plans, however wily they may have laid them, and was looked upon by them as a Great Medicine. He was their powerful friend on all occasions, and often kept them from impositions and wrongs which were ready at all times to be practised upon them by unprincipled white men.It was a curious sight to witness — these chiefs of the most powerful tribes coming together, each preserving in their features and attire, some peculiarity and custom of their tribe.
The representatives of these tribes, by the advice of General Clark, concluded a peace among themselves, and agreed to bury the hatchet. They appeared to be moody and taciturn, distantly repelling all familiarity on the part of the citizens, who, excited by curiosity, or more friendly feelings, endeavored to enter into conversation. With that cold, impassive stoicism, for which the Indians in their palmy days, when undegraded by constant association with the white men, were remarkable, they heeded no inquiry; and if pressed too closely by questions, would lift their straight forms still more lofty, and wrapping their blankets closer around them, would stride contemptuously away. An eye-witness to the scene has related these facts to us.
On the 5th of May General Clark departed with these chiefs to the federal city, for the purpose of some negotiation with the general government, and also that they might witness the wealth and power of the United States, and make them the more anxious to cultivate friendly relations.
The Indians at all times, were objects of disquietude and alarm; for both east and west of the Mississippi, all efforts to conciliate them by presents or kindness, or to subdue them by arms, were found to be abortive in producing any continued and permanent peace. They would profess friendship, but only for the purpose of throwing the inhabitants off their guard, and then the settlements would become alarmed by the news of some horrible murders by bands of armed savages.
Governor Howard, who filled the executive chair in the territory of Louisiana was kept continually agitated by these alarms, and may be said to have spent nearly the whole term of his office in efforts for protecting the territory from the incursions of the Indians, and notwithstanding his vigilance and energy, massacres were continually committed. He and Governor Ninian Edwards of Illinois, acted in concert to protect the inhabitants of the two territories, and kept constantly in employ large and well organized bands of militia, which kept the savages at bay, and almost effectually restrained their power of committing evil. Tecumseh, and his brother the Prophet, endeavored to sow defection among all the savage tribes east and west of the Mississippi, and even endeavored to form them into a league for the purpose of preventing the further encroachments of the whites, and force them east of the Alleghanies.
Since the days of Pontiac, Tecumseh was the most talented chieftain ever born in the American wilds, and, animated by the patriotic desire of protecting his race and preserving its existence as a people, he or his brother the Prophet, visited most of the distant tribes, making eloquent appeals to their passions, by telling them of the magnitude of their ancient possessions, the broad expanse of their hunting-grounds, and of the happiness of the red man when he worshipped the Great Spirit after the custom
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of their ancestors. After thus looking into the past to excite their pride, they drew before them their present state to excite their vengeance. They showed them, since the advent of the white man, how their lands had been encroached upon, their fame and power diminished, and how they were forced gradually to the setting sun from the forests where their fathers hunted, and from the graves where their mothers lay. They then brought before them the daring deeds of the great warriors of the red men, whose spiritual forms were then chasing the chamois and the buffalo in the happy hunting-fields, and asked them to emulate their glory, retrieve the lustre of their name, and all the red men raising the tomahawk together, should tread with quick step the war-path, and with the fires of vengeance burning and seething through their veins, should visit with dire wrath the invaders of their land, and the curse and bane of their race.Under the harangues of these celebrated chieftains, the infectious spirit of discontent was spread among all the tribes, from the Alleghanies to the Upper Missouri, and the bold pioneers with their families, tar in the wilderness, fell beneath the fury of the excited savages, and their little cabins, after the work of human slaughter had been completed, were burned to the ground.
In Illinois and Indiana, the savages succeeded in organizing in an effectual manner, and only by the fall of Tecumseh at the battle of the Thames, was the country relieved from a fearful coalition. In Missouri, there were many isolated murders, but there was no coalition of sufficient importance to fear any regular invasion. Especially in Missouri, so well was the Indian character understood, that there would have been very little trouble, had not the English, on the declaration of war in 1812, according to their custom sent their emissaries into the country of the savage, and used every artful and mercenary motive to incite them against the Americans. Yet, on the Missouri, their efforts were nearly fruitless, only some of the reckless belonging to some of the tribes, consenting to take part in the English cause. This was owing in a great measure to the fact that the whole of the trade of the Missouri, was under the control of merchants in St. Louis, and the supplies furnished by them which served at first as a gratification of luxury, by habitual continuance became a necessary. The Indians could no longer do without their powder, ball, guns, blankets, vermilion, etc., since they had been furnished so long with these articles, that their natures appeared to have undergone a change, had adapted themselves to their uses, and demanded a continuance. They were careful, then, not to commit themselves by any approved act of hostility toward the American government, and were not to be moved by the artful persuasions and presents of the British emissaries. Whenever it was known that any of the tribe had committed murder among the whites, they were immediately given up to the ruling chiefs, and this summary mode of expressing their disapprobation, intimidated the young warriors, who were anxious on every pretext to sound the war-whoop, and enter on the war-path.
The war with England in 1812, except in exciting disaffection among the Indians, had very little effect upon St. Louis. She could hear the
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storm in the distance, but she was too far removed from the sea-coast to be affected, and the thunder and lightning of British warfare hurtled in the distant part of the country, and were there exhausted. The contest, however, was one of lively interest to the people of St. Louis, and the printing-office of the Missouri Gazette and Illinois Advertiser, the name which the present Missouri Republican bore during the war, was continually crowded with anxious citizens to hear the news from the East, and, as almost every week brought some triumph of American arms on sea or land, there was much congratulation among the inhabitants that the terrors of the English lion were of little avail, and that it was at length bowed and conquered.When peace was declared, and on terms so honorable to the United States, there was universal rejoicing; for the pride of England was humbled, which was a source of considerable satisfaction, and the trade of Mackinaw would again be opened, which was more important to the people of St Louis as a trading post, than was New Orleans, though situated on the great Mississippi River.
In September, 1814, we saw three advertisements in the journal we have just noticed that are significant memorials of the times, and serve as beacon-lights to guide us safely to its history. One of the advertisements was as follows:
"SLEIGHT OF HAND. — John Eugene Leistendorfer (See Errata 14), will exhibit on the eve of the 24th inst., and on every succeeding Saturday evening during the season, at the same house where he performed last year, a number of sleight-of-hand tricks, for the amusement of the ladies and gentlemen of this town and vicinity — among which he will perform the following:
"Any person of the company may cut off the head of a living chicken, and then he will immediately restore it to life with its head on.
"He will cause a shawl or handkerchief to be cut in two pieces. One of the halves will be burnt, the other cut into small pieces, and he will return it entire.
"A new way of proving good whiskey, by putting a penknife or any other light article in a tumbler, and in pouring the whiskey on it; if there is any water in the whiskey, the penknife will move only, but if the whiskey is good, the penknife will jump of itself out of the water.
"He will catch between his teeth a ball discharged from a pistol, actually loaded and fired by one of the visitors, and after having performed a great many more tricks, too long to be enumerated, he will conclude by eating live coals of fire.
"The Prophet Habdula Rakmany, of Egypt, an automaton figure, will perform several extraordinary and curious feats.
"Constrained by misfortune thus to call upon the good people of this territory for their assistance, he begs leave to observe that he is the same Colonel Leistendorfer who served under General Eaton, in the capacity of guide, adjutant, inspector-general, and chief engineer in passing the desert of Lybia.
"Certificates from several gentlemen high in office in this government, testify to his character and service.
"Performance to commence precisely at seven o'clock, P. M. Admittance, fifty cents. Children, half price."
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This advertisement of the wizard goes to show that the people of St. Louis in 1814 were not a jot different from the people of the towns and villages of the present day. They were fond of amusement, but as yet no building had been erected suitable for any exhibition of dramatic performance, and some stable-loft, or untenantable building, was usually fitted up to answer the purpose of these itinerant exhibitors who came to the city.
It is said that Colonel Leistendorfer had no cause to regret his visit to St. Louis, and when he departed, after a protracted stay of three months, his pockets were well filled with the pure Mexican coin, and he enjoyed the reputation of either being Old Nick himself, who by some device had escaped from his fiery regions, or else he was on terms of the closest intimacy with that individual, so astonishing were the wonders he performed. He afterward settled in Carondelet. (See Errata 14)
In the journal of the same date we see a notice of a sale of land by the heirs of Madame Chouteau, then deceased. It was the sale of the lot on which she had resided, situated between Second and Main, and Chesnut and Market, on which Laclede Liguest had built, and donated to Madame Chouteau and her children; she having only the usufructuary title, the fee-simple vesting in her children, as we have stated in another portion of this history. So as to sell the land to the best advantage, the lot was divided into four portions; for land in that portion of the town was in great demand. In this manner we find out the time when this piece of property was divided, which was so strong a testimonial of the generosity of the founder of St. Louis.
At the same date, also, we see a public notice given, that on the 15th of December, subscription books would be open at St. Louis, St. Charles, Herculaneum, Mine Å Breton and St. Genevieve, Missouri Territory, and at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, Illinois Territory, for the purpose of taking stock in the new-established bank at St. Louis. The business of St. Louis had so much increased, that it was found necessary to create a bank to supply its wants and conveniences. The bank was incorporated August 21st, 1816. The commissioners of that bank consisted of the following-named gentlemen: Auguste Chouteau, John B. C. Lucas, Clement B. Penrose, Moses Austin, Bernard Pratte, Manuel Lisa, Thomas Brady, Bartholomew Berthold, Samuel Hammond, Rufus Easton, Robert Simpson, Christian Wilt, and Risdon H. Price. The commissioners called a meeting of the stockholders, on the 2d of September, 1816, and the following thirteen gentlemen were elected directors: Samuel Hammond, William Rector, Bernard Pratte, Risdon H. Price, Moses Austin, E. B. Clempson, Theodore Hunt, Justus Post, Robert Simpson, Charles N. Hunter, Walter Wilkinson, Theophilus W. Smith, and Elias Bates. The directors then met on the 20th of September, for the purpose of electing bank officers, and Colonel Samuel Hammond was elected president, and John B. N. Smith, cashier.
All felt that a bank was a necessity, and some of the leading citizens of the town became connected with the new institution. For a time the little town felt the benefit of a banking-house, and the current of business swelled in volume and moved with increased vitality, from the flood of money that was poured upon all its channels. It is the law of nature that the greater the flood the greater the ebb, and the tide of business, when
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it swells and inflates to an excessive magnitude, will have its hour of collapse, and shrink into contracted boundaries. The sudden influx of money poured out by the new bank gave an unnatural expansion to commercial affairs, created a spirit of speculation and extravagance, and jeopardized every thing by the dangerous momentum which it gave.The bank had not been in operation for more than two years before the public felt convinced that something was wrong in the financial fountain which at first distilled so largely its supplies, and afterward became so meagre and exsiccated that business commenced to languish for the want of its usual support and nurture.
The directors felt convinced that the cashier of the bank had exceeded his powers and loaned at too much hazard the money of the bank. At a meeting which took place on the 11th of February, 1818, Theophilus W. Smith was elected cashier, in the place of John B. N. Smith, the former officer, which election, being displeasing to some of the directors, a portion of them resigned, and, feeling that the business of the bank was not carried on in a legitimate and prudent manner, they took the keys of the bank, vi et armis, and it was some time before they could be prevailed upon to give them up again to the proper officers.
Then the business of the bank was in so deranged a state, that it was impossible that it would ever recover from its difficulties, and an honorable policy demanded that it should be wound up; but this seizure of the keys created a sympathy in its favor, and as the officers pleaded the part of injured innocence, they found many friends among the people. They asked for a little while to arrange and ameliorate their affairs, which they acknowledged were somewhat embarrassed on account of a large Kentucky loan made by the former cashier. After several months occupied in putting their business on a proper footing, the bank again opened its doors, but only for a short period. It had been tottering for more than a year, and fell at last, dragging in its fall the fortunes and prospects of many individuals, and ruining the reputation of others, who were strongly suspected of sacrificing their moral principle to cupidity. The ruin of the bank was followed by many vexatious lawsuits, which were productive of but little pecuniary benefit of, except to the legal gentlemen who conducted them through all the lengthened chain of nisi prius and appellate process.
A little while after the establishment of the Bank of St. Louis, the Missouri Bank came into existence, and was incorporated February 1st, 1817. The commissioners who were appointed by the stockholders to receive subscriptions, were Charles Gratiot, William Smith, John McKnight, Jean B. Cabanné, and Matthew Kerr; and these gentlemen were mainly instrumental in bringing the bank into existence. The first cashier was Lilburn W. Boggs, and the first president Auguste Chouteau.
It will give the reader an insight of the leading citizens by giving the names of the stockholders and the amount of stock for which they subscribed. The shares were one hundred dollars each.
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| Shares. | Shares. | 7 | |||
| Thomas F. Riddick, | 31 | $3,100 | Christian Wilt, | 30 | $3,000 |
| William Smith, | 30 | 3,000 | Joseph Philipson, | 20 | 2,000 |
| Jean P. Cabanné, | 30 | 3,000 | McKnight & Brady | 30 | 3,000 |
| Berthold & Chouteau, | 30 | 3,000 | Thomas Hanley, | 20 | 2,000 |
| Auguste Chouteau, | 30 | 3,000 | Brady & McKnight, | 20 | 2,000 |
| Matthew Kerr & Bell, | 20 | $2,000 | Emilien Yosti, | 5 | $500 |
| Charles Gratiot, | 20 | 2,000 | Charles Dehault Delassus, | 5 | 500 |
| Sylvestre Labbadie, | 15 | 1,500 | Silas Bent, | 5 | 500 |
| Frederick Bates, | 15 | 1,500 | Benjamin O'Fallon | 5 | 500 |
| M. D. Bates, | 15 | 1,500 | Farrar & Reed, | 3 | 300 |
| John Little | 15 | 1,500 | Nero Lyons, | 3 | 300 |
| Thomas Hempstead, | 10 | 1,000 | Josiah Brady, | 3 | 300 |
| Lilburn W. Boggs & Co., | 10 | 1,000 | C. M. Price, | 3 | 300 |
| James Clemens, Jr. | 10 | 1,000 | Christian F. Shewe, | 3 | 300 |
| Moses Scott, | 10 | 1,000 | A. L. Papin, | 3 | 300 |
| Elisha Beebe, | 10 | 1,000 | Charles Sanguinet | 2 | 200 |
| Holmes & Elliot, | 10 | 1,000 | James Irwin, | 2 | 200 |
| Alexander McNair, | 10 | 1,000 | Antoine Danjin | 2 | 200 |
| Wm. E. Carr, | 10 | 1,000 | Joseph Robidoux, | 2 | 200 |
| Michael Tesson, | 10 | 1,000 | Silas Curtis, | 2 | 200 |
| J. & G. Lindell, | 10 | 1,000 | John B. Zenoni, | 2 | 200 |
| John W. Thompson, | 10 | 1,000 | A. Rutgers, | 2 | 200 |
| Wm. E. Pescay, | 10 | 1,000 | Peter Provenchere, | 2 | 200 |
| Thomas Brady, | 10 | 1,000 | Christian Smith | 2 | 200 |
| J. N. Amoureux, | 10 | 1,000 | R. Davis, | 2 | 200 |
| C. N. B. Allen, | 10 | 1,000 | Ephraim Town | 2 | 200 |
| Henry Von Phul & Co., | 10 | 1,000 | Wm. Cabane | 2 | 200 |
| John B. C. Lucas, | 20 | 2,000 | Macky Wherry, | 2 | 200 |
| Antoine Chenie, | 10 | 1,000 | Marguerite Lacaise, | 2 | 200 |
| Wm. Christy, | 10 | 1,000 | Francois Valois, | 2 | 200 |
| Robert Walsh, | 10 | 1,000 | P. Lee, | 2 | 200 |
| P. J. & J. G. Lindell, | 10 | 1,000 | Peter Primm, | 1 | 100 |
| Jeremiah Connor, | 10 | 1,000 | Wm. Sullivan, | 1 | 100 |
| Michael Ely | 5 | 500 | Samuel Solomon, | 1 | 100 |
| Charles Bosseron, | 5 | 500 | Bartholomew Arnauld, | 1 | 100 |
| Michael Dollan, | 5 | 500 | Joseph Charless, | 5 | 500 |
| Thomas Peebles, | 5 | 500 | Edward Addarly, | 5 | 500 |
| Evariste Maury, | 5 | 500 | Antoine Soulard, | 4 | 400 |
| A. Landreville, | 5 | 500 | Joseph Henderson, Jr, | 10 | 1,000 |
| D. Delauny, | 5 | 500 | Michael Lacroix, | 10 | 1,000 |
| M. P. Leduc | 5 | 500 | Pierre Menard | 30 | 3,000 |
| Samuel Edgar, | 5 | 500 | |||
| Total amount | $78,500 | ||||
All of these names were either residents of St. Louis or its vicinity, and it was their intention to establish a bank on a more extended basis than the Bank of St. Louis, which was at that time (in September, 1817), in its golden age of prosperity. Their bright hopes were doomed to disappointment. The first days were the days of their innocence and their promise. Both indulged to some extent in the gambling spirit of speculation; both sinned by violating the legitimate laws of banking, and in a few years, with their prospects all blasted, ended their existence in ruin and disgrace.
The Bank of Missouri had a capital of $250,000, and was one of the banks of deposit of the public moneys. It entered into being with the perfect confidence of the public; but, like most banking institutions, it hazarded its money in the hands of the speculator, whose every move on the checker-board of life is at random, and at variance with that calculation and foresight which give certainty and success to business pursuits. It paid but little attention to the limited wants of the industrious, who, by each day's labor in a proper vocation, were adding to the general wealth. It listened to the gorgeous schemes of the speculator, who
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lives a drone, useless and unprofitable, continually disturbing the harmonious orbits of business life, until all the witchery of the visionary's projects seduced its directors from that business caution which alone gives security to financial operations. Though the fall of the Bank of St. Louis should have been fraught with instruction, yet it followed in the same course, was drawn into the same vortex, and was at length swallowed up in the same maelstrom of wild speculation. Like its predecessor, it deranged to a great extent the channels of business, and crippled in its fall many deserving and industrious citizens, who faithfully tried to sustain the "falling ruins."On Tuesday, June 6th, 1816, Manuel Lisa arrived in St. Louis, accompanied by forty-three chiefs of the different nations on the Missouri. They came to St. Louis for the purpose of seeing Governor Clark, whom they always esteemed their friend, that he would signify to the president of the United States their wish to assist him in his contemplated chastisement of the Sacs and other nations of the Upper Mississippi who were hostile to our government. Among the number was Big Elk, the Omaha chief, whom Mr. Catlin, in his Indian history, has so long dwelt upon and eulogized, and Partisan, the Teton chief, who made an unsuccessful effort to stop Messrs. Lewis and Clark in their journey to the Pacific ocean. There were also chiefs of the Oncas, the Sioux and the Yanctons.
The next day after their arrival, when they were all assembled in council, they addressed Governor Clarke in language which, being translated, was in substance as follows.
"My Father: We have come a long way to see you, to receive information. The white people call the Indians dogs; they are so, but we are inoffensive dogs who traverse the plains in search of food. The hands of the Sioux are clean; they never have been stained with the blood of the whites. We are not like those nations who receive your presents, and put them under their blankets, and then turn their backs to you. Put something sharp in our hands, that we may help ourselves, and by so doing, help you. The sky is clear, and the great Father of the world hears what we say."
After the Sioux chief had taken his seat, Big Elk, the great chief of the Omahas, rose up in the assembly. He had a towering form, and his countenance wore the expression of loftiness and intelligence. A tastefully dressed buffalo-skin hung from his shoulders to his heels, on which were painted bloody and black hands intermingled with red stripes, and the course of the Missouri from its mouth to their village. The waters of the Missouri were of a red color.
The Omaha chief, when he rose in the assembly, took his robe from his broad and muscular shoulders, and holding it toward Governor Clark, thus explained to him the symbols that were upon it. He told him to look upon the red hands — that they were Americans, and the black hands were Indians, and the bloody stripes were inflicted by the Americans and hostile Indians. He closed with telling him that the whites had killed an Omaha chief, and that the Missouri was red with his blood.
At this charge against the whites, Governor Clark was much surprised; but when he succeeded in ascertaining the time, he learned that some time during the Spanish domination, a trader from St. Louis had killed an Omaha Indian, which had been remembered to this time. Governor
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Clark explained to the chief the change of government, and that the United States could not be held responsible for the offence. The chief listened, with some surprise at the explanation, and was apparently satisfied.Manuel Lisa understood the Protean phases of the Indian character; and met all of their wiles and strategic lore with a masterly power which surprised and subdued them. He was of great service to the United States in defeating the arts of the British emissaries, who were ever on the alert to prejudice and excite them to hostility against our government. His success as a trader created some envy, and reports became circulated in St. Louis that he had appropriated goods and moneys belonging to government to his own purposes. The charges were slanderous and unfounded; for, though as a trader he was an adept in the legitimate license of bargaining, yet, in his extrinsic connections, he was liberal and honorable. We here append a letter which he wrote to Governor Clark, denying the charges which had been rumored against him, and resigning the office of Indian agent, which he had held for three years.
"St. Louis, July 1st, 1817.
"TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR CLARK:
"Sir: — I have the honor to remit to you the commission of sub agent, which you were pleased to bestow upon me in the summer of 1814, for the Indian nations who inhabit the Missouri River, above the mouth of the Kansas, and to pray you to accept my resignation of that appointment."
"The circumstances under which I do this demand of me some exposition of the actual state of these Indians, and of my own conduct during the time of my subagency."
"Whether I deserve well or ill of the government depends upon the solution of these questions: 1st. Are the Indians of the Missouri more or less friendly to the United States than at the time of my appointment? 2d. Are they altered, better or worse, in their own condition, during this time?"
"To the first proposition I have to say, that I received this appointment when war was raging between the United States and Great Britain, and when the activity of British emissaries had armed against the republic all the tribes of the Upper Mississippi and of the northern lakes. Had the Missouri Indians been overlooked by British agents? No. Your excellency will remember that more than a year before the war broke out I gave you intelligence that the wampum was carrying by British influence along the banks of the Missouri, and that all the nations of this great river were excited to join the universal confederacy then setting on foot, of which the profit was the instrument, and the British traders the soul. The Indians of the Missouri are to those of the Upper Mississippi as four are to one. Their weight would be great, if thrown into the scale against us. They did not arm against the republic; on the contrary, they armed against Great Britain, and struck the Iowas, the allies of that power. When peace was proclaimed, more than forty chiefs had intelligence with me; and together we were to carry an expedition of several thousand warriors against the tribes of the Upper Mississippi, and silence them at once. These things are known to your excellency."
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"To the end of the war, therefore, the Indians of the Missouri continued of the United States. How are they to-day, when I come to lay down my appointment? Still friends, hunting in peace upon their own grounds, and we trading with them in security, while the Indians of the Upper Mississippi, silenced but not satisfied, give signs of enmity, and require the presence of a military force: and thus the first question resolves itself to my advantage."
"To the second question I thus reply: — Before I ascended the Missouri as subagent, your excellency remembers what was accustomed to take place. The Indians of that river killed, robbed and pillaged the traders; these practices are now no more. Not to mention others, my own establishments furnish the example of destruction then, of safety now. I have one among the Omahas, more than six hundred miles up the Missouri, another at the Sioux, more than six hundred miles further still. I have from one to two hundred men in my employment, quantities of horses, of horned cattle, of hogs, of domestic fowls. Not one is touched by an Indian; for I count as nothing some solitary thefts, at the instigation of white men, my enemies; nor as an act of hostility, the death of Pedro Antonio, one of my people, shot this spring, as a man is sometimes shot amongst us, without being stripped or mutilated. And thus the morals of these Indians are altered for the better, and the second question equally results to my advantage."
"I have had some success as a trader; and this success gives rise to many reports."
"‘Manuel Lisa must cheat the government, and Manuel Lisa must cheat the Indians; otherwise he could not bring down every summer many boats loaded with rich furs.’"
"Good. My account with government will show whether I receive anything out of which to cheat it. A poor five hundred dollars, as subagent salary, does not buy the tobacco which I annually give to those who call me father."
"‘Cheat the Indians.’ The respect and friendship which they have for me, the security of my possessions in the heart of their country, respond to this charge, and declare, with voices louder than the tongues of men, that it cannot be true: but Manuel Lisa gets so much rich fur! Well, I will explain how I get it. First, I put into my operations great activity. I go a great distance, while some are considering whether they will start to-day or to-morrow. I impose upon myself great privations. Ten months in the year I am buried in the depths of the forest, at a vast distance from my own house. I appear as the benefactor, not as the pillager of the Indian. I carried among them the seed of the large pumpkin, from which I have seen in their possession fruit weighing one hundred and sixty pounds; also the large bean, the potato, the turnip; and these vegetables will make a comfortable part of their subsistence; and this year I have promised to carry the plough. Beside, my blacksmiths work incessantly for them, charging nothing. I lend them traps, only demanding a preference in their trade. My establishments are the refuge of the weak, and of the old men no longer able to follow their lodges; and by these means I have acquired the confidence and friendship of the natives and the consequent choice of their trade."
"These things have I done, and I propose to do more. The Ricarees
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and the Mandans, the Gros-Ventres and the Assinniboins, find themselves near the establishment of Lord Selkirk, upon the Red River. They can communicate with it in two or three days. The evils of such a communication will strike the minds of all persons, and it is for those who can handle the power to dilate upon them."
"For me, I go to form another establishment, to counteract the one in question, and shall labor to draw upon us the esteem of these natives, to prevent their commerce from passing into the hands of foreigners.
"I regret to have troubled your excellency with this exposition. It is right for you to hear what is said of a public agent, and also to weigh it, and consider the source whence it comes. In ceasing to be in the employ of the United States I shall not be less devoted to its interest. I have suffered enough in person and in property, under a different government, to know how to appreciate the one under which I now live.
"I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your excellency's obedient servant,
"MANUEL LISA."
"St. Louis, July 2d, 1817.
"Sir: — Last year I arrived from the Missouri the 22d of June, and learned that scandalous reports were circulated against me. I wrote and published an article in the Gazette of this town. The calumny was refuted, and the authors refused to unmask themselves. On the first of September, I re-entered the Missouri, and ascended it to my upper establishment, a distance of twelve hundred miles. Returning to this place on the 14th instant, I learned from you the day before yesterday, that certain scandalous reports were again on foot to my prejudice.
"1. That I had disposed of the merchandise of government to my own account.
"2. That I had not brought down the Panis to treat with the commissioners at St. Louis, upon their requisition.
"3. That I had prevented the Omahas from revenging upon the Sioux the murder of Pedro Antonio.
"4. That I had misapplied the provisions given to me last year, for the Sioux and Omahas returning home.
"5. That I sold whiskey to the Indians.
"I owe it to you, sir, from whom I received the appointment of sub-agent, to exculpate myself from these charges, which I propose to do in a few words.
"1. I received your order the 24th of August, 1814, to receive from Mr. Sibley, $1,335 of merchandise, prices of St. Louis, to be distributed among the Indians of the Missouri, to engage them in offensive operations against the enemies of the United States. The 20th of August, the same year, General Howard, in his official letter, wrote to me, saying, ‘I hope you will be able to raise the Sioux against the other Indians of the Mississippi. If you succeed in exciting them to war, it is important, at least, that one of the principal chiefs of each band should come to St. Louis.’
"I distributed the merchandise. I raised the war parties. The presents were made among the Omahas and the Yanctons. The former made some scalps, which were brought to St. Louis, in February, 1815. I gave a rendezvous to the Yanctons, at the entry of the river Å Jacques, where
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there met me about nine hundred warriors, and went and took twenty-seven scalps from the allies of Great Britain, the Iowas of the Upper Mississippi; and completed the request of General Howard, by bringing down to St. Louis forty-seven warrior chiefs. This is all of the merchandise I have received from government; it has all been distributed, and the objects of the distribution have all been accomplished.
"2. The Panis were not brought down. That is true. I did not bring them because the official letter of Mr. Sibley prevented me from doing it. I wrote to you on the 29th of June past, and enclosed this letter, and consider no other details necessary to my justification; as I could not doubt the official statement of an accredited Indian agent, that the treaty was closed, and that it was not the wish of the commissioners that any more Indians should be brought down.
"3. I did prevent the Omahas from revenging on the Sioux the murder of Pedro Antonio. The case was this: Antonio, a Spaniard in my service, was killed nine miles from my establishment. His comrades fled, and gave me intelligence. I took one hundred and ninety-two warriors of the Omaha tribe, and went to the spot. Those who did the mischief had fled. The Omahas, impatient for blood, were eager to follow. I stopped them with my own presents and my own influence, and I take honor to myself for having done it. The body of Antonio was not mutilated; it was covered with a blanket, and his face with a hat; his comrades might have been killed — they were not hurt. The death of Antonio, then, was a case of simple murder, and not an act of national hostility on the part of the Sioux. For one guilty act, must I turn loose two hundred warriors upon the innocent? Forget all moral principle, and turn barbarian myself, because in a country called savage? Beside, I had among the Sioux at my upper establishment, two Americans and a Creole, who must have felt the tomahawk if I had revenged upon the innocent, the death of Pedro Antonio. I rejoice that the stupid calumniators have made this charge. In attempting to render such conduct criminal, they show the business of which they are capable, and the crimes they are ready to commit to injure me.
"4. I had a contract for a certain sum, $1,100, and a certain quantity of provisions, to conduct the Omahas and the Sioux, the last fall, to their respective homes. There were forty-seven men of them, and the voyage was of three months. I received from the clerk of the commissioner, Mr. Wash, the order for the provisions, and the papers of his office will show the quantity. It will, then, be easy to calculate that barely enough was allowed to conduct the chiefs to their homes, and they were conducted there; and thus there is no room for misapplication of a surplus which did not exist.
"5. That I have sold whiskey to the Indians.
"If this charge be true, it is capable of being proved. There are in this town, at present, many persons who have been in my employment, characters of the first respectability; also five nations with whom I have traded; among them can be found witnesses to attest the fact, if it be true. On the contrary, I appeal to the whole of them, and pronounce it a vile falsehood. At the same time, it is an act of hospitality indispensable in his intercourse with the Indians, for the trader to treat his hunters with small presents of liquor. They look for it, and are dissatisfied if they
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do not receive it. The permanent trader makes such presents with discretion. I have made them, and urged the necessity of them to your excellency.
"Thus much I have been induced to write and publish, to refute the slanders against me, because I have but just arrived, and my affairs will require me soon to depart again, and I cannot be here to contradict them in person.
"I have the honor to be, with respect and consideration, &c.,
MANUEL LISA."
"HIS EXCELLENCY WM. CLARK."
We give a list of the St. Louis retail prices current, of November 23d, 1816, which will afford a pretty correct idea of the market of the territorial city at that period.
| Beef, on foot, per cwt. | $4 00 | Flour, per bbl., S. fine, in demand | $16 00 |
| Bread, ship, none | 0 00 | " Horse-mill do., per cwt. | 6 00 |
| Butter, per lb. | 0 25 | Grain — Wheat, per bush | 1 00 |
| Beeswax, do | 0 25 | Rye, do. | 0 62 1/2 |
| Candles, do. | 0 25 | Barley, do. | 0 75 |
| Cheese, do. | 0 25 | Corn, do. | 0 37 |
| "common, do. | 0 12 1/2 | Oats, do. | 0 37 |
| Boards, None in market | 0 00 | Gunpowder, per lb. | 1 00 |
| Cider, None in market | 0 00 | Hams, do. | 0 12 |
| Coffee, per lb. | 0 50 | Hides, per piece | 2 75 |
| Cotton, do. | 0 40 | Hogs' lard, per lb. | 0 12 |
| " yarn, No. 10 | 1 25 | Bears' do., per gal. | 1 50 |
| Feathers, per lb. | 0 50 | Honey, do. | 1 00 |
It now becomes our duty to relate an event which created at the time much excitement, and by its tragical termination brought anguish and desolation into the parental household, and mourning by the hearthstone of friendship. The circumstance alluded to is the death of Charles Lucas, who was attorney of the United States of Missouri Territory, in a duel with Thomas H. Benton. We do not wish to kindle again the ashes of the past, and shall only relate the facts which are required by this history, without making any comments upon them.
The commencement of the controversy took place in a court-house, when the two legal gentlemen were engaged in a cause on opposite sides. In the zeal for their clients they both forgot the courtesy which was due to each other, the court, and their brother members, and indulged in harsh and vituperative language.
Colonel Benton, chafing at what he considered an insult, sent Mr. Lucas a challenge, which Mr. Lucas declined accepting, on the ground that his professional statements to a jury should not be the basis of a quarrel sufficient to cause him to jeopardize his own life or that of another. The poisoned arrow of vengeance had touched the sensitive organization of both, and it caused, on a future occasion, a very little pretext to make the wounds rankle and the blood to boil like a seething cauldron.
They were opposed in politics, and were looked upon as the leaders of their respective parties. At a political meeting, both of the young champions became excited on some topic of controversy, and Mr. Lucas
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sent a challenge to Colonel Beriton, which was accepted. The parties met at Bloody Island, opposite St. Louis, on the morning of the 12th of August, 1817, with pistols, to decide their difference. They took their stations at ten paces, and fired simultaneously — the ball of Colonel Benton inflicting a severe wound upon the neck of Mr. Lucas, whose ball, striking the ground a few feet from Colonel Benton, bounced from some object it struck, and came in contact with his knee, causing a slight contusion.The wound of Mr. Lucas caused a great effusion of blood, and his surgeon withdrew him from the field — after it had been agreed upon by the seconds that the parties should have another meeting when Mr. Lucas's wound should permit. The difference between the two young men was in a few days afterward adjusted by mutual friends, and the matter was temporarily settled. It was, however, only temporary; for thousands of reports came into circulation, having no foundation in truth, and calculated to arouse again the dormant fires of hostility. Some of these reports so reflected upon the conduct of Colonel Benton, and proceeding, as he thought, either from the friends of Mr. Lucas or himself, that he sent Mr. Lucas word that he held him to the promise subsisting between them at the termination of the former encounter, that there should be another meeting. They met, and Mr. Lucas fell.
Colonel Benton lived for many years a faithful servant, and an honor to his country. As a patriot and a statesman, he makes a part of the constellation of great men, who have shed lustre upon the annals of their country, and whose name will be identified with the history of our Union. His adversary, young Lucas, was cut off in the spring of life, when bright hopes were flowering and blossoming around him, pregnant, it is believed, with the germs of future greatness. He died on the 27th of September, 1817, aged twenty-five years and three days.
As it will be of interest to the reader, we here give
| RECEIPTS | |
| Amount of county tax-list delivered to the sheriff for collection for the present year | $2,014 83 1/4 |
| EXPENDITURES. | |
| Circuit Court, November Term, 1816. | |
| An account allowed Benjamin Johnson, for his fees as a justice of the peace in the following cases: United States vs. Stephen Maypes, William Russell, Elijah Benton, David Boyles, and John Johnson | 8 26 |
| Do. of Mary Philip Leduc, clerk of the circuit court, for making out the territorial and county tax-lists for the years 1815 and 1816; for money by him paid Charless for publishing notice of court of appeals, held to correct said lists | 85 00 |
| Do. of William Sullivan, for boarding Alexander Rock, a prisoner, and his services as turnkey | 12 75 |
| Do. of do., for his services as jaiior, from the first day of January, 1816, to the 15th November of the same year, for furnishing wood and candles at this term of said court | 141 25 |
| Do for do., for boarding Bill, a black man, and his services as turnkey | 16 00 |
| Do. of do., for boarding Benjamin Dye, a prisoner, and his services as turnkey | 14 25 |
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| An account allowed John W. Thompson, sheriff, for furnishing tub for jail, water-bucket for court-house, benches, and stationery | $12 37 1/2 |
| Do of do., for twelve days' rent for a court-house at this term of the court. | 36 00 |
| Do. of William Sullivan, for putting on and taking off irons from Bill, a prisoner discharged | 1 50 |
| Do. of do., for holding coroner's inquest on the body of Samuel Burrows, deceased | 19 45 |
| Do. of do., for boarding Benjamin Dye, a prisoner and furnishing wood | 19 50 |
| Do. of do., for his services as jailor, six months | 75 00 |
| Do. of do., for boarding William Dunn, a prisoner | 2 87 1/2 |
| An account allowed Henry S. Geyer, circuit attorney, in the following cases — United States vs. Mary Morris, indictment returned by grand jury, not a true bill; same vs. Bowles Duncan, same vs. Joseph Leblond and David Twithy (true bill, not convicted) — total in these cases | 16 00 |
| Do. of James Rankin, for surveying county line between St. Louis and Washington counties | 125 66 |
| Do. of William Sullivan, for boarding Henry Matthews, a prisoner in jail | 55 87 1/2 |
| Do. of do., for boarding Don Quixotte, a prisoner, furnishing wood, and his fees as turnkey | 14 50 |
| Do. of do., for his services as jailor | 75 00 |
| Do. of M. P. Leduc, for money paid for county purposes, issuing subpoenas for witnesses to testify before the grand jury, his fees in criminal cases where no convictions were had | 34 63 |
| Do. of do., for making three tax-lists of territory and two of county | 125 00 |
| Do. of do., for money paid Joseph Charless, for publishing a list of receipts and expenditures for the year 1816 | 7 00 |
| Do. of William Sullivan, for his house at this term of the court eighteen days | 54 00 |
| Do. of John W. Thompson, for summoning two grand juries at this term of the court, and for stationery | 28 00 |
| Do. of Joseph V. Gamier, a justice of the peace, in the following cases: — United States vs. Joseph Leblond, U. S. vs. Henry Matthews, U. S. vs. Don Quixotte, U. S. vs. Joseph H. Beckley, U. S. vs. Adonis B. Farrar, U. S. vs. David Twitty, U. S. vs. Daniel Dougherty. — Total | 30 06 1/4 |
| Do. of J. W. Thompson, for summoning a grand jury at the May term of this court | 12 50 |
| Account paid Jean B. Maurice dit Chatillon, a pauper | 26 00 |
| $1,048 43 3/4 | |
TERRITORY OF MISSOURI,
County of St. Louis. ss.
I, Mary Philip Leduc, clerk of the circuit court within and for the county aforesaid do certify the foregoing to be a true statement of the receipts and expenditures of the county of St. Louis, for the year ending the third day of November, 1817.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed the seal of my office at St Louis this thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord (L. S.) one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, and of the American Independence, the forty-second.
M. P. LEDUC, Clk., by
AND. S. M'GIRK, D. Clerk.
In 1817, the pernicious system of lotteries, which is nothing less than a species of gambling, as destructive to morals and as fraught with ruin as any other that is protested against by the law, was established. It was first authorized by the legislature, so as to create a fund for building an academy at Potosi, and then for purchasing fire-engines for the town of St. Louis, and also for the erection of a Masonic Hall. Lottery offices
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to this day are legalized in this state, and are a reproach to the morals and wisdom of our legislature.In this year there was an act to incorporate a board of trustees for superintending the schools in the town of St. Louis. These first trustees were William Clarke, William C. Carr, Thomas H. Benton, Bernard Pratte, Auguste Chouteau, Alexander McNair, and John P. Cabanne; and this was the commencement of the common-school system which has been brought to so much perfection in St. Louis, and has been fraught with untold blessings to future generations.
On the 15th of December, 1818, a meeting of the most respectable inhabitants of the town of St. Louis took place, which the following clause connected with their proceedings will explain: — "Impressed with the importance of a general circulation of the Sacred Scriptures, we, the undersigned, agree to form ourselves into a society designated by the name of the ‘Missouri Auxiliary Bible Society.’"
At this meeting a constitution was drafted, and at a subsequent meeting on the 22d, the following gentlemen were chosen acting officers of the society: — Nathaniel B. Tucker, president; Stephen Hempstead, Alexander McNair, and Rev. James E. Welsh, vice-presidents. The directors were Colonel Rufus Easton, Rufus Pettibone, Rev. John M. Peck, John Jacoby, Charles W. Hunter, John Simons, and Thomas Jones. Colonel Samuel Hammond was appointed treasurer, and Rev. S. Giddings secretary. This society continued in existence for many years, and became the parent of many other societies, formed by those who were influenced by a spirit of religion and philanthropy.
It was in St. Louis, on the first of April, 1818, that the first sale of lots of the town of Hannibal took place, which had been just laid out. The proprietors of the newly-laid-out town were Stephen Rector, Thompson Baird, Thomas Rector, William V. Rector, Richard Gentry, and M. D. Bates. The location was well suited for a town, and Hannibal is now one of the most thriving cities in North-eastern Missouri. The hopes of its proprietors have been more than realized.
In 1818, Missouri applied for admission into the Union, having all the requisites required by the constitution for admission. It was then that the slavery question, which was commencing to be agitated, became the great subject of interest, and the field of political strife. Whether Missouri should be admitted as a slave state into the Union was an inquiry so important in its results that it threatened for a time the rupture of the Union. The North was strenuously opposed to the extension of slavery, while the members from the South contended that Missouri should be admitted without restriction. It was the most exciting contest ever known in the houses of Congress, and both parties stood their ground in so hostile an attitude that the patriots of the day became alarmed, and to preserve the noble fabric of our government, as a temporary resort, proposed a compromise, which is known as the celebrated "Missouri Compromise." It was, in effect, that slavery should not extend in any new-formed state north of thirty-six degrees forty minutes, north latitude, except in the case of Missouri, in which it was agreed to permit the inhabitants to frame their own constitution, leaving it with them to permit slavery in its limits or to abolish it.
It is not the province of the present work to inquire into the wisdom
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of the compromise measure, or to expose its unconstitutional tendencies. Let it suffice that it answered the intended purpose, and for a time quieted sectional rancor, and took from unprincipled politicians all grounds for disturbing the peace of the Union, and advancing their unworthy ends. It may be of interest to the reader here to give the names of THE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FROM NON-SLAVEHOLDING STATES WHO VOTED IN FAVOR OF ADMITTING MISSOURI WITHOUT RESTRICTION."To them, if my feeble voice can effect it, shall be erected an imperishable monument of everlasting fame." — Mr. Harbour's speech.
The following is a list of their names:
From Rhode Island — Mr. Hunter.
From Connecticut — Mr. Lanman.
From New Hampshire — Mr. Parrott.
From Vermont — Mr. Palmer.
From Delaware — Mr. Vandyke and Mr. Horsey.
From Illinois — Mr. Edwards and Mr. Thomas.
