Liberty Township (part 3 of 5)

We remember on one occasion when he broke 100 acres of land for Dr. Cass on the Keeler prairie, to have passed across the prairie after night and seen the old man camped under his wagon with scarcely bedding to keep him off the wet ground. A cheerless fire flickered up a little light occasionally, and but for the barking of his dog, his only companion, no one would have supposed a human being to have been within two miles of the I)lace. His team grazed on the prairie near by, and before other people had taken their breakfast in the morning, Salsbury had made one "bout" with his big plow and a full half acre of prairie had been turned upside down.

When George Williams began on the prairie east of here years ago, he contracted with Salsbury to plow a half section of land (330 acres). The old man came with his big plow and team the 17th day of March, and never left even to go home, until the work w^as completed on the 4th day of July. His feet were wet a great portion of the time, and yet he never was sick.

Salsbury was not one of your men that worked hard for a season and then idled away months of time. He was ahvays on the move. Scarcely an hour of the night in the working season on the farm that he was- not up and out looking after stock, crops or fences - fact, those who knew him best wondered when he slept or how he existed, leading such a hard, grudging, toiling dog's life. Yet when he was nearing his ninetieth year he seemed as smart and active as ever.

With his kirge lauded estate at the start, and his working habits, dogged perseverance, he had a good start, it will be inferred, to make a fortune, and to wliich his industry and slavish services undoubtedly entitled him, if, indeed, worldly pelf can be called a compensation for such a life. Yes, he made a fortune, but it went from him in an unfortunate hour, else he had been the richest man in the county, and yet, after a long life of drudgery, he has but little of this world's goods to show for it, hardly a sure reliance for his old age. While convi'rsing with him he was reticent on this subject, but we will tell it briefly, and let the story not be lost on those who liear it,

Jonathan Salsbury was induced to invest in a lottery. He was uneducated and credulous and avaricious. Like twothirds of the sons of Adam, he was ready to invest in any speculation or game which promised a good deal for nothing or, next to it, a small investment. Dr. Eoback of Cincinnati, is the man to whom Salsbury attributes his misfortune. First $100, then $500, $1,000, $1,500, until over $3,000 was gone. The trick was baited and the old man drew a lucky ticket or so. Then he lost. Then the man who was leading him on pretended by some power of necromancy or legerdemain to be able to forecast the lucky numbers. These Salsbury reached for to recover what he had already lost, and of and he as a last resort cansed Roback's was so hedged about, that the law or tesarrest on a eriniinal charge, and the timony could not reach him and he went

Impregnable

NO greater victory, none of more transcending import is recorded in our nation's history than that of the sieges of Fort Meigs. It was the purpose of Gen. Harrison, the commander-in-chief, to retake Detroit which had been so ingloriousl}' surrendered by Gen. Hull. Harrison had been appointed Governor of the Northwestern territory, including Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin - having done much civil and militai-y service, well known to history.

On the 5th of November, 1811, Governor Harrison marched with some regulars and militia, 800 strong, upon the Prophet's town (the brother of Tecumseh), on the Tippecanoe river, in Indiana, where he was entrenched. The Indians were defeated and dispersed, their leader, the Prophet, being killed. This overawed the Indians, who Avere in almost entire possession of the whole territory, but war with England being imminent, tlii'y refused a peace.

War with England was declared .Tune 12, 1812. Gen. Hull was sent Avith his army to Detroit to conquer western Canada. In August following he surrendered his entire army, Detroit and the Northwestern ten-itory to Gen. Brock, of the British annv. This surrender filled the \\hole country with surprise, alarm and indignation, and he was everywhere denounced as a traitor, in spite of liis ])atriotic services during the Revolution. He was courtmartialed on two charges, treason and cowardice. He was condemned to be shot but was afterwards reprieved.

In an address of Cassius M. Clay, in 1891, he said that on the first day of January, 1813, the Northwest army under Brig.- Gen. Harrison rested, with the left wing, commanded by Gen. Winchester at Fort Defiance, on the ^laiiuKv river, and the right wing under the com* mander-in-chief at Upper Sandusky. Detroit being the objective point of attack, Winchester was ordered to march with his brigade of Kentuckians and regulars, commanded on the left by Col. Lewas, to reach the rapids and await Harrison's arrival. But Winchester on the 14th, hearing of the weak garrison of Frenchtown, on the river Raisin, in Michigan, detached Col. Lewis to capture it, which was done on the 18th of January, 1813.

Winchester, hearing of the capture, marched to the support of Lewis, refused to enter liis pickets, and camped his regiment on the plains outside, because he would not take post on the left of Lewis - military etiquette ordering - and he slept at a farmhouse a mile distant from Col. Wells' regiment.

The Pioneek

fort, and were repulsed with great slaughter. They then turned on Wells' regiment and cut it to pieces, taking many prisoners, among them Col. Wells himself. The whole British force, with six field pieces, was turned upon Ijewis, who surrendered under promise of the protection of civilized warfare. The generals, colonels and men were saved as stipulated, but all the wounded were massacred in Frenchtown. There was no guard left, and two houses full ot the wounded were burned. .

Defeat after defeat seemed to be the lot of the American forces, and after the battle and massacre at Frenchtown, Gen. Harrison was compelled to abandon the recapture of Detroit and to stand on the defensive. During the spring of 1813, he pushed forward to completion the work on Fort Meigs, so-called in honor of Gov. E. J. Meigs, of Ohio. This was a work of no small magnitude and moment. For no sooner had the ice commenced to move in the river and lake than the British general, Proctor, formed his plans for the invasion of the Maumee Valley. By threats, by entreaties, by cunning schemes and false promises. Proctor secured the assistance and fired the zeal of Tecumseh, promising to turn over to the Indians Fort Meigs, its garrison and immense stores, and the savages, fresh from the bloody scenes of Eaisin Valley and Frenchtown, were only too ready to join in the crusade for plunder.

Gen. Proctor embarked from Detroit with 2,000 regulars and Indians, in the last week of April, 1813, and occupied Fort Miami, when the savages indulged in their favorite pastime of skirmishing, pillaging and scalping in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, on the 1st, 2d and 3d of May, the British and their allies Avere pouring hot shot into the fort. Batteries had been erected just across the river, and the firing was something terrible. Only the strong earthworks saved the Americans from death and destruction, Kound and round, the Indians skirmished, picking off the American soldiers whenever they had a chance, while the British kept up an untiring cannonade.

Gen. Harrison had dispatched a messenger. Major Oliver, to Gen. Clay, who was at Fort Defiance, and on the night of May 4, came the cheering news that Clay was above Fort Meigs with 1,200 men. The historian Collins in his Kentucky History says:

"Gen. Harrison, with the rapid resolution of military genius, dispatched by Capt. Hamilton an order to Clay, to land 800 men upon the northern shore, opposite the fort, to carry the British batteries there placed; to spike the cannons and destroy the carriages, after which they Avere immediately to regain their boats and cross over to the fort. Hamilton, ascending the river in a canoe, delivered the orders to Clay. But he, with that sagacity which distinguished his life, sent Hamilton to deliver Harrison's order to Col. William Dudley himself. Dudley captured the batteries and filled his orders literally - all but the important one. Led off by the artifices of Indian warfare, he was killed with all his force, save about 150 men. Clay landed his 1,200 men."

"On the day of the action, Maj. David Trimble accompanied me to cover the retreat of the remnant of Col. Dudley's regiment, and behaved with great coolness and gallantry. * * * Here the Kentuckians drove Tecumseh, where the hottest battle was fought, and then he crossed the river, and with their whole force overthrew Col. Dudley."

dors, on May 5, 1813, with 1,200 men, Green Clay, defeated the immortal Teciimseh and the British forces, 3,000 men, in open daylight, drove them over the river, and saved 150 Kentucky soldiers, the remnant of his brigade, from death. This was the first real victory, within the lines of this address, since the declaration of war, Janiiary 12, 1812.

After the British batteries opposite Fort Meigs were d"ismantled, the guns spiked and the flags pulled down, in obedience to orders, a writer in the Toledo Blade gives this account of Dudley's disaster :

^'Capt. Coombs and 30 riflemen were in advance of the main body when the Indians in ambush turned on Coombs. Dudley saw the danger and ordered his men to their assistance. The Indians were driven back and Coombs was saved.

"But it was only for a moment. The Indians re-enforced turned. Dudley and his men were scattered through the woods. They were surrounded. Fighting desperately some of the command were pushed back towards the boats. All along the river they were driven backward and forward, fighting, struggling bravely and contesting every inch of the ground. But Dudley fell a victim to the savages while 630 out of 800 who landed with him, were either killed, wounded or taken prisoners.

''Gen. Harrison, with indescribable anguish, saw this advance movement from Fort Meigs and saw what must be the inevitable result. He tried to signal Dudley's command back, but in vain, and all the orders sent were not received. Col. Dudley had sacrificed almost all his army to save Coombs and his riflemen from destiiiction. When too late he tried to call his men back, but the Kentuckians. confident of success, only pushed on deeper into the forest, and to their own ruin.

fighting the Indians single-handed in the swamp. He died surrounded by the savages whom he had killed. But they had their revenge. His body was slashed and in many places large pieces were cut out - pieces which it is thought the savages in their drunken madness cooked and ate."

