Fayette County, Indiana - Chapter 22: Glimpses of Fayette County, 1917

Chapter 22: Glimpses of Fayette County

The most voluminous writer on early Fayette county history was Oliver H. Smith, who issued a volume entitled "Early Indiana Trials and Sketches," in 1858. While a considerable portion of his volume of more than six hundred pages is devoted to a discussion of lawyers and courts in the state, yet there are a large number of brief sketches pertaining particularly to Fayette county. It seems appropriate to present a few of these sketches of Fayette county to the readers of this . history. Smith located in the county in 1820, the year after it was organized, and was in continuous residence there until he permanently located in Indianapolis in 1839.

Smith had a style peculiarly his own, and his pithy sketches abound in witty situations which he portrays in a most humorous manner. He had a vivid sense of the ridiculous, and, along with this, the ability to e.xpress his ideas in a picturesque style. All of the sketches which are found in this volume were first printed in the Indianapolis Journal, and were so well received by the public at large that he was induced to collect them and issue them in book form. A few of his sketches pertaining to Fayette county are here reproduced.

In the si)riiig of 1820 I left Versailles, and settled in Connersville, in tile beautiful White Water valley. John Conner, the proprietor, lived there at that time, and as he had been many years in his youth among the Indians, at their homes, Connersville was daily filled with his first forest friends. The only hotel was kept by my distinguished friend, Newton Claypool ; the only attorney in the place was my friend, William W. Wiclv, who was soon after elected judge of the "new purchase circuit," including the seat of government. Court was in session when I arrived. The great case of Isaac Jones against Edward Harper was on trial.

When I arrived in Connersville in May of the year 1820, I stopped at the hotel of Newton Claypool. He was about my age. I had been licensed to practice in March before, and was looking for a location. My la.st dollar had escaped fi-om the top of my pocket. Breakfast over. I met Mr. Claypool in the bar-room ; as we met I remarked :

Tliiit diiy my acquaintance with Mr. Claypool commeuced, and I found liiiu uiy friend in need, as well as in deed. An intimacy grev/ up between us, wliieli lias lasted tbirty-seven years, without the slightest interruption, and which I have no doubt will continue while we live. He never was a candidate for office that I did not sui)port him, nor was I ever before the people or. the Legislature, that he was not my fast friend. Mr. Claypool represented the county of Fayette many years, in both branches of the General Assembly, with signal ability. He voted for me for United States Senator when I was elected. His greatest -foric was in his iiractical knowledge applied to the subject l)y his strong common-sense. He was one of the most efficient men of the Legislature for many .vears. The boarding was paid, anil in after years I bad both the honor and pleasure of receiving bis son, Benjamin ¥., into my office as a student.

I was early initiated into the mysteries of electioneering, by several of the most adroit men of the county. . Among them I name Marks Crume, who afterward held .several high offices and was one of the commissioners who concluded the treaty with the Pottawatamies of the Wabash. He was a warm supporter of General Jackson, while 1 sustained Henry Clay. He bad represented Fayette county several times in the Legislature, and in 1836 was again a ctindidate. I was anxious for his success, as I was about to become a candidate before the next Legislature for the United States Senate, and I knew him to be my fast friend. His competitor was a nameless newlight preacher - long, lank and stoop-shouldered, wearing a blue muslin gown, a queue hanging down to his waist, and his bead covered with one of these old-fashioned corn-shuck hats, with a rim extending to his shoulders. He was a fair electioneerer, in open day. This, Crume could meet. But he also preached at night. Here Crume entirely failed, although he was the son of Rev. Moses Crume, of Ohio, who was said to have borne a striking resemblance to General Washington.

There' remained but a week before the election. Crume became alarmed. It was evidently to be a close contest. The next week the battalion muster, at Squire Conner's, four miles below Connersville, on Whitewater, was to come off. This was looked to by the candidates with much interest, as the closing of the calnpaigu before the election. The preacher lived a few miles west of town, and having no horse walked down early in the morning, expecting to get one there. Crume and his friends kindly offered to procure one, and borrowed of Robert Griffls a very small jackass. The preacher mounted, when it was found that his feet would drag upon the ground. This they immediately remedied by taking up the stirrups, drawing up the legs of the preacher like the letter K, his gown covering, the whole jack but his head and ears, and off they started for the muster.

Arriving at the field, the horsemen rode in at the bars, but the jack of the preacher "took the studs," and in spite of all the kicking, pounding and whipping, refused to budge an inch. The eyes , of the battalion were soon directed to the preacher and his jackass, when suddenly the stubborn animal was seen to spring forward, and forcing his head through the rails, the hat of the preacher towei-ing over the top of the fence, commenced braying at the top of his musical voice, while shout followed shout from the field. This was too much for the nerves of the candidate. With a great effort he forced back the head of the jack from the fence- and turned his countenance , toward town. A traveler met him slowly jogging up the road, evidently ruminating on the vicissitudes of political life. The morning paper gave us notice that he had declined. Crume was elected without further opposition, and, best of all, he gave me his vote for United States Senator.

A Political Jury

. The Fayette circuit coiu't wns beld soon after tlie great contest for president had rterminated in favor of General Jackson against Henry Clay. There was perhaps never 'a more exciting election in the country. Gabriel Ginn was the. Jackspn candidate for sheriff, and Kobert D. Helin tlje Clay candidate.

A few days before the election John ilurphy, a very respectable citizen, and others, put in circulation a handbill against Helm, making charges against his integrity. Helm was defeated, and employed myself and Samuel C. Sample to bring suit for libel. The action wns brought and eanie on for trial at the next court. Both the sheriff and his deputies were warm Jackson men, and it so happened that ten of the regular panel of jurors were of the same politics. James Rariden, John T. McKinney and Gen. James .Noble appeared for the .defendant. The regular panel were called and all answered.

General Xoble at once challenged, peremptorily, the two Clay men ; the sheriff imiue- tilled their places with two leading Jacksonians.

We jiroved the publication beyond question. Mr. Sample opened very briefly for the plaintiff, and was followed by the defendant's attorneys with their usual force, upon the question of law and fact. Each closed with a strong appeal to the iwlitics of the jury, and the fact that the defendant was a Jacksonian and the plaintiff a Clayite, was pressed with all their power. My client whispered to me to give up the case and suffer a non-suit. - .

"Gentlemen of the jury, we are trying one of the most important questions that has ever been tried in the county. I hold the affirmative of the issue, the counsel opposed to me the negative, and you are to decide it by your verdict. It is, whether a Jackson man will regard his oath, and find according to the law and evidence. You were selected because the counsel for the defendant supposed that you would perjure yom-selves to acquit their client. I believe that a Jackson iua,n is just as honest as a Olay inaP,'-aBd will be no more likely to perjure himself to acquit a Jackson man, .than would a Clay man to convict him. Your names are on the record; the eyes of the people are upon you; my client will not take a cent of your verdict; I only ask you to give him his counsel fees, one hundred dollars."

I occupied about fifteen minutes. The jury retired, and before court adjourned returned a verdict for the plaintiff of one bundled dollars damages. Judgment accord-

!- In early times, before the first land sales of the beautiful White Water valley. 'where Conliersville; Liberty; Cambridge City,. Centerville and Richmond now stand, ithere lived upon the east bank of White Water, a mile above Connersville, a most remarkable woman by the name of Betty Fraizier. She was a small, tougb-loolclng, -Either swarthy wbman; her husband, George Frazier, was a poor ci-ipple, and with their children were supiiorteil entirely by Betty. They had settled upon a small fraction of government liuul. iuleiiiling to pnrcliase at the sales. The landofHce was at Cincinnati, and Geu. James Fiudlay was the receiver. The spring of the year, after a severe winter, had come; the sales were to take place the next winter, and Betty had the season before her to raise the money to pay for her land. She commenced with a young .stock of hogs, caring for them daily, driving them to the best mast, and preparing a good patch of corn for the fattening process. She had cue hor«e only to tend her crop, and to ride -to Cincinnati when she drove her hogs down to sell, and buy her land.

One day about midsummer she saw a horseman ride up to her cabin in full uniform. She met him at the bars: "Well, General Hanna, how do you do?"

There were no "exemption laws" then. Betty and the General proceeded to the stable. It was a strong log building with a single door, no window, overlaid with a solid platform of logs, and filled with hay for the horse. The door fastened outside with a large wooden pin In a log.

