Delaware County, Indiana - Chapter 12: Muncie, 1908

In Center township, the White river, after pursuing a sinuous course from its head waters in Randolph county, makes a broad bend that marks the northernmost limit of its course, from that point following a generally southwest direction until it meets with the Wabash in southwestern Indiana. From this bend it is only a few miles over the watershed to the great Wabash valley, the waters of the Mississincwa and those of White river diverging at this point, not to mingle within the same banks until they have flowed several hundred miles in widely separate paths. On the north side of the bend the land begins an almost abrupt ascent toward the high ground of the watershed. On the south, half encircled by the river, lies the large bottom which the current has overrun many times in the history of the stream and has finally made into an alluvial plain.

Three quarters of a century ago, the region thus described was, according to current testimony, one vast hazel thicket, among which rose many varieties of forest growth, the beech and oak, the dogwood and hackberry, while along the river were many areas of marshland with its own peculiar growth. It was nature's wilderness, and probably only a few winding trails penetrated its density and indicated the passage of wild denizen or human beings. By treaty with the general government, probably the St. Mary's treaty of 1818, a tract containing 672 acres, lying on both sides of the river at the bend, was reserved and at the time of which we are now writing was held by a Delaware Indian, a widow, named Rebecca Hackley; hence was called the Hackley Reserve.* So far as known, the land had been put to

"In 1P01 flip C. I. & K. Knilroad sought by condemnation a right-of-way across White river, which the Whitoly Land Company had refused to grant. The attorneys for the railroad, in course of the proceedings, introduced a very unexpected and novel plea that the land company did not own the river bed, offering in support of this contention the following bit of history, going back to the very beginning of Muncie:

Quoting an article from the treaty of 1819 - "To Rebecca Hackley, a halfblooded Miami Indian, is granted one section of land, to be located at Munseytown, on White river, so that it shall extend on both sides to include 320 acres of the prairie, in the bend of White river, where the bend assumes the shape of a horseshoe."

The Indian woman, with superstition characteristic of her race, refused to accept that part of the land covered by water, hence the plea of the attorneys for the railroad that " ... in pursuance of said treaty (above mentioned) 320 acres of land lying south of said river was surveyed . . . and 320 acres of land lying north was likewise surveyed; that in tho survey of said land the river was excluded. That, including said river, thero is now 672 acres in said section of land. That no use, although there may have been a little patch of ground where the widow Hacklcy or other members of her household cultivated some Indian corn and vegetables. To describe the situation of this reserve by modern landmarks: Its southeast corner was near Washington and Elm streets; the southwest corner is now in the river near the old dug road nearly north of the Jefferson school; the northeast and northwest corners being one mile north of the two corners mentioned, the tract being parts of sections 3, 4, 9 and 10. The south line of the reserve passes through the center of the court house.

While the first land entries were being made in the south and southeastern parts of the county, Goldsmith C. Gilbert (whose career has been sketched) was trading with the Indians on the Mississinewa. The story goes that his store was burned down by a drunken Indian, who had been excited to riotous conduct by the Gilbert brand of whiskey, and with the money collected as damages from the tribe because of this outrage Mr. Gilbert shortly afterward purchased from the widow Hackley the reserve on White river. Like several other notable purchases 'in American history, the amount originally paid for this land ($960), though it was higher than the price paid for government land, bears small proportion to its present value.

This sale was transacted about 1825, and about the same time two cabins were built in a clearing where is now the court house square. One of these Mr. Gilbert used for a residence, and the other for a trading post. Thus trade was the starting point of Muncic. At one end of the historical vista we see the trader's cabin, set in a little open space among the trees and hazel brush ; its rough log walls sheltering and protecting a miscellaneous stock of the necessities of pioneer life; while idling about were some Indian bucks, buying so much as their purse or credit permitted or exchanging the results of hunting and trapping for the few staples and the liquor that civilization had taught them to appreciate. A varied panorama intervenes between this primitive view and the present. At the other end a thousand interests are crowded together to represent the products of a twentieth century civilization. Near the site of the old trading post is the stone court house; on all sides are stores and dwellings, each one a splendid structure as compared with the old log cabin and every one constructed long after the old store had been demolished. All around, homes, factories, schools, and churches, along paved streets and avenues, occupy the ground then thicketed with hazel and other wild vegetation. A lonely cabin in the wilplaintiff is informed that and believes that the Indians would not receive a river or water for land ceded to them, nnd that they did not do so; that the United States has

>r received any consideration for the land constituting the bed and banks of said r- that it has never parted with its title thereto, unless by the treaty and sur- 1 aforesaid, and unless said grant carried title to tho thread of the stream."