But the sorties from Ft. Meigs were successful. The British were driven from their ])atteries, and forced to beat a hasty retreat by the remainder of the Kentuckians commanded by Col. Boswell, MaJ. Johnson and Maj. Alexander. The siege was raised. The fort was saved.

Gen. Green Clay was in command of Fort Meigs during the second siege, Gen. Harrison was at Lower Sandusky. On the 20th of July the British again ascended the Maumee river. I^he united forces of Proctor and Tecumseh amounted to more than 5,000, while the Americans at the fort amounted to but a few hundred. Gen. Harrison having withdrawn the American forces to other forts in Ohio.

When Gen. Harrison heard of the movements of the British, he sent Capt. McCune to the assistance of the garrison. His knowledge of the plans of the enemy prevented a wholesale slaughter of the soldiers at the fort.

Tecumseh had planned a cunning strategem which almost proved successful. The British infantry were secreted in a ravine near the fort, the cavalry in the woods, and the Indians in the forest back from the fort. The British and their allies commenced a sham battle among themselves. So cunningly was the scheme i^lanned, and so skilfully was the fraud managed that it deceived the garrison, but not their commander. The men demanded permission to go out and assist in the battle, and were indignant when this permission was denied. Had not a shower put a stop to the sham battle, the men would probably have been led into an ambush and the fort taken.

But the soldiers in Ft. Meigs would never have fallen into the hands of the enemy alive. Preparations were made to fire the magazine in case the allies succeeded in storming the fort and thus all would have perished together. It is more than probable that Proctor learned of their resolvC;, for he must have guessed that after the terrible scenes at the Eiver Raisin and Maumee the garrison would never fall into his hands alive. On July 28, Proctor discontinued the siege, and discouraged and disheartened, retreated down the river in his boats.

Wolf Hunting

JOHN CARTER became famous in the forties in southern Wood county as a leader among all those engaged in the dangerous sport of hunting wolves. One of his many exploits will serve to show his style and craft in this, his chosen avocation.

It was in the early summer of 1839, John Carter called at the cabin of John Johnston, who had just settled on the bank of the middle branch of the Portage river, about three miles east of the village of that name, and desired to make his headquarters there while he scoured the swamps further up the river in search of wolves.

He would remain at the house all day until at dark, and often not until the family had retired would he strike for the woods; and the wilder the location the better. He threaded his way through that swamp where the old corduroy road was afterward constructed - on further, in a southwesterly direction until he reached a point in that region of fat mosquitoes, indicated on our old maps of Wood county as a lake and called "Inundated." Here in this inaccessible region, in the weird stillness of darkness and desolation. Carter began howling in imitation of a wolf which he could imitate with such accuracy as to defy detection of almost any man, and easily deceived the unsuspecting wolves. He had not howled long before he was answered. Now mark his cunning. He blazed several trees as nearly as was possible in the darkness, in the direction of the sound and laid by for the next night. Soon as the woods were still and night had shrouded the trees with their thick green foliage, in darkness almost tangible, I Carter again took his station at a point at right angles with the line of blazes made the first night, and again began to howl. Again he was answered and - blazed his trees in the direction of his I answers and awaited the return of daylight.

The next day he followed the lines indicated by the trees he had marked j until they intersected each other, and not fj a rod from that point in a great hollow log, he found the old she wolf and four - cubs. From the glare of the fire of the 11 eyes of the old wolf he was able to plant a ball in her skull, and then crawling in on his hands and knees he finished the cubs with his tomahawk.

Mr. Carter continued hunting until 1847, when he closed his hunting in Wood county, as the following last affidavit of his, taken from the records of tlio clerk's office, will show: The State of Ohio, Wood County, ss. : that the six scalps of wolves taken within the county of Wood by you within twenty days last past, and you verily believe under the age of six months, and that you have not spared the life of any she wolf within your power to kill, with the design to increase the breed ; and have received an order for $15.00,

The last wolf scalp redeemed in Wood county was Dec. 30, 1871, and presented by Leonard Rush, and the stub in the clerk's office is signed by Geo. Weddel, clerk. - C. W. E.

Traffic In 1833

MAHLON MEEKER who came from Butler county in 1833, left his family and brought with him only a few head of cattle, remaining on the river most of the summer, working for Guy Nearing. Elias Hedges and others. Toward fall he went out to the prairies to cut liay for his cattle and make preparatious to build a cabin, after which he and a man named Howard, took a wagon load of white bass which they bought of John Hollister at Perrysburg, to Belief on taine and West Liberty by way of Fremont 'and Fort Ball. With this they bought twelve barrels of flour and ten gallons of whisky and started back. When near Bellefontaine, Howard proposed that he could drive the three yoke of oxen home and Meeker could go down to Butler and see his family and arrange for their coming out to the Maumee, which was accordingly done and Meeker started southward.

After making a short visit Mr. Meeker soon found himself again on the prairies in Wood county. Howard had got back and disposed of all the flour excepting sixty pounds; this, with a keg of whisky, being all Mr. Meeker got out of the load. He was now ready to raise his cabin, a work which among the early settlers was attended with no little difficulty on account of living so far apart. Meeker had to get all his help from the river, some of the men coming from Perrysburg, and even then they would not consent to come, so busy were they, unless h would raise on Sunday, which of course he had to do. So on Saturday afternoon he made a shelter of poles and prairie grass, and with a supply of bread and meat and some blankets for the raisers and a dozen or so bunches of pea-vine grass, which he had mowed and placed about against small saplings for the horses, preparation for his help was made ; early in the evening they began to arrive by the Lidian trail in ones, twos and fours until sixteen had arrived. By the first light next morning they were at work, and now as this was the first systematic house raising in Plain township, we subjoin the names of the party as near as Mr. Meeker can recollect.

By two o'clock the cabin was up, the roof (of shakes) on, and all cobbed oflP, with weight poles in good shape. Some of the men had got pretty hilarious by this time, not just because of tlie good work they had done, but because of frequent visits to the ten gallon keg, which in those days was an indispensable aid on occasions of this kind.

JioiieVj lie would lead them to it. A vote w^as taken, and carried in favor of the sweet undertaking. The honey proved to be of the finest kind. One man made a paddle, and as fast as the honey was put in a pail, stirred it up well, after whieh the pail was filled with whisky. Then a commissary was chosen, with instructions to administer to each man present, a tin cup full, no more, no less, alter which they mounted their horses, and started home, on the Indian trail with such whoops and shouts as would have startled a native denizen of the forest. Shortly afterward Mrs. Meeker arrived with their five children, and a i\\v household articles, and made the new cabin their home. - From Evers Log ( (ibiii Sketches.

Mission Station

NOAH REED hauled the brick for the Station chimneys from Daniel HubbelFs brick yard at Port Miami, there being seven loads, for which he received pay mostly in second-hand clothing and stockings for the Nearing family.

This clothing had been sent by the Home Mission for the heathen - probably white heathen. Mr. Reed thinks this Mission was of no great benefit to the Indians. 'l iie ^lission Board through their agent, got into litigation with David Hedges and others. The island, about which they went to law with Hedges, was returned to the Government Survey as a sand Ijar. Hedges liought his claim rroia the Indians.

ED80X GOIT was a man of strong physical constitution, tireless energy, vast will power and of great industry and endurance. Combined with these he had honor and integrity of the highest order, and his impulses toward his fellow men were generous and noble.

Mr. Goit was born 'in Oswego county, New York, in 1808. While he was yet an infant his father died and during his boyhood he had but little time or opportunity to improve his mind by the aid of books; but such chance as he had, he improved to the best possible advantage and hy the time he was 20 years old he iniiulit a district school, and before he

He worked at odd jobs, taught school in both Tiffin and Fremont, then unpretentious villages, and in the meantime read law with Abel T. Rawson. In due course of time he was admitted to the bar to practice law and opened an office at Findlay. He made his home in the fi'.mily of the late L. Q. Rawson. After six months of studious days and anxious nights - six months of patient waiting for a client, none came. Six months were gone - nearly all his scanty means were gone - his clothes were well worn and only a single dollar had he earned. After he had sat down with the family at tJie breakfast table one morning, he told them that it was to be his last meal with tliem as he had decided to leave the place.

boarded at the house. The stranger was from the east and he had come on to collect a claim against a man who was teaching school not far away, and who owned 40 acres of land near the town. The case was somewhat complicated and papers had to be taken out. Goit prepared the papers through the day and a constable was quietly sent for so as to give no alarm or warning to the man of the birch-tree government. Everything being all ready they pounced down on him at night, and the result was that the stranger got the 40 acres of land, the teacher skipped out for some reason and Goit got as fee ten dollars and an ax. Then the district had no teacher and who could be a more proper man to fill out the term than Goit, which he did to the satisfaction of all concerned.

In 1833 he married Miss Jane Patterson and from this time on he was prosperous. By the year 1840 he had accumulated quite a competence, owning at that time nearly 2,000 acres of the best land in and about Findlay, and having in ready cash over $10,000.

His future, however, was wrecked in mercantile business and indorsing for others. The rascality of a partner brought him to Bowling Green, where he secured a portion of that due him.

Through all his misfortunes Mr. Goit left in his later days a comfortable competence for himself and remaining family and as he himself said a short time before his death, "after so many ups and downs in my life I am glad to know that if I do not get well I shall at least die square with the world." - G. M\ E.