From Massachusetts — Messrs. Holmes, Shaw, Hill, and Mason.
From Rhode Island — Mr. Eddy.
From Connecticut — Messrs. Foot and Stevens.
From New York — Messrs. Storrs and Meigs.
From New Jersey — Messrs. Bloomfield, Smith, and Kinsey.
From Pennsylvania — Messrs. Baldwin and Fallerton.
From Delaware — Mr. M'Lane.
"United as a Spartan band, standing for forty days in the pass of Thermopylae, defending the People of Missouri, the Treaty of Cession, and the Constitution of the Republic."
The following is a list of their names:
From Maryland — Messrs. Lloyd and Pinkney.
From Virginia — Messrs. Barbour and Pleasants.
From North Carolina — Messrs. Mason and Stokes.
From South Carolina — Messrs. Gaillard and Smith.
From Georgia — Messrs. Elliott and Walker.
From Kentucky — Messrs. Logan and Johnson.
From Tennessee — Messrs. Williams and Eaton.
From Louisiana — Messrs. Brown and Johnson.
From Mississippi — Messrs. Leake and T. H. Williams.
From Alabama — Messrs. W. E. King and J. W. Walker.
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From Maryland — Messrs. Archer, Bayly, Culbreth, Kent, Little, Neale, Ringgold, Smith, and Warfield.
From Virginia — Messrs. Alexander, Archer, P. P. Barbour, Burwell, Floyd, Garnett, Johnson, Jones, M'Coy, Mercer, Nelson, Newton, Parker, Pindall, Randolph, Ballard, Smith, Smythe, Strother, Swearingen, Tucker, Tyler, Jared Williams.
From North Carolina — Messrs. H. G. Burton. Culpepper, Davidson, Edwards, Fisher, Hall, Hooks, Settle, Slocumb, J. S. Smith, F. Walker, and L. Williams.
From South Carolina — Messrs. Brevard, Earl, Ervin, Lowndes, M'Creary, Overstreet, Pinkney, Simkins, and Tucker.
From Georgia — Messrs. Abbot, Crawford, Cobb, Cuthbert, Reid, and Terrell.
From Kentucky — Messrs. Anderson, Brown, Hardin, M'Clean, Metcalfe, Quarles, Robertson, and Trimble.
From Tennessee — Messrs. Allen, Bryan, Camion, Cooke, F. Jones, and Rhea.
From Louisiana — Mr. Butler.
From Mississippi — Mr. Rankin.
From Alabama — Mr. Crowell.
An able writer of that period thus pays a merited tribute to those representatives of non-slaveholding states, who, uninfluenced by sectional prejudice, religious fanaticism, or mistaken philanthropy, voted for the admission of Missouri into the Union without restriction:
"In all, eight senators and fifteen representatives, who have offered themselves as sacrifices upon the altar of public good, to save the union of the states, and to prevent the degradation of Missouri. Their generous conduct deserves a nation's gratitude; and let a grateful people deliver it to them. Let public honors wait upon their steps, and public blessings thicken round their heads. Let Fame, with her brazen trumpet, from the summit of the Alleghany, proclaim, their honored names throughout the vast regions of the South and West."
When the news came to St. Louis that Congress had determined that the people of Missouri should frame their own constitution, and decide for themselves "slavery" or its rejection, the minds of the people became fearfully agitated on the very subject which threatened such serious consequences at Washington. It appeared that the political storm had not spent its fury, and had passed from the east to rage with violence nearer the western horizon. The same question which had distracted Congress, when removed to Missouri lost none of its exciting qualities. In St. Louis, from its being the largest town in the state, and consequently the main stage where the political drama would be played, the inhabitants divided themselves into two great factions — one in opposition to slavery, and the other in advocating it. Both parties selected their most influential members to form a ticket to be elected by the people to represent St. Louis county, in the convention that was to form the constitution of the state. The following-named gentlemen were announced as candidates representing St. Louis county, and were for the admission of Missouri as a slave state.
T. F. Riddick,
Colonel Alex. M'Nair,
John C. Sullivan,
Wilson P. Hunt,
Matthias M'Girk.
General Wm. Rector,
David Barton,
Edward Bates,
Alexander Stuart, Esq.
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Judge John B. C. Lucas,
Rufus Pettibone,
Abraham Peck,
John Bobb,
Robert Simpson,
Caleb Bowles,
William Long,
John Brown.
The ticket elected July 19th, 1820, for representing St. Louis county, were all gentlemen, strong proslavery men. Not one of the antislavery candidates was elected. To represent St. Louis county when the convention was called to from the constitution, the choice of the people rested upon the following gentlemen, viz.: Edward Bates, Colonel Alexander M'Nair, John C. Sullivan, Pierre Chouteau, junior, Bernard Pratte and Thomas F. Riddick; and in the framing of the constitution all power was taken from the legislature to abolish slavery, unless with the consent of the slaveholding citizens, or a full remuneration for the slaves.
During the years 1820-1823, St. Louis suffered much by the derangement of her currency. The banks which had been established were broken, and the loan office, which came into existence under the sanction of state authority, whose representatives had exceeded their powers, soon lost the public confidence, and its paper became almost a drug in the market. It proved but of little good to the community when it did answer the purpose of purchasing property or cancelling debts, and in its uncertain value, became a prey to ravenous speculators, who did all they could to diminish its value, that they might purchase it at a greater discount.
The stay laws or relief laws which were introduced at that time, so as to restrain the oppression of creditors toward debtors, while they protected them for two years and a half from a distraint upon their property, had, on the other hand, the injurious tendency of preventing just debts from being collected in a reasonable time, thereby crippling the resources of the creditor, who, oft from his necessities, would frequently compromise or sell, at a large discount, his claim, which had so long to run before conversion into money. These drawbacks operated somewhat upon the growing prosperity of the town, and retarded its progress; yet still business flourished, and population increased.
In 1821 there was a little directory published in St. Louis, and as it gives correct and useful information of the town at that period, we will make some copious extracts.
"It is but about forty years since the now flourishing, but yet more promising state of Missouri was but a vast wilderness, many of the inhabitants of this country yet remembering the time when they met together to kill the buffalo at the same place where Mr. Philipson's ox saw and flour mill is now erected, and on Mill Creek, near to where Mr. Chouteau's mill now stands. What a prodigious change has been operated! St. Louis is now ornamented with a great number of brick buildings, and both the scholar and the courtier could move in a circle suiting their choice and taste.
"By the exertions of the Eight Reverend Bishop Louis William Du
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Bourg, the inhabitants have seen a fine brick cathedral rise at the same spot where stood formerly an old log church, then sufficient, but which now would scarcely be able to contain the tenth part of the Catholic congregation. This elegant building was commenced in 1818, under the superintendence of Mr. Gabriel Paul, the architect, and is only in part completed. As it now stands it is forty feet front by one hundred and thirty-five in depth, and forty feet in height. When completed it will have a wing on each side, running its whole length, twenty-two and a half feet wide and twenty-five in height, giving it a front of eighty-five feet. It will have a steeple the same height as the depth of the building, which will be provided with several large bells expected from France. The lot on which the church, college and other buildings are erected, embraces a complete square, a part of which is used as a burial ground. 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 any thing 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 Du Bourg, on his last tour 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 the Baroness Le Candele de Ghyseghem, a Flemish lady, to whose munificence the cathedral is particularly indebted, and who, even lately, has sent it a fine, large and elegant organ, fit to correspond with the rest of the decorations. The bishop possesses, beside, a very elegant and valuable library, containing about 8,000 volumes, and which is, without doubt, the most complete scientific and literary repertory of the western country, if not of the western world. Though it is not public, there is no doubt but the man of science, the antiquary and the linguist, will obtain a ready access to it, and find the bishop a man endowed at once with the elegance and politeness of the courtier, the piety and zeal of the apostle, and the learning of a Father of the Church. Connected with this establishment is the St. Louis College, under the direction of Bishop du Bourg. It is a two-story brick building, and has about sixty-five students, who are taught the Greek, Latin, French, English, Spanish and Italian languages, mathematics, elementary and transcendent, drawing, &c. There are several teachers. Connected with the college is an ecclesiastical seminary, at the Barrens, in St. Genevieve county, where divinity, the oriental languages and philosophy are taught."St. Louis likewise contains ten common schools, a brick Baptist church, forty feet by sixty, built in 1818, and an Episcopal church of wood. The Methodist congregation hold their meetings in the old court-house, and the Presbyterians in the circuit court room. In St. Louis are the following mercantile, professional, mechanical, &c., establishments, viz.: forty-six mercantile establishments, which carry on an extensive
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trade with the most distant parts of the republic in merchandise, produce, furs and peltry; three auctioneers, who do considerable business: each pays $200 per annum to the state for a license to sell, and on all personal property sold is a state duty of three per cent., on real estate one and a half per cent., and their commission of five per cent; three weekly newspapers, viz., the St. Louis Inquirer, Missouri Gazette and St. Louis Register, and as many printing offices; one book store; two binderies; three large inns, together with a number of smaller taverns and boarding-houses; six livery stables; fifty-seven grocers and bottlers; twenty-seven attorneys and counsellors-at-law; thirteen physicians; three druggists and apothecaries; three midwives; one portrait painter, who would do credit to any country; five clock and watch makers, silversmiths and jewelers; one silver plater; one engraver; one brewery, where are manufactured beer, ale and porter of a quality equal to any in the western country; one tannery; three soap and candle factories; two brick yards; three stonecutters; fourteen bricklayers and plasterers; twenty-eight carpenters; nine blacksmiths; three gunsmiths; two copper and tinware manufacturers; six cabinetmakers; four coachmakers and wheelwrights; seven turners and chairmakers; three saddle and harness manufacturers; three hatters; twelve tailors; thirteen boot and shoe manufacturers; ten ornamental sign and house painters and glaziers; one nail factory; four hair dressers and perfumers; two confectioners and cordial distillers; four coopers, block, pump and mast makers; four bakers; one comb factory; one bellman; five billiard tables, which pay an annual tax of $100 each to the state, and the same sum to the corporation; several hacks, or pleasure carriages, and a considerable number of drays and carts; several professional musicians, who play at the balls, which are very frequent and well attended by the inhabitants, more particularly the French, who, in general, are remarkably graceful performers, and much attached to so rational, healthy and improving an amusement; two potteries are within a few miles, and there are several promising gardens in and near to the town."By an enumeration taken by the editor of this work in May, 1821, it appears that the town contains the following number of dwelling-houses, viz.: 154 of brick and stone and 196 of wood in the north part of the town, and 78 of brick and stone and 223 of wood in the south part; making 232 brick, &c., and 419 of wood, and a total of 651. There are, beside the dwelling-houses, a number of brick, stone and wooden warehouses, stables, shops and out-houses. Most of the houses are furnished with gardens, some of which are large and under good cultivation. The large old-fashioned dwellings erected by the French inhabitants are surrounded by a piazza, which renders them very pleasant, particularly during the heat of summer. The steamboat warehouse built by Mr. Josiah Bright, is a large brick building, and would do credit to any of the eastern cities. The market-house is well supplied with fish and fowl, good meat and vegetables, fruit in its season, and in short every thing that the country affords, in abundance, at reasonable prices.
"St. Louis was incorporated by the Court of Common Pleas, at their November term, 1809, when the country was known as the Territory of Louisiana, under the following limits, viz.: ‘Beginning at Roy's Mill, on the bank of the Mississippi river, thence running sixty arpens west,
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thence south on said line of sixty arpens in the rear, until the same comes to the Barriere de Noyer, thence due south until it comes to the Sugar Loaf, thence due east to the Mississippi, from thence by the Mississippi, along low-water mark, to the place first mentioned.’ The bounds of the town, as it respects the taxing of the inhabitants, is confined to the following bounds, viz.: commencing at the mouth of Mill creek (where it enters the Mississippi river), thence with the said creek to the mill-dam, thence with the north arm of Mill creek to the head of the same, thence by a line running parallel with the Mississippi river, until it intersects the north boundary of the corporation."The town is governed by five trustees, who are elected on the 6th December annually, by the inhabitants. There is also a register, whose duty it is to see that the ordinances are enforced, an assessor, and an inspector of lumber.
"The Board of Trustees has passed a number of very wholesome ordinances for the establishment and support of order, all of which can be seen in the ordinance book, in the office of the corporation, South B. street, above Main street, which is open every morning, Sundays excepted, from ten to twelve o'clock.
"The assessed amount of taxable property in the corporation of St. Louis, for 1821, is about $940,926, which gives about $3,763, tax.
"Eight streets run parallel with the river, and are intersected by twenty-three others at right angles; three of the preceding are in the lower part of the town, and the five others in the upper part. The streets in the lower part of the town are narrow, being from thirty-two to thirty-eight and a half feet in width; those streets on ‘the Hill,’ or upper part, are much wider. ‘The Hill’ is much the most pleasant and salubrious, and will no doubt become the most improved. The lower end of Market street is well paved, and the trustees of the town have passed an ordinance for paving the sidewalks of Main street, being the second from and parallel to the river, and the principal one for business. This is a very wholesome regulation of the trustees, and is the more necessary as this and many other streets are sometimes so extremely muddy as to be rendered almost impassable. It is hoped that the trustees will next pave the middle of Main street, and that they will proceed gradually to improve the other streets, which will contribute to make the town more healthy, add to the value of property, and make it a desirable place of residence. On the Hill, in the centre of the town, is a public square, two hundred and forty by three hundred feet, on which it is intended to build an elegant court-house. The various courts are held at present in buildings adjacent to the public square. A new stone jail of two stories, seventy feet front by thirty deep, stands west of the site for the court-house.
"Market street is in the middle of the town, and is the line dividing the north part from the south. Those streets running north from Market street have the addition of North to their names, and those running in the opposite direction, South. For example: North Main street,
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South Main street, North A. &c., street, South A. street. The houses were first numbered by the publisher of this directory, in May, 1821."The fortifications, erected in early times for the defence of the place, stand principally on ‘the Hill.’ They consist of several circular stone towers, about fifteen feet in height and twenty in diameter, a wooden block-house, and a large stone bastion, the interior of which is used as a garden by Captain A. Wetmore, of the United States army.
"Just above the town are several Indian mounds and remains of antiquity, which afford an extensive and most charming view of the town and beautiful surrounding country, situated in the two states of Missouri and Illinois, which are separated by the majestic Mississippi, and which is likewise observed in the scene as ho glides along in all his greatness. Adjacent to the large mound nearest to the town, is the Mound Garden, belonging to Colonel Elias Rector, and kept by Mr. James Gray, as a place of entertainment and recreation. The proprietor has displayed considerable taste in laying it out in beds and walks, and in ornamenting it with flowers and shrubbery. In short, it affords a delightful and pleasant retreat from the noise, heat and dust of a busy town.
"There is a Masonic hall, in which the Grand Lodge of the state of Missouri, the Royal Arch and the Master Masons' Lodges are held. Connected with this excellent institution is a burying-ground, where poor Masons are interred at the expense of the fraternity. The council chamber of Governor William Clark, where he gives audience to the chiefs of the various tribes of Indians who visit St. Louis, contains probably the most complete museum of Indian curiosities to be met with anywhere in the United States; and the governor is so polite as to permit its being visited by any person of respectability at any time.
"There are two fire engines, with properly organized companies; one of which is in the north part of the town and the other in the south. Every dwelling and store has to be provided with good leather fire buckets.
"Mr. Samuel Wiggins is the proprietor of two elegant and substantial steam ferry-boats, that ply regularly and alternately from the bottom of North H. street, near the steamboat warehouse, to the opposite shore. The great public utility of this mode of conveying persons and property across the Mississippi needs no comment, but gives the enterprising owner of them a high claim to the patronage of his fellow-citizens. The river at the ferry is one and an eighth mile in width. Opposite the upper part of the town and above the ferry is an island about one mile and a half in
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length, containing upwards of one thousand acres. It belongs to Mr. Samuel Wiggins. A considerable sandbar has been formed in the river, adjoining the lower part of the town, which extends far out, and has thrown the main channel over on the Illinois side; when the water is low it is entirely dry, and is covered with an immense quantity of drift-wood, nearly sufficient to supply the town with fuel, and only costs the trouble of cutting and hauling. This is of great consequence to the inhabitants of St. Louis, particularly as the growth of wood is small in the immediate neighborhood on this side of the river. Wood is likewise brought down the river in large quantities for disposal."Population in 1810, 1,000; in 1818, 3,500; and at this time (1821), about 5,500. The town and county contain 9,732. The population is much mixed; consisting principally of Americans from every part of the Union; the original and other French, of whom there are one hundred and fifty-five families; and foreigners of various nations; consequently the society is much diversified, and has no general fixed character. This, the reader will perceive, arises from the situation of the country, in itself new, flourishing and changing; still that class who compose the respectable part of the community are hospitable, polite and well-informed. And here I must take occasion, in justice to the town and country, to protest against the many calumnies circulated abroad to the prejudice of St. Louis, respecting the manners and the disposition of the inhabitants. Persons meet here with dissimilar habits, produced by a different education, and possessing various peculiarities. It is not therefore surprising that, in a place composed of such discordant materials, there should be occasional differences and difficulties. But the reader may be assured that old-established inhabitants have little participation in transactions which have, so far, so much injured the town.
"St. Louis has grown very rapidly. There is not, however, so much improvement going on at this time, owing to the check caused by the general and universal pressure that pervades the country. This state of things can only be temporary here, for it possesses such permanent advantages from its local and geographical situation, that it must ere some distant day, become a place of great importance, being more central with regard to the whole territory belonging to the United States than any other considerable town, and uniting the advantages of the three great rivers Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois, of the trade of which it is the emporium.
"The Missouri Fur Company was formed by several gentlemen of St. Louis, in 1819, for the purpose of trading on the Missouri river and its waters. The principal establishment of the company is at Council Bluffs, yet they have several others of minor consequence several hundred miles above, and it is expected that the establishment will be extended shortly up as high as the Mandan villages. The actual capital invested in the trade is supposed to amount at this time to about $70,000. They have in their employ, exclusive of their partners on the river, twenty-five clerks and interpreters and seventy laboring men.
"It is estimated that the annual value of the Indian trade of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers is $600,000. The annual amount of imports to this town is stated at upwards of $2,000,000. The commerce by water is carried on by a great number of steamboats, barges and keel boats.
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These centre here, after performing the greatest inland voyages known in the world. The principal articles of trade are fur, peltry and lead. The agricultural productions are Indian corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, tobacco and other articles common to the western country. Excellent mill-stones are found and made in this county; stone coal is abundant, and saltpetre and common salt have been made within a few miles. Within three or four miles are several springs of good water, and seven miles southwest is a sulphur spring. In the vicinity are two natural caverns, in limestone rocks. Two miles above town, at North St. Louis, is a steam sawmill, and several common mills are on the neighboring streams. The roads leading from St. Louis are very good, and it is expected that the great national turnpike leading from Washington will strike this place, as the commissioners for the United States have reported in favor of it."Baptist Church, south-west corner Market and Third.
Bastion, north of Bennet's Hotel.
Cathedral, Roman Church, south-west corner Church and Market.
Clerks' Offices for the various courts, near the Public Square.
Constables' Office, north Fourth above North C. street.
Court Rooms, near the Public Square.
Episcopal Church, South Church, below South A. street.
Green-Tree Inn, 85 South Church.
Indian Council Chamber, or Museum of Indian Curiosities, belonging to Governor Clark, 101 North Main.
Jones' Row, north side of Market street, above Third.
Land Office, United States, west of and near to Bennet's Hotel.
Mansion House, Bennet's, north-east corner of North Third and E. streets.
Market House, south side of Market street, near the river.
Market street runs west from the river, between North and South A. streets. It is the line which divides the northern part of the town from the southern.
Masonic Hall, in which the Grand, Chapter and Master's Lodges are held, north side South B. street, above Main.
Methodist Meeting, south-west corner South Third and South D. streets.
Missouri Bank, 6 North Main street.
Missouri Hotel, south-west corner of North Main and North H. streets.
Mound Public Garden, a pleasant retreat kept by Mr. Gray, near the Indian Mound.
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Such was St. Louis in 1821, just before the season of emerging from a town to a city existence. In the place of batteaux and unwieldy barges, the Mississippi and other western waters have become freighted with steamboats, which at once superseded the oar and the cordelle. This new improvement bringing distant points in close connection, and facilitating every avenue of trade, to St. Louis, steamboats, from the hour of their advent, became invaluable, and so great was their acquisition to the commerce, that in despite of the breaking of the banks, the depreciation of loan-office money, the general derangement of the currency, and the injurious operation of the "Stop laws," they gave a vitality to the business current, which had otherwise stagnated from the opposing obstacles and barriers.
Agriculture, after Missouri had become admitted as a state, began to receive considerable attention; and still farther to increase the interest, a meeting was held in the town of St. Louis, in May, 1822, for the purpose of organizing an agricultural society. At this meeting a committee was appointed to draw up a constitution for the government of the society, which consisted of the following respectable citizens, viz.: Wm. C. Carr, Richard Graham, Robert Simpson, Joseph C. Brown and Henry Watson. The society remained in existence many years, and did much for the improvement of agriculture.
It is worthy of remark that the health of St. Louis at this early period, if the number of deaths be a criterion, would compare very favorably with that of the present day, when the city is subject to sanitary laws, and, from cultivation of the soil, many marshes and ponds have been removed which then exhaled poisonous miasma. The number of interments, from the 17th of March, 1822, to the 29th of October of the same year, was one hundred and three. The population of the town at that time was four thousand and eight hundred souls.
1822 — On the ninth of December, 1822, an act was passed by the Legislature of Missouri, to incorporate the inhabitants of the town of St. Louis, and in April, 1823, an election took place to elect the mayor and nine aldermen in whom the act specified should vest the corporate powers of the city, with the following results: Wm. Carr Lane was elected mayor, and Thomas McKnight, James Kennerley, Philip Rocheblane, Archibald Gamble, Wm. H. Savage, Robert Nash, James Loper, Henry Von Phuland James Lacknan were elected aldermen. These men were the first corporate officers of the city of St. Louis. The city was then divided into wards, and the mayor and aldermen issued an ordinance for the graduating of Main street, and compelling the inhabitants to pave the streets in front of their lots. The trustees of the town, previous to the incorporation of the city, had made two or three futile attempts to have Main street paved in some part of it, but the inhabitants, with but few exceptions, neglected to comply with the decree, and it was not until the town became incorporated a city that any regular system of paving the streets was effectually commenced. One of the citizens, just at the time of incorporation of the new city, writes to a friend in another state who had some intention of coining to St. Louis, not to come, if he did not wish to live "the life of a frog or tortoise in the unfathomable mud of St. Louis."
The administration of Wm. Carr Lane, from the commencement, was an able one. Though his salary was only three hundred dollars per annum
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he applied himself earnestly to the duties of his office, manifested a zeal and judgment which are inseparable from his character, and soon the city was under proper municipal regulations. It was divided into wards; the boundaries of the streets were properly established; assessors and health officers appointed; and the graduating of a large portion of Main street effected, and the paving of it by the inhabitants rigidly enforced, or, if done by the commissioners, the cost was charged to those in front of whose property the paving was laid.332
Chapter V.
1823. — On the 30th of June, a hostile meeting took place on Bloody Island, between Joshua Barton, who was district-attorney of the United States for the district of which St. Louis was the capital, and Thomas C. Rector. It was nearly sunset when the parties met, and, at the first fire, Mr. Barton fell mortally wounded.
The cause of the unfortunate meeting was a publication in the Missouri Republican of an article accusing, in unmistakable terms, General Wm. Rector, the United States Surveyor of Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas, of corruption in office. General Rector was at the time in Washington, and his brother, Thomas C. Rector, hearing that Mr. Barton was the author of that serious charge, challenged him, according to the code of honor, whose rules it was imperative at that time for all gentlemen to obey, with the result that we have mentioned. Both of the families were large and influential in St. Louis, with an extensive circle of friends, and this circumstance added fuel to the already political feud existing between them. Whether the charges were true, as alleged by Mr. Barton, we cannot satisfactorily determine, and, as legal proof is wanting, it would not be consistent with justice to give utterance to any hypothesis deducible from proximate evidence. It is probable that they were deducible much from political rancor and factional license. Joshua Barton stood in the front rank of his profession, and was brother to David Barton, then senator of the United States from Missouri. He died universally lamented.
We have before alluded to some of the members of the Missouri Fur Company and other enterprising individuals who, in quest of peltry, made their lone and far voyages up the wild Missouri, and for years pursuing their precarious pursuit, lived in wigwams like the Indians, thousands of miles from civilization, and amid the wildest and fiercest tribes on the American continent. Among the number of these daring spirits, whom no danger could daunt, no obstacles arrest, and no suffering could subdue, was General Wm. Ashley. He became the head of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, pushed his enterprises in the wild fastnesses of those
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mountains, discovered what is known now as the Great Southern Pass, and made known to the world those distant solitudes, which had been before unexplored. Joined with him was Major Henry, equally enterprising and intrepid.As a great sensation was created at this time from disastrous news from the Rocky Mountains, it becomes our province now to report a bloody battle which took place between the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and the Rickaree Indians, and also of a bloody battle between the Blackfeet Indians and the followers of the Missouri Fur Company. Both of the fur companies were defeated by the savages. The two following letters will best explain the difficulty and the events of the battles.
"On board the Keelboat ‘Rocky Mountain,’
June 4th, 1823.
"On the morning of the 2d instant I was attacked by the Rickaree Indians, which terminated seriously on my part. The particulars of which I relate with feelings of the greatest sorrow and mortification. Previous to my arrival at their towns, from information I received from some gentlemen descending the river, I apprehended danger from them, and used as much precaution as the nature of my situation would admit. Not one of the Rickaree Indians did I see until I arrived at their towns on the 30th of May. My boats were anchored about the middle of the river, and I went on shore with two men, where I met some of the principal chiefs, who pretended to be very friendly disposed toward us, and expressed a wish that I should trade with them.
"Wishing to send a party through by land from that point to the Yellow Stone river, for which purpose forty or fifty horses were necessary, and having just received an express from Major Henry, sent for the purpose of desiring me to purchase all the horses I could on my way, I consented to send some goods on shore to exchange for horses, but proposed that the chiefs of the two towns would meet me on the sand beach, where a perfect understanding should take place before the barter commenced. After a long consultation among them, they appeared at the place proposed, to hold the talk. I made them a small present, which appeared to please them very much. I then told them that I had understood that a difference had taken place between a party of their men and some of the Missouri Fur Company, that in consequence of which they might feel disposed to do me an injury, and went on to state what I supposed would be the consequences should they attempt it. They answered that the affray alluded to had caused angry feelings among them, but that those angry feelings had vanished — that they then considered the white people as their friends, and would treat them as such.
"A price for horses was proposed by me and agreed to by them. The exchange therefore commenced, and on the evening of the 15th instant I had completed my purchases, and all things prepared for an early start the next morning. Late in the afternoon the principal chief of one of the towns sent me an invitation to visit him at his lodge. I hesitated for a moment, but at length concluded to accept it, as I did not wish them to know that I apprehended the least danger from them. I took
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with me my interpreter, and went to the lodge of the chief, where I was treated with every appearance of friendship by him, as well as by several other chiefs who were present. The next morning, just before daybreak, I was informed that the Indians had killed one of my men, Aaron Stephens, and in all probability would attack the boats in a few minutes. Arrangements were made to receive them. My party consisted of ninety men, forty of whom were selected to accompany me to the Yellowstone River by land, and were encamped on the sand-beach in charge of the horses.
"About sunrise, the Indians commenced a heavy and well-directed fire from a line extending along the picketing of one of their towns and some broken ground adjoining, a distance of about six hundred yards. Seeing that some of the horses were killed and others wounded, as well as two or three men, I attempted to have the horses crossed to a sandbar about the middle of the river, over which the water was about three feet deep, but before any thing to effect that object could be done the fire became very destructive, aimed principally at the men on shore. I ordered the anchor weighed and the boats put to shore, but the boatmen, with but very few exceptions, were so panic-struck that they could not be got to execute the order. Two skiffs which would carry thirty men were taken ashore for the embarkation of the men, but (I suppose), from a predetermination of the men on the beach not to give way to the Indians as long as there appeared the least probability of keeping their ground, not more than five of them made use of the large skiff, two of whom were wounded, the other skiff was taken to the opposite side of the river by two men, one of them mortally wounded.
"I started the large skiff immediately back, but unfortunately one of the men that worked it was shot down, and by some means the skiff set adrift; by this time the most of the horses were killed or wounded, and about half of the men. I continued to make every effort to get the boats to shore but all in vain; although anchored not more than ninety feet out in the stream the most of the men swam to the boats; some of them when shot immediately sprang into the river and sunk. It was about fifteen minutes from the time the firing commenced until the surviving part of the men had embarked. The anchor of one of the boats was weighed, the cable of the other cut, and the boats dropped down the stream. Finding it impossible to pass the towns in the then situation of the men and boats, I directed them to be landed at the first timber, for the purpose of placing them and the men in a better situation of defence, and to pass the towns, which would have been done without much risk; but, to my great surprise and mortification, when my intentions were made known to the men I was informed that (with but few exceptions) they would desert me if I attempted it, and that however well the boats might be fortified they would not make a second attempt to pass without a large reinforcement.
"The next morning they were drawn up, and a plan, which I had during the night thought of, by which I supposed we could safely pass the towns, made known to them, but the principal part of them refused to assist me in its execution, consequently I had to fall back to where we could get some game and wait the aid of Major Henry's party at the Yellowstone River, to whom I sent an express.
"My loss in killed and wounded is as follows:
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"Killed — John Matthews, John Collins, Aaron Stephens, James McDaniel, Westley Piper, George Flager, Benjamin F. Sneed, James Penn, jr., John Miller, John S. Gardner, Effis Ogle, David Howard — Twelve.
"Wounded — Reed Gibson (since dead), Joseph Monsa, John Larrison, Abraham Ricketts, Robert Tucker, Joseph Thompson, Jacob Miller, David McClane, Hugh Glass, Auguste Dufrain, Willis (black man) — Eleven.
"There are but two of the wounded in the least danger of dying, and I think with care they will recover. Never did men, in my opinion, act with more coolness and bravery than the most of those exposed on the sand-beach. A constant fire was kept up by us, but from the advantageous situation of the Indians but little execution by it was done. Five or six Indians were seen to fall on the sand-beach; I suppose they lost six or eight killed. The situation of their towns, numbers, arms, etc., makes them a formidable enemy to traders ascending the river. Their two towns are situated immediately in front of a large sand-bar, around which boats are obliged to pass, forming nearly a quarter or one-third of a circle, with a diameter of a half mile, partly covered with willows near the water's edge; at the upper part of the bar they have a breastwork made of dry timber. The ground on the opposite side of the river, about half-way round the sand-beach, is from twelve to twenty feet above the surface of the water, the balance of the way high broken hills and the river very narrow. They are about six hundred warriors; I think about three-fourths of them are armed with London fusils that carry a ball with great accuracy and force, and which they use with as much expertness as any men I ever saw handle arms; those that have not guns use bows and arrows, war-axes, etc. Knowing that some of the trading companies intended passing the Ricarees this summer, and apprehending danger, will probably bring up one or more six-pounders, I expect and hope they will arrive about the time I receive aid from above."
"FORT ATKINSON, July 3, 1823.
"DEAR SIR. — How painful for me to tell, and you to hear, of the barbarity of the Indians. They continue to deceive and murder the most enterprising of our people, and if we continue to forbear, if we do not soon discover a greater spirit of resentment, this river will be discolored with our blood.
"The defeat of General Ashley by the A'Ricarees, and departure of the troops to his relief, had scarcely gone to you when an express arrived announcing the defeat of the Blackfoot Indians, near the Yellowstone River, of the Missouri Fur-Company's Yellowstone or mountain expedition, commanded by Messrs. Jones & Immell, both of whom, with five of the men, are among the slain. All of their property, to the amount of $15,000, fell into the hands of the enemy.
"To add to General Ashley's catalogue of misfortunes, the Blackfoot Indians have recently defeated a party of eleven and killed four of Major Henry's men, near his establishment at the mouth of the Yellowstone River. The express goes on to state, ‘that many circumstances (of which I will be apprised in a few days) have transpired to induce the belief that the British traders (Hudson's Bay Company) are exciting the Indians against us, cither to drive us from that quarter, or reap, with the Indians, the fruits of our labor.’
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"I was in hopes that the British traders had some bounds to their rapacity; I was in hopes that during the late Indian war, in which they were so instrumental in the indiscriminate 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 to do so; 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.
"Immell had great experience of the Indian character, but, poor fellow, with a British passport, they at last deceived him, and he fell a victim to his own credulity, and his scalp, with those of his murdered comrades, is now bleeding on its way to some of the Hudson establishments.
"Another of General Ashley's wounded men is dead, making fifteen men killed by the A'Ricarees and eleven by the Blackfoot — in all, known to have been killed by the Indians within the last two or three months, twenty-six effective men; and I estimate the amount of property actually lost in the conflicts, at $20,000, besides a great number of horses, etc.
"The Ottoes, Missouris, Omahas, and Panis have been to see me already, and, as usual, profess great friendship, etc., but, with the rest of the neighboring tribes, are anxiously looking and listening to know how we (the Americans) are going to get out of this scrape.
"I am still in bad health, and almost despair of recovering during my stay here.
"I am at this moment interrupted by the arrival of an express from the military expedition, with a letter from Dr. Pilcher, whom you know is at the head of the Missouri Fur-Company on this river, in which he says, ‘I have but a moment to write. I met an express from the Mandans, bringing me very unpleasant news — the flower of my business is gone. My mountaineers have been defeated, and the chiefs of the party both slain; the party were attacked by three or four hundred Blackfoot Indians, in a position on the Yellowstone River, where nothing but defeat could be expected. Jones & Immell and five men were killed. The former, it is said, fought most desperately. Jones killed two Indians, and in drawing his pistol to kill a third, he received two spears in his breast. Immell was in front; he killed one Indian and was cut to pieces. I think we lose at least $15,000. I will write you more fully between this and the Sioux.’
"Jones was a gentleman of cleverness. He was for several years a resident of St. Louis, where he has numerous friends to deplore his loss. Immell has been a long time on this river, first an officer in the United States army, since an Indian trader of some distinction; in some respects he was an extraordinary man; he was brave, uncommonly large, and of great muscular strength; when timely apprised of his danger, a host within himself. The express left the military expedition on the 1st instant, when all was well. With great respect, your most obedient servant,
"BEN. O'FALLON,
"U. S. Agent for Indian Affairs.
"GENERAL WILLIAM CLARK,
"Supt. Indian Affairs, St. Louis."
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While speaking of men whose daring instincts carried them amid the savages and their wilds, and who acted as the pioneers of civilization, and to whose hardihood their country was indebted for effectual aid in making treaties with the distant tribes of Indians, and the strong power which many of them exercised over their savage nature, we should not pass over the name of Benjamin O'Fallon without paying some deserved tribute to his many virtues and services. He was many years Indian agent of government, and in all his transactions with the various tribes his conduct was conciliatory though firm, and in his long term of public service there was no room even for envy to asperse his character.
1824. — In the summer of this year the city of St. Louis was the theatre of considerable excitement. The term of Governor Alexander McNair being about to transpire, two candidates, each urging powerful claims upon the public, and each champion of their respective parties, was nominated for the executive office. They were Frederick Bates and General William Ashley. The former had already filled many high positions under both the territorial, state and the municipal authorities, among which was that of lieutenant-governor, and consequently all of the duties of the executive were familiar to him; besides, he had been long a resident in St. Louis, and was known to all classes of society and justly had their confidence. The other, by his daring intrepidity in pushing trade into the unknown wilds of the Rocky Mountains, had carried the knowledge of the United States into regions unexplored, and by his ability awed the savage denizens, and opened new fields of profitable labor to courage and enterprise. These services had invested his character with some of the rays of heroic and romantic splendor which his friends fondly hoped would attach favor and outweigh the influence which, from long residence and deserved popularity, his rival possessed. At this election for governor was also that of lieutenant-governor, members of Congress, of state Senate, House of Delegates, sheriff, and constable.
After due returns from the different parts of the state, Frederick Bates was declared duly elected, John K. Walker, sheriff, and Sullivan Blood, constable. With the other elections it is not our province in this work to meddle.
Frederick Bates enjoyed but a short time his political victory. The following year, after a few months being invested with his official dignity, he was attacked by pleurisy and died, August 1st, of the following year.
1825. — It was the 28th of April of this year, that the news of the arrival of the Marquis de Lafayette at Carondelet reached St. Louis. He stayed at that village during the night, and early the next morning embarked for St. Louis, only four miles distant. Half of the city was turned out on the occasion, and as the gallant French nobleman stepped ashore from the boat, which landed opposite the old Market House, he received the applauding greeting of gratified thousands, to whom his name had been endeared by the instructive pages of history, and still more by the early reminiscences gleaned from the fireside. The name of Lafayette — for many years a household word, and familiar to the lips of infancy.
It was nine o'clock in the morning when the marquis arrived in St. Louis, and he was immediately ushered into a carriage, into which he was followed by his honor the mayor, William Carr Lane, Stephen Hempstead,
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an officer of the Revolution, and Colonel Auguste Chouteau, the chief in command of the pioneer band who laid the foundation of the city.General Lafayette was at this time sixty-eight years of age, yet his step betrayed no feebleness, and his eye was still vivid with the fire of youth. He was accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette, and that name, so dear to the American people, gave new warmth to the reception of the French hero, and invested him with a species of idolatry. He had likewise a small private suite accompanying him, and was attended by an escort of distinguished gentlemen who had accompanied him from the South. He was the guest of the city, and just before dinner paid a visit to General William Clark, the superintendent of Indian affairs, and was much pleased with the curiosities of an Indian museum which that gentleman had collected during his constant communication with the tribes of the Missouri and the Mississippi. In the evening there was a splendid ball given him at the Mansion House, followed by a supper.
On the next morning the marquis left for Kaskaskia, being escorted to the boat by crowds of citizens, who cheered him again and again as the boat left the shore, and lingered a long time watching its progress as it cleaved its way on the downward course of the "Father of Waters."
In this year the first move was commenced to survey a road across the plains, that a direct trade should spring up with Mexico. In June, Major Sibley, who was one of the commissioners appointed by government, set out from St. Louis, accompanied by the surveyor, Mr. Joseph C. Brown, the secretary, Captain Gamble, with seven wagons, for the purpose of trading with the tribes of Indians on the route, and fully to survey the most direct road to Santa Fé; and this route afterward became the great highway of the Santa Fé trade.
It was June 26th, 1825, that the first Presbyterian church was consecrated by the Rev. Salmon Giddings, of St. Louis. It was the first temple which the Presbyterians had erected in the city for the purposes of worship, and it was a jubilee for the followers of that creed, when they witnessed the dedication of their church, in which they could assemble according to their religious observances. Previous to this time the meetings were held in the Circuit Court room.
After the demise of Governor Bates before his term of office had expired, there were several candidates for the executive office, among the most prominent of whom were General John Miller, Judge David Todd, William C. Carr, and Colonel Rufus Easton. The two former had some military renown, and did their country service in the war of 1812. After an exciting political campaign, in which the antecedents of all three of the candidates were thoroughly brought before the public, and were garbled, misrepresented, eulogized or idolized, as friends or enemies discoursed upon them, General Miller was elected governor, and Colonel B. H. Reeves lieutenant-governor.
1826. — There was an ordinance passed by the city authorities for the
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building of a court-house, which was immediately commenced; an act was also passed by Congress for the erection of an arsenal somewhere near St. Louis. Some time in 1827, the arsenal was commenced, but it was many years after before the buildings connected with it were completed. The arsenal was situated a few blocks from the river, in the southern part of the city — the spot it still occupies. There was also an ordinance passed by the mayor and aldermen for the naming of the streets, and those streets were at that time baptized with the appellations by which we now know them. All their names were changed, with the exception of Market street, of those running westwardly.In September of this year, the jail of the town was broken open by the prisoners who were confined therein, and among the number John Brewer, who was to have been hung the day following, escaped. He had been convicted of perjury, in a capital case, and the punishment for that offence, at that period, was death; most of the other prisoners were captured, but, with the gallows as a phantom before him, he made good his escape. In that year was also organized the Missouri and Illinois Tract Society.
1827. — Ordinances were passed by the mayor and aldermen for borrowing money for the erection of a market and town-house on the public square, between Market and Walnut streets, and fronting the river, which under the Spanish domination was called Place d'armes. The first market which had been erected had become entirely too small for the wants of the city. An ordinance was also passed for the grading and paving of Chestnut and Olive streets from Front street to the river, and also paving those streets from Main to Fourth; and also Vine street from Main to Front. It was during this year that the Missouri Hibernia Relief Society was organized by the enterprising and benevolent resident Irishmen of the city. The purpose of this society was "to relieve those distressed by want in their native land, and to assist those who wished to emigrate to our shores." James C. Lynch was the first president of the society, and William Pigott secretary.
1828. — The St. Louis Auxiliary American Colonization Society was formed, and the following gentlemen were its first efficient officers: President, Hon. William C. Carr; Vice-Presidents, Colonel John O'Fallon, Hon. James H. Peck, Dr. William Carr Lane, Edward Bates, Esq.; Managers, Theodore Hunt, Edward Charless, Henry S. Geyer, Charles S. Hempstead, Thomas Cohen, Robert Wash, H. L. Hoffman, John Smith, Joseph C. Laveille, Salmon Giddings, John H. Gay, John M. Peck; Corresponding Secretary, Josiah Spalding; Recording Secretary, D. Hough; Treasurer, H. Von Phul. During this year, Hugh King, a soldier in the United States army, was executed for killing the sergeant of his company.
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1829. — Daniel D. Page was elected mayor, and the work of grading and paving the streets progressed rapidly. Seventh street was extended to the northern boundary of the city; Fourth street was ordered to be surveyed from Market to Lombard street, and Second street was graded and paved between Olive and Vine streets. Locust street was also graded and paved, from the western side of Main street to the western side of Fourth street. In August of that year, General John Miller was again elected governor of the state, and so popular was he, even in the adverse political party, that there was no opposing candidate. Samuel Perry was elected at the same time lieutenant-governor, and achieved his political victory over his opponent by only four votes. Dr. Robert Simpson was again elected sheriff of the city, largely beating his opponent, Frederick Hyatt.
