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THE COURTS.
As we have recited, the courts of this county had their first session on the 10th of May, 1803, at the house of John Torrence, in Hamilton. This building is still standing on the ground owned by Henry S. Earhart, but not occupied by him. The judges were James Dunn, John Greer, and John Kitchell. John Reily was the clerk. All these were laymen, chosen for their good sense, but not for their acquirements in the law. At the first election James Blackburn was chosen sheriff, and Samuel Dillon, coroner. The first regular term began with Francis Dunlevy as presiding judge, and Daniel Spumes prosecuting attorney. The first term of the Supreme Court was on the 11 th of October, 1803, and was composed of Judges Samuel Huntington and Samuel Sprigg ; Arthur St. Clair, Jr., as prosecuting attorney ; and William McClellan, sheriff: John Reily was clerk, and so continued until May 3, 1842.
Judge Dunlevy was a man of great strength of character, and possessed wide influence. He had not originally been intended for the bar ; nor, indeed, does it seem that he ever studied law in the way in which most persons do. He acquired his knowledge while expounding the, principles of jurisprudence from the bench. There ivere, indeed, few regularly bred lawyers in the country. Judge Dunlevy's family were originally from Spain, and having become Protestants, fled from that country to France, where they remained until the revocation of the edict of
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Nantes. From there they went to Ireland, and one of the family, named Anthony, emigrated to the United States in 1745, settling near Winchester, Virginia. He was the father of Francis Dunlevy, who was born in 1761. The family were rigid Presbyterians, and intended to bring up their son to the ministry, but, on the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, removed further West, near Washington, Pennsylvania. There were many dangers in the back woods then, and the young man took his turn in defending the settlements. When he was fourteen he volunteered to take the place of a neighbor who had been drafted, and who could not well leave home. From 1776 to 1782 he was almost continually in the service of his country. In the latter year he was in Crawford's defeat.
As soon as peace permitted Dunlevy was sent to Dickinson College to prepare for the ministry, and afterwards studied divinity under his uncle, the Rev. James Hoge. Close examination of the Scriptures at that Time made him a Baptist, a faith to which he ever afterwards adhered. He gave up his plan of preaching, believing that he had no evidence of a special call in that direction, and became a teacher. He taught a classical school for some time after in Virginia. In 1792 he came to Columbia, in Hamilton County, this State, and, in connection with Mr. John Reily, opened a classical school, the first good one in the country.
"Judge Dunlevy," says his son, from whose account of the Miami Baptist Association we abridge this narrative, " was twice a member of the Legislature of the Northwestern Territory, afterwards a member of the convention which formed the first constitution of Ohio. He was also a member of the first State Legislature, and then was elected presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas, whose circuit included at that time all the Miami Valley, from Hamilton and Clermont Counties on the south, to Miami and Champaign on the north. Here he served as judge for fourteen years, and though he had in that time to cross both Miamis at every season of the year, then without any bridges, in all that time he never missed more than one court. He often swam these rivers on horseback when very few others would have ventured to cross them. In his various campaigns and extensive travels in new countries he had become so expert a swimmer that he thought nothing of swimming the Ohio at its greatest floods "
On the bench he was distinguished for diligence and attention. He bent all the faculties of his mind to discover the truth, and to make his decision conform to it. He was not a patient man in technicalities, and had an imperious way about him that would not have been tol_ erated in a weaker man. At the close of his service as presiding judge, being poor, and having involved himself as security for some of his friends, he felt himself compelled to engage in the practice of law for the means of supporting his family. For more than ten years he rode the circuits for four or five counties, but about eight years before his death withdrew from business, and studied those books which he had previously been prevented from doing by lack of time. These were mainly religious. He was a friend of liberty and an enemy of American slavery. His death occurred on the 6th of November, 1839.
The name of Daniel Symmes appears as that of the first prosecuting attorney. He was at that time, and ever after, a resident of Cincinnati, and was appointed to the position because there was no resident lawyer here. He was a son of Timothy Symmes, and a nephew. of Judge John Cleves Symmes, and was born in Sussex County, New Jersey, in 1772. He was a graduate of Princeton College, and came West with his father. He was married to Elizabeth Oliver in 1795. He was appointed clerk of the territory northwest of the Ohio River, and while holding this position studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He was elected a member of the Senate of the State of Ohio, and served as its speaker during the second and third sessions. He was subsequently appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, on the resignation of Judge Meigs, in 1804, and on the expiration of his term became register of the land office at Cincinnati, holding this position until a few months previous to his death, which occurred May 10, 1817. Mr. Symmes was also sheriff of Hamilton County in 1795 and 1796.
Arthur St. Clair, Jr., succeeded him. He was a son of General St. Clair, and a man of considerable attainments and means. Before coming out here he had run away with a Quaker lady, who made him a good wife, and who bore him several children. He was a candidate for territorial delegate, at the very beginning of the history of Ohio, but was defeated by William Henry Harrison, then a captain in the army, but who had the powerful support of the Symmes family. He was possessed of considerable wealth, but lost it by indorsing for a friend. When shown by a lawyer that there was an informality in the document that would release him, he said "No ; when Arthur St. Clair puts his name to a piece of paper he means it." As a result, his property was all swept away. A son of his, Arthur St. Clair, 3d, came up to Hamilton and began the practice of law with Jehiel Brooks, in 1823. They did not stay long, however. Their card ran thus :
LAW NOTICE.
JEHIEL BROOKS AND ARTHUR ST. CLAIR,
Having formed a partnership in the practice of the law, inform the public that they may be found at present in the lower corner room of Colonel George Vandegriff's hotel at any hour of the day, where they will attend to the various duties of their profession. They intend to make permanent arrangements for an office elsewhere, and when that shall be effected due notice will be given of the place of removal.
BROOKS & ST. CLAIR.
Hamilton, October 27, 1823.
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Mr. St. Clair died in 1833 or 1834, in Indiana. His family afterwards settled here, and remained in Hamilton for a long time. Arthur St. Clair, 2d, died somewhere about 1825.
William McClellan, the first elected sheriff, was the son of a pioneer farmer, who, at the time of the Revolutionary War, lived near where Mercersburg now is, in Pennsylvania. On reaching suitable age he obtained employment as a pack-horse man. By these horses all goods were brought over the Alleghany Mountains. In this occupation he was engaged until several years after the Revolutionary War, and soon after 1790 left for Ohio, in 1792 coming to Fort Hamilton. He remained in this employment until the close of the war, when he married Miss Mary Sterret, of Mercersburg, and opened a house of entertainment. In 1803 he was elected sheriff of the county, and two years after was re-elected. He was then ineligible by the constitution of Ohio, and was succeeded by John Torrence. After Mr. Torrence had held two years Mr. McClellan again became a candidate, and was chosen sheriff, being re-elected in 1811. In that year he removed from Hamilton and settled on his farm on Two-mile Creek, in St. Clair Township, still keeping an office in Hamilton, and attending to his business by deputy. He remained in agricultural pursuits until the time of his death, October 2, 1827. He was then sixty years of age. He was a man of a kind and genial disposition, and had troops of friends. His wife survived him, dying November 10, 1842, aged seventy-one. One of the sons still lives on the old homestead in St. Clair Township.
Mr. McClellan was the brother of two other men well known in the history of Hamilton, to one of whom Washington Irving gives a large space in his "Astoria." He was an excellent scout, hunter, and spy, and was possessed of prodigious muscular power and activity. He could leap over a pair of oxen or the tallest Conestoga wagon. He went out to the Rocky Mountains and acted as a hunter for parties there for a long time. Of his exploits Irving's " Astoria" and McBride's " Pioneers" give a full account. John, his younger brother, was also a pack-horseman, but did not come Out to the Miami country until 1800, then taking up his abode with his brother William, and engaging in trading with the Indians. In 1814 he set out for an expedition among the red men, but was waylaid and killed by them, his goods being taken.
William Corry was the first lawyer who located himself at Hamilton. He was born near the Holstein River, in Washington County, Virginia, on the 14th of December, 1778, and received a liberal education at Parson Duke's academy, in Tennessee. In 1798 (then a minor) he came to the Northwestern Territory and studied law with William McMillan, of Cincinnati, to whom he was distantly related. In 1803 he removed to Hamilton and began practice. In 1807 he was appointed prosecutor for the State, which office he held until his removal from Hamilton in the year 1810. In the Fall of 1807 he was elected a member of the General Assembly for Butler County, and served during the ensuing session of the Legislature.
In March, 1810, Mr. Corry was married to Eleanor Fleming, a daughter of Thomas Fleming, an old settler who had emigrated from Maryland, and lived on the south side of Butler County. Mr. Corry then determined to abandon the practice of law, and in September following removed from Hamilton and settled on his farm near Cincinnati. But in May, 1811, he removed to the city, where he again resumed the practice of law. He was subsequently elected and represented the county of Hamilton in the General Assembly. He was appointed by the town council to the office of mayor, then first created, and held it until' 1819 by appointment. He died in that city on the 16th of December, 1833.
Mr. Corry, from a natural timidity and modesty, which he was never able to overcome, did not appear conspicuously at the bar as an orator, but he was highly esteemed as a thoroughly read lawyer and good counselor. As a member of the bar, legislator, mayor of the city, and private citizen, he maintained a high character. He was distinguished for purity of motive and moral firmness in the discharge of his public and private duties.
David K. Este was the second lawyer who settled in Hamilton. He was born at Morristown, New Jersey, on the 21st of October, 1785, where he received the rudiments of his education. He afterwards entered Princeton College, where he graduated in September, 1803. In the Spring of 1804 he began the study of law, and was in due time admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. In May, 1809, he left that State and came to Ohio, and' in June following settled in Hamilton, commenced the practice of his profession, and made his maiden speech in the court-house of this county. In 1810 he was appointed prosecuting attorney in the place of William Corry, who had removed to Cincinnati, holding this office until April, 1816, about which time he left Hamilton and went to Cincinnati. There he continued practice until 1834, when he was appointed President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He held the office until February, 1838, when he was appointed judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati for seven years. In 1845, when his term of service expired, he declined being a candidate for reappointment, and retired to private life.
Mr. Este was a fine classical scholar and a well read lawyer, and by his regular habits and strict attention to business acquired a large fortune.
Among the pioneer members of the bar contemporaneous with the above was John C. McManus. His knowledge of the law and his information on other subjects was limited, but by his bustling manner and his attendance at crowds and public meetings he acquired a
256 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
considerable share of practice. He was a candidate for a seat in the Assembly from Butler County, but failed in his election. In 1817 he retired from the bar and removed to Preble County, where he resided until his death, which occurred in the early part of 1851.
Joseph S. Benham was born near Lebanon, Warren County, and was the son of Robert Benham, one of the pioneers of the western' country, whose name is identified with its early history. In 1808 and 1809 he was a boy attending school in Hamilton. He lived with his sister, Mrs. Torrence, afterward Mrs. Wingate, who then kept a tavern. He studied law with David K. Este, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Hamilton.
Mr. Benham devoted much of his time to the acquisition of the graces of oratory. He paid particular attention to elocution, and his voice and manner of speech were captivating. Few men could address a jury more eloquently or effectively; and as a popular speaker, fewer yet surpassed him. He remained at the bar of this county until 1821, when he removed to Cincinnati. He practiced in Cincinnati until 1831, when he went to Louisville, Kentucky, and thence to St. Louis, where he remained until 1837. In that year he retdrned and settled in Covington, Kentucky, and took the professorship of commercial law in the Cincinnati Law Schook About this time he became the owner and editor of the Ohio and Kentucky Journal, a weekly Democratic paper, which he published in Cincinnati for about a year, but in August, 1838, sold out. The Winter of 1838-9 he devoted to the study of the civil law at his residence (Elmwood) in Kentucky, opposite Cincinnati, and then removed to New Orleans, where he settled again in the practice of law. The ensuing Summer he was on his way from New Orleans to New York, when he died at the Pearl Street House, Cincinnati, on the 15th of July, 1840.
Mr. Benham was twice married ; first, to Isabella Green, of Hamilton, who died in October, 1829, and the second time to Maria L. Slocum, of the District of Columbia.
In the year 1815 Benjamin Collett came from Lebanon, Warren County, opened a law office in Hamilton, and began the practice of his profession. He was a graduate of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and had studied law at Lebanon with his brother, Joshua Collett, and with Judge John McLean. He was a thorough classical scholar, and his information on all subjects extensive for a man of his age. As a well read lawyer he was excelled by none in the State. In declamation he was not eloquent or flowery, but he always understood his subject well and expressed himself in a systematic and logical style, which commanded the attention of the court and jury. Ho soon acquired a very respectable practice. In April, 1816, he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county of Butler, and held the office until 1820. A year or two afterwards he re turned to Lebanon, where he lived and died, loved and lamented by all who knew him.
George Sargeant, a native of Vermont, came to Hamilton in the year 1816, and studied law with Joseph S. Benham. He was admitted upon the completion of his course of study, and began practice immediately afterwards. Although he had not the advantage of an early education, his native Yankee shrewdness and wit, with a ready flow of words, enabled him to succeed tolerably well at the bar. Where sarcasm or ridicule were admissible he excelled. He continued to practice until about the year 1826. His habits for a number of years were very intemperate, though he was seldom seen drunk in public. In the evening he would purchase a bottle of whisky and take it to his office, where he would indulge himself during the night, and the next night repeat the same performance. A continuance of this habit finally impaired the faculties of his mind, and in September, 1827, he became so much deranged that he was strictly confined. The Masonic Fraternity, of which he was a member, appointed a committee of their members to see to his condition. He was supported and cared for by the society for about a year, when he was delivered over to the county commissioners. He was afterwards taken to a lunatic asylum in Cincinnati, .where he remained several years chained to the floor, and was then removed to the lunatic asylum at Columbus. He never recovered from his derangement, dying somewhere about 1852.