The General stepped In and commenced untying the horse. Betty Immediately fastened the door outside, driving the pin into the hole to its full length, and left the General to his reflections while she attended to her household alfains. Time passed away; night came on; but no relief to the captured general. Morning came, and with It came Betty.

"Not very well. I am ready to compromise this matter; If you will let me out and show me the ford over White Water (the river was muddy and high), I will leave you and the horse and return the execution 'no property found.'

The General started; at the second step both horse and rider were under water out of sight, and the chapeau of the General was seen floating down the river. Still, he being one of the pioneers, and his horse a trained swimmer.- gallantly stemmed the current, and exactly struck the haw-bush, his horse swimming to the very shore, while Betty stood on the bank screaming - "I gue.ss the Brookvllle oflicers will let me alone now till I have sold my pigri and bought my land."

The General rode on dripping wet to his brigade that mustered that day. But the end was not yet. Time rolled on ; the pigs grew to be well-fatted hogs. Betty mounted her pony ; the little boys started the hogs for Cincinnati ; they had ten days to get there before the land sales; the distance was about seventy miles. Nothing unusual occurred on the road until they arrived at New Trenton, at Squire Rockafellow's. The night was stormy; the snow fell deep; next morning found Betty at the usual hour on the pony, well wrapped, with an infant a few hours old in her losom. She arrived with her hogs at Cincinnati the day before the sale, sold them for, cash, and the late General Findlay told me that .she stood by his side on the box and hid ofC her land, with her Infant in her arms. Surely, "truth is stranger than fiction."

One iii^'lit ill the siiring of 1S23, John Williams had his horse stolen from his sl.ilile iu Conueisville. Tlie woods for miles around was scoured by the citizens, and the horse was found in a thicliet fastened to a tree. A watch was set, and William Boice was taken iu the act of feeding the animal. Boice was tried, convicted and sentenced to two years jit hard labor in the penitentiary, at the next term of the Fayette circuit court. I was attorney for the state at that time. Boice was taken to the state's prison by the sheriff. Tlie word soon came from the keeper of the peniteutiai'j' that Boice had broken .lail and escaped, and offering a reward of one hundred dollars for his capture and return to prison. The above common occurrence is merely introductory of what follows. It so happened that iu this very period of time there lived not far from Connersville. a man I call .To.»eph Abrams. who was laboring under a peculiar delusion. He believed in "siiecial providences" - that all men were created equal for special purposes, and set apart for the particular work liy the Almighty; that they had no power to resist, nor could any harm come to them while engaged in this particular calling. In this particular case he believed that he was specially created and commissioned to take horse thieves: that he was required to be diligent in his calling. He had no doubt whatever, that he could take with his single ann any number of liorse thieves, however armed, without any power on their part to do him harm. He never went armed himself, but always carried with him his pockets full of ropes to tie the horse thieves as he caught them. He was a large, young, powerful man, as active as a cat and fearless as a rifle. He believed, that as a part of his mission, he had the power given him of recognizing a horse thief the moment he saw him.

The news that Boice had escaped prison reached Abrams about sunset in the evening: he said nothing to anyone, but left town about ten o'clock that night. Squire Ross was traveling the road leading by the cabin of Boice, when all at once he heard loud screams ahead. Spurring his horse he soon arrived at the cabin. "As 1 rode up to the fence," he said, "I saw Abrams dragging Boice out of the door of the cabin, tied fast with ropes, and Boice's wife beating Abrams over the head and shoulders with a clapboard." It appears that Al)rams had demanded of Boice to open the door, that Boice had refused and armed himself with a butcher knife: that Abrams broke down the door, seized Boice and wrested the knife from him, threw him upon the floor and tied him, while the wife of Boice was belaboring Abrams all the time. Abrams placed Boice upon his horse, tied his feet together and immediately started with him to the penitentiary, and actually delivered him up to the keeper, and received his reward. Boice was a powerful man. weighing not less than two hundred pounds and courageous as a lion.

Soon after this occurrence, Abrams met .lohn Willey, sheriff of the county, took him off his horse, tied him and carried him to a .iustice of peace. I was sent for and had him discharged late at night. The fact that I appeared for Willey caused Abrams to suspect me of being an accomplice, and the next day on my way to the Franklin circuit court. I met him in the road. I saw his pockets full of rope. "Ton are a horse thief: get down and I will tie you." I smiled In his face. "Can't you wait until I come back and then tie me?" "Will you say upon honor, that you will meet me at Connersville next Saturday?" "Tes, I will." "Oo then, but fail not at your peril." We parted. I returned home on Saturday morning: Abrams was there. As we met in front of the old court house, he gave me his hand with a fixed look, "Tou are discharged, you are no horse thief, you have kept your promise." "Thank you. Mr. Abrams. I knew that you would learn from the spirit of your mission that I was not one of them." He smiled and we parted.

According to the best authorities the first settler on the present site of Indianapohs was John McCormick, who was one of the fi.rst settlers in Connersville. O. H. Smith states that McCormick was the first man to build a house outside of the stockade in Connersville and that he continued to reside there until February, 1820. In view of the fact that Connersville furnished the first permanent resident of Indianapolis it seems fitting to give in this connection some facts Of McCormick's career. It is planned to erect a monument of some kind at Indianapolis on the site of McCormick's cabin, which was located near the east end of the Washington street bridge over White river.

John McCormick, Sr., the founder of the McCormick family, so far as accurate records are obtainable,, was born near Winchester, Virginia, August 30, 1754. He enlisted three times in the War of the Revolution, twice from Virginia and once from Pennsylvania. His last enlistment was in 1780. His place of residence at that time was Bedford, Pennsylvania. The facts just stated are taken from the records on file in the office of the secretary of war at Washington.

To them was born a family of fourteen children, nearly all of whom -lived to be three-score and ten, and some of more than four-score and ten years. John McCormick, Jr., the fourth child of John and Catherine McCormick, was born in Pennsylvania, September 15, 1791. Later he came to Ohio with his parents and was married, to Bethiali Case of Hamilton, Ohio, in the year 181 1. A short time after their marriage the second war with Great Britain was declared, and like the father he took up arrns in defense of his country. ,

The war records show that John McCormick served as a private in Capt. Allen Scrogg's company. First Andrews Regiment, Ohio Militia, vvar of 1812; tha:t his service began on September 21, 1812, and that he was trans- .ferred on December 9, 18 12, to Captain Allan's company. The records also show that he was transferred again on February 28, 1813, regirhent or company not given. . , _ ^ . , . ^!

Settled Near Connersville

After peace had been declared he and his wife came to Indiana and settled near Connersville, Fayette county, where his father was then Hving, having moved there in i8og.

They continued to reside at Connersville for a few years, when the spirit of adventure led him to seek a residence in the tract of land known as the "New Purchase," where he became the first settler of the proud capital of Indiana.

John McCormick was accompanied by his brothers, James and Samuel, also nine other men who assisted in cutting the trail. They literally "hewed" their way through the wilderness, landing on the banks of Wliite river on February 26, 1820. Indians were the only human inhabitants of the locality, and there was an Indian's camp at that time on the banks of the creek where the Union railway station now stands.

Men Began Work On Cabin

Immediately after they arrived the men set to work felling trees, which were to be used in building a cabin. The wagons were used for shelter and protection until the cabin was completed and ready to be occupied.

Huge log heaps were kept burning to make it as comfortable for Mrs. McCormick and the children as possible. There were seven children in the McCormick family at the time of their removal to their new home in the wilderness. After the cabin was completed the brothers of John McCormick with the nine men returned to Connersville, leaving the family with no other neighbors except the Indians, and they frequently made the statement in later years. that they did not see the face of a single white person, except the members of the family, until the return of James McCormick sometime during the month of March.

Operated Ferry Boat

John McCormick built and operated a ferry across the river, near where the new bridge spans the stream on West Washington street. The old book in which he kept a record of his business is still in possession of a member of the McCormick family.

He later built a mill on the river near the present site of Crown Hill cemetery and operated the same until his death, which occurred in 1825.

Mrs. McCormick, wife of the "first settler," is remembered by the younger members of the family as the champion story teller of the McCormicks. She used to sit by the hour and tell of the incidents of the pioneer days. The early annals of the country abound in incidents and anecdotes illustrating fortitude under suffering, and heroism in scenes of peril among the wives and mothers of the early pioneers.