The Branch Bank of the United States was also established during this year, in St. Louis. The officers appointed to preside over the institution were Colonel John O'Fallon, president, Henry S. Coxe, cashier, George K. McGunnegle, clerk, and Thomas O. Duncan, teller. The first board of directors were William Clark, Thomas Biddle, Peter Lindell, William H. Ashley, John Mullanphy, George Collier, James Clemens, Jr., Matthew Kerr, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., Edward Tracey, Samuel Perry of Potosi, and Peter Bass of Boone county. During the number of years which this institution was in existence, it had the entire confidence of the community, and was of manifest advantage to the business of the place. During the time of its being, its directors were business men and men of honor, and, unlike the banks which had previously an existence in St. Louis, it closed its career in great credit, nor were there any maledictions attached to its memory. So efficiently and correctly was it carried on, that its entire loss to the government at its winding up was only one hundred and twenty-five dollars.
1830. — A bridge was erected across Mill Creek, at the intersection of Fourth and Fifth streets, and St. Louis at that time gave indications of a city fast advancing in wealth, beauty, business, and all the municipal attributes. Numerous brick-yards had been established in the lower part of the city, and brick buildings had become the fashion of the day. (See Errata 15) The frame or stone one-story cottage-houses, with their piazzas and large yards, significant of the French and Spanish time, were fast disappearing. Most of the extensive gardens, frequently occupying a whole square, in which grew delicious fruit, and on which were raised abundance of vegetables, had either lost their original owners by death, and the property become divided; or else, tempted by cupidity, some old Frenchman or Spaniard sold his habitation and his block of land, which had been granted to him gratuitously by another government, and had risen to such value that he was tempted to part with it for the fabulous price it brought. Many of the old inhabitants possessing acres in the very heart of the city, as their taxes increased, were compelled, from inability to pay, either to sell them or see them sold publicly under legal attachment. There were many cases of this nature; for many of the old French families, after the advent of the Americans, still preserved their simple mode of life, nor seemed sensible of changing with the changing circumstances around them. They gathered the fruit from the trees, and raised their vegetables, until taxes and other wants so accumulated that they were
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forced every few years to lop off a slice from their grants; and their simplicity and unbusiness-like habits were ofttimes taken advantage of by the enterprising race who had settled among them, and who unscrupulously and frequently accomplished their avaricious ends.In 1830, there was much excitement in St. Louis relative to the decisions of Judge James H. Peck, of the United States District Court, regarding some extensive land claims which some of the old French inhabitants contended had been granted to them under the Spanish domination. Judge Peck was a jurist who could only be convinced by a chain of reasoning, and very properly viewed with prejudice and suspicion all claims which were not supported by proper legal proof. The cases in question were, Auguste Chouteau and others vs. United States, and the heirs of Mackey Wherry vs. the United States. The judge, suspecting from the remoteness of the legal links that the claims were not properly supported, and that there was too much room for fraud to creep in the chasms, decided adversely to the claimants. His decisions, which were published, were models of close legal arguments, though he did not give that wide latitude to the evidence which the claims of that nature seemed in justice to require. He required something more than the face of the concession, and a proof of its genuineness. He went behind the record and inquired into the right of the lieutenant-governors in some cases to make the grants. The suspicions with which he regarded these Spanish concessions, called forth a public legal criticism from the pen of Judge Luke E. Lawless, the senior counsel for the claimants, which appeared anonymously in one of the public prints. The publisher of the sheet was immediately arrested for contempt of judicial dignity; and Judge Lawless immediately avowed his authorship in open court, contending that the publication in question was only an examination of a judicial decision, without any attempt to reflect upon official dignity. However, Judge Peck contended that the ermine had been touched by sacrilegious hands, and Judge Lawless was ordered to prison and suspended for a time from practising in that court.
In obedience to that edict, Judge Lawless went to prison accompanied by a troop of his friends, but was released after a few hours confinement by a habeas corpus. He then, in retaliation for what he considered an outrage upon his feelings and a tyrannical display of authority, went to Washington and made charges against Judge Peck before the House of Representatives. After a careful investigation of the case the impeachment was dismissed.
1831. — A writer in one of the public journals of this year thus speaks of St. Louis: "Our city is improving with great rapidity. Many good houses are building, in a style worthy the most flourishing seaport towns. The arts and useful manufactures are multiplying and improving. Mills, breweries, mechanical establishments, all seem to be advancing successfully, for the good of the country, and we hope for the great profit of our enterprising and industrious fellow-citizens. The trade and navigation of this port are becoming immense. Steamboats are daily arriving and departing, from east, west, north, and south; and as this place has some decided advantages over all the ports of the Ohio River, for laying up and repairing, we have no doubt that in a few years the building and repairing of steam-engines and boats will become one of the most important
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branches of St. Louis business. We have all the materials, wood and metal, in abundance, and of the best quality. Already we have a foundry which, it is hoped, will soon rival the best in Cincinnati and Pittsburg — and many skilful and enterprising mechanics. A bright prospect is before us, and we look confidently to the day, and that not a distant one, when no town on the western waters will rank above St. Louis for industry, wealth, and enterprise. We hear that our worthy and active townsman, Paul Anderson, has chosen this port to lay up his splendid boat, the Uncle Sam, for the approaching season. She is a six hundred ton boat, and is said not to have a superior on the western waters."Political excitement ran high in the city. It was the time when the fame of Jackson was at its culminating point, and his name was the political battle-cry of his friends and a target for his enemies. The following was the ticket of city candidates for that year, in St. Louis: Sheriff — John K. Walker,
The first idea that St. Louis ever had of a railroad was from an exhibition during this year, in the old Baptist church, situated at the corner of Market and Third streets, of a miniature railroad. It consisted of a small circular track attached to a stage, on which was a small car with its miniature engine, which drove it around at the rate of seven miles per hour. The citizens regarded this as the great wonder of the day, and as the ultima thule of scientific perfection.
St. Louis underwent considerable improvements during the year. The upper part of Third street was widened, a portion of it ordered to be graded and paved, and an ordinance passed for building the Broadway market. The immigration to the city was considerable, and the population was 5,963. The Missouri Insurance Company was also incorporated, with a capital of $100,000. George Collier was its president, and the following gentlemen, directors: John Mullanphy, Peter Lindell, H. Von Phul, Wm. Hill, Thomas Biddle, Bernard Pratte, and James Clemens, Jr. John Ford was secretary of the company.
In August of this year, Bloody Island was again steeped in human blood, from a fatal duel between two citizens of high political and moral standing. Spencer Pettis was a young and promising lawyer, and the candidate for Congress of the Jackson party. He was opposed by David Barton, Esq., but unsuccessfully. Major Biddle, in a journal controversy, assailed the young political aspirant in terms so personally reflective, that Mr. Pettis, as a man of honor, felt bound to call him to an account in the manner prescribed by the bloody creed, which at that time was almost in universal observance. He challenged Major Biddle, who accepted it; and on Friday evening, August 26th, the parties met on Bloody Island.
Major Biddle was near-sighted, and, so as to neutralize the advantage which his opponent would have in consequence of his infirmity, he demanded that the distance should be but five paces. This demand was acceded to, and the two rivals took their stations at that distance. At the first fire they both fell mortally wounded. Mr. Pettis survived but
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twenty-four hours, and Major Biddle but a few days. Both feeling that they had received their death-wounds, with a magnanimity which was truly chivalrous, exchanged forgiveness upon the battle-field.On the day following the death of Mr. Spencer Pettis, a large portion of the members of the St. Louis bar assembled at the residence of Mr. Andrew Burt, to express complimentary resolutions in honor of the deceased. The committee of arrangement was Messrs. Joseph C. Laveille, Edward Dobyns, T. Andrews, John Shade, Charles Keemle, Captain J. Ruland, R. H. M'Gill, and Daniel Miller. The chairman of the meeting was Thomas H. Bentop, and Auguste Kennerly, secretary.
A few days after the fatal termination of the wound of Major Biddle, the officers stationed at Jefferson Barracks assembled to give a proper expression of their esteem for a brother officer. General Atkinson was called to the chair, and Captain H. Smith appointed secretary. A committee, consisting of Brigadier-General Leavenworth, Major Riley, Captain Palmer, Captain Harrison, and Captain Rogers, was selected, to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting. The resolutions adopted were in keeping with the high-toned honor and chivalric merit of the deceased.
In consequence of the death of Mr. Pettis, there had to be another election for Congressman, and General William H. Ashley was elected.
1832. — It was in the spring that a large detachment of United States troops left Jefferson Barracks under the command of Brigadier-General Atkinson, to chastise the Sauks and Foxes, who, under Black Hawk and the Prophet, had violated their treaty with the United States, by removing east of the Mississippi, and had invaded, with fire and scalping-knife, the unprotected frontier settlements of Illinois. The horrible butcheries alarmed the whole of the pioneer settlers, and they deserted their homes and removed into the thickly settled country, where they could be in safety from their barbarous foe. Thus leaving their homes and property unprotected, many of them in a distressing state from disease; and many families were in want of the common necessaries of life. In the cold, shivering hour of their distress, the inhabitants of St. Louis rallied to their rescue, and furnished assistance to comfort them in their sufferings.
A meeting of the most respectable citizens was held at the City Hall, at which Archibald Gamble, Esq., presided, and G. K. Gunnegle was appointed secretary. On motion of Henry S. Geyer, Esq., a committee of thirteen was constituted to solicit donations in money and provisions for the relief of the suffering inhabitants of the frontiers of Illinois. The gentlemen constituting the committee were D. D. Page, John Kerr, H. King, P. Powell, A. L. Mills, George Sproule, William Finney, Thomas Cohen, John Smith, J. B. Brant, A. L. Johnson, J. W. Reel, and John H. Gay.
Fortunately the Indian war was not of long duration, and the efficient generals of the United States army, aided by the energy of Governor Reynolds of Illinois, soon subdued the savages. Black Hawk and the Prophet were taken captives, and peace permanently established.
We cannot dwell longer on the difficulties with the Indians and the conditions of the peace made with them, as that portion of history is somewhat extrinsic of our narration, and should not have been touched upon had it not been somewhat connected with the history of St. Louis, by the participation of the United States troops from Jefferson Barracks,
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with the current events, and generous philanthropy of its inhabitants, which prompted them to take efficient measures to relieve their suffering neighbors.The inhabitants of St. Louis have never exhibited that apathy in politics which is often evinced in other cities of greater magnitude. The moment that the city became transferred to the United States and became peopled with Anglo-Americans, it became emphatically a political city. The cause of this was obvious. The immigration that came to the new town and settled in its precincts, was principally made up of persons of intelligence and ambitious hopes, who had forsaken their household gods, and had come to a new country to make for themselves a fortune and a name. They were persons of intelligence, ready to take whatever current would best serve to lead them on to fortune. They plunged into politics, and agitated as much as possible those waters, which were the natural reservoir of all men's opinions, and on which all eyes were fastened. They wished to be seen and known to the multitude, and launched into the element which would be more conducive to the aims and ends of their existence. The natural advantages of the city for all kinds of business pursuits and professions have been developing year by year, and have never been exhausted by the demands of immigration, as great as it has been. There has always been an opening for the enterprising and ambitious, who continued to rush to the favored locality, and knowing that politics were in many instances the open Sesame to the strongholds of national preferment and greatness, they have ever kept it in agitation, nor suffered political subjects to become stale or oblivious to the people.
Amid the seasons of political excitement which have swept over St. Louis and ruffled popular feeling, there was no time at which there was more interest manifested than when the news came from the Capitol that General Jackson had vetoed the recharter of the United States Bank. To recharter the United States Bank was the darling wish of the speculators and commercial men of the country, and even the solid, sterling business men of the Union were deluded to give it their support and countenance, from the apparent prosperity of all ramifications of business, which for a while is the natural consequence of flooding the country with a great amount of paper currency. They did not reflect that this paper currency, if thrown upon the country in such abundance that precluded the idea of redemption, gave an unhealthy expansion and deceptive appearance of thrift to every pursuit, and, like the dropsy, though enlarging the appearance, is at the same time feeding upon the vitals.
The people of St. Louis were rampant in their disappointment. They had suffered from the first Missouri Bank, the St. Louis Bank, and the Loan Office, though the latter was an institution guaranteed by the state; but the Branch Bank of the United States, since its establishment at St. Louis, had possessed the confidence of the citizens, had given them a healthful, unfluctuating currency, and they felt indignant at the act of the chief magistrate, which would produce the dissolution of an institution which, judging from their own experience, they thought had existed only for the welfare of the Union.
Immediately on the reception of the veto, there was a howl of indignation; and a meeting of the citizens of the county and city of St. Louis was called at the court-house, in July, 1832, to give public expression to
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their disapprobation. Dr. William Carr Lane presided at the meeting, and James L. Murray was appointed its secretary. Resolutions were drafted strongly expressive of indignation, by a committee chosen for that purpose, and consisting of the following gentlemen: Messrs. Edward Bates, Pierre Chouteau, Jr., George Collier, Thornton Grimsley, Henry S. Geyer, and Nathan Ranney. Dr. George W. Call, and Messrs. Frederick Hyatt, Matthew Kerr, Asa Wilgus, Thomas Cohen and R. H. McGill also took an active part in the meeting.General Jackson, however, had in St. Louis, as he had in every section of the Union, a large number of friends and admirers, who followed him with a blind confidence, and upheld with faithful diligence all his decrees; and, in order to neutralize the effect of the whig indignation meeting, they called a meeting of their partisans at the town-house, that they might publicly declare their approbation of the veto, which would be the death fiat of an institution which, from its enormous capital, would have such a controlling influence as not only to crush, at pleasure, every other moneyed institution, but would insinuate its corrupting tendencies in our congressional halls and sway the councils of the republic. Dr. Samuel Merry and Absalom Link presided at this meeting, and William Milburn was appointed secretary. The committee to draft resolutions was appointed by the chair, and consisted of the following gentlemen: Messrs. E. Dobyns, John Shade, James C. Lynch, L. Brown, B. W. Ayres, I. H. Baldwin and P. Taylor. Colonel George F. Strother made a spirited address to the meeting.
It is nearly twenty-eight years since these events took place, and the hero of New Orleans is "pillowed in his sarcophagus." Those who conscientiously opposed him at that day, although they may not have justified the dangerous precedent of differing on a constitutional question with the Supreme Court of the United States, which is the appointed guardian of the constitution — yet, when a few years after the veto, they saw the rottenness of the favored institution, must acknowledge the benefits that accrued to the country by the president refusing to sign the bill for its recharter.
In August of the present year, there were three candidates for governor — John Bull, Samuel C. Davis, and Daniel Dunklin. The latter, who was the Jackson candidate, was elected, and L. W. Boggs as lieutenant-governor.
During the summer, that dreadful scourge of the human race, the Asiatic cholera, visited St. Louis, swelling the number of interments in the church-yards, and carrying desolation to many a fireside, whose members would long have withstood the slow elements of corporeal decay, and would have lived long in the tender relations subsisting in the family circle.
The pestilence did not come upon St. Louis suddenly: it gave warning of its approach by invading New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the southern cities. The most efficient measures were taken to remove all unhealthful matter from the streets and to cleanse them from impurities. All was of little avail; for the direful malady nestled on the wings of the breeze, and first visited the outskirts of the city. A soldier at Jefferson Barracks was first attacked with the virulent symptoms, of the disease, and the attendant physician pronounced the case, though unwillingly, one of Asiatic cholera.
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All intercourse with the military post was at once cut off, and it was fondly hoped that the pestilence might be kept from the city by careful sanitary measures. The hope was vain. In a few days it was in the heart of the city and raging with the utmost malignity. All who could leave the city, at once fled, and by this means the number of deaths was much abridged.
The population of St. Louis at that time was 6,918, including those who had left the town, and the number of deaths averaged for several days more than thirty per day; and for two weeks more, there were about twenty victims to the disease daily. It continued its ravages for a month, and then disappeared.
1833. — In February an effort was made to impeach William C. Carr, one of the circuit judges, and one of the oldest inhabitants, who had come to St. Louis one month after the transfer from Spain to the United States. There is no doubt that the effort owed its origin principally to political prejudices, and the main features of the charge had no foundation in truth.
The alleged charge was that "William C. Carr is wholly unqualified for the judicial station, and ought not to hold the office of judge in the third judicial circuit court in the state of Missouri."
Such was the nature of the general charge, which consisted of fourteen specifications, all of them alleging something which disqualified him for his responsible position. The charge and the specifications were carefully examined by both houses of the legislature, and the pioneer jurist of St. Louis was acquitted.
In 1833, St. Louis first commenced the era of that prosperity which has since continued, and which has been so remarkable in the annals of city prosperity. From its foundation in 1764 to this period, its advance had been one of quiet and constant progression; but the elements of prosperity for some years had been gradually collecting in force, and gave a momentum to every department in business. It was in 1817 that the first steamboat (the General Pike) first touched its levee, and then a new era in navigation commenced. The barges and Mackinaw boats gradually disappeared, and the class of hardy boatmen termed the voyageurs began to lose their pre-eminence. The rough boats and rough boatmen had had their day, and a new order of things brought about by the magical wand of science, came at once into being. Since the first arrival of a steamboat, year by year they had increased in number, and at this time there was not a day but numbers of steamers landed at the levee, or departed for Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and the Upper and Lower Mississippi. There was also a line of stages for Vincennes, and Louisville. The time of performing the journey by coach, between St. Louis and Louisville, was three and a half days. There was also a stage line between St. Louis and Galena, and Peoria, via Springfield. There was as yet no railway to destroy the impediments of distance, and a journey through the interior of the western country, that could not be assisted by river navigation, if performed in early spring, was associated with every idea of discomfort; the horses floundering in mud-holes and probably not being able to extricate the vehicle, and then the traveler had to step out ofttimes in the very middle of the sink, which held to his legs with such quicksand pertinacity that it frequently required considerable effort to disengage
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himself. Then often the rivulets had become so swollen that the horses had to ford them by swimming. The drivers of these vehicles were made of other stuff than their descendants of the present day. If they encountered a large stream of water, which, from a freshet, had swept away the bridge, or which had become so increased from frequent rains that the horses in making the passage could not reach terra firma, they immediately unloosed the harness, and mounting the passengers on the horses, in this manner gained the opposite side — not regarding the soaking habiliments of the traveller with any kind of disquietude or uneasiness; they would then return for the coach and drag it through the water, after getting it half filled or more with that element, and then baling out the water pursue their journey without thinking they had encountered any obstacle outside of the ordinary routine.There was an ordinance established in the spring of this year, appointing a weigher for the city, so that hay and stone-coal coming into the town for sale, might be weighed. The office and scales were established adjoining Market square.
In the election of this year for mayor, Dr. Samuel Merry was elected; but his election was contested upon the ground of unconstitutionality, Dr. Merry being a receiver of public moneys, which office he held under appointment of the president.
In one of the articles in the amendment of the constitution of the state, it is laid down that "no person holding an office of profit under the United States, and commissioned by the president, shall, during his continuance in said office, be eligible, appointed to, hold, or exercise any office of profit under this state."
The only question to be settled was, whether the office of mayor was an office under the state. Dr. Merry, the elected candidate, contended that it was exclusively a municipal appointment, and therefore did not come under the prohibition. However, the board of aldermen took a different view of the matter, and declared in conclave that the office of mayor, though a municipal appointment, was still an office of the state, and had many of his duties laid down in the statute enactments; and that the former incumbent, Daniel D. Page, should continue as mayor until after another election.
The case finally went to the Supreme Court, and the decision of the aldermen was sustained. It was then agreed that the president of the board of aldermen should officiate as chief executive officer until the election took place in the following autumn, when Colonel John W. Johnson was elected.
Missouri has always been cursed with a lottery system, dating from almost her early territorial existence to the present time. So as to increase the revenue of the state, and for the purpose of making certain improvements, the legislature licenses lotteries, which, though answering the purpose of revenue, yet by a plausible temptation allure the credulous to invest, in the hopes of a speedy fortune; and in many instances, and in a short time, by their nefarious system bring poverty and discord to many a hearthstone where once reigned plenty and happiness.
In 1833, there was a newspaper controversy between two well-known lottery dealers, James S. Thomas and James R. McDonald, who carried on two different lotteries. The difficulty arose from the fact that at the
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preceding session of the legislature a bill had been passed, authorizing the drawing of a lottery for the purpose of creating a sum of ten thousand dollars for building a hospital for the Sisters of Charity, where they could efficiently exercise their mission of mercy prescribed by their creed, in soothing the invalid during the hours of sickness and suffering by ministering to the physical and mental wants. The commissioners appointed by the legislature had sold this lottery to James S. Thomas. In this newspaper controversy it was made to appear that the gains arising from the scheme would be immense for Mr. Thomas, and by his system of lottery-drawing untold gains would flow into his coffers by the contract.The publication excited much interest at the time, and the suspicions of the community becoming aroused, a committee was selected to examine into the mysteries of the lottery drawing which had received the patronage of the state authorities.
The committee consisted of the following gentlemen: N. H. Ridgely, David H. Hill, George K. McGunnegle, D. Hough, Augustus Kerr, John F. Darby, and Bernard Pratte, Sr. After examining if the scheme were fraudulent, as fruit of their diligent labor they gave to the public a long and favorable statement concerning the honesty of the drawing. The following is the clause of acquittal on the ground of fraud: "Your committee then, after an attentive review of the subject, are of opinion that the charge made against this scheme, that it affords the manager an opportunity of fraudulently realizing a great and unusual proportion of profit, is not sustained." After this explanation, the public looked with additional favor upon the lottery; and the object being for the erection of a hospital to be under the charge of the Sisters of Charity, the gambling scheme thus ministering to the cause of religion, became popular, and a large portion of the tickets were quickly sold.
While thus speaking of the Sisters of Charity, we will give a little sketch of their order — as the order is so well known in St. Louis, and identified with religion and philanthropy — as given by an eminent divine of Baltimore:
"The society known by the name of the Sisters of Charity, was founded in Paris about the year 1646, by St. Vincent of Paul. The intention of this illustrious benefactor of mankind in establishing this society was to procure relief to humanity in its most suffering stages. Accordingly, attendance on the sick in hospitals and infirmaries, visiting prisoners, the education of the poor, and the performance of every work of mercy, engage the attention and solicitude of the pious daughters of St. Vincent. This society is certainly one of the most useful that has ever been established, and has never failed to command universal admiration in the countries in which it has been known. Even Voltaire, opposed as he was to every thing that bore the appearance of Christianity, could not withhold from it his measure of praise. ‘Perhaps,’ says he, in his Essai sur L'Hist. Général, ‘there is nothing more sublime on earth, than the sacrifice of beauty, of youth, and frequently of high birth, which is made by a tender sex, to assuage, in our hospitals, the assemblage of every human misery, the very sight of which is so humiliating to our pride, and so shocking to our delicacy.’ The order was soon spread through the different kingdoms of Europe. France, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, yet feel the
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advantage of having the members of this community to attend their hospitals.
"In 1709, the sphere of usefulness of these truly pious ladies was extended to the United States, through the means of Mrs. Seaton, of New York, a lady of distinguished birth and education, whose name is yet venerated by all who knew her, and whose memory will be blessed by children yet unborn, who will feel the beneficial influence of her disinterested piety and self-devotion.
"In Baltimore, her designs were encouraged by the Most Rev. Dr. Carroll, then archbishop of Baltimore. By his directions, the original constitutions of St. Vincent were modified, so as to suit the manners and customs of our country. The modifications received his sanction, and Mrs. Seaton was exhorted to proceed. A few ladies joined her in her arduous and heroic undertaking, and she established her little community about fifty miles from Baltimore, in the Valley of St. Joseph, near the town of Emmettsburg, in Frederick county, Maryland. This is the principal establishment, and is called by them the mother house. Here they have an academy for the instruction of young ladies, on a very extensive plan.
"The community is governed by a superior, called mother, an assistant mother, and two counsellors. The officers are elected every three years by a majority of votes. No one can hold the place of mother for more than two terms consecutively. The sisters make their engagements for one year only. At the end of this time they are at liberty to leave the society, if they think proper. Their vow of poverty is strict in the extreme. They receive no remuneration for their services; a small sum is paid to the community, barely sufficient for their apparel, and to provide for the contingency of sickness.
"The Catholic orphan asylums and charity schools in most of the large cities in the United States have been placed under their direction. They have an establishment in Boston, one in Albany, two in New York, one in Brooklyn, three in Philadelphia, one in Wilmington, Delaware, one in Baltimore, two in Washington City, one in Alexandria, one in Frederick City, one in Cincinnati, one in St. Louis, and one in New Orleans. It is impossible to recount the good which is performed by them in these institutions, or to tell how many hundreds they have saved from ignorance, and perhaps from infamy. In Baltimore, they have the charge of the infirmary winch is connected with the medical college, and in St. Louis an hospital is placed under their care. It is in such haunts of suffering that their usefulness is more feelingly known. With what tender sympathy do they not receive the patient, who is to be the object of their future care! He meets with hearts which are melted at the recital of his sufferings; and the true compassion which he witnesses gives him the assurance that in them he will find affectionate mothers. With what weaned patience do they not watch every accidental change in the disease! With what tender solicitude do they not give every relief! They are ingenious in inventions to save him from pain, and procure him the least momentary comfort. With soothing and consoling words they revive his drooping spirits; with religious zeal they alleviate the agonies of death, and by seasonable exhortations, prepare his soul to appear before a sovereign Judge. These are the helps, spiritual and corporeal,
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which religion suggests to the feeling heart of a pious woman, and in which religion alone can give her the courage to persevere.
"When the dreadful scourge which has depopulated our cities visited Philadelphia, the civil authorities of that city expressed a wish to have the assistance of the Sisters of Charity. The wish was made known to the community by the Right Rev. Dr. Kenrick, and by return of the mail thirteen of the heroines were landed in Philadelphia, ready to rush with joy to the assistance of those from whom the rest of tbe world seemed to fly with horror. The scene at the mother's house, when the request was made known, was related to me by an eye-witness, and is characteristic of the devotedness of this pious community. The council was assembled, a favorable determination immediately taken, and a selection made of those who were to start. Joy beamed upon the countenances of those who were selected, and preparations were soon made, while those who remained behind, with sorrow upon their brow, looked with pious envy on those upon whom the happy lot had fallen.
"In Baltimore the same request was made, and was met with equal heroism. It was here that was immolated the first victim of charity, in the person of sister Mary Frances, the daughter of the late Benedict Boarman, of Charles county, Maryland, once admired in the extensive circle in which she moved. On the morning of the day in which she died, she fainted from weakness occasioned by the premonitory symptoms of cholera.
"While preparing to take the remedies which had been prescribed for her, a patient, a colored woman, was brought into the hospital. The case seemed desperate, and to require immediate assistance; and the heroic sister forgot herself to give relief to the patient. But her delicate frame was too weak, and the disease too strong, and in a few hours the cherished, accomplished, and pious Mary Frances, was a lifeless corpse. The death of this sister did not deter the others. There was no panic, no alarm, not even concern; but with a devotedness which can scarcely be conceived or credited, her place was sought with emulation, and the catastrophe only increased their courage.
"The feelings with which the news of the immolation of this first victim was received at the mother house, it would be difficult to express; she was loved, she was cherished as a sister, but could her fate be regretted? They cannot be better pictured than in the words of the honorable mayor of the city of Baltimore, in the letter he wrote to the community on the occasion: ‘To behold,’ says he, ‘life thus immolated in so sacred a cause, produces rather a sensation of awe than of sorrow; a sentiment of resignation to the Almighty fiat, rather than a useless regret at the afflicting event.’
"The next victim was sister Mary George, the daughter of Jacob Smith, a wealthy farmer in Adams county, Pennsylvania. She dedicated herself at an early age to the service of her neighbors, and was soon called to receive the crown which her devoted charity deserved. She died in Baltimore, of the epidemic, in the nineteenth year of her age.
"Several other members of this heroic band were attacked, either in the cholera hospitals or in the county and city alms-house, where the epidemic was most fatal, but they have escaped death, only to be ready, at some future call, to administer relief and comfort to the suffering."
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The Eagle powder mills were erected this year, by Major Phillips and Dr. Lane, in the southern part of the city, and their powder became justly celebrated. They were soon afterward blown to pieces by an accidental explosion.
That the reader may form an estimate of the value of articles in St. Louis at this time, we will give the prices current of its market:
| Ale and Porter, | bbl. | $8 00 | |
| Bacon, Hams, | lb. | 03 a | 09 |
| Hog, round | lb. | 05 1/2 a | 06 |
| Beans | bush. | 75 | |
| Beef, | bbl. | 8 00 a | 10 00 |
| Beeswax, | lb. | 16 1/2 a | 17 |
| Butter, | lb. | 10 a | 12 |
| Castings, | ton, | 70 00 | |
| Castor Oil, | gal. | 1 35 a | 1 37 |
| Candles — Sperm, | lb. | 40 a | 42 |
| Mould, | lb. | 13 a | 14 |
| Dipt., | lb. | 11 a | 12 |
| Clover Seed, | bush. | 7 00 a | 8 00 |
| Coal, | bush. | 10 a | 12 |
| Coffee, [in demand ] | lb. | 15 1/2 | |
| Cordage — White, | lb. | 06 a | 08 |
| Manilla, | lb. | 20 a | 22 |
| Copperas, | lb. | 02 a | 03 |
| Cotton, | lb. | 11 a | 12 |
| Cotton Yarns, | lb. | 25 a | 27 |
| Furs — Beaver, | lb. | 3 50 | |
| Musk rat, | skin, | 20 a | 25 |
| Deer skins, | |||
| shaved, | lb. | 20 a | 22 |
| Deer skins in Hair, | lb. | 10 a | 12 |
| Raccoon, | skin, | 30 a | 33 |
| Feathers, | lb. | 37 a | 40 |
| Flour — superfine, Illinois, | bbl. | 4 50 a | 4 75 |
| superfine, Ohio, | bbl. | 4 25 a | 4 50 |
| Mackerel, | bbl. | 6 00 a | 8 00 |
| Glass — 10 by 12. | box, | 5 00 a | 5 25 |
| 8 by 10, | box, | 4 00 a | 4 25 |
| Grain — Wheat, | bush. | 60 a | 62 |
| Corn, | bush. | 45 a | 50 |
| Gunpowder — | |||
| Dupont's, | keg, | 7 00 | |
| Ky. & Delware | keg, | 6 50 | |
| Hides — Dried, | lb. | 11 a | 12 |
| Iron — | |||
| Missouri & Juniata, ton 2,000 | lbs. | 120 00 | |
| Lard | lb. | 06 | |
| Lead — | |||
| Bar, | lb. | 06 | |
| Pig, | lb. | 4 1/2 a | 4 62 1/2 |
| White, in oil, [in demand] | keg, | 2 75 | |
| Linen — Tow | yd. | 13 a | 14 |
| Flax, | yd. | 20 a | 22 |
| Molasses | gal. | $0 35 a | $0 37 |
| Nails — cut, | lb. | 06 1/4 a | 07 |
| Oil — Sperm, | gal. | 65 a | 70 |
| Linseed, | gal. | 1 00 a | 1 12 |
| Tanners, | bbl. | 18 00 a | 20 00 |
| Pork — Mess, | bbl. | 11 00 a | 12 00 |
| Prime, | bbl. | 10 50 a | 11 00 |
| Potatoes, | bush. | 25 a | 37 |
| Rice, | lb. | 05 a | 06 |
| Sugar, | lb. | 09 a | 10 |
| do Loaf, | lb. | 15 a | 17 |
| do Havana, white, | lb. | 12 a | 13 |
| Salt — Liv. blown.[sc.] | bu. of 50 lbs. | 85 a | 90 |
| Ground, | do | 70 a | 75 |
| Turks Island, | do | 62 a | 65 |
| Kanawha, | do | 45 a | 50 |
| Shot, | bag. | 1 50 a | 1 62 |
| Cogniac Brandy, | gal. | 1 25 a | 1 75 |
| American do | gal. | 75 a | 1 00 |
| Peach do | gal. | 1 25 | |
| Holland Gin, | gal. | 1 25 a | 1 50 |
| Common do | gal. | 50 a | 60 |
| N. O. Rum, | gal. | 50 a | 55 |
| Jamaica do | gal. | 1 10 a | 1 15 |
| Whisky — common | gal. | 28 a | 30 |
| Rye, | gal. | 40 a | 45 |
| Tallow, | lb. | 08 a | 09 |
| Tar, | bbl. | 4 50 a | 5 00 |
| Tea — | |||
| Gunpowder, | lb. | 1 25 a | 1 33 |
| Imperial, | lb. | 1 20 a | 1 30 |
| Young Hyson, | lb. | 1 00 a | 1 06 |
| Vinegar, | bbl. | 4 00 a | 5 00 |
| Wine — | |||
| Madeira, | gal. | 3 00 a | 4 00 |
| Teneriffe, | gal. | 1 00 a | 1 25 |
| S. Madeira, | gal. | 1 50 a | 1 75 |
| Port, | gal. | 2 00 a | 2 50 |
| Malaga, | gal. | 70 a | 75 |
| Champagne, | doz. | 14 00 a | 18 00 |
| Claret, | doz. | 4 00 a | 4 50 |
| Beef, | lb. | $0 05 |
| Veal, | lb. | 08 |
| Mutton, | lb. | 06 |
| Butter, | lb | 12 1/2 |
| Eggs, | doz. | 18 3/4 |
| Chickens, (full grown,) | 25 | |
| do young, | 12 1/2 |
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In 1834-37, St. Louis continued rapidly to increase. Its prosperity was a solid prosperity, not a pampered state of things brought about by the inflated tendencies of a plethoric paper currency, but a healthy increase of all departments of business springing from natural and salutary causes. There was scarcely any paper money afloat, the currency being in gold and silver, as there was no bank in the city and state.
A hard currency was always a hobby with Colonel Benton, who had been United States senator since Missouri was made a state in 1820. After the disgraceful failures of the Bank of St. Louis and Bank of Missouri, and the short and equally degraded existence of the Loan-Office, the people for some years were content to be without any banking institutions, which appeared to keep the financial currents in a state of continual agitation. The establishment of the branch bank of the United States, which during its existence was managed with judgment and conducted honorably, gave them a better opinion of banking; and after the winding up of that institution, there was a desire manifested by the business part of the community to create a moneyed institution to supply its place. Application was made at sundry times during the sessions of the legislature in 1835-36, without success; and as a last resort, banks of other states were invited to establish branch banks in the city, so that money might become more plentiful by having a fountain which would flood the country with a paper currency.
In March, 1835, the legislature passed an act allowing the city authorities to make sale of the "Commons," if it were the wish of the inhabitants who were property holders in the town as it was bounded in 1812.
At this time the city was much in want of a sufficient fund for municipal improvement; for its inducements for business had caused dwellings to multiply, and also new streets to be opened, before the funds of the city were sufficient to grade them. The inhabitants quickly consented to the sale, and one-tenth of the proceeds was devoted to the support of public schools.
Just at this time the immigration to St. Louis was immense, and the city realized more from the sale of the "Commons" than the most sanguine expectations had hoped for. One single fact will convey to the reader an idea of the increasing commerce of the city, when we state that on the night of the 11th November, 1835, there were eight steamboats which arrived at the wharf. The following extract from the steamboat register will furnish some idea of the trade of the city in some of its material departments:
| No. of different boats | 121 |
| Aggregate tonnage | 15,470 |
| No. of entries | 803 |
| Wharfage collected from do | $4,573,60 |
| Wood and lumber liable to wharfage — | |
| Plank, joists, and scantling | 1,414,330 feet |
| Shingles | 148,000 |
| Cedar posts (8's) | 7,706 |
| Cords firewood | 8,066 |
A writer in one of the popular journals of the day thus speaks of the increasing business of the city:
"We cannot refrain from drawing the attention of the reader to the
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number of arrivals of steamboats during the past year, which show an increase on the former, as does the amount of revenue secured, which is commensurate with the activity and enterprise of our citizens. Every successive year, for the last ten, has shown a like increase. In referring to the statement furnished for 1831, we find that in that year sixty different boats arrived in our harbor, and the number of entries was 532; the aggregate amount of tonnage, 7,769 tons, and the amount of revenue accruing from the same, was $2,167,45. Thus it will be seen, that in this comparatively short period, our commerce has more than doubled. Our advancement has not been stimulated by a feverish excitement, nor can it be said to have increased in the same ratio as many other places, but it has been firm and steady, and nothing is permanent which is not gradual. The prosperity of our city is laid deep and broad. Much as we repudiate the lavish praises which teem from the press, and little as we have heretofore said, we cannot suffer this occasion to pass, without a few remarks on the changes which are going on around us. Whether we turn to the right or to the left, we see workmen busy in laying the foundation, or finishing some costly edifice. The dilapidated and antique structure of the original settler, is fast giving way to the spacious and lofty blocks of bricks, or stone. But comparatively a few years ago — even within the remembrance of our young men — our town was confined to one or two streets, running parallel with the river — the ‘half-moon’ fortifications; the bastion, the tower, the rampart — were then known as the utmost limits. What was then termed the ‘hill,’ now forming the most beautiful part of the town — covered with elegant mansions — but a few years ago was overrun with shrubbery. A tract of land was purchased by a gentleman now living, as we have understood, for two barrels of whiskey, which is now worth half a million of dollars. Here and there we meet a few of the early pioneers, men who, like those who possessed the land before them, are fast fading away, and their places are taken by another generation. But we cannot do justice to those ‘who have gone before us.’ Prolific as the subject is, our object is to speak of the present. No one who consults the map, can fail to perceive the foresight which induced the selection of the site on which this city is founded. She already commands the trade of a larger section of territory, with a few exceptions, than any other city in the union. With a steamboat navigation more than equal to the whole Atlantic sea-board — with internal improvements, projected and in progress — with thousands of emigrants spreading their habitations over the fertile plains which everywhere meet the eye — who can deny that we are fast verging to the time, when it will be admitted that this city is the ‘LION OF THE WEST.’We do not speak from any sectional bias, nor would we knowingly deceive any, but we firmly believe that any one who will candidly weigh the advantages we possess, will admit that our deductions are correct. We have no desire to see our citizens making improvements beyond the means they possess. As we have before remarked, nothing is permanent which is not gradual. We take pleasure in bearing testimony to the
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prudence and foresight which have characterized our citizens. They have avoided, in a commendable manner, the mania which has too fatally prevailed in many places. It has a deleterious influence on the ultimate success of a community.
"The improvements which are contemplated in the spring, will have a decided effect on the appearance of the city. Many of the buildings will be of a superior order of architecture. Among the latter will be a theatre, a church, and hotel.
"We fear that the scarcity of competent workmen will deter many of the improvements contemplated, from being completed.
"Intimately connected with the prosperity of the city, is the fate of the petition pending in Congress, for the removal of the sand-bar now forming in front of our steamboat landing. It is a source of no inconsiderable importance to every one, and connected as it is with the commerce of the western section of the valley of the Mississippi, we cannot but hope that Congress will give a speedy ear to the petition, and grant an appropriation which will effectually remove this growing obstacle. There can be but one opinion in regard to its justice. Relying, as we do, on the good faith of the government, we cannot harbor the idea that we shall be defeated."
Amid the heterogeneous population which flocked to the city at this time, were many gamblers and persons of suspicious character, who followed their nefarious operations and took every opportunity to prey upon the unwary. The whole of the southern country appeared to have swarmed with persons of this description, to the great injury of society and the prosperity of business. Without the canopy of attempted concealment, they pursued their unlawful business and scoffed at interference, until the citizens of Vicksburgh, at a public meeting of the most respectable citizens, declared that every gambler should leave the city in twenty-four hours. The gamblers laughed at this edict, which they thought was only a pretended demonstration and would not be enforced; and if attempted to be enforced, they thought their numbers and their known desperate character could offer sufficient protection. They disobeyed the commands of the citizens, which had been duly served upon them, and when they found that the resolutions of the meeting were being enforced, they armed themselves, and killed a young physician of promise and popularity. This murder turned hatred into vengeance; and having seized upon all who had not escaped, the citizens resolved upon a speedy retributive punishment. The gamblers were bound and taken to the outskirts of the city, and, without shrift or trial, summarily executed upon the gallows.
This act of the citizens of Vicksburgh arising from extremity, and which can only be palliated upon that ground and never justified, received the cordial endorsement of many cities in the Union. Public meetings were held in Cincinnati, Louisville, Charlestown, and other towns, approving of the mode, and counselling similar measures. The law was not sufficient to arrest this evil; and when the people of Vicksburgh, in attempting to get themselves rid of it by high-handed measures, lost one of their number by the hands of the gamblers, and then hung them sine jure, sine gratia, the people of the Union sustained them.
The citizens of St. Louis determined to rid themselves of the gamblers, idlers, and loafers who corrupted the morals and manners of society,
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decoyed many a fair fame, blighted youthful hopes, and, like malarious exhalations infected every thing within their influence.John F. Darby was mayor of the city; and immediately an ordinance was passed for trying those persons suspected of having no honorable means of obtaining a livelihood, and subjecting them to punishment. A man being at the head of municipal affairs, whom it was well-known would execute laws with the same spirit with which they were created, struck terror into the gambling fraternity, and all others who lived by preying upon society; and when the law was at once put into action, and several well-known characters were brought before the mayor's tribunal and sentenced to imprisonment, there was a general exodus of the bad class of individuals, and the city comparatively freed from their presence.
St. Louis, so bountifully favored by nature in location, was materially assisted in its advance by the enterprise of its inhabitants. Most of the immigrants who had swelled her population were men of intelligence, ambition, and business qualifications, who were prompt to adopt any measures which could benefit the city and its inhabitants. A great national road was building across the Union, which would pass through the principal cities of the Western states; and in 1835, a meeting of the citizens of St. Louis was called, in pursuance of a proclamation by John F. Darby, the mayor, for the purpose of memorializing Congress to let the road cross the Mississippi at St. Louis, in its extension to Jefferson City. The mayor presided at the meeting, and George K. McGunnegle acted as secretary. A committee was appointed to draft the memorial, and much interest was felt in the great national road.
There was a sand-bar, which had collected in front of the city, and straightway the inhabitants instructed their representatives in Congress to make an appropriation for its removal. The sum appropriated was fifteen thousand dollars at that time, which was afterward much increased, to improve the harbor.