Among those who frequented the courts here in their earlier days were Jacob Burnet, an accomplished lawyer, afterwards judge, who at a very early age made his mark in the institutions of Ohio; Nicholas Longworth, who became the largest property owner in this region, and was distinguished far and wide for his growth of American wines; George P. Torrence, a man of great grace and dignity; Elias Glover and Ethan Stone of Cincinnati ; Thomas Freeman and Thomas R. Ross from Lebanon, and last but not least, John McLean, afterwards a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Joshua Collett was also in frequent attendance: "Important cases," says Mr. McBride; " were advocated in an elaborate and masterly manner."
Mr. Reily became sheriff in 1813, his position lasting till 1817. During his administration of office occurred the only punishment by whipping ever inflicted in this county.
A boarder at the tavern of William Murray, on Front Street, went one morning to the stable of the tavern to see to his horse. He found the stable and the stall, but the horse was missing. The sheriff was informed of the facts, and the officers were put upon the scent. After a few days' search horse and thief were found at Lebanon, and at once brought back to Hamilton. The thief, whose name was William Gray, was taken before the court, Judge Dunlevy presiding, and his guilt plainly
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proved. In those days Ohio had no penitentiary, and the punishment of criminals was generally a public cowhiding. Judge Dunlevy sentenced Gray to thirty-nine lashes on his bare back, to be inflicted by the sheriff in the court-house square, allowing the culprit a few days to prepare himself for the ordeak Mr. McBride, after hearing the sentence, took his prisoner to the jail, and then purchased a cowhide. In those days cowhides were the only whips in use, and could be found in bunches of twenty-five and fifty hung up for sale in every grocery. Selecting a good stiff whip, the sheriff returned home and laid it by. His wife, however, began to feel some sympathy for the culprit. She thought the punishment excessive and anti-christian, and thought she could devise some method to render the punishment less painful. She thought that if the stiffness should be taken out of the cowhide the blows would be less painful, and the idea no sooner reached her brain than she put it into execution. The cowhide was placed in a pan of grease and thoroughly soaked and then tied up and placed away in greasy rags. The day before the culprit was to undergo his punishment, Mrs. McBride turned over the doctored cowhide to the sheriff: The news of the sentence had been carried for many miles, and the day before it was to be put into execution people began flocking into the village from all points within a radius of sixty miles. They came in wagons and on foot from Connersville, Liberty, and Brookville, Indiana, and from Warren and Montgomery Counties, Ohio. On the morning on which the sentence was to be carried out, Sheriff McBride arose from his bed before it was light and hastily made all the arrangements necessary, and before the sun was fairly up William Gray was tied to a scaffold post on the south side of the court-house, which at that date was not finished. The doctored cowhide was brought out, and the horse thief received his thirty-nine lashes while yet half the people were in their beds. Several of the blows brought the blood to the surface, but owing to the wit of Mrs. McBride the punishment was by no means as severe as it could, and perhaps should, have been. Notwithstanding the early hour, however, the punishment was witnessed by a large number of persons who had reached the square early, anticipating such a move on the part of the sheriff: The strangers, after their hard work in reaching the city, slept late in the morning, and on waking and finding the whole affair ended made the air sulphurous with their curses.
Gray, after his whipping, was taken back to the old jail and kept there several days for his back to heal, when he was discharged, and ordered to leave the county, which it is safe to presume he did at once. Sheriff McBride and his successors were spared the repetition of such duties, and thus Gray was the only man cowhided by order of court in old Butler.
The leading member of the Butler County bar, from its beginning down to the present time, probably was John Woods. He came to this county in 1819, and his progress here was facilitated by the fact that his habits were good. He attended assiduously to business, did not drink, and could always be depended upon. In 1824, when but twenty-seven years of age, he was chosen to the national Legislature, and was probably the first native of the Northwestern Territory who was elected to either house of Congress. Mr. Woods was an extraordinary lawyer. He was engaged in nearly all the great causes that came up in his time, and was usually successful when the affair was at all evenly balanced. He had a rough, earnest eloquence, which carried much weight. It was not polished, but correct. He was strong as a special pleader and chancery lawyer. A fuller account of him is given elsewheme.
The bar held a meeting on the 20th of September, 1824, in honor of Thomas C. Kelsey, one of its members. The meeting was attended by the officers of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Butler, the lawyers, and the students at law. John Woods presided, and Jesse Corwin acted as secretary: Resolutions were passed deploring his death, and declaring that the members would attend his funerak Mr. Kelsey was a native of New England, and was for many years a respected merchant of Hamilton, making and saving in his calling a handsome fortune. In prosperity his friends were numerous and ardent, but many of them vanished with his wealth. When he could no longer continue business as a merchant, and after he had yielded up his last farthing to his creditors, he was enabled by the kindness of a few friends to read law and gain admission to the bar. For this calling he possessed respectable talents, and would undoubtedly have succeeded had his life been spared. He died on the 18th of September, and was buried with Masonic honors. His wife died on the preceding Sunday, the 12th. They left four little children.
Among the earlier sheriffs was William Sheely. He was a man of prodigious size, and well liked by his fellow-citizens. While he was sheriff he was called upon to make preparations for an execution, but after all his labor was done the criminal had his sentence commuted to imprisonment for life. This was in the Summer of 1835. The prisoner's name was Sponsler. He lived in Madison Township, and had a quarrel with his son-in-law, finally killing him by shooting. For this he was arrested and lodged in the county jaik When he was brought to trial John Woods, one of the most skillful members of the bar, was assigned to defend him, and did so with all his powers. But the accused was found guilty of murder in the first degree, and was sentenced to be hung on Friday, June 10, 1836. No efforts to have a new trial or for an arrest of judgment were successful, and Mr. Sheely proceeded to get ready his scaffold. Mm. Woods, however, did not cease his exertions in behalf of his client, and finally procured a commutation of sentence to imprisonment for life. The public, however,
258 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
were not made acquainted with the matter, and on the (lay assigned the town was full of men from this and other towns. When they found that the affair would not come off they rebelled, and proposed to tear down the jaik They were full of whisky and full of fight. But Mr. Sheely did not propose to be treated thus. He organized a large body of men, and placed himself at their head, dispersing the bob.
Before Sponsler could be taken to Columbus to undergo the penalty of life imprisonment, he managed to commit suicide by cutting his throat in a cell. He had become discouraged. A writer in the Cincinnati Times says that Mr. Woods was so much chagrined at the scenes through which he had been passing that he then and there made a vow that so long as he lived there should never be a man. hung in Butler County. We doubt the truth of the story, but no one was hung until after his death, when Griffin was executed.
Michael B. Sargeant was an early and brilliant member of the bar, who was in partnership with Mr. Woods for some time. He was a fine classical scholar, and conversant with elegant literature as well as a thorough lawyer. His qualifications and strict attention to business, while Mr. Woods was absent attending Congress, were of great advantage to the latter. Mr. Sargeant died suddenly on the night of the 19th of April, 1830, aged thirty-three years. He was found in the morning dead in his bed, in the room adjoining their law office, and is supposed to have expired by apoplexy or a similar affection, of which, it is said, he had discovered some previous symptoms. He lies buried in the Fourth Ward burying-ground, now the park. He was, a man of large capacity, and had he lived would have had a fame coextensive with the State.
Elijah Vance, for many years judge of the District Court, and an attorney and counselor-at-law, was born in Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland, on the 1st of February, 1801,-and came to Ohio in 1816, procuring a situation as clerk in a dry goods store in Cincinnati. After four years of steady labor, and saving his money, he went to Lebanon and began the study of law with Judge Dunlevy, graduating at the bar in June, 1826. He then removed to Hamilton and began practice. He was shortly after elected prosecuting attorney of the county, and was next elected a State Senator, and afterwards re-elected for several terms, and made speaker of the Senate. In 1843, when judges were yet appointed, he was selected as Common Pleas Judge of the judicial district composed of the counties of Greene, Clinton, Warren, and Butler, and held this office for seven years. In 1850 he was appointed a member of the convention which met in Columbus for the purpose of framing a new constitution for Ohio. On account of the cholera, which was then raging in Columbus, the convention adjourned till the Winter of 1851, when it met at Cincinnati. During the sitting of this convention, Judge Vance took a prominent part in the debates which arose on certain questions, and on one in particular he took ground against his Democratic friends in convention. His conduct was severely denounced by them, and among his constituents at home an indignation meeting was held asking him to resign. He immediately yielded to the stern request, came home, and upon the ordering of a new election, went before the people again, and was returned to the convention by an overwhelming majority. He served as president, pro tern., of this body, several times.
From this time until within a few days of his death he practiced law in Hamilton, having, within the last few years, again served for two terms as prosecuting attorney for Butler County, and holding, at the time of his death, the office of city solicitor. He was frequently a director of the Hamilton Board of Common Schools, and was for a number of years a trustee of the Miami University.
He died full of honors and labors, after exhibiting the rare example of a long public life without a single stain of dishonor upon it, and of an unobtrusive, peaceful, usefdl, and virtuous private life, on the 11th of January, A. D. 1871, aged seventy years, eleven mouths, and eleven days.
He was married in June, 1844, to Emily A. Morris, who was born in Bethel, Clermont County, in 1815. By this marriage he had two daughters. His father was a Revolutionary soldier, and his brother was in the Mexican war.
The lawyers resident in Hamilton, in 1842, were Woods & Rigdon, Bebb & Reynolds, Corwin & Thomas, Vance & Millikin, Weller & Ryan, Oliver S. Witherby, Ezekiel Walker, and Thomas H. Wilkins. Major John M. Millikin and Lewis D. Campbell had retired, and of this list only Thomas Millikin, the senior of the bar, remains in practice. Reynolds and Witherby are still living, the one in Chicago and the other in San Francisco.
Bebb was a strong and effective jury lawyer. He was a really eloquent man, and it was his speaking capacities that made him governor of the State. He never took a case in which he did not soon feel in warm sympathy, and his appeals to the jury were very touching. He could weep at any time. Apart from his merits as a jury advocate he was not strong, although safe. In his set addresses he had a redundancy of ornament, more so than in his extemporaneous speaking. He was a large, good-looking man, of pleasant and sympathetic address, and was of spare build.
The leading politician of the county, on the Democratic side, was John B. Weller. Nature had gifted him with an easy declamatory eloquence, and. his standing at the bar was largely owing to this. He took more interest in politics than in law, but maintained a respectable rank in the latter. He was attractive in appearance.
Francis D. Rigdon was the son of Dr. Loammi Rig- don. He was afterwards in the paper business with
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William Beckett, making some money in this occupation, and afterwards buying a farm. He died in Atlanta, Georgia.
Alfred C. Thomas was a commissioner of bankruptcy about 1840. He was the brother of the Rev. Thomas E. Thomas, but had not the same skill as a speaker. With the pen, however, he was strong. He was a fine Greek and Latin scholar, being professor of those languages at College Hill, and is now assistant solicitor of the treasury;
John P. Reynolds, now in Illinois, was the commissioner of Illinois to the Paris Exhibition. He is a well known writer for the press, and has been secretary of the Illinois Board of Agriculture, and the editor of an important agricultural newspaper in that State. He is now the secretary of the Chicago Exposition.
Ezekiel Walker, now of Cincinnati, was very odd in appearance. He was employed in a very celebrated case, that of Jones against Mizener, in which he was attorney for the plaintiff. The suit was about a division fence, and was carried on for years, until it became as well known as any cause ever in progress in this county. The verdict was twelve and a half cents. Walker subsequently sued Jones for his fees, but the latter swore Walker took the case for half what might be collected, and that he had tendered him the full amount agreed upon. He would even give him the whole. This suit occasioned a great deal of mirth for many years. Mr. Walker may be distinguished in Cincinnati now by always carrying an umbrella.
Jesse Corwin was another of the old members of the bar. He was a brother of Governor Thomas Corwin, the most eloquent advocate who ever pleaded at the bar in the Hamilton courts. They were the sons of Matthias Corwin, a pioneer of Warren County, who represented his county in the Legislature for ten consecutive terms from 1804. Jesse Corwin was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, January 30, 1797; removed with his father to Lebanon, Ohio, and in 1822 took up his abode in Hamilton. He was an assiddous student of the law, and early made himself familiar with its principles and the rules which underlie its practice. • Soon after coming to this place he was married to Miss Jane McMechan, by whom he had eight children, James, Matthias, Clarence, Eleanor, Thomas, Warren, Henry Clay, Erin Augusta, and Jennie. Three only are now living, Henry C. Corwin, at Salina, Kansas; Mrs. Erin Corwin Miller, wife of Dr. W. C. Miller, and Miss Jennie, at the old homestead in Hamilton. The three sons living at the breaking out of the rebellion, Thomas, Warren, and Henry C., all enlisted under the national banner at the first call for troops by President Lincoln. He has two grand children, Thomas Corwin, son of Henry C. and Lillie M. Corwin, and William Corwin Miller, sou of Dr. and Mrs. Erin C. Miller.
It was but a short time before Mr. Corwin attained a large share of practice, and in addition received the favor of the people. He was elected to the Legislature of Ohio for the years 1831 and 1832, and was prosecuting attorney for the county from 1825 to 1835, serving iu this office with zeal and acceptability. In 1837 he was the Whig candidate for Congress in this, then the Second, District. Though unsuccessful (his party being in the minority), his popularity was so well shown by the great gains he made that he was strongly induced to accept the subsequent nomination, but declined. He, was a man of good solid judgment and with generous impulses and frank disposition, of a character upright and honest, an affectionate husband, an indulgent father, and an estimable citizen. He remained in practice all his life, and at the time of his death was the oldest member of the Butler County bar. He died on the 23d of October, 1867.
Thomas H. Wilkins was a good talker and full of jest and humor. He was a brother-in-law of John Woods.
