Perry County, Indiana - Chapter 36: New Court House - First High School, 1916

Among numerous early stories often repeated but wholly impossible to substantiate, has been found the insistent claim of Troy to have had the pioneer newspaper printed in Perry County, represented by the Troy Gazette as founded in the year of Indiana's admission. Interesting, however, as is the subject, it is yet one altogether without documentary evidence for its verification a century later, so the case must be reluctantly dismissed with the old common-law "Scotch verdict" - Not Proven.

The only serious reference in print to any such paper which could be found was in an Illustrated Historical Atlas of Indiana, published, 1876, by Baskin, Forster and Company, Chicago. In its sketch devoted to Perry County (page 327) is found the brief statement: "In 1816 the first paper was established. It was published at Troy, and called the Troy Gazette."

Without depreciating the worth of the volume from a geographical standpoint, its historical material, inso far as Perry County is concerned, can not be trusted, the same page bristling with such absolute errata in dates as completely to discount its value as an authority. Merely quoting a few of its most glaring inaccuracies, the book states : "Perry County was organized in 1815" (1814). "In 1812 (1811) the first steamboat surprised the settlers." "* * * Henderson (Anderson) Creek. At the mouth of this latter Thomas Lincoln and his illustrious son Abraham kept a ferry from the spring of 1814 to that of 1817, when he removed to a farm about eight miles north of Rockport, Spencer County." "Henderson" Creek is recognizable as Anderson, but the "illustrious son Abraham" was just five years old in "the spring of 1814," certainly a tender age to qualify as ferryman and just three years before Thomas Lincoln himself made his first trip alone to Indiana. "About" is quite safely chosen to modify the "eight miles north of Rockport," where Lincoln City now stands on the "farm" in Spencer County, which was Perry County when the Lincoln family emigrated from Kentucky. Comment is superfluous, though further extracts would be equally laughable.

The theory of strongest probability, based upon minute and painstaking research carried on at Indiana University by the Department of Western History (whose chair is worthily filled by a loyal son of Perry County, Logan Esarey, Ph. D.), favours the conclusion that the Troy Gazette story had its origin in an allusion made to such a paper in the columns of the Vincennes Western Sun, as newly established in the year 1816.

Files of the Western Sun, Indiana's first newspaper, established 1804 and still published, are preserved in the University Library, and as no state was mentioned in speaking of the Troy Gazette, readers in after years assumed Indiana was meant while it was, in point of fact. New York. The Gazette, of Troy, New York, was founded in 1816, and some later items quoted from its columns by the Western Sun clearly indicate their source as from an eastern periodical. The American Antiquarian Society, of Worcester, Massachusetts, founded 1812, and the supreme authority of the United States on all such points, has given this decision, so the Troy Gazette of 1816 can not possibly be listed as an Indiana journal.

To John B. Bacon, of Troy, a son of Dr. Jesse D. and Emma (Leming) Bacon, is therefore due the distinction of establishing in 1890 the Troy Times, the first paper actually printed in Perry County's oldest town. For two years he continued its publication as a Demo- cratic weekly, selling out in April, 1892, to Louis J. Early, of Daviess County, Kentucky, who had been engaged in journaHsm at Louisville, associated with William Stone Sterett( a son of the witty "Jeff" Sterett, of the Hawesville Plaindealer) , of Hancock County, in a sparkling Sunday weekly, "The Girl," devoted to society personalities, the drama, etc., printed on paper of an attractive pink tint.

1891, by Joseph Sanderson, of Evansville, and Edward C. Schuetz, of Cadiz, Kentucky, joint editors and proprietors until the former's withdrawal, August 12,

1892. Schuetz continued publication alone until December, when Early removed the Troy Times plant to a larger town, and the two papers were consolidated under the name Cannelton Times-Telephone. During 1893 the hyphenated title was dropped and May 1, 1894, Schuetz sold out his interest to Early, who has ever since continued as sole editor and proprietor of the Cannelton Telephone, whose politics have remained unvaryingly Democratic.