The county institutions arc a prize eagerly sought by various localities when a new county is organized. Other conditions being equal, the county seat will easily surpass all other centers in a county, and it is probable that in the country at large the county scats are usually the principal towns in their respective counties. For this reason, in the history of many counties we arc treated with the spectacle of a lively county-scat fight, wherein two or more towns, each aspiring for the honor, contend for the prize with the inducements of money, the arts of politics, and even, as has been known, with the harsher means of open warfare.

The location of the county seat of Delaware county on land donated by G. C. Gilbert, Lemuel Jackson and William Brown has been described in the civil history of the county. Muncie has never had an important rival for this honor, and has continued the home of the county government for eighty years. With the establishment of the county seat at this point, and the donation of some fifty acres of land for the site of the town and county institutions, the history of Muncie may be said to have really begun. Besides being the center of the civil government, it quickly became the commercial center, where the residents of the outlying country resorted to obtain their supplies of provisions, to have implements repaired and horses shod, to get an occasional letter or paper, and also hear and discuss the current local news and politics.

Unfortunately, there is little contemporary information regarding Muncie's early history. For the most part it is necessary to rely on reminiscences of men who were here at the time, but who, at the time of recording their memories, had to look back over a long period of years, during which many details dropped away and the exact succession of events was often lost.

Muncietown - The seat of justice of Delaware county, situated on the south bank of White river, on an elevation of about thirty feet above the bed of the river. It was laid out in 1827, by four different proprietors, in the form of an oblong square. The four principal streets are sixty feet wide, the others forty-five, all crossing each other at right angles. It contains, at present 320 inhabitants, a postoffice, a printing office, four physicians, six mercantile stores, three taverns, three groceries, one grist mill, one saw mill, one distillery, one carding machine, one cabinet-maker's shop, two tailors, two hatters, one shoemaker, six house joiners, one bricklayer, and plasterer, two chair makers, two tanners, two blacksmiths, one gun- smith, one wagon maker, one painter, one saddler's shop, four milliners, one school mistress,' one minister of the gospel, one judge, four attorneys, one sheriff, one clerk of the court, two magistrates, one school commissioner, one county surveyor and recorder. A superb court house with a cupola etc., 45 feet square, and 28 feet high, is to he built, and is now under contract. The contemplated Central Canal will pass through this place, and the connecting link, cither by canal or railroad, between the Central and Whitewater Canals, will in all probability terminate at this point, as the Board of Canal Commissioners have reported favorable to such termination. The State Road from the Ohio State line to Indianapolis passes through this place - a State Road from Richmond to Logansport - a State Road from New Castle, in Henry county, to Fort Wayne - all pass through this town. There is also a State Road leading to Pendleton, and Delphi. Muncictown is about 61 miles N. E. from Indianapolis N. lat. 40 deg. 7 min. W. Ion. 8 deg. 9 min.

Around the public square, as soon as it was laid out, there began to appear the various features of community life. On the north side Mr. Gilbert kept his store and his tavern for the accommodation of travelers. A general store, kept by Samuel Watson, stood on the northwest corner of Washington and High streets, while on Walnut street stood a blacksmith shop and about the same time the postoffice. Of course a certain amount of manufacturing was one of the important foundation stones of the new town. The pioneer manufacturer was Goldsmith C. Gilbert. Perhaps he was influenced in purchasing the reserve by observing the millsite afforded in the bend of the river at this point. In 1828, the year following the location of the county scat, he dug a mill race, blasting it part way through rock, and the next year constructed the "Old Mill," as Muncie's first grist mill was called. It was fit only for "cracking corn" at first, but later was supplied with a burr for grinding wheat. About the same time a sawmill was built just north of the grist mill ; later a distillery was erected, and also a woolen mill, the latter being located at the point where the race enters the river. Mr. Gilbert started all these establishments, which comprised the manufacturing interests of the town for several years.