The railroad mania had commenced to seize upon some of the old states which bordered the Atlantic, and the journals of the whole country were teeming with the advantages which a successful trial of the new system of improvement had indicated in the sections of the country where it was carried into effect. The citizens of St. Louis immediately caught the enterprising contagion, and they determined that their own exertions should not be wanting. An Internal Improvement Convention was called in St. Louis, which the different counties of the state interested in the movement were invited to attend. The call was promptly attended to, and on the 20th of April, 1835, the convention met at the court-house, and was organized by calling Dr. Samuel Merry to the chair, and appointing G. K. McGunnegle secretary. The names of the gentlemen representing their respective counties who were present were as follows:
From St. Louis County — Edward Tracy, Major J. B. Brant, Colonel John O'Fallon, Dr. Samuel Merry, Archibald Gamble, M. L. Clark, Colonel Joseph C. Laveille, Thornton Grimsley, H. S. Geyer, Colonel Henry Walton, Lewellyn Brown, Henry Von Phul, George H. McGunnegle, Colonel B. W. Ayres, Pierre Chouteau, jr., and Hamilton R. Gamble.
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From Lincoln County — Colonel David Bailey, Hans Smith, Emanuel Block, Benjamin W. Dudley, and Dr. Bailey.
From Washington County — Dr. J. H. Relf, Philip Cole, John S. Brickey, Jesse H. McIlvaine, Myers H. Jones, James Evans, and W. C. Reed.
From Cooper County — Benjamin E. Ferry, N. W. Mack, and William H. Trigg.
From Warren County — Carty Wells, Nathaniel Pendleton, and Irvine S. Pitman.
From St. Charles County — Edward Bates, Moses Bigelow, William M. Campbell, and W. L. Overall.
From Galloway County — William H. McCullough, William H. Russell, D. R. Mullen, Dr. N. Kouns, C. Oxley, Jacob G. Lebo, R. B. Overton, and — Moxley.
From Montgomery County — Dr. M. M. Maughas, S. C. Ruby, and Nathaniel Dryden.
From Boone County — Dr. James W. Moss, John B. Gordon, J. W. Keiser, D. M. Hickroan, J. S. Rollins, William Hunter, R. W. Morriss, and Granville Branham.
From Howard County — Dr. John Bull, Major Alphonso Wetmore, Weston F. Birch, Joseph Davis, General J. B. Clark, T. Y. Stearns, and John Wilson.
From Jefferson County. — James S. McCutchen.
It was particularly urged at that meeting that two railroads should especially be considered and recommended to the legislature — one from St. Louis to Fayette, and the other from St. Louis to the iron and lead mines in the southern part of the state. It is foreign to the limits of this history to enter into any detailed account of the proceedings of the convention; we will only remark that the important object of the meeting was duly estimated, and the germ commenced to vegetate, which has been the prolific source of the numerous railroads which, like a network, are encompassing the whole state, and developing its resources.
After their deliberations and labors in conclave, the convention, so as to give a zest to social feeling, met at the National Hotel, which was situated on the corner of Third and Market streets, where a truly epicurean dinner was prepared for the festive occasion. John F. Darby, the mayor, presided, assisted by the vice-presidents, General John Ruland, Honorable H. O'Neil, Thomas Cohen, Major William Milburn, Beverly Allen, Colonel J. W. Johnson, W. G. Pettus, and by the secretary, Charles Keemle.
To support and further the enterprising objects of the convention, the County Court appropriated two thousand dollars to assist in liquidating the expenses connected with the survey of the two railroads specially recommended by the convention.
Immediately following the convention, the citizens of St. Louis were horrified by a dreadful murder perpetrated in their midst. A mulatto by the name of McIntosh, for interfering with officers in discharge of their duty, was arrested. He was being conducted to prison by George Hammond, deputy sheriff of the county, and William Mull, deputy constable. Suddenly breaking the hold of the officers, the negro drew a long knife, one of those formidable weapons frequently carried by sailors, to make an assault, or defend themselves in case of attack when on shore. He made a pass at Mull, but the officer, by a celerity of moment, avoided it. The next thrust was better aimed, and penetrated the left side, inflicting a terrible wound. Hammond, the deputy sheriff, during the attack upon Mull, grasped the negro by the back of the neck, but the latter, being an active, powerful fellow, wheeled suddenly round, aiming at the time his knife at the throat of the officer. It was a death-blow, severing all the large arteries, and, staggering a few paces, the worthy officer expired. The miscreant fled, but not to escape; for Mull, though
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bleeding profusely, followed him, and citizens joining in the pursuit, he was soon arrested, and conducted to prison.The news of the atrocious murder was soon bruited through the city, and the crowd numbering in a short time a thousand persons, gathered around the dead body of the officer, who was universally loved and respected. Soon the wife of the murdered man, accompanied by her children, came upon the spot, and the desolation of their anguish at the sight of the husband and father weltering in his blood, excited the sympathy of the crowd, and moved them to take summary vengeance upon the murderer. The exclamations of pity soon became changed into expressions of rage and fury. The cry of "Hang him! hang him!" sounded from the lips of the multitude, which soon changed, as they rushed to the jail, into the dreadful sentence of "Burn him! burn him! "
The final decree was carried into execution. The negro was dragged from the jail, carried to the suburbs of the town, and was soon bound to a scrubby tree, which was quickly surrounded with a pile of resinous dried wood. The torch was soon applied, and, amid the most piercing cries and contortions of the body as the flames licked his quivering flesh, the victim terribly expiated his crime.
The proceeding was an unlawful one on the part of the people; but it was one of those occasions which has frequently arisen from some extreme enormity, driving the popular mind beyond the bounds of reason, and though always tolerated can never be defended, even by the wide license of that popular doctrine "vox populi, vox Dei."
The year 1836 was prolific of events in St. Louis. A new hotel was completed, a new church was erected, a city directory was published by Charles Keemle, and the first corner-stone of the St. Louis Theatre was laid on the afternoon of May 24th on the corner of Third and Olive streets, and on the site now occupied by the custom-house, and when it was completed and the scenery all arranged for dramatic performances, there was quite a furore among all classes of people to see the first performance on its boards.
In August an exciting election took place in the city. It was an election for governor, and the candidates for executive office of Missouri were General William H. Ashley and Silburn W. Boggs. The last named gentleman, who belonged to the Jackson party, was elected, and James Brotherton was elected sheriff. The Central Fire Company of the City of St. Louis was also incorporated near the close of the year.
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Chapter VI.
1837. — This year commenced propitiously for St. Louis. Most of the merchants had long wished for a hank in the city, and for several years had been trying to effect that object, which was steadily opposed by many, who dreaded the great influx of paper money which is incidental to bank creation, and which, under improper and depraved management, gives a momentary and intoxicating spirit to business, and then leaves it in a prostrate and deranged condition. The act of the incorporation of "The Bank of the State of Missouri" was approved on the first day of February.
In the first bill presented to the legislature, the proposed bank was titled "The Union Bank of Missouri," which was amended and changed before its passage to "The Bank of the State of Missouri." T. L. Price, Thomas Miller, Henry Dixon, and M. S. Bolton, were appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions of stock at Jefferson City; Hugh O Neill, Henry Walton, John B. Sarpy, George K. McGunnegle, and John O'Fallon at St. Louis; William H. Duncan, Moss Prewitt, Moses U. Payne. Oliver Parker, and Sinclair Kirtley at Columbia; Felix Vallé, Eloe Lecompe, Auguste St. Gemmer, and Peter Dufur at St. Genevieve; James P. Shropshire, Sidney P. Haynes, Thomas L. Anderson, William Blackey, and William Campbell at Palmyra; James Erickson, John J. Lowery, Hampton L. Boone, William L. Ward, junior, and Roland Hughes at Fayette; Cornelius Davy, Oliver Caldwell, Samuel D. L. Lucas, Richard Fristoe, and W. W. Kavanagh at Independence; E. M. Samuel, W. J. Moss, J. M. Hughes, Greenup Bird, E. Fitzgerald, and Samuel Tillery at Liberty; James M. White, Israel M. Gready, Peter Smith, John C. Reed, and Firman Disloge at Potosi; John Juden, junior, Thomas Johnson, John Martin, A. H. Brevard, and Walton O. Bannon at Jackson; Jacob Wyon, Robert P. Clark, Henry W. Crowther, Charles Johnson, and N. W. Mack
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at Booneville; and Emanuel Block, David Bailey, G. W. Houston, John W. McKee, and Valentine J. Peers at —The capital stock of the bank was five millions of dollars, and on the evening of the incorporation, at the election for president and directors, the following-named gentlemen were chosen; John Smith, of St. Louis, president of the parent bank; and its directors were Hugh O'Neill, Samuel S. Rayburn, Edward Walsh, Edward Dolyns, William L. Sublette, and John O'Fallon. Of the branch at Lafayette, J. J. Lowry was appointed president, and W. H. Duncan, J. Villey, Wade M. Jackson, and James Erickson, directors. The Chouteau House was purchased for its accommodation, and it is still at the spot where it was first located — on Main near Vine street.
Nearly at the time of the passage of the charter of the Bank of the State of Missouri, a bill passed the House for the expulsion of all agencies of foreign banking institutions from the state. The Cincinnati Commercial Agency had been established some years in St. Louis, and gained the perfect confidence, not only of the citizens of St. Louis, but of the general government, which had deputized it its fiscal agent. It had assumed the business of the Branch Bank of the United States in St. Louis, and its capital had lent new vigor and extent to business which had otherwise languished for want of pecuniary support. After the creation of the new bank, the general government was bound by a legal provision to do its business through it, and the Commercial Agency, after a little disquietude and murmuring at the interference of the swimming profits it had been garnering during the past years, when it had control of the funds of the general government, and the money-market of St. Louis, agreed to transfer the debts of the citizens of St. Louis to the Bank of the State of Missouri upon rather stringent conditions, which were at first refused, and, after a little modification of the terms, finally accepted, and the Bank of the State of Missouri, with its large capital, became the chief fountain source of business prosperity.
It was blessed in its birth by being born in the favor and confidence of the people, and did much in imposing a chock upon the rapacity of many of the money-brokers, who, taking advantage of a deranged currency, did all they could to bring into disrepute the foreign bills which alone were in circulation, and then shaved them at ruinous discounts. Its notes were looked upon with the same confidence as if they had been the genuine coin which they represented.
Nearly at the time of the passage of the act to incorporate the Bank of the State of Missouri was a rupture between the bench and the bar of the judicial circuit court held in St. Louis. The Honorable Luke E. Lawless was the presiding judge — the same who was imprisoned by Judge Peck on a former occasion for contempt of court, and at the same time suspended from practice in the court over which he administered.
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A meeting was held by some of the members of the bar, and they who were present were — Henry S. Geyer, Hamilton E. Gamble, Beverly Allen, Gustavus A. Bird, John F. Darby, James L. English, Harris L. Sproat, Charles F. Lowry, Wilson Primm, Charles D. Drake, Ferdinand W. Risque, Alexander Hamilton, William F. Chase, Thomas B. Hudson, John Bent, and Singleton W. Wilson. Henry S. Geyer was called to the chair, and Thomas B. Hudson appointed secretary. The object of the meeting was to get an expression of the opinion of the chief members of the bar concerning the judicial qualifications of Judge Lawless, and apply to the governor of the state, through a series of resolutions, to prevent his renomination to office. The charges against him were as follows:
"Whereas, it is feared that the executive of the state will nominate to the Senate Luke E. Lawless, Esq., the present judge of the third judicial circuit, composed of the counties of St. Louis and St. Charles, to be judge of said circuit, unless existing valid objections be communicated, and we, members of the bar of St. Louis, believing that valid objections do exist, see proper, and deem it our duty, to express the same, and do hereby declare our full belief in the truth of the following allegations:
"1. That the said Luke E. Lawless, Esq., is too much under the influence of impulse and 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.
"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 rights of juries, by assuming the decision of questions of fact 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.
"Believing the above allegations to be well founded, therefore,
"Resolved, That it is our full conviction that Luke E. Lawless, Esq., is unfit, by the constitution of his mind, by the intemperance of his feelings, by his impatience in the discharge of official duties, by his invasion of the province of juries, by his want of official punctuality, by his deportment to the members of the bar, and by his indifference to a careful record of the acts of the court wherein he sits, to hold the office of judge of the third judicial circuit of this state."
The allegations made against Judge Lawless, although they might have had some foundation as regarded an impulsive temperament, an imperious disposition, and a hauteur of manner which drew a chilling line of demarkation between the bench and the bar, and gave to the ermine an air of superiority which was disagreeable to the attorneys of the court, still were groundless in many particulars. These were infirmities of human nature — weaknesses of but little magnitude, and though objectionable, were not sufficient to form the basis of disqualification and a public expression
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of opinions. The other charges all arose principally from a difference of political opinion, and the prejudice which the distant bearing of Judge Lawless would necessarily create. Concerning his competency and integrity, even envy could not question them.The application to the executive failed in its effect. Judge Lawless was nominated by Governor Boggs to the Senate, and was again elected to his judicial office, which, some years afterward, he voluntarily resigned.
In the early part of the summer of this year St. Louis was honored by a visit from one of the most able and popular statesmen of the Union. The worth and fame of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay had given their names an ambrosial significance, and they were regarded with an affection bordering upon adoration. It was thought that both would visit the city at the same time.
When it became known that these distinguished statesmen designed visiting St. Louis, the principal inhabitants of the city convened for the purpose of making proper arrangements for the reception of the distinguished guests. The Honorable Robert Walsh was called to the chair, and resolutions adopted, so that due honors should be paid the distinguished statesmen.
Agreeably to the resolutions of the meeting, when it became known that Mr. Webster was on board the Robert Morris, and approaching the city, the committee embarked on board the H. L. Kenney, and proceeded to meet him. A little below Jefferson Barracks, the Kenney came alongside of the Robert Morris, and the committee was put on board. Immediately the boat was seen with her streaming banner, the national flag was displayed from the court-house, and from the town-house, and on the steamboats could be seen the star-spangled banner in all the variety of size, shape, and value.
Some days before, the people had been led to expect that Mr. Clay would accompany Mr. Webster, and had expressed some disappointment when it became known that the pressure of public business compelled him to decline visiting Missouri at this time; but when they saw the great "Expounder of the Constitution," accompanied by his wife and daughter, land at the Market street wharf, there was but one wish among the thousands of spectators who were present — to give an applauding and becoming welcome to the august guests who had come among them.
Before landing, that Mr. Webster might form a proper estimate of the magnitude of the town and the business that was done on its levee, the Robert Morris plied some distance up the river, and then returned. The spectacle was interesting to the great statesman. St. Louis had already commenced giving significant signs of her future greatness. There was a mile's length of steamers, some receiving and others discharging their freight. The levee was crowded with barrels, boxes, and produce; drays and carts by the legion loading and unloading; and every thing wearing the appearance of thrift and business.
After Mr. Webster and his family landed, they were conducted to the National Hotel, situated on the corner of Third and Market streets, where a suit of rooms had been prepared for their accommodation. They remained several days, and were waited upon by the most respectable citizens.
So as still further to manifest their regard, the citizens had made preparations
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to give a public festival in honor of their distinguished guests. The festival was in the true liberality of Western style. It was summer, and, that all could have a sight of the great patriot and statesman, a grove on the land of Judge Lucas, situated west of Ninth street, was selected as the spot for the barbecue, as the festival was termed. General William H. Ashley presided, assisted by the vice-presidents, Messrs. Richard Graham, William Carr Lane, John B. Sarpy, John Perry, James Clemens, junior, and James Russell.A large number of citizens were marshalled in procession by Charles Keemle, Esq., marshal of the day, assisted by a large number of deputy marshals, and a splendid band of music, who escorted Mr. Webster to the grove.
There were some six thousand persons altogether at the grove, a great many of them being strangers from the country and the adjoining states. A sumptuous dinner, plentifully supplied with choice liquors, soon put the whole company on the most sociable footing, and speeches and complimentary toasts were made and drank with all the zest of happy feeling and festive enjoyment.
A speech was expected from the great orator, nor was the great mass of people disappointed. Mr. Webster made a speech of more than an hour's duration. It was rather a political speech, but delivered with that happy and massive eloquence for which he was so remarkable, and elicited bursts of applause. The dinner was well gotten up, and all enjoyed it.
The year 1837 is a year remarkable in financial annals. The few previous years had borne the impress of apparent prosperity. There was a general confidence throughout the Union, and, as has always been the case, the banks issued their paper with profusion. Then the fever of speculation commenced to rage throughout the Union, property and products increased in value, and there was universal prosperity. It was of short duration. One bank in the east failed, and that was the first speck in the business horizon. The failure of that bank spread abroad throughout the land, and public confidence became alarmed. Something like suspicion became attached to the paper purporting to represent specie, and it commenced to return to the institutions from whence it emanated. The specie began to be drained from the vaults of the banks, and soon another, and then another of those institutions closed. The panic then became universal, and the moneyed institutions became besieged by the holders of the bills, demanding their redemption in specie. The banks failed rapidly one after another, and there would have been a general rupture, but that the leading banks in the city of New York, to save themselves from ruin, suspended specie payment, which convenient shift, though in direct violation of their charters, was followed by all the banks in the Union. The Bank of the State of Missouri also suspended.
It was a year of terror, ruin, and desolation, caused by a financial tempest, which swept from one end of the Union to the other. Contracts which had been entered into in good faith, notes, due-bills, bonds, mortgages, from the ruin of so many banks, and the curtailment in the issue of the others, became impossible to be met, and all the business channels which depended upon their successful termination became disordered and languishing. Business firms by the hundred tottered, and were wiped
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from existence; families who had lived in affluence were reduced to penury; and even they whose affairs had been conducted with the utmost prudence and foresight, were shaken, and suffered by the storm. St. Louis gave evidences of the shock. Many of the leading firms of the city were prostrated, and business, which in a few weeks before was gliding in a thousand channels, was checked with fearful suddenness, and almost exsiccated. Having gotten in most of their circulations, after some months of careful preparation, the banks commenced to resume specie payment, and for a few years conducted their business with a worthy caution, which soon inspired general confidence, and then again, tempted by cupidity, they flooded the country with their paper, and some years afterward they were compelled to resort to their disgraceful shift of suspending specie payment. When this crisis took place we will hereafter explain.On September 26th of this year David Barton, Esq., who was in conjunction with Thomas H. Benton, the first United States senators from Missouri when she was admitted into the Union as a state, died at the residence of Mr. Gibson, near Booneville. He was an eminent lawyer and statesman. He presided over the convention which formed the constitution of Missouri; was twice elected United States Senator, and served in the State Senate of Missouri during 1834-5, where he efficiently aided in the compilation of the Revised Statutes, which was ordered at that time. He was a man of undoubted integrity, distinguished for his learning and profound legal acquirements, and owed his eminence wholly to his own efforts.
1838. — In the summer of this year there was a mysterious murder committed on the road between St. Louis and Carondelet. Thomas. M. Dougherty, one of the judges of the county, accompanied by Mr. Linton Sappington, was coming to St. Louis, when the latter stopped at the grocery store of Mr. Bussel, immediately upon the road. When, in departing, as he was in the act of mounting his horse, a black boy came up and told him that Judge Dougherty was awaiting him. Mr. Sappington rode onward, and at about a quarter of a mile from the store he discovered his companion weltering in his blood at a little distance from the roadside. He was breathing heavily, and died before he could be removed to any habitation. There was much excitement regarding the murder, and though a thousand dollars were offered by his friends for the discovery and conviction of the murderer, it was never found out who committed the atrocious deed.
This year party feeling was as rampant as ever. The issue made between the Whig and Democratic party was the sub-treasury scheme, and the United States Bank. The Whig party were advocates of the latter institution, and the Democratic party of the former. There was also an association formed, who were designated "The Whig Vigilance Committee," who were extremely active in all primary meetings, and who, like scouts, were ever on the look-out for their political enemies, and ready to apprise of danger. The following were "the braves" of the party who enrolled themselves a "Vigilance Committee": — Samuel Gaty, E. T. Christy, John Goodfellow, J. A. Sire, George Sproule, L. A. Cerre, John Lee, I. A. Letcher, John Calvert, Asa Wilgus, William G. Pettus, Stuart Matthews, O. Paddock, Bernard Pratte, John R. Shaw,
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August Kerr, A. Gamble, H. N. Davis, J. T. Sweringen, B. Cleland, C. Rhodes, C. P. Billon, William Whitehill, Edward Brooks, George Morton, John Finney, John Leach, S. M. Strother, Charles Collins, John Barclay, J. B. Sarpy, J. S. Pease, J. H. McMillen, D. Tilden, George Corwin, D. B. Hill, William Martin, J. B. Lesperance, James F. Comstock, L. Dumaine, N. E. Janney, William A. Lynch, A. G. Edwards, T. H. West, Edward H. Beebe, Benjamin Ames, T. S. Wilson, George Trask, John Barnes, John Simonds, jr., Henry Maxwell, William Morrison, Alfred Tracy, Dennis Marks, John Ford, J. W. Padding, P. A. Berthold, C. D. Burrus, M. Stitz, William Hayward, Jotham Bigelow, L. B. Shaw, J. B. Girard, J. J. Anderson, Lewis Bissel, M. L. Clark, W. S. Randolph, Noah Ridgely, Lewis Clark, George Knapp, Hiram McKee, Edward Chouteau, L. Farwell, William Risley, Dalzell Smith, J. Christy, John Young, John Bingham, H. A. Carstens, H. Papin, George W. Lewis, John P. Morris, Samuel Daniels, Jonas Moore, Henry Phillips, P. Bartlett, John D. Dagget, Conrad Foulk, Richard B. Dallam, John Lux, Lewis Newell, William Andrews, J. Pritchett, John McDonald, Robert S. Freeland, N. C. Studley, George H. Callender, John Bobb, and D. H. Chapman.It was the first day of autumn, and it became hinted that Governor William Clark, the great pioneer through the western wilds to the Pacific, was dead. He was then the oldest American resident in St. Louis; he was the first governor of the territory of Missouri when it was changed from Louisiana Territory to Missouri Territory, and subsequently the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Western Division, which office he held to his death. He was known to the wild tribes of Indians from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and they regarded him with a confidence and love which bordered upon idolatry. They even knew his signature, and during the stormy excitement of their savage natures, when ready for the war-path, either against the United States or some hostile tribe, would readily yield to his counsels. He was sixty-eight years of age at the time of his death, and had collected a museum of Indian curiosities, which was of much interest, and was visited by the distinguished strangers who came to the city. His first residence was at the corner of Vine and Main streets, and afterward on the corner of Pine and Main streets. He died universally regretted.
The month after the decease of General Clark, Kemper College, which had been built principally through the exertions of Bishop Kemper, of the Protestant Episcopal church, was opened under favorable auspices, under the superintendence of the Rev. P. R. Minard. The following gentlemen were the first trustees of the institution, which, in its university and medical departments, has been of so much utility to St. Louis: Right Rev. Jackson Kemper, Robert Wash, William P. Clark, J. L. English, Charles Jaline, Rev. P. R. Minard, Colonel J. C. Laveille, Augustus Kerr, N. P. Taylor, Edward Tracy, J. P. Doane, W. P. Hunt, H. L. Hoffman, J. Spalding, Daniel Hough, Henry Von Phul, H. S. Coxe, and Captain J. Symington.
The medical department was erected soon afterward, and owes its existence to Dr. Joseph N. McDowell, one of the most accomplished physicians of the age, who is still living.
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The year 1839 was pregnant with prosperity for St. Louis. The leading mechanics of the city, so that there might be a unity to their efforts, and that they might properly co-operate together, called a meeting for the purpose of forming a Mechanic's Exchange, where they could meet in counsel. At this meeting Captain David H. Hill presided, and Louis Dubreuil was appointed secretary. Five gentlemen were chosen to select a committee from the different departments of business, one person to be selected from each branch, and they to draft a constitution, by-laws, &c. The five gentlemen who received the appointment were, R. N. Moore, J. M. Paulding, Asa Wilgus, William A. Lynch, and John H. Ferguson. These gentlemen, after consultation, submitted the following names: — Joseph C. Laveille, carpenter; Daniel D. Page, baker; Asa Wilgus, painter; Isaac Chadwick, plasterer; Samuel Gaty, founder; Thomas Andrews, coppersmith; George Trask, cabinet-maker; John M. Paulding, hatter; James Barry, chandler; James Love, blacksmith; Joseph Laiden, chairmaker; Wooster Goodyear, cordwainer; William Shipp, silversmith; John Young, saddler; B. Townsend, wire and sieve manufacturer; J. Todd, burr millstone manufacturer; Thomas Gambal, cooper; Francis Raborg, tanner; S. C. Coleman, turner; N. Paschal, printer; John G. Shelton, tailor; B. L. Turnbull, bookbinder; Charles Coates, stonecutter; Anthony Bennett, stone-mason; David Shepard, bricklayer; I. A. Letcher, brick maker; William Thomas, shipbuilder; Samuel Hawkins, gunsmith; Samuel Shawk, locksmith; A. Oakford, combmaker; N. Tiernan, wheel wright; J. B. Gerard, carriage-maker; Moses Stout, plane-maker; James Robinson, upholsterer; and J. Bemis, machinist.
From this meeting resulted a union of the mechanics, and ultimately the formation of their Exchange.
Early in the year the legislature established the Criminal Court in the city, Christ Church was built and dedicated, and an act applied for the incorporation of a Savings Institution. The bill to incorporate the St. Louis Hotel Company was also passed, and afterward an act supplementary was made, changing the name to the Planters' House and Insurance Company of St. Louis. The company were vested with very extensive powers, and possessed all of the prerogatives now vested in fire, life, and marine insurance companies; however, they never exercised these prerogatives, and confined themseves, in their corporate capacity, strictly to building the hotel.
The years 1838-9 were years in which the morus multicaulis fever raged throughout the Union, and the contagion spread to the west bank of the Mississippi. The theory was a beautiful one. One acre planted in mulberry-tree would feed worms sufficient to produce thousands of dollars of silk — wealth could not be garnered sooner from a Potosi's mine.
With such dazzling prospects of wealth, the agriculturists in the neighborhood of St. Louis, and throughout the contiguous counties, to the almost total neglect of their usual crops, commenced raising, in the greatest abundance, that tree so associated with classic reminiscences — the tragic love of Pyramus and Thisbe. Won by the easy way and novel idea of realizing a fortune, the fair sex took the matter in hand, and by their colloquial speculations, contributed still more to swell the current of public opinion in the direction in which it already flowed. At this juncture, a bill was presented to the legislature of the state for the incorporation
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of a silk company, to be established in St. Louis, and the Missouri Silk Company was quickly incorporated.Storms do not long brew over the face of nature, and a nation's monomania is of but short continuance. The morus multicaulis was a delusion; and when this apparition of wealth became manifest, and its nothingness apparent, thousands who had been pursuing a shadow were ruined in their fortunes. The visions of home-made silk, that would rival in beauty that of China and France, all departed, and the Missouri Silk Company that had been incorporated by the legislature quietly died without entering upon any practical duties of life.
The extent of the city of St. Louis at this time (1839) was not comparable to what it is at the present time. Then the city proper only extended westward as far as Seventh street. Beyond that line there were some scattering residences, gutters, and prairie. In the neighborhood of Washington avenue, there was, west of the boundary of Seventh street for a little distance around, more buildings than in any other quarter in that direction, as the St. Louis College was situated in that neighborhood; but in Chesnut and Market streets, and all South B were gutters and ponds — and then broken ridges and prairie beyond Seventh street to the west. To the north the city extended to Middle street, and to the south, just below the Convent of the Sacred Heart. Outside of these limits, north and south, the residences were scattering, and the population inconsiderable. The population of the city was 16,187.
The inhabitants of St. Louis possessed always a large amount of enterprise, and a portion of its spirited citizens applied to the legislature for the incorporation of a gas-light company. A charter was obtained without any difficulty, and the new company first opened their office on Chesnut street, two doors above Main street. The following gentlemen were its first directors: Theodore L. McGill, M. L. Clark, R. S. Tilden, P. R. McCrary, N. E. Janney, H. B. Shaw, J. D. Daggett, and N. Paschal. It was many years afterward, however, before St. Louis was lighted with gas.
It was in this year that the mayor's court was instituted, and in this year also arose the controversy between the state of Missouri and the territory of Iowa concerning the boundary between them. It was a question which could have easily been deferred for a few months without any public agitation, until Congress should determine the proper boundary, as the whole matter was then before them for a decision; but the political demagogues of the day, ever on the alert to arouse popular feeling, and become leaders in some factional enterprise, seized an opportunity to embroil the authorities of the state and territory. Some person was arrested on the soil claimed by Missouri by a process issued from a court in Iowa, and then came the clash of jurisdiction. The governor of Iowa issued a belligerent message, which was followed by one from the governor of Missouri, calling upon all the civil officers of the state to maintain the jurisdiction to the territory claimed by Missouri.
The inhabitants of St. Louis were much excited upon the occasion, and were unwilling, let the consequences be what they might, to relinquish to the claim of Iowa one acre of the territory which they knew belonged to Missouri.
The constitution of Missouri called for the northern boundary at the
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Des Moines Rapids, at the Big Bend of the Des Moines river. Iowa contended that the rapids alluded to were further south in the Mississippi, which were sometimes called the Des Moines Rapids. There was no collision, however, and when the line was established by Congress, the decision was in favor of Missouri.Just at the time that the difficulty was subsisting between Missouri and Iowa, the popular mind in St. Louis became still further excited by one of the courts in Illinois laying an injunction on the works that were progressing for the improvement of the harbor.
In a previous portion of this work, it may be remembered, we alluded to the fact of a sand-bar having been formed in the Mississippi, in front of the town, which had commenced to impede navigation, and had excited the fears of the inhabitants by its constant increase. A large appropriation of $115,000 had been made by Congress so that means could be taken to throw the channel of the Mississippi closer to the western shore. To effect this, a large dyke had to be constructed, a portion of which had to rest upon the Illinois shore, and thinking that the interest of a contemplated town just laid out would be affected in some manner, the proprietors applied for an injunction to one of the state courts of Illinois, and obtained it. The work, which was then under the efficient management of Major Lee, was suspended, greatly to the chagrin of the people of St. Louis.
By order of the County Court, it was resolved that a considerable addition should be made to the court-house, which had been built during 1825-6. The corner-stone of the new addition was laid with much ceremony, and in the presence of a large gathering of the citizens. Beneath the stone was placed a sealed glass, containing a parchment roll, on which the following was written:
"The corner-stone of the new court-house of the county of St. Louis, state of Missouri, being an addition to that erected A. D. 1825-6, laid on the twenty-first day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine. — Martin Van Buren, president of the United States; Richard M. Johnson, vice-president of the United States; Lilburn W. Boggs, governor of Missouri; Franklin Cannon, lieutenant-governor; Matthias McGirk, present judge of the Supreme Court; George Tompkins, associate judge of same; William B. Napton, associate judge of same; Luke E. Lawless, judge of St. Louis Circuit Court; John Ruland, clerk and recorder of same; James B. Bowlin, judge of St. Louis Criminal Court; Julius D. Johnson, clerk of the same; Mary Philip Leduc, Henry Walton, and Joseph Le Blond, justices of the County Court; Henry Chouteau, clerk of same; Marshal Brotherton, sheriff of St. Louis county; John Bent, circuit attorney; Henry Singleton, architect: Joseph Foster, builder; William Carr Lane, mayor of the city of St. Louis; Elliott Lee, marshal of same. A specimen of all the coins of the United States; a copy of all the newspapers printed in the city; and copies of the programmes of the proceedings of the day."
From its first institution, banking appeared to have been a source of disquietude to the people of St. Louis. In 1839, the banks in most of states of the Union had again suspended specie payment, and the directors of the Bank of Missouri very wisely and justly adopted a resolution "that the bank will, in future, receive from, and pay only to, individuals
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her own notes and specie, on the notes of specie-paying banks." When this resolution became known, the excitement in the mercantile community was immense. The notes of the banks of the other states formed principally the currency of the state, and by this act of the Bank of the State of Missouri, all the notes of banks which had suspended specie payment lost their character as representing funds for the payment even of existing contracts. There had been a drain of specie from the East, and the issues of the Bank of the State of Missouri, and of other specie-paying banks, together with the specie available in the financial market, did not furnish one tithe of the money required for the payment of daily-maturing obligations. The merchants were in a most distressing situation. They had a commercial honor to preserve, and to do this, it was incumbent upon them that their notes should not go to protest; and there was not sufficient specie and bankable funds in circulation to redeem their paper. In this crisis, a meeting was called so as to adopt the most feasible measures to relieve them of their difficulties. A proposition was made to Mr. John Smith, president of the bank, that the collection paper discounted by the bank up to that time should be paid in the same description of funds heretofore received by the bank, and that the business paper discounted by the bank up to that time should, as far as possible, be placed on the footing of accommodation paper, the curtailment and discount being paid in specie or the notes of specie-paying banks.The president promised to confer with the board of directors, and after the due deliberation of that body, there was an objection to the proposition, on the ground that there would be necessarily some depreciation of the funds, which loss the bank was unwilling to sustain. So great was the emergency at this particular juncture in financial affairs, that this objection was met on the part of the most wealthy of the citizens, by an offer to legally bind themselves to indemnify the bank against any loss they might sustain by a depreciation of the notes of the banks heretofore received. The gentlemen who obligated themselves to be thus responsible were Mr. Collier, E. Tracy, Pierre Chouteau, John Walsh, William Glascow, John Perry, H. Von Phul, John Kerr, G. K. McGunnegle, Jos. C. Laveille, and John O'Fallon. There was a consultation had by the directors of the bank regarding that proposition, and it was determined that the bank should adhere to their original resolution.
The business part of the community had calculated that the bank, thus insured against loss, would consent to the proposition made it, and when the refusal was made known, an indignation-meeting was called, strongly condemning the conduct of the bank, and resolutions passed to withdraw deposits, and patronize some other institutions. Many of the large depositors consequently withdrew their funds, and deposited them in the insurance offices, and with the Gas-Light Company, who, at that time, did a partial banking business.
The bank, thus deprived of the support of its most wealthy and influential patrons, still pursued the cautious policy it had adopted, and by thus severing itself from tottering moneyed institutions, and refusing their notes, eventually saved itself from being linked with their fall, which took place in a short time, and vindicated the wisdom and farsightedness of the position which the directors of the bank had assumed.
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As it will be of interest to the reader, we here give the number of arrivals and departures of steamboats for each month of the year 1839:
| Arrivals. | Departures. | |
| January | 47 | 44 |
| February | 49 | 57 |
| March | 659 | 145 |
| April | 210 | 210 |
| May | 191 | 194 |
| June | 190 | 183 |
| July | 178 | 173 |
| August | 119 | 177 |
| September | 142 | 142 |
| October | 138 | 150 |
| November | 96 | 96 |
| December | 76 | 74 |
| Total | 2,095 | 1,645 |
1840. — In the spring of this year, the Catholic church, which is attached to the St. Louis University, and called the College, was commenced. The corner-stone was laid on a Sabbath afternoon, with all the ceremonial observances of the church, and in the presence of an interested multitude. There was a parchment deposited in the stone, on which was the following inscription:
Anno reparatse salutis MDCCCXL,
Americanae Independentiae assertae et vindicatae
LXIV,
Gregorio XVI Pontifice Maximo,
Martino Van Buren Foederatae Americas Praeside,
Admodum Rev. Patre Joanne Roothaan Proposito
General! Societatis Jesu
Lilburn W. Boggs Missouri Gubernatore,
Gulielmo Carr Lane Urbis Sancti Ludovici Profecto,
Rev. Patre P. J. Verhaegen Vice-Provinciae
Missourianae Societatis Jesu Vice-Provinciali,
Rev. Patre J. A. Elet Sancti Ludovici Universitatis
Rectore,
Reverendissimus D. Joseph Rosati Episcopus Sti.
Ludovici, Lapidem hunc angularem Ecclesiae,
Deo Opt. Max.
Sub invocatione
Sancti Francisci Haverii,
Atque
Sancti Aloysii
Studiosae Inventuti patroni,
In Urbe Sancti Ludovici aedificandae
Assistentibus Sancti Ludovici Universitatis Rectore,
Professoribus, Auditoribus ac Alumnis,
Necnon D'no Georgio Barnett et D'no Stuart Matthews
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Ac D'no Carolo Cutts muratorum Praefecto,
Solemni ritu benedixit et in fundamentis posuit,
Coram magna populi
Frequentia.
In politics there was a universal enthusiasm pervading the Whig party in St. Louis. General Harrison was the nominee of the Whig convention for the presidency, and it was fondly hoped that the worship which had been paid to General Jackson a few years before, and which still clung to his political principles, he having gone into retirement, would be transferred to the veteran soldier of Tippecanoe and the Thames; and the predisposition to hero-worship gave that ascendency to the party which for years it had strived vainly to attain. There was much feeling manifested at the election for mayor, as it was thought a suitable occasion for feeling the political pulse of the people. There were three popular candidates for the responsible municipal office — J. F. Darby, J. J. Purdy, and A. Wetmore. J. F. Darby, the Whig candidate, was elected. The election for county officers in August was favorable to the same party, and the Whig party became generally triumphant.
It was on the first day of summer that a violent attack was made by one citizen upon another, which ultimately resulted in his death. The Argus was the Democratic organ, edited by William Gilpin, and owned by Andrew J. Davis. An article appeared in its columns, which reflected somewhat on the persons composing a meeting of which William P. Darnes, a respectable citizen, was appointed secretary. There had previously been some political feeling between Mr. Darnes and the Argus, and on the occasion of the pungent paragraphs in its columns, which Mr. Darnes construed to reflect directly upon him, he indicted a letter to Mr. Davis, its proprietor, asking him if certain offensive allusions in his columns were intended for him, and in the same letter using contemptuous language toward Mr. Gilpin, the editor. The reply of Mr. Davis was short, acrimonious, and scornful; and on the next issue of the Argus, Mr. Gilpin, who had been irritated by the humiliating allusions made to him in the letter of Darnes, publicly avowed that he alone was responsible for what appeared in the columns of the Argus, and went even beyond the wide range of editorial license in his abusive attack upon Mr. Darnes. The latter determined to hold Mr. Davis, the proprietor of the paper, responsible; and had before, in his letter to that gentleman, declared that it should be his course, if any thing offensive was said of him in the columns of the Argus.
Smarting under the effects of the galling epithets which had been publicly applied to him, Mr. Darnes purchased a small iron cane, and attacked Mr. Davis on Third street, close by the National Hotel,
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After a consultation between three of the most respectable physicians, it was determined to trephine him. The operation was performed, and small portions of spicula were found upon the brain, showing that the vitreous table of the skull was broken, and that there was an urgent necessity for the operation. A few days afterward Mr. Davis died.
The trial of Darnes came off in November, and if the friends of Davis were naturally anxious for his prosecution, there were others who used every effort to justify him in the course he had taken, and to shield him from the consequences of his act. Able counsel were employed both upon the part of the state and the defence. Messrs. Engle and Gantt were for the prosecution, and Messrs. Geyer, Allen, and Crocket for the accused.
During the trial, the court-room was crowded to its utmost capacity, and by a finesse of argument, which is ever remarkable in the legal profession, the counsel for the defence contended that it was not certain whether Davis died from the effects of the blows of the cane, or from the surgical operation to which he had been subjected. To support them on this ground of their defence, the testimony of Drs. Knox, Wm. Carr Lane, and White was introduced during the trial, who thought that there were no symptoms requiring the trephine operation, which was at all times a dangerous one, and liable to a fatal termination.
Dr. Beaumont, a surgeon of the United States army, and the most accomplished writer on the gastric juice, performed the operation; and did it with the concurrence of Drs. Sykes and McMartin. Here was truly a disagreement of the doctors — three pro and three con. To enlighten the jury in this confliction of testimony produced by the medical examination, the lawyers took the matter in hand, and read portions of the productions of the great lights of the medical profession; discoursed learnedly of what constituted the symptoms of compression, the locality of the dura mater and the pia mater, and the danger of spicula remaining in the brain. The medical authorities were placed upon a Procrustean bed, there lopped and here stretched, to suit the views of counsel, until, after the stretches of meaning and mutilations, the authors themselves would not have known their productions.
After a tedious trial of two weeks, the case was given to the jury, who returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter in the fourth degree, and the accused was fined $500. It was a time when the press stood ready to assail any character, it mattered not how unexceptionable, and any one who had the courage to oppose its political opinions, was certain to receive the poisonous shafts of ridicule or abuse. On this account the jury rendered a lighter verdict than they would have done had not these causes existed.
1841. — This year there were in existence in St. Louis ten insurance companies; they were named as follows: Marine Insurance Company, St. Louis Insurance Company, Floating-Dock Insurance Company, Citizens Insurance Company, Union Insurance Company, Missouri Insurance Company, Farmers' and Mechanics' Insurance Company, Perpetual Insurance
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Company, Gas-Light Insurance Company, and Mutual Insurance Company. Many of these companies were engaged in a partial banking business, and at all times, and more especially during the cautious policy of the State Bank of Missouri, kept a large portion of money in circulation, which kept the currents of business from stagnation, infused vitality, and in many instances preserved some departments of trade from total cessation.Early on Sunday morning, April 18th, there was an alarm of fire, which proceeded from a large stone building located on the corner of Pine and Water streets, occupied by Messrs. Simonds and Morrison, the rear of which was occupied by Mr. Pettus as a banking-house. The firemen and citizens were soon upon the ground, and, forcing open one of the rear doors, discovered the body of a young man by the name of Jacob Weaver, of exemplary habits, mutilated in a dreadful manner, with pools of his warm life-blood around him. The fire had not reached the body, and it was evident that a foul murder had been committed, and, as the fire proceeded from several distinct parts of the building, it was known that with the crime of murder was joined that of arson.
However intricate the mazes of mystery, when once a clue is obtained, a correct conclusion is soon arrived at; and when the body of young Weaver was found and recognized, the inquiry was at once set afloat, where was his room-mate, Mr. Jesse Baker? He was not to be found, and it was almost certain that he, too, was murdered, and his body amid the ruins of the destroyed building. On the next day it was discovered, on removing the rubbish, all charred and half consumed. Robbery was evidently the motive of the murderers, and as the two young men were in the way, they did not hesitate to dispatch them; and then thought that all evidence of the crime would be destroyed, if they succeeded in successfully firing the building; but Providence, in its just and mysterious ways, usually disappoints mischievous calculations, for the purposes of retribution; and in this case the body of one of the victims was discovered before the flames had reached it.