Tell City's first permanently successful Democratic newspaper is almost contemporary, Philip Zoercher having founded the Tell City News, April 10, 1891. He remained for several years in full control, placing the sheet upon an established basis, but with increasing claims upon his time abandoned journalism for politics and his profession of the law, the News then becoming the property of his younger brother, Louis Zoercher, still its editor and proprietor, besides postmaster of Tell City.

The disrepair into which the county jail and sheriff's residence had fallen during forty years of usage, led in the early 'nineties to some vigourous effort on the part of Tell City looking toward a third re-location of the county seat. As a preliminary move, strong opposition was made to the expenditure of any money on the new buildings proposed at Cannelton, but the issue was settled by the commissioners favourably to the

There was still latent, however, a pardonable spirit of discontent with the antiquated court house, built about 1856 as a school house, and only remodelled for court pui'poses in 1859 in the emergency of moving the county seat from Rome. Its accommodations were altogether inadequate, no less than unsanitary, which Cannelton's citizens thoroughly realized along with the rest of Perry County.

The matter of distance - a mere detail of two miles - was not an argument to carry any weight against the costly modern municipal building under process of construction in the middle of Tell City's park, should it be offered as a donation to the county when complete, so Cannelton raised a fund approximating $30,000, and employed a Louisville architect, John Bacon Hutchings (whose father had formerly owned much property in Cannelton), to design what many cultured critics have pronounced the most truly artistic court house in Southern Indiana.

A pure example of the Italian Renaissance style (followed later in the superb marble Federal Building at Indianapolis), carried out in straw-coloured pressed brick, with cut trimmings of Bedford limestone, its perfectly balanced symmetry of line is an effective illustration of the proverb, "Beauty is its own excuse for being."

Its comer-stone was laid in the presence of an immense crowd, September 10, 1896, with the Masonic symbolism of corn, wine and oil. On the Fourth of July preceding, an elaborate industrial parade had been given in Cannelton, one float being a handsome model of the building-to-be, exact in every particular of colour and ornament, built to quarter-inch scale by Charles Hafele's Sons, proprietors of the Cannelton Planing Mill. Girls from the high and grade schools represented the states of the Union on another float, grouped around "Liberty," Miss Martha Hodde (Mrs. John J. Franzman, Jr.), "Columbia," Miss Adelia Clark (Mrs. Richard Turner Cash), and "Uncle Sam," Michael Casper. This was followed by a barbecue dinner, with dancing and other sports, at Wittmer's Avenue Garden.

In June, 1897, the completed edifice, whose interior arrangement was all that professional skill could devise in point of convenience, was turned over to the County Commissioners, who readily accepted a generous gift against whose acceptance no reasonable objection could be alleged. The old court house and square were given back to the city of Cannelton, and have been turned into a city hall, public library and park, whose shade trees form a foreground setting to the county buildings, much as if planned with the idea of a "civic centre" for which so many larger communities are striving.

The first property, other than court house or jail, which Perry County had ofl[icially acquired, was the county asylum and farm, for which provision was made in the late forties, although care of the unfortunate had begun with the organization of the county. In every township overseers of the poor were appointed, whose duty was to see that the indigent were suitably maintained, and who periodically presented their expense accounts to the county board for allowance.

Taylor Basye, Jehu Hardy and William Hatfield were appointed in June, 1847, as a special committee to select and purchase a county farm. In September they reported having bought from Terence Connor for $900, 180 acres in section 38, township 6 South, range 1 west, lying in Tobin Township some two miles north of Rome, Joshua B. Huckeby, Samuel T. Groves and James Boyle were authorized to erect necessary buildings and repair those already standing, which was done at a cost of $216, and in 1848 Allen M. Ferguson built a new frame asylum costing $650, so that the entire place represented an approximate investment of $1,800.

It argues favourably for the industry or the generosity of the time that the number of inmates rarely exceeded five, so about 1853 the commissioners discontinued the asylum as a needless expense, renting the farm to tenants and placing the poor again in charge of their respective township trustees.