Not All A Dream

ON the morning of the 3d of December, 1877, the citizens of Bowling Green were startled by the sudden death of the wife of Albert E. Eoyce, a prominent business man. She was sick but a few days, and her ailment was not considered serious as she was in possession of all her faculties of mind up to the very last, and was up on her feet only a short time previous to her death.

She was known, respected and liked by every one. Her kindly presence and cheerful aid, said the Sentinel, was always ready where she could be of use or do good in the community, and few could be taken from our midst who would be more sadly missed. As she lay in the burial casket, apparently in the fullness of health, it seemed impossible

A strange coincidence in connection with her death was related by her husband and -friends, and given from the pidpit during the funeral services. Somewhere near three years before she liad a dream in which it was foretold her that she would be taken sick on the 37th of November, 1877, and- that she would die on the 3d of December following. This dream she related to her husband who made light of it as did her parents and immediate friends when she told them the story; but with her it was not so. The matter appeared to weigh upon her mind, and several times during that time she spoke to her husband about it, reminding him that the time was drawing near. Very naturally he , laughed the matter off, and even when on the 27th ult. she was taken suddenly ill and again referred to the dream, her friends could not be persuaded that there was anything in it. But when the morning of December 3d had arrived, and at about 10 o'clock she quietly passed away, and her gentle spirit took its flight, then only, were the sorrow-stricken relatives forced

An Odd Genius

AMOXG the early oddities, says Hezekiali L! Hosmer, which a thirst for adventure or a spirit of enterprise brought to Perrysburg, was one Frederick Lord, better known to old residents as Judge Lord. He came from Maine, from one of whose universities he was a graduate, walking all the way with a pack on his back. He arrived in Perrysburg destitute, money gone and clothing tattered. Failing to obtain a situation as a student in a law office, he took a small piece of laud and cultivated it to onions. These, eked out by an occasional loaf, constituted his principal diet.

The neighbors regarded him as the very genius of famine, for he never forsook an undrained coffee-pot or left the cat her portion. After a while he applied to the trustees for the district school. Judge HoUister's ingenious argununit that '-'every man is good for something," prevailed, and he obtained the position, which he filled acceptably, until his admission to the bar. Meantime, however, he l^ecame unconsciously, the butt of local waggery and ridicule, and the inglorious hero of many laughable occurrences.

On one occasion he was appointed leading affirmative disputant in the debating club, to open that much mooted question, ''Was the English Government justifiable in banishing Xapoleon to St. Helena?'' The audience had assembled and President Whcvler called upon Lord, who, fully prepared, commenced his argmnent. When fairly under way, one of the members suddenly sprang a question of order, and others in the secret joined in discussing it, until the evening was spent and its further consideration adjourned till the next meeting. Other preliminary questions were introduced in succession, each one so timed as to break in upon and arrest the argument which Lord was almost bursting to deliver. He bore with these delays and annoyances through three or four meetings of the club; but finally Lord's patience was exhausted. Waiving the interruption, and with his arm extended towards his tormentors, in a voice hoarse with passion, he shouted:

"Mr. President : There is a point beyond which human nature will not pass, and I give these gentlemen due and timely notice that we are now " tipon the very v-e-rge of that point."

The violent gesture and bodily contortion with which this menace was emphasized, rendered the scene intensely ludicrous, and elicited from the audience a perfect yell of applause. The speaker, however, delivered his argument without further hindrance.

Soon after his admission. Judge Lord opened a law oftice at Napoleon. Here he fell naturally into drinking habits, in which he indulged at the expense of his associate. When William Sheffield put out his legal shingle, Lord called on him, and after a brief interview, told him he had an important confidential communication to make to him. They walked some distance into the forest skirting the town- in perfect silence, Sheffield menniimo pondering over the

"Sheffield, you know you are a young man, just setting out in life, and have not had as mucli experience in the world as I have. 1 know these fellows })retty well, and don't want to see you taken in, and I thought I might do you great favor by telling you on the start what you ought to do. Just as fast as you make acquaintances here you will be asked to drink with them. It is their social custom, and they will expect you to treat them in return, and it's pretty expensive.

A'ow, my advice is, that you buy your liquor by the gallon, take the jug to your office, and whenever you feel obliged to treat your friends, just take them to the office and treat them there. It won't cost a quarter as much as to pay for drinks at a grocery. As a matter of economy you'll find it a very judicious arrangement."

Lord soon left Napoleon and settled in one of the new counties in Michigan. He was elected county treasurer, and at last accounts had become a man of more wealth and influence than many of those who laughed at his oddities many years Ijefore.

Rev. Rolla H. Chubb

FEW men in the Maumee Valley were better known in JSTorthwestern Ohio than Kev. KoUa H. Chubb. Born in Poultney, Vt., Sept. IS, 1812, he came west with his father at an early age, who had charge of an Indian station on Lake Superior, where he remained about five years, after wliich he accompanied his l)rother to jMichigan. When quite young he had followed the footsteps of his father, joining the M. E. church, was admitted to conference, and from that time on until about 1867, he was actively engaged in the ministry, when he retired from active work and was enrolled among the superannuated ministers of the conference. From 1838 to 1855 Mr. Chubb was prominent among the itinerant ministers of the M. E. church in the Maumee Valley, and traveled Wood county on a four or six weeks' circuit, when he encountered all the perplexing embarrnssments incident to those early pioneer days, and his life and adventures as a minister of these swamps, would make a volume quite as interesting, and in many instances as pathetic or thrilling as a romance. There may now be living some who remember Rev. RoUa H. Chubb when he was young and in his full strength of manhood, and all can attest the wonderful pulpit oratory with which he was endowed. With clear conceptions, strong convictions, a retentive memory, and a mind to grasp the contents of libraries, and that power of language always at his command, he l)eeame eminent as a public speaker.

His sonnon preached at Greenwich, Huron county, 0., during the war, was characteristic of the man, and was widely copied in the public journals. He was in attendance at the Ft. Meigs celebration in 1840, and about that time became acquainted with Olive Ewing (sister of Judge Ewing), whom he married March 16, 1841. She died July 14, 1863, at Ashland, 0., leaving four children, three daugliters, ^Mrs. Emily Peacock, residing at Gallatin, Tennessee; Mrs. Maria Bristol, of Fremont, Ohio; Mrs. W. S. Eberly, and one son, Henry, of Perrysburg, Ohio. On October 4, 1865, he married Miss

Mary C. Hamer, of Ottawa, 0., and moved back to Perrysburg. His last regular appointment was Freeport, in 1868. He moved to Delaware, 0., in 1883, to give his children an opportunity of attending the college there. He died Friday night, Nov. 7, 1884, after a short illness, and his remains were brought to Perrysburg and interred in Ft. Meigs (.-einctcfv. - Wood Counfi/ Republican.

IN October, 1907, Grand Eapids celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its Masonic Lodge organization. Grand Eapids Lodge had its origin in Wood County Lodge No. 112. Among the exercises was an address by George A. Bell, in which he gave the following interesting history concerning Freemasonry in northwestern Ohio :

"It is quite probable that the history of Freemasonry in northwestern Ohio began when xVrmy Lodge, No. 23, spread its charter at Fort Meigs, in 1813,' and worked there until the fort was abandoned. Next, in 1818, the grand lodge of Ohio chartered Northern Light, No. 40, at Maumee. This lodge was active until 1838. A new charter, however, was granted in 1845, and the lodge was allowed to retain its old number.

"From 1828 to 1842, there was not a single Masonic body in 22 counties of northwestern Ohio, and strange to relate, the first lodge sprang up in the midst of tht' Bhiek Swamp of Wood county.

"In October, 1843, the grand lodge chartered Wood County Lodge, No. 112, naming Martin Warner, Emelius Wood, Morris Brown, Morrison McMillen, James Curtis, Leonard Perrin, David Maginnis and Sylvester Hatch as charter members.

which stood - and still stands - upon the bank - of Tontogany creek a short distance north of the present village of Tontogany. It was an ideal location; first because it was comparatively central, and, second, you could, as a. rule, get there from three different directions without swimming your horse. Being at the confluence of the two GrL^en Encampment trails, the Perrysburg people could take the one which left the river at Miltonville, and the Gilead (Grand Eapidss) people could take that which left the river a short distance east from South Otsego; then, when the five trails joined at Wood's, the combined trail went on into Plain township.

"For six years Wood County Lodge worked in the loft of Wood's dwelling, and then removed to Eaton's Corners- - later known as Selkirk's Corners, now a part of the city of Bowling Green.

"Of the Gilead people who took the degrees in Wood County Lodge, the first was Alvin Gillett, father of Jay L. Gillett, of Toledo, Emanuel Arnold, John Edgar and Omar C. Carr and S. H. Steedman.

"In July, 1856, the five brethren last above mentioned, together with Emelius Wood, Everett E. Wood and Daniel Barton, also of Wood County Lodge, A. J, Gardner, of Youngstown, Selah A. Bacon, a past master of New England, No. 4, of Worthington, Ohio, and Samuel Blythe, from Steubenville Lodge, No. 45, petitioned and received a dispensation for a lodge, to be known as Grand Eapids Lodge, and to be located at Gilead (Grand Eapids), Wood County. The dispensation arrived July 31, nam-

"The charter was received jSTovember 4, 1856, bearing date of October 3, and naming S. A. Bacon, A. J. Gardner, Alvin Gillett, Emelius Wood, E. E. Wood, John P. Nye and Samuel Blythe charter members. The three stationed officers were named as in the dispensation, and the minor officers also held over. The officers were installed by E. W. Bro. Hez. L. Hosmer, of Toledo. He was a prime mover in the organization of Phoenix Lodge No. 123, of Perrysbarg, of Fort Meigs chapter, and of all the Toledo bodies up to 1863, when he was appointed chief justice for Montana territory, and it is of record that he gathered together the Masons of that vast territory and instituted lodge, chapter and council at Virginia City.