Indians Often Dangerous

On one occasion a well-known and desperate Delaware called "Big Bottle" had come to the opposite bank of the river and demanded to be brought over. Mr. McCormick not being at home, his wife refused to take the canoe over for him, knowing he wanted whisky, and when drinking was very dangerous. He placed his gun against a tree and swam across. The cries of Mrs. McCormick brought the neighbors, as the Indian was preparing to cut his way through the door with his tomahawk. He was taken across the river and told not to return. He became very angry and flourished his scalping knife, intimating that he would take her scalp, but he never did.

After the death of John McCormick the widow married John King in 1828 and moved near the bluffs of White river, near Waverly, where she continued to reside until the death of Mr. King. She then took up her residence with her daughters, living at Arcadia, Indiana, where her death occurred January 28, 1874, in her eightieth year.

A writer, styling himself "Rambler", published at intervals the following reminiscences in the county press during 1870, a series of recollections of other days that will no doubt prove interesting to students of Fayette county history :

While standing in the rear of the school building, taking a view of the landscape there presented, the past comes in view to the memory, and many Incidents of schoolboy days that occurred forty years ago, come fresh to my mind, and changes are visible at every turn.

The road leading east from town was then on the high ground north of Conwell's mill, then down by the old saw-mill directly east, crossing the rivor a short distance below the railroad bridge, and intersecting the present road at the old McCaun homestead.

Fayette Couxty. Indiana

The tii'st grist-iiiill in Uie county was erected by John Conner. Iiclow tlic house uauieil. and about three hundred yards east of the present mill, tvmner sold the mill to DeCamp, and he to C«n\vell, who ran the same until it was worn out. T'hat old mill was familiar to all the pioneers for many miles around. Goin^ to mill was a task in those days, and often a trip of forty or fifty miles on horsebaclj. Each sri-st was numbered, and fre<iuently ^yas several days awaiting its turn, while a number of the cu.stomers would be in camp close by. The Saturdays of our boyhooil days were sjient In rambliugs. and as a jjuest of I^ife Conwell, our schoolmate at that time, that old mill was examined with boyish curiosity, and its mysteries solved. In after years, wlien there with grist.s, we were more interested in seeing the miller manipulate the toll dish. The honesty of the miller is proverbial, but they were sometimes absent-minded, and would repeat the operation of taking toll, and have been known to forget that important proceeding, .-is I have received, as the product of a grist, a range of from twenty-eight jiounds to forty-six pounds of flour to each bushel of wheat at that same old mill.

Bruin Boosts Business

Mr. (-(anvell had a tanyard not f;,r from the grist-mill, :md for a while fnrnlslieil (luite an object of interest to the boys, as well as to the "children of larger growth" who frequented the place. A pet bear was utilized and labored faithfully by working a treadmill, thereby pumping water to fill the vats. These incidents may not interest youths of the present day, or the stranger who may be taking a view of the surroundings, .-is all traces of the old grist-mill, the saw-mill, the tanyard, the bri<lge across the ra<e and the ford are gone, but there are some i)er,sons left in the vicinity [in 1ST<I| to whom the statement will call up pleasant memories.

The incidents of early days, as related by the original pioneers, always created a lively interest and often a hap]»y thought, I remember of hearing old Alex Hamilton tell about a sneaking, thieving Indian who was regarded as a nuisance, and while ont hunting on the hill northwest of town one day, he got sight of the fellow and tracked him into a pond in the vicinity of Cal Burton's. But he never could find any tracks whither the Indian came out, and from the comical expression as he finished his story, we inferred that he helped the Indian to make those tracks as last .seen.

Colonel Frybarger can tell about having witnes,sed a sava.u'e enccunitor with a wolf by several men and dogs, and the wolf was killed on the street, about o|iimisIii' Frank Dale's property. That happened about the year 1S2S,

I have heard Jonathan John. Sr., tell about when he came to this couiily. (liscnnr.igod and heart-sick; they remained in camp for three weeks without unloading their movables, intending day after day to start back to old Kentucky. Fin:illy they became more reconciled and settleil on the hill northwest of town, and never had cause to regret the choice. The excellent spring at the foot of the hill, below John's house, was the inducement to create the famous camping ground in the vioinit.v, and one of the principal Indian trails leading to the northwest passed by there and in the direction of Hsirrisburg. The principal trail from Cincinnati and Brookville came up the east fork from Brookville to Fairfield, then up Ellis Creek, through by Everton, and crossed the river at the ford south of town, and on as stated. Those Indian trails were used by the early settlers, and improved for wagon roads until the lands were surve.ved and enclosed. The present generation can form but little idea of the unbroken forest, especially in the low lands, where it was almost impenetrable, so thick were the timber, bushes and vines. There was an imixtrtant frail up the valley with a camping ground on the Larkin Sims place, near the excellent spring of water there.

The Stage Coach Arrives

I remember when we boys watched dowu street for the stage coach coming as evening approached, and listened for the notes of the bugle horn. Sometimes we would go down and meet the coach at the ford of the river opposite where Koofs foundry now stands, and persuade tlie driver to let us get up with him to ride into town. He was a good fellow, and how we envied him, and wished we were big enough to drive stage, as he sat so proudly on his seat. The driver prepared for a sensation after he pulled up out of the river and rested his team, then let them up lively as he came across the commons, turned into the main street where Jimmie Mount's corner is, then dashed up sti-eet and halted at the postoffice, delivered the mail to Major Tate, at the recorder's office, which served a double purpose, as it stood ou the soutlieast corner of the court house yard and fronted close on the street. It cost twenty-five cents postage on a letter then. The next point was across to the old tavern kept by Tom Hamilton, which was burned down about twenty years ago, and is now the Huston block.

The stage route passed Cinciimati, then left the main road at the cross roads, over by Swift's and Orr's, and came in by old Sol Clayiiool's, then across the strip of woods in the river bottom to the ford. The bridge across the river being built where it now stands, caused the short route by ClaypooTs to be abandoned. That was about 1840. .\las! What changes in many ways since that date. There was a woolen factory and a saw-mill on the edge of the river, east side, just across from Andy Turner's residence. The power was supplied by a mill-dam and feeder race. The mill burned down, and the floods have reiuoved every vestige or sight of this once important improvement - the pride of the owner - and, except, perhaps, a few timbers or brushwood that show wherethe dam was located. The jiroperty was owned by Asher Cox, who is yet alive [1870] and lives with his son-in-law near Indianapolis. He can tell many incidents in connection with the old mill, which eventually broke him up financially, and caused him to ''go West and grow up" again. The old nian is remarkably lively and full of vim; is rather small in stature, quite grey, and expects to meet some of his old friends at the next Fayette county fair.

I remember what a strife it was to locate the site for the bridge across the river. Colonel Hankins and others wanted it placed at the end of Third street, that faces out from Rushville road. Uncle Abe Couwell offered extra inducements for the present location. The strife was intense and bitter feeling was engendered. Silas Woodcock, that good and venerable old gentleman we all remember so well, built the bridge, which was a marvel of immensity to us boys, and we wondered how the old man could get the timbers so straight, with his head to one side as caused by affliction.

To recount the toils of the past, enumerate the privations and note the pleasures of pioneer life in Fayette county, and contrast the "then" of the past with the "now" of the present, must produce a glow of honest pride in the breasts, of the aged few who yet remain to recount the past and survey the present.

That portion of the county lying east of the old boundary line i)eing settled ten years earlier than the west side, had nearly passed the stage of the log cabins. Every farm had its occupant, many had comfortable frame or brick dwellings, and some had barns and fruit-bearing orchards; but nearly all of the improvements on our western border were of a primitive character, and it is mainly of this part of the county, in which I li\ed far forty-three years, I would speak.

Fanns ranged in size from a forty-acre tract to a quarter section and nearly all of them had some improvement. The log cabin was the prevailing dwelling, and it was almost always surrounded by a cleared patch, or deadening, ripening for the fire, by whose agency it was cleared for the plow. So dense was the forest that the only evidences of other occupied farms near by was the sOund of the ax, the crowing fowls or barking watch dog.

Paths leading from cabin ta cabin passed around large trees or logs and over stfeamlets, led us through the tangle of spicewood or pawpaw in our neighborly visits, and highways were marked out and corduroy bridges bore us over streams on our way to market, public worship, or to mill in our wagons, up hill and down the same, and through streams, which were all without bridges. The stumps, roots and logs gave the beaten track a serpentine direction, which required great skill in the teamster. If Levi Conwell were here he could tell you all about it, or if you ask L'ncle Billy Simpson how he used to freight A. B. Conwell's whiskey and flour to Cincinnati and return with a load of store goods, he can describe it better than I can. Pork and the articles named were our staple productions. Cincinnati was our only market. Our pork was driven on foot, requiring an average of eight days to reach our destination, three to close out the sale, and two more to return.