Cornehus Markum became superintendent in 1857, and the farm was again used as an asylum until 1860 when the county seat was moved to Cannelton. Michael Dusch, Commissioner from the Cannelton district, was then emj^iowered to rent suitable quarters for an almshouse srnd engage a temporary superintendent, so for several years many of the county poor were boarded under contract at 45 cents per diem by Mrs. Sarah (Stonebridge) Dwyer, in a large frame house at the corner of Sixth and Taylor streets in Cannelton, which had been erected as a boarding house for cotton mill operatives. This building is yet standing, the private residence of Mrs. Stella (Hargis) Bush, but has been so completely and expensively transformed that its original use could never be suspected.

The Tobin Township farm was first rented to John K. Groves for three years, then offered for sale at public auction, passing through the hands of Elijah B. Huckeby, Madame Felicite (Le Guerrier) Longuemare and Samuel T. Whitmarsh, none of whom ever completed their payments, until in 1879 it was bought by Mrs. Anne Fuchs, and was later known as the Eitelgeorge place.

Proposals for a tract of not less than five or more than twenty acres near Cannelton, Tell City or Troy, and suitable for a county farm, were called for by the commissioners in March, 1866, and in August twentythree acres, a half-mile east of Cannelton on St. Louis Avenue extended, were bought of Lawrence Richardson for $1,265. Plans and specifications for a brick asylum were prepared the next year, James A. Burkett and

Benjamin H. Rounds being awarded the contract in June, 1867, for $8,948.45. The work was completed and accepted in December of that year, Patrick Lahey becoming the first superintendent in the new building.

John C. Wade succeeded him in 1869, and the two years of his incumbency were notable for the efficient ability shown by his wife as matron. Mrs. Jemima (Edwards) Wade was a woman of strong character and marked personality, and the comparatively short time of her service in county work of charities and corrections developed traits which later brought her into a similar, wider field where she laboured for many years with noble success. In 1881 she was selected as first matron of the newly organized Christian Home in Evansville, a position which she held until the end of her life, January 30, 1911. Her mental powers and bodily activity were retained to a marvellous degree, and it was only when past ninety that she consented to resign active work, when elected Honourary Matron for Life, remaining the personal guest of the trustees with executive supervision as before, up to the time of her death.

Samuel King followed John C. Wade as superintendent in 1871, and his successors during the next decade were August Nettelbeck, 1875 (when a wing to the asylum was built) ; Wilham W. Scott, 1876 ; Wesley C. Reid, 1881 ; Henry M. Howard, 1884. Among the later superintendents, particular praise is due the late William T. Tinsley, who served from 1903 to 1907. With his wife, Mrs. Nancy (Colvin) Tinsley as matron, the institution was maintained at a high standard and their work received official commendation from the State Board of Charities.

The same month of September, 1896, which saw the corner-stone of the new court house laid, witnessed also the beginning of the first regularly commissioned high school in Perry County, that at Cannelton, and the major credit for having brought its work up to the requirements of the State Board of Education is due to the energetic superintendent, George Perry Weedman, himself a native of Perry County and a Hfelong educator. While the school system in Cannelton had for some years given advanced work, it was not accredited by higher institutions and its students had no recognized standing in other schools.

John R. Weathers, who took the principalship in September, 1882, formulated a curriculum of three years' high school work, and on June 19, 1885, the first "commencement" in Cannelton was held, although the diplomas were practically nothing more than certificates from a school of no established affiliation, no matter how thorough a course of study had been pursued. Six young ladies were graduated : Misses Lulu

Steinsberger) , Harriet Gingell (Mrs. Schwaderer), Ella May Henning (Mrs. William Ellsworth Richey), Sissie Hurley, Daisy Permeha Marshall (Mrs. John Adam May), Hannetta Mueller (Mrs. John Vogel) and Genevieve Palmer (Mrs. Sanders). Their essays reflected the usual sentiment of academic programmes and the most individually original touch lay in the class motto which they chose for themselves : "Genius Has No Brother."