Among those who frequented the courts here from other places were Thomas Corwin, Charles Anderson, Judge Caldwell, and Charles Fox. Corwin was, for many years, the leading advocate of this section, and his sallies of wit and passages of pathos are yet related by the older residents of the city. He was as well known here as he was at home. He always complained that his abilities as a wit blinded the people as to the real merits of his character.
The most distinguished judges of the Supreme Court visited this place-such men as Ebenezer Lane and Reuben Hitchcock. Justice was administered more summarily then than now. The judge felt that it was necessary for him to make dispatch with his cases, and he checked any disposition of the lawyers to verbosity. The business must be concluded. Lawyers, too, at that day would not take hopeless cases, and there was no disposition to encourage litigation simply for the sake of promoting it. Upon arrival in town, requisitions would be made for depositions and papers from the clerk's office, and they were thoroughly read and digested.
The president judges of the Court of Common Plus were as follows :
Francis Ddnlevy, 1803 to :1817; Joseph H. Crane, of Dayton, 1817 to 1818; Joshua Collett, of Warren County, 1818 to 1829; George J. Smith, of Lebanon, 1829 to 1836; Benjamin Hinkson, of Clinton County, 1836 to 1843 ; Elijah Vance, 1843 to 1850, and John Probasco, of Lebanon, 1850 to 1853.*
Since that date James Smith, of Lebfflnon; Abner Haines, of Eaton; -William J. Gilmore, of Eaton; William Wilson, of Greenville; James Clark, of Hamilton ; A. F. Hume, of Hamilton; D. L. Meeker, of Greenville; J. C. McKemy, of Dayton; Henderson Elliott, of Dayton; James A. Gilmore, of Eaton; James L. Smith, of Lebanon; Calvin D. Wright, of Troy; James S. Good, of Springfield ; .James E. Dawes, of Xenia ; A. W. Doane,
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of Wilmington ; H. H. Williams, of Troy, and William Allen, of Greenville, have held courts here.
Judge Crane was a brother of Commodore Crane. He was a man of fine address, well skilled in the law, and a model judge. Joshua Collett was an exceedingly conscientious man on the bench. He was not a brilliant or attractive man, but was actuated by high moral principles. Judge Smith was straightforward and painstaking, and was of respectable abilities. Hinkson is remembered as a slow and easy, honest and good natured man.
Oliver S. Witherby, president of the Consolidated Bank of San Diego, California, is from this county. He was born in the city of Cincinnati on the 19th of February, 1815. In 1830 his father removed to Oxford, where the young man entered Miami University, graduating in 1836, and receiving the degree of Master of Arts in due course. He then began the study of law with John Woods, the leader of the bar in this county, and was admitted to practice in 1840. In 1843 he was elected prosecuting attorney, succeeding Elijah Vance, and was re-elected in 1845. In 1846 he went out to Mexico as a lieutenant in the volunteer service, and on his return acted as editor of the Hamilton Telegraph, being in partnership with Michael C. Ryan, Esq. When John B. Weller was selected to go out to Mexico as one of the commissioners to fix the boundary line between that country and this, Mr. Witherby also went out, acting as quartermaster and commissary. Both he and Mr. Weller remained in California, where Mr. Witherby was elected a member of the first Legislature of that State. The duties which devolved upon this body were onerous. The country had been acquired by conquest, and the discovery of gold soon after resulted in an influx of foreigners and adventurers from all portions of the globe. There had been no preceding territorial condition in which the most necessary laws could have been passed, and the enactments which were to govern society were to be laid from the very foundation. The Legislature discharged its duties with ability and discretion, and its members, including Mr. Witherby, went out of offrce with the consciousness that their obligations had been fully discharged. This view was also entertained by the people, and Mr. Witherby was in 1850 elected judge of the First Judicial District of the State. After his term had expired he was appointed collector of customs for the port of San Diego, holding the position for four years. Since that time he has been in private business, having been for the last few years president of the Consolidated Bank of San Diego.
In the earlier years of the century lawyers and physicians were compelled to pay a license fee.
Among those whose names appear in the advertisements of the newspapers before the war are Charles Richardson, who had an office in Campbell's Building in 1847; William Shotwell, southwest corner of Basin and Second Streets, in 1847; Robert Hazelton, corner east of the
Schmidtman House, in 1847; Valentine Chase, over the sheriff's office, in 1847; Moore C. Gilmore, Rossville, over Traber's store, in 1848 ; William E. Brown, Basin Street, three doors west of the Buckeye House, in 1849; James B. Millikin, over Millikin's drug store, in Rossville, in 1849; John B. Weller and M. C. Ryan, in 1846; O. S. Witherby, over the county treasurer's office, in 1843; Elias V. Wilson, opposite the public square, in Sutherland's corner, in 1846.
James Clark, one of the ablest men at the bar ever here, and well remembered as a judge, died at the Magnetic Springs House, in Statesville; New York, December 28, 1881, aged about fifty-seven. He was a native of this State, and served two terms as a judge of the Supreme Court. He was here for twelve or fifteen years. He was a man of marked ability as a lawyer, judge, and scholar. His range of reading was very wide, and he collected a fine library. For a few years he contributed to the New York Ledger and other journals. His wife, Miss Lottie Moon, of Oxford, was a woman of great power and originality of character. He left this city about 1864 to go to New York, and ever afterwards resided there. He had gone to Statesville with his son to spend the Winter.
George Penny Webster, who lost his life in the civil war, was a son- of John Webster, and a nephew of William Webster, of Middletown, and Joseph Webster, of Hamilton. He was born near Middletown, December 24, 1824. When sixteen years of age he went to Hamilton, and for two years was deputy clerk of the county, then beginning the study of law with Thomas Millikin. In the latter part of 1846 he was admitted to the bar, and at once began practice. At the breaking out of the war with Mexico he.enlisted as a private in the company of which General Van Derveer subsequently became captain, and was afterwards promoted to sergeant-major of the regiment. He was wounded in the shoulder at the storming of Monterey. When peace was declared he removed to Steubenville, having previously married a daughter of John McAdams, of Warrenton*. Two years after he was elected clerk of the court. He held the office for six years, then resuming the practice of his profession, and soon being regarded as one of the foremost lawyers of that city. When the war broke out he was instrumental in raising and forwarding two companies. He was appointed major of the Twenty-fifth infantry, and shortly after went to West Virginia. In May, 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and in July the colonel of the Ninety-eighth. While in Virginia he commanded four expeditions,. all of which were successful, and fought in five battles, gaining the game of the "fighting major." He was a man of very imposing personal appearance, being six feet two inches high, and otherwise made in proportion. At Louisville Colonel. *Webster was placed in command of the Thirty-fourth brigade, Jackson's division. In the battle of Perryville
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he was mortally wounded, falling from his horse, and died on the field of battle.
Among the lawyers who advertised in the papers before the war were George Webster, Crane's Hotel, in 1846; Thomas Millikin, Second Street, adjoining his dwelling, in 1846; William P. Young, office formerly occupied by Bebb & Reynolds, in 1846; William H. Miller, Basin Street, in 1847; John B. Weller, brick building opposite the post-office, the sheriff's offrce also being there, in 1835 ; J. M. U. McNutt and I. W. Crosby, over Dr. Hittell's drug store, in 1837. In 1852 there were A. P. Cox, Westchester; William H. Smith, Oxford ; Bebb & Lewis, office formerly occupied by Millikin & Bebb; John W. Wilson, Second Street, a few doors north of the Hamilton Hotel; Thomas Moore, Rossville; J. Clark, opposite the Court House; J. H. Gest, Rossville ; Hume & Furrow ; Miller & Brown ; Scott & McFarland; Vance & White.
In 1859 it is said there were fifty regularly admitted lawyers in Butler County, thirty-eight of whom were in active practice.
William R. Kinder was born near Franklin, Warren County, Ohio, on the 17th of December, 1826. He entered Farmer's College, and graduated there, with high honors, in the Summer of 1848. He immediately began the study of law with John B. Weller ; but feeling serious apprehensions for his health—having a strong predisposition to pulmonary bronchial disease, even at this early age-he joined the Boundary Survey Expedition in 1849, and went to Mexico, in hopes of strengthening his constitution and shaking off his disease. Apparently much restored, he began the practice of law in San Francisco as a partner of his old preceptor, Governor Weller, in 1849 ; but his health again failing him, he took passage for China on a sailing vessel, in November of 1850, where he remained some four months, returning again to our city. He then took charge of the Telegraph as ostensible editor, and continued to contribute all its valuable articles until shortly before his death.
In October, 1854, he was elected to the office of probate judge, having served some time before on the unexpired term of a former incumbent, laboring in this capacity with universal acceptability, being re-elected as fast as his term expired, until the 21st of December, 1859. On this day a more serious and stubborn attack of his old disease, consumption, brought him to his room, where for some weeks he was confined, a patient and calm prisoner, gradually worn away by his malady, until, on the 9th of February, 1860, in the full possession of all his faculties, he died.
Judge Kinder had intellectual powers of a high order. His natural abilities were great, and his acquirements in the sciences and the arts were unceasing and extended. His mental characteristics, however, were those of readiness, adaptability, versatility. He will be remembered by all who have seen him as a thoughtful man ; by all who have heard him as a ready, capable man. He conversed with much ease and brilliancy. He comprehended quickly, digested quickly, and could bring all his powers to bear on any question in an instant. It was the very practical bent of his mind, the capacity he had of putting himself in the stead of any class, and bringing himself in their position, which made him equally a forcible writer and an eloquent speaker. He always understood himself, and hence found no difficulty in always well expressing himself. He delivered, in the opinion of some, the best conceived and most symmetrical speeches his party ever produced here. With a broad treatment of his subject, stating his views with perfect clearness, concealing his own and exposing his opponent's weak point with quiet and unsuspicious adroitness,. urging his conclusions with much earnestness, not forgetting the judicious introduction of humor-these characteristics, joined to a musical, though not round, voice, a graceful manner, and a striking and pleasing presence, made his stump efforts, though generally short and unpremeditated, more than ordinarily acceptable and effective.
As a writer, Judge Kinder wielded a sharp-ribbed pen. Here again his clearness and force gave him the best qualities of good writing. His leaders in the Telegraph, embracing a wider range of topics than are usually treated in a country newspaper, would, for originality of style, richness of illustration, and thoroughness of treatment, bear comparison with the best articles published anywhere. Nor was he destitute of those nameless qualities going to make a good editor ; conducting the Telegraph (and with it the party in the county) through many and grave difficulties with great skill and faithfulness. To his counsel, exposition, continuous writing and speaking, and indomitable faith in its principles and triumphs, the Democratic party of this county owed much of its discipline and strength.
There was objected to Mr. Kinder sometimes that he had a touch of rancor. Naturally witty and a strong partisan, it is not wonderful if there fell from him somementimes words too severe to be kind. Perhaps . his ill health aggravated this inclination. He was a kind man, in whose breast generous feelings and noble impulses were entirely at home. He certainly was a high-minded gentleman. There never was about him the least deception or truckling. He was too proud to compromise his independence.
If we except the celebrated case of Jarndyce versus Jarndyce, says a writer in the newspapers, in the English chancery courts, and the hardly less well-known suits of the heirs of Anneke Jans, in our own country, to recover the real estate supposed to be left the a long while ago, there has probably never appeared on the docket of any court a case of such magnitude as that which was being heard in the Butler Common Pleas in 1872. The bone of contention was the division of a
262 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
portion of the fairest land in Butler County ; sixty-two defendants were directly interested in the result; the petition covered innumerable sheets of legal cap, and in the calculations the nicest and most exact knowledge of the entire range of mathematics was employed. There had been in this case none of the law's proverbial delay ; counsel filed no rejoinders and sur-rejoinders, rebutters and sur-rebutters ; the court issued no stays and injunctions, and the case was as remarkable for the promptness with which it was decided as for the magnitude of the interests involved.
Briefly stated, suit was brought for the partition of 12.34 acres of land in Madison Township. The parties between whom this land was to be divided numbered sixty-two, and most of them resided near the land now in court. The court, holding the scales of justice with a balanced hand, apportioned the land as follows, giving to each according to the rules of the laws of consanguinity. Thirteen of the defendants received each one- fifteenth of the estate ; nine received one one-hundred and fiftieth ; four received one six-hundredth; and thirty- six received one five-hundred and fourth.
Let us now distribute, says the above-mentioned ingenious writer, this magnificent property under the above apportionment, and ascertain how much each receives. An acre of ground contains 43,560 square feet, in round numbers, and 12.34 acres will contain 537,240 square feet. The thirteen would then each be entitled to 35,816 square feet, making a lot 190x190; the nine each to 3,582 square feet, making a lot 60x60 ; the four to 895 square feet, equal to a lot 30x30 ; and the thirty-six each 994 square feet, equal to a lot 31x31. Suppose we value the entire estate of 12.34 acres at $900. The thirteen eminently fortunate ones would receive $60 each ; the nine would receive $6 each ; the four would receive $1.50 each ; and the thirty-six would come in for $1.66i each—taking no account, of course, of the wear and tear of the mind of the attorney who drew up the papers, the necessary purchase of slates, arithmetics, differential calculus, theodolites, sextants, trigonometrical tables, etc.
William H. Smith, of Oxford, one of the oldest members of the Butler County bar, and a resident of Oxford for over sixty years, died of general debility at his residence, in August, 1876.