"Speaking of individual Masons, the two pastmasters, who were prime movers in the organization of Grand Eapids Lodge, S. A. Bacon and Emelius Wood, had a remarkable Masonic career. Mr. Bacon was born at Granb}^, Conn., in 1797, and received the Master's degree there in 1818; removing to Franklin county, Ohio, he affiliated with New England Lodge No. 4, and was for several years its master; removing to Henry county, half a mile west of this village, he assisted, as shown, in the organization of this lodge and was for four years its master. Mr. Bacon's death occurred in March, 1883, he being 86 years of age, and for 65 years a Master Mason. Emelius Wood was born in 1797, and is said to have been the third white child born in the old fort at Marietta. He was educated at Athens and received the degrees in Paramuthia No. 35, in 1818; later he went to Somerset, the then county seat of the new county of Perry, where he served as county surveyor for some twelve years. His wife dying in 1833, he removed in 1834, with his two sons, A.. J. and E. E., to Wood county, and settled on the bank of Tontogany creek, as we have mentioned. Here he married a Miss North, and a number of children were born, the eldest being the well known surveyor, William H. Wood, of Bowling Green. Brother Wood was a principal mover in the organization of Wood County Lodge, was its master in 1847, 1848 and 1855. He was the first justice and the first school examiner of Washington township. He died in 1875, aged 78, having been a Master Mason for 57 years.

"Fifty years to those who are past the meridian of life seems but a brief period, and yet, looking backward, many things may happen in fifty years. In 1856 the territory of Grand Eapids Lodge extended from Fulton Lodge, Delta, on the nortli, to Kalida, Putnam county, on the south, and east and west from Bowling Green to Napoleon. Up to date it has given of its territory to Deshler, Holgate, Liberty Center, Waterville, Tontogany and Weston. That shows some change, but let us contemplate Wood County Lodge again for a moment; it is just 13 years older than Grand Eapids lodge. When Wood county was constituted, its territory comprised more than ten thousand square miles, figuring from door to door of nearest lodges, but to-day that territory contains 110 lodges and more than 13,000 members."

It is not an exaggerated belief that had Hull's arinv, which passed through the site of Bowling Green, almost a century ago, been led by a man of the nerve of Anthony Wayne, that a portion of Canada would to-day be a part of the United States. Hidl's disastrous failure compelled the few settlers at the Maumee Eapids to leave and the whole northwest was opened to the merciless raids of savages. It was indeed a national calamity.

Hon. Thos. W. Powell

DECEMBER 12, 1882, says the Cleveland Herald, Hon, Thomas W. Powell died at his residence in Delaware, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. For several years he had been almost blind. His name stands foremost as one of the greatest thinkers of the State. The following history was given by Hon. James R. Hubble:

Hon. Thomas W. Powell was born in South Wales in 1797. In 1801 he came with his parents to America and settled in Utica, N". Y., in the Mohawk Valley. During the war with Great Britain, although a mere youth, he drove his father's team with the baggage of a regiment, to Sacketts Harbor, and in the spring of 1813 entered the place at the close of the battle. In 1814 he was appointed by the military authorities to carrv dispatches to Plattsburg, and at the close of that battle entered the town with dispatches to Gen. McCombs.

In the year 1819 he came to Ohio and studied law in the office of Hon. James W. Lathrop, at Canton, and in 1820 was admitted to the bar. He removed to Perrysburg, on the Maumee, where he filled successively the offices of Prosecuting Attorney and County Auditor of Wood county.

In the discharge of his official duties, he was noted for his probity and industry as well as his abilities. In 1830 he removed to Delaware, where he resided until his death.

Indian Justice

ONEQUIT, a chief of a tribe of Indians that occupied Station Island above Waterville, proved to be Judge and executioner, as the following incident will show, as related by an early settler: for trial. The cause was duly heard with Indian solemnity, after which Onequit retired, smokng over his deliberations. The result of this deliberation was that the chief took down his rifle and shot and killed the convicted red man.

Onequit himself was then brought before a magistrate near Miltonville to answer for the crime of murder. The chief admitted the killing of the Indian, but claimed that he had acted only within the laws of his tribe. On this showing he was acquitted and released.

GEN. CLAY and his Kentuckians were at Ft. Defiance in April, 1813, having followed in Gen. Winchester's footsteps, and when he closed a ringing denunciation of the British treachery at the River Raisin, his men were ready for action. Said their general: "Kentuckians stand high in the estimation of our common country. Our brothers in arms who have gone before us to the scene of action have acquired a fame which should never be forgotten by you, a fame worthy of your emulation. Should we encounter the enemy, remember the fate

Gen. Wm. H. Harrison

Standing in sight of the battle field of Fallen Timber and under the severe cannonade from the British batteries across the river, Gen. Harrison thus addressed his men, some of whom had fallen wounded, and others who were fainting and tired of the conflict:

"Can the citizens of a free country, who have taken up arms to defend its rights, think of submitting to an army composed of mercenary soldiers, reluctant Canadians, goaded to the field by the bayonet, and of wretched, naked savages? Can the breast of an American soldier wlieu he casts his eyes to the opposite sliore, the scene of his country's triumplis over the same foe, be influenced by any other feeling than the hope of glory ? Is not this army composed of the same materials with that which fought and conquered under the immortal Wayne? Yes, fellow soldiers, your general sees your faces beam with the same fire that he witnessed on that occasion; and although it would be the height of ])resumption to compare himself with that hero, he boasts of being that hero's pupil. 1c your posts then fellow citizens and remember the eyes of your country are upon you."

Two Lost Girls

In 1836, the old Eevolutionary soldier and Missionary, Eev. Joseph Badger built a cabin and settled on a ridge at the west end of the Wadsworth prairie, overlooking the great marsh, stretching out miles to the eastward. When, a few years after his health failed and he moved his family away, the Aacant cabin became a sort of rendezvous for counterfeiters, and other law-breakers. They were finally broken up and driven away.

In 1851, Nathaniel Badger, nephew of the old missionary, came and fixed up the cabin, got married and lived there a year or so. Nathaniel had a sister Stella, a teacher, who lived in Plain township. One bright morning in .Tune,

Stella and a lady cousin from "York State," nicely mounted on horseback, rode up to our cabin, on the north side of the prairie to inquire if it would be possible for them to follow the old Indian trail straight across to the Badger cabin. L was a young man at that time and far too much interested in the two nicely dressed young ladies to see them try to pass over that dangerous miry trail, and at once advised them to go around by the usual wagon trail, which was of itself l)ad enough ; they took my advice.

That evening my brothers, Lewis and John, W. E. Carothers and myself were chatting around a mosquito smoke at my father's, when, about 9 o'clock we lieard some one hallooing in the distance. I told the boys of the incident of the morning - that two girls had rode over to Badger's, wiiich was about two miles from our place. Carothers at once said, "that is surely a woman's voice"; we started at once for the prairie, taking with us our two well trained dogs.

indistinctly, away to the east of us; we shouted so lustily that we made ourselves heard plainly by the lost wanderer, who at once turned back toward us.

Soon the dogs were barking, away out in the gloomy waste in a somewliat different direction. When Lewis and Carothers got to them, they found the intelligent brutes had done their part well and faithfully. As if guided by some instinct, almost providential, in this case, the dogs in some unexplained, or 1 should say unexplainable way, had understood what we wanted them to do and had done it, thereby saving a human life.

There, in a grassless spot, in the oozy mire and water, her head barely above the slimy surface, speechless and exhausted, was one of the girls - the one from New York. She probably could not have survived an hour longer. I need not relate our difficulties in getting the poor girl out for she was perfectly helpless to walk for sometime, even if she had been on good ground.

Soon after, Stella, whose shouts had first warned us of their danger, was . found, and not long after, brother John and I and the dogs found the horses, grazing in a place where the water was shallow, and got them out to the woods.

Stella then told us how it all happened : They had prolonged their stay at Badger's until quite late and then to gain time had attempted to make a short cut by the Indian trail to our house. The trail crossed a neck of prairie about half a mile wide; it was here they lost their course and went too far east. The prairie, at that time of the year, was wet in those days; no one who has not seen the Wadsworth, or Liberty prairie as we sometimes called it, in its natural state, before our drainage system went into effect, can form any true conception of its condition, nor picture to himself the magnitude of the change since. The water was from one to three feet deep, the grass from three to eight feet high; a great part of the prairie was swampy. It was infested with all sorts of beasts, birds and reptiles common to this country at that time. Wolves, snakes, turtles, frogs, cranes, pumpers, deer flies and last, but worst in early summer, Avere the endless swarms of ravenous mosquitoes. Then the heavy fogs which curtained this gloomy wilderness made the aspect so dismal and forbidding that the strongest man might well recoil from its treacherous borders.