A second class was graduated under Professor Weathers' superintendency, in 1886, its membership including one young man, Walter Mark May, and six girls. Misses Lulu Cummings (Mrs. James Ulysses Powell), Sara Tevlin (Mrs. William E. Dougherty), Ehza Scott Shallcross (Mrs. Frederick Jennings), Margaret Teresa Mitchell (Mrs. E. C. H. Sieboldt) , Katherine Hurley and Nellie Grace Robinson. During the subsequent ten years some several diplomas were annually awarded, as a rule, but the ceremonies were seldom more elaborate than the "public examinations" which were then regarded as an indispensable feature of "the last day of school."

when nine students completed a full four-years' course in required high school branches, and the large opera house which Will N. Underwood had built in 1887 never held a finer audience than on the evening of May 22, 1897, when the class of '97 received the first actual diplomas conferred by a Perry County high school.

The Rev. Palin Saxby, rector of St. Luke's church, pronounced the invocation, and the programme was diversified with vocal and instrumental music from local talent, but each graduate delivered an original oration, whose topics displayed familiarity with the classics of literature, as well as with current happenings. The speakers and their subjects were: Curtis Joseph Richey, "Over Our Manhood Bend the Skies;" Cyrus McNutt Worrall, "Nothing to Do ;" Clara Loretta Dwyer (Mrs. Michael Casper), "Cato's Daughter;" John Robert May, "The Fault, Dear Brutus, is Not in Our Stars, But in Ourselves ;" Michael Casper, "Resolve is What Makes Man Manliest;" Delilah Jane Turner, "What I Must Do, Not What People Think;" Arena Hunsche (Mrs. Lawrence Oncley), "Education's Best Work ;" Edwin Philip May, "Oh, the Times ;" and Olive Kendley (Mrs. Taylor Richey), "The Morning and the Evening."

For several years this was the only commissioned high school in the county, pupils from Tell City, Anderson, Tobin and other townships attending at Cannelton in order to make their entrance requirements for various colleges and universities.

With Christian Newman as superintendent, and James Hardin Whitmarsh as principal, however, the course of study in Tell City was raised to an approved standard, so that a commission was issued in 1904, and in the following spring the first class received their diplomas.

Commencement exercises were held Friday evening, June 2, 1905, in the Tell City Opera House, on a stage fragrant with summer flowers, amid delightful music from Moutschka's Orchestra. The Rev. J. M. Lannore, pastor of the Methodist church, gave the invocation. A thoughtful essay, "Literature," by Bessie Viola Scull (Mrs. Matthew Roehm) ; an oration, "Education, the Defense of a Nation," spiritedly delivered by Bert Fenn (a young man of admirable promise, whose untimely taking away less than a year later was a source of grief to all who knew him) ; and an artistic impersonation, "The Marble Dream," by Cecile Schaeffer; made up the portion of the programme furnished by the graduates, after which a talk was given by Professor Kemp, of Indiana State NoiTnal, and Eugene G. Huthsteiner, of the school board, presented the diplomas.

From that time on the classes have increased in number and enthusiasm, while the faculty also has grown apace, to meet every demand. The new edifice at the corner of Tenth and Franklin Streets is the finest and most perfectly equipped high school building in the county, with large assembly hall, gymnasium, piano, laboratories, etc. School spirit is wide-awake and fostered by an active alumni association. Athletics of every kind are given due prominence among both girls and boys, with encouraging sanction of the faculty, and a praiseworthy annual, "The Rambler," has been issued successfully for several years.

Rome's was the third high school in point of time, its first class graduated June 13, 1908, with Harold Littell as principal, consisting of Misses Hettie Isabella Vititoe, Rebecca Ruth Shoemaker (Mrs. Noah Trainor) and Amy Josephine Bagot (Mrs. Ira Longanecker) . Each of these took part in the commencement exercises in the historic old academy, though the leading feature was the baccalaureate address delivered by one of the most cultured and scholarly speakers who ever graced a Perry County rostrum, Lewis Chase, Ph.D., of Columbia University, later a professor in the University of Bordeaux, and now prominent in the literaiy circles of London.

Since then, the spirit has diffused itself into every township of the county, so that accredited high schools are now in successful operation in Troy, Tobinsport, Bristow, Leopold, Branchville, Union Township and Anderson Township.