Even in a pioneer community death is not an unknown guest, hence Muncie had scarcely begun to grow when a place was set aside for the interment of the dead. The first cemetery was on the north side of East Main street, east of Beacon street, and the second on the north side of Adams west of Franklin. When the present cemetery was laid out the bodies were disinterred from the old grounds and placed in the new.

Even with several factories, Muncie could not produce all the necessities of life, many of which had to be brought in from the larger centers. Cincinnati was the trading metropolis, and among those who used to cover the distance between these places with team and wagon was Boyd Lmville.

Sometimes he could make tlie trip in a week, but more frequently in two weeks. Tlie road to Richmond, which was the route used in' this traffic, was very circuitous to avoid the bogs and other obstructions, and transportation was beset with tremendous difficulties.

With the help of an early newspaper and some reminiscences formerly published it is possible in a measure to reconstruct the Muncictown of seventy years ago. The brief description above quoted from the Muncietonian is a summary of the principal features, but this outline can be filled out somewhat by a study of the advertising columns, which arc the important and almost only local items published by the old-fashioned newspaper. The business and professional interests of the little village in June, 1837, as represented by advertisers, were the following:

Eli Green, brick maker, layer and plasterer; William Scott, tanner and currier; Thomas C. Anthony, lawyer; John Smith, whose chair factory was located at Jackson and Liberty streets; A. R. East, who had just been appointed school commissioner of the county vice T. C. Anthony resigned ; \V. G. Rentier, lawyer; Mrs. Ellen O. Minshall and Miss Louvina Long, milliners; Joseph Anthony, lawyer; Eleazer Coffeen, who had claims against various persons of the county; G. W. Garst, W. C. Willard, John A. Clark, physicians ; Edward S. Keasbcy, who manufactured hats at the comer of Main and Mulberry; Anderson Carter and Davis Williams, tailors; Stephen Cox, grocer at Main and Franklin; James Hodge, cabinet maker at Franklin and Washington ; Walton and Harlan, saddlery on Main street ; Watton and Cummerford, chair makers at Jackson and Liberty streets ; Edward Bcnbow, wagon and plow shop, Main and Mulberry; Asahel Spencer, gunsmith; Israel Shoemaker, boots and shoes; Minus Turner, grocer on Main street; the Exchange and Green Tree hotels; Kirby and Willard's general store; James O. Leas, general store; Bloomfield and Jack, general store; Joseph Lefavour, general store; C. F. Willard and Samuel P. Anthony, drugs ; while the following additional persons published "estray notices," which were very common in those days and characterized that state of development when fences are rare: William Williams, Joel Triplet, William Jones, Jesse Delaney, Benjamin Prickett, Ichabod Dille, Major Nottingham, John Marshall.

This summary is no' doubt accurate, so far as it goes, though there are probablv some important omissions. Apparently, the most important occupations and forms of trade were represented, so that there was no occasion for anyone to want the necessities nor even some of the luxuries. That the women of the community were not denied their most particular fashion is proved by the presence of two milliners. Doubtless the ladies felt that the pioneer lot was somewhat relieved when they could put on beribboned bonnets to visit neighbors who lived on the other side of the square. Mrs. Minshall, one of the milliners, was the widow of the Dr. Levi Minshall who had been one of the early physicians and had died only a short time previous to the date of this advertisement. Stephen Cox, who advertised as a grocer, had a dilapidated cabin at Main and Franklin, and is said to have made a specialty of "wet poods," of which he l\imself drank as freely as he sold to customers, lie was charged with the practice of pouring into the barrel as much water as was drawn off in liquor through the spigot - perhaps a safer custom than the western one of maintaining the strength of the barrel by additions of vitriol, though a time must have come when the diluted contents were too weak even for a pioneer thirst. The "Great Western," a saloon that stood on the southwest corner of Main and Mulberry about the same date, was also noted for the mean quality of its whiskey.

The first paper tells what the means of communication were, in a card announcing the arrival and departure of mails, the mail from Richmond on the south and from Peru on the north arriving twice a week, and that from Indianapolis, Winchester, and Connersville, once a week. What was termed "a much needed public accommodation" was a "four horse post coach" to run semi-weekly between Indianapolis and Greenville, Ohio, via Noblcsville, Andersontown, Muncietown and Winchester, the contract for which was opened to bid in this paper (June, 1837).