The entire trip consumed about two weeks' time. Wheat sold in Cincinnati in 1834 at fifty cents per bushel, flour for two dollars and se\-entyfive cents per barrel, and I 'ucle Abe can gi\'e you the price of whiskey ; as I did not handle it, my memory is at fault. We got but little money, and we spent but little. Our food grew on our farms, and our clothing was mostly home-made, growing in the flax patch or on the sheep's back, and in manufacture was mostly domestic. The flax-pulling and wool-picking were frequently done by combination or neighborhood frolics, and were occasions of great social pleasure. There are mothers present who could tell how they raced with their sweethearts at the flax-pulhngs, and some of them recollect how the points of their fingers ached after pulling the bnrs and sticktights out of the wool. Yes, and how they enjoyed their trip on foot to the spelling-match or singing-school with their beaux by their side, just to help them oyer the. fences and mud holes. Or, perchance they rode behind on the same horse, so that if the horse stumbled they could both hold on. I can answer for the other sex that a girl behind me on a stumbling horse was rather awkward, but not at all unpleasant.

Don't you grandames recollect how the flyers of the flax wheel hummed whilst your gent sat by you, or how your bare feet tripped over the puncheon floor to the sound of the big wheel as you drew out those long threads of yarn which were to be converted into the winter's wear. I assure you it was a ])leasure to sit by whilst the shuttle flew from hand to hand as that yarn grew into cloth. The wheel and loom did not sound so refined as the organ and the piano, but their product was more useful. Most families were thus clothed. We used but little tea or cofifee, and the sugar camp furnished our sweets. Our log-rollings, house-raisings and harvesting cultivated a social spirit and placed us all on an equality, as we were mutually dependent. Men and women did their own work with but little hired help. Wages were low (from ten to twelve dollars per month), but money was scarce. I reaped with a reaping hook, in the harvest of 1834 for sixty-two and a half cents a day, and cradled the following harvest for a dollar per day. Our farm tools were quite simple, but cost but little money. We used the "bull" plow with wooden mould-board and iron share for turning the soil, and the single-shovel plow for cultivating the crop. This, with a swingletree and harness, trace-chains and back-band, furnished out our rig. We had no cultivators, single or double, nor riding plows. We had never seen a reaper, or mower, nor could we have used them among the stumps. Nor had we any threshing machines. Oiu^ small grain was threshed by flail or tramped out by horses on an earthen floor prepared for the purpose, and cleaned by a fanning-mill with wooden cogs. The fall season was mostly occupied in burning- off the rubbish of our deadenings, and keeping our "niggers" busy in preparing the logs for rolling in the spring. Our logs were rolled into heaps and burned in. the spring, the rails or fencing having been made during the intervening winter. Stormy days and winter nights were used to make and repair the family shoes from leather tanned in our country, and largely made by the farmers at their own firesides, which were wide and warmed by a bountiful supply of fuel. If some of you old folks will mentally take an inventory of an axerat^e dwelling of those days, you would find as a part of those appendages a shoe-hench, with needed tools; spinning-wheels for flax and wool; the hand loom and warping-bars : the washtub, in which the clothes w^ere cleansed without even a washboard ; the Dutch oven, in which the coni-pone and chicken-pie were baked, and by its side, a dinnerpot, skillet and teakettle, but no cook stove. A Bible and some school books, added to some furniture of home make, almost complete the picture. The actixe men and women here todav were born and reared in just this kind of a place. Our streams were bridgeless ; our commerce bad neither turnpikes nor railroads; our Imsiness was done without telegraph, and we talked without telephones, and when you take a sur\ey of your surroundings, the present generation, your ofifspring. your rich and beautiful farms, villages, cities and their manufactories, together with all your moral, social and religious advantages, don't you think that we did well, and don't you join me in the wish that our children may do better?

Early Connersville Business Men

"I feel very much interested in the work your school superintendent, Mr. W. S. Rowe, has undertaken and I feel willing to aid him in the work if I can. I think he has struck the right key and if he can get his scholars interested in the struggles, trials and sacrifices that the pioneers of Fayette county met with, in making it what it is today, he will have accomplished a great work for his scholars and for future generations. I often wonder that the children of today don't take more interest in the early history of their own state and county, where they were born, which give them every convenience and luxury that heart could wish for, and esi>ecially in matters of education. I well remember when I was a boy I would leave my young comrades at play to hear old men and women talk about old times and the troubles and trials they had in getting a home started, in what was then a dense wilderness.

"I presume that most of the readers of your paper know that Conuersville was laid out by John Conner, in 181 7, and that he had the first store. Before he came to Connersville he had an Indian wife, but when he came to settle in Connersville he married a white woman. This Indian wife used to come to his store once or twice a year and he used to give her what goods she wanted. In (39)

1833 Connersville had five hundred people. I think about the next general store was owned by Clark & Lewis. It was on th*e southwest corner of Fourth street and Central avenue.

"I think about the next general store, after Clark & Lewis, was started by Meredith Helm, who came with his father, Judge Helm, in an early day, and settled in Fayette county. They came from Kentucky. Philip Mason, I think, had the first drug store. He came from New York state. All the people I shall name in this article came to Connersville over seventy years ago. John McCormick was among the first settlers. He came from Preble county, Ohio. I think the first term of court held in Fayette county was held at his home. He was the father of Lewis McCormick, who was sheriff of the county and whose children still reside there. John Willey was another early settler and sheriff of the county. The house he lived in is still standing and is used by the Connersville Buggy Company for an office. When it was built, it was out of the town limits. Samuel W. Parker edited a paper there over seventy years ago. It was called the Political Clarion. George L. Fearis probably came there nearly eighty years ago.

"In the year 1830, Matthew R. Hull edited the Indiana Sentinel and at that time there were but thirty papers published in the state, and two of them in Fayette county. One at Philometh, in Waterloo township, called The Star and Sentinel, published by S. Tizzard. These persons are a few of the first settlers of Connersville. There are many more I could name who came only six or eight years later and who could be classed as early pioneers and who aided in laying the foundation and building up of Connersville to take a place second to no city of its size in the state.

"For some of my information, and especially as to dates, I am under obligation to my old friend, William Tyner, who has not lived in Connersville for a great many years, but who was born about two and a half miles northwest of the city, six months before Indiana was admitted to statehood. He learned his trade of harness-making with George L. Fearis, about seventy years ago, and worked at it until about one year ago. He has always lived in this state; and I doubt if there are many born in the state who never lived in any other besides him."

The Old Singing School

In these days when vocal music is taught in every school in Fayette county the opportunity to learn the rudiments of the subject is within the reach of every child who attends the school. There was a time, however, when music was not taught in the pubhc schools of the county, and it was in those days that a unique school for the teaching of music alone was in vogue in some parts of the county. It is not known how many of these old singing schools were in operation in the early history of the county, but there was one which attained a reputation which extended far beyond the limits of the county.

This famous singing school was located at Lyons Station, now Lyonsville, in the northern part of Jennings township. In this neighborhood there lived in the latter part of the sixties and the forepart of the seventies a Lutheran minister of the name of Keller, who was very much interested in music and whose daughter was quite a musician. To these people is given the credit of starting the singing school at Lyons Station that was eventually to become the most noted in the county. A man of the name of Smith, or, as he was commonly known, "Old Smith, the singing teacher," was secured as the instructor. He brought with him a little melodeon, a novelty to the people at that time. He was a very successful leader and during his stay in the community accomplished well his purpose. Subsequently came another music teacher, Frank Boylen, who taught several terms. The rudiments of music were drilled into the pupils until they were able to read "by sight" and the wayfarer who might have passed the old church on any night the class was Ijeing conducted would have been met with a medley of sounds in which he cou.ld have discerned do. ra, iiu\ fa, etc. Two sisters, Phoebe and Sallie McMullen, who lived north of Lyons Station in the Dodridge neighborhood, taught vocal music in the latter seventies and early eighties and were very successful.

Sometime after the singing school was started in the early seventies, it began giving concerts not only in the local church, but in other parts of the county. The "old singing-school class" attended school celebrations far and near and sang at "musical congresses" at Milton and at College Comer for many years. Thus it is impossible to estimate the value of the old singing school to the community where it held forth during the early seventies and extending into the eighties.