Mr. Smith was born at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, in 1807, and coming West with his father's family in 1815, settled in Oxford Township, where he resided ever after. Having received a good common school edu-' cation, he engaged early in teaching ; afterward was a farmer, and then a merchant. During his leisure from business he applied himself to the study of law, under the direction of John Woods, of Hamilton ; was admitted to the bar in 1839, and continued in active practice in this and the adjoining counties until within six months before death, when he was laid aside by sickness. He was the oldest member of the Butler County bar, and was much respected by his associates in the profession for his excellent knowledge of law. Mr. Smith was distinguished especially for his kindness of heart and generosity. While in religious belief he was a Universalist, he was unusually free from sectarian prejudice, and was in sympathy with all Christian effort, by whatever denomination, taking an active interest in every movement for the good of the community. Politically, Mr. Smith was a steadfast and zealous Republican, having the welfare of the country at heart, and laboring earnestly for his party. He was the last of ten children. Of those of his connection surviving him are his son, Ransford Smith, of Ogden, Utah ; and his nephews, Dr. H. A. Smith, of Cincinnati, and. P. W. Smith, of the Butler County bar.
A meeting of the bar was held in the court-house the Saturday after his decease, for the purpose of paying a tribute to his memory. Thomas Millikin was made chairman, and P. C. Conklin, secretary ; and a committee, consisting of C. S. Symmes, Colonel Thomas Moore, and James E. Neal, was appointed to draft resoplutions expressive of the sense of the bar. The committee, after a short absence, reported the following :
" Whereas, it has pleased an allwise Providence to remove from our midst the oldest member of our bar, W. H. Smith, Esq., of Oxford, Ohio, who, for almost half a century, has been an honored and honorable practitioner before our courts ; therefore, be it
" Resolved, That we deeply deplore and regret the loss of our departed friend and brother, and in his death the bar of this county has lost one of its most faithful, industrious, and consistent members, and the community at large one of its most valuable citizens, and his clients a most vigorous and persistent advocate of their rights."
The trial of Griffin for the murder of Uzile Prickett came up by assignment before the Court of Common Pleas, Monday, February 22, 1869. The hearing of evidence and the argument of counsel occupied the entire week. The trial was watched with the greatest interest, and during its continuance the court-room was crowded to its utmost capacity.
Prickett had made wrestling his business for a number of years, and in this had established a reputation with the sporting community. He came to Hamilton for the purpose of engaging in a wrestling contest, and on Friday, June 12, 1868, the match was had near Debbysville, between him and one Tim Walker, in which Prickett was vanquished. On the night of that day Prickett -was killed in the saloon known as the " Hole in the Walk" Suspicion attached at once to Griffin as the man who had killed him. He was arrested, had a preliminary examination before the mayor, and was committed to Ail to answer to the charge of murder in the first degree. The grand jury, at the October term, found a trde bill against him, -and the case came up at that term; but, owing to an informality in obtaining the jury, was continued to
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February 22d. The evidence which proved to the satisfaction of the jury that Griffin was guilty of the murder of Prickett was that furnished by himself and the testimony of Kelley.
It was in evidence that Griffin came to the American saloon about twelve o'clock Friday night, and on obtaining entrance replied to questions as to hor blood came on his hat and why his hand was wrapped in a pocket- handkerchief, that he had " had a fight with Prickett," " had knocked him down," " thought he had hit him too hard," and one witness said that Griffin said with an oath, " he had killed him (Prickett) he believed," and others that he said " he was afraid he had killed him."
He gave as the cause of the quarrel between himself and Prickett, that while in the " Hole in the Wall" he had invited Prickett to drink with him, to which invitation the latter responded that " he would not drink with any d—d Vallandigham man," whereupon he had struck him. It was in evidence that Prickett had twice before drank with Griffin that evening at the " Hole in the Wall," once on Griffin's invitation and again on the invitation of Thomas Connaughton. Coupled with these statements made by Griffrn to parties in the American Saloon, was the evidence of Joe Kelley. Kelley's evidence was that between eleven and twelve o'clock Friday night he left the Globe Saloon and went down to the " Hole in the Wall," accompanied by George Shedd. On their arrival no one was in the room save Prickett and the bar-keeper. Shortly after Griffin and Connaughton came in. Griffin treated the crowd and then Connaughton did, Prickett drinking both times. Both Griffin and Connaughton then left the saloon. They returned soon and again departed. Shedd left a short time after. Griffin returned for the third time to the saloon, this time alone. No one was then there present excepting Prickett, Griffrn, and Kelley. Prickett was sitting with his back to the rear part of the saloon, leaning back in his chair between two tables. Kelley was playing the banjo.
"All at once," said Kelley, " Griffin came up to Prickett, hit him first with his left hand and then with the right, then pushed out his right fist against Prickett. Then I heard a pistol shot. Prickett's head fell back on the table. Griffin went out about a minute after the shooting and remained out some moments. When he came back he took hold of my banjo. I had gone back to speak to the bar-keeper's wife. I came back into the room, took the banjo, and went up stairs into the street, Griffin following me. I said to Griffin at the head of the stairs, This is a bad night's work.' He said, If you do not think he. is dead I will go and give him another.' I then went after Dr. Falconer. Griffin went with me, and was standing back of me when I spoke to the doctor. I then went to my room, put away my banjo, and returned to the saloon. I then went first after Humbach, then to Johnson McGehean's, and then for McGlynn ; returned again to the Hole in the Wall,' and remained until Dr. McNeeley said Prickett was dead. At the time the shot was fired no one was in the room save Prickett, Griffin, and myself. I am confident I saw the butt of a pistol in Griffin's hand."
Up to the testimony of Kelley it will be seen no evidence had been adduced showing that Griffin had more than struck Prickett. The testimony of Kelley, if admitted, proved that in addition to striking him with his fist he had caused his death by shooting him. It is but just to say that Kelley was a man of the most disreputable character, and the defense introduced an abundance of witnesses who declared they would not believe him under oath. Kelley was, apparently, a most unwilling witness against Griffin He had absconded from the city in order to avoid giving his evidence against Griffin, and it was only after a protracted search that he had been found and brought back to give his testimony in the case. Kelley himself testified that his life was threatened should he testify against the accused.. Under such circumstances as these his testimony went to the jury, and that jury, after a session of five hours, came into court at eleven P. M. Saturday, February 27th, with the verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree.
Motion was made for a new trial by the defense and most ably argued by opposing counsel, and on Friday, March 5, 1869, John Griffin was brought into court to hear his sentence. In reply to a question by the court " why sentence should not be pronounced against him," Griffin asserted his innocence, and affirmed his belief that he would have been acquitted had the trial been less protracted. Judge Gilmore then sentenced him to be removed to the county jail, and there kept in close confinement until Thursday, May 27th, on which day, between the hours of eleven and three o'clock, he was to be hanged.
As the day approached on which John Griffin was to suffer the extreme penalty of the law it became evident that his, counsel would make an effort to arrest the mandate of the court, and, if possible, secure for the defendant a new trial. On an alleged informality in the indictment, Justices Day and White, of the Supreme Court, directed the clerk of the Supreme Court to issue a supersedeas, enjoining upon the sheriff of Butler County a delay in the execution of the sentence of the court until its proceedings were reviewed. The Supreme Court convened at Columbus, June 30th, and on the day following Chief-justice Day sustained the judgment of the Common Pleas. The court then designated Thursday, July 29th, as the day for the execution of Griffin.
Petitions were swiftly circulated and numerously signed, asking the governor to commute the sentence of death to imprisonment for life. The governor gave to the case a most careful attention.* Evidence both for and against the prisoner was asked foF by him, but after a close study of the case in all its bearings he reluctantly declined to interfere with the sentence of the courts.
264 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
The friends of John Griffin having failed to accomplish any thing, he determined to act in his own behalf.
At four o'clock Wednesday afternoon, July 21st, the Rev. Mr. Hone, a Catholic priest of Hamilton, visited the prisoner in his cell. Griffin's compartment was on the left hand side of the main entrance. He was kept securely locked up, while the other prisoners, fourteen in number, had the liberty of the halk
Mr. Hone was, as usual, admitted to Griffin's cell by turnkey Bayless, and after a short interview was let out, Bayless locking the door, placing the key in his pantaloons pocket, and the two passing to the outer door, which was opened for their egress by one of the ladies attached to the jaik Mr. Hone was in the advance, and as the two were about to step out Griffin motioned with his hand, which attracted the attention of Bayless, causing him to turn around, whereupon the prisoners made a rush, felling him to the ground, and endeavoring to procure the key to Griffin's cell.
The alarm was immediately raised by the attendant at the door and was taken up by the deputy's wife, the former having the presence of mind to ring the belk The prisoners failing to get possession of the key then made a rush to the door, four of them, John Richards, convicted for horse stealing, Joseph Gustin, stabbing with intent to kill, John Smith and John Reed, robbery, making their escape. In the meantime the alarm spread like wildfire throughout the city, and the report that Griffin had been released brought hundreds to the vicinity of the jail in time to join in the pursuit. The situation was soon explained, and in fifteen minutes from the time of the escape the prisoners were recaptured and placed in their cells.
During his long confinement in the county jail Griffin manifested no contrition for the murder of Prickett. At all times when interrogated on the subject he stoutly denied that he fired the pistol shot which produced Prickett's death, asserting at times that Joe Kelley and at other times that Galloway fired the shot,.
In reply to a question of a friend " whether the preachers came to see him," Griffin replied, "yes, all of them; but they can't blarney me." He manifested a stoical indifference, which could only be accounted for on the theory that he was wholly destitute of moral sensibilities and perceptions.
The most careful scrutiny on the part of the turnkey to prevent any thing going into the cell of Griffin which might be used by him for the purpose of escape or self-destruction was not sufficient to prevent his obtaining a razor blade. This article was found while a search was made in his cell on the 28th, while Griffin was being shaved in another part of the jail.
As early as eight o'clock on the 29th of July, and until after the execution, the approaches to the jail were lined by crowds of men from city and country anxious to know what was going on within the walls.
A strong police force stationed at each gate and patrolling the pavement in front of the jail was taxed at times to its utmost to repel the crowd, which on the exit of any one from within the jail surged up to the inclosure and was importunate in its demands for the details of the proceedings within.
But a limited number of persons was allowed to witness the execution. The friends of the prisoner, the city offrcials, clergy, and the press of this and adjoining cities composed the audience, and to these a few days before Sheriff Andrews had handed a card on which was printed:
EXECUTION
OF
JOHN GRIFFIN,
Thursday, July 29th, 1869,
Mr.....
R. N. ANDREWS,
Not Transferable.
Sheriff of Butler County.
The gallows was located in the south-east corner of the jail-room, and in the corner diagonally opposite from the cell in which Griffin was confined. It was a very rude piece of workmanship. In dimensions it was eight feet in length by five in width, and from the floor to the beam to which the upper end of the rope was attached was fifteen and a half feet. The platform upon which the sheriff and his assistants stood was five feet from the floor, and in dimensions was five by five feet. This platform was connected with the floor of the jail by a stairway of eight steps. From this platform and to the left and reached by two additional steps was the trap-door.
The Rev. Messrs. Hone, Lucas, and Steinberner of the Catholic Church of this city came into the jail about ten and a half, and from that time to eleven and a half were in earnest converse with the prisoner. At twenty minutes to twelve o'clock the coffin was brought into the jail- room, immediately after which deputies Allen and Brown repaired to Griffin's cell, and escorted him to the gallows.
The prisoner's hands were tied in front and he held before him as he walked from the cell to the scaffold a black walnut cmucifix. The reading of the death-warrant was done by the deputy sheriff of Hamilton County. Immediately after the reading of the warrant the sheriff asked the dying man if he had any thing to say. Griffin turned more directly toward the spectators, and spoke as follows:
" Gentlemen, I am here in a place I never expected to be. I am not able to make a speech, and not very willing. I never had an idea that I would Come to the scaffold. It is by such cowardly testimony as Kelley's, a man who was in jail at the time, and Shedd and Galloway ; if they had kept them in also, they would have told on themselves. Kelley came to me in jail and said he was as much to blame as I. I am not guilty."
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At the conclusion of Griffin's remarks Mr. Hone addressed the throne of grace in a most fervent petition in the prisoner's behalf, and on its conclusion he elevated the crucifix, which Griffin kissed.
Deputy Allen then stepped forward and adjusted the noose. Griffin again kissed his crucifix and bid the sheriff, Deputy Sheriff Allen, and Mr. Hone good-bye, and said, "I bid you all good-bye. I hope to meet you in a better world. Farewelk" Deputy Allen then put the white cap upon Griffin's head. At five minute's after twelve the last moment had arrived. Standing on the trap-door Griffin exclaimed in a loud voice, " Sheriff, I am ready," and immediately the trap was sprung. The fall evidently broke his neck and killed him instantly, as, save the slightest twitching of the muscles, no movement of the body was perceptible.
The body was taken down at ten minutes to one o'clock and, after an examination by Doctors Gale, Corson, and Hinkley, who pronounced life extinct, it was enclosed in the coffin and delivered over to the custody of his friends, by whom it was buried the next day at three o'clock.
Thus ended the case of Griffin. He was the only man hung in the county since its formation, and yet he was probably unjustly executed. We have been assured by two of the most prominent and acute lawyers of this city, whose official positions have required them to examine the evidence since, that Prickett had been dead an hour or more before he was struck by Griffin, and that he was the scapegoat of others. That day he had sold the match, and had between eight and nine hundred dollars in his pocket. Those who had lost on their bets determined to get their money back, and shot Prickett, rifling his body, and placing him in a posture where his head was resting on a table. Griffin came in inflamed by drink, having been instigated to the act by others, and struck the dead man a tremendous blow on his head with his fist. He fired no pistol. Afterwards he went away with the impression that he had really killed his man, nor could his counsel prove otherwise. There was just then a clamor for the punishment of Crime in this county, and Griffin was the sufferer from it. Judge Gilmore charged the jury point-blank, crime had been unusually rampant, and the conviction and execution took place.
The case of Thomas McGehean, take it for all in all, was probably the most celebrated connected with this county, although none of the principal trials took place here. But the lawless condition of Hamilton, the frequency •of murders, the boldness with which the death of Myers was planned, the publicity of the place, the efforts to have a trial in Hamilton, and the three subsequent trials in Warren and 'Montgomery Counties, the death of Vallandigham, the storm of indignation with which the final verdict was received, and the driving away of -1VIeGehean from this town, give it an interest with which no other can compare.