Not long after the horses left the trail, they began to swamp down and the riders were unseated from their saddles with no possibility of mounting, even if it had been desirable to do so. In attempting to lead the horses the girls had their skirts trod on and torn off at the waist and were in danger themselves of being tramped into the mire by the floundering animals.

By tliis time they had worked so far east as to be in about the worst part of the swamp, probably not far west of the notorious "Stoga Hole." Here the New York girl gave up to die. Stella left her friend and the horses and started as she supposed in the direction of her brother's cabin; but how could a woman, wading in water to her knees, in coarse rank grass higher than her head, blinded by mos- (|uitoes and fog, take a course without a single landmark to guide her ? She could not even see the woods that bordered the swamp. Fortunately she steered to the woods on the north side, but in a direction almost opposite from what she had intended, and came out about threefourths of a mile from our house, where she was wandering about when her screams attracted our attention as previously mentioned. After we all got together on dry ground, the girls, whose deplorable plight was mercifully shielded by the darkness, pleaded with us to be taken to the Badger cabin, but we persuaded them to go to our house nearer by, where they were taken in hand by

Sckap-Book

One of those girls of nearly half a century ago, Stella, married Dr. Stephen Olney, brother of Professor p]dward Olney, of Michigan university, and at this time, 1894, is living in widowhood in one of the thriving cities of New Jersey. Her rosy cheeks of yore are faded; her dark hair long since has turned gray ; the voice tliat was strong enough to carry its pitiful appeal through the Cimmerian darkness for help nearly a mile awa}', is feeble now; memory too fails, Init not the remembrance of that dreadful night experience in the "Black Swamp" of Wood county.

In thus imperfectly giving the details of this and other incidents, I have sought to also convey to the younger generation a dim, outline picture of the country as the pioneers first found it; also some of the inconveniences and hardships met with. Each passing day and year in our lives has its sore trials, mingled with its sunshine and joy. Each country has its drawbacks, but I think now, in looking l^ack over my three score years' experience, and that of my old neighbors here, that Wood county's early settlers had more than their full share of trials. The county was too, from causes only slightly alluded to in this narration, in very bad repute. This bad name followed it hurtfully for years after, and kept improvements back until many fell, weary and discouraged in the conflict. But all honor to the old pioneers, and the new ones too; it is different now. Wood county is, at last, the first; and the miry swamp, Avhere we found the lost girls, groans each recurring autumn under its load of golden grain; and the successors of those first pioneers would hesitate to swap situations with the most favored husbandmen in the land.

The Old Exchange Bell

ACOKKESPOXDENT of tlie Elmore Independent says that in the year iSo'^ or 1833, Mr. Jarvis Spaiford built a hotel in Perrysburg, and it was a very line hotel - even a model one in those days, ill order to make it complete he had to have a l)ell on top of the house. Then' hapiieiied to be a man by the name of S. Davis who had a bell foundry in Detroit, Micb., then Michigan Territory. ^Ir. Spatford went to Detroit, saw Mr. l)avis and made a contract to cast him a bell. For want of material to make a bell the desired size, Mr. Spafford l)ut in 36 Spanish dollars, which were melted and run into the bell. In the y;'ar 1834 the bell was cast; the name of

S. Davis, Detroit, ilichigan Territory, and the year, in large, bold letters, appear on the bell. After due time Mr. Spafford got the bell home, and it was a great curiosity there in the wilderness, the whole country abounding with Indians and wild animals. However, Mr. Spafford had the bell hung up in a tree in front of his house, to ring when it was time for meals.

The Indians used to gather around the tree to see and hear the bell ring; they would even climb up on the tree to get hold of it to ring it themselves, to the great annoyance of Mr. Spafford and his customers, as they supposed meals were ready when the bell rang. This annoyed I\lr. Spafford so much that he was compelled to dri\'r the Indians away by force, but the}', not being easily scared, came one night and stole the bell and carried n off to Upper Sandusky, which was the headquarters for all the Indians in this section of the country in those days. When Mr. Spafford missed the bell he was much worried, and offered a big reward for the thief and return of his property.

As the bell cost him $75, he felt the loss of his investment, as well as the enjoyment and convenience of it, but he was not long in finding the trail of the bell from friendly Indians. He secured the services of a half-breed, by the name of Sam Brady, an old scout, who had killed a- many Indians and some white men, as any other man in those days. Mr. Frank Hollister, the first white man who settled at Perrysburg, and bought furs from the Indians, knew about all of them, and had slept in almost every Indian wigwam on the Maumee river. The three started in search of the bell, and were three days making the trip from Perrysburg to the plains of Upper Sandusky, camping out every night, with Sam Brady to pilot them through. On the morning of the fourth day, to their great surprise, they heard the sound of the bell, and leaving their camp with their scanty breakfast half cooked, they struck out fully determined to get the bell. After half an hour's traveling through the deep grass and thick underbrush, with rifle in hand to shoot the first Indian they met, they came to the missing bell. To their great amazement they found it tied around an Indian pony's neck, which was considered the leading pony of the plains. Mr. Spafford says that it did not take Mr. Brady long to bring down the pony with his rifle, cut the sinew that the bell was fastened to, and soon shouldered it and started back to camp, to finish their breakfast of jerked venison and whisky.

After finishing the meal, they started back for home, a happy trio. In the meantime they kept a sharp lookout on their retreat, but met with no interruption, and arrived home safe and whole, but worn out by fatigue and hunger, still full of glee and "good whisky,^^

Mr. Spafford, in order to keep the Indians from stealing the bell again, went to Detroit to a blacksmith, and got a heavy iron bar, one inch square, made in a half circle, with a cross-bar, and hung the bell in the circle, spiked it on top of his tavern, and the bell hung there until the death of Jarvis Spafford, and for several years after. The property then fell into the hands of Willis Norton, sheriff of Wood county, and for a number of years he kept the house and bell. Finally the hotel business died out and Mr. Norton had a good deal of sickness and reverses and left Perrysburg, went west of Ft. Wayne, on a small farm, taking the bell with him, with the full intention of keeping it as long as he lived, but his health failed him, necessaries of life were hard to get, and getting an offer for the old bell from the oldest landlord in northern Ohio, who knew the bell ever since it was hung upon the old Exchange, he concluded to sell it to his old friend, D. M. Day, of Elmore, Ottawa county, 0., whore it can be seen and heard three times a day, on top of the Elmore House.

George Hopper

country from England, and reached Perrysburg in the year 1836, engaging in the service of the firm of Smith & Hollister in their large warehouse. He remained with them three years, at the end of which time he took 160 acres of land in Troy township for his pay, on which he made his home until his death.

the people of that date in Wood county, had to put up with hardships and inconveniences, which to this generation of people would seem unbearable. Mr. and Mrs. Hojjper related as a fact that during their first settlement in the woods and for years after, they seldom passed a night without being disturbed by the unwelcome and dismal howl of wolves. Sometimes these ravenous brutes would come into their door yard and make the night a hideous pandemonium. On one occasion Mr. Hopper had been to Perrysburg to get some provisions and was belated and came home unconscious that he was pursued until lie entered his cabin door, wiioii he heard the brutes jumping the fence, and no sooner had he closed the door behind him than they opened in an unearthly chorus, startling enough to make a dead man's hair stand on end. This sort of solitary life was continued until 18-17, when Sanmel Shreiner moved in. he being their first neighbor nearer tlian the Gorrills. In all his obligations of citizenship Mr. Hopper was a model nuin, upright and honest, and commanded the respect and esteem of his neighbors and all who knew him. - Wood County Sentinel.

A Shaking Scourge

NO'J' the least of tlie ills encountered by the early settlers in the Black Swamp, was the scourge of sickness, chiefly fever and ague, which widely prevailed. These ills were caused by the malaria of that day.

It took from three to five years to get acclimated : every year from about the first of July until frost and cold made its appearance, the people had the ague, and they looked for it just as much, and it came with the same regularity, as summer and fall came. An old pioneer says: It took hold of a person and literally shook him up. I have seen fellows go to bed with the ague, and when the shake came on the very bed and floor would rattle. So violent was the disease that at times their teeth would rattle.

Many times whole families would be down at one time, so that one could not give another a drink of water. The ague usually came on every other day, and when there were not people enough they had to have it every day, for sometimes there appeared to be about two agues for one man; and oftentimes they had to have it twice in one day. The well day as we used to call the day we missed it, men would be able to do some light work, and it may seem strange, but the day the chill was to come on you could look out from 10 a. m. until 3 p. m., and you could see the boys come in to take their shake, as much so as to take their dinners. We were not troubled much in those days from any disease of a malignant form. Aside from the ague, we had some bilious, intermittent and remittent fevers. We had no need of a doctor to bleed the patient, for the pesky moscjuitocs did all the bleeding that was necessary.

Dr. H. Burritt was the physician ; he then lived at Gilead (now Grand liapids), and he also kept the postoffice. Oh, how he used to swear when he had to make his way through the woods and water, ten, twelve or fifteen miles to see his patients.

The Maumee Valley Historical Association was organized in 1885 for the purpose of perpetuating flic memory and preserving the historical places in the Maumee Valley. Hon. Morrison E. Waite was its first president.