Many of the singers of the old school kept up their interest in the musical field and one in particular, B. F. Miller, now of Rushville, Indiana, who has made a national reputation as a tenor singer. The interest in music was responsible for many an organ being sold in the community and for many years Lyons Station had the deserved reputation of being the musical center of the county. Rosella Riggs, of Connersville, Elias Scholl (deceased) and others received their first inspiration in music as a result of this old singing school. An organ was early installed in the Lutheran church at Lj-onsville. The first organist was Nancy Simpson, now Mrs. F. M. Riggs, of Lyonsville, The institution, for such it may be called, gradually died down and by the early eighties the meetings became infrequent and eventually were discontinued altogether. Many of the singers are still living in the country and they still recall with pleasant memories the days of the old singing school. It has passed away ; its history has been told ; but it was one of those features of Hfe in other days which always stood for brighter and better things.

Independence Day, 183I

The citizens of Connersville and of Fayette county observed the Fourth of July, 1831, by a celebration at a grove about one-half mile below the village.

The day was ushered in by the firing of cannon. A procession was formed in front of the court house, led by the military, and marched to the grove, where about three thousand persons had assembled. The marshals of the day were Colonel Caldwell and N. McClure, and the officers in charge of the exercises were John Hubbell, president; Allen Crisler, vice-president; Rev. William Miller, chaplain; S. W. Parker, orator; James Ross, reader. Prayer was offered by the chaplain, which was followed by the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Next came a volley from the artillery; then music, which was followed by an oration, and music and firing of the artillery followed, which closed the exercises of the morning. An excellent dinner was servecj at the grove by Newton Claypool, and some fourteen toasts were drunk. The dav was fine, though a shower fell just as the exercises were closing. In the evening a ball was held at the Claypool tavern.

From an early industrial review of Fayette county, not including the early industries of the county seat, it is noted that during the forties there were in this county thirty still-houses, twenty-nine saw-mills, twenty-four grist-mills, six tanyards, one tile and brick yard, one oil mill, four carding and fulling plants, one wooden-bowl factory, one hominy-mill, one woolen-mill, one looking-glass factory, one hemp-mill and one shingle-mill. Of these Connersville township had four saw-mills, seven grist-mills and ten still-houses ; Harrison township had seven saw-mills, four grist-mills and three stillhouses ; Jackson township, four saw-mills, four grist-mills and four stillhouses ; Posey township, one saw-mill and one grist-mill ; Jennings, one saw- mill, one grist-mill and seven still-hduses; Waterloo, one saw-mill; I'airview, two saw-mills; Orange, three saw-mills and two grist-mills, and Columl)ia, six saw-mills, five grist-mills and five still-honses. Harrison township had one tanyard; Jackson, two; Posey, one; Fairview, one, and Orange, one. The only brick yard was in Harrison township and Jackson and Posey each had a woolen mill. Harrison had a shingle factory and a wooden-bowl factory, while Jackson had the only hominy mill. The oil-mill was in Connersville township.

More than forty years ago there existed a flourishing industry along the banks of the old White Water canal about one mile south of the present village of Alpine, an industry which was' established a year or two after the Civil W'ar and continued uninterruptedly until it was destroyed l)y fire in 1875. This industry, t!ie first and only paper-mill ever established in b'ayette county, employed from seventy-fi\'e to one hundred and fifty emjilox-ees, many of whom were women, when it was running at full capacity, and distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars during its career of a decade. Important as was this industry for the decade that it existed there are few people of the county now living who have any idea of its magnitude ; that it it was an extensive plant covering at least fifteen acres ; that raw material was shipped in from South America and Europe; that the manufactured product was shipped out in carload lots to the four corners of the earth.

The Wawassa paper-mills, the name "Wawassa" being a curious corruption of the initials of W. A. Smith, the principal owner of the mill, was established as a branch of the paper-mills of Bremmaker, Moore & Company, of Louisville, Kentucky. The mill was operated by water power exclusively, the company utilizing the old canal bed, diverting the water from the river b}' a dam across the river just above Alpine. There were times, it is true, when the mill had to shut down on account of low water; other times when men bad to be sent up to the diversion dam to break the ice in order to get the water turned into the canal; liut these shut-down intervals were few, and for the most part of the ten years the mills were in operation tliey were run day and night, and seven days in the week.

The main building was about two hundred feet long and eighty feet wide, while attached to this were numerous other smaller buildings, all of which were connected to the main structure. There were large warehouses for the storing of raw supplies, the manufactured product, and for offices. The company also built two large boarding houses for the use of its employees, one for the women and the other for the men. A cluster of about a dozen houses sprang up around the mill : a sciiool house was built ; a physician located there.; a shoe cobbler found plenty of work among the employees ; church services were held, although no house of worship was erected; but, strange to say, there was never a store established at the place. The employees traded at Laurel, two miles to the south ; at Alpine, one mile north ; or at Connersville, seven miles up the river.

When the mills were opened they began to manufacture paper out of poplar, at first using the tops and branches of the trees, but later putting in machinery to handle the boles of the trees. They sometimes bought a tract of wooded land, cut out the poplar, sold the remainder of the marketable timber, and then disposed of the land. After the poplar began to get scarce, they began to make paper out of straw. They even went so far as to install a threshing machine adjoining their plant, and farmers in the community hauled their grain to the company's plant to be threshed, the farmer receiving a good price for his straw as well as getting his threshing done for him. Straw was also shipped in from the northern part of the state, this being the first baled straw seen in the neighborhood. This threshing machine, probably the first in the county, was installed about 1870.

Still later the company successfully manufactured paper out of cornstalks, and the farmers in the community hauled the stalks in by the thousands of tons. This, however, was not profitable for the farmer, and the company soon found that they could not depend on the cornstalk output. They next turned to South America for raw material, and the Fayette county cornstalk was replaced by jute from Argentina, but the problem of transportation was too expensive to allow any extensive use of jute. Of. course, during all the years the mills were in operation rags had been used for the highest grade of paper. What the future of the mills would have been, if they had not been destroyed by fire, can only be conjectured, but it seems from the best evidence at hand that they were fast becoming, if not already, a losing proposition for their owners. In fact, it was believed at the time of the fire that it was not altogether a matter of accident. Certainl)^ the owners had the plant fully insured, and they expressed no disappointment when it burned to the ground.

The establishment was never rebuilt and this first paper-mill in the county was also the last one. Several years later Stephen Limpus bought eleven thousand pounds of scrap iron which was picked up around the plant, and a few vears later several more thousands were found in the bottoms of decayed vats or covered over with refuse. The wayfarer wlio tochiy tries to find any evidence of the location of the once flourishing industry will look in vain. « Every vestige of it has disappeared ; only the memory of it is left.

During the past few years, and especially during 1916, efforts have been made to collect all kinds of Indian relics as well as the various tools, implements, utensils and the like, used by the pioneers in the early period of the state's settlement. Indiana University has been very active in building up a museum of these relics of an early day and has been fortunate in securing a number of donations of this character.

One of the most valuable of these collections came from Fayette county and represented the painstaking work of a lifetime on the part of the late Milton Trusler. At his death his collection passed into the hands of his daughter, Mrs. Anna Brumfiel, and she in turn left it to her son, Milton Brumfiel, who presented it to the University. The collection numbered several hundred pieces, representing almost every phase of Indian labor and achievement, some of the pieces even dating back to tlie days of the Mound Builders. A short time before his death Mr. Trusler was offered six hundred dollars for the collection, but he refused to consider any kind of a financial offer, the collection to him not being a thing whose value was to be considered from a financial standpoint.

It is indeed fortunate that the collection is to be kept in the state and certainly no more appropriate place for it could have been found than in the State University. The university has made it a part of the large collection which it has succeeded in securing during the past few years, and there it may be found in tlie future, the uni\-ersity receiving it with the understanding that it be kept intact.

A Trio Of Catastrophes In Conner.Svii.Le

The first catastrophe resulting in the loss of more than one life in Connersville occurred in the evening of March 21, 1866. On the afternoon of that day a terrible cyclone swept over the northern part of the town and in addition to unroofing a number of houses, as well as completely destroying some, it seriously damaged the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad bridge across White Water. Whether the amount of damage done to the bridge was known or not, it is evident that the evening train was not aware of its weakened condition. The train plunged into the river just after getting on the bridge and three people lost their lives.