The building was entirely consumed, and one or two of the adjoining ones were partially burned. Nothing but the untiring exertions of the firemen for hours saved the whole row from conflagration. It was discovered, on examination, that an effort had been made to enter the vault of the banking-house of Mr. Pettus, which was unsuccessful.
Things produce like things in nature, and one misfortune is usually the parent of another. While Mr. Ansel S. Kemball, first-engineer of the Union Fire Company, was actively at work trying to stifle the flames, a portion of the wall of the building fell, and crushed him. He died — as many noble-hearted of his firemen brethren die — in nobly risking his life in the hour of danger, for the protection of the life and property of others. This unfortunate occurrence added still more to the excitement already so rife among the citizens. The most experienced of the police took the matter in hand to ferret out the murderers and incendiaries; and still further to stimulate their efforts, and put the whole country on the alert, a reward of five thousand dollars was offered by the municipal authorities. For several days all the efforts of the citizens and police were fruitless; but at length the disclosure was made by a journeyman barber by the name of Edward H. Ennis, to a mulatto man, who resided in Brooklyn, opposite St. Louis; and the mulatto, instigated by cupidity,
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communicated his information to the officials. Ennis was arrested, and then he communicated the following facts: that on a certain Saturday night he went to his boarding-house, kept by a mulatto woman named Leah, situated on Third street, between Market and Walnut; at a late hour a negro slave by the name of Madison, came to the house, and, after being admitted, declared he had done more murder that night than he had ever before, and had not been paid for it. Such language induced Ennis to question him further, when he learned that he and three other negroes had been engaged in the attempted robbery of Mr. Pettus's banking-house. The names of the other negroes were Seward, Warrick, and Brown. The manner of the murder is best related by giving the able charge of Judge Bowlin in passing sentence upon the accused, after a fair trial.In passing sentence on the four negroes lately tried and convicted of the murders of the 17th April last.
"Madison, alias Blanchard, Charles Brown, James Seward, alias Sewell, and Alfred, alias Alpheus Warrick, you stand convicted of wilful, deliberate, and premeditated murder. Have you now, or either of you, any thing to say why the sentence of death should not be pronounced against you?"
The prisoners, with the exception of Madison, who merely said, "Nothing from me, sir," remaining mute, his honor proceeded —
"You have all been severally indicted by a grand jury of the county as follows: — you, Madison, for the murder of Jesse Baker, and the rest as confederates, aiding and abetting in said murder; and you, Charles Brown, for the murder of Jacob Weaver, and the rest as confederates, aiding and abetting in said murder. Upon which charges, so preferred by the grand jury, you have been put separately upon your trials, before traverse juries of the county — juries selected in each case with great caution, that they might be above all suspicion of bias or prejudice against you — and where you have been heard by your counsel — counsel amongst the ablest of the bar, in your defence. So that it is not a matter of form to tell you, that you have each had a fair and impartial trial before a jury of your countrymen, who have in their several verdicts, pronounced each of you guilty of murder in the first degree. You, Madison and Brown, as the persons who inflicted the fatal blows; and you, Seward and Warrick, as bring present aiding and abetting in the several murders.
"Upon these respective verdicts, it becomes the principal duty of the court to pronounce the sentence of the law. But, before doing so, as you were separately tried, and neither having heard the particular evidence given in the case of the other, it is but proper that there should be laid before you a history of the case as derived from the testimony.
"In doing this, it is not the object to awaken feelings by a recital of the horrid deed, or to bring unnecessarily to your minds painful recollections of the past; but it is solely with a view to place the nature of your crimes in such characters before you as to banish all hope of mercy from your fellow-men, whose laws you have so daringly violated; and the more strongly to rivet your attention to that source alone for consolation
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where it is never too late to find mercy and forgiveness. The court would not be discharging its duty to you with fidelity, in this last solemn act between you and it, if it would conceal from your knowledge any thing of your true situation. To leave you buoyed up with a false hope, would be to deceive you. Hence it is deemed proper that your crime should be placed before you, as it has made its impress upon the minds of men; that every false beacon of earthly hope may be destroyed, and you the more solemnly urged to seek for consolation at the throne of Divine Mercy.
"It, then, appears from the testimony in the case, that some three days before the ever-memorable night of the 17th of April, you had planned your scheme of robbing the storehouse of Messrs. Collier and Pettus. At which time, it appears, some compunctious visitings of nature operated upon you, and a difference arose about adding the crime of blood to the other contemplated offence; that the evil demon prevailed, and it was finally settled that even blood should not arrest you in the accomplishment of your crime. The next place you are traced to is at a meeting, by appointment, in the dusk of the evening of Saturday, the 17th of April, on board the steamer Missouri, under pretence of examining her machinery. This was the meeting preparatory to the accomplishment of the crime. You left the boat, and stood on Front street, opposite the house of Collier and Pettus, awaiting the arrival of the proper hour. That at, or about nine o'clock, in the evening, when a person might well have felt the most perfect security in his counting-room with open doors, on one of the "most populous streets in the city, you entered the counting-room, that is, you, Madison, first entered, and asked of the young gentleman in charge, Jesse Baker, the validity of a bank-note; and while, in the honesty of his heart, and with that kindness of feeling for which he was conspicuous among his fellow-men, he was performing an act of kindness for you, by examining the note, and he was thus placed off his guard, you struck the fatal blow that deprived him of life.
"At this particular point of time, there is some contrariety in the evidence; but the better opinion is, upon the whole, that the rest of you immediately entered, at the signal of the blow. You searched your victim for the keys; not finding them, you wrapped him in bed-clothes, and deposited him in bed; and then went to work upon the vault, after perhaps setting one or two sentinels. That you continued to work upon the vault until Jacob Weaver, the bed-companion of Baker, arrived, which was about the hour of eleven o'clock. That he knocked at the door, to awaken his friend, little dreaming that he was sleeping the sleep of death; when, it appears, a difficulty arose about who should be his murderer. That horrid duty fell upon you, Charles Brown, and the manner of its execution was awfully delineated in the appearance of the object. You took your station behind the door, the rest concealing themselves, and opened it for him; and as he entered you felled him to the floor, repeating the blows until he was dead — depriving of life, in one moment, a young man who never harmed you, who was at once the pride and hope of his friends, and an ornament to society.
"It appears, then, that despairing of success in your attempts upon the vault, you fired the building in five places, and left for your respective homes — you, Brown, being the last to leave, after closing the house and
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throwing away the key-hoping, doubtless, by this last act to bury in eternal oblivion all traces of the awful tragedy, and leave the world to hopeless conjecture as to the fate of its unhappy inmates. In the burning, you succeeded but too well: you destroyed the whole property, but not in time to conceal the traces of your dreadful crime.
"During the heart-rending scenes just recounted, the testimony places you, Seward and Warrick, in a variety of positions — sometimes in the house, in the midst of the tragic scene, and then again on the look-out, as sentinels, to avoid surprise. In either situation, the law makes your offence just the same, in depravity and punishment, as though you had stricken the fatal blow. And justly so, for had you refused your co-operation, or had you made a timely retreat from it, the world might have been saved the recital of this awful tragedy, and you the consequence resulting from it.
"Shortly after, you all must have left the building — at about midnight, when the city was wrapped in profound repose, and men were dreaming in their fancied security — they were started from their beds, with the terrible cry of fire. The citizens, with their usual alacrity, and with nerves braced for a contest with the devouring element, repaired to the scene — burst open the doors, and, almost at the peril of their own lives, rushed in, and dragged forth the yet warm body of young Weaver, bearing upon it undeniable testimonials of the awful crime that had been committed — a crime which, for daringness of design and boldness of execution, is almost without a parallel in this country. At the awful contemplation of the reality before them, men instinctively shrunk with terror from each other. They thought of the daring boldness of the crime, and of its perpetrators abroad in the land, and an instinctive shudder seized them at the thought of their unprotected homes. Suspicion was abroad — and yet ordinary perpetrators of crime passed unscathed by its breath. The daring boldness of its execution was a shield against suspicion to common offenders. Man knew not how to trust his fellow-man. The bonds of society were well nigh sundered when, at a fortunate moment for the peace and security of persons and property, and the supremacy of the laws, a conscience overburdened with a catalogue of crime had to find vent, from the awful goading of nature, by an open betrayal of the secret — a secret which has since received a mournful but most undeniable confirmation.
"Thus, in a moment of ambition for unhallowed gain, you have stricken from existence two young men, just entering as it were upon the threshold of usefulness — in the spring-day of life — in the fulness of hope and future expectation — in that period just budding into manhood, when the heart beats responsive to the calls of sympathy and humanity; and that, without even the plea of passion for an excuse. Their only fault was, that in discharge of their duty they stood between you and your unholy covetings. By this stroke, you have done a deed which no power on earth can repair, no time obliterate. You have in an unhallowed moment stricken the bright cup of expectation from the lips of adoring friends, and rendered cheerless many an aching heart. No penitence you could offer, would repair the wrong; but your fate may be a negative example to others, to avoid the path that leads to danger and destruction.
"The details have been thus minutely recounted, from a solemn conviction that the court owes it to you, to point out your true condition in
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language not to be mistaken — to obliterate every false hope that might flatter and deceive you — to give you a true idea of the character of your offence, and the stern demands of public justice; and to urge upon you most solemnly to anchor your hopes before the Tribunal which is superior to all earthly tribunals, and seek alone for mercy at the Fountain of Mercy.
"You have time left you for penitence and prayer — for preparation for the end that awaits you. Not so with the victims of your great crime. They were hurried into the presence of their Maker unwarned of their impending fate. Crimes like yours cannot go unpunished. ‘Lay not the flattering unction to your souls’ that any hope awaits you this side the grave — your days are numbered — your sands of life are almost run. Let me, then, urge you to seek for consolation and forgiveness, in the few days you have yet to live, before the throne of Him who holds all our destinies in his hands. Let your first acts of penitence be a full and frank confession of your crimes. Lay bare your hearts — strip them of all falsehoods and guile — keep no black memorial harbored there, if you wish to render them acceptable before the God of Truth, Justice, and Mercy.
"One word, and this court is done. But that one word is the awful sentence of the law. It is, that you, Madison, alias Blanchard, Charles Brown, Alfred, alias Alpheus Warrick, James Seward, alias Sewell, you and each of you, will be returned to the jail whence you came, there to be confined until Friday the ninth day of July, and on that day you will be taken hence to the place of execution; there, between the hours of ten o'clock in the forenoon of that day and four o'clock in the afternoon, to be hung by the neck until you are dead.
"May God grant you that mercy which, by your crime, you have forfeited from your fellow-men."
After sentence of death had been passed, a strict watch was kept upon the murderers, and they were heavily ironed; but the love of life will frequently put in play subtle schemes, and call into action the most desperate measures. A little knife had come in the possession of one of the murderers, and with this they succeeded in cutting their irons, and then, on a visit from the jailer, he was knocked down, and the guard, consisting of three or four men, were frightened or overpowered by the desperate villains, who, after running some distance, were captured by the citizens, and led back to the jail, from which they did not emerge until their execution, some months afterward. They were executed upon the island opposite the lower part of the city, and their confessions being published, the incidents of their vicious lives thus spread abroad in the community, ministered to morbid tastes, and probably brought young and guileless minds into too close an approximation with wicked actions, which can scarcely be known without defiling.
At this time (1841) there were in St. Louis, two foundries; twelve stone, grate, tin, and copper manufactories; twenty-seven blacksmiths and house-smiths; two white-lead, red-lead and litharge manufactories; one castor-oil factory; twenty cabinet and chair factories; two establishments for manufacturing linseed-oil; three factories for the making of lead-pipe; fifteen tobacco and cigar manufactories; eleven coopers and nine hatters; twelve saddle, harness and trunk manufactories; fifty-eight boot-and-shoe shops that manufacture; six grist-mills; six breweries; a glass-cutting establishment;
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a Britannia manufactory; a carpet manufactory, and an oil-cloth factory. There was also a sugar-refinery; a chemical and fancy soap manufactory; a pottery and stone-ware manufactory; an establishment for cutting and beautifying marble; two tanneries; and several manufactories of ploughs and other agricultural implements.The city was divided into five wards; contained three markets; a workhouse; two colleges — the St. Louis University, a Catholic institution, and Kemper College, under the Episcopal charge; and the two medical colleges attached to these institutions. There was also a Female Seminary, under the charge of the nuns of the Sacred Heart. There was no lacking of churches. Within the city were two Catholic churches; two Presbyterian, two Methodist, one Baptist, one Associate Reformed Presbyterian, one Unitarian, one German Lutheran, and two African churches. There were also two orphan asylums — one for males, under the charge of the Sisters of Charity, and one presided over by an association of Protestant ladies. There was the Sisters' Hospital, and several hotels, the largest of which was the Planters' House, which had been just completed. The building of boats was commenced, and the Floating-Dock was in operation. Two boat-yards were also opened during the year, and to Captain Chase belongs the honor of starting the first boat-yard in St. Louis. Previous to this time, all the boats owned in St. Louis were built at some point on the Ohio River.
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Chapter VII.
1842. — It was on May 10th of this year that the corner-stone of the Centenary Church, corner of Fifth and Pine streets, where it still stands, was laid, in the presence of a large concourse of persons who had assembled to be present at the important and solemn occasion. A large procession was formed at the Methodist church, in Fourth street, which was composed of many citizens, officiating clergymen, ladies of the Centenary Society, and the Masonic fraternity. Bishop Roberts, at the laying of the stone, offered an appropriate and zealous prayer, and a hymn was sung, in which many voices participated. The address was most eloquent, and was delivered by the Rev. E. R. Ames.
On the following month (June), the funeral obsequies of General Henry Atkinson were performed by the Rev. Mr. Hedges, the chaplain of Jefferson Barracks, of which military post the deceased was the superior officer. General Atkinson had efficiently served his country during the war of 1813 and the Black Hawk war. He gathered military laurels at both of these trying periods, and possessing, in addition to his martial fame, the civic virtues, he was endeared not only to his brother officers, but to a large class of the citizens of St. Louis.
Five months had scarcely elapsed after the demise of General Atkinson, when the bier of Judge John B. C. Lucas was followed to its last resting place by a large concourse of citizens. He was one of the earliest settlers of Missouri, when it was the District of Louisiana, having received from President Jefferson the appointment of the office of judge of the highest court of the newly-acquired territory. He continued in that high and responsible office during the administrations of Messrs. Madison and Monroe. He also received from Mr. Jefferson the appointment of commissioner for the adjustment of land-claims of Upper Louisiana, and continued in that office until 1812. He was a man of untiring industry, and studiously faithful to the responsible trusts which had been committed to him.
1843. — In May a large number of invited guests sat down to dinner in the spacious salle Å manger of the Glascow House, located on the corner
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of Olive and Second streets. It was on the occasion of the first opening of the new hotel, and Messrs. Wiley and Scollay, the enterprising lessees, had a dinner prepared that would have satisfied the requirements of royalty. It was an occasion of conviviality, and the guests entered with spirit upon their undertaking. The smoking viands, exhaling their incense, were attacked with hungry vigor, and the wine-cups, sparkling and dancing with the vitality of the luscious fluid, were pressed to lips that knew how to appreciate their contents. Then, as the conversation gradually flowed in the warm channels of convivial discourse, and the blood quickened to and fro from hearts pulsating with the friendly emotions, reserve, cold indifference, and worldly policy took flight from the festive scene, and left for a brief season hearts and minds undisturbed, and consecrated wholly to convivial enjoyment. Each mind poured forth its tribute to the occasion. There was droll humor, Attic wit and wisdom, with its useful axioms, and shorn of all austerity.On the next day, March 3d, what a contrast to the festive scene was presented. At an early hour in the morning, there was a small crowd collected in the neighborhood of the jail, which rapidly increased, until about eleven o'clock the street in that vicinity was almost impassable. At that hour, companies of military marched to the jail, and then the prison doors were thrown open, and, attended by the officers of the prison and a clergyman, a youth of nineteen years, pale and emaciated from long confinement, walked with feeble step again under the broad, bright canopy of heaven. The name of the youth was Henry Johnson, who had been sentenced to death for the murder of Major Floyd, who was a resident of St. Louis county. In the dead of night, this gentleman's house was visited by five men, who wantonly beat him to death, terrified his wife almost to distraction, and robbed his house of a large sum of money. Two of the supposed murderers had been fairly tried, and found guilty, and both sentenced to death; from some informality in the law, the sentence of one of them had been staid.
There was an awe pervading even the heterogeneous and immoral multitude who had assembled to witness the dying struggles of a fellow-being. As the military took up the line of march to Duncan's Island, where the gallows was erected, one muffled drum alone emitted a dolorous sound.
When the procession arrived at the gallows, the young prisoner ascended with a firm step, and cast his wistful eyes upon the city that stood with its thousands of buildings on the western bank of the Father of Waters. What thoughts were rushing rapidly through the mysterious mechanism of mind 'twere vain to say; but his forlorn and lingering lifted that it was a farewell view, and that it was a struggle for his youthful spirit to sever itself from the ties of life, which were woven of the blooms of an April existence. He was awakened from a longer indulgence in his half-dreamy, half-waking meditations by the marshal asking him if he wished to say any thing to the multitude. The young man then spoke in a voice tremulous at first, but gathering strength as he proceeded, swelled at times in full volume, and reverberated with the
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strains of genuine eloquence. He solemnly protested his innocence, and a total ignorance of the crime for which he was about to suffer. His accents bore the impress of truth, and carried conviction to many minds; but the stern mandate of the law must be obeyed, and the marshal proceeded to adjust the fatal cord to his neck. For a moment the young man gave way to a sensation of weakness, and the warm tears rolled copiously down his blanched cheeks. It was but a moment, and the tears were staid, his gaze upon the crowd was firm and unwavering, and so remained until the cap was drawn over his eyes, and then the spring was touched, and the young man's spirit returned to the heavenly source from whence it emanated, there to be judged by an unerring Justice, whose edicts are palliated by infinite mercy.One of the known murderers of Major Floyd, some time afterward, in making a confession, declared that Johnson died an innocent man. If such should be the case, which is strongly supported by his declaration of innocence upon the scaffold, it affords another argument in favor of the abolition of capital punishment, and is another unfortunate instance of an innocent life being offered as a victim to a barbarous code, which, strange to say, civilization and religion in their progressive and merciful changes have not as yet nullified.
The very day of the execution, an individual stopped at the Glascow House, and immediately that his name was registered, there was almost instantaneously a buzz of excitement in the hotel, which gradually spread throughout that locality. He upon whom the gaze of all rested appeared to be unconscious that he was the "observed of all observers;" and indeed there was nothing in his attire and demeanor that would prompt inquiry or excite attention — there was no "glass of fashion or no mould of form." On the contrary, the individual was plainly clad, and looked much like an honest farmer from the country. He wore the livery of age, for his hair was thin and blanched; yet there was freshness in his complexion, a sparkle in his eye, and an elasticity in his step that showed that his was a "green old age," and that the vital currents had not become chilled and sluggish in their circulation. It was Audubon, the great naturalist, and hence the talisman of that name which was known throughout the civilized world, had drawn universal attention to him. He was then on a journey from the East to the Yellowstone, in pursuit of his favorite science, that he might add new specimens to his rare collection. In a few days he took passage in one of the boats of the American Fur Company, and after several months of absence, during which he went above the mouth of the Yellowstone, and having enriched, by further discoveries, his department of science, he returned to St. Louis on his way home, without being at all worsted by his long travel.
A few weeks after the departure of Audubon, Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, visited St. Louis. The old hero beneath whose hand Tecumseh fell, could not complain of the want of public attention. Had he had any vanity of that kind, it must have been amply gratified. He was feasted, toasted, and probably bored, by his officious friends and admirers, and, no doubt, departed from St. Louis with the satisfaction of knowing that hero-worship was in furore among its inhabitants.
Early in the summer, Major John Pilcher, one of the oldest citizens of St. Louis, died. He was one of the most enterprising inhabitants,
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and had been extensively engaged in the Indian trade, and identified with all the great measures tending to the welfare and advancement of his native city.1844. — In February of this year, Judge P. Hill Engle, for some years judge of the Court of Common Pleas, died, after a lingering illness. He was a man of ability, and so amiable in his conduct of life, that he had the good fortutie to make no enemies, and to disarm all prejudice. There was a universal mourning at his death.
At this time, so much had the growth of the southern portion of the city increased, that the inhabitants resolved to build a place of worship for their accommodation; and the corner-stone of a Catholic church was laid with much ceremony in Soulard's Addition.
In June, the people of St. Louis were thrown into rapturous excitement by the arrival of Macready, then in the zenith of his genius, and the most finished actor of his time that trod the dramatic boards. He first played the character of Macbeth, and invested him with the genuine characteristics intended by the great dramatic author. The Scottish hero was brave and ambitious, and, according to the spirit of his age, there was in his character a leaning to the dark doctrines of superstition. Hence the predictions of the "Weird Sisters" were looked upon with favor, and when the first prophecy was accomplished by the munificence of his sovereign, he began to think how he could assist Fate in its intentions toward him. Though ambitious and longing to realize the golden dreams which possessed him, he shuddered from the commission of any direct crime, and when his wife urged him to murder, so as to seize the crown, he shuddered with instinctive horror at the shedding of blood; but when his dagger was imbrued with the life-blood of his sovereign, and the Rubicon of virtue was passed, there was no more shuddering — he went with all of his native boldness for removing by assassination all whom he suspected of loyalty to his departed king. The phantoms of those he had murdered caused but a momentary horror, and the fierce promptings of his nature were not all subdued even during the presence of the apparitions. Then his faith, still in the predictions of the "Weird Sisters," though shut up in a small castle, believed it to be impregnable — it could not be taken "till Birnam do come to Dunsinane," and when the wood came against his fortress, by that device with which every schoolboy is familiar, even then he believed himself safe — he hugged still the prophetic delusion that "None of woman born shall harm Macduff." At his meeting with Macduff, when the hope of the last prophecy was dispelled, he gathered all of his terrors around him, and died, fighting to the last as befitting a Scottish hero. Macready in Macbeth is Macbeth living and breathing again, or, by the metempsychosis theory, the the departed chieftain had entered the corporal nature of the actor, and waved and directed his movements. The people of St. Louis were enraptured by the finished and chaste acting of Macready in Macbeth, and his first night before the curtain more than equalled their expectation.
This was the first visit of the great tragedian to the growing and thriving city on the west bank of the Mississippi. He made many friends, and added to his fame. When it was announced that he was to play Byron's Warner, the jammed house was not more than one-fourth of the multitude that was desirous of hearing him in that play, which he has immortalized
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more than the great bard who created it. Werner without Macready would never have had a fame.Sixteen years have elapsed since that period, and the thirty-four thousand inhabitants have increased six-fold, and the young city has become of mammoth proportions; yet there is no theatre reared which corresponds with the extent, wealth, and wants of the great metropolis. This should not be; for the legitimate classic drama is the most elevating of all amusements. It pleases and instructs, and prevents the introducing of low and depraved taste in the community.
After the departure of Macready, Forrest visited St. Louis, and his fine acting, so much assisted with his splendid physical efforts, created a division in public sentiment as to whom should belong the bay wreath. Should it encircle the brow of Macready or Forest? This was the second advent of Mr. Forest in St. Louis, and he was followed by the inimitable Hackett, then, too, in his palmy days, and his Falstaff became the talk of the city.
In May were assembled at St. Louis, at one time, several of the distinguished men of the day — Professor Silliman, who was on a scientific visit to Missouri and Illinois, Josiah Quincy, Jr., afterward president of Harvard College, and Charles F. Adams, son of John Quincy Adams, ex-president of the United States.
The spring trade had opened most auspiciously for St. Louis. Her levee was crowded with boats unloading and receiving all kinds of merchandise; country merchants from every western locality had flocked to the city, and purchased liberally of the wholesale merchants; buildings were putting up in every direction; there was a great demand for labor at enormous prices; property was increasing in value at an unprecedented ratio; and there was a briskness and vitality in every department of business which had never before been witnessed.
Nature has its clouds and its sunshine, and the world its seasons of prosperity and misfortune. The prospects of St. Louis received a check and a blight which will ever be a marked event in its history. It had been prophesied by several old Indians and hunters in the preceding autumn that there would be a great rise in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. They had grown wise in the philosophy of observation, and had observed that the bears and some other animals made their holes higher by several feet in the banks of the river than they had ever done before. Hence these seers pronounced that the waters would rise to an extraordinary height the corning spring, which the instinct of the animals had led them to foresee, and they consequently built their holes at a greater height from the water's edge than usual. Late in the spring, there was a considerable rise in the rivers, but nothing indicating the height that had been predicted. June came, and about the 10th of the month, rumors reached St. Louis that the Illinois and Missouri rivers were rapidly rising, and at many points had overflowed their banks. The Mississippi, too, had commenced to swell, and was gradually verging toward the curbstones in Front street, and was forming small lakes in the American bottom, on the opposite shore. On the next day none of the levee was seen, and the Father of Waters swept in his angry course the eastern pavement of the city. The inhabitants had now become somewhat alarmed, and the merchants, on Front street in particular, seemed nervous and anxious, and commenced
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to remove some of their goods from the first floor to the upper stories of the building. By the 16th of the month, the curbstones of Front street were covered, and the water was running in the lower stories of Battle Row and Laurel street.In Illinoistown and Brooklyn, the first stories of the houses were submerged and the inhabitants took refuge in the upper apartments. Boats ran direct from St. Louis to the Pap House, situated a mile from Illinoistown, and the American bottom was covered with a sheet of water.
There was then a universal alarm, and the rise of the Missisippi was the theme of every conversation. Many thought that it would rise no higher; but those who were in the sunset of life shook their heads ominously and said "the worst had not come yet." They spoke the truth. On the 17th the sidewalks on Front street were entirely covered in the neighborhood of Locust street, and above Vine the first stories of the stores commenced to fill. Then a panic spread not only throughout Front street, but the merchants even in Main street felt alarmed at the increasing flood, which was continually rising and with fearful rapidity.
At this time the Mississippi presented a grand but awful appearance. Its current was turbid, and, as it rushed along, it emitted that howling fretful volume of sound peculiar to angry waters. It was filled with driftwood; rails, and stacks of straw and hay were seen hurrying upon its current, and carcasses of horses, cattle, sheep, and swine showed the fearful destruction it had been making. Now and then, too, fragments of a barn or house were borne swiftly to the south, which was evidence that human habitations had been encroached upon, and that the inhabitants had either become a prey to the angry waters or had been compelled to abandon their homes to save their lives. Joined with the evidences of destruction and alarm rumor was busy with her thousand tongues in exaggerating every fact, increasing the general panic, and making the murky prospects still murkier. It was stated that the Missouri was rising at the rate of seven feet in twenty-four hours. That the whole country between Weston and Glascow was submerged, and that the tops of the highest trees in the bottoms only stuck out like sea-weed in this great sea of waters. That houses and barns had been swept away, and in many instances human lives had been lost. Whole acres of soil had been torn away and melted in a moment by the rushing flood. In many instances human beings were seen clinging to immense piles of drift, and some of whom were saved by the passing boats, but most of them were lost as the fragments of drift gave way and left them to the eddying current, which in a moment swallowed them in its vortex. It was stated also that the Illinois River was rising pari passu with the Missouri, and was higher than was ever known before. The town of Naples was said to be so completely inundated that boats could ply in the streets, and the inhabitants had entirely forsaken it and gone to the bluffs, where they lived in tents. It was reported also that Beardstown too was fast being submerged and was deserted, and many of the river towns were in the same deplorable condition.
It is true that many of these reports were swelled much beyond the measure of truth, but all the fiction had its foundation in fact. The Missouri and Illinois rivers had risen each to a height never witnessed before. They had overflowed all of the vast bottoms through which they coursed, and had in many instances overflowed the streets of the towns that bordered
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their banks, and swept away stock of every description, some merchandise, household furniture, and barns and houses; some few lives had also been lost.The elements which compose human nature frequently develop themselves in strange inconsistencies under certain circumstances. It is stated that when the plague raged with its frightful mortality in London, Constantinople, and other eastern cities, that the inhabitants gave a license to all their desires, and endeavored to follow to the utmost the old maxim, dum vivimus, vivamus. Not knowing how soon they might be swept off by the awful malady, they endeavored to make the most of the moments of life which hung by so precarious a tenure. The places of amusement were filled to their utmost capacity, strains of music floated upon the wings of the breeze that were laden with the poison of the pest; and the sounds of revelry were heard in the streets and dwellings mingled with the groans and shrieks of the dying, and the rattling of the dead-carts hurrying the dead bodies to their burial-place. In St. Louis, when the report of the vast destruction of property and of human life on the Missouri and the Illinois rivers was the universal theme of conversation, and was believed, and when the stores all along Front street were filling with water, and the flood still rising higher and higher, and when there was almost a total suspension of business, and, together with the loss of time and profit, it was apparent that business would be crippled materially for many months, the theatre was crowded nightly. Forrest was playing his series of characters, which he has so happily chosen, and which he has perfectly mastered.
It was the evening of June 18th that he appeared as the Gladiator, a character peculiarly adapted to his superb physical excellence. Every portion of the theatre was packed, and the immense crowd, many of whom were suffering from the presence of the flood upon their property and from the suspension of business, and whose prospects were all ominous of evil, cheered and cheered the great actor again and again, and seemed, in the wild excitement, intent on forgetting that the angry waters of the Mississippi were rising higher and higher, and consequently the desolation would become greater and more extensive; and when the great tragedian in the chef-d'oeuvre of his acting as the dying gladiator, in every attitude, and in every lineament, in his gasping breath and dying resignation, looked as if he might have been the prototype of that splendid creation of Puget's from the chiselled marble, a heartier burst of applause never greeted him in any city. However, when the curtain fell and the wild excitement was over, a large portion of the audience rushed from the theatre towards the levee to see and hear if the river was still rising. As yet there was no relief to mental suffering, for the news obtained from those whom they met was, that the river was still rising.
On the morning of the 18th the levee was early visited by a number of the anxious inhabitants, and their gloom was still increased to witness further encroachments on the town by the high-waters. For the greater part of the day a large crowd stood in the upper stories of the houses on Front street, watching the destructive flood sweeping by, carrying, in its resistless course, carcasses of animals, ruins of buildings, and whole trees of mammoth proportions, which had been rent from the soil. Nearly all of the inhabitants of the American bottom had fled their homes and taken
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refuge on the bluffs, where most of them were in a state of suffering and destitution. There were some, too, who, loth to quit their homes, and hoping day by day that the flood would subside, had remained in their dwellings until they were so surrounded by the high-water that they could not leave them, and were threatened to be swept away momentarily by the swollen water. Immediately that their precarious condition was known in St. Louis, sympathy was at once enlisted in their behalf, and boats went to their rescue, and many families, in this way, were snatched from impending fate.On the morning of the 19th, the river was found still advancing. Boats plied between St. Louis and the bluffs, and when the necessities of the sufferers there encamped were fully understood, they received from private charity many donations.
On the 20th, the river still rose, but not with the former rapidity. By the report of the city engineer, the flood was three feet four inches above the city directrix (the curb-stone on Front street, south side). The news was still gloomy. The Kansas River was reported to be still rising, though the Missouri was stationary. Some contended that it was the June rise, which proceeded from the melting of the snows in the mountains, which always swell to a great magnitude the streams which flow from them. Others declared, that if it were the June rise, the water would be of a colder temperature. Each steamboat that came from the Missouri and Illinois rivers had on board families that had been rescued from their homes, which had become surrounded and partially submerged by the water. Each of them had the same tale of sorrow — their all was lost by the flood.
On the morning of the 21st it was fondly hoped that the river would be found not so much risen during the night, and at early dawn there was many an anxious step that approached the levee, but there was disappointment again, the river was still rising. In the southern part of the city nearly all the land between Second and Front streets was submerged, and all the low portions of ground between Second and Third, and Third and Fifth streets, were under water. Many of the inhabitants of St. Louis took oar boats and rowed across the American bottom, which a few weeks before had promised a most abundant yield of oats, and on which the corn had just commenced its summer growth. They described the rushing of the swollen torrent through the forest as terrific; and the current was filled with the remnants of destroyed property.
On the morning of the 22d, friends greeted each other with the same dolorous exclamation — the river is rising. So great was the reported distress and danger of the inhabitants up the river that General Bernard Pratte, the efficient mayor of St. Louis, took the responsibility of sending boats to their relief. Many of the inhabitants who had doubtless remained in Brooklyn and Venice, thinking daily that the flood would subside, were rescued from impending fate. The boats found many families five or six miles back in the interior living in the upper stories of their isolated dwellings, having no means of escape. In one instance, the cattle and horses were standing on the most elevated spot up to their flanks merged in the water.
It was truly a time for the sympathies of the truly noble natures to develop themselves, and it is a bright record to leave to posterity to say that
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sympathy was not wanting. The captains of the steamboats were indefatigable in their exertions to save life and property, and were prodigal in their sacrifice of time and labor to effect their laudable intentions. A report was in circulation, that several of the inhabitants of the town of Madison, Illinois, were suffering and in danger of being swept off by the flood, and immediately Captain W. W. Green, W. J. Austin, and others, acting under the influence of generous feelings, determined, if possible, to start instantly to their assistance. They communicated with Captain Edward Saltmarsh of the Monona, and he at once offered to start with his boat, without compensation, to assist them in their philanthropic object. He was seconded by Captain E. H. Gleim, of the steamboat Sarah Ann, who offered a supply of wood for the voyage. More than thirty citizens volunteered for the occasion, and several inhabitants were rescued from perilous situations.So sensible were the citizens who accompanied Captain Saltmarsh, of the generous sacrifice which prompted him to put in use his boat, without any hope of reward, for the object of relieving suffering humanity, that they organized a meeting on the Monona, of which Archibald Carr was president, and Isaac B. Thomas was secretary; William J. Austin then, in an appropriate manner, stated the object of the meeting, and it was resolved, that a committee should be selected, who would draft resolutions suitable to the occasion. The gentlemen forming the committee were, A. O. Bowen, W. W. Green, William J. Austin, F. E. Robertson, and James McKown. The resolutions were as follow:
"Resolved, That we hereby tender our thanks to Captain Edward Saltmarsh, for the generous, humane, and prompt manner in which he has employed his boat, the Monona, in efforts to relieve the sufferers by the flood in our sister state of Illinois.
"Resolved, That the crew of the Monona on her this day, having volunteered their services, are worthy American citizens, with hearts to feel and hands to labor for the unfortunate and the suffering; and such are the men to sail under the stars and stripes of our land.
"Resolved, That we also express our thanks to Captain E. H. Gleim, of the steamboat Sarah Ann, for his generous supply of wood from his boat, for the Monona, and also for his own exertions on board the Monona as one of our party.
"Resolved, That the secretary of this meeting present a copy of these resolutions to Captain Saltmarsh and Captain Gleim, and also publish the same in the city papers."
In St. Louis there were more than five hundred persons who had been driven from their homes by the flood, and nearly all of them were dependent upon the charity of the citizens for their support. It was fortunate that it was summer, and that inferior lodgings were no great deprivation. The new tobacco warehouse, which had been erected the preceding year by Colonel Brant, was occupied by many of the sufferers, and many barns and outhouses on the outskirts of the city were likewise filled. It should be borne in mind, that even before the flood, there were not near dwellings sufficient in St. Louis for the demand of the population, and this new accession to the number of inhabitants brought every old tenement and vacant outhouse into requisition.
So as properly to attend to the wants of the sufferers, a meeting of the
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citizens was held in front of the court-house, and, on motion of A. B. Chambers Bernard Pratte was called to the chair, and Henry B. Belt was appointed secretary. It was then resolved that a committee of twenty should be appointed to carry out the objects of the meeting, and the following gentlemen were appointed for the purpose, viz., John M. Wimer, John Sefton, W. Glasgow, John Simonds, Ferdinand Kennett, T. B. Targee, Asa Wilgus, René Paul, A. Gamble, Charles C. Whittlesey, Dr. Simmons, A. B. Chambers, Frederick Kretschmar, W. Furness, Dr. Adreon, William Lowe, T. Polk, W. C. Jewett, W. R. Dawson, and Henry Singleton.The committee, after consultation, recommended that application should be made to the city council to appropriate some funds for the relief of the sufferers, and that a committee of five should be appointed to solicit subscriptions in each ward. The suggestions of the committee were acted upon, and the following gentlemen were nominated to collect gratuities:
For 1st ward, Matthias Steitz, H. G. Soulard, John Dunn, William Horine, and John Withnell. For 2d ward, Hiram Shaw, S. M. Sill, J. G. Barry, George Morton, and John J. Anderson. For 3d ward, John B. Sarpy, J. B. Brua, A. L. Mills, T. B. Targee, and Gibson Corthron. For 4th ward, George A. Hyde, Colonel George Mead, Robert P. Clark, J. B. Camden, and Jacob Hawkins. For 5th ward, N. Aldrich, A. Carr, John Leach, John Whitehill, and J. G. Shands. For 6th ward, Dennis Marks, W. Field, James Gordon, and T. O. Duncan. There was also a committee appointed to distribute among the sufferers the sums collected from private bounty.
It is proper in this place to state that the necessities of the great number who had sought refuge in St Louis, and had been forced by the flood to abandon their homes, were relieved with almost unparalleled generosity. In their hour of tribulation they also received that balm so grateful to the unfortunate, the consolation distilled by noble and generous sympathy. Nearly all contributed according to their means, and by little attentions, which alone are generated by feeling hearts in visiting the distressed, tried to call up again upon their features the warm gleams of hope and happiness.
On the morning of the 22d news came to St. Louis, by the boats, that the water in the Upper Missouri was falling, as was also the Illinois, and other tributaries of the Mississippi. This was joyful news, but the Mississippi at St. Louis did not attain its greatest elevation until the 24th about noon, when it was seven feet seven inches above the city directrix. It had reached the top of the directrix on the 17th of June, and it was on the 14th of July that the retreating waters again reached its top.
It becomes a matter connected with this history to state, that previous to this time, St. Louis had been visited by three great floods, one in 1785 one in 1811, and another in 1826. Of these, the one in 1785, known as l'année des grands eaux, was the highest; but none of them attained the elevation of the flood of 1844, of which we have given a minute description, as it forms an era in the description of the city.
The number of buildings erected in the city in 1844 was one thousand hundred and forty-six. Even the ruinous consequences of the great could not arrest the onward progress of St. Louis, or retard, in any material degree, its prosperity.
1845. — This year witnessed the organization of St. George's Church, of
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the Episcopal persuasion, and the congregation was placed under the charge of the Rev. E. C. Hutchinson, a man of great learning, high moral worth, and of meek and exemplary piety.In the summer of this year, the news reached St. Louis of the death of Colonel William L. Sublette, who had died at Pittsburgh on his way to Cape May, where he was proceeding to effect the restoration of his health. He belonged to one of the ancient families of the place, and was one of the companions of General Ashley in his perilous expedition across the Rocky Mountains, for the purpose of trading with the Indians, in 1820. When General Ashley retired, Colonel Sublette, who was one of his partners, still continued the trapping business in connection with Mr. Campbell, and, employing a great many men in their expeditions, amassed a large fortune. In political life he was a Democrat, and, in 1844, was the Polk and Dallas elector from his district. His remains were brought on to St. Louis and interred in a private cemetery upon his farm on the Manchester road. He was a man of fine feeling, and his death was much regretted.
It was in August that an election was held in St. Louis for members to the convention to revise the constitution, and Miron Leslie and Trusten Polk were the only Democrats elected from St. Louis county for that honorable and responsible task, the remaining four being Native American candidates. Their names were as follows: — William M. Campbell, Uriel Wright, Frederick Hyatt, and William W. Bassett. We here append the list of the elected delegates from the state to meet in convention to revise the constitution: — Corbin Alexander, of Saint Francois county; Lisbon Applegate, of Chariton; Jonathan M. Bassett, of Clinton county; Edwin D. Bevitt, of St. Charles county; Jas. O. Broadhead, of Pike county; Rowland Brown, of Platte county; John Buford, of Reynolds county; Samuel H. Bunch, of Polk county; William Massilon Campbell, of St. Louis county; John David Coalter, of St. Charles county; William McDaniel Davies, of Osage county; James Farquar, of Washington county; A. Finch, of Dade county; Asbury O. Forshey, of Montgomery county; James M. Fulkerson, of Nodaway county; Joshua Gentry, of Monroe county; Robert Giboney, of Stoddard county; James S. Green, of Lewis county; David M. Hickman, of Boone county; Thomas Maddin Horine, seventeenth district; Ezra Hunt, of Pike county; Abraham Hunter, nineteenth district and of Scott county; Frederick Hyatt, of St. Louis county; C. F. Jackson, of Howard county; H. Jackson, of Randolph county; B. A. James, of Greene county; Charles Jones, of Franklin county; William Claude Jones, of Newton county; James L. Jones, of Scotland county; Elias Kincheloe, of Shelby county; M. M. Marmaduke, of Saline county; B. F. Massey, of Lawrence county; John McHenry, of Bates county; N. C. Mitchell, of Lafayette county; James William Morrow, of Cole county; Thomas B. Neaves, of Greene county; Joseph B. Nickel, of Andrew county; William Benjamin Pannell, of Gasconade county; Philip Pipkin, of Jefferson county; Jno. E. Pitt, of Platte county; David Porter, of Wayne county; William Shields, twenty-sixth district; M. H. Simonds, fifth district; Duke W. Simpson, of Jackson county; William Y. Slack, of Livingston county; Robert M. Stewart, of Buchanan county; John F. Stone, of Boone county; Theodore F. Tong, of Madison county; Thomson Ward, of Platte county; Joseph B. Wells, of Warren county;
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Hiram Wilcoxsin, of Carroll county; Uriel Wright, of St. Louis county; and Benjamin Young, of Galloway county, thirteenth district. This year also Lucas Market and the City Hospital were commenced.1846. — We have before alluded to the formation of a mercantile library which first took place when St. Louis was but a good-sized village. For me years it existed, such as it was, consisting of a few hundred books of a miscellaneous character, contributed by the citizens, and but few of them of any intrinsic value. The little town had not physically expanded efficiently for mental growth, and in a few years the library died for want of public spirit to sustain it. Some years afterward it was again resuscitated, and an effort was made by some worthy and enterprising citizens to give it a permanent existence. Liberal donations in funds and books were given to it, and it promised for a time to answer the sanguine wishes of its friends; but the financial storm which swept over the whole Union in 1837 totally ruined the business of many of those who had nurtured it in prosperity, and, deprived of their succor, it became so involved in pecuniary embarrassments, that the books were levied upon by legal process, and would have been sold, had not some noble and generous spirits satisfied the demands against it.