By 1840 Delaware county had a population of nearly nine thousand. It is estimated that only about 400 were located at Muncie at this time. The village was growing, however, and about this time occurred the first movement toward incorporation, so far as is now known. In a letter, dated January 7, 1842 (now in possession of Mrs. Julia Williamson), John A. Clark, writing to G. C. Gilbert, then in the legislature at Indianapolis, states that a meeting had just been held "for the incorporation of Muncietown," and that "we have raised a remonstrance." "I [Clark] am not as yet apprised of whether we will get a majority against it or not, but Alsop Edmond and all your Slickville friends are in favor of no incorporation." James Russey was reputed to be the head of the corporation movement. The attempt did not succeed, since Muncie did not become a corporation for more than ten years.

For nearlv twenty years the county seat was known as Muncietown. Likewise in those days Anderson was called Andersontown. The abbreviation of the name was probably dictated by several reasons, sufficient to cause the state legislature to give the name its present form. There was some local affection for the old name however, since a correspondent in the Muncie Democrat, May 10, 1845, spoke regretfully of a late act of the legislature that changed the name to Muncie.

Some interesting- records of the past are contained in Volume I No. 15 0f the Indiana Signal, published at Muncie June 24, 1848. John C. Osburn was editor and proprietor, his name being the first to catch the attention of the reader. The newspapers of that time devoted much space to exchange matter, short stories, moral essays, etc., but, overlooking these, one finds much direct representation of the affairs that concerned Delaware county people sixty years ago.

First, was the agitation for free schools. Indiana had then no free schools in the modern sense, and the question was soon to be put to vote whether the people favored free schools or not. This subject is discussed elsewhere in the chapter on education.

"All letters," reads an editorial notice, "must be postpaid to receive attention." It would be unnecessary to instruct anyone now to prepay the postage on a letter. In 1848 the postal system was still in its beginnings. It cost anywhere from five to twenty-five cents to send a letter, but it was largely optional whether the sender or the receiver should pay the postage. Hence the wisdom of the editor's little notice, who was thus safeguarding himself from paying postage on letter^ that had little pertinence to his business and perhaps contained criticism of his paper.

Many persons have never seen an old-fashioned letter, and the following describes one that was written over sixty years ago. Written on paper about twelve by six inches, the two ends were folded to meet in the center; then a fold from the left up to about two inches of the right side, which was then turned over in the same manner as the flap of a present-day envelope, being fixed with wax, on which was often stamped the sender's initial letter or other character. On the opposite side was a plain face for the address and postmark. The circular postmark on this particular letter bears on the outer edge "Muncietown, Ind." and in the center "Jan. 7" [1842]. No postage stamps were used, but the sending office had a stamp with the word "paid," after which was written in figures the amount, which, in this case, was ten cents, that being the rate for a letter between Muncietown and Indianapolis.

Political discussion claimed a large share of newspaper space! At the date of this issue the presidential campaign was just joined, by the nomination of Gen. Lewis Cass by the Democrats, and of Zachary Taylor, the hero of the Mexican war, by the Whigs. Over half of the news space in the Signal was devoted to these candidates, with natural preference for Taylor, since the editor was a Whig.

While tlic Signal of sixty years ago did not contain a column or more of amusement notices, as can now he found in the local press, there was I one announcement that meant more, socially, to the people of Delaware county from the oldest to the youngest than any single event of this more lively and spectacular age. The announcement, of the "celebration of Independence day," went on to state that the citizens of Muncic and vicinity would meet in a grove near town on the morning of July 4th and participate in the following exercises: - "Prayer, by Rev. Mr. Ash; Declaration read, by T. J. Sample; oration, by R. B. Abbott, A. B." - The Pendleton band was expected to be present, and vocal music was also on the program. These exercises over, a procession would be formed under the direction of James L Russey, marshal, and John Brady and William Perkins, assistant marshals, to march thence to the public square, "where a dinner will have been pro- I vided by the Muncic Sewing Circle, to be partaken of at one dollar per couple : the proceeds of which will be applied to the erection of a new Methodist church in this place." Of those in charge of arrangements are some familiar names: - James S. Ferris, Samuel W. Harlan, John Jack, James Nottingham, William G. Ethell, F. E. Putnam, Job Swain, James Hodge, Joseph Martin, George W. Garst, Joseph E. King, Samuel F. Brady, William N. Jackson, Charles P. Sample, John Dungan, Albert Heath.