The second disaster, while resulting in no lives being lost, yet was one of the most serious railroad wrecks that has ever occurred in the county. On July 15, 1892, two freight trains met at the end of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton bridge and came together with such force that one was driven back across the bridge, while at the same time the end span of the bridge on either side was torn out, leaving the center span intact, and with a few of the cars still standing on it. A picture of the wreck in the possession of Theodore Heinemann gives a good xiew of the wreck and leaves the impression that the "buckling- up" of the trains as actually happened would be an impossibility. But it did happen; the picture tells the story. Fortunately no one was killed.

The third catastrophe, and one resulting in the loss of four lives, was the result of a natural-gas explosion on December 12, 1898, in the Perry block on Fifth street, on the site now occupied by the Commercial Club. The proprietor of the store in which the explosion took place was Henry Luking. On the afternoon of the day when the accident occurred, he complained of feeling ill and sent for Dr. G. W. McNutt, his intimate friend. While waiting for the physician, J, D. McNaughton, a plumber, came into the store to locate the leak which was presumably the cause of the illness of Luking. About the same time Patrick Ready came into the store, followed shortly afterwards by Doctor McNutt. The physician had scarcely entered the door when the explosion occurred. It completely demolished the building, killed the four men and shook the entire city. School had been dismissed just a few minutes before the accident happened and scores of school children had passed along in front of the building just before the explosion took place. Had it occurred a few minutes sooner undoubtedly a number of the children would have been killed.

A Monument Of Teeth

It takes all kinds of men to make this world. One of the many varieties of men who have made Connersville their home in past generations was a dentist by the name of John Doughty. This dentist was nothing if not peculiar, as is evidenced by the unique monument which he designed for himself before his death. In the course of a long and eventful tooth-pulling career he had amassed thousands of teeth, all of which he very religiously saved, but it was not until his death that it was known why he saved them. It appears that he wanted to use them to make a moniunent to place over his remains that future generations might know the vocation he followed while on earth. To this end he cemented together his accumulated teeth of many years into a pyramid and left directions that this unique monument be incased in a glass case and placed over his graxe. The glass case is still there, but the teeth have disapjieared, but when or wh)' they were removed is one of the many things which the historian has not disco\-ered.

Mrs. Nancy Hawkins Iiackleman

It is not definitely known who has the honor of being the oldest person who has ever lived in Fayette county, but there can be little doubt that Mrs. Nancy Hawkins Hackleman is the oldest native-born person now living in the county.

Airs. Hackleman is a daughter of John and Susan Hawkins and was born in the western part of Harrison township, December 7, 1821, being now in her ninety-sixth year. She was the youngest of eleven children born to her parents. After her mother's death her father married a second time, and to this marriage were born two sons and two daughters, the sons, Elisha and Pleasant, now living in Illinois.

When Nancy Hawkins was sixteen years of age she married \\'illiam Hackleman, their marriage occurring on October 22, 1837. They were the parents of six sons, one of whom died in infancy. Three, now deceased, served in the Civil War, one of them dying in the ser\ice and the other two from disease contracted while at the front. Two sons, John and Edmund. are still living, the mother making her home with the latter in Harrison township. The husband of Mrs. Hackleman died on Julv 23, iS^f), and she has remained a widow for the sixty-one years which have elapsed since the death of her husband.

In spite of her age, Mrs. Hackleman is very active and is able to read without the use of glasses. At the last election she assisted at a pole-raising by running up the flag after the pole had been set. When asked as to what incident in her long life had remained the most xivid in her recollection. she said that it was a Christmas dinner which was given when she was about fourteen years of age. On the day before her father had gone out into the woods with his gun to get some fresh meat of some kind - hoping to shoot a deer or bear. Late in the afternoon, while the children were sitting"

Many things have been advanced as essentials toward a long life. Mrs. Hackleman attributes her long life to the fact that she has always eaten meat three times a day and has never worried about things she could not help. She has never been ill and still manifests a cheery disposition towards those around her. She expects to be in good health four years from now, and be in shape to make a good start on the second century of her life. May she have her wish.

Connersville As A Show Town

Every person who was living in Connersville in the latter part of the sixties and during the seventies will recall the interest that was taken in the old time circus. For at least a decade there was nothing quite so exciting in the city as the annual coming in and going out of the circus which made its winter headquarters here. In those days the ambition of nearly every young man in the city was to be identified with the show as a performer or as a member of the executive staff of the show. At least one young man succeeded in making a name for himself as a performer, while there were several who held some official position' with the show.

The performer was William Conwell, who is credited with being the first acrobat in the world to be able to turn a triple sommersault. As may be well imagined he excited so much envy in the hearts of the other young men of the city that large numbers of them tried, but in vain, to emulate him. It is said by those who recall those days that there was scarcely a boy in the city who did not imperil his life in an endeavor to turn a flipflop or perform some other feat of acrobatic skill. But Conwell was the only one who ever became famous in this line. While with his show in Russia he met and married a Russian girl. His widow is still living in Connersville and their son, Fritz, is now a well known artist of Chicago. Connersville has also produced one circus clown, who at one time was a feature of John Robinson's shows. His show name was Bartine, but to his Connersville friends he was plain Charles Bassore. After retiring from Robinson's shows he made a few ineffectual attempts to start a show of his own.

The show which made Connersville its headquarters for several years was the Van Amburg-Golden show, probably the best-known of the wagon shows of its day. At one time the animals were kept in the large brick building which still stands near the Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Western Rail- road station. It was in this building that the largest elephant then in captivity in this country died. This elephant, known as "Tip-Po," was an unruly beast, particularly after having to remain in inactivity for a time, and it is supposed that a dose of poison hastened his retirement from circus life. After his death the question of the disposition of his huge body was of a size commensurate with his bulk. It was finally decided to draw and quarter the body and haul it off in sections to a large hill about a mile northwest of the city for interment. This was finally done and the hill was at once christened Elephant Hill, a name it bears to this day, though the osseous remains of the huge pachyderm have long since been disinterred and now occupy a prominent place in the museum of Earlham College at Richmond, Indiana, where the visitor may see "Tip-Po's" articulated ossified structure in all its bony grandeur.

Probably the best known of the showmen of those days was Frank Hiatt, a native of New York, and now a resident of Connersville, who was for many years manager of Barnum's show. He became identified with Connersville because of his marriage to a girl of the city. Another of the well-remembered citizens of Connersville in the show business was the uncle of Hyatt L. Frost, who was ticket agent with Van Amberg-Goldens for several years. Other local men who figured in the circus life forty years ago were Samuel and Charles Beck and Manford E. Dale.

The shows wintering in Connersville had many of their wagons made by local shops and all of them were annually redecorated by the scenic artists of the city. The two biggest days of the year for Connersville were the days in the spring when the shows took the road for the summer and the days when they returned in the fall to go into winter quarters. But the wagon show, like the canal, is a thing of the past as far as Connersville is concerned ; no more will the youth of the city indulge in the festive flipflop ; no more will the gaily painted chariots be seen unloading here for the winter; but the county will have one thing left for all time to come which shall be as a reminder of those days that are no more - Elephant Hill will continue to cast its huge shadow over the surrounding territory and stand as a monument to the circus days of Connersville.

Bunker Hill

To the historian, Bunker Hill is one of the most interesting spots in Fayette county. Surrounding the place in the northwestern part of Connersville township are many traditions all of which have more or less his- toric value. But it can be truthfully said that at one time Bunker Hill was the chief industrial center of the county. It was during the construction of the old national road and later the White Water canal that the vicinity of Bunker Hill was a seat of great activity. Stone was quarried out of the hills for all of the canal locks and the contractors, Capt. James Vance and Gen. William Caldwell, employed as high as two to three hundred men at one time in the quarries. Not only was stone furnished for the canal, but it was also used for the foundations of many business houses in Connersville, and for the abutments of bridges on the national road between Centerville and Lewisville. The lumber industry was also one of importance in the immediate vicinity.

No tradition in connection with this locality is more interesting than that surrounding the origin of the name. Bunker Hill, as applied to this particular spot. During the time that the old stone quarries were running full blast, and the hill region was distinctly a center of activity, there were two local citizens, who, for some reason lost in the pages of history, had had trouble with each other of a serious nature. Their friends, seeing the thickening of bad blood between them, urged upon them that there was only one way to settle the matter, namely, to tight a duel. At a point on the top of a commanding hill selected by mutual friends, on a certain day and hour and in the presence of judges and a crowd of spectators, the enemies faced each other with the weapons characteristic of a duel. They advanced toward each other at the command to fire, but instead of discharging their pistols, they shook hands - and the duel was over. The crowd, feeling that they had been outrageously deceived, then and there dubbed the hill Bunker Hill, in honor of the eminence of that name which was the scene of a sanguinary fight in the Revolution. Thus the name comes down to the present, a kind of embalmed reminder that there was a time when so-called affairs of honor were not unknown in this vicinity.