The library then ceased to exist, and the books were piled away until, under more fortunate stars, it might again start into existence.
For many years the necessity of a library where particularly the young of both sexes could resort to read, or could find books sufficient to satisfy the cravings of inquiring minds, became manifest. The little town had now advanced to a great city, and commenced to teem with all the indications of wealth and prosperity. Hundreds of boats discharging or receiving freights upon the levee showed the extent of the commerce; colossal buildings were everywhere being erected, overtopping far the older residences, and in every feature there was increasing taste and luxury; schools had become established throughout the city, and a taste for mental culture had become predominant. The want of a public library was then felt to such a degree that measures were resolved to be taken by some of the leading citizens to supply it.
The citizens who took an active and leading part in the creation of the Mercantile Library, which is now one of the boasted institutions of our city, should have their name recorded in the history of St. Louis for assisting in so laudable a project. The following-named gentlemen appear to have been most efficient in bringing about an organization to accomplish the resuscitation of the Mercantile Library: — Messrs. Peter Powell, R. P. Perry, J. S. McCune, Wayman Crow, A. B. Chambers, J. E. Yeatman, Luther M. Kennett, John C. Tevis, George K. Budd, James H. Lucas, R. K. Woods, F. H. Morgan, Edward Walsh, John Simonds, William M. Morrison, Morris Collins, John Leach, Taylor Blow, W. H. Belcher, Roberth Barth, John A. Dougherty, Alfred Chadwick, Walter Carr, Alexander Peterson, E. Y. Wall, W. L. Kidd, S. A. Ranlett, N. Valle, Junius Hall, John Carson, A. Peterson, J. S. Thomas, I. W. Clark, A. Ricketson, J. F. Franklin, and Henry D. Bacon. From the number of these gentlemen, the board of officers and directors were chosen, which was as follows: — James E. Yeatman, president; L. M. Kennett, vice-president; S. A. Ranlett, corresponding secretary; John A. Dougherty, recording secretary; R. K. Woods, treasurer. Directors-Robert Barth,
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William M. Morrison, John C. Tevis, Peter Powell, J. F. Franklin, G. K. Budd, and A. Peterson.Whoever has walked in the vicinity of Tenth and Biddle streets may have observed a monument in an open space, on which is this simple inscription: "Pray for the souls of Thomas and Ann Biddle." Some little items connected with this monument will be of interest to the reader, and are intimately blended with some important features of our history.
On the 10th of January, 1846, it became rumored in the city that Mrs. Ann Biddle was dead. Her great wealth, her high social position, and, withal, her well-known charities and benevolence, had made her name familiar with all classes of society, and her death served to create inquiry and remark. She was the daughter of John Mullanphy, of immense wealth, at whose instigation the Sisters of Charity, four in number, first visited St. Louis. He purchased the land on which is situated the Convent of the Sacred Heart, and established and endowed the male department of the Mullanphy Orphan Asylum. She was also the consort of Major Thomas Biddle, whose untimely and unfortunate death in a duel we have before alluded to.
Mrs. Biddle, after the death of her husband, established the Female Orphan Asylum, and even gave up her fine residence on Broadway as an occupancy, and entirely supported it during the two years previous to her demise. Her charities did not cease at her dissolution; for in her will she left an appropriation for a widows' asylum, and to her testamentary munificence are the city of St. Louis and humanity indebted for the Biddle Infant Asylum and Asylum of Indigent Widows and Lying-in Hospital. Not yet is the catalogue of this noble-minded Christian exhausted. She left to St. Louis the ground on which Biddle Market stands, for the purpose of a market; and her charitable donations in every-day life it would be impossible to enumerate.
We have now to revert to the monument, with its meek and solemn invocation, which served as an introduction to the honorable name of Mrs. Ann Biddle. She left the piece of land on which the monument stands as a burial-place for herself and husband, and bequeathed eight thousand dollars to enclose it, build a vault, and to erect a monument. The meek inscription it bears is evidence of her conception of celestial purity; for though her life had been spent in the practice of those holy precepts inculcated by religion and virtue, she felt that sin and stain were inseparable from earthly existence, and the soul once linked to corporal life must be cleansed by some propitiation before it is fitted for the skies. The charitable institutions she has founded will make her name more imperishable than the marble mausoleum on which her name is inscribed. On one side of the plat of ground on which the vault is built is the Orphan Asylum; on the other, the Lying-in Asylum.
The harbor of St. Louis had always been a source of uneasiness and annoyance to the inhabitants. The currents of the Mississippi, in their eddying and wayward motion, continually changed the channel of the river, and as fast as obstructions were removed at one point they would form in another location, and seriously impede navigation. As has been before observed, both the city and general government had contributed to render it adequate to the wants of the growing city, and thousands of dollars had been spent upon it, apparently all in vain; for in this year a
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sand-bar formed in the river directly in front of the landing, extending from Duncan's Island up to Cherry street. The island was no longer a proper name, for the slough in many places had become partially filled up, and persons could pass over to the main part of the island without water interference. Along the levee, south of Oak street, navigation was entirely suspended, and the accumulation of sand was gradually forming toward the north. The inhabitants became much alarmed, and the necessities of urgent measures became so apparent that Congress and the city fathers at once contributed liberally toward clearing the harbor, and it was done in years afterward in so efficient a manner that it was of final benefit.The commerce of St. Louis, at this time, had reached an extent truly surprising, and not only involved the welfare of St. Louis, but that of the most fertile localities on the Missouri, Illinois, and Mississippi rivers, of which the great "Metropolis of the West" had become the market. Hence, directly it became apparent that the obstructions of the harbor presented truly a serious aspect, pecuniary relief was at once offered. In 1845, there were two thousand and fifty steamboats in the harbor of St. Louis, with an aggregate tonnage of three hundred and fifty-eight thousand and forty-five tons; and the number of keel and flatboats was three hundred and forty-six.
This year Peter G. Camden was elected mayor, succeeding Bernard Pratte, who had proved a most efficient municipal executive.
The news which reached St. Louis of war actually existing between the United States and Mexico created the wildest excitement, mingled at one time with the greatest solicitude, when it was rumored that General Taylor, with his handful of troops, was surrounded by an overpowering force of the enemy. Immediately the martial and patriotic spirit of the inhabitants evinced itself, and companies were organized almost at a moment's warning.
The St. Louis Legion, which had long been one of the most popular military organizations in the city, began immediately to prepare for the regions west of the Rio Grande. They had their camp at a little distance from the city, and military tactics and discipline were at once commenced. Some of the volunteers not being properly prepared for the campaign, Judge Bryan Mullanphy made an effort to get five thousand dollars from the State Bank of Missouri, on his individual note for four months, pledging valuable stocks as security; but the length of time, and the manner of his offered negotiation with the bank, proved an objection, and his patriotic efforts were fruitless. However, the citizens of St. Louis determined that the volunteers in the service of their country should not leave for a foreign land without their proper supplies, and at a meeting to take into consideration the subject, a subscription was started, and nearly six thousand dollars were subscribed on the spot. Colonel J. B. Brant started the subscription with one thousand dollars. The following named gentlemen contributed also most liberally: J. & E. Walsh, J. H. Lucas, B. Mullanphy, Robert Campbell, E. A. Filley, J. B. Sarpy, Alfred Vinton, William Milburn, K. Mackenzie, James Glasgow, Benjamin Stickney, A. Meier & Co., D. D. Mitchell, F. Kennett, Woods, Christy & Co., Loker, Renick & Co., Abbott & Peake, and I. Walker. By this opportune advance of money, the volunteers were provided with clothing suitable
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to the warm climate of the Mexican country. Each man was supplied with a blanket, which was essentially necessary as a campaign article of service.Our difficulty with Mexico dates back less than a score of years, and though Time has been busy garnering his harvest in the field of human life, yet it is in the recollection of both the young and old, how great was the martial excitement over the land at the time, and how many thousands of patriotic youths claimed the precedence of rushing to the battle-field, and in a foreign land. The fire of patriotism is of so pure and vestal a nature that it can kindle even in the sensitive heart of woman, and many a soft musical voice cheered the enthusiastic soldier, and caused the blood to gush warmer through the veins of the soldiers in their longing desire to prove in bloody strife their devotion to their country.
In St. Louis, the Legion was presented with a banner by Mrs. J. M. White and her daughter, Mrs. F. Kennett. The flag bore on one side the armorial bearings of the state of Missouri, and on the other side was the bird of our Union and of Jove, with the motto, "Success to the brave — may your trust be in God." Colonel Easton, the commanding officer of the Legion, received the flag, and when he had returned thanks in an appropriate and expressive manner, three hearty cheers to the fair donors, that made the welkin ring, burst from the lungs of the patriotic soldiers. Colonel Davenport, of the United States army, who was the presiding officer at Jefferson Barracks, also made a stirring address, which was received with exulting shouts. In a few days afterward, the St. Louis Legion took their departure for New Orleans, in a boat provided for that purpose, and hundreds of the population of St. Louis and the surrounding country stood on the bank of the "Father of Waters," watching the boat until it was no longer visible, freighted with young and gallant spirits.
The officers composing the regiment were as follows: A. R. Easton, colonel; F. Kennett, lieutenant-colonel; G. Shoenthaller, major; H. Almstedt, adjutant; George Johnson, surgeon; R. H. Stevens, assistant-surgeon; and George Knapp, lieutenant and acting-commander of sub.
St. Louis Grays — S. O. Coleman, captain; George W. West, first lieutenant; George Knapp, second lieutenant; Charles E. Allen, first sergeant; J. B. Shepherd, second sergeant; Edward Colston, third sergeant; S. F. Spalding, fourth sergeant; James Parker, first corporal; Samuel Roland, second corporal; A. T. Trysdale, third corporal; — Kingsley, fourth corporal.
Native American Rangers — Philander Salisbury, captain; William A. Barnes, first lieutenant; Henry L. Ross, second lieutenant; James Spore, first sergeant; David Bayles, second sergeant; John P. Shannon, third sergeant; Charles L. Smith, fourth sergeant; A. B. Vanerson, first corporal; J. F. Brooks, second corporal; John W. Yates, third corporal; J. B. Chesley, fourth corporal.
Boone Guards — John Knapp, captain; Thomas H. McVicker, first lieutenant; James Brown, second lieutenant; C. H. Merritt, first sergeant; D. S. Perry, second sergeant; G. W. Paul, third sergeant; Thomas D.
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Vandewenter, fourth sergeant; P. H. Erambert, first corporal; Benjamin Boone, second corporal; William A. Patterson, third corporal; Thaddeus Boone, fourth corporal.Montgomery Guards — John Watson, jr., captain; Patrick Deegan first lieutenant; Thomas Mara, second lieutenant; William Grumley, first sergeant; Thomas Nugent, second sergeant; Martin Dryer, third sergeant; Patrick Lawler, fourth sergeant; C. A. Rose, first corporal; G. O'Brien, second corporal; William Flynn, third corporal; N. N. Watson, fourth corporal.
Morgan Riflemen — Henry J. B. McKellops, captain; James T. Moore, first lieutenant; George N. Miller, second lieutenant; A. L. Whitley, first sergeant; Tilden Reed, second sergeant; William Coody, third sergeant; Joseph Langley, fourth sergeant; Hiram Ogden, first corporal; Charles Hammond, second corporal; Victor L. Benton, third corporal; Joseph Lawrence, fourth corporal.
Colonel Thornton Grimsby, with Mr. Charles Bent, an enterprising Indian trader, in a few days raised a mounted company of nearly a thousand efficient soldiers, but the governor of Missouri appointed another officer to command them. There was also the Laclede Rangers, under the command of Captain Thomas B. Hudson, a horse-artillery company, under the command of Captain Weightman, a company of mounted dragoons, under Captain Fischer, and an artillery company, commanded by Captain Renick. These mounted companies were to join Colonel Kearney at Fort Leavenworth and proceed across the plains to New Mexico. R. L. Clarke was elected major of an artillery battalion formed out of a portion of the companies we have named, and Colonel Robert Campbell was inspector-general of the mounted companies as they were forming. Colonel Bogg of the sixty-fourth regiment was very efficient in promoting the organization of the volunteer companies, and adding to their ardor by patriotic addresses. The pen, if moved alone by the volition of the author, would like to linger longer over this time, hallowed by patriotic feeling, and would wish to swell the narration, by recording the names of other officers, who were ready to offer their services and their lives, if required, for their country's good; but other topics connected with the history demand their share of attention.
October 26th witnessed the ceremony of the dedication of Odd Fellows' Hall. The building had been more than a year in the course of erection, the corner-stone having been laid April 26th, 1845, and the edifice being so splendid, and the occasion so replete with interest, the consecration was witnessed by a large assembly of the people, and there was a universal attendance of the order. On one of the tablets is inscribed, "Instituted June 13th, 1838 — Incorporated Feb. 22d, 1843." On the eastern wall, engraved in gold, are the words, so rich in moral precept and so
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typical of the institution of the order, "We command you to visit the sick, relieve the distressed;" and immediately opposite, on the western wall, are the words, likewise dressed in gold, "Bury the dead, and educate the orphan."The ladies of the Centenary Church presented the order, through the Rev. John Hogan, with a magnificent banner, bordered with the mystical symbols of the order, the centre occupied by a female form, representing Charity, and above, looking down upon all, was the All-seeing Eye. The banner was received, in behalf of the order, by Dr. John S. Moore, with elegant and appropriate remarks. In conclusion of the ceremonies on the interesting occasion, an oration was delivered by the Rev. Charles B. Parsons, showing the principles of morality and religion in which the institution of Odd Fellows was radicated, and from which it sprung. The address was delivered in an impressive manner, and was replete with classical and rhetorical beauties.
The pork trade in St. Louis, at this time, occupied considerable attention, employed much capital, and formed a large stern of the trade of the city. The most extensive establishments in the city were those owned by Messrs. Sigerson, Waddington, Swearingen, Conn, Amelung, Ames, Risley, Barber & Taylor, Butler & McCorkell, and Bachelder & Runyan. Some of these mammoth establishments could slaughter a thousand of hogs daily. Mr. Risler was the first pork packer in Missouri.
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Chapter VIII.
1847. — In the early part of this year an act was passed for the incorporation of the Boatmen's Saving Institution, which has become so popular with all classes of citizens, and which has by the proper use of its capital given increased vitality to the business of the city, and swelled and extended its limits. The gentlemen mentioned in the act as the corporators, and to whom principally belongs the credit of the new enterprise, were George W. Sparhauk, Sullivan Blood, Edward Dobbins, Luther M. Kennett, Daniel D. Page, B. W. Alexander, Adam S. Mills, Amade Valle, George K. Budd, Thomas Andrews, Henry D. Bacon, Laurason Biggs, Samuel C. Davis, James G. Barry and John M. Wimer.
It was in this year that there was a celebration of the "anniversary of the founding of St. Louis," and there was universal enthusiasm felt by the community on the occasion, and extensive preparations were made for the event, which took place on February 15th. The military and fire companies turned out on this interesting occasion, schools, societies and swelled the procession — all having waving banners, significant of the sphere in which they moved, and appropriate for the occasion. Dramn in an open carriage was Pierre Chouteau, the companion of Pierre Laclede Liguest, the founder of St. Louis. He was accompanied by his three sons one of whom was named Pierre Liguest. On the carriage the eyes of the immense multitude were bent with eagerness. That old man, with hoary locks, then upwards of ninety years was the last relic of those hardy pioneers who knew St. Louis the first year of its existence, and he was the pioneer trader of the savages inhabiting the wild solitudes of the Missouri.
In miniature was carried in the procession, the model of the first
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steamboat, the General Pike, that touched the levee in July, 1817. Even the model, true to its original, had a quaint and awkward appearance; and to show the march of improvement, and to give to it still more the impress of antiquity, another model of a modern steamer with all of its graceful and palatial finish, was carried in its wake. The General Pike was a creation of the past — was uncomely and clumsy in its structure, but when it first touched the wharf it looked to the voyayeurs, the Indians, and the raftsmen, the complete embodiment, and finest of all that creative genius could accomplish. They had been accustomed to look upon the Mackinaw boat, the raft, and the keel-boat, and the General Pike, to them, was like a fairy creation.It was a beautiful sight to witness the innocent transport of the youth, formed in separate companies and coming from the public and private schools of the city. Most of them had their banners and their badges, and their presence gave an April freshness to the occasion. Conspicuous among the number were the pupils of Mr. Wyman's high-school.
The part of the procession made up of the Freemasons and the Independent order of Odd Fellows, was most imposing. They had on this occasion on parade, all of the devices and emblems peculiar to their orders, and on their banners were mottoes of Christian precept, and significant of the goodness and usefulness of these worthy institutions. The printers, firemen, coopers, trunk, saddle and harness makers, were all there, with appropriate devices indicating their presence in the procession.
Conspicuous in the line of march were immense casks, indicating the advent and the reign of that extensive and blessed institution — lagerbier. One cask was from the brewery of Adam Lemp, another from the brewery of McHose and English, another from the brewery of G. Snyder, and one from the Union Brewery, owned by Julius Winkelmair. The most rotund, jolly, rubicund and roystering set of Germans were chosen to accompany the beer casks.
Some idea may be formed of the length of the procession, when it reached from Spruce to Pine street. After perambulating through the great thoroughfares of the city, it at length halted in the locality of the court-house, from the steps of which the address was to be delivered by Honorable Wilson Primm, a member of the St. Louis bar, who was born in St. Louis, and whose ancestors were at the founding of the city, in 1764. This address was published in a pamphlet form, and is a lucid and succinct relation of the early settlement of the town. Its style is chaste, profuse in rhetorical beauty, and classical; and was delivered with that burning and fervid eloquence for which its author is so remarkable. After the address, the officers of the procession and a number of citizens and distinguished strangers proceeded to the Planters' House, to partake of the sumptuous dinner prepared for the occasion. The Honorable John F. Darby presided, and the following gentlemen were the appointed vice-presidents, H. Von Phul, F. R. Conway, Dr. B. G. Farrar, Edward Bates, Asa Wilgus, Dr. Robert Simpson, Colonel John O'Fallon, W. King and Colonel J. B. Brant. On the right of the president was seated the venerable Pierre Chouteau. The dinner was truly a convivial one; there were hunger and thirst sufficient to do justice to the choice wine and viands supplied in prodigal profusion; and the intellect kindled and the spirits
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warmed and danced, under the happy influence of the festive scene. Complimentary toasts were drunk and responded to, and if some mind too aspiring for its capacity, would fail in its rhetorical flights, or would play sad havoc with facts and dates of history, the effusion was hailed as the essence of historical knowledge, and poetical beauty. The time was dedicated to the festal hour, and nothing was suffered to mar its influence.If space permitted, we would like to give some of the fine toasts, radiations of cultivated intellects glowing with the fires of true inspiration, but it cannot be — we must hasten to other events which in the progress of time have been teeming into birth, and require a record to preserve them as memorials.
Festive occasions are called into existence by the genial sunshine of prosperity, and the celebration of "The Anniversary of the Founding of St. Louis," was followed by a general illumination of the city. As yet, gas had not been introduced, but at a meeting of the citizens, it was determined that the Mexican victories should be celebrated by a general illumination. Nearly all of the grounds in the vicinity of Lucas market were then vacant, and cannons were planted on them, and also fire rockets; and the sending up of these last, was a signal for the illumination, which, commencing simultaneously in every part of the city, was attended with the most striking and brilliant effect. In a moment, St. Louis, as it were, was bathed in a flood of light. Many of the boats on the levee were beautifully lit up on the occasion, and bonfires streamed forth from every part of the city. One of the markets was lit up in a very brilliant manner by the command of the stockholders, and during the day, from the office of the Reveille, a caged eagle was loosed, bearing on one of its legs, a brass plate, with the impress "Buena Vista." The noble bird, though he had been some time a prisoner, soared easily and gracefully from the earth, toward the setting sun, watched by thousands of citizens, as he cleaved his way through the regions of space, to soar through which, strong pinions had been given by the beneficent God of Nature.
While the people of St. Louis were enjoying the festive hour, and celebrating, with illumination, the triumph of American arms, from across the Atlantic were heard the doleful sounds of distress proceeding from starving thousands. Ireland and Scotland, from an almost total failure of crops, were visited by the ghastly terrors of famine. From hunger, hundreds died, and unless instant relief were sent, thousands more would meet the same torturing doom. By the suffering in those countries, an appeal was their countrymen in the United States — nor was it made in vain. From every city of note in the Union, contributions in money, food, and apparel were forwarded to the suffering countries. In St. Louis, the friends of Ireland called a meeting, at which Colonel John O'Fallon presided, and Christopher Garvey was appointed secretary. The meeting was for the relief of the sufferers of Ireland; and to carry out its object, the following named gentlemen were chosen as committee: — Col. J. O'Falon, Colonel Joshua B. Brant, George Collier, Judge Bryan Mullanphy, Captain John Simonds, Edwards Walsh, John Finney, Colonel Robert Campbell, Eugene Kelley, Wm. Lindsay, Colonel T. Grimsley, H. Von Phul, R. M. Rennick, A. Elliott, George Buchanan, George K. McGunnegle, A. Vinton, J. E. Yeatman, A. Piggott, P. Slevin, and Captain Wm. Rowe.
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There were many other citizen of St. Louis, who took an active part in forwarding the philanthropic undertaking.There were various meetings held also of citizen Scotchmen, and those of Scotch descent, to relieve the destitution of that country, so endeared to patriotic hearts, by the memories of Bruce and Wallace. Taking the lead for the relief of Scotland, was Kenneth Mackenzie, ably seconded by Colonel A. D. Stuart, H. Ogden, T. M. Taylor, T. S. Rutherford, Thomas Webster, John S. Thompson, W. B. Barber, James Moffat, Thomas Primrose, N. E. Janney, Wm. Strachan, Judge Ferguson, and D. A. Marshall. The citizens of St. Louis contributed most liberally to those worthy appeals to their benevolence, and we regret that we cannot afford more space to the recording of the names of others who nobly came forward on that occasion, and responded liberally to the appeal made upon their bounty.
On December 20th, of this year, the great wonder of the day — the culminating glory of the human intellect — the magnetic telegraph commenced operations on the Illinois side opposite St. Louis, and transmitted messages on the "lightning wing" to the principal cities of the east. For a little while, this grand creation, more grand than any former conception of the human intellect, and evincing the spirituality of the intellect, and the intimate connection with the Deity from its power, was the theme of universal conversation and general interest, and then, losing the polished attraction of novelty, other events more newly born became for a season the pets of popular favor.
Every city, at this time, wished to become a link in the great chain of railroads, which were fast extending themselves through the different sections of the Union, and placed distant cities in close proximity. Some years before, there had been an Internal Improvement Convention held in St. Louis, which we have already noticed, but after a meteoric display of enthusiasm, the subject died away, and there was no indication left of its existence. The railways were then very distant, but now the whistle of the engine was approaching from the east, and Cincinnati could boast of a railroad connection with all of the principal eastern cities. It was a darling project too of her enterprising business men, to have a railway connection with the Mississippi river, at St. Louis. What would be the best route through Indianapolis or Vincennes? Each of these routes had its friends, and could advance, respectively, arguments in favor of each locality for the proposed road. The citizens of Vincennes became very active in having the projected road to pass through their city, and meetings were held, and the capitalists of the place were ready to subscribe liberally to the stock, if the "Ohio and Mississippi Railroad" would pass the Wabash at that location. That route was at length determined upon, after a communication with the citizens of St. Louis.
The citizens of Vincennes are entitled to much credit for their enterprising exertions in getting the route fixed upon through their city. Judges John Law and Abner T. Ellis were untiring in their efforts on that occasion, and visited St. Louis several times to confer with our prominent citizens. They were likewise efficiently assisted, by Messrs. Samuel Judah, David S. Bonner, Wm. Birtch, John Wise, Cyrus M. Allen, John Ross, Wm. B. McCord, and Benjamin S. Thomas. Many of the citizens of St. Louis took an active part in creating this great highway
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of travel, running through the heart of the great American bottom — the Goshen of the Union.On December 28th, there was a meeting of the citizens of St. Louis, called to take into consideration the propriety of taking measures to authorize the city of St. Louis to subscribe five hundred thousand dollars toward the construction of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad; George Collier presided at the meeting, and John F. Darby was appointed secretary. The following resolution was then offered by T. B. Hudson, and adopted:
Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed by the chairman of this meeting, whose duty it shall be to petition the legislature o the passage of a law authorizing the city of St. Louis to subscribe for five hundred thousand dollars of stock in the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, and that said committee be instructed to use all proper exertions to secure the passage of such law.
Agreeably to this resolution, the following-named gentlemen were appointed by the chair as such committee: T. B. Hudson, A. Gamble, L. M. Kennett, J. F. Darby, A. Kayser, James E. Yeatman, and George Collier.
The efforts of the committee were successful in procuring the passage of an ordinance, granting St. Louis the privilege of the contemplated subscription, provided it should meet with the approbation of the people. The people did vote for the measure, and accordingly the stock was subscribed to.
We here remark that Prof. Mitchel, he whose fame is associated with the stars, by his devotion to astronomy, and his success in bringing within the scope of human vision, more of the sublime mysteries of that ennobling science, was untiring in his efforts to bring about the railroad connection between Cincinnati and St. Louis; and to the influence of the addresses which he delivered in these cities, and the cities on the contemplated line, is, in a great measure, to be attributed, at so early a period, this direct connection between this great metropolis of the western country.
Let it suffice for the present, that the citizens of Vincennes, whom we have mentioned, took a most prominent part in the incipiency of this great measure, and procured a charter from the Indiana legislature. We will again recur to this subject.
1848. — The character of the inhabitants of a city is reflected by their actions, and whoever attentively peruses the history of St. Louis, will find how seriously alive the citizens are on all occasions to the claims of merit, and anxious to reward and cherish it by some public demonstration. This year there were meetings held, and resolutions complimentary were passed to the volunteer companies who returned from Mexico. Many of the officers of the United States army, on their return from Mexico, stopped en route, to Washington, at St. Louis, and must have been gratified with their reception. A complimentary dinner was offered to General Shields and accepted; and to Colonel Kearney and Colonel Doniphan, the same honor was tendered, which, from the pressure of their business, they were compelled to decline.
As has been before observed, St. Louis had always manifested strong political proclivities, and the "Rough and Ready" fever which raged at
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one time throughout the whole Union, with such maddening excitement, may be said to have commenced in St. Louis. Ward and mass meetings were held, and long before the hero of Palo Alto, Monterey, Buena Vista, and other battles, ever dreamed of aspiration to civic honors, it had been determined on in St. Louis, the next in that measure to New Orleans, that the chief magistracy of the Union should reward his military exploits.The martial excitement produced by the victorious news from Mexico was increased by the reports which announced the breaking out of the revolution in Paris and Germany. In St. Louis there was a large meeting held on April 19th; Judge John M. Krum was chosen president, and Alexander Kayser, David Chambers, Judge Bryan Mullanphy, and John F. Darby, vice-presidents. The following gentlemen were chosen secretaries, C. E. Lebaume, Lewis Cortambert, and Alexander J. P. Garesche. This meeting was largely attended, but it was only preliminary to a general mass meeting that was in contemplation. For this mass meeting a committee was appointed to prepare an address and suitable resolutions. The following-named gentlemen received the appointment: R. S. Blannerhassett, James Lemen, Daniel H. Donovan, John F. Darby, Wilson Primm, James G. Barry, Colonel L. V. Bogy, Captain Deegan, D. A. Magehan, Lewis Bach, Robert Cathcart, J. S. Hall, Reuben B. Austin, P. G. Camden, Judge Schaumburg, Judge Mullanphy, and William Weber. The address prepared by the committee, and which was read at the mass meeting by Pierce C. Grace, was a very able one, and the people of Paris, who had hurled the monarch from the throne and compelled him to flee, were lauded with the most enthusiastic cheers. Lamartine was the Spartan hero, who thus successfully headed the popular outbreak which destroyed the Bourbon dynasty, and his name became familiar to every fireside. He forsook his studies for the great occasion; and through his exertions there was a promise, for a brief period, that France would be a republic. She became one, but not to remain one. A revolution had before afforded an avenue to the ambition of Napoleon; and when again kingly power became extinct by revolutionary movements, a Bonaparte again, with the marvellous power of genius and greatness, took the dynasty of the great nation in his hands; and that, too, with the consent of the people who had, a few months before, risen in mass against monarchical arbitrament. He has become the idol of the people — not forced upon them by any hereditary prerogative, but their chosen one; and it may be truly said, the darling object of his great mind is, to heap glory upon France and make her "proudly eminent" among the nations of the earth. Lamartine, the gentle enthusiast, the scholar, the hero, unskilled in diplomatic finesse, and whose theory of government had been woven in the closet, and was of too gossamer a texture for strength and durability, went into exile and became a literary devotee, for which nature had designed him, and his sentimental creations, so dream-like, so spiritual in their nature, have gone abroad to the world, and have given him a fame far more wide than his efforts in a sterner sphere.
The French citizens in St. Louis were enthusiastic at the success of the outbreak in Paris, and the dawn of a republican government. They called a meeting, at which Dr. John Rivereau presided, and of which Wilson Primm was appointed secretary. The Marseillaise Hymn was sung,
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and eloquent dresses were delivered. On the same evening there was a large gathering of the Germans, produced by the exciting news from the faderland, and the revolutionary indication from every part, produced by republican tendencies. At all of these meetings resolutions were passed for the preparation of patriotic addresses, to be sent to France and Germany, expressive of sympathy and encouragement.On June 22d the death of Edward Charless was announced. From the fact that the deceased came to this country with his father, Joseph Charless, at a very early period, when it was Louisiana Territory together with his extensive acquaintance and estimable qualities, his death became a matter of public concern. He died in the fiftieth year of his age universally regretted. A few months after the decease of Edward Charless, the country was called upon to mourn the death of General Stephen W. Kearney, who died of chronic diarrhoea, a disease contracted while he was in Mexico, and which proved more fatal to our gallant officers and soldiers than the arms of the enemies. General Kearney was a native of New Jersey, and when in the eighteenth year of his age, and when a student of Nassau Hall, Princeton, at the breaking out of the war in 1812 with Great Britain, he obtained a commission of first-lieutenant. He was taken prisoner during the war, and after being exchanged, served with honor during the campaign; and when the army was reduced to a peace establishment, he acquired the rank of captain. Having thus early entered upon the profession of arms, he cleaved to what appeared his ruling passion, and remained in the active service of his country until he was cut off by death, in the fifty-fifth year of his age.
Colonel Kearney was early identified with the western country. He was sent to protect the frontier parts of the western country, which for many years were visited with all the horrors of savage warfare. He was engaged in the campaign in the south against the Camanches, and for many years was stationed at Fort Leavenworth on the Missouri, and by his knowledge of the Indian character, and by his conciliatory and decided conduct, he kept the frontier settlements free from those terrible atrocities which form the record of most of the pioneer settlements of our land. He married Miss Radford, step-daughter of Gov. William Clark, in St. Louis; and during the Mexican war, with the rank of brigadier general, by order of the government he went across "the plains" to take possession of Mexico and California. History has recorded his success in accomplishing the responsible mission confided to him. The city of St. Louis was his home; and he was buried with military honors. The funeral obsequies were in keeping with the official position and wealth of the illustrious deceased; an impressive sermon was delivered on the Rev. Bishop Hawks, and the procession extended a mile in length on its passage to the cemetery. Then, when the body was deposited in the vault, the artillery boomed, and three rounds were fired by then the process on started for the city, and the remains the lamented Kearney were left in the cemetery.
About the closing of the year, the inhabitants of St. Louis became much the existence of Asiatic cholera in New Orleans, and now and then a death occurred near the city with all the symptoms of that dreaded pestilence. For more than a year previous the dreaded malady had appeared in Europe, then in Canada, and its course through the United
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States had been predicted by many eminent physicians. The warnings had been heralded abroad by the journals throughout the Union, and in St. Louis they had again and again suggested the necessity of anticipating the pestilence, by commencing the most effective sanitary precautions. The weakness of humanity is generally to procrastinate; and what could have been done in 1848 in the way of sanitary precautions, was postponed, which, though it might not have precluded the appearance of the direful disease, would have disarmed it of half of its deadly power. It was not until now and then a scattering case showed clearly that the disease was within the portals, that any efficient efforts were taken to remove the filth everywhere abounding, and to commence the process of purification. However, after a few days, the alarm subsided, for, no fresh cases occurring, and the news that the malady was on the decline in New Orleans, the inhabitants thought no more of the dread enemy, which they supposed had finally departed, and the city authorities bent their efforts to accomplish things occupying more of public interest than cleaning the streets.1849. — It was in April that the trustees purchased what is now known as the Belle Fontaine Cemetery. The act of corporation styled the cemetery the "Rural Cemetery," but it being on the Belle Fontaine road, it was very properly changed to the name it now bears. It was bought of Luther M. Kennett, and was known as the "Hempstead Farm." The names of the trustees mentioned in the act are John F. Darby, Henry Kayser, Wayman Crow, James E. Yeatman, James Harrison. Charles S. Rannells, Gerard B. Allen, Philander Salisbury, William Bennett, Augustus Brewster, and William M. M'Pherson. The charter is forfeited if the land is devoted to any other purpose than that of a cemetery. At the time of the purchase of the land, the road, which now runs along the skirt of the river which bounds the grounds on the east side, ran through them, directly up the hill, but was changed by the order of the County Court. It is one of the most beautiful positions for a cemetery that could have been chosen — nature appears to have adapted it to the purpose. It is the proper distance from the city, and has a retired, romantic situation. At the time of the purchase it was covered with a fine growth of young timber in a thrifty state, and a large portion of which still remains upon the grounds, imparting to it a grandeur which could not be derived from any foreign umbrageous importation. The main road in the grounds winds gently around the lofty elevation, and almost from every point on the east side can be seen the broad surface of the "Father of Waters," sublimely sweeping along in his course to southern latitudes.
There is, even now, though not more than a half-score years in existence, more grandeur about Belle Fontaine Cemetery than invests Greenwood, Laurel Hill, or Auburn, the renowned cemeteries of the old Atlantic cities, and when one tithe of the expense has been devoted to it which has been so prodigally expended upon them, the sublimity of our western cemetery, assisted by the tasteful embellishments of art, will give to it a striking superiority.
One of the finest features of the act of incorporation of this cemetery, and which lends to it the warm lustre of fraternal affection, is the provision that it must be free from all sectarian influences. The dead, with all the opposition of their different creeds hushed by the power of death,
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which levels all and silences all, here can repose side by side in Christian brotherhood, and who, beneath the same sod, can await the glorious resurrection promised by the one beneficent God, who looks more to the heart than the creed — more to genuine piety than to the rules of doctrinal observances.1849 will ever be a marked era in the annals of St. Louis, and the succeeding pages will fully develop to the reader the striking causes which give to it a noted existence. It was early on Thursday evening of the 19th of May, that there were several alarms of fire, but they were either false alarms; or insignificant in their nature. At ten o' clock the fire-bells again rang, and in a few moments, blending with their sound, were the ringing of the steamboat bells, ominous that one or more of their number was in danger of fire. The import was truly significant, for a fire had broken out on the White Cloud, lying on the wharf between Vine and Cherry streets, and set at defiance any effort made to quench it. The flames were quickly communicated to four other boats that were contiguous, and the immense crowd which had gathered on the wharf were of opinion that these boats alone would be victims to the flames. Such, however, was not the case, and things commenced to assume a terrible aspect. By the action of the fire, the White Cloud had become loosed from her fastenings, and, drifting out in the current, floated down the stream. Directly it was discovered that the White Cloud was on fire, the fleet of boats at the wharf, to escape the conflagration, had cut their cables, and were carried out in the current, and among these, with no power to escape, for the steam was not in operation, the White Cloud drifted with its crackling timbers. By the philosophic laws which govern heat and cold, the flames wooed the sportive currents of air, which, rushing to the burning steamer, carried her with velocity down the stream, and into the midst of others, whose very measures of safety proved their destruction. Such often is the fallibility of reason, and we reason "but to err."
The flames from the White Cloud quickly communicated to the other steamers, and in a few moments the spectacle presented itself of twenty-three boats in flames. It was a sight too extensive in its range — too terrible in its sublimity for an artist to transfer to the canvas, even under the rapt influences of inspiration. The immense conflagration was a mile in its length. The light was painfully brilliant. It radiated all things in its vicinity. The eddying current of the Mississippi appeared as a Phlegethon rolling burning waves; the sound of the devouring flames licking the timbers of the vessels, could be distinctly heard; and the deep darkness of the forest lining the Illinois shore, seemed like the outlines of a gloomy Tratarus. It was a picture of ruin and desolation, produced by the most dangerous of the elements, which, blended with earth, air, and water, make the glorious face of nature; and there was a hush among the immense crowd which thronged the levee, which showed the deep intensity of their feelings.
The burning, at one time, of twenty-three boats would have made any conflagration famous, and would have insured a record on the pages of history; but this great conflagration had a wider range. The levee was covered by bales, barrels, and boxes of every description, and some of them containing the most combustible materials. The flames from the boats
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reached these, and the wind blowing from the north-east, they were finally communicated to a row of shanties on the river, situated between Vine and Locust streets. They then communicated to the adjoining square, south, and, favored by the wind, which appeared to blow most propitious for the work of destruction, many blocks of houses were in flames at one time, and the efforts of the devoted firemen were almost fruitless. The fire had extended over too great a surface, and, unfortunately, at an early stage the water had given out.We will now follow the track of the fire in its ravages, which to many of the citizens of St. Louis may be a matter of interest and anxious inquiry. The little row of shanties on the south-east corner of Locust street, on Front, were first destroyed, and then communicated to the block of buildings on Front street, between Locust and Olive streets. The following entire blocks on Front street, embracing both sides of Commercial street, were entirely destroyed, saving the few exceptions which we will mention. The block between Locust and Olive streets was entirely destroyed, with the exception of one house, owned by George Collier, which was saved by the efforts of some persons who at the time were in the building. The next block on the south, between Olive and Pine streets, was entirely consumed, and also the entire block south of that, between Pine and Chesnut streets, and the west half of the next block on the south side, between Chesnut and Market streets, with the exception of one house. The Market-house, occupying the eastern portion of the next block, between Walnut and Chesnut, was saved with much difficulty. Nearly the whole of the portions of the blocks fronting on Main street, and situated between Locust and Chesnut streets, were destroyed. Half of the block located between Olive and Pine streets, fronting on Second street, was burnt, and the two entire blocks between Pine and Market streets, and fronting on Second street, were consumed, and a portion of the block on the south side of Market street, between Main and Second streets.
While this portion of the town was burning, a fire broke out in the south part of the city, on Elm street, south side, and nearly all of the block between Front and Main streets was destroyed, and the whole of the block between Main and Second streets. The block on the south side of Myrtle, between Second and Third streets, was also nearly consumed.
We have now indicated the locations ravaged by the fire, and the area of the burnt district would have been more extensive had not a resort to blowing up buildings with gunpowder been resorted to, to open chasms between the buildings where the flames might spread themselves. In one of the explosions, a worthy citizen was killed. Mr. T. B. Targee had been a large auctioneer in the city. At the time of his death he was the weigher of the city, and his business and social worth had endeared him to a large number of friends, and his life, thus lost by an unfortunate accident, and while assisting in stopping the course of the flames, was deeply lamented. There were several others seriously wounded by the explosion, among whom were Russel Prentiss and Wells Colton.
In this immense conflagration, there were twenty-three steamboats, three barges, and one canal-boat destroyed; the total value of the boats and cargoes was estimated at $439,000. The whole value of property destroyed by the conflagration exceeded three millions of dollars.
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Such a conflagration in most cities had staid the tide of prosperity, and so interrupted the business channels that it would have taken years to recover from it. The vital functions of St. Louis were, however, too full and extensive even to be weakened by the destruction of such an amount of property. The very loss proved, on the contrary, a benefit and a blessing, like the tree that gathers more vigor when cropped of its luxuriance. Immediately after the fire, the property-holders held a meeting, to take counsel what should be done in the emergency. The property holders on Main street determined to petition the city council to widen that great avenue of business, and as the city had not to purchase any of the land, their request was at once complied with, and in commencing to build up that street, the foundations were considerably withdrawn from the former bounds of the buildings, and Main street was widened to its present limits.In understanding the limits of the burnt district, it will be perceived that Front street, from Locust to Market, was entirely destroyed by the flames, with the exception of two or three houses on the west side of Commercial street. Between Commercial street and the levee there was not one left. The block on Front street, extending to Vine, was likewise much injured. It was then a fine opportunity to extend the levee from Front to Commercial street, and from Vine to Market street. This would have been a levee suitable to the immense and constantly-increasing business of the great Metropolis of the West, and some of the most enterprising citizens suggested that the city authorities should buy the property, and in future years, as the city increased in size, and its multiplying wants demanded more space on the levee, it could gradually purchase, and in time St. Louis would have one of the noblest levees in the world — that would insure her against any accidental fire that might occur on the steamboats, and also from the damage arising from the great rise of waters which, at certain periods, are incidental to the Mississippi and its tributaries. Many of the citizens were, however, averse to this great measure, and with some show of reason. They contended that the city was already somewhat straitened in its resources by the calamity of the fire, and the purchase of four extensive blocks would be unwise at that juncture, as it was impossible that any additional financial weight could be supported.
There was another very forcible argument alleged against the enterprising measure, which would ultimately have insured the widening of the levee along its whole extent. It was contended that legislation should be the levee was widened only at the burnt district, its enlarged proportions and business facilities would have a tendency of making that quarter the nucleus of the great trade of St. Louis. There were many means proposed to the city council of widening the levee, and after much consideration, that body determined to make it wider by drawing somewhat on the wide domain of the Father of Waters. The wharf was filled in to low-water mark, which made considerable addition to the levee, but not sufficient to give it the extent which the business of the city requires.
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The origin of the great fire will ever remain a mystery. That it was the work of an incendiary many supposed, and there existed some strong evidence of the fact. There were several arrests made, and testimony taken which strongly showed that some "fiend incarnate" had committed the diabolical act of firing the steamboat White Cloud, which gave birth to the conflagration. However, nothing could be legally proved against the suspected persons, and the steamer may have taken fire from some sparks communicated by the passing boats. If the fire were accidental, this is the only rational mode of accounting for it, as there was no fire on board the White Cloud, she having been some weeks undergoing repairs.