We also get a glimpse of local political leaders, in the column of candidates' cards. Josiah P. Williams, Charles Mansfield and Jonathan Wachtel aspired to be county commissioners. James Hodge was candidate for state senator, also Joseph S. Buckles and Warren Stewart. Samuel Orr and George W. Garst desired the office of representative. John A. Gilbert and Warner Mann were candidates for associate judge of Delaware circuit court. For the office of clerk Samuel W. Harlan announced his candidacy.

Only one of the legal notices calls for attention. The county auditor invited bids for the "building of a house [of brick] for four offices, on the public square in Muncie, to be completed by the first Monday of December next."

A perusal of this paper explains the transportation facilities, when mails arrived only twice weekly from Indianapolis and other points, when a regular twice-a-week hack line ran from Muncie to Cincinnati, and all passenger traffic was by horse traction. The dawn of a new era, however, is seen in a notice for election of directors for the Indianapolis and Bellefon- Railroad, which in a few years was built and is now the line of the gig Four road. Sixty years ago the state capital was as distant to the people of Muncic as St. Louis is now, for it was never less than a day's journey there, and a very fatiguing one at that.

From the two columns of "Business Directory" we can partly reconduct the business and professional interests of that day. Nearly all the business houses were on Main street, and in the vicinity of the public square. ;\t the west end of this street were A. M. Klein, clock and watch maker, jnd W. G. Ethell, printer, glazier and chairmaker; at Main and Chestnut was T. Walling, saddle, harness and trunkmaker; at east end and south side 0f Main street were Patrick Justice and J. R. Lockwood, tanners, shoemakers and harnessmakers. Central Hotel, kept by S. Hoon, and Eastern Hotel, by Joseph Anthony, were on Main street, the latter at the cast end and the Central on the southeast corner of Main and Walnut. Between these was the Trimble House, kept by John Trimble. Many of the business establishments designated their position with reference to the Central or Eastern hotels. Thus, B. Buckley, a shoemaker, was two doors south of Central Hotel ; Nottingham and Meeks, cabinet makers, were nearly opposite the Eastern ; G. W. Greene, tailor, was opposite the Trimble House ; John Jack and J. L. Russey, dry goods and groceries, were one door east of Central Hotel ; Charles F. Willard, merchant, was north of Central Hotel and east of square. Other business men and their locations were : Mark Walling, tanner and currier, north of Jack, Russey & Co.'s grist mill ; George Liston, chairmaker and turner, on Washington street, near woolen factory; Charles Rickert, plowstocker and carriage maker, one door west of Neeley's blacksmith shop; Joseph Stradling, wagon, carriage and plowmaker, corner Main and Mulberry ; Edward G. Keasbey, hatmaker, Main street ; John and S. F. Brady, saddle, harness and trunk makers, adjoining postoffice, which stood on Main and Jefferson streets; Milton and R. M. Rogers, uholcsale and retail hardware, one door east of Russey and Jack's store;- P. Tuthill, shoemaker, four doors west of Eastern Hotel ; Elisha Spear, shoemaker, one door east of Willard's store; T. S. Xeeley, blacksmith and plow dealer, Main street; William S. Collis, sash and blind manufacturer, Liberty and Jackson streets; James Hodge, dry goods and groceries, Chestnut and Main; Jonathan Wachtel, chairmaker, west end Main street; Josiah P. Williams, grocer, Main street, corner opposite court house ; W. W. Moore's bakery and confectionery, one door east of postoffice, north side Main street. Physicians' cards appeared of B. F. Paris and A. F. Esterbrook, "botanic phy5icians and surgeons" ; J. E. Moler, two doors east of Galliher and Burt's store, Main street. The only lawyers whose cards appear were Thomas J. Sample, east end of Main street; Joseph S. Buckles, in court house; Joseph Anthony, near Eastern Hotel.

(Indiana Signal, October 28, 1848.) Besides the erection of several dwellings, and one or two business bouses, the past summer, there is now in the course of erection a splendid fire proof county building, designed to be occupied by four of the principal county officers. A few weeks ago and the foundation stone was not yet laid, and now there stands a brick building nearly ready for the covering. But a few weeks more will elapse, ere it will be ready for the reception of those who arc to occupy it. All of this has been thus speedily performed by our enterprising citizens, Messrs. Russey, Jack, and Wysor, who are the contrn-'tors.