What Might Have Been

In 1835 was fought the great ^'Toledo War." Gen. Bell, Gen. Brown, Col. Van Fleet and many others in and out of command of the forces of the state of Ohio, and the territory of Michigan, marched and counter marched their respective commands, and performed feats of valor and strategy which entitle them to a more extended notice than in the limits of this history can be accorded them. The net purport and upshot of the matter was, that the Harris, or present line, between the state of Ohio and the territory of Michigan, was adopted. This left Toledo in the state of Ohio, and

With Toledo in Michigan, Ohio would have been interested in building up Perry sburg, and it is probable at least, that some elfort would have been made to remove the obstructions to navigation, known to exist between Toledo and Perrysburg, and that the fostering care of the stat-e of Ohio would have accomplished for Perrysburg what the state of Michigan afterward accomplished for Detroit, under similar difficulties. It is probably vain to theorize over this matter now, but it certainly does not seem improbable that if the Fulton or southern line, between Ohio and Michigan had been finally adopted, that Perrysburg would have been now a compactly built city, from East Toledo to West Boundary street, with miles of wharves and docks, acres of elevators and depots, and tens of millions instead of tens of thousands of dollars of personal property.

Bloody Wolf Fight

AN^ issue of the Wood County Sentinel in August, 1877, relates an incident of a black wolf killed a few days prior to that by three dogs near Mr. Willison's house in Jackson Prairie. A steer had died not far from Willison's place a day or so previous, and late in the evening mentioned, Mr. W. heard dogs fighting as he supposed, until finally he became satisfied from the continued barking and fierce growls that the dogs, his own among tbe number, had some animal at bay. He did not go out however, that nifi^ht. Next morning Jake Wall's dog was found to be so badly chewed up that he died that day. The other dogs were found to be pretty badly used up also. Not far from the carcass of the steer, the dead l)ody of a wolf was found, a murderous looking brute, and near him were ])U'nty of evidences of a terrible tight l)etween the black monster and the dogs. It is supposed that Wall's dog, which was a gamy, powerful creature, after getting terribly punished by the wolf, had finally got hold of its throat and never let go till he had choked it to death. This is the first wolf killed in this county for several years, and the second instance of the destruction of a black wolf, and tlie only instance we ever heard of dogs in open battle attacking and killing a full grown wolf. It is supposed there were two wolves, but that the other got away. They usually travel in pairs.

"During tlie year 1813 or "1 1 a period when the BUiek Swamp was yet a 'howling wildiTiU'ss." well covered by water and oecnpiml l)y Indians, wolves, bears, raccoons and wildcats, there was a low, wet swampy bog, extending from a portion of Wood connty where the Fenton P. 0., now is, to a point in Middleton, lately known as the Devil's Hole Prairie - it being a portion of country exceedingly difficult to penetrate owing to the depth of water and massive growth of timber, through which were numerous windfalls that served to render the progress of tlie ]iedestrian very difficult and quite uncertain.

"At the time mentioned Gen. Harrison came plunging through the wilds of Sandusky and Wood counties on his march to Fort Meigs, and while passing through the portion of Wood county near where this swamp was located, a scout, whose name the writer is not in possession of, while on ilie alert for the terror of the forest - the nol)l(' I'ed man - became entangled in this man-trap, and oidy after a day's persistent effort did he succeed in finding the trail of his brave commander, after wliicli li" soon cuiii'iit up with the c(mimand. Upon being interrogated as to where he had been, he replied that he had got lost in the "Devil's Hole," asserting that he had truly discovered the home of Satan, and in this trifling manner (although undoubtedly appreciated at the time) originated tlie name so long attached to what is now one of the most prosperous and prolifie portions of this countv; a localitv tliat has

Buried in the heart of the tlense woods some miles to the northeast of this place, known as the "Devil's Hole," two men recently discovered a small, low built shanty, covered with bark and entirely obscure from the vision of man or beast by the dense undergrowth, at no greater distance than ten paces. It is off from any road and there is a single path leading to and from it. Just behind it a hole has been dug for water, and near it are troughs cut in a log as if for the purpose of feeding horses. Some hay inside indicates that men have slept there, and there has also been a fire kept in it. Everything about it denotes that the utmost precautions of secrecy have been tctken. From its location and other circumstances, persons living nearest the locality are suspicious that it is a rendezvous or stopping place for horse-thieves. C'ertainlv there seems some coloring for such a supposition.

It has hti'ii well said that Thomas Jefferson was more than the author of our Declaration of lndi'))en(lence in 177(); he. more than any American, laid down the basis of popular liberty.

There is r.ot a city in i\t'ntucl<y, there is not a ])lace in all Ohio that diil not hasten to the aid of Ft. Meigs nearly a century ago. And all these cities and towns have an atjiding intt'rest in these historic grounds.

Tom Long

Among the names of those mentioned by telegraph in Thursday evening's Blade, as having died of cholera in the penitentiary at Columbus, was that of Thomas Long, sent from Wood county. Long was a noted horsethief, and was serving out his fourth term in the penitentiary, although but just in the prime of life. Perhaps no man in the country was more familiar with the "runways" of horsethieves than he. His range was very extensive, reaching from Central Ohio through Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. It is said that he would start from his home in Wyandot county, and make a through trip to Council Bluffs, stealing horses and selling them as fast as possil)le. The last horse which he stole was taken from a man by the name of Wilson, living near Portage, Wood county, when he also stole a buggy from a Mr. Eoller, living in Portage. This occurred in 1865. He was accompanied on this trip by his brother. The latter was first captured and taken to jail. Tom, who had escaped arrest, although hotly pursued by Sheriff Evers, learning that his brother was in jail, wrote him a letter from some point out west, stating that he would visit the imprisoned brother. This letter fell into the hands of the sheriff, and he was on the alert.

Finall}^, after the sheriff had about abandoned all hope of securing Tom, two men, one of them a well known citizen of Wood county, called at the jail and expressed a desire to see a prisoner. The present sheriff', Mr. C. C. Baird, was then jailor, and he at once sent for the sheriff. On the arrival of Sheriff Evers, he readily identified the stranger as Tom Long, arrested him and locked him up with his brother. Both were convicted and Tom was sentenced to the penitentiary for twelve years, while his brother got off with ten 3'ears. He had, therefore, served out but two-thirds of his time when he died.

Tom Long was a cool, sharp and cunning horsethief. He was quiet, inoffensive to all appearances, and was highly esteemed l)y those acquaintances who knew nothing of his secret history. With criminal law he was quite familiar and studied it even after his conviction, evidently not for a moment thinking of changing his habits on emerging from the penitentiary. With his arrest and conviction, a large gang of horsethieves was broken up, some of them escaping to Canada, and now believed to be engaged in running stolen horses across the upper end of the lake.

Porter-Richardson Murder

TVIK death of so notorious a man as Ivichardson., and the sudden and violent manner of his taking off while sitting in the midst of his family, startled and shocked the dwellers by the Maumee.

Porter, who made no concealment of what he had done, from the first announcement of the murder, seems to have been connected with the deed in the i minds of the settlers in the immediate | neighborhood who knew of the previous unfortunate st^te of business with Eichardson. But f^s the effect of the Avhisky (lied out and reflection and reason re- turned^ lie began to realize what ho had done; the instinct of fear took possession of him and he fled, he hardly knew whither nor from whom nor what. He wandered about in the forests like a restless wild beast.

Great search was made for him but without success until the third day when he came out and delivered himself up to Sherifi' Webb not far from the river ford below Miltonville. He told Mr. Webb that it seemed the happiest moment of his life when he had delivered himself up and no longer felt that he was pursued. He made no denial of the murder. He said it was the only thing left for him to do to redress his grievances, and admitted that he ought to 2)ay the penalty with his life.

He was confined in the old log jail at Perrysburg for trial. The supreme court was in session with Peter Hitchcock and Judge Brash on the bench.

The prisoner had a right to trial in the common pleas court if he preferred, which would have deferred his trial some months, but he seemed indifferent whether any defense was made at all. He became penitent and zealously religious.

The following are the names of the grand jurors impanelled, there being 16 in all instead of 15 as now, and not one of whom to our knowledge is living today, the late Eber Wilson, who was foreman, being the last survivor:

Thomas W. Pow^ell, now of Delaware, Ohio, was the prosecuting attorney, and Orish Parish and David Higgins (afterward Judge Higgins) were assigned to the defense of the prisoner. The counsel for the state had of course no difficulty in proving the murder and tbat George Porter was the murderer, but the counsel for the prisoner set up the plea of insanity and urged it with much vigor, adducing as the strongest evidence the conduct of the prisoner to and after the murder and his behavior in jail and indifference as to his fate. In rebuttal of this position of the defense, the state adopted the theory - (We give J\:well's own laitguage) :

"That eveiy person is responsible for his acts, whenever lie acts upon actual facts and real cireuinsiances. That all that I'ortei- chiinied as motives for his acts - the injuries and insults received from Bichardson - were all founded upon actual facts and real circumstances. There was no delusion or unreal facts about this case. Whatever motives actuated him, they were like all the rational acts of mankind, founded upon real facts and actual circumstances."

The sentence of the court was that he be hung on Fri(hiy, the .5tli day of the following November. There was a great deal of public sympathy shown for Porter. He had to be sure, taken the life of a fellow man, but that man was a notoriously bad man and tlie deed had been done under tlie most provoking circumstances. Poi-ter was crushed and broken in spirit and had no inlluential friends to intercede for him, a thing he was too dispirited to do for himself, even if he had his liberty. The means of communicating with the executive were long and tedious, beside there were no good grounds, assuming tlie court's charge to the jury to be correct, upon which to base a petition asking the clemency of the governor. Mr. Webb, a man of kind and humane disposition, formed quite a strong attachment and kindly feeling toward the prisoner on account of his reconciled and submissive conduct, and it taxed his utmost resolution of mind to reconcile sympathy and duty.