As we noticed before, the cholera had made its appearance in St. Louis at the close of the year 1848, and after a few deaths, the disease had wholly disappeared. Early in the spring of 1849, it again returned, deaths occurring each day, and increasing in numbers as the days lengthened and commenced to glow with the warm breath of approaching summer. It may be here remarked, that if there were any place on the Mississippi River which could furnish in abundance aliment for the cholera, St. Louis was that place. Most of the alleys were unpaved, and were used as repositories for all kinds of filth thrown from the dwellings, and which had become blended with the soil one or two feet below the surface. When the alleys were cleansed, the surface only was scraped, and the rest was left to exhale its poisonous particles. In many parts of the city, the cellars contained water, which, becoming stagnant, like so many Dead Seas, infected the atmosphere, offering all the elements of nutrition to a malignant pestilence like the cholera. There was not a sewer in the city, which could have corrected this last evil by draining the cellars.
In June, the disease assumed a malignity which set at naught the appliances of science, and carried consternation among the inhabitants. Then it was, at that hour, that the most efficient sanitary measures were taken. The streets were swept, alleys were cleansed, and all the train of disinfectant agencies were resorted to. It was all in vain — the enemy had gained possession of the citadel before proper measures had been taken to combat it.
When this terrific malady was raging in all of its virulence, and nothing could stay its progress, the columns of the daily journals were teeming with speculative theories on the cause of the disease, and the proper measures to effect its cure. A board of the most respectable physicians in the city, after careful consultation, gave it as their opinion that a vegetable diet was highly injurious, and a meat diet less liable to objections than any other. In accordance with the opinions of the board of physicians, the city council issued an ordinance prohibiting the sale of vegetables within the city limits; and a large class of horticulturists, who had depended upon St. Louis as their market, were compelled to let their vegetables remain ungathered upon the soil. The fiat of the city council was productive of golden times for the butchers, for the approval of meat as an article of diet was construed by some as a remedy for the disease, and meat was devoured in quantities unknown before in domestic annals.
In despite, however, of the meat diet, the cleansing and purifying of streets and alleys, and all the various applications of disinfectant agents,
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day by day the pestilence increased, and the mortality reached the number of one hundred and sixty deaths per diem. Then other theories began to be advanced, and other remedies prescribed for the disease by physicians, which were totally at variance with the regimen which other physicians had advocated. The meat diet being proved as no preventive to the disease, a crusade was entered against it, condemning its stimulating properties, and declaring that it put the system in a state which made it liable to receive the infection. The vegetable diet, which had received the unqualified condemnation of one set of physicians, was declared by others to be the natural food of man, and the most suitable diet during the existence of the infectious malady. It was truly a time for the disagreement of the doctors, and the city authorities, half converted by the eulogies that had been pronounced upon vegetables, and half convinced by the proof that man was naturally akin to ruminating animals, formally revoked their former ordinance, which had declared the prohibition of the sale of vegetables. Each one of the dietetic systems had its friends and advocates, and while they were doubtless injuring themselves by the practice of either exclusive theory, there was a small class of the citizens more wisely adopting no extremes, knowing that health depends upon a few simple laws, who pursued a dietetic course that would strengthen the system, keep in healthful play the vital functions, and who studiously avoided the enervating influence of strong mental excitement. This class of persons suffered but little from the cholera. The malady seldom attacked them, and if it did, so well fortified was the system that it successfully resisted it.Throughout the spring and early part of summer, every boat coming from New Orleans was freighted with crowds of emigrants, and they, fatigued with a long voyage, and landing from crowded ships with their bodies in a debilitated state, were slaughtered in hecatombs by the dreadful pestilence. The city authorities determined to prevent the arrival of emigrants who were likely to bear about them the seeds of any disease, by subjecting the boats to quarantine regulations. Then again physicians opposed the measure, on the grounds of the non-contagious character of the cholera, but the citizens urged the adoption of the measure, having lost much faith in medicinal faith and practice At the recommendation of the Committee of Public Health, the city council adopted quarantine regulations, and issued an ordinance to that effect, empowering the mayor and Committee of Public Health to select the location, and to erect suitable tents and sheds for the accommodation of those who should be taken from boats with the infectious disorder, or those whom it should be adjudged proper should not proceed to the city, from the probability of bearing about them the seeds of disease. A committee was appointed to select a site for the quarantine, and A. B. Chambers and R. S. Blennerhassett, who, having called to their selection was at once adopted.
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were chosen for this responsible purpose, and Dr. Barrett was appointed physician-in-chief, and afterward to Dr. Carrow was entrusted the visiting of the boats up the river. The adoption of quarantine regulations, by giving to the emigrants airy and comfortable quarters, and skilful attendance, doubtless took from the pestilence one-half of its victims.So long and fatal was this dreadful visitation, and so ineffectual all human remedies, that the Committee of Health appointed the second of July as a day of humiliation and prayer, that the Almighty Power might have compassion, and stop its ravages. It was not until late in the month of July that there was any diminution in the number of deaths, and then, while the citizens had commenced to enjoy the prospect of a daily diminution, and to feel that the tenure of life was less precarious, again there was a conflagration, produced by the burning of five steamboats, which, with their cargoes, were estimated to the value of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
About the middle of August the disease had nearly disappeared. The season of its greatest virulence was from the last of April to the first week in August, and the following table will show the extent of mortality during this period for each week:
| For week ending | Total deaths. | Cholera. | For week ending | Total deaths. | Cholera. |
| April 30. | 131 | 41 | June 25. | 763 | 589 |
| May 7. | 135 | 78 | July 2 | 903 | 619 |
| " 14. | 273 | 185 | " 9 | 773 | 591 |
| " 21. | 192 | 127 | " 16. | 867 | 639 |
| " 28. | 186 | 115 | " 23. | 442 | 269 |
| June 4 | 144 | 75 | " 30. | 225 | 93 |
| " 11. | 283 | 191 | August 6. | 152 | 34 |
| " 18. | 510 | 404 | |||
| 5,989 | 4,060 |
From June 25th to July 16th was the most fatal period of this dreadful scourge, which has left its impress upon the table of time, as a marked event that is not to be forgotten. The able report of the Committee of Health shows that the mortality was greatest in those districts where there were the greatest number of unpaved alleys and streets, in which filth of all kinds was deposited, and allowed to accumulate and fester, the localities being never visited by the scavenger carts to remove it. Moist and improperly ventilated apartments likewise offered encouragement to the disease. The report of the committee was sensible, logical, and truthful.
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profession, called in consequence of his decease, complimentary resolutions were passed), and many others occupying high social and business positions. During the prevalence of the cholera, there died, but not of that malady, Rev. Whiting W. Griswold, rector of St. John's Church, a popular divine and exemplary Christian, Colonel McRee, of the United States army, and Sylvester Labadie, an amiable and worthy citizen, and a member of one of the ancient families of the city. At this time also died, from an attack of the cholera, Dr. Bernard G Farrar, the oldest American physician that came to St. Louis, after the transfer of the Province of Louisiana to the American government.At length St. Louis was relieved from the lengthened tribulation to which it had been subjected, and business, which had been neglected, began to receive some attention. The city, indeed, presented a forlorn aspect. The heart of its business destroyed by fire, and almost a tithe of its inhabitants swept away by the scourge, for a little period it exhibited a picture ominous of an early death, and final ruin; yet the city founded by the French trader could not die — it was too full of vitality. As soon as the cholera disappeared, the burnt district was again the scene of business import. Many buildings which had been commenced before, and which had been staid by the prevalence of the cholera, were again resumed, with many more, and soon, like the fabled bird of classic lore, a new class of buildings sprung into existence from the ashes of the old. The new buildings gave all the indications of progressive life. They were far more capacious than the old, possessing greater business conveniencies, and were put up in a manner which would not ever again subject them to the same accident by fire — being made fire-proof.
Fortunate in such a calamity, the property destroyed was principally of those who could bear the loss, and had means to build again. Though some of the insurance offices of the city failed, and could only pay a small pro rata of the insurance, there were others who cancelled every farthing of their obligations; all of the foreign insurance was paid. Above two-thirds of the loss was covered by insurance, most of which was recovered.
This year, as if to second the efforts of the enterprising inhabitants, who had determined not to be laid prostrate by the blow, and were again "up and doing," a beneficent Providence had sent bountiful crops, and the fertile field of the great western country was loaded with a plenteous harvest. This commenced to flow from every quarter into the port of St. Louis, and large supplies of goods were purchased by country merchants to supply the wants of their thrifty customers. Ere many months had passed away, the exsiccated currents of business returned to their former channels, with their currents swelled and increased, and every tributary quickened into increased motion and vitality. The pestilence and the storms in nature, though carrying destruction in their course, and bringing ruin in special instances, yet resulted in the general good, and were productive of the most healthful influences. The widening of Main street, the improvement of the levee, the new and capacious buildings on the ruins of those consumed — all increased the business facilities of the city, and added to its embellishment. The pestilence was the worst calamity. It entered the sensitive sphere of the afflections, and there committed its ravages. It left the city in the sable
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weeds of mourning; but to avoid a like result in the future, straightway were adopted more sanitary regulations for the city, and the system of sewerage was commenced in an effectual manner, thereby securing the general health and adding to the general prosperity and happiness.This year the Pacific Railroad occupied much of the attention of the citizens of St. Louis. Some years before a project had been before Congress to build a national railroad to the Pacific, known as the Whitney Scheme, which had very properly been rejected by that body, though it had many friends. Since that time, the possession of California, and the immense immigration which had flocked to its borders since the discovery of its rich gold mines, had rendered the project of a national railroad to the Pacific much more feasible. To connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, so that Asia might be brought into close approximation to the eastern states, and that the east and west of the Union should be united both by railroad and magnetic telegraph, became a favorite idea of the people of St. Louis, and to effect this favorite measure, after frequent meetings, it was resolved to call a great mass convention to consider the expediency of a Great National Pacific Railway. The 15th of October was fixed for the convention, and invitations and notices were sent to the most prominent citizens of the Union. On the 15th of October, the members chosen from the different states to represent their interest assembled in the court-house, and the meeting was called to order — Judge A. T. Ellis, of Indiana, being chosen to preside for the occasion. On the following day, the convention was organized, and the following gentlemen were elected to hold the offices of honor: — For president — Hon. Stephen A. Douglass of Illinois. For vice-presidents — W. L. Totten, of Pennsylvania; Samuel Forrer, of Ohio; Samuel Emison, of Indiana; Henry J. Eastin, of Kentucky; Hon. Joseph Williams, of Iowa; Charles Bracken, of Wisconsin; Henry S. Geyer, of Missouri; John Biddle, of Michigan; Amherst K. Williams, of New York; and Hon. W. B. Scates, of Illinois. For secretaries — A. B. Chambers, of Missouri; W. H. Wallace, of Iowa; A. S. Mitchell, of Kentucky; W. G. Minor, of Missouri; and T. A. Stuart, of Illinois.
The convention was attended by representatives from nearly every state in the Union, some of them sending a large delegation. After much consultation, it was resolved by the convention that there was a necessity for such a road, and that the general government should build it. A committee was chosen to prepare an address to the people of the Union, urging their co-operation in influencing Congress to take effective action in the matter, and comply with the general wish. The gentlemen selected as the committee were Thomas Allen, of Missouri; William S. Wait, of Illinois; Oliver H. Smith, of Indiana; J. G. Law, of Ohio; Charles Naylor, of Pennsylvania; C. C. Lathrop, of Louisiana; James Clark, of Iowa; A. K. Lawrence, of New York; John Biddle, of Michigan; M. F. Maury, of Virginia; W. F. Bouden, of Wisconsin; Basil Duke, of Kentucky; Robert Chambers, of New Jersey; and G. W. Lincoln, of Tennessee.
The address prepared by the committee was a very able one, covered the whole ground of the practicability and advantages of the road, and was given a wide circulation by the press. It had the effect of influencing the public mind in the right direction, and a great national highway to
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the Pacific ocean by railroad is still a favorite measure, and there is every indication that it will soon be effected. The people of St. Louis were the first to make an effective movement in this great measure, and the members of the different states composing the convention were the guests of the city.This year the medical department of the St. Louis University, situated on the corner of Seventh and Myrtle streets, was built.
This year Louis A. Lebaume was elected assistant treasurer of the United States, and the gentlemen who endorsed his bond, in their aggregate wealth, were worth more than five millions of dollars. We have alluded to this instance of individual fortune merely as evidence of the wealth of some of the citizens of St. Louis.
City life is ever liable to excitement. There is always something transpiring outside of the ordinary course of events, which serves to keep the public mind in the whirlpool of unhealthful and dangerous agitation. We will relate an event of this kind, occurring in St. Louis at the date under which we write.
It was the close of the month of October when two gentlemen, with their hunting equipments and their dog, arrived at the City Hotel, corner of Third and Vine streets, then kept by Theron Barnum. They were dressed in hunting costume, and bore about them the unmistakable indications of foreigners. They applied to Mr. Kirby Barnurn, a nephew of the proprietor, for accommodations, and, after some objection on their parts to some apartments that were shown them, they were finally domiciled, and became guests of the hotel. Between them and Mr. Kirby Barnum there had been some disagreement, first regarding their rooms, and afterward concerning a favorite dog the travellers had with them. There was no open rupture, however, and it was proved upon the trial that the deportment of the strangers was exemplary, and that they kept aloof from the other guests of the hotel, and remained comparatively isolated. There was something strange, however, about their movements, which provoked attention and elicited inquiry. This preamble is only given as a necessary introduction to the tragical scene, which we will now relate.
On the evening of the 29th of October, Mr. Kirby Barnum retired to his room, in which was his room-mate, John McComber. He threw off his coat, and was in the act of winding up his watch, when he saw a
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man armed with a gun skulking along the piazza fronting his window. He hurriedly told the circumstance to his room-mate, who sprang from his bed, and made to the door, followed by Mr. Barnum, but the latter fell headlong in the hall as he reached the door-sill, from a shot fired by the assassin through the window, which he had broken with the point of his gun previous to firing. The noise of the report aroused Mr. Albert Jones, who was in a room on the same floor, who opened his door to ascertain the cause of the firing, when he was shot dead, and H. M. Henderson and Captain W. D. Hubbell, who were rooming with him, were both wounded, the former in the temple, and the latter in the hand. The whole house was almost instantly aroused; for the startling cry of murder was shrieked along the halls of the hotel, at the hour of midnight.Mr. Barnum, though fatally wounded, was still conscious, and accused the smaller of the two Frenchmen — the strangers of whom we have before spoken — as being the person who fired the shot. There was an immediate search for the supposed assassins, and one of the Frenchmen was arrested in the crowd which had thronged the hotel, and the other in his room, after a futile effort to use his gun. The excitement on the occasion had led nearly to the most serious consequences, and the incensed crowd talked of resorting at once to summary punishment, but the officers promptly conducted the prisoners to the jail, from which they were removed to the arsenal, so as to be under the protection of the United States troops.
On the trial before the Criminal Court, some months afterward, the following facts were elicited: — The prisoners were both French noblemen, and being known as faithful adherents to the royal cause, at the outbreak in Paris some months previous, which overthrew the Bourbon dynasty, and compelled the king to flee for his life, to escape imprisonment and probably death if they remained, embarked for the United States, intending to remain until they could return to France in safety. Being passionately fond of hunting, they had come to the West, whose prairies at that time were most prolific in game, so as to indulge in that favorite amusement; and had reached St. Louis provided with all the accoutrements suitable for their purpose, each travelling in a buggy. It was proved also that the two Frenchmen were named Gonsalve and Raymond Montesquieu, and were scions of a noble family, and that the eldest of the two brothers, Gonsalve Montesquieu, by his own confession, fired the shots, alleging that "God made him do it!" It was also proved that insanity was hereditary in the family, his father having committed suicide, leaving a letter saying that he was involved in pecuniary difficulties, when his fortune left exceeded four millions of francs; that Gonsalve had also frequently exhibited indications of an unbalanced intellect, and that one of his brothers in France had been confined in a hospital for the insane.
In the first trial of the prisoners, the jury could not agree; at the second trial, Gonsalve was acquitted on the ground of insanity.
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assumes the sway of unfortunate individuals, and drives them to the commission of acts for which they are neither morally nor legally responsible.During the very year that the unfortunate catastrophe occurred at the City Hotel, the Bank of the State of Missouri lost from its vaults the enormous sum of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. That it was stolen there was no doubt; but who the person or persons were who committed the larceny will ever be a matter of speculation. One of the bank officers, who had resigned his position a little time before the discovery of the fraud, was charged with the offence, arrested, tried, and, after a protracted trial, acquitted.
Since 1850, the population of St. Louis has almost trebled. Previous to that time, its march had been progressive; but then it took colossal strides, and its advance in wealth and population exceeded all business calculation, and the expectations of its most sanguine friends. The seven great railway stems, which make the great metropolis a terminus, have given new business facilities. They run, in their thousands of miles' course, through the richest section of country on the globe, and St. Louis is the natural recipient of their freights. It is owing principally to these roads that the wealth, population, and business of St. Louis have advanced with such unparalleled rapidity; and year by year, branches are being added to these main stems, which, like radicals, are extending into new regions, contracting new vigor, and increasing the elements of vitality.
St. Louis has a location which has been so bountifully fashioned by nature, that there is nothing left to wish for in the way of natural advantages. Situated almost midway on the course of the "Father of Waters," she has all the advantages of the northern and southern trade; the immense and rapidly-increasing commerce of the great Missouri falls naturally into her lap; and the Illinois, flowing through its rich prairies, flows onward to the favored city, and lands its rich freights upon her levee. She has still more advantages, which make more certain the brilliancy of the future. All of the immense regions now lying in their primitive wildness, and uninhabited, will gradually be cultivated and populated, and their trade must from gravitating causes tend to St. Louis, and for hundreds of years this immense country, exceeding the limits of the Union east of the Mississippi, must, will be most prolific in the elements of its advancement.
One more paragraph, and we have closed. Eighty-six miles from St. Louis are inexhaustible mines of iron, found in all the varieties of that mineral, suitable for every manufacture, and so abundant, that they are capable of supplying the whole globe for centuries. The lead mines are equally as numerous, prolific, and convenient, and inexhaustible coal-beds are in the immediate vicinity of the great city. These are the great elements of manufacture which exist about it, which are fast assuming a practical appearance, and which, in all the manufactures of which lead and iron are the principal constituents, must make St, Louis the greatest manufacturing city in the Union. With a rich back-country, with facilities of building to any extent, her natural advantages, her rivers her railroads, and manufactories, she can fear no rival, and must always be the emporium of trade and the metropolis of the Mississippi Valley.
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The following is a corrected list of delegates to the convention, which we have given, that there may be a record of their enterprise in this great measure:
Andrew — B. M. Atherton.
Benton — Jno. M. Staley, E. C. Henry, Peter Everett.
Boons — Dr. W. McClure, P. Crow, M. S. Matthews, R. L. Todd, Dr. H. M. Clarkson, W. F. Switzler, J. W. Harris, Dr. McCelland, G. S. Tuttle, J. K. McCabe, B. S. Grant, Dr. J. B. Thomas.
Butler — Dr. V. M. Capp.
Caloway — John Gibson, Robert Stevens, A. Masters.
Cape Girardeau — J. W. Russell, Jas. McLean, W. H. McLean, John Albert, J. H. Kimmel, Charles A. Davis.
Carroll — W. W. Compton (invited by committee.)
Chariton — Sterling Price, J. M. Davis, M. R. C. Pulliam, C. J. Terrill, Charles Derrickson.
Clay — Joel Turnham, Merit Tillery, Dr. Ball, John Ringo, David Crossdall, Henry Mail, Dr. Wood, Coleman Younger.
Clinton — James H. Birch, John T. Hughes.
Cole — Governor Austin, A. King, T. L. Price, W. G. Minor, G. C. Medley, P. G. Glover, A. P. Richardson, W. Vanover, George W. Hough, Charles R. Moller, James L. Minor, Walter King, Enos B. Cordell, Jno. W. Wells, H. C. Ewing, E. L. Ewing.
Cooper — F. W. G. Thomas, John Miller, Benjamin Tompkins, David Spharr, John H. Price, M. W. Mack, E. B. McPherson, John Porter, W. H. Trigg, S. B. Hocker, Lewis Bendell, Dr. A. Kukleham, Truman Hickox.
Crawford — J. B. Brinker, D. Singleton, B. Whittemburg, William James, Dr. W. C. Williams, Jas. Pease, B. Wishon.
Franklin — C. F. Jeffries, Charles Jones, C. B. Inge, E. Butler, John Q. Dickenson, George Hurst, C. R. Jeffries, Thomas Mitchell, W. Musick, Jonathan W. Jones, Fielding Sappington, B. Wetherford, Edward F. Brown, T. R. Lewis, J. M. Ming, John D. Stevenson, James Hallegaen, Pierce Butler, James R. Roberts, Green Terry, Martin Crow, Francis Baker, William North, Samuel Simons, Samuel Massey, George N. Nickols, Henry King, J. H. Jameson, F. J. North, J. W. Reynolds, W. R. Vanover, E. W. Murphy. E Arcullarius, Lewis Reyn, John F. Mentz, Andrew Cochrane, John R. Brown, David Robertson, C. B. Hinton, Bishop Sheldon, S. Rucker, W. C. Builey, J. B. Brown.
Gasconade — James Arrote. J. O. Sitton, F. Kempf, Christoph Moller, John B. Harrison, J. Lessell.
Greene — C. E. Fisher, P. R. Smith.
Howard — Thomas Jackson, J. B. Clark, A. J. Herndon, A. Cooper, W. D. Swainey, W. G. Chiles, J. M. Feagle, T. M. Davis, John W. Payne.
Jackson — Major Rickman, J. R. Palmer, William Singleton, M. Leonard, T. Slaughter, Captain J. W. Reid.
Jefferson — William S. Howe, Falkland H. Martin, J. Richardson, T. C. Fletcher, P. Pipkin.
Lafayette — John F. Ryland, T. M. Ewing, William Shields, W. S. Field, B. B. Wilson, M. W. Flournoy, W. J. Mackeshaw, George A. Rise, J. J. Burtis, T. F. Atkinson, George Young, Foster Smith, S. T. Tyree, Levi Blackwell, W. A. Harrison, R. M. Aull.
Lewis — H. F. Hughes.
Lincoln — Francis Parker, G. W. Huston, James H. Britton. Dr. Wilmot, John W. McKee, B. W. Hammock, Dr. Bell, R. B. Allen, W. Porter, H. A. Fisher, W. B. Allen.
Madison — J. C. Berryman, Samuel Calbert, T. L. Sullivan, D. Arnott, Caleb Case, S. R. Guigon, S. Caruthers, J. Ronald, B. R. Prewit, H. Preston, B. Nall, James Hickman, J. B. Grigsbey.
Marion — T. R. Selmers, C. H. Bower, R. W. Moss, John Fry, A. B. Webb, J. F. Buchanan, T. Miller, Thomas Van Swearinger, R. F. Richmond, Dr. Faulkner, B. E. Ely, Colonel B. Davis, Dr. A. F. Jeter, Dr. Cluff, Z. G. Draper, W. M. Cook, E. M. Moffett, J. P. Ament.
Mississippi — Hiram Pearson, Major Sayers.
Moniteau — L. L. Woods, P. H. Templeman, J. Parish, A. Lacey.
New Madrid — W. S. Mosely.
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Osage — Dr. B. Bruns, William Thermann.
Pike — J. S. Markley, Edwin Draper, G. B. Crane, E. C. Maury, M. Givens, B. F. Todd, J. C. Jackson, James O. Broadhead, Peter Carr, Dr. W. Gorin, John B. Henderson, James Alexander, John S. Markley, Robert Allison, Dr William C. Herdon, George Todd, James McCord, T. J. C. Fagg, Julien C. Jackson, A. J. Landrum, Dr. J. G. Flagg, W. Block.
Platte — John E. Pitt, M. Birney, John W. Vineyard, John Holladay, F. Cockerill, Robert Snell, John B. Dumay, John Doniphan, J. L. Thompson, James McKowen.
Polk — H. K. Acock, J. H. Lindsay, A. J. Hurnover.
Ralls — Richard Boyer, James Buford, W. H. Atclnson, James H. Lampton, E. W. Southworth.
Ray — John W. Martin, John Hendley, James B. Jener, E. A. Lewis, T. L. D. W. Shaw, Messrs Morrison, Gantt and Tibbs.
Reynolds — W. Edminson (invited by committee.)
St. Charles — R. B. Frazier, G. C. Libley, J. J. Johns, B. A. Alderson, Dr. W. P. McIlhenny, A. Le Faiore, J. Gallaher, jr., C. Rice. J. W. Redmon, C. M. Johnson, Robert Frayser, D. K. Pitman, Dr. J. Tally, C. F. Fant. Captain Campbell, W. C. Lindsay, R. F. Kenner, T. A. Barwise, I. A. Dick, W. D. Fielding, N. Bateman, W. M. Christy, F. Yosti, S. Keithly, C. Cole, A. T. Weidle, H. Bangs, H. Pitman, D. Griffith, A. Angert, Henry Hatcher, J. H. Pitts, L. Overall, L. Gill, Dr. Diffendaffer, C. F. Woodson, G. W. Whitney, A. Luckett.
St. Clair — R. D. McCullok, Mr. Beatman, Mr. Bullock, C. P. Bullock, W. Crow.
St. Francois — John Cobb, John S. Primm, Milton Poston, J. P. Smith, G. Wood, Dr. W. C. Ashburn, John J. Perry.
Saline — G. C. Bingham (invited by the committee).
Wayne — H. B. Barnhart, L. H. Flinn, T. C. Cattron.
Montgomery — J. Baker, B. Bishop, Rev. R. Bond, Benjamin Sharp.
Clark — W. Bishop, T. D. Ford, J. N. Lewis, J. M. Charles, F. Bartlett, J. T. Johnson, TV. Bosworth, A. Maxwell.
Cape Girardeau — Joseph W. Russell, Robert Brown, H. H. M. Williams, Isaiah Poe, R. A. Martin, William E. McGuire, Thomas B. English, J. S. Williams, G. F. Daugherty, William W. Horrell, H. S. McFarland, Charles A. Davis, George W. Ferguson, S. H. Kimmell, William A. McLane, Simeon English, Aaron Snider, George W. Snider, Wiley Stotler, E. West, Wm. R. Dawson, John Albert, James McLean.
Laclede. — M. C. Hawkins, B. B. Harrison, B. Hooker.
Washington — P. Cole, M. Frissel, William Bryant, John Tuttle, George Creswell, Mr. Trimble, J. D. Johnson, Israel McGreedy, F. Desloge, S. P. Springer, L. W. Harrison, John Evans, N. Aubuchon, J. G. Bryan, C. D. Ferryman, John Perry, M. Wingo.
Scott — W. P. Darnes, Dr. A. S. Henderson. Albion Crow, J. C. Myers Abram Hunter, Colonel F. G. Allen, John Moore, John W. Oaks, W. Ewing.
Warren — H. Griswold, F. Morsey, J. S. Jones, H. Pritchett, J. A. Pulliam, R. Pitzer, C. A. Kuntze, J. Prummons, T. Collum, J. M. McFaden, L. Eversmann, Dr. A. Powell, Dr. Anderson, T. J. Marshall, J. Preston, W. Smith, A. F. Grass, C. T. Archer, R. L. Allen, G. C. Barez, J. A. Lack, J. B. Davis, M. S. Pringle, R. Houston, G. W. Wright, J. S. Wyatt, Dr. H. Wright, N. P. Stephenson, A. Welch, W. H. Harrison, A. Wyatt.
St. Charles — N. Bateman, J. W. Redmon, W. S. Overall, J. A. Tally, B. R. Pittz, C. M. Johnson, James Green, James Galaher, William J. McIlhaney, F. Yosti, Samuel Keithly, James M. Campbell, J. J. Johnson, W. M. Christy, D. K. Pitman, Charles Fant, H. Pitman, J. A. Dick, Thomas Baruz, A. Angest, G. C. Sibley, P. Gill, Daniel Griffith, H. Bangs, M. N. Diffendaffer, B. A. Alderson, A. Lefevre, Robert Frasier, G. S. Whitney, H. Hatcher, W. D. Fielding, W. C. Lindsey, A. T. Widle, R. F. Kener, C. Cole, John Orrick.
First Ward — R. S. Blennerhassett, David B. Hill, Edward Haren, William R. Price, D. D. Mitchell.
Second Ward — George R. Taylor, Archibald Gamble, Wilson Primm, John G. Shelton, Mann Butler, jr.
Third Ward — Edward Bates, Henry S. Geyer, A. L. Mills, J. B. Crockett, Samuel Treat.
Fourth Ward — James H. Lucas, William Robb, John M. Krum, G. B. Allen, John Howe.
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Fifth Ward — Alexander Hamilton, Trusten Polk, John B. Gibson, Robert Catheart, Archibald Carr.
Sixth Ward — Henry Holmes, T. M. Post, J. T. Swearingen, Isaac H. Sturgeon, Calvin Case.
County — John K. Walker, James H. Castello, George M. Moore, Frederick Hyatt, William F. Berry, Henry Walton, James Sutton, James McDonald, Hamilton K. Gamble, Alton Long, Judge Higgins, Henry McCullough, John B. Bogert, Peregrine Tippett, Zeno Mackey, John Sappington, Peter D. Barada, William Milburn, H. M. Shreve, G. W. Goode, Dr. A. Prout, Hugh Garland, William M. McPherson, Miron Leslie, John Barnes, L. A. Lebaume, R. S. Elliott, Dr. Penn, F. M. Haight, M. Blair, L. M. Kennett, Thomas Allen, Thomas B. Hudson, M. Tarver, Henry Kayser, A. B. Chambers, R. Phillips, John O'Fallon, Edward Walsh, John F. Darby, J. H. Field, G. K. Budd, N. R. Germany, John Loughborough, Charles G. Ramsey, John B. Meyer, John Withnell, George L. Lackland, T. T. Gantt, Thomas D. Yeats, Samuel Gaty, O. D. Filley, A. Ohlhausen, V. Staley, James G. Barry.
St. Genevieve — Lewis V. Bogy, Auguste St. Gemme, Felix St. Gemme, F. Valle, Gustave St. James.
William J. Totten, N. B. Craig, George Darsie, George Ogden, J. K. Moorhead, T. W. Roberts, Charles Naylor, T. J. Bigham, G. E. Warren, James May, D. Wilmarth, James Wood, W. M. Lyon, W. M. Temple, W. McCandless, R, H. Kerr, William Phillips, J. H. Reed.
Hon. Amherst K. Williams, of St. Lawrence county.
Henry Stoddard, S. Forrer, J. C. Lowe, H. Van Tuyl, John W. Van Cleeve, D. W. Deshler, W. Whiteley, J. H. Sullivan.
Hon. A. T. Ellis, Samuel Emison, R. G. McClure, H. D. Wheeler, A. Simpson, W. Simpson, A. B. McKee, W. G. Foulks, Abram Smith, Pierre Richardville, John Emison, Samuel Wise, Charles C. Smith, L. L. Boyer, William Miller, William Patterson, Wm. T. Scott, L. L. Watson, Ben. P. Wheeler, James T. Alexander, and W. R. McCord, of Knox county.
Vigo County — Hon. R. W. Thompson, James T. Moffatt, T. J. Bourne, Charles Wood. W. N. Hamilton, W. B. Warren, W. W. Williams, Jacob H. Hagar, Charles Cruft, W. K. Edwards.
Dearborn County — Servetus Tufts.
Marion County — Hon. Oliver H. Smith.
Tippecanoe County — Hon. Albert S. White.
Sullivan County — John H. O'Boyle.
Franklin County — Rufus Raymond.
Greene County — R. H. Rousseau.
Paducah — L. M. Flournoy, Capt. J. F. Harris.
Henderson County — Henry J. Eastin.
Louisville — T. P. Shaffner, T. C. McClure.
Jersey City — G. Hulme.
Scott County — B. Duke, Capt. J. Harper.
Frankfort — A. S. Mitchell.
Cook County — S. A. Douglass, P. Maxwell, Thomas A. Stewart, H. A. Clark, S. A. Lowe, Thomas Hoyne, James Pollock, M. Wright, William M. Hall, John R. Livingston, Governor Wells, Dr. Eagan, Mr. Doyle.
Randolph — J. P. Owings, D. Reily, Jacob Feaman, S. S. Frain, Dr. J. S. Curie, R. E. Morrison, G. Morrison.
Morgan — J Gordon, W. Dean.
Schuyler — G. Terry.
Scott County — C. C. Perry, E. Bogardus, Thomas Hollowbush, James Williams.
Morgan County — Judge Dalton, Rev. F. Stevenson, W. Stevenson, W. N. Ross, D. Huey, John W. Evans.
Will County — W. E. Little, H. S. Higgins.
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Clark County — J. K. Greenough, Stephen Archer, A. Shaw, William Montgomery, H. P. H. Brownell James Welsh.
Pike County — J. S. Roberts, J. M. Parker, W. Ross, B. F. Spencer, J. J. Collard, P. N. O. Thompson, C. D. Higbee, R. E. Hicks, Alexis Mudd, D. B. Bush, John Shasted, A. Starrow, E. D. Whitney, G. C. Bushy, F. Jennings, Mont Blair, Thomas Digby, J. Klein, jr., M. Edwards, John Syster, Henry T. Mudd, John Tooley, M. Ross.
Richland County — John Allen, F. Bruce, A. H. Baird, G. F. Powers, Henry Barney, Samuel St. John, H. Barney, J. Tolliver, J. M. Rank, McIntyre Ryan C. Clubb, H. L. Carson, J. May, Perry Heaston, John Hunt, N. D. Jay, A. O. Burford, M. C. McClain, Andrew Lowry, James Starr, Albert Burdon, G. Hurtsell, John Bruer, J. Moore.
Fulton County — R. R. McDowell, A. C. Thompson, J. L. Sharpe, J. Kuykendall, Thomas Maples, S. H. Pitkin, J. G. Davidson, Amos Smith, Lyman Moore, Frank Foster, F. J. Porter, Thomas Risley, J. G. Davidson.
Madison County — Hon. L. Trumbull, Hon. N. Pope, Hon. R. Smith, Judge Bailhache, M. G. Atwood, J. E. Starr, B. F. Snyder, Dr. L. S. Metcalf, J. C. Ketcham, Charles Skillman, Dr. B. K. Hart, S. Y. McMasters, T. M. Hope, C. Stiggleman, E. Keating, C. W. Hunter, S. A. Buckmaster, J. R. Thomas, O. M. Adams, E. L. Dimmock, D. A. Spaulding, L. Kellenberger, James Semple, B. F. Long, A. Breath, H. W. Wood, C. A. Murray, H. Wood, R. Ferguson, John Ash. L. B. Parson, James Stine, William Martin, H. B. Bowman, George T. Brown, S. F. Choat, H. W. Billings, J. L. Pierce, J. W. Schweppe, O. Brown, N. Johnson, Dr. C. Smith, T. P. Woodridge, W. T. Miller, R. Flagg, I. Scarritt, C. E. Blood, Charles Trumbull, L. Wosonor, H. P. Hulbert, F. Giddings, John Quigley, A. Tuffts, S. B. Caats, P. Tuffts, J. G. Lamb, J. J. Mitchell, S. Wise, H. L. Baker, A. S. Barney, S. Wait, John Allison, N. D. Sweeney, Dr. G. T. Allen, A. Judd, C. Blakeman, J. Spies, A. L. Saunders, J. Wilson, B. C. Stanton, J. W. Coventry, J. Thornburgh, D. Morrell, S. Carlton, J. W. Jeffries, R. Parker, J. Wilson, J. Ferguson, S. H. Mudge, William McKean, A. G. Neal, W. B. Graham, N. Enos, H. Reimacks, L. B. Gorman, F. M. Lytle, George Churchill, John Bradey, John Wood, J. S. Dewey, J. R. Swain, Thomas Judy, J. A. Barnsback, Thomas Smith, James Brown, W. Jarviss, M. Jilton, J. Taylor, W. F. Provines, J. C. Edwards, A. C. Rondafett, J. Padon, Dr. J. Gates, J. K. McMahon, W. H. Smiley, Joseph Shaffer.
Allan, Madison County — C. H. Fox, L. J. Clawson, E. D. Topping.
Pike County — William P. Harpole, Alexis Mudd, John S. Ball.
Monroe County — J. B. Needles, W. C. Starkie, E. Omelvany, Thomas Quick, C. Crocker, H. Holcomb, J. Morrison, E. P. Rogers, J. A. Reid, T. Winstanly, T. Singleton, A. Durfee, C. Henckler, T. Henckler, J. A. Gilley, Bradley Rust, Lewis James, J. A. Talbott, C. H. Priesker, George Trick, J. Saurs, H. Null, P. Wehrheim, Henry Lower, Henry Prusher.
White County — William H. Wilson.
St. Clair County — P. K. Fleming, J. Winstanly, D. Hopkins, E. Abend, William Snyder, Julius Wright, M. Phelps, W. Singleton, J. Knoble, Samuel Thrift, Benjamin J. Smith, W. Wesfield, G. M. Bowles, L. D. Cabana, C. Alexander, J. M. Hughes George C. Hart.
Clay County — Arthur McCanly.
From the State at Large — J. P. Cooper, of Clarke; J. McDonald, Fayette; C. F. Keener, Scott; A. H. Grass, Lawrence; Z. Casey, Jefferson; R. Yates, Morgan; W. B. Warren, do.; H. T. Pace, Jefferson; W. B. Scates, do.; A. Eads, J. Davies.
Marion County — Uriel Mills, J. S. Martin, G. W. Haynie, William Green, G. W. Pace, T. B. Lester, H. F. Hamlin, B. F. Marshall, Thomas Easton, Emory Wooter.
BondCounty — Benjamin Johnson, N. Levertier, P. W. Lamkin, W. Watkins, G. Stevenson, William S. Wait, A. Berrie, J. M. Gilmore, John Leverton, F. Richey, J. Gilmore, A. Bowman, James McGehey, Isaac Roark, Lemuel Plant.
McDonoughy County — H. Agers, J. E. Jackson, A. N. Ford.
Jersey County — W. Casey, H. O. Goodrich, J. Duncan, Z. H. Adams, C. A. Knapp, Dr. Veitch, R. C. Baugh, Dr. J. O. Hamilton.
Cass County — H. E. Dammer, R. S. Thomas, E. R. Saunders, W. A. Turpin.
Lafayette County — A. Dikeman, William C. Greenup, E. Griffith, N. M. McCurdy, H. C. Waterman, R. A. Phillips.
Lawrence County — E. T. Ryan, S. H. Clubb, H. Seed, T. J. McDonell, E. D. Emmons, J. Thompson, C. H. Naff, C. Durkee, N. M. Keesemar, T. Spencer, E. C. Banks, N. Norton, A. J. Warner, Alfred Grass, jr., F. Coat, V. B. Buchanan.
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Cumberland County — A. J. Freeman, William Freeman, Reuben Stinson, John Shook, Stephen Waite.
Crawford County — G. W. Smith, A. Norsworthy, J. B. Trimble, William Barber, jr., A. G. Markley, J. W. Wilson, J. D. Smith.
Effingham County — H. L. Smith, — Henry, — Fisher.
Rock Island County — W. Brackett, P. A. Whittaker, J. K. Corker, A. K. Phileo, Jacob Norris.
Warren County — J. W. Davidson, John Brown.
Adams — J. P. Erskine, J. B. Young, C. A. Savage, J. W. Hallowbush, P. Cleveland, J. H. Luce, C. Howland, T. Redmond, J. B. Morgan, H. Asbury, J. C. Woodruff, Andrew Wood, S. P. Church, J. D. Moore, S. B. Hoffman, G. Holmes, J. H. Beasy, B. Collins.
Clinton — R. S. Bond, M. Stiles.
Coles — J. D. Van Deren.
Lee County — John A. Graham, Colonel Samuel R. Curtis, D. W. Kilbourne, General V. P. Van Antwerp, G. Wells, J. W. Rankin, W. G. Anderson, L. E. H. Houghton, Samuel Walker, H. H. Beldin, Robert Pope, G. Lewis, F. Wright, P. D. Foster, T. G. Williams, J. Webster, James H. Cowles.
Des Moines — H. W. Starr, J. G. Edwards, J. F. Fletcher, Dr. Graham, Isaac Baggs, T. S. Cordis, P. Mertz, W. B. Reemey, James Clark, Governor J. Clarke, W. Walker, H. Moore, B. C. Armstrong, S. S. Runson, J. E. Darst, J. H. Hughes, R. Pope.
Davis — J. B. Peach.
Madison — W. Compton.
Polk — J. Gilkey.
Henry — Hon. W. Thompson.
Wapello — J. Williams, H. B. Hendershot, T. J. Devin.
Jefferson — B. Henk, R. Erwin, Colonel W. H. Walner, W. H. Lyons.
Jones — Joseph A. Hunt, G. H. Walworth.
Van Buren — D. Smith, A. McDonald, S. Millington.
Dee — A.. Hamlin, L. E. Johnson, W. L. McGavie, J. W. Taylor, J. L. Curtiss, T. Fitzpatrick, L. R. Reeves, E. Kilbourne, Dr. McMurtry, C. Stewart.
Muscatine — Judge J. Williams, Pliny Fay, N. M. McCormack, Adam Ogilvie, Joseph A. Green, J. Butler, Stephen Nye, Legrand Morehouse.
Dubuque — H. C. Fellows, Peter Waples.
Johnson — H. D. Downy, G. D. Farmer, E. Morris, Dr. H. Murry.
Lafayette County — Edward Vaughn, William M. Boudoin, Charles Bracken.
Dane County — A. R. Murray.
Detroit — John Biddle.
New Orleans — C. C. Lathrop.
Shelby County — G. W. Lincoln, E. Hickman, S. Fance, J. C. Carroll.
Memphis — A. S. Caldwell, W. T. Avery.
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Biographies.
Peter Lindell.
PETER LINDELL was born March 24, 1776, in Worcester county, Maryland. He is of English origin; for his grandfather who bore the same name, having obtained a grant of land located in Maryland, imigrated to the United States, and, locating himself on his grant, was many years engaged in rendering the soil suitable for agricultural purposes. He lived to an advanced age; and one of his sons, John Lindell, came by descent in possession of this tract of land, and was looked upon as the most skilful farmer in that portion of the country. He was the father of the subject of this memoir, and raised a large family of children. He died at the advanced age of seventy-six.