There are in this village eight Dry Goods Stores, (though one would scarcely have believed it, had they taken our advertising columns as a criterion by which to judge,) all doing good business; four Groceries and Bakeries; three Public Inns; three Furniture Warehouses; three Blacksmith's shops; one Tin Manufactory, and Stove Depot; two Tanner and Curriers; one Hatter; four Waggon and Carriage Makers ; three tailors; three Shoemakers ; three Chair Manufactories; one Clock and Watch Repairer; one or two House and Sign Painters; one Tinker; one Grist and Saw Mill; one Woolen Factory; one Seminary with two or three good Teachers; two Churches; two Apothecary Shops; a plenty of Lawyers and Physicians; several Masons, Carpenters and Joiners, and one Sash and Blind Manufacturer, - all of which are well supported, and in a county too, that is not as yet blessed with any internal improvements. The population falls but little short of 1500.

The account of Muncie in 1848, as given above, describes the town just before it entered upon the period of growth and enlargement consequent on the building of the railroad. Four years afterward the railroad was completed. This new force changed many of the old fashions of living. Previously it had been the habit of the editor to excuse a late issue of his paper by saying that bad roads had prevented the arrival of paper from Cincinnati, or the merchant had a like plausible reason why his shelves were bare of staples. The daily passing of freight trains put an end to the condition that made such excuses necessary. The railroad brought a daily mail, and along with it came the telegraph, so that the mental horizon of this town was extended to the furthest limits of the world.

Muncie grew during this period, largely because of the railroad. During the decade of the forties the county increased in population just two thousand ; during the next decade, by five thousand. From a town of about four hundred it contained about nine hundred within two years after the completion of the railroad. Numerous additions were made to the town plat during this period, and the spirit of progress was felt by all.

One result of it was the incorporation of the town. A movement that had failed ten or twelve years before, now had hardly a dissenting vote. This time it was comparatively easy to obtain the signatures of more than

3 third of the voting population, and a petition asking for corporation was presented to tlie board of county commissioners in September, 1854. The board, satisfied the sentiment for corporation was strong, ordered an election for tiie voters of the proposed town to decide tiic question. On September 30, 1854, 57 voters wrote the word "yes," 42 the words "for corporation," and 4 the word "nn" on their ballots. The board decreed that Muncie was henceforth a corporate town, and in the following spring trustees and other officers were elected.

February 24, 1864, a petition, signed by more than a third of the voters within the corporate limits of Muncie, was presented to the town trustees asking that board to take such steps as were necessary to secure incorporation of Muncie as a city. The following November the board directed the t,»un marshal to take a census as preliminary to city organization. The marshal made returns showing that Muncie had a population of 2196, more than double the number in 1854. February 2, 1865, the voters went to the polls to decide whether city organization was desired, and when the ballots were counted only one was against it and 293 signified assent to the proposition. Before retiring from office the town trustees divided Muncie into four wards. The limits of these original wards were as follows: First ward - all the city west of High street; Second - all between High street and Jefferson street; Third - all between Jefferson street and Monroe street; and Fourth - all east of Monroe street.

The first mayor, aldermen and other officers of the City of Muncie were elected on February 25, 1865. John Brady was chosen to the executive office of the city. Joseph F. Duckwall was elected clerk, William H. Stewart treasurer, Jacob Dodson city assessor, Joshua Truitt city engineer, and John T. Robinson marshal and street commissioner. The first ward returned as its representatives in the council, Mark Walling and James Truitt. William B. Kline and Franklin Shafer were elected from the second ward ; the third ward chose John L. Little and Isaac Meeks, while that portion of the city lying east of Monroe street, elected William Brotherton and Lewis S. Smith.

The discovery of gold in California created quite as much excitement in Delaware county as in other similar sections of the country. Many left their settled pursuits and homes for the adventurous life of the west coast. Probably no complete record of all the Forty-Niners could be found, but some old papers preserve the record of a company of twenty-eight who left the county for California on October 1, 1849. They were: James H. Wysor, J. H. Jemison, T. E. Burt, Elisha Spear, David B. Dowden, from Muncie. Stephen Hamilton, father and son, Thompson Walling, Archibald Hamilton,

Samuel Martin, Crockett Ribble, Thomas R. Points, from the district alonp White river. Charles Carter, William Adsit, Samuel Peck, Dr. S. Hathaway, Daniel Dilley, Reason Imes, John Sherry, James Hinton, George Carter, Peter Shideler, Thomas Beird, Wesley Carroll, Benjamin Lewis, William Green, Isaac Ferguson, Dr. Davis, all from the Mississinewa. It is known that two other Delaware county men, Russey and Woods, met death while mining.