Meigs in the presence of a great number of people who had assembled to witness the sad spectacle. His body was buried in the little burying ground just west of the Perry sburg jail.

Whatever may have been the sympathy for Porter, or however much his claim to executive clemency, the execution no doubt had a salutary effect. Nothing is so much calculated to restrain crime as the certainty that punishment and the inexorable exec-ntion of the law will f()l!o\v. - G. W. E.

Simon Girty

There are few localities in the State of Ohio more fertile in historic reminiscences than Henry county. About five miles up the river from Napoleon is wbat is known as Girty's island, so called from the fact of its having been the abiding place of that notorious white renegade, Simon Girty, whose treatment of white captives was more inhuman and fiendish than even that of the red savages by whom he had been reared from early childhood. The history of Simon (lirty is familiar, no doubt, to thousands, but there are features in the family record of the Girty family that always afford fresh food for conjecture. The family in general was shiftless and ne'er do well. There were four brothers, Thomas, Simon, George and James. Each was adopted by an Indian tribe, Simon by the Senecas, the most warlike of all the great Iroquois confederacy.

Simon Girty and Simon Kenton were at one time scouts together, and perhaps the only humane or kindly act in Girty's life was his intercession for Kenton's life in one instance where he had been captured, tortured and sentenced to death by the Indians. Girt}', however, after having in every conceivable manner antagonized both Indians and whites by his multiplicity of inhuman and treacherous acts, was compelled to seek refuge and concealment in the territory now embraced in what is known as Henry county. Ho had wantonly and indiscriminately murdered and pillaged right aiul left until he became a hunted fugitive, a veritalde Avanderer on the face of the earth. He eventually sought safety in the famous '*Black Swamp" of the northwest, and here opposite the island, on the bank of the Maumee, he erected his cabin, and whenever danger would menace him, would retire into the densely wooded swamp, where it Avas absolutely impossible to dislodge him. How long he remained here, is not definitely known, or whetlu'r his death was the result of the infirmities incident to old age, or more tragic in its character. He was unquestionably one of the boldest and at the same time most treacherous and inhuman outlaws of which American history has anv record.

Wayne'S Two Graves

(ien. Wayne is one of the few famous nu'u who have two graves, each equally entitled to commemoration. He died of gout at Erie. Pa., then Fort Presque Isle, in 17 UG, when he was on his return from his successful Indian campaigns in the northwest. He was buried at the foot of the flagstaff in the fort, and there lay undisturl)ed for nearly twenty years. Tlu-n there came through the woods froni the other end of the State, in a sttlky, liis son in search of his father's bones. He engaged Dr. John C. Wallace, who had l)een through the Indian wars with (it'll. Wayne, to exhume his bones, and ])ack them in a box, that they might be strapped to the sulky and taken through tlie woods and over the mountains to the family residence in Chester county. When Dr. ^^'allace opened the grave he found, to his great surprise, the body in an alnmst ]K'rfect state of preservation. Tlie flesh liad not decayed. But it was im])ossil)le foi- young Wayne to carry the cotlin and contents in his sulky. So Dr. Wallace, who seems to have been devoid of feeling as one of the Indians whom he fought, decided, on his own motion, and without consulting Mr. Wayne, to separate the General's bones from their enveloping flesh and thus enable tliem to ])e removed.

To accom])]ish this, hoilirg had to be resorted to, and the bones were then denuded of flesh by the use of knives, and were ])acked and carried away by young Wayne, and buried near the homestead in which Gen. Wayne was born and in wliicli Ills descendants still live. Tliis account of the ghoul-like proceedings of

Dr. W'alUuc has an incredible sound, but it is literally and strictly true, and will lie ( on'oboratinl by any old citizen of Erie. Young i\Ir. Wayne knew nothing of Dr. Wallat'c's operations until many years aflei-. lie was then greatly shocked and de'clarcil that he would never have permitted such treatment of his father's remains, hut would have returned them lo the grave and postponed their removal to a more convenient season. Yet there is no reason to doubt that Dr. Wallace, who was a useful and prominent man in his day. thought he was doing everything for the best, and meant no disrespect to the mortal jiart of liis old friend and ])atit'nt and armv comrade. General Wayne.

Over the General's bones, in Chester county, a monument was raised. But his flesh was returned to its grave at the foot of the flag-staff, in Fort Presque Isle, by Dr. Wallace, and forgotten. The fort - a mere stockade - crumbled away, the tiag-stalf decayed, and the precise location of the grave was lost.

Some four years ago, however, a digger for relics on the site of the old fort, unearthed a coftin-cover, into which l)rassheaded nails had been so driven as to form the initials "A. W.'' with the figures of Wayne's age, date of his death, etc. This determined the location of the grave, and there has since been in Erie a feeling that it should be marked by a monument of some sort. It has, in fact been surrounded by chains, supported by four pieces of superannuated artillery, and also marked by a flag-staff, but something more permanent is desired, and will doulitless be built - ^if not by legislative aid. then by local subscription.

The last tribe of Indians to remove from Ohio was the Wyandot of Upper- Sandusky, who ceded their lands in 1812, and tlu' following year left for the west.

Burning Off A Prairie

James Robertson came from Scotland and located in the eastern part of Middleton township in 1836. One morning after he had selected the land for his future home, Mr. Robertson and two of his sons started from Perrvsburg for their land for the purpose of selecting a building site, with a horse and wagon, hauling a tent and some other material. They came by a blazed wagon track and pitched their tent in the edge of Htdrs Prairie, arriving just at sundown. About 15 minutes after they had arrived at their destination they were startled by the sudden appearance of five Indians on horseback, who had followed up their trail, and tbe Indians seemed as much surprised as they. After surveying the situation a moment the Indians gave the Rol:>ertsons to understand their mission was to "scotto,"" that is to bum off the prairie. They then proceeded about three miles to the southwest, touched fire to the grass which had not been burned for two years. The flames spread like the wind and Mr. Amelius Robertson states that it did not seem over ten minutes before it had traveled the intervening distance between where it was set and the edge of the woods where they were encamped, and that the smoke alnu)st suffocated them in their tent. He also says that the flames went nearly as high as the trees, and that the streets of Perrysburg 5 1-2 miles distant were so lighted by the fire that they could see to pick up a pin, and that all the grass on Hull Prairie covering hundreds of acres, was licked up by the flames in twenty minutes. Mr. Robertson built a cabin on his land the next spring, 1837, and moved in with his familv.

A Hunter'S Paradise

IX a communication to the Tribune, Mr. J. F. Dubbs says: Wild hogs were very plentiful in the forests, but while they afforded the settlers a temporary resource at times, to replenish the pork barrel, they were at other times not only troublesome, but dangerous neighbors. They would mingle with tame hogs in the woods and toll them away often, where the tame ones would soon be as wild as their forest kin. Then too, if man or beast should suddenly come upon a band and disturb them in their bed or disturb the young, every hog would instantly become a savage, bristling, furious assailant and the intruder was lucky if he happened to be near a tree which he coitld climb quickly. Among the bands that roamed thf woods was one enormous

With murderous tusks, which was alike a terror to hunters and dogs. This dangerous brute - a veritable king of the forests - was as wily and cunning as a bear, but like all kings and rulers, all his ways were not the paths of wisdom. He got a notion of slipping in nights and lodging with the iKtbbs herd till the chickens crowed in the morning, when he would rise, shake himself and join his wild brethren in the forest.

on^ and at the time there was quite a strife in the settlement as to who should be the lucky captor of the big boar. One morning the Dubbs, father and sons, with their two dogs, stole a march on the old woods patriarch, and as he passed out the dogs were turned loose, and after a sharp race his hogship came to bay and faced the dogs. When the men came up the brute again fled, but the dogs at once fastened on him; one dog laid hold at the elbow of the fore shoulder; the other at the ear; the latter was instantly hurled into the air with a ghastly slash across its throat from which the blood poured in a stream. The other dog, a powerful fellow, was able to stop the boar, and the brute could not reach him with its deadly tusks.

By this time, Henry Dubbs, James' father, a stout resolute man, came up, furious at the fate of his faithful dog, and seized the boar by its long tail and at once took a turn around a small sapling whore he could easily hold the hog. The plan was to capture, confine and JV'cd the boar until he was fat; at that tinu' Mr. l)ttbl)s' sou, John, came up, the hug was tied and thrown, his nose lasliL'd, his tusks cut off, after which he was hauled in on a stone boat, and imprisoned in a high, strong log pen.

When lie found he could not escape, his gnashing of teeth and hideous aspect was startling to witness, but in all the scrap from first to last not a cry or squeal did he make, except enraged grunts. For days the old fellow would not eat; then he would eat in the night. At last he began to gain, and though when butchered and sold at Perrysburg he was not fat, yet he was a monstrous big porker.

These wild hogs are supposed to ha\"e sprung from strays from some of tlie army quartermasters' droves brought here in the war of 1812. They were qtiite numerous here from 1830 to 1843.