Origin Of Rural Free Delivery

Few people living in Fayette county are aware of the fact that the present rural free delivery as it exists in the United States originated in the fertile brain of a farmer of this county ; that in a two-story grange hall in the, southeastern corner of Jackson township was born the idea which was ultimatelv to result in bringing the daily mail of the farmer to his doorstep ; that a plain, unpretentious farmer in a regular meeting of the grange one evening- in this same liall first promulgated tlie idea that the farmer was as mucii entitled ti) daily mail serx'ice as his Ijrother in the citv.

Such is the case however. The hall still stands just across the road from the Ireland I'niversalist church; the night in question was in the vear 1880; the farmer with the idea was the late Alilton Trusler. On this particular night some of the state ofificials of the grange were present, and after hearing Mr. Trusler, the master of the grange, set forth his ideas along- this line, they became as enthusiastic in its favor as the speaker. In fact, they prevailed upon Mr. Trusler to travel oxer the state and agitate the cjuestion of rural free mail delixery. In a short time the name of Trusler was known throughout the length and breadth of the state as the father of the system, and his name and idea were associated in the papers throughout the nation. The Indiana Farmer devoted one page in its issue to him, publishing a picture of the grange hall and of Mr. Trusler, calling him the "Author of Rural Free Delivery." The .\ssociated Press featured him as the originator of the idea, and the papers from Maine to California carried articles to this effect.

As a result of his speeches 1)efore the granges of the state. Mr. Trusler becan-ie master of the state grange and retained this positioi-i for nine successive years. As head of the state grange he attended the national conventions of the order and there he always spoke on the cpiestion nearest his heart. This constant agitation on his part, alily seconded 1)\- the ])ai)ers of the country, finally resulted in the establishment of the rural free delivery service. Before Mr. Trusler died he had the satisfaction of getting his mail delivered to his door each day - and thus was realized the idea born in the fertile brain of a plain farmer of Fayette county.

Agents For Loaning Of Surplus Revenue Fl'Nd

It is not generally known that the United States at one time was entirely out of debt and had more money in the treasury than it could use for any immediate or even prospective need. This happened in 1836, during the administration of Andrew Jackson. Congress decided after much discussion to deposit all of this surplus fund with the various states with the exception of five million dollars, proportioning it among them on the basis of the representation in Congress. The total amount to be thus distributed, in four equal installments, was $37,468,859, and the act of June 23, 1836, was hailed throughout the Union as the most popular act that Congress had ever enacted. Three installments had been paid to the states before the panic of 1837 swept over the country, and the fourth installment was never paid.

Of the amount actually distributed Indiana received $806,254.44. It is very interesting to note what the various states did with the money thus received. Some prorated their share among the whole population; others devoted it to the construction of roads, canals and railroads; others kept the entire amount intact in the state treasury and used the income for state purposes. Indiana was one of the states which made a wise use of their share. The state Legislature in 1837 divided the fund into two equal parts: one-half to be distributed to the counties in proportion to the number of citizens of twenty-one years of age and over, to be loaned out in amounts not to exceed four hundred dollars to any one individual, at eight per cent, interest; the other half was to be invested in stock of the state bank which had been organized in 1834. The interest on loans and the dividends on the bank stock were to be placed in the common-school fund.

The act of 1837 had provided that the first two installments should go to the counties, and the bank therefore shared only in the third installment. Of the total amount received the counties received $537,502.96 and the bank only $268,751.48, and of the latter amount the state took $40,000 to pay interest on internal improvement bonds. Of the amount turned over to the counties a large amount was lost through bad loans, carelessness in enforcing collection and the depression in values following the panic of 1837. The portion recovered of the county distribution was turned over to the bank in 1 84 1, and this sum, added to the returns on the bank investment, was sufficient to create a fund actually larger than the amount received from the federal government. When the state bank was discontinued in 1859, the entire fund was placed at the disposal of the common schools, where it still remains.

The legislative act of 1837 providing for the disposition of the fund, created an official for each county to handle the fund distributed to the counties, his title being "agent for loaning of surplus revenue fund." The agents were appointed by the Legislature for a term of one year from March i. The names of the first two agents for Fayette county have not been found, but the third was Robert D. Helm and the fourth, and last, was Samuel Reese, who served from March i, 1840, until the fund was taken from the counties and invested in state-bank stock.

The 1816 Constitution provided for a vote every ten years on tiie question of a constitutional convention, and pursuant to this provision five elections were held. ' The vote of Fayette county at the first election, August 23, 1823, was 23 for the proposition and 685 against it. At the second election, August 4, 1828, there were 123 voters for the proposition. At the third election, August 3, 1840, 130 votes were recorded in favor of a constitutional convention and 1,520 against the proposition. On August 4, 1846, 484 votes were cast in favor of the convention and 778 against, while at the decisive election on August 6, 1849, 1,280 votes were cast in favor of the convention and 552 against it. At the election of 1912 the voters of Fayette county cast 1,285 votes in favor of the question of calling a constitutional convention and 2,700 votes against the proposition.

It has often been said that the Hoosiers are possessed of real poetical ability, and a perusal of the newspapers of ante-bellum days shows that poetry then was frequently used as a medium of advertising. In a Connersville paper of 1839 some genius attempted a poetical advertisement for the firm of Tully & Tate, the same being an appeal to the public to purchase their hats from the firm. The effusion follows :

And wool, both red and black and white, As fine as silk - (almost, not quite,) But good enough for you and I, And General Jackson, if he'd try;

And furs and trimmings, every size. For hatters that may want supplies. Whose orders we'll attend with every care, And send their plunder anywhere.

And merchants that our hats would sell, Just call and see - We'll use you well. And fill with care the largest bill With good hats made in Oonnersville.

The First German Family

The first German family in Connersville lived in a log cabin which was built on a plat of ground near Sixth street. The women wore turbans and wooden shoes, short dress skirts and blue calico aprons. Everything that they carried was placed on their heads. The children of the town were afraid and would keep at long range from them. The family used ironbound chests for a double purpose - as a piece of furniture in which to keep their clothes and as a dining table. Wooden forks and pocket knives were the eating utensils.

The first marriage license recorded after the organization of Fayette county was issued to Stephen Philpott and Rebecca Hawkins on February g, 1819. The marriage ceremony was performed by Rev. Adam Banks.

The first deed recorded in the county was that of Paul Davis and wife, Margaret, of Connersville township, January 31, 1819, to James Davis. The deed called for the south half of the northeast quarter of section 21, township 14, range 12, east.

First Will Recorded Strictly Hand-Made Shoes

During the days of early settlement in Fayette county the people wore home-made shoes. A cobbler would go from house to house and make shoes for the entire family. When a beef was killed the hide was taken to the tannery, where it was kept for nearly two years in order that it might be a perfect hide. The hide was then taken home and each member of the family was measured for a pair of shoes which were "strictly hand made." The making of the shoes was usually paid for with butter and eggs and other farm produce.

The First Horseless Vehicle

The first horseless vehicle ever made was a steam wagon designed and devised by Harvin Tryon, of Connersville, and antedates the automobile of Haynes. While Tryon was making the wagon everyone thought him of unsound mind. The machine was built in the early seventies for the purpose of taking a trip to his old home in Georgia. On his journey he attempted to cross a stream in soutliern Kentucky and upon getting into quicksand the wagon sank. When the water reached the boiler an explosion occurred and the first horseless vehicle suddenly passed into oblivion. (40)

Strife Over Fifth Street Bridge

Locating the site for a bridge across the river at Connersville gave rise to a bitter strife. Colonel Hankins and others whose business interests were in the south part of the town wanted the bridge at the end of Third street. Abraham Conwell and those whose property and business were two squares up the street Avanted it leading from Fifth street. On the day that the question was to be decided George Frybarger, with a hammer in his hand, stepped to the center of the street, at the intersection of Central avenue and Fifth street and drove a large nail into the earth, at the same time saying, "Gentlemen, for years to come these four corners will be the center of the town," a prediction that has come true, and a decision which meant the ultimate selection of a site for the bridge.