Thomas McGehean, around whom this tragedy revolves, was a native of Clermont County, and at the time of the death of Myers was about thirty-five years of age. He had been brought up as a shoemaker, but when about twenty-five had abandoned that occupation and became a politician, speculator, and man of no trade. In 1862 he was a special agent of police of the United States Government, and was afterwards city marshal of Hamilton. He was a bold, rough, and determined man, and early made enemies, being charged with counterfeiting and other crimes, but in no instance was the accusation substantiated, although generally believed. He became also interested in the Ivhisky frauds, and was employed by politicians on election days to aid them, as he well knew how to do. He had many friends, and was able to reward them and to punish those who were his enemies.
Among those who were rivals and opponents of his was Thomas S. Myers, also charged with many misdemeanors. The two had acted together on many occasions, but had passed from friendship to enmity. Myers also had his friends, and was scarcely ever seen without one or two of them in company. The commonly received version of the killing of Myers is that he was in the American saloon, up stairs, in a gaming room, which was filled with people; that intelligence was brought to McGehean, who had been drinking, and that he and his party went over to that place, which was situated a few doors west of the Hamilton House; that they ascended the stairs, and entered the room, McGehean approaching Myers, who was seated one side of a table, and through his overcoat fired a shot from his pistol at Myers, who fell, pulling out his revolver, and fired four or five times blindly. Large stones were also thrown during the progress of the fray by somebody. The room had been at the beginning of the affair crowded with people, some of them very respectable, but they all fled like sheep, and the place was immediately deserted. This was Christmas Eve; 1869.
McGehean, on the contrary, said the facts were that about seven in the evening he went from his stable into David Lingler's saloon. There was a large crowd there. He laid off his overcoat, which was a large fur one, and sent Lingler's little boy to McGehean's house, about two squares distant, for another one, a light-colored chinchilla. He then changed coats, handing the fur one to the bartender, and the change was made in front of the bar, before all present. From Lingler's he went to two or three saloons, finally stopping at the American. At the head of the stairs he heard pistol shots, in rapid succession, and the noise of chairs falling in the gambling room, several men running out, and one or two of them falling down in their hurry. The affray did not last longer than fifteen seconds. Two men saw him, who testified to these facts on the triak McGehean went into the room, but not more than five feet from the door.
266 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
Myers was on the floor, and Peter Schwab standing near him. There were two or three others in the room. At the coroner's inquest next morning nearly all who were in the room were brought before the jury, but none could tell who shot the deceased, except one who said that Jackson Garver struck him with a stone, and then with a slung-shot. The theory of the death, according to McGehean, was that Garver struck Myers with a stone while the latter was sitting at a table playing cards, and that in drawing out his pistol to repel the attack he shot himself, dying from the effects of the shot in ten minutes. In the jail Garver told the other prisoners that no one struck Myers but himself. He said when he saw him there that night he thought it was a good opportunity to give it to him. He first threw a stone, which missed, and then threw another, striking him on the lead. Myers jumped up at once, and they clinched. Garver then struck Myers over the head several times with a slung-shot. The latter then tried to draw his pistol, but just as he got it out of his pocket it went off, the bullet passing through the top of his pantaloons, and into his body. The two men had frequently had quarrels. Thus far McGehean's statement.
At the coroner's inquest many men were sworn, C. L. Vallandigham acting for McGehean. Joseph Myers, the brother of the deceased, swore a few days after, that he met McGehean coming down stairs, and said to him that he came for no fuss. McGehean replied, "All right, Tom's my meat, up stairs, dead." On his cross examination he admitted that three days before, on his previous examination, he had not said so. He shook hands in a friendly way with McGehean after the latter had acknowledged killing his brother.
D. V. Brown testified that he was present at the time of this examination, and that the phrase imputed to the prisoner was not used by him.
After the preliminary examination and indictment McGehean asked and obtained a change of venue from Butler to Warren County. He was taken to the Warren County jail, but upon the sheriff of the latter place representing it was not secure enough without putting him into a cell he was brought back.
The trial began on the 6th of June, 1871. The counsel that appeared on McGehean's behalf were C. L. Vallandigham, Thomas Millikin, Alexander F. Hume, James E. Neal, Governor McBurney, and Judge Wilson. The attorneys+ for the prosecution were S. Z. Gard, Kelly O'Neil, S. C. Symmes, M. N. Maginnis, and P. H. Kumler, appointed by the court. George R. Sage was engaged by some of the citizens of Hamilton, as was John Follett of Cincinnati. Stephen Crane and A. W. Eckert appeared for Garver.
It very soon appeared that the dispute was as to whether Garver or McGehean killed Myers. Garver was introduced as a witipess.
He swore that he saw McGehean shoot Myers through his coat pocket and that there was a hole in it, and pointed out on his own coat where the hole was. Vallandigham said, "Would you know that coat if you saw it now?" "Yes." "And if you see it, and there is no hole in it, will you still swear there is?" To this he did not make any answer. Then Mr. Vallandigham said, " You will see the identical coat that Tom McGehean wore that night, and there is no hole in it." During Garver's evidence he said that he met McGehean at Lingler's saloon on Christmas Eve, and that McGehean wished him to " whip that big loafer," Myers, that night. Sheely, Tom McGehean, James McGehean, McGlynn, and Garver went to the Phoenix Saloon, and on the way Sheely gave him two stones. From there they went to the American Saloon, where Myers was playing cards. McGlynn and Garver stood behind Myers, and the latter inquired of the former whether he was ready. McGlynn replied in the affirmative. Garver then threw a stone, and his associate followed. Myers immediately rose from his chair, and then Garver saw McGehean, he says, shoot him through the pocket. He saw the smoke coming out. He was watching the bully closely, and was afraid he would himself be shot. He had often heard MeGehean say Tom Myers ought to be killed. After the fight he and McGehean met in front of Dingfelder's lumber yard, where he was shown the bullet hole.
On the cross-examination it was proved that Garver had been once in the penitentiary for burglary. He had been indicted twice for stealing, and also for shooting at Dan Smith, Jacob Humbach, and James McGehean. He had been arrested for carrying concealed weapons. He was arrested for knocking a man down and robbing him of his watch. He was dismissed from the fire department and drew a knife on the man that took his place. He had been indicted for assault and battery, he could not say how many times, probably ten. He deserted from the army at Nashville, and stole mules from the government after the war, and he admitted, that.he perjured himself in the examination before the coroner's jury.
This first trial was at Lebanon, Judge Leroy Pope presiding. From the first to the last McGehean's attorneys contended that Myers accidentally shot himself. After the witnesses had been examined it was arranged that Mr. Millikin should make the first speech to the jury for the defense, and that Mr. Vallandigham should deliver the final address. It was in the preparation of this, the greatest effort of his life, that he met with the accident which closed his earthly career. He had displayed more than usual interest in the case.
Mr. Vallandigham occupied room No. 15, on the second floor, of the Lebanon House. The room was immediately over the hall door and fronting on Broadway, the widest and handsomest street in the place.
He had returned but a short time from a walk with A. G. McBurney, of Lebanon, and Thomas Millikin, of
THE COURTS - 267
Hamilton, associate counsel in the defense, from Turtle Creek, in the outskirts, whither they had repaired at the instance of Mr. Vallandigham to witness an experiment performed by him of shooting with a revolver at a piece of cloth in order to show how close the muzzle. of the weapon could be held to the material without powder burning it.
Mr. Vallandigham had a new Smith & Wesson's improved revolver, with five chambers of the No. 32 caliber, and tried his experiment, with what success can not now be determined, but as the party returned Mr. Millikin remarked to Mr. Vallandigham that there were three loads remaining, and he had better discharge them. " No," replied Mr. Vallandigham, " never mind." Mr. Millikin urged, Mr. Vallandigham resisted, and soon after reached the hotel and entered his room, where he placed the loaded revolver on the table with an unloaded weapon, which he intended to use in his argument on Monday before the jury, in illustrating his theory that Thomas S. Myers shot himself. Mr. Symmes, of Hamilton, entered the room, and Mr. Vallandigham remarked that he felt badly; he had just had a telegram announcing the dangerous illness of his wife's brother, J. L. V. McMahon, of Cumberland, Maryland, and Mrs. Vallandigham had gone to attend the bedside. They were soon joined by Mr. McBurney.
No one unacquainted with Mr. Vallandigham could have fully appreciated his wonderful energy of character. It had carried him through almost unparalleled difficulties for several eventful years, and never, probably, did it shine out with such promise as in this latest effort of his legal career. Upon the defense of Tom McGehean he concentrated every faculty of mind, throwing his entire being into it with an enthusiasm and force which those associated with him in the case say eclipsed every former effort, and gave promise of success in a case already tried, judged, and condemned at the bar of public opinion. Day and night he devoted himself to it with unremitting pains. Every thing calculated to contribute in the least to strengthen the defense Mr. Vallandigham eagerly performed, and it was in direct pursuance of this end that he lost his life.
"I will demonstrate to you in a moment," said he to Mr. McBurney and Mr. Symmes, " the absurdity of Follett's argument that Tom Myers did not shoot himself." With that he seized one of the pistols lying on the table, and putting it in his right pantaloon pocket, continued : "Now here is the way Tom Myers had his pistol in his pocket." Mr. Symmes here interrupted him, and excusing himself, left the room to see Judge Pope on business, who at that moment was passing on his way to his own room on the floor above, and retired.
Mr. Vallandigham had then only one auditor and spectator—Mr. McBurney.
" You see, Mr. McBurney, how I hold this pistol?"
“Yes."
" Very well, now, Myers drew his out this way, and as the muzzle came up to hereabout he pulled the trigger."
Mr. Vallandigham held the muzzle of his pistol against the right side of his abdomen, at a point almost exactly corresponding with that where Myers received the bullet, and to the infinite astonishment of Mr. McBurney and himself, an explosion took place, and the rash experimenter exclaimed :
" Oh! murder, I am shot."
The terrible situation was realized in a moment by both. Mr. Vallandigham tore open his garments and Mr. McBurney summoned assistance.
" What a foolish thing to do," remarked the wounded man, as he pointed to a little red spot on his skin. "I took hold of the wrong pistol, and that's the result."
The explosion and the call for assistance soon filled the room, the hall in front, and the stairway with excited people, and in much less time than it takes to tell it half the population of Lebanon knew that Mr. Vallandigham was accidentally shot.
Drs. L. S. Scoville and Isaac L. Drake of that place were there within a few moments after the accident occurred, and telegrams were dispatched for Professor W. W. Dawson, of Cincinnati, and Dr. J. C. Reeve, of Dayton, the family physician of Mr. Vallandigham.
But their efforts did not avail, and Vallandigham died the next morning at a quarter to ten.
After the jury had been charged by Judge Pope, they retired, and were out for twenty-four hours, but were unable to agree. Mr. McBurney and Judge Wilson, two of McGehean's attorneys, procured thirty-nine affidavits stating that he could not get a fair trial in the county. This being presented to Judge Pope, he allowed McGehean another change of venue, sending him to Dayton, Montgomery County. He was accordingly taken there and placed in jail.
When the trial came on, the evidence was substantially that given before, but the jury brought in a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree. McGehean's counsel applied for a new trial, on the ground that the verdict was not sustained by the evidence, and that one of the jurors (Buchweiler) had perjured himself when he swore his mind was not made up when selected. Judge McKemy set the verdict aside, and granted another triak This took place the December following. After an hour's deliberation the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
The return of McGehean was attended with a commotion. No sooner was it known that he had reached home than a feeling was manifested against him. In the afternoon handbills appeared on the streets, denouncing the courts, the law, and the rings, and saying that society must protect itself. A meeting, therefore, was called for that evening at seven o'clock. Many regarded this as an intimation for McGehean to leave, and an indignation
268 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
meeting had already been held at Port Union. The meeting was composed of well known and influential men, and passed resolutions denouncing his acquittal as an outrage, and ordering him not to remain in Hamilton. But in the meantime McGehean had departed,, and for some time his home was in Cincinnati. When he came back, he opened a drinking-place.
Tom McGehean was assassinated in his saloon a little while before midnight on Sunday, June 13, 1875.
This saloon was a two-story frame on Basin Street, between Third Street and the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad, and opposite Giffen's lumber yard.
McGehean had closed his place for the night, and after drinking on Basin Street, west of Third, had returned to his own saloon in company with two men that he might " treat" them at his own bar.
The party entered the saloon and McGehean had turned on the gas and had stepped behind the bar to set out the liquor, when the shots were fired that ended his career.
There was a vacant lot on the west side of the saloon and a window opened here directly behind the bar. This window was protected by ordinary closed shutters, with diamond-shaped apertures near the top for the admission of light. The shutters were closed and fastened; the distance from the ground to the openings in the top of the shutters was about eight feet.
Either before McGehean entered his saloon at midnight Sunday night, or immediately after the party had entered, a small spring wagon was dragged before this window, from which the assassin, resting his weapon on the diamond-shaped aperture in the shutter, was enabled to take a deliberate aim at his victim. He was distant from him scarcely six feet, and the weapon was discharged with such deadly effect that McGehean fell struck with eleven large buckshot. Three of these large buckshot severed the jugular vein in as many places, killing him almost instantly.
He staggered out from the bar and fell a few feet from it. The discharge of the gun was heard some distance away, and on Nate Wood, John Johnson, and Prosecuting Attorney Vallandigham reaching the saloon, McGehean was found stark dead on the floor with his revolver, which he had mechanically drawn, by his side. The two by-standers fled the moment the firing occurred, each thinking that McGehean was the assailant and they the intended victims. Their evidence before the coroner's jury gave no clue that would lead to the discovery of the assassin, nor has any information been elicited that would throw any light on this point.