Removing The Indians

AN old pioneer, writing to the Sentinel, says: Between the years 1835-40, the Government began to move the Indians to their reservations in the West and the tribes becoming broken up, were scattered over a large portion of Northwestern Ohio and Northeastern Indiana, and part of Michigan, reaching from Ft. Wayne, Indiana, to Sandusky, Ohio, and including Crawford county, which was named after Colonel Crawford who was so brutally butchered and murdered at the stake by Simon Girty (a white man), after having

The tribes and parts of tribes that used to inhabit this part of the country, were the Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Kickapoos, Shawnees, Wyandots and Miamis. After General Harrison's victory at Fort Meigs, and the treaty was effected and peace was declared again, many of them remained and they were considered friendly, and indeed were so as the old settlers well know. A mission station was made on the Maumee river; Rev. Isaac Van Tassel was sent as a missionary to preach to them, and I believe he taught school among them for a while. The largest settlement as I remember, was in Sandusky county, and the largest in Wood countv was at the station and at Tontogaiiy. which is an Indian name and I think named after one of their chiefs. They iiad one small settlement on creek in Henry county, and a few stragglers were camjjed for a while in Milton townshij), this county. In the fall they would go from their camps in Sandusky, Seneca and Wyandot counties, to Wood and Henry counties to camp out for tlie winter and liunt, and when the spring would o])en they Avould return again with their pelts and furs taken during the winter season. In the summer they woukl resort to the rivers and lakes where they could fish, that heing their favorite and pi-incipal diet during til" Slimmer months.

The remnant of the ^laumee Ottawas were at this time assembled at Buttonwood island, a mile above Perrysburg, preparatory to removal to the country assigned them west of the Mississippi. Eobert A. Forsyth was entrusted by the Government ^^itli the undertaking. The Indians made a pleasant camp on the island for a month or more, and were visited daily Ijy the citizens of the towns below. They had been sadly demoralized by intercourse with the whites; but a few of their chiefs and leaders retained enough of the old ancestral spirit to inspire them with considerable energy and enterprise after they Avere settled in their new home. Ottoca, the head chief, was a fat, good-natured fellow, a favorite with his tribe and very social with the whites. His half-brother, Noteno, was greatly his superior in executive ability, and at this time probably the most intelligt'nt ]naii among them. Petonguet, a tall, slender graceful man, with features of a J^oman cast had been the hero of a tragedy some years before in the neighl)orhood of Eoche de Boeuf. He was much esteemed for bravery and very popular with his tribe. But a hundred in all remained of this once powerful l)eoj)lt', and they were "like strangers in a desert home." A day or two after the tornado, Ottoca, while passing the ruins of the hotel, remarked, with significant gesticulation :

After their removal these Indians abandoned their habits of savage life, engaged in agriculture, adopted civilized customs, and became a substantial, orderly community. They accumulated property, erected schools and churches, and to-day I believe they are regarded by the people of Kansas as among their most quiet, law-abiding citizens. Eev. Peter Jones was their leading clergyman, and he was a lineal descendant of Pontiac, who little more than a century before was King of all the country from the Maumee to Mackinaw, and disputed inch by inch its s:'ttlement t)v the whites.

Navigation

AT a Pioneers' meeting held at Fort Meigs, in 1880, Charles E. Bliven gave an address, from which we glean the following facts regarding ship building on the Maumee river. He says: A small steamer, called the Phenomenon, remodeled from a canal boat, was built at Eochester, N. Y., in 1834, and brought to the Maumee river, being towed through Lake Erie in 1836. She was then called the Sun and was comma]ided by C'apt. C. K. Bennett.

Burial Ground Of Col. Dudley And His Men

On May II. 181 3, the Bodies of Col. Dudley and About 1 30 Kentuckians Were Brought to Ft. Meigs and There Buried. They Were Massacred Six Days Before

The Griffith, built at Perrysburg, it will l)e remembered by our older citizens, A\as destroyed by fire on the lake, and a number of her passengers perished in the disaster.

Source changes here: from Pioneer Scrap-Book: Many Incidents and Reminiscences of the Early History of Wood County, by C. W. Evers, published 1910; 22,785 words in this source stream.

Liberty Township

HE first white settler in what is now Liberty township was Collister Haskins, in the spring of 1824. In the following September, with the help of kind Indians and friends from Waterville, he trail, and discovered that one of their horses had large iron shoes. He followed the track and that evening camped with the party. After eating, they wanted to know where he was going. He said he was directed to go to Chicago to call the Indians in to fight the Long Knives. They told him they had a very fine American horse. Jack says, "My horse is tired. If he is a good horse maybe in the morning me swap with you," and added, shaking his silver in his pouch, "and give some boot." In the morning, after an early breakfast, Jack told them to put the saddle and bridle on the horse. "Well me try him, see if he is a good horse." He mounted, and it was the last they saw of Jack or the horse. We were standing in front of my brother's store about sundown the next day, when we saw an Indian coming up the road on horseback. It proved to be Jack on my brother's grey horse. When he jumped off and delivered him to my brother, he said, "Harry Hunt, you see now, Jack Brandy can't lie." built a log cabin on the west side of the established route of the Findlay pike and on the south bank of the Portage river, and moved in with his family, who had resided in Waterville.

Let the mind of the reader imagine Wood county one vast unbroken forest of virgin timber, without a white inhabitant (except as their cabins now and then dotted the bank of the Maumee river), the stillness of which was only marred by the presence of the red man who built his camp fire unmolested, and where the wolf, deer, bear and other animals roamed in their natural state; a wilderness unpenetrated by a single well defined road; a wilderness containing 390,000 acres, in the center of which is one solitary cabin, with none other nearer on the north than Waterville, thirteen miles distant, and none on the south nearer than Fort Findlay, "twenty miles away," and they have the home of Collister Haskins in 1824. And oft' was the time of an evening, when this solitary white man of the interior, with his little family, would be gathered about his cabin fire that the Indians would congregate about him and curiously survey his surroundings and as they became more familiar, converse as best they could upon topics of mutual interest. In Mr. Haskins' family besides himself and wife, were three daughters, Sarah, Wealthy and Cynthia, and one son, Henry. Sarah was the first white child born in Liberty township.

Jacques only remained about three years, for in the spring of 1833 John Sargent moved in from Ross county and ` entered the land upon which Jacques had located, paid him for his improvements and moved into the cabin he (Jacques) had built. In Mr. Sargent's family were three sons and two daughters.

The next settler in Liberty was Geo. Mercer, the first of the large Mercer settlement in that township, to locate there, who came from New Lisbon, also in the spring of 1833, and entered the land upon which he made his home. He came with two yoke of oxen and a wagon by the way of Woodville, making the trip of 200 miles from New Lisbon in 11 days. From Woodville he came up the Portage river on a road cut through a few days previous by Adam Phillips, who settled in Portage township, and the next day cut a road from there to Mr. Haskins', making the trip from Woodville in two days. His family stayed at Mr. Haskins' and he immediately set to work with the assistance of Peter Johnson and Adam Phillips of Portage township, and Mr. Haskins, and soon had a pole cabin built on his own land and moved in with his family. The same spring he "broke up" 15 acres of prairie land belonging to Mr. Haskins and planted it to corn; using five stout yoke of oxen and a big old-fashioned wooden plow to break up the prairie and says he raised about half a crop. He. raised a family of nine children.

The advent of new settlers into this community was now not so infrequent and on the first day of April, 1834, there were eight families in Liberty, as follows: Collister Haskins, John Sargent, Thos. Cox, Geo. Mercer, Caleb Mercer, Horace Cady, Henry Groves, John Groves and James Birdsell, and late in the same year came Henry Dubbs, John McMahan, Joseph Mitchell, Wm. Mercer and John Mercer. Wm. Mercer was the head and father of the Mercer family, which settlement in Liberty numbers nearly 200.

A sufficient number of settlers having moved in, a petition was presented to the commissioners on March 20, 1835, for the organization of a township, to be called Liberty. The petition was granted and the first township election held on the first Monday in April, 1835, which resulted in the election of the following officers: Trustees, James Birdsell, Henry Groves and Geo. Ellsworth; clerk, Reuben Strait; treasurer, Hugh Arbuckle; justices of the peace, James Birdsell and John Groves. The poll books of this election contains the names of 22 electors.

gentleman. He was in the stock business in company with a Messrs Reed & Bishop of Urbana. During the year he was serving the township as treasurer, he sold a quantity of the partnership stock, pocketed the money and "migrated." At the time he left he also took $28.00 of the township funds, fortunately all there was in the treasury at that time. Mr. John McMahan. and Henry Dubbs were his bondsmen and jointly made up the same to the township, but not without some pointed remarks about the defaulter. John Sargent was elected his successor the spring following and held the office

Organization Of Ohio

JYURSUANT to a proclamation of the Territorial Governor, members of a constitutional convention assembled at Chillicothe, November 1, 1802, and during this session of 29 days formed the first constitution of the state of Ohio as the state was named.

The Bill of Rights, which is a part of the constitution, includes, among other things, substantially the provisions of the ordinance of 1787; but to two provisions of this Bill of Rights particular attention is called, viz, to sections 25 and 26.

The first, section 25 provides, "That no law shall be passed to prevent the poor, in the several counties and townships within the state, from an equal participation in the schools, academies, colleges and universities within this state, which are endowed, in whole or in part from the