Probably the majority of these returned to the county within a few years, all enriched by strange experience if not by gold. One of them, however, failed to return, and as nothing of his fate was learned, his disappearance became one of those mysteries that sometimes shadow family histories. The final solution of the mystery revealed the most interesting romance in the county's annals. The substance of the strange story, as told in the Daily News of June 18, 1884, under the title of "A Modern Enoch Arden," is as follows : -

Thompson Walling, one of the '49ers, married Susanah, daughter of George Shafer, in 1841, and lived for some years on a farm in this county. In the excitement of '49, with $500.00 loaned him by Volney Willson, he started in company with Henry Wysor, Stephen Hamilton, Jr., Theo. Burt, Elisha Spear, Dr. Hathaway, Charles Jeminson, Chas. McLaughlin, Samuel Martin and a number of people from along the Mississinewa, for California.

The company met with varying success, and some of them returned with the start that proved the foundation for later fortune, but young Walling remained, as did poor Russey, who fell a victim to the red man's malignant hatred.

Walling's fortunes varied. Year after year passed, and he was heard of as having a stake, and anon as having lost his all, and at last came rumors that he had forsaken the mines and was meeting with varying success at the gambling table, also that misfortune had led to dissipation which, together with the determination to not return empty handed, kept him until 1852, when he made a stake of $3,000 by a good mine investment and sent $500 home to his wife. Part of these rumors only were true and all were probably greatly exaggerated.

Meantime, "his wife had given him up as dead, obtained a divorce, married twice, and was twice left a widow, and since 1882 had lived on her forty acre farm near Muncie.

Never in all this time had she any word from the absent wanderer, nor had any one any hope of his existence save Mr. Volney Willson, his old time friend, who, broken down by the rheumatism by this time, amused himself bv sending numberless letters throughout the west in quest of him Ion? since lost to his friends. At Weatherby, a village postofnee, in Oregon, at the beginning of the present year, the postmaster, Mr. Weatherbv, for whom the village had evidently been named, and who was himself a "forty niner" and had not seen his family for twenty years, became homesick, sent for his family, and while he was absent on his long postponed mission, a deputy postmaster distributed the morning mail. Suddenly a postmark

- Mtmcic, Indiana, - startled him. He looked at the superscription. It was directed to the postmaster. As deputy lie had a perfect right to open it. It was from his home. A sudden thrill pervaded his frame and with trembling fingers he broke the seal and perused the missive. It was a letter of inquiry from Mr. Willson as to himself. Emotions which he had not experienced, perhaps, for years, came over him in a torrent, and hastening to answer it, he wrote to Mr. Willson a long letter, detailing his trials, his hardships and his despair of ever returning to his old home until at last he gave up hope and supposing all who u ere once near and dear to him had long since died, gave up to remain in his new home. The letter was answerccf. telling the story of waiting, and of fond hopes blasted, and also of the living wife, twice the wife of others, but again alone, and in return came a letter saying that in all the years, the wanderer had known none who could take the place of Susanah, his early love. Whether he had yielded again to the tender passion did not transpire, but no ties, apparently, bound him to the west, and a series of letters resulted in the determination to come home and throw himself upon the mercy of his wife, and renew old ties, if such might be.

In pursuance of this design, Mr. Walling arrived in the city Tuesdav morning, and visited Mr. Willson, his brother Marc, and his old friends of the "forty-niners" and before the day was half gone, his son, Joseph, now a man grown, arrived with a buggy to take him home.

Who can imagine his feeling as he drew nigh the home of her whom he took for better, for worse, forty-three years since, and whom he had not seen for thirty-five years? We draw a' veil over the meeting. Suffice it to say that it was affecting in the extreme, and that the wife of '49 welcomed her recreant husband, and that a portion of the old love at least was awakened, and when a News man casually dropped in upon them, at a late hour that night, he found them rehearsing the incidents of thirty-five years.