McGehean was buried at trine o'clock Tuesday morning.
So ended the last scene of the tragedy. The man had many enemies, and theoy finally avenged themselves on him. The town for many years had been the scene of murders and brawls, but has since much improved.
Mason S. Hamilton, who was city solicitor of Hamilton for two years, committed suicide at the Soldier's Home last Falk He was born in 1835; was captain of Company H, Eleventh Indiana Cavalry, during the last war; was county surveyor from 1870 to 1873, and city solicitor from 1875 to 1877. He was admitted to the Soldier's Home in September, 1879. His health had been bad for years, and was the cause of the act.
Judge Elliott, of the District Court, on Saturday, April 20, 1878, announced the death of George J. Smith, formerly a member of this bar and court.
On motion of Thomas Millikin the court appointed a committee to draft resolutions of respect touching the character of the deceased. .Thomas Millikin, Thomas Moore, and S. Z. Gard were appointed the committee, and their report, which is as follows, was read, adopted, and ordered spread upon the minutes of the court:
"The court and bar of Butler County have learned with sincere sorrow of the death, at his home in Lebanon, of Honorable George J. Smith. The deceased was for many years a distinguished lawyer at this bar, and was also for many years the presiding judge of our Court of Common Pleas. He was the contemporary of Thomas Corwin, John Woods, Thomas Ross, William Bebb, Elijah Vance, John B. Weller, John M. Millikin, and Lewis D. Campbell, all lawyers of the olden time, men of ability and learning, whose names have honored our profession. Judge Smith was the last of the Butler County lawyers. He was a lawyer of extensive and accurate learning in his profession, of sound discriminating judgment, cautious, prudent, careful, amiable, eminently just and honorable both to his clients and adversaries. No man ever practiced law at the Butler County bar with a better reputation for integrity and ability than George J. Smith. As a judge he was learned, patient, painstaking, laborious, and honest. He was pre-eminently fitted for his position. He died at an advanced age, with an unspotted reputation, having lived a useful and unsullied life, leaving . behind him no recollection that he would wish to blot out."
Among those whose names are preserved of the bar in 1871 are C. S. Curtis, C. S. Spumes, A. F. Hume, A. W. Eckert, W. W. Pardee, R. B. Davidson, P. H. Kumler, and A. W. Scott.
RAILROADS.
THE idea of a railroad early took possession of the imagination of the dwellers in Butler County. By the Miami Canal they had been placed in connection with the East, but the progress was still very slow. The earliest projected road that benefited Hamilton and Cincinnati was the Mad River and Lake Erie, and it was also the first built. Its charter was granted January 5, 1832,
RAILROADS - 269
and it was authorized to construct a railroad from Dayton to Sandusky. To New York, Albany, and Buffalo, said a Buffalo paper of 1835, the Mad River Railroad was of vital importance. There was a road then being constructed from Schenectady to Utica. "This done, to say nothing of a railroad from Utica to this city, the matter of a journey from New''York to Cincinnati will stand thus:
“From New York to Albany, five P. M. to six A. M. next day, by boat; Albany to Utica, nine A. M. to five P. M., by railroad; Utica to Buffalo, four A. M. to six A. M. second day, by stage; Buffalo to Sandusky, nine A. M. to nine A. M., third day; Sandusky to Cincinnati, ten A. M: to nine A. M. next day: In all four days and five nights.
"Thus much for time, now for expense.
From New York to Albany, - $1 00
Albany to Utica, - 3 00
Utica to Buffalo, - 8 00
Buffalo to Sandusky, - 4 00
Sandusky to Cincinnati, - 6 00
Total, - $22 00
" Such, we believe, will cover the distance when conveyance shall have been completed. From Cincinnati to New Orleans, and the whole intermediate distance of navigation, by the largest steamboats, is at no season interrupted by a want of water. The Mad River Railroad from Sandusky to Dayton once completed there, and the travel from the lower Mississippi to New York, with much of the business that now stops short of the latter city, will be brought through by this route. We venture the prediction that a daily line of steamboats between Buffalo and Sandusky will find full employment to convey to and from the railroad the people that will pass upon it after it shall be in full operation."
The Little ,Miami Railroad was the first to touch Cincinnati from the north. Construction was begun in 1837, but progressed slowly. It was open for traffic from Cincinnati to Milford in December, 1842, to Xenia in 1845, and to Springfield in 1846.
It is probable the original idea of the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad was Henry S. Earhart's. At any rate, he was the first one who did any thing towards putting it into execution. According to his own account, he suggested it to John Woods, then the great man of Hamilton, one who always kept his eyes open for any thing to improve the town or neighborhood. Mr. Woods took an active interest in the matter, and with Mr. Earhart obtained subscriptions enough to make a temporary survey. The sums offered varied from three dollars to forty-five; and the aggregate was intended to be used simply to pay the expenses of the men employed. The engineers were to receive nothing. John W. Erwin, then as now a prominent engineer of this_ city, was engaged to go with the party, but 'could not join them until they reached Carthage, Mr. Earhart had with him his sons, Martin and James, who drew no compensation. George R. Bigham ran the compass line. The men tented out, and were provided for by a commissary, Henry Auchey.
The beginning of the surveying trip was from the end of Third Street. They crossed the ponds at the south part of the town, and laid their course in the direction in which Jones's Station now lies. Mr. Jones had not then taken up his residence in that locality. They camped there the second day. It was all woods, and they staked their way through every hundred feet. There were few settlers along the route at that time. At Jones's Station Dr. Close, of Springdale, since dead, met the surveying party. He wanted them to run their investigating line so as to take in Springdale. Mr. Earhart told him that the land there was much higher than he could get by another route; that he could make an easier road than by way of Springdale. He insisted, however, and so they ran a line taking the eastern side of the Cincinnati and Hamilton Pike, and coming into Carthage by the way of where the county Poor House is now. Between Hamilton and Jones's they had occasion to go through a corn-field. They were as careful as they could be, bending the corn one side in the rows in order to run their line. The owner came out and said:
"What are you doing here? Is that you, Mr. Earhart?"
"Yes," he answered, " it is I, and I am running a railroad line from Hamilton to Cincinnati."
" Well," said the farmer, "I think they had better send you to the lunatic asylum."
From Carthage down they followed the Millcreek Valley, substantially as the road is now. Near the valley the line crossed the creek and struck into Freeman Street, the whole distance measuring twenty-two miles and a fraction. The termination, as they designed it, was in the neighborhood of where Lincoln Park is now.
The Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad Company was chartered on the 2d of March, 1846, having solicited a charter as the Cincinnati and Hamilton Railroad Company, its present corporate name being conferred by Charles Anderson, then a member of the Legislature from Dayton, and afterwards lieutenant-governor of the State. He did this without conference with those interested. The original incorporators were as follows:
John McLean, Samuel Fosdick, John C. Wright, Jacob Burnet, Josiah Lawrence, Jacob Strader, and George P. Torrence, of Hamilton County; John Woods, William Bebb, Lewis D. Campbell, John W. Erwin, Charles K. Smith, Aaron L. Schenck, Francis J. Tytus, Abner Enoch, Dr. Andrew Campbell, Samuel Dick, George L. Wrenn, Solomon Banker, and John M. Milli- kin, of Butler County; Jacob Zimmer, C. N. Huber, Lewis Hasselman, Perry Pease, Alexander Grimes, Daniel Beckel, J. D. Phillips, Jonathan Harshman, H. S. Gunckle, James C. Negley, Samuel Rohrer, and Edward
270 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
W. Davies, of Montgomery County, and John D. Mullison, John G. Law, George L. Denise, 0. H. Schenck, Joseph H. Brown, Aaron R. Earhart, and Denise Denise, of Warren County.
In 1849 the capital stock was increased to $2,500,000, and October 12, 1864, to $3,000,000. In 1866 it was increased to $3,500,000. The original charter was prepared by John Woods and Lewis D. Campbell, who from the beginning were the chief men. The first meeting of incorporators was held at the Pearl Street House, in Cincinnati, in 1847, when Lewis D. Campbell was elected president. Not long after, actual work began.
On the 9th of December, in that year, the principal part of the survey of the final location of the above road had been made, and the estimates of the engineer received. The route chosen was thought to be shorter and on more favorable ground than was at first expected, and, therefore, involving much less expenditure. A large part of the road was level, the gieater part of the grades requiring only from one to five feet elevation to the mile. The highest elevation was thirty feet to the mile, and this extended over a space of but four and a quarter or five miles. The road ready for the superstructure it was estimated could be built for $48,673, and the entire road of single track, with turn-outs, etc., for $80,000. For $90,000 persons were then ready to contract. The distance is twenty-one and a half miles. The expense which the construction of the road involved was about half that at which the eastern roads were built.
Mr. Campbell on the 30th of March, 1848, issued the following advertisement :
"RAILROAD LETTING.
"Sealed proposals will be received at the offrce of the undersigned in Hamilton, on Saturday, April 29th, between the hours of ten o'clock A. M. and four o'clock P. M., and at the office of King & Anderson, Esquires, Third Street, in Cincinnati, on Monday, May 1st, between the same hours, for the grading and masonry of so much of the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad as lies between the point at which the two turnpike roads unite immediately below Hamilton, and tire point at which the line of the road crosses the road to Lockland.
"The work will be staked off in sections of proper length, and specifications prepared for examination on the 20th of April. The engineer will be on the line to give such explanations as bidders may desire, and the undersigned will be in attendance on the days above mentioned for the pur'pose of giving such information as may be required in relation to the terms and conditions of the contracts.
"L. D. CAMPBELL,
"President of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton
Railroad Company.
"P. S.—It is hoped that the work on the south end of the road also will be ready for letting in a short time."
Mr. Campbell was elected that year to Congress, and was succeeded as president by S. S. L'Hommedieu before October, 1848. DeGraff, a noted railroad contractor, built the road. Dayton subscribed little or nothing, as the road in the first place was to be constructed from Hamilton to Cincinnati. It was not long before the work came almost to a standstill because subscriptions could not be obtained to the capital stock, and it was thought in Cincinnati that if forty men could be obtained to subscribe each ten thousand dollars the additional money could be borrowed. These names were procured, and Mr. L'Hommedieu went to New York and obtained the additional capitak Campbell had had much difficulty in making them believe in Cincinnati that there would be enough business to take a loaded train each way -every day.
The "First Annual Report of the President and Directors of the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad Company " gave a good account of the condition and prospects of this work. The location of the entire section between Cincinnati and Hamilton had been finally and definitely made, and the right of way secured on all but a few unimportant links near this city. A donation had been made by Jacob Hoffner of five acres of land in Cumminsville for a passenger station, workshops, etc. Nearly five acres had been obtained by the company, in fee, between Fifth and Sixth Streets; in Cincinnati, east. of the Whitewater Canal, for a passenger and miscellaneous freight station.
At Hamilton sixteen acres had been granted for depots by Messrs. Bebb, Woods, Campbell, and Erwin. In addition several small tracts of land deemed necessary for the uses of the road had been offered between Hamilton and Cincinnati The first section was a fraction over twenty-five miles in length. Of this section twelve miles had a grade from level to ten feet per mile, and thirteen miles from ten to twenty feet per mile; eighteen miles of it ran straight lines, and one-fourth of a mile described a cdrve, with less than 3,800 feet radius.
The embankments were nineteen feet wide, single track, and the excavations twenty feet at the sub-grade line. The earth work was to be covered with good gravel two feet deep and twelve feet wide. The masonry was all to be of a strong and permanent character; the bridges, of Howe's improved plan ; the superstructure, of locust cross sleepers; the T rail, of the most approved pattern, weighing sixty-five pounds to the lineal yard. From Hamilton to Dayton several routes had, on the 23d of May, 1850, undergone preliminary surveys, one of which would be chosen at an early day, and the right of way secured. Between Hamilton and Dayton no curve was required with a radius of less than 5,730 feet to the mile. The length of this section of the work was thirty-four miles, more than three-fourths of which would be straight lines. With reference to other tracks, which would inevitably run into this main and 'substantial trunk, the report said:
" The board are happy to add that, as the certainty of the early completion ot our road through this great avenue to the city became apparent during the past sea-
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son, other lines of railroads naturally falling into it have been projected, and several of them put under contract. The Mad River and Lake Erie Company are pressing forward their road to meet us at Dayton, which will unquestionably be completed before our road can be. The Columbus and Xenia Company obtained from the last Legislature a charter for extending their road to Dayton. This work will soon be constructed. The Greenville road is entirely graded. From Hamilton to Eaton, up the valley of Seven-Mile, has been let to responsible and effiCient contractors, and is believed will be graded during the present season. A careful survey of a continuation of the road from Eaton to Richmond has just been completed, demonstrating that a most favorable line can be located between these towns, requiring a maximum grade of only twenty-five feet to the mile. Surveys have also been made from Hamilton up the valley of Four-Mile, and thence through Connersville to Rushville. Both these latter branches, passing up beautiful valleys to the table-lands, with an almost imperceptible grade, aim at Indianapolis, where they cross the Madison and Bellefontaine roads at right angles, and meet numerous other connections, among which are the roads to Terre Haute, on the Wabash, and to Chicago, via Lafayette, parts of both which lines are in progress of construction."
The following is a statement of the earnings of the first year by its secretary. The earnings for the month of October, 1852, were over thirty thousand dollars. The abstract is as follows:
EARNINGS OF CINCINNATI, HAMILTON, AND DAYTON
RAILROAD COMPANY FOR TWELVE MONTHS
ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1852.
|
Number Passenger |
Passenger Earnings. |
Freight Earnings. |
Total. |
October, 1851 November, December, January, 1852, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, . . September, |
18,186 13,716 14,493 11,401 12,311 16,265 17,088 18,096 19,389 22,581 19,733 20,981 |
$16,306 11,862 11,445 8,736 9,893 13,557 14,314 15,386 16,315 17,768 15,458 16,943 |
$532 608 4,888 6,008 4,377 5,509 6,166 7,314 7,781 8,532 9,552 12,194 |
$16,838 12,441 16,334 14,715 14,270 19,067 20,481 22,701 24,096 26,301 25,011 29,138 |
|
204,198 |
$167,950 |
$73,467 |
$241,427 |
Of the above earnings, $219,548 was local, and $21,877 was through business.