Peter Lindell spent — like most others who lived at that early time, and whose parents had good farms — his early years in work upon the farm. He went to school, to be sure; but the regular schoolmaster was not abroad in that portion of the country, and the people would often induce some itinerant clock peddler from Yankeedom, to forego his usual vocation, and adopt that of the pedagogue. It is not to be wondered at when schoolmasters were thus chosen, that the pupils would remain ignorant of the fundamental principles of their language. Between going to schools of this cast and working upon the farm of his father, he reached the age of twenty-one, and possessing a large share of self-reliance, he immediately commenced business for himself. He kept a little store in the country, believing that a commercial life, and that too with less of servitude, led more directly to affluence than the slow profits which had then to satisfy the industrious farmer. He remained four years engaged with his store, and seeing that the vast tide of emigration was flowing westward, he determined to follow the current, although his first efforts had been attended with vast success. He was not satisfied, for he did not see his locality filling up with a vigorous growth of new settlers, which alone could bring wealth to the neighborhood, and insure a fortune to those engaged in commercial pursuits. Drawing these logical conclusions, he wound up his business in Maryland, and stalled for the West.
Some time in 1808, Peter Lindell stopped at Pittsburgh, the only town west of the Alleghany Mountains that offered, at that time, any inducements for commercial enterprise. There he commenced the life of an itinerant merchant, trading on a boat at the various localities between that place and Louisville. Laying in an assortment of goods suitable to the wants of the people at the different locations at which he traded, he was soon doing a most thriving business. He received no money for his goods, that article in the western wilds being seldom seen, but he received in exchange, furs, peltries, hemp, and tobacco, with which he could purchase a new supply of merchandise, or sell for money, at his option.
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In two years, finding that his business throve, even beyond his most sanguine expectations, Peter Lindell sent for John Lindell, one of his brothers, that he might assist him in his labors, and whom he could instruct in a pursuit that had already proved so profitable. In due time, John arrived, and he was initiated in all the mysteries of a trader's life at that period, and the business soon reached a greater magnitude than ever, and yielded larger returns. The name of Lindell was well known on the Ohio River, and he was anxiously looked for by the pioneers who inhabited its rich banks for the purposes of trade.
After John had been with him some time — and fortune still continuing to smile upon his efforts — he sent for another brother by the name of Jesse, that he too might become a reaper in a field which yielded so plentiful a harvest. He extended his business with the assistance of his brothers, and in his trading voyages, hearing of the natural advantages of St. Louis, he determined to quit the life of a general trader on the river, and settle himself as a merchant in a town, whose brilliant prospects for the future, promised so much success to the early citizen who made judicious investments. In 1811 he came to St. Louis, and commenced keeping store on Main street.
The houses at that period, with but few exceptions, were little log cabins, the interstices being filled with lime and plastered within, making a warm but small and inconvenient dwelling; and Peter Lindell, a little while after his advent, astonished the inhabitants by building three brick houses, which, for a little while, were the wonder of the place, and the era of brick building in St. Louis. His business in the now and growing town, grew and increased yearly; and he was soon known as one of the most enterprising merchants of the place.
At that early day, not even a steamboat had floated on the "Father of Waters," and the merchant when he went East to purchase goods, had to perform the fatiguing journey of more than a thousand miles on horseback. In one of these expeditions, an event occurred which had nearly a tragical termination; and as it serves to illustrate the character of those early times, and gives an insight into the nature of the subject of this sketch, we will relate it. While journeying to one of the Eastern cities, Peter Lindell was accompanied by the late John Collier, and one night they stopped at a little cabin at Shawneetown, Illinois. There were several men who were in the house, and among them was a desperado, who pursued the vagabond life of hunting for a subsistence. When he was not employed in the chase, he was engaged in cursing, swearing, and fighting. Mr. Collier had had the misfortune to offend this fellow, and when he and Mr. Lindell entered the door, this man was seated in the cabin. Immediately that his eyes glanced upon Mr. Collier, they glared like those of a basilisk, and a dark scowl darkened his features, giving to them the expression of a demon. He told Mr. Collier with a horrid oath, that he would kill him, and sallied from the cabin to procure a gun, that he might put in execution his murderous purpose.
At that time, Peter Lindell was in the prime of a glorious manhood, with the strength of a buffalo, and the spirit to use it. He well knew the fiendish character of the ruffian, and he followed him from the cabin. When at a little distance, he upbraided him for his murderous purpose, and told him then and there to defend himself. He then commenced
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pouring upon him blows with the force of a sledge-hammer, and in less than two minutes the fellow was hors de combat, and pounded into a jelly. This drubbing operation completely satisfied him, and he no more threatened vengeance against Mr. Collier.After becoming a resident of St. Louis, Mr. Lindell, in conjunction with his commercial business, became extensively engaged in the purchase of landed estate, which at that time brought but a nominal price in comparison to its present value. He bought land and held it, and it was in consequence of not again selling it, that he is so extensive an owner in real estate at the present time. By that magical power with which some men appear to be invested, whatever he has touched has turned to money; and so fortunate has he been in his efforts to amass a fortune that in 1826 he threw up his commercial pursuits, which had been his leading business. Since that time he has been out of the pale of the busy, bustling world, and dedicated himself to preserving that fortune which by industry he had garnered, when his body and spirit rejoiced in the exuberance incident to youth. The present generation know but little of him; for nearly all who lived when he made a part of the active sphere of life, and helped to guide and direct its business currents, have paid the debt of nature, and cannot speak of the events with which Peter Lindell has been connected.
From great wealth, which receives almost the universal homage of mankind, the name of Peter Lindell is almost as well known in the city of St. Louis as that of the great river which sweeps by its levee; but of his habits, and the natural gush of feeling which form his character and influence his actions, they know but little. They see his property in every part of the broad circumference of the Mound City; but of the owner, they cannot speak. We will relate an anecdote told us by one whom time has blanched, but not overthrown; who knew him before his frame was weakened, and when his whole time was devoted to business. The narrative is thus:
"There was a gentleman," says this narrator, "who during a money pressure was driven to great straits, and applied to me for counsel in his exigence. He had abundance of good paper in his possession, more than ten times the sum that was causing his disquietude, which was a note of some thousands of dollars held by the Bank of the State of Missouri, which would be due in a few days. Should he not be able to take up the note, his credit would be gone forever, and all his bright prospects for the future would be a wreck. I knew but one man who could furnish the amount he required, and, moved by his distress, I volunteered my services, as I was intimate with the person that I knew had always money by him. I took from his papers a note for five thousand dollars, drawn and endorsed by unexceptionable parties, to Peter Lindell, and told him the circumstances that induced me to call upon him. Mr. Lindell replied that he had the money but it was designed for another purpose; but on my again mentioning that without his interposition an honorable man would be effectually ruined, he drew me a check for the full amount, and when I signified my surprise, he told me, under no circumstances could he take from any individual more than ten per cent. interest. This is but one out of many instances," continued the gentleman who related to me the anecdote, "which I could point out, in which Peter Lindell has acted in the same manner."
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We have seen how well Peter Lindell has acted the part of a relative, when he sent for two of his brothers, that they might share with him the success which his judgment and industry had brought about; and when they were taken from their families by death, he at once assumed the duties of a father and protector. To him belongs the honor of starting the first packet to Pittsburgh; he was one of the corporators and directors of the old Missouri Insurance Company; and was one of the directors of the Branch Bank of the United States. He is the largest stockholder in the magnificent hotel known as the "Lindell Hotel," and his property is valued at many millions.
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Brigadier-General Daniel Marsh Frost.
THE subject of this memoir was a native of Schenectady county, state of New York and was born August 9th, 1823. His ancestors came to this country, from England, during its early settlement, and during the Revolutionary War one of his grandfathers fought faithfully under the banner of his country.
The father of General Frost was a man of fine attainments; he was appointed surveyor and civil engineer in the state of New York, and made the first complete survey, soundings, and map of Hudson City. He also commanded a volunteer company in the last war against England.
General Frost, the subject of this sketch, had all the advantages of early education, until, at the age of sixteen, he entered the Military Academy at West Point, and graduated with high honors at that celebrated institution in 1844. He was attached to the 1st regiment of artillery, and, after some service at various forts, he was sent to Florida. Becoming tired of seaboard garrison life, he was transferred to the regiment of mounted riflemen in 1840, and in the same year went to Mexico, under General Scott, fighting in all the battles in which his illustrious commander was engaged, until the "star-spangled banner" floated over the battlements of Mexico.
General Frost, in the many battle-fields in which he was engaged, reaped plentifully of military laurels, and at the battle of Cerro Gordo was especially complimented by his commander-in-chief. At the declaration of peace, he returned to Missouri, and was soon after ordered across the Plains to Oregon City. The following year he returned to St. Louis, where he was married to the daughter of the late Major Graham, who was at one time one of the aids of General Harrison.
The judgment and military abilities of General Frost have always been held in the highest estimation by his superior officers, and he was selected by the secretary of war, as an efficient officer to send to Europe, to gather information concerning cavalry drill and discipline. After returning from, Europe, in 1852, he joined his regiment in Texas, and shortly after, was wounded in an engagement with the Indians. In 1853, he returned to St. Louis, and resigned his commission, but was chosen the commander of the Washington Guards, which he held for five years. In 1854, he was elected to the state Senate, and served in that body till 1858, at the expiration of which he was elected brigadier-general and commander of the first military district of Missouri.
General Frost is scarcely in the summer of manhood, and, with youth, fame, position, and character, can hope for all things that can gratify an honorable ambition.
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Marinus Willett Warne.
MARINUS WILLETT WARNE was born at New Brunswick, New Jersey, December 7th, 1810. His father was a respectable merchant, engaged in the hardware trade, and died insolvent, owing to the financial crisis which took place after the war of 1812, when the subject of this memoir was only ten years of age. Young Warne, after the death of his father, received no further education, but was forced to do something for his own livelihood. At the age of twelve years, he engaged himself to the successor of his father's business, with whom he remained nine years, during that time acquiring a complete knowledge of the hardware and cedarware business.
Marinus Willett Warne, on arriving at the age of twenty-one, determined on removing to New York city, where, if the field of success was more difficult, it offered an ampler harvest to the votary of ambition. He accordingly removed to the great metropolis, and entered the large establishment kept by William Galloway & Company, with whom he remained two years. Then, feeling anxious to carry on business on his own account, untrammelled by any superior power, he commenced the manufacture of cedar-ware on a most extensive scale, with which he in a short time connected the house-furnishing business.
At this time Mr. Warne appeared to be one of the favorites of fortune. Wealth poured upon him from a thousand avenues, and he conducted the largest business of the kind in the great empire city; but clouds were lowering around him which he did not see, and he soon experienced how uncertain is the stability of sublunary things. His friendly feelings had led him to indorse notes to a considerable amount, and a little pressure taking place in the money market, the notes which he indorsed were thrown on his hands for liquidation, and for such an amount that his immense business received a sudden check, and he was forced to wind up his concern.
Thus suddenly stripped of the fortune which he had acquired during a long term of continued labor and economy, Mr. Warne, though he felt sorely his misfortune, did not yield to despondency and useless complaint. He felt that the same continued perseverance, the same business qualifications put in force, would again achieve an independence. He resolved, then, to commence his fortune in the far West, the land that was open to adventurous ambition, and started for St. Louis. When he arrived in the city of his destination, he had neither friends nor money. He had only that self-reliance which formed one of the chief elements of his character, and that energy which was ready to encounter and overcome every opposing obstacle. On arriving at St. Louis, he commenced to work at his trade, and, after some time, having amassed a little money, he engaged with Henry L. Joy in the manufacture of wooden-ware, at Quincy, Illinois, by machinery, at the same time carrying on a business in St. Louis. The factory at Quincy did a tremendous business, and the profits of the concern were considerable.
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The horizon of the future again became bright, and the hopes of Mr. Warne again became flowering, but only again to be blighted. The factory at Quincy took fire by some accident, and was reduced to ashes. There was no insurance, and the loss was total. This was a heavy blow upon his prospects and business, but he bestowed still closer attention on is concern in St. Louis, which was by this time in a flourishing condition; but, as if misfortune was bent on testing, to the utmost his powers of mental, moral, and physical endurance, the great fire of 1849 swept his remaining property in the universal conflagration, and left him almost stripped of every thing. With the pittance he received from the insurance companies, who were nearly all rendered insolvent by this wide destruction of property by fire, he commenced partnership with William H. Merritt, and, during the seven years of the continuance of the partnership, the firm were very successful. Mr. Merritt then sold out his interest to E. L. Cheever, who, February 5th, 1857, lost his life in the ill-fated steamer, Colonel Crossman. Captain Joshua Cheever then took his brother's interest, and the name of the firm remained unchanged. The firm of Warne, Cheever & Company are composed of the subject of this sketch, the senior partner, Captain Joshua Cheever, and Mortimer N. Burchard; the last named gentleman Mr. Warne brought up from a boy.
Mr. Warne has a large family. He was married in June, 1833, to Miss Mary S. Tenbroeck, of New Jersey, and eleven children have been the fruit of the union, ten of whom survive. In his domestic relations, he has ever been most happy; and if clouds lowered around him during a large portion of his eventful life, there were always smiles and peace at his fireside.
Mr. Warne has always been a devotee to business, and has had neither leisure nor inclination to busy himself with any outside matters. However, when the subject of the horse railroad came up for consideration on the part of our leading citizens, he at once took a prominent part in what he considered would be of so much benefit to St. Louis. He is also one of the efficient directors of the Exchange Bank of St. Louis; is president of the civic organization of the Missouri Guards, and life-member of the National Guards, both of which organizations are composed of our most respectable citizens. He was also the first president of the Citizens' Savings Loan Association. Mr. Warne may be proud of the part which he has played upon the drama of life. He has had to contend with vicissitudes that were sufficient to make the bravest falter, and make the stoutest heart yield to despondency; but though the shafts of misfortune flew thick around him, he neither faltered nor yielded; and now he can reap his reward, and is the senior partner of one of the most substantial and extensive firms in the great metropolis of the West. He has a large number of assistants in his business, and sedulously inculcates those principles of attention, rectitude, and industry which are so interwoven with his own character. The pages of his life are instructive to the young, and teach them that opulence and social position are in the reach of all who, like him, can hope, work, and persevere with an untiring spirit, and are determined to achieve independence and a sterling business reputation.
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Washington King.
THE subject of this memoir was born in the city of New York, on the 5th of October, 1815. His father, who is still living, is a native of England, who emigrated early to this country, and, being a well-informed man, gave to his children all the advantages which the liberal range of studies pursued in the common schools in the city of New York afforded.
Washington King, from a boy, was fond of his book, and soon becoming an accomplished scholar, turned his attention to teaching, and, in a little time could boast of having the largest classical and English school in New York city.
On December 2d, 1836, he married Miss Cynthia M. Kelsey, of Connecticut, by whom he has two children. Believing that the great Mississippi Valley offered a wider field for the exertion of individual enterprise, he emigrated to St. Louis in 1844, and commenced mercantile and manufacturing pursuits, in which he became very successful; but in 1849 St. Louis was visited with a terrible calamity, which for a time stopped all the currents of business, and blighted the pecuniary prospects of hundreds of the thriving citizens. The event of the terrible fire, which desolated the whole of the business portion of St. Louis, is still fresh in the remembrance of many, and will ever be a marked epoch in its history.
A little while after this dreadful visitation, Mr. King determined on gratifying a long-existing desire, and started on a tour to Europe, where he remained several years, visiting the various countries of that enlightened portion of the globe, carefully noting the habits and customs of the people, and studying the languages and examining the policy of the different governments he visited. After spending two years and six months in instructive travel, he returned to St. Louis in the spring of 1852, and in 1855 he consented, at the repeated and earnest instigation of his many friends, to become a candidate for the mayoralty, and was elected to that important office.
When in office, Mr. King, who always looked upon the law as obligatory upon all, and created for the general benefit, rigidly compelled the observance of legislative enactments, and was the first mayor who put in effectual force the Prohibitory Sunday Liquor Law, and restrained the pot-house dissipation and indecorum which had so long desecrated the Sabbath; and so satisfactory was his term of office, that he has been repeatedly solicited again to become the people's candidate, but has always declined the honor. He is now at the head of the well-known Adams Express Company in this city, and his valuable time is employed in controlling the important and extensive operations connected with the duties of the company.
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Thomas Allen.
THOMAS ALLEN was born August 29th, 1813, in Pittsfield, Berkshire county Massachusetts. His grandfather, Thomas Allen after whom he was named, was a minister of the gospel, and during the Revolution was a Chaplin, and connected with the array at White Plains commanded by General Washington, and at Bennington, where General Stark commanded. He was cousin of Ethan Allen, of Vermont, whose name is so associated with the heroic defence of his country.
Jonathan Allen, the father of the subject of this memoir, was a gentleman of line information and enterprise, being both a farmer and merchant at Pittsfield, where he held important positions of trust. He was postmaster of the town, was a justice of the peace, a state senator, a commissary-general during the war of 1812, and died at the advanced age of seventy-one, regretted by all who knew him. Being a man of fine mental culture, it was natural that he should exercise a careful control over the education of his children, and Thomas Allen was first sent to the district schools, and when sufficiently advanced was sent to an academy, in which Mr. Mark Hopkins, now the president of Williams College, was teacher. It was there, at the age of fifteen, when his mind was developing its natural faculties, that he first evinced a passion for letters, by compositions on numerous literary subjects, and getting up a little journal termed the Miscellany, of which he became editor. After leaving the academy he entered the freshman class of Union College at Schenectady, under the charge of the Rev. Doctor Nott, where he remained until he graduated in 1832. During the four years of his collegiate life, he stood high as a scholar, and had no superior in the acquirements of general literature.
After finishing his collegiate course, Thomas Allen chose the law as his profession, and studied a few months in the office of James King of Albany, and then removed to New York with a capital of twenty-five dollars. His father had given him mental wealth — at a great cost had given him knowledge, which a great philosopher had declared was "power," and he thought if he had within him the elements of success, that, armed with that talisman, he could soon win his way to fame and fortune.
While studying law in New York, Thomas Allen supported himself by his pen, and edited the Illustrated Family Magazine, which attained a circulation of 20,000. So highly were his legal acquirements appreciated, that he assisted Mr. Clerke, now of the Supreme Court, in the preparation of a digest of the New York decisions, and, from the proceeds of this labor, purchased a law library. He was admitted by the Supreme Court to practice in 1835, and the same year received, from his alma mater, the degree of A. M., and was also elected an honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of New York. He was now looked upon as a promising young man, and received numerous invitations to deliver lecture and addresses, which soon gave him an enviable reputation. After
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practising law with success in New York for two years, at the invitation of his uncle, the Hon. E. W. Ripley, member of Congress from Louisiana, he started to take charge of his practice in that state, but stopping at Washington, he was captivated by the buoyant influences of the political atmosphere, and, at the solicitation of some of the leading statesmen of the Union, he determined to establish a newspaper in that place. A few weeks of preparation, and every thing being ready, the Madisonian appeared in August, 1837.The journals at Washington at that time were conducted by gentlemen of rare talents and ability, but the Madisonian was received with favor, and the independent spirit of its lucid editorials won "golden opinions." So popular did Mr. Allen become in a short period, that at the extra session of Congress, he became a candidate for the public printing and was elected. His competitors were veterans of journalism, and had long basked in the favor of the national council of the country. Messrs. Blair & Rives of the Globe, and Messrs. Gales & Seaton of the Intelligencer were the opponents of Mr. Allen.
It is impossible for us in this sketch to follow Mr. Allen through all the mazes of his editorial progress, and we will only repeat the words uttered on the floor of Congress by the Hon. James Buchanan: "that paper," said he, referring to the Madisonian, "is worthy of the days of Madison." After five years in the political arena, where the young editor had shown himself capable of coping with the first intellects of the country, he sold out the Madisonian in 1842 and came to Missouri. A few months after his arrival, he married Miss Anne C. Russell, daughter of William Russell, a distinguished and wealthy citizen of St. Louis. The marriage took place July 12th, 1842.
After Mr. Allen's advent in St. Louis, he did not long continue the practice of the law, which he had at first determined to pursue, but finding that his private affairs had attained a considerable magnitude, he abandoned altogether his profession. His mind, however, accustomed to create, could not remain inactive, and he published several pamphlets on interesting subjects, which had the effect at the time of controlling, to a considerable degree, the currents of popular opinion. Among these publications was a Commentary on the Treaty of Paris, 1803, and another called "Letter Smuggling." The last was reprinted by the order of the post-office department of the United States. He was also elected president of the St. Louis Horticultural Society, and prepared for the St. Louis delegation to the Chicago convention, an elaborate pamphlet on the commerce and navigation of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. He also, in 1848, used his efficient influence to get a municipal subscription of $700,000 to the St. Louis and Cincinnati Railroad.
Mr. Allen has always been a great advocate of internal improvements, looking upon them as the proper arteries of a country, furnishing vitality and strength to the body corporate. In 1849, when a meeting was called to take action on the subject of a Pacific railroad, he ably discussed the importance of a "national central highway to the Pacific," and became one of the corporators of the Pacific Railroad, which, when it will receive the patriotic aid to which it is entitled, will soon reach the great ocean which flows by our western borders. A pamphlet from the pen of Thomas Allen, containing "The Address of the People of St. Louis to the
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People of the United States," which was widely scattered through the Union, met with much favor; and at the national convention called on the subject of the Pacific Railroad, fourteen of the United States were represented, and Mr. Allen was selected by the convention to prepare the memorial to Congress.When the charter was granted to the Pacific Railroad of the state of Missouri, there was prejudice on the subject, for Missouri was far behind the times, and to remove this prejudice Mr. Allen was determined. He had been elected the first president of the company after its organization, and to arouse the slumbering energy of the people, and to awaken in them the proper feelings in regard to the importance of the Pacific Railroad, he travelled on horseback through the different counties of its projected route in the state, haranguing the people at the most prominent stations; and having been elected to the state Senate, he succeeded in interesting the members of the assembly on the subject, and a loan of state credit was granted for $2,000,000. On the subject of railroads, it is not too much to say that Mr. Allen has done more to originate and bring them to their present state of prosperity than any man in Missouri. His talents and time have been long given to foster their growth, and he well deserves the gratitude of the country for his continual exertions. It was he who proposed the whole system of railroads through the localities which they now take in their course.
When he was in the Senate, he gave effectual support to the creation of a geological survey, which has made known the different sections of the state, attracted immigration, and, pari passu with the railroads, has served to develop its resources. He was agent for the World's Fair, both in London and New York, by appointment, and the journals both abroad and in the East glowed with contributions from his pen on the state of Missouri, and he placed her before the world with all her mammoth resources made manifest. He selected the land donated by the general government for the Pacific Railroad; and when, in 1854, he resigned his position as director and president, resolutions the most complimentary were passed by the board. He was again nominated at this time for state senator, but declined. In 1857, he was elected president of the Terre Haute, Alton, and St. Louis Railroad, which he held for one year. In September, 1858, he established the well-known banking-house of Allen, Copp, & Nisbet, he furnishing the capital. In 1859 he was entrusted by the state of Missouri with $900,000 of her guaranteed bonds, to be disposed of by him for the benefit of the South-west Branch of the Pacific Railroad, and he discharged the trust with fidelity and success.
Mr. Allen has won himself laurels that can never fade. He is the father of the railroad system of the state, and with paternal devotion has done all that man could do to advance its interest. As a benefactor of Missouri he has advocated her internal improvements, and with his graphic pen revealed to the world her agricultural and mineral wealth; and as a citizen of St. Louis he has ever solicitous of her interest, by making her the great reservoir whence all her channels of internal improvements must flow. His life has been on of the utility and constant action; and his literary and political contributions and unceasing efforts for the good of the state are well known to the living and will receive the appreciation of posterity.
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Isaac Rosenfeld, Jr.
ISAAC ROSENFELD, Jr., was born near Nuremberg, in Bavaria, March 27th, 1827. His father, Kallman Rosenfeld, who was a miller and grain dealer in Germany, is still living, and has eight children.
From the circumstance of his father being placed in a comfortable sphere in life, Isaac Rosenfeld, Jr., had all care given to his education in youth, and did not want for teachers to fit him suitably for the vocation in life it was determined that he should pursue. When this was acquired, he was placed as a clerk in a large dry-goods house, where he remained for three years. He then made an engagement in another house, in the same capacity, where he remained for four years. He had by this time acquired a complete knowledge of his business, and, having reached the age of manhood, he determined to make the United States of America his future residence. He had studied the theory of free institutions, and had become a convert to the doctrine that man can govern himself. He accordingly left Bavaria at the age of twenty-two, and embarked for New York. On arriving in this country, he traveled for some time, that he might see the different cities, and select a location. On seeing St. Louis, he gave it the preference.
Isaac Rosenfeld arrived in St. Louis March 7th, 1849. He commenced the wholesale fancy dry-goods business, in partnership with other gentlemen, and the firm was styled Ottenheimer & Company. The firm was soon after changed to Silberman & Rosenfeld, which continued until 1853, when he gave up commercial pursuits. He was then elected treasurer and secretary of the Germans' Saving Association, an office of great trust and responsibility, which he held for three years. He always had a predisposition for the business of finance, and, with some few others, originated the present State Savings Institution, and started it on that firm basis which has insured so effectually its subsequent success. He was elected cashier of the institution, which does the largest money transactions of any bank in the western country; frequently its daily business exceeding a million of dollars.
Mr. Rosenfeld is just in the flower of manhood, and in all matters of finance, there is no one in the city whose opinion is more valued. In the season of youth he has achieved what is usually the work of a lifetime — and his future is redolent with brightness.
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Richard H. Cole.
RICHARD H. COLE was born in Stafford county, Virginia, March 22d, 1816. His father, Daniel Cole, was an honest blacksmith, who early taught his son the trade that he followed, and gave him a good common business education.
At the age of sixteen, Richard H. Cole thought himself proficient enough in his business to take charge of a blacksmith-shop and coach-factory, in London county, Virginia. So expert was he in horse-shoeing that he won the friendship of a man by the name of Henry Sacket, by the skill that he evinced in this particular branch of his trade, who proposed to him to go and see the West, and settle in that growing country — that he would pay, at all events, the expenses of a journey of observation. He followed the suggestion of his friend, and came to Missouri in the autumn of 1835. He went to Marion City, where he married Miss Amanda Eversle, daughter of Jacob B. Eversle, and, in 1837, moved to St. Charles, where he became engineer in a steam flour-mill, which employment he pursued for some years, and then resumed his trade. He remained working at his trade for four years, and in 1844, came to St. Louis.
When Mr. Cole came to St. Louis, he was but an humble blacksmith, and engaged himself to Messrs. Gaty & McCune at eight dollars per week, and at that time he could obtain no higher wages, which were scarcely sufficient for supporting his family. After pursuing journey-work for some little time, he determined, if possible, to commence business himself, and rented a place in the vacant lot adjoining the Park Mills, from Mr. Francis Watkins, where he built a rough shop, from some boards which were kindly furnished him by Mr. Watkins. He remained eighteen months in this spot, when, having saved a little money, he built a large shop on Main street, and rapidly extended his business.
While engaged in business on Main street, he became acquainted with the firm of Chouteau, Harrison & Vallé. In their friendly intercourse, this firm told him that they had made a contract with the Illinois Central Railroad Company, to furnish them a large quantity of nuts and bolts, for the purpose of bridging. From the want of a careful examination, they had contracted to furnish them with nuts at a price so low, that, on calculating the expense after the contract was closed, they found it would be most unprofitable. Mr. Cole saw the dilemma in which they were placed, and it struck him that he could furnish nuts at much less cost than usually attended their manufacture, by inventing a machine that would cut them at once from the iron, without subjecting them to the tedious process to which they were heretofore subjected. He put his brain on the rack of invention, and, after much thinking and some experiments, he succeeded in producing a machine that would answer the desired purpose.
Feeling confident in the efficacy of his machine, he proposed to Messrs.
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Chouteau, Harrison & Vallé, to take the contract off their hands. His proposition they gladly assented to, and, on Mr. Chouteau becoming acquainted with the new invention, he purchased a half interest for twenty-five hundred dollars. However, in a little while, he expressing a desire of selling out for the same price, Mr. Cole repurchased his interest.Mr. Cole had heard that there was a celebrated nut machine invented by some one in Pittsburgh, and he started for that city with the intention of purchasing the machine if it proved superior to his own, so that he could employ it in the manufacture of nuts. On seeing the machine, he found that his own was incomparably superior; and it soon became widely known, and he became the great nut-maker in St. Louis. He made several inventions, which covered all the different varieties of nuts, and, having patented machinery to subserve his purpose, there was no one who could compete with him in their manufacture.
So sensible did Mr. Chouteau become of the immense capital contained in the inventions, that he gave him $37,500 for the half which he had before resold for $2,500, and a firm was established which went under the title of R. H. Cole & Company, and then was built the St. Louis Nut and Washer Factory. The fame of the new inventions spread far and wide, and one-third of the business done west of the Mountains was purchased by Mr. J. J. O'Fallon for $25,000, and one-third of the business done east of the Mountains for the further sum of $40,000, and the firm became known as J. J. O'Fallon & Company.
So useful are the inventions of Mr. Cole that their fame has passed the Atlantic, and there are branch houses established in various portions of Europe, that are employed in the particular manufactures to which they are suited. Mr. Watkins, from whom he rented the ground on which he reared his little shop, owns a small interest in the inventions, and is an agent in Europe. In Birmingham, the well-known Victoria Works, which are one of the branches of the concern in St. Louis, are carried on by him, the firm being called Watkins & Keen.
When Mr. Cole came to St. Louis in 1844 he was in humble circumstances indeed, and he had to labor hard, under the ten-hour system, for six days, before he became entitled to his weekly salary of eight dollars. For many years he pursued his laborious task with a contented mind, yet hoping and bent upon producing some improvements in mechanics to which would be attached emolument and honor. What once were golden dreams have assumed a practical shape, and the humble mechanic, from the loom of his active brain, has produced an invention which has startled the world and brought fame and fortune to himself. Mr. Cole is richly deserving of all that he has gained, and all that may await him; for, even before the golden change came upon his fortunes, he was entitled to all that could be conveyed by the poet, when he wrote: "An honest man is the noblest work of God."
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William G. Clark.
THE parents of William Clark belonged to the state of Maryland, and he was born in Baltimore county, November 4th, 1818 His grandmother still lives at the venerable age of ninety-five years. His father, Matthew Clark kept a hotel and store combined, and raised in a respectable manner a family of six children, giving them all a fair education, and training them to habits of early industry.
William G. Clark was kept at school until he reached the age of seventeen, and then he became clerk to Mr. John Taylor, a dry-goods merchant, with whom he did not long remain; for, being invited by Mr. Trowbridge, the brother-in-law of Mr. Taylor, who was preparing to locate in the west, to accompany him to his new home, he accepted the offer, and, on reaching St. Louis in 1836, he commenced business with him in the capacity of clerk. He remained three years in that situation, and, understanding by this time perfectly the routine of commercial pursuits, in 1839 he commenced business on his own account, in conjunction with two others, and a firm was established under the title of Jones, Clark and Gill, who carried on the clothing business. He continued as clothing merchant until 1842, and then, believing that the lumber business offered greater inducements, he entered upon his new pursuit, and soon became one of the most extensive and successful lumber merchants in the city.
Mr. Clark, by his own efforts, has reached affluence and a commercial portion, which has given his name weight and respect in the community. He is extensively associated with all enterprises which serve to strengthen and increase the business elements of St. Louis. He is a director in the Southern Bank, and essentially promoted the building of the City University, which promises to elevate so much the standard of education in our city, and is a trustee of the institution. He has been for many years a member of the church, and is a director in the Lindell Hotel, now in the course of erection.
Mr. Clark has been twice married; first to Miss Julia Miller, of Baltimore, in 1840, and had a large family of ten children. His present estimable lady was Miss Mary Bede Parks, daughter of Joseph Parks, of St. Charles county, Missouri. Mr. Clark has been a resident of St. Louis for twenty-three years, and is well known in the community as a man of sterling worth, who is well worthy of the fair fame, which a life of integrity has established, and of the affluence he has amassed by his industry. He is the owner of that fine block of buildings known as Clark's Buildings, which are an ornament to the locality in which they are erected.
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Hon. John Richard Barret.
JOHN RICHARD BARRET was born August 21st, 1825, in the town of Greensburgh, on Green River, Kentucky. William Barret, his grandfather, was a respectable planter in the Old Dominion, and, though but a youth at the commencement of the Revolutionary war, soon became one of his country's defenders, and, when almost a boy in years, was made a captain in a Virginia regiment. Dorothy Winston, whom he afterward married, was of one of the ancient families of Virginia, and first cousin of Patrick Henry, the illustrious orator and patriot. His son, William D. Barret, the father of the subject of this memoir, was a man of sterling worth, remarkable industry, and unimpeachable integrity. He held the highest positions of trust in the state of Kentucky, and on his removal from Kentucky to St. Louis, in 1839, he associated himself, in the grocery and commission business, with Messrs. Blaine & Tompkins, and died in 1844. His wife, who is the daughter of General James Allen, of Kentucky, still survives.
John Richard Barret, the subject of this sketch, had all the advantages of an early education which the country schools of Kentucky at that time afforded. His father, though a self-made man, was always anxious for the mental culture of his children, and endeavored to instil into their minds a passion for learning. Directly the petticoat was shifted for the "round jacket," John Richard was sent to the little log school-house, and there became familiar with the rudiments of the English branches. When not at school, he frequently assisted in work upon the farm, and went regularly to mill in the old primitive manner, sitting on a well-filled sack of corn balanced on a horse's back. If the rider's attention is withdrawn for a moment to other things, down goes the sack; and to this day Colonel Barret is fond of relating to his friends his little mishaps when he went to mill.
After reaching the age of thirteen, John Richard was sent to Centre College, where he remained until he passed through the freshman course, and was then called to St. Louis by his father, who had but shortly removed to that city, and had experienced such a considerable loss by fire, that he thought it a part of prudence to remove for a time his children from school, to curtail expenses. However, the president of St. Louis University, understanding his motives, insisted that he should send his children to that eminent institution, and remain a debtor for their education until his pecuniary circumstances were in a prosperous condition. This generous offer was accepted, and John Richard graduated at the university with the highest honors of his class, in 1843, and delivered the valedictory.
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He then commenced the study of the law, but his father dying, he was compelled to take out a license to practise before he had completed the time which he had set apart to thoroughly qualify himself for his profession. From the very first he was successful; nature had done much, and his own efforts were not wanting. He was moulded into a form which a knight of the middle ages might have been proud to possess, and had an energy, combined with his natural and intellectual attainments, which injured success. Upon him devolved chiefly the care of his brothers and sisters, younger than himself, and five in number.
In 1852, he entered upon the political arena, and since that time has been one of the favorite champions of the Democratic party, and has never been defeated. He was elected in 1852 to the Missouri legislature, which position he held for four terms, and was a most efficient representative. In 1858, while absent from the state, he was nominated for Congress, and party excitement running very high, the election was a most exciting one in the coming August. Colonel Barret was elected by a considerable majority; he was the Democratic candidate.
In November, 1847, Colonel Barret married Miss Eliza P. Simpson, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of the Hon. James Simpson, now chief-justice of the state of Kentucky. In 1852, he lost this amiable woman, who had blessed his home for five years, and been the chief source of his happiness.
Colonel Barret has that magnetism of character, so rarely possessed by the human family, which attracts toward him his fellow man without any apparent effort. He appears to have been formed by nature for public life; and his frankness of manner not only conciliates regard, but successfully woos the most friendly feelings. In politics he is known by the appellation of "Missouri Dick;" and as a champion of the Democratic party he has been most successful, and never been defeated upon the political arena.
While a member of the legislature, he obtained the charter of the Agricultural and Mechanical Association. He has been its president since its incorporation, and the fame of its lovely "Fair Grounds," and its widespread salutary influence over agricultural and mechanical pursuits, is known and felt throughout the Union. In politics, he has always been for the union of his party, and stood for the union of the states. He is in the prime of manhood, and will gather fresh laurels in the legislative halls of his country, in which he will soon commence his useful duties.
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Gerard B. Allen.
THE subject of this memoir was a native of Ireland, being born in the city of Cork, November 6th, 1813. His father, Thomas Allen, was a respectable silk weaver of that city, and young Allen, believing that in America labor would be better rewarded than in his native country, resolved to emigrate, and started for the city of New York in 1836.
Previous to leaving Ireland, young Gerard B. Allen had learned the carpenter and turner business, and on his arrival in New York, followed those pursuits for more than a year, and then came to St. Louis in 1837. Here he worked journeywork until 1841, when he entered upon business himself, and, in turning and manufacturing bedsteads, he added considerably to his worldly wealth, and extended his business relations. In 1845, he had widely extended his operations, and owned two saw-mills, one in St. Louis and the other on Gasconade River.
Believing that the working of iron afforded a vast field of enterprise and wealth in St. Louis, in 1847 he connected himself in the foundry business, and became a member of the well-known firm of Gaty, McCune & Co., with whom he remained until 1855. Two years after he had lost his amiable wife, who was Miss Frances Adams, of New York, he commenced, on his own account, his business at the Fulton Iron Works.
Mr. Allen is well known to the citizens of St. Louis as a sterling business man, and the uprightness of his character has won the confidence of the community. He is widely connected with positions of trust, and is president of the Covenant Life Insurance Company, is a director in the Hope Fire Marine Insurance Company, and also in the Bank of the State of Missouri; he is also vice-president of the O'Fallon Polytechnic Institute, and of the North Missouri Railroad.
Every position of life which Mr. Allen fills and has filled, he has done it with satisfaction, and the eagerness with which he is sought after to hold important trusts, and to control important functions, shows the sterling value of his character in the community.
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William L. Ewing.
WILLIAM L. EWING was born January 31st, 1809, near the town of Vincennes, Indiana. When the whole of that portion of country where Vincennes is situated was called the Illinois Territory, Nathaniel C. Ewing, the father of William L. Ewing, received the appointment from the government as receiver of public money, and removed at an early day to the old French settlement to enter upon the duties of his office. He was likewise a member of the territorial legislature, where he was known as a hard worker in every measure that concerned the advancement of the Illinois Territory. He left his influence upon the times in which he lived, and was well known for his strong advocacy in making the state of his adoption a non-slaveholding state. He died at the advanced age of seventy-five, in the year 1848.
The very circumstance of William L. Ewing being born in the neighborhood of Vincennes as early as 1809, shows at once that he did not enjoy very excellent advantages of education in his youth. He had the instruction in the limited degree which the country schools at that period imparted; but his thirst for knowledge overcame the barrier of adventitious circumstances and by continual self-culture he garnered much useful information.
Believing that Vincennes, like most of the old towns settled by the French, would never be a place of great magnitude, William L. Ewing determined on removing to St. Louis, and landed on August 17th, 1821. His first business effort was with Dr. William Carr Lane, his brother-in-law, with whom he came to St. Louis, and engaged with him in the capacity of clerk, and remained in that position for more than three years. (His employer was the first mayor of the city of St. Louis, and was afterward governor of New Mexico.) After leaving the employment of Dr. William Carr Lane, Mr. Ewing went some time to the St. Louis University to complete his education, and then engaged as clerk in the Missouri Republican office, and served in that capacity in sundry other places until 1833, when he returned to his native town in Indiana, and started a store, which he successfully conducted for three years and a half. Having thus achieved a start in Vincennes, Mr. Ewing again came to St. Louis, determining to build up a fortune and commercial reputation in a city which he knew would soon occupy a position of primary importance in the commercial world.
The second advent of William L. Ewing in the Mound City was attended with the most auspicious circumstances. He opened a grocery and commission house, and at once commenced a most prosperous career. The firm was known as Berthhold & Ewing.
The year 1849 will ever be remembered as a marked year in the annals of St. Louis. A destructive fire broke out in the lower part of the city, and, despite the exertions of the citizens and firemen, raged with a fury that threatened to wrap the whole town in the conflagration. Amid
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the thousands of sufferers was the firm of Berthhold & Ewing, after a prosperous existence of ten years — the loss was $18,000.Nothing daunted by the unexpected calamity, Mr. Ewing, with the confidence and energy for which he is remarkable, again commenced business under the firm of William L. Ewing & Company, which is still in existence, and it has the confidence and respect of the whole business community. He was married February 8th, 1838, to Miss Clara Berthhold, who was the granddaughter of Pierre Chouteau, senior, who was the companion of Pierre Laclede Ligueste, the founder of St. Louis.
William L. Ewing has accomplished all that he wished for. It was his aim to excel in the avocation he chose, and he has succeeded. He is known as one of the leading merchants of St. Louis, and his integrity and cordial deportment have won the respect and love of its citizens. He is liberal in his views, and a great advocate of internal improvements. Public spirit and enterprise are elements of his character, and he is liberal in his assistance to any public measure that tends to advance the interest of the city or the state. He has acquired his wealth not by practising a miser parsimony, but by the expansive views which he took of business relations, accompanied by energy, perseverance, and industry. In his charities there are few more liberal, and what he gives is to relieve suffering, and not from any spirit of ostentation. He is a director of the Agricultural and Mechanical Association, is a director in the Merchants' Bank and Union Insurance Company; and to the various public institutions, eleemosynary and literary, he has subscribed munificently. He was a great encourager of the steamboat interest, and owned largely in many of the finest that land on the levee. One of the handsomest boats on the Mississippi bears his name.
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Louis A. Lebaume.
THE biography of Louis A. Lebaume commences in St. Louis; for he was born in this city on March 13th, 1807. His father, Louis Lebaume, was a native of France, a gentleman of fine education, which made him take a prominent part in the country he early adopted as his own. Under Zenon Zrudeau, the Spanish commander, he filled the important and responsible position of secretary, and after the transfer of the province of Louisiana to the United States, in due time he was elected one of the judges of Common Pleas, and likewise colonel of the militia. His wife, who was the mother of the subject of this memoir, and whose maiden name was Susan Dubruil, was connected with one of the oldest families in St. Louis, and was born within its precincts. The house in which the Dubruil family lived was an old-fashioned stone building with extended portico situated on the block in Second street, west side, between Chesnut and Pine. The whole square was owned by Mr. Dubruil, and a part of it was devoted to the cultivation of vegetables, and on one extremity was located a barn. On that square now stands a marble building built by Mr. Gay, in which will be held the Mechanics' and Southern Banks, and it is in the very heart of the business of