Elmer Edwards, father of William T. Edwards, was the first child born in Fayette county. The house in which he was born stood on Main street in Connersville, north of the Heeb rink. The father and mother made the Ohio river trip from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati by flatboat, thence to Connersville by wagon. It was a fond dream of the son to be married in a suit of broadcloth and in order that this ambition might be accomplished he peeled, cut and dried many bushels of apples which he sold and with the money thus earned bought the suit. Mr. Edwards was the first farmer in the county to use tile in draining land.

To no other man other than Daniel Morrison should credit be given for drawing the first map of Fayette county. It was Mr. Morrison who assisted the engineers in surveying the route of the canal and it was this training that qualified him to draw the map, a task that required two years to accomplish.

Corn Fair And Musical Congress

A corn fair and a musical congress was held in September, 1890, under the management of L. J. Edwards. A table seventy-five feet long was conered with all kinds of corn. A grand musical was the closing feature, the talent being some of the best in the states of Indiana and Ohio.

Manifestations Of Liberal Spirit

Many years before the above lines were written the city of Conncrsville was made the beneficiary of gifts at the hands of its pubhc spirited citizens. In fact, history records that at the time the question of the location of the county seat was being discussed that a number of the citizens of the village came forward with gifts of money, land or lots, offering them to the county in return for the privilege of having the seat of justice located in the village. Just who these public spirited men were, and just how much they donated is not on record, but it is known that their joint donations were sufBcient to pay for the building of the first court house and jail. This initial generosity on the part of the founders of the city has been emulated by many citizens during the nearly one hundred years which have elapsed since this first outburst of generosity on the part of the founders of the city.

It is well understood that every church in the city has been built as the result of the donations of citizens, and often many others than the members have contributed of their means to their erection. Private gifts frequently made it possible to maintain schools in the period before the days of free public schools. Thus religion and education, the handmaidens of civilization, were fostered in the early days by the munificence of the citizens of the village, and if private means had not been forthcoming these two agencies would have been sorely tried in their efforts to maintain themselves. The first public library also belongs to that class of public institutions which was made possible only by the voluntary contributions of patriotic, if not always literate, citizens.

In recent years there have been a number of public benefactions made for the general welfare of the city and county. The most valuable of such gifts was made in 1902 by Col. James E. Roberts, now a resident of Indianapolis, his generosity consisting of the presenting of a tract of eighty acres in the northern part of the city to the county seat, the same to be known as Roberts Park. This park was made the home of a free county fair, the first and only one of its kind in the country, the dedication of the park to such a purpose taking place on September 9. 1903. Further reference to this fair is given in the agricultural chapter.

Since the generous gift of Mr. Roberts a number of citizens of Connersville have made various kinds of donations to the citv. Manford E. Dale has given "Daleview," one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the state; Daniel Hankins left the city Hankins Chapel in honor of his father and mother, while his brother, William E. Hankins, provided all of the interior furnishings; E. V. Hawkins and wife presented the city a tract for a playground for the children of the city, the city later building a suitable house on the grounds and equipping the same with the latest and most improved playground apparatus; Roy Williams and wife have given eight drinking fountains which may be found in various parts of the city; the Clio Club presented the fountain to the city which stands at the corner of Virginia, Central and Ohio streets. B. F. Thiebaud and wife have established a scholarship to Earlham College for the benefit of graduates of the local high school, the gift being in memory of their daughter, Marguerite, a graduate of the college; in June, 1916, E. W. Ansted presented the city with the buildings and the ground at the corner of Virginia and Fourteenth street, which have been used by the Fayette Sanitarium for several years, the gift being contingent upon the citizens of the county to raise the sum of thirty-six thousand dollars.

One public spirited citizen of the United States, who has generously given of his millions to thousands of cities throughout the country, has included Connersville in the Hst of those which have been recipients of his benefactions. This man is Andrew Carnegie and it is to him that the city owes its present beautiful library building, his donation of twenty thousand dollars having made its construction possible.

The Centennial Celebration Of I916

The state of Indiana celebrated its centennial in 19 16 with a series of county celebrations and one state celebration at Indianapolis, during October. Fayette county had one of the best county celebrations in the state, but only those actually engaged in getting ready for the three-days performance had any idea of the enormous amount of labor involved in making it the splendid spectacle that it proved to be. When it is considered that a pageant of nearly five hours duration, covering as it did, a hundred years of the county's history, was presented by a body of five hundred performers, it may be seen that the task of getting such a spectacle ready entailed a heavy burden on someone.

Early in the year it was decided to hold the celebration from July 3 to July 5, inclusive, and plans were laid in February, 1916, to that end. In order to handle the celebration it was necessary to build up a large organization. The general officers consisted of the following: E. P. Hawkins, chairman; J. L. Kennedy, secretary; T. C. Bryson, treasurer; O. M. Hempleman, superintendent of amusements and concessions ; Gilbert Hannah, grand marshal; Arthur Dixon, assistant marshal. These officers were supplemented by ^L Holberg and M. Hassett to form an executive committee. The executive committee appointed twenty-five other committees composed of from three to thirty-five members each. Besides there was a committee of three from each township. Another one of the committees had charge of the pageant proper. E. P. Hawkins gave practicallv all of five months of his time to the centennial and during much of this time employed a number of stenographers to handle the multitude of details which had to be looked after. The pageant itself was written and directed bv Harriett E. Williams. It was printed in a brochure containing the dialogue, all of the various committees, the banquet toasts in full and the official program of the three-days' celebration - the whole making a booklet of si.xty pages.

Centennial Feature Of Celebration

The pageant, the central feature of the celebration, was given on Wednesday evening, July 5, on the ground south of the plant of the Connersville Furniture Company. The pageant was divided into ten episodes which may be briefly summarized as follows :

Episode III. Pioneer life in 1820 - Claypool's Inn : a member of the new capital committee; the pioneer preacher arrives; the Masonic lodge; Indian captures; the murder of Ben Davis; fiddlers' contest.

Formal Opening Of Celebration

The program opened on Sunday evening, July 2, 1916, with an address by Rev. I.. E. Brown, of tlie local Christian church. On the following morning the formal opening of the celebration took place at the corner of Ninth street and Central avenue, where a handsome arch, sixty-two feet high, had been thrown across the street. The arch represented the gates of the city and when Mayor Braun presented the keys of the arch to E. P. Hawkins, the chairman of the centennial committee, the formal opening may be said to have taken place. Following this performance the queen of the centennial, Irene Smith, was crowned with all the regal formality befitting her Hoosier dignity. The parade which followed was by all odds the most spectacular the county has ever witnessed. There were floats representing every industry in the county, all the fraternal orders, the churches, schools and other phases of the county's history, while hundreds of marching children added to the beauty of the parade. It took two hours and forty minutes for the parade to pass a given point.

The speakers of the centennial celebration included Senator James E. Watson, Gov. Samuel R. Ralston and Judge Marshall Williams. Besides these orators there were a number of addresses made by local citizens, and others by former residents of the county. Music during the three days was furnished by the children's chorus, the Connersville Commercial Club boys' band, Carl Smith's orchestra and the Indianapolis News newsboys band.

A feature of the centennial was the exhibition of old relics and curios in the windows of the business houses of the city. Many old buildings were suitably labeled, telling the passerby what part they had once played in the history of the county. Not the least important phase of the whole celebration was the Isringing together of a large number of former residents of the city, many of whom had not been back for years. It was estimated that there were at least twenty thousand visitors in the city each day, while probably thirty thousand were in the city on Wednesday night when the pageant was given. The pageant was the climax of the three-days performance, and it is not too much to say that the credit for this particular part of the centennial was due to the efforts of Miss Harriett Williams, who not only wrote the dialogue but also directed its staging and actual presentation.

Fayette county had and for this reason it seems fitting- to inchulc at this point the full program. The county will give another celebration in 2016 and while few of this generation will be here to participate in it, yet those who have it in charge will be sure to examine with a great deal of interest this program of 1916. It follows:

Court House

It should be said in conclusion that the centennial was a financial success. It was so well managed that it not only paid all of its expenses, but even had nearly one thousand dollars to turn over to the hospital fund. None of the actual performers or members of the various committees received any compensation. Even Miss Williams, who wrote, staged and directed the pageant, contributed her services. The Pathe Film Company had a representative on the ground during the three days and took several thousand feet of film. This preserves for future generations the main spectacular features of the centennial.