When it is considered, says the Cincinnati Gazette of that date, that the road had made no pretensions during the year (owing to the want of first-class steamers from Sandusky and the flat-bar rail on part of the Mad River road between Sandusky and Springfield) to compete for through travel, the success of the first year's business must be gratifying to those who take an interest in such improvements. The Hamilton and Eaton road, connecting with the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton at Hamilton, had only been in partial operation twenty-seven miles for a few months. By the close of that year it would be open to Richmond. Early in March, 1853, the Greenville and Bellefontaine roads would unite at Union, giving uninterrupted railroad connection between Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and Lafayette. About the same time the Toledo and Norwalk road would be open to Bellevue, connecting the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton, through the Mad River road, with Toledo and Chicago. From these sources a large accession of freight and travel might be expected. Before the opening of Spring navigation the Mad River and Lake Erie road would be completely relaid with T rail, fully ballasted, and would then, in connection with the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton road, make one of the most pleasant routes eastward. The companies forming the line would have ready two of the fastest and safest steamers which ever made their appearance on the lakes.
An important decision was made by the board of directors of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton company, at a regular meeting, which would give much satisfaction to the business community generally, and tend to lessen the cost of transportation between Cincinnati and. all portions of North-eastern Indiana. The board, with a view to accommodate all the Indiana railroads, built and to be built, entered into an agreement with the several roads forming the line from Cincinnati to Chicago to lay down a second track as far as Hamilton, on the narrow or Indiana gauge, by the time the line was finished to Logansport ; and the several roads agreed to form an exclusive, connection with the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton road for twenty years.
The first ticket was sold on the 19th of September, 1851, at Hamilton, by Henry S. Earhart. The office was at that time in a brick house, at the corner of Caldwell and Fourth Streets. Mr. Earhart remained ticket agent for more than twenty-five years, and was succeeded by his son.
The number of tickets sold by Mr. Earhart for the north and south line alone, during November and December, 1852, was 4,880, or precisely eighty per day- an increase of 1,078 over November and December, 1851. The number sold during January and half of February was 4,186, or ninety per day. The number sold at Cincinnati for Hamilton during the Winter was about one-third greater than that of tickets sold for Dayton.
Recently there has been a practical consolidation between the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton, and Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis Railroad, and more recently still an attempt at organic union. Of the exact status of this we are not advised.
There are upwards of twenty miles of rail on' this road proper, within the county, and eleven stations. Jones's is the first one on entering from the south ; and then
272 - HISTORY .OF BUTLER COUNTY.
follow Smith's, Scheuck's, Lindenwald, Hamilton, North Hamilton, Overpeck's, Busenbark's, Trenton, Middletown, and Poast-town.
The Eaton road followed next. It was laid out by John W.l Erwin in the Winter of 1849. Henry S. Ear- hart was an assistant. It follows the line of Seven-Mile Creek, and goes through Seven-Mile, Collinsville, and Somerville.
John Woods took an active part in the building of the Eaton and Hamilton Railroad Company, of which he became president, on retiring from the office of auditor of state. Previous to the second election, after Mr. Woods became president, many of the stockholders had wished a branch road to be constructed from Eaton to Piqua, which was opposed by Mr. Woods. This lost him his election.
The Cincinnati, Richmond and Chicago Railroad Company is the successor to the Eaton and Hamilton Railroad Company, which was chartered February 8, 1847, with authority to construct a railroad from Eaton, Preble County, by such route as the directors might select, to Hamilton, Butler County.
November 1, 1864, the Eaton and Hamilton Company leased that part of the Richmond and Miami Railway extending from the point of connection on the State line to the junction or switch about two miles east of Richmond. Becoming financially embarrassed, suit was brought against it in the Butler County Common Pleas Court, by Joseph B. Varnum, for foreclosure of mortgage. Pending the proceedings, the company was reorganized, and on the 31 of May, 1866, the new arrangement was perfected by filing. certificates with the secretary of state, the new company assuming the name of the Cincinnati, Richmond, and Chicago Railroad Company. On February 19, 1869, the company leased its road in Terlytuity to the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad Company,
The Junction Railroad Company was incorporated by the Legislature of Indiana February 15, 1848, for the construction of a road from Rushville, through Connersville and Oxford, to Hamilton, with the permission of the State of Ohio. March 8, 1849, the Ohio Legislature passed an act granting the right of way. Other companies were merged and leased, until the road is now known as the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Indianapolis Railroad.
John Woods became president of this road after retiring from the Eaton road, to the prosecution of which he bent all his energies to bear, and much of its early success was owing to him. He held his office until the period of his death, half a dozen years.
In 1853 the president of this road made his first annual report to the stockholders. We draw upon it fin the following information concerning the progress of the work.
An amount of stock which was deemed sufficient to warrant a commencement of the undertaking was obtained, and, an arrangement having been made with the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad Company which secured the completion of the whole road from Rushville to Hamilton, the division from College Corner to Connersville was put under contract in January for the grading, masonry, and bridging. The work was taken in sections and subdivisions by efficient, responsible contractors, at prices much below the rates at which other Western roads had been obliged to pay.
In June a contract was made with Messrs. Bates and Neal, experienced and energetic railroad builders, for the grading and masonry of the division extending from Connersville to Rushville. This was comparatively the most expensive division of the road. On the 2d of August the remaining divisions, from Hamilton to College Corner and from Rushville to Indianapolis, were put under contract for the construction of the grade and masonry. The division from Hamilton to College Corner was awarded to William Higdon, and from Rushville to Indianapolis to Messrs. Craycraft, Williams, and Ryan.
The superstructure of the bridges on the second division was, a awarded to Messrs. Tymon and Rindge, who exe- cuted contract for building the bridges on-the plan known as Thayer's Patent Truss Bridge. Bids were also received for building the bridges upon the other divisions. Contracts were made to furnish the cross-ties upon the whole road from College Corner to Indianapolis, and bids received for delivering the cross-ties upon the division from Hamilton to College Corner.
The first division from Hamilton to College Corner was awarded to William Higdon on the 2d of August. The work was not begun until September, and then was vigorously prosecuted. The foundations of the piers and abutments for the bridge over the Miami at Hamilton were excavated, and the timber and masonry put down diving the period of extreme low water, and the masonry raised as high as it was safe to be during the -Winter. The whole amount of work done on this division was more than thirty thousand dollars. A large force was still at work on this part of the road.
The second division, from Connersville to the State line, was put under contract in January. Nearly three- fourths of the work on this part of the road had been done, amounting to one hundred and ninety-five thousand dollars.
The work on the third division, which extended from Connersville to Rushville, had been commenced. The clearing and grading of the fourth division, extending from Rushville to Indianapolis, was begun by Messrs. Craycraft, Williams, and Ryan at several points.
The whole amount of the work performed up to that time was two hundred and forty thousand dollars. The estimates were regularly paid to the contractors, and a considerable sum advanced to them on account of the
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January estimates. The divisions from Hamilton to Connersville would be completed in less than one year.
On Saturday, the 4th of June, 1859, the road was opened to Oxford, and two trains of eighteen or twenty cars started at half-past ten o'clock from Hamilton, with about one thousand passengers, to visit the terminus of the road. Upon arriving at the Oxford depot, they were met by a delegation of citizens of that town, headed by Marshal Matson and the Oxford band, when a procession was formed, which marched down to the college campus, where a collation was served. The immense gathering was addressed by Dr. Hall, president of the Miami University, in an appropriate and pleasant manner. The doctor was followed by William H. Miller, the energetic president of the Junction Railroad Company, with whose remarks all appeared to be well pleased.
The Junction road was completed as far as College Corner, twenty miles from Hamilton, and the first passenger train passed through at the end of November, 1859. A pleasant company of excursionists had been hastily collected for the " opening." They _made the trip without any marked incident, but with much jollity and merriment. As far as completed, the work was of the best and most substantial kind.
The Junction Railroad crosses the river at Hamilton over a handsome bridge. It is, including its culverts and embankments, two thousand and sixty-five feet long, although the main bridge, where it crosses the Miami, is but seven hundred feet long, and is supported by four arches of one hundred and seventy feet each. It is covered with Mosely's corrugated iron, and is fifty feet above low-water mark. The viaduct at the west end is six hundred and sixty-five feet long, crosses three streets at the tops of the houses, and has seventeen arch& built of Dayton stone. The grade from the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton depot for four miles west, to the summit level, is sixty-five feet to the mile. The engineering of this magnificent superstructure was done by John S. Earhart.
The Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway Company runs through the eastern portion of the county, going nearly north and south. Its original name here was the Cincinnati and Springfield Railway Company, and it was incorporated by filing a certificate of organization in the office of the secretary of state on the 9th of September, 1870. The road was to extend through the counties of Clarke, Montgomery, Greene, Warren, Butler, and Hamilton. It was projected to form, in connection with other roads already constructed, a trunk-line between the Eastern cities and Cincinnati, starting at Cincinnati. The road was constructed from Ludlow Grove to Dayton, a distance of 48.80 miles, and the remainder of the original route had been already built.
The Cincinnati Northern runs for a mile through the southeast corner of Union Township.
ARCHAOLOGY,''
A STRANGE race of people, known to the archaeologist as " the Mound-builders," who once inhabited the central portion of the United States, has left the evidences of its habitation throughout every part of Butler County. With the exception of Ross County, no other place within the State of Ohio contains so many remains of antiquity.
In order to further the study of this lost race, the scientists have divided the earth-works into two general classes, namely, inclosures and mounds ; and these again embrace a variety of works diverse in form and designed for different purposes. The first is characterized by circumvallations, embankments, or walls, and include fortifications or places of defense, sacred inclosures, and numerous miscellaneous works, mostly symmetrical in structure. They vary in size, ranging from one to four hundred acres. The walls are composed of surface material, clay, or stone, and vary in height from one to thirty feet.
Under the second head we have the true mound-buildings, which constitute a wonderful system, embracing what has been specifically designated temple, sacrificial, sepulchral, symbolical, and mounds of observation, varying in height from three to ninety feet. The temple mounds are regular in form, of large dimensions, are chiefly truncated, having graded avenues or spiral pathways leading to their summits. Those called sacrificial invariably occur either within, or else in the immediate vicinity of, inclosures, and are regularly constructed in uniform layers of earth, sand, and gravel, disposed alternately in strata conformable to the shape of the mound, thus covering an altar composed of burnt clay or stone, upon which are the remains of the sacrifices. The sepulchral mound is a simple cone heaped over the remains of some chief personage. The symbolical mounds are gigantic bass-reliefs formed on the surface of the ground, and representing both animate and inanimate objects.. The mounds of observation are so called on account of their location on high hills, which give a commanding view either of the river valleys, or else the surrounding country.
Taking the system of earth-works for which this people is noted, no spot could be better adapted for their various wants than that embraced within the limits of Butler County. If, as it has been supposed, these people were tillers of the soil, then we have here the broad valley of the Miami, notably that portion which stretches out and embraces the rich arable lands adjoining the creeks known as Seven-Mile and Nine-Mile, which would furnish them a soil scarcely surpassed in its fertility. Should danger encounter them in the shape of a formi-
c
* By J. P. MacLean.
274 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
dable enemy, the bold headlands, here and there jutting out into the valleys, present great natural advantages for defense ; and upon the .many hills signal stations could be erected in order to warn the quiet cultivators of the soil when a predatory band was at hand .
The evidence is accumulative that this county must have long been one of the permanent seats of the Mound-builders. This is especially shown in the great number of earth-works and the abundance of implements which have been found. It may be safely stated that nearly every' foot of ground has yielded up some relic belonging to a past race of people. That all these belong to the mound-building epoch, no one would affirm ; but, taken in connection with works known to belong to that age, or time, it may be claimed that a large proportion of ,the relics should be assigned to that distinctive race. The same kind and variety of implements found in various parts of the State and in the immediate vicinity of earth structures also occur here. Archaeological cabinets have been, and are still being, rapidly formed, almost wholly composed of relics picked up within the county. Nearly all the large collections have been sold, many of them passing out of the State.
The mounds number not less than two hundred and fifty, varying in height from two feet to forty-three. Only two kinds or varieties of mounds are definitely known to be in this county ; namely, mounds of observation and sepulture. Some have been obliterated by the plow, others remain undisturbed, and a few have the forest-trees still growing upon them. The mounds of observation range upon the west bank of the Miami, and the most conspicuous hills are crowned with these works. The hills on the eastern side are not dotted with them, for the reason that the sides are more sloping ; besides, they do not command as fine--a view of the valley as those on the western side.
The largest of all the mounds within the county is that in Madison Township, located on the land of Joseph Henry, section 19. It is forty-three feet high, and contains nearly twenty-five thousand feet of clay. From its position and height it must have been the principal watchtower for the people of the surrounding country, and the one which received the signals from the great Mound near Miamisburg. Ross Township presents an interesting group situated on section 21. Here we have a group of four mounds, the largest about twenty-six feet high. Removed from them a distance of a few rods are two more. The largest might have been used as a signal station; but the smaller mounds would apparently discredit this supposition.
