Upper Alton, Illinois

The St. Louis papers about this time were influential in stirring up the deep feeling which had manifested itself at Alton. The iligsoiai Republican, which was generally taken and read at Alton, in its issue of August, 1837, said ; " We perceive that an Anti-slavery society has been formed at Upper Alton, and many others doubtless will shortly spring up in diflerent parts of the state. We had hoped that our neighbors would have ejected from amongst them that minister of mischief, the Observer, or at least corrected its course. Something must be done in this matter, and that speedily! The good people of Illinois must either put a stop to the efforts of these fanatics or expel them from the community. If this is not done, the travel of emigrants through their state, and the trade of the slaveholding states, and particularly Missouri, must stop. Every one who desires the harmony of the country and the peace and prosperity of all, should unite to put them down."

Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.

At nine o'clock of the evening of the 21st of August, 1837, Mr. Lovejoy was assaulted by some eight or ten persons who, it is said, had determined to give him a coat of tar and feathers, and then send him adrift in a canoe down the Mississip])!. He then resided at Hunterstown in a building in a secluded spot below the road that led to Upper Alton ; and it was while on his way home from the drugstore with some medicine for his sick wife, that he was roughly stopped by the crowd, who at once disclosed their purpose. With great coolness, he said : " I have but one request to make of you, and then you may do with me what you please. My wife is dangerously ill, and it is necessary that she should have this prescription imraedidiately. Will one of you take it, and see that it is delivered at the house, but without intimating what is about to befal me? I am in the hands of God and ready to go with you." This request was complied with, and after a few moments of silence, one of the party exclaimed, "Boys, I can't lay ray hand on as brave a man as this ! " and turning away, he was followed by the others, and Mr. Lovejoy was left alone. But at a later hour during the same night a mob entered the Observer office, drove out the employes and completely demolished the press. Though these outrages were boldly committed, no attempt was made by the city officials to bring the riotors to justice.

Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.

Another press, the fourth and the last, was ordered. The means to purchase it were furnished by some friends of free speech in Ohio. Some thought was entertained of transferring the publication of the paper to Quincy. A convention to form a State Anti-slavery Society met on the twenty-sixth of October, 1837, in the Presbyterian church at Upper Alton. Some of the opponents of the object of the meeting, among them Usher F. Linder, then attorney-general, and John Hogan, now of St. Louis, gained control of the convention ; though the real friends of the anti-slavery movement met elsewhere and organized a State Society, of which Mr. Lovejoy was made corresponding secretary, and recommended that the publication of the Observer should be continued at Alton. On the thirtieth of October, the Rev. Edward Beecher, then president of Illinois College, delivered an address in the Presbyterian church in Alton in which he expressed himself strongly in favor of defending Mr. Lovejoy to the last. Mr. Beecher's speech was interrupted by a stone being thrown through one of the church windows, and it is probable that serious trouble would have ensued had not ample provision been made to repel any attack by a mob. At the moment the stone was thrown, William Tanner called a company, previously organized, to arras, and in a few minutes the church door on either side was flanked by a row of armed men, whom it was not safe for any mob to attack. Among the citizens in line were Enoch Long and Aaron W. Corey. Mr. Beecher went on with iiis address to the close, and as the people retired Mayor Krum called on the outsiders to disperse. The promptness of their defense was due to the fact that after repeated consultations between Mayor Krum, Mr. Lovejoy, Winthrop S. Gilman, Henry Tanner and others a company of fifty men had been organized to resist any attack on Mr. Lovejoy, and to protect the new press which was daily expected to arrive.

Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Alton Township - it names this place 38 more 38 times.