The works of inclosure are sixteen in number, located on section 36, Oxford ; section 3, Milford; sections 14, 30, Wayne ; section 4, St. Clair ; section 22, Reily ; sections 34, 13, 12, Ross ; sections 8, 15, 10, 16, Fairfield ; sections 14, 8, 9, Union Townships. These works have been more or less disturbed by the white man, while two have been entirely obliterated. Fortunately these two received a careful survey while yet covered with forest-trees, so that their dimensions are still known. An interesting inclosure, belonging to the class called sacred, occurred partly in section 9, Union, and section 15, Fairfield Townships. It was carefully surveyed May 7, 1842, by John W. Erwin and James McBride. This group of works was composed of four circles and an ovak The main work was situated just east of and touching the township line. It was an exact circle, two hundred and thirty-one feet in diameter. When first discovered the embankment was fully three feet above the natural surface of the ground. As the accompanying ditch within the embankment was two feet deep, consequently the perpendicular height of the wall was five feet from the bottom of the excavation. East of this inclosure, and removed a distance of one hundred and ninety-eight feet, was another, eighty-six feet in diameter. In a direction S. 15̊ W. from the last-named work, a distance of one hundred and ninety-eight feet was another work of the same dimensions ; namely, eighty-six feet in diameter, and exactly the same distance from the main work as the former. North-west of the center or main work, a distance of sixty-six feet, was another circle, thirty-three feet in diameter. The township line passed directly through it, dividing it into halves. Adjoining and touching this was another inclosure of an oval form, one hundred and fifty feet by one hundred and eighty in diameter. All of the smaller works were also accompanied with the interior ditch, eighteen inches in depth, with the surrounding embankment two feet above the natural surface of the ground. The material composing the embankment was a bright yellow clay, diffefent from that appearing on the surface of the surrounding ground. It is more than probable that communications once existed throughout from one work to the other, possibly composed of timber. As only the main work was accompanied by a gateway, it might also be inferred that the works were never completed according to the original design.
One of the most interesting and the most noted of all the earth-works of Butler County is that known as " Fortified Hill," located on section 12, Ross Township, on the farms of Clarke Lane and David Descompas, three miles south of the town of Hamilton. The work occurs on the summit of the most elevated hill in that vicinity. The hill is a short distance from the river, surrounded on all sides, save a narrow space at the north, by deep ravines, and rising to a height of two hundred and fifty feet above the stream. It juts out into the valley, thus constituting a spur, which, with its steep sides, makes it an inviting place for a stronghold to a primitive people. From the line of fortification the hill is sloping, but becomes gradually steeper as the bottom of the ravines is reached. The embankment, composed of a stiff clay mingled with stone, and having a height
ARCHEOLOGY - 275
of five feet by thirty-five feet base, skirting along the brow of the hill, and generally conforming to its outline, incloses an area of a little over sixteen acres, the interior of which gradually rises to the height of twenty-six feet above the base of the wall. The wall has no accompanying ditch, the material composing it having probably been taken up from the surface, or else from the " dug-holes" which occur at various points within the walls. The line of wall has four gateways— as may be seen from the accompanying engraving—each twenty feet wide, one at the northern division, and the others at the south, but respectively facing the four points of the compass. These gateways are all faced or protected on the interior by dug-holes or excavations, some of which are sixty feet over, and now filled up with mud to a depth of ten or eleven feet. Three of the gateways are completely covered with inner lines of embankment, the most intricate one being the one at the north, and marked N in the engraving. This part of the fort has long been under cultivation, while the southern portion is still covered with forest-trees. Notwithstanding the fact that the plow has been doing its work, all the lines at the north are distinctly visible. The wall beyond the north gateway, yet covering it, is now leveled, although not a weed or blade of grass will grow upon it, thus apparently shaming man for this unnecessary act of vandalism.
Within the main lines, and covering the gateway, are four other walls, thus not only protecting the gateway, but also rendering this point in the fortification almost impregnable against the assault of an enemy. The gateways E and S belong to that method of fortification known as Tlascan. The former opens upon a parapet, and the other was partly protected by a stone mound. Within the gateway, at W, was formerly a stone mound eight feet in height, which was removed by the farmers in that vicinity for building purposes. Thirty rods north of gateway N is a mound seven feet high, composed of mingled earth and stone. In 1836 this mound was ten feet in height. Since then it has been several times partially excavated, and a quantity of stone taken out, all of which showed the action of fire. The mound was probably used as a signal station ; and indications prove it had been frequently used. A mound also occurs at the south, in close proximity to the walk It has never been disturbed, is finely rounded, and hidden by the underbrush.
The outlines, as well as the position, declare the distinctive character of this work. That it was constructed as a place of defense needs no elaborate argument ; for every detail of its structure fully shows it. The method of fortifying shows wonderful military skill; for every avenue is thoroughly protected, and the principal approach is guarded by four walls, with the addition of
two supplementary walls. Should the exterior crescent wall be successfully assaulted, and even the gateway carried by an enemy, still the fortress is yet protected by a system of defense which would more or less confuse an enemy, thus giving advantage to the defenders. Add to this
the fact that the walls are so arranged that but very few could pass between the lines abreast, which in a hand-to-hand encounter would be of disadvantage to the assaulting party. If these walls were additionally strengthened by means of palisades, then the formidable character of the
work would readily appear. To be appreciated, the fort should be seen. From the summit of the hill near the southern part of the inclosure the chieftain could take his stand and behold every movement of the enemy without. Thus he could guard and direct his forces according to the movement of the foe. He could also cast his eye, and, by means of certain signals, communicate with the people belonging to six other inclosures, all in full view.
Traces of the Indian are numerous, but there is no positive knowledge of his villages, although two encampments in Ross Township are known. Indian graves are frequently met with in excavating for gravel.
An Archaeological Society was farmed in Hamilton in 1879, but is not now in active existence. Its cabinet is in the rooms of the Lane Library.
276 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
TOPOGRAPHY.
WITHIN its extreme limits Butler County embraces a territory twenty-five miles east and west, by nineteen miles north and south, its average limits being not far from twenty-four and one-half miles by eighteen. The secretary of state's report for 1878 gives the acreage of the county at 291,990, which is 5,500 acres more than the average of the other eighty-seven counties of the State. This land lies in the valley formed by the divergence of the Great and Little Miami Rivers. It presents many interesting topographical features. There was at some time in the unrecorded past a terrific struggle of natural forces in this valley. During the period of glacial action, the ice mountains wound their slow course, and cut a path on their way to the sea.
The evidences of this are abundant, and are to be seen in the out croppings on the banks of the numerous streams which find their outlet in the Great Miami River.
The average breadth of this valley is twelve miles. The eastern divide skirts the borders of Warren and Hamilton Counties; the western divide runs nearly parallel with the eastern, beginning with the high lands of Montgomery County, and attaining its greatest elevation towards the north. The boundaries of this valley are sharply defined, and can be easily traced by the unassisted eye. This fact will recur to any one, who, from the crest along which the. Dayton Short Line Railroad passes, has cast a glance westwardly, or who, from the height between Millville and Darrtown, has looked eastward to the ridge which separates the Ohio and Little Miami Rivers from the Great Miami Valley. A view from either of these vantage points is one of surpassing loveliness. In Spring the verdure is refreshing in its tints, the slopes have enough of forest to relieve the monotony of a dead landscape, while the fields of starting grain, to use a rounded period of Edward Everett, "appear as if nature had spread a carpet fit to be pressed by the footsteps of her descending God." If one seeks natural beauties he has not far to go, and yet it is probably true that most people have given scarcely a thought to the riches of beauty so lavislly spread around them. If one will take his stand on a Summer evening on the hills southeast of Hamilton, looking over the valley toward Port Union, and survey its fields of ripening grain, he will see a picture such as no artist could transfer to canvas. On the road `between Hamilton and Middletown, on the east side of the Miami River, there are several points of observation from which the prospect is equally beautiful. Among these may be mentioned the views near the residences of Philip Hughes and Peter Shafor, looking westward, or from Kennedy's farm, about two miles from Hamilton, on the west side of the river. The traveler by the Junction Railroad to Oxford, if observant, will, just before arriving at McGonigle's Station, catch a swift glimpse of the peaceful vale iu which Millville rests like a gem in a setting of rare excellence.
From the heights around Oxford the forest and the cleared upland rise and swell or fall away in graceful undulations that fill the eye and the heart with a sense of graceful beauty and perpetual delight. If the old saying be true, that " an undevout astronomer is mad," then it will be equally true to assert that he who has lived among such beauties and has been unobservant, is unworthy the gifts so freely spread before him. If the reader will consult the map of Butler County printed in this volume, he will see that the Miami River begins its course in the extreme northeastern border, and thence cuts diagonally through, leaving the county at its southwestern border. As the crow flies this distance is thirty miles, but in the meanderings of the river it is probably forty-five to fifty miles. A glance at the general lay of the land within this valley shows it to be in harmony with the general pitch of the surface south of the great divide which separates the waters that flow into the lakes, and thence to the north Atlantic Ocean, from thcse waters which seek the warmer clime of the south, and thence flow northward through that greatest of all rivers, the Gulf Stream, to again meet after a long separation. The observer will also note that the courses of all streams flowing into the Great Miami is from north-west to southeast on the westward side of the river. This direction is likewise in conformity with the slope of the country, but on the east side of the river we find an anomalous hydrographic condition. While on the westward side Cotton Run, Seven-Mile, Four-Mile, Indian Creek, and other tributaries of the Miami flow in a natural course, the largest tributary on the eastward side within Butler County, in defiance of all natural law, appears to run up hill. Gregory's Creek has its sources in the lands of Union Township, and thence flows northwestwardly and empties into the Miami near Lesourdsville. So also Pleasant Run, which has its source beyond the borders of Hamilton County, makes what is apparently an up hill detour, and finds its way into the Miami at a point nearly abreast at Symmes Corner. One who never followed the course of these two streams, save on the map, would be at a loss to account for this strange contravention of physical laws, but a following of the streams themselves affords an explanation of the seeming contradiction. Gregory's Creek and Pleasant. Run both pass through gorges and ruts scooped out for them by glaciers that must have separated from the main ice mountain as it moved down the valley. These smaller glaciers being less powerful than the parent glacier were compelled to yield obedience to the character of the land over which they passed, while the larger glacier, by its great weight, was able to carve its Way in the general direction which is shown on the westward side of the river. On the eastward side the adventurers cast adrift
TOPOGRAPHY - 277
were compelled by their weakness to pick out the softest and easiest road in their journey to the Ohio Valley.
The reasonableness of this theory could be abundantly demonstrated did space permit, but it is merely alluded to here for the purpose of drawing the attention to a physical curiosity which has few parallels.
Within the memory of people living, there have been great changes in both the climatology and the physical features of the county. In the course of the river there have been changes within the recollection of people who belong to the present generation. The Miami and Erie Canal was begun in 1825, and so late as 1845 Hamilton shippers to Cincinnati by canal relate that it was no uncommon thing for the horses to flounder from the towpath breast deep into a lake which covered most of the ground which lies east of the old Chase farm, now owned by Amor Smith, near Jones's Station. Drainage, both natural and artificial, has reclaimed all this waste land and made it as valuable a tract as there is in the county. With regard to the river, the number of its tributaries, and the immense rain-fall at its sources, make it a stream remarkable for the suddenness of its floods, its volume of water, and the uncertainty of its changes in course. The cdt off above Hamilton is within the memory of people now living, and the flood of 1866, which swept away the old Hamilton bridge, and of which a description is elsewhere given, is still in vivid recollection. That flood carried several thousand acres of valuable land from its owners, and in some instances worked almost financial ruin. This was notably the case at the bend of the river, where the farm of M. P. Alston is situated. It is doubtful, laowever, from the testimony of old residents, whether the floods of the present generation equal in volume or in destructiveness those which were common at the beginning Of the present century.
It is certain that they are not so regular in their return, and can not be sb surely counted upon.
Hamilton between the years 1810 and 1825 did a large trade with New Orleans and with the Indian Territory. That trade was carried on by flat-boats, some of which were built on the banks of Four-Mile Creek, near Oxford, and were there loaded with provisions suitable for the Southern markets, and the flood never failed to come and bear them along their way.
There is not such certainty in the returns of these freshets now, and it would be impossible to establish a trade on the chance of such conditions as made those ventures at that time perfectly sound from a business point of view. It would appear as if rain-falls and snow-falls were greater in those earlier days than now. Whether this change is due to the denudation of the valley by cutting off the timber, it would, perhaps, not be profitable to take time in inquiry. It is probable, however, that as the land became clearer and broken up in settlement that the rain and snow falls are now absorbed, where formerly they ran to the river, and that thus, instead of the annual average of rain being less than it once was, we are misled by its effect, being less apparent in great floods. It is the opinion of at least two engineers, who have had great experience in the measurement of water volumes, that the flood of 1866 was probably not exceeded in quantity of water by any that preceded it within the written history of the valley.
With regard to the soil Butler County compares favorably with the average of the State. It shows but a small proportion of what is called poor or waste land. In this class but 9,410 acres are returned to the secretary of state, leaving 282,580 acres as either wood or pasture land, or as susceptible of tillage. This is the report as given by the Ohio Agricultural Board in 1879. There is wide diversity in the fruitfulness of different portions of the county. It embraces as rich land as there is in the State, and some exceedingly poor. It has been found by experiment, however, that the lands which are considered poor possess hidden elements of strength, and some as good farms as there are in the county were originally purchased at cheap figures, in view of their poverty of production. Intelligent tillage has shown that this seeming poverty was easy of remedy, that there was inherent virtue in the soil, which needed only waking to activity by simple artificial means. The average composition of the upland soil is a sandy loam. In the highest uplands this changes to a clay. In the bottom where the Miami River has made its deposits the character of the soil changes to a deep black-what are termed the bottom lands of the Miami Valley.
It may be questioned, however, whether the term bottom land is rightly applied, since the fertility of the uplands for certain crops fully equals that of the low land. Bottom lands are peculiarly adapted to corn, the upland to wheat and barley. No county in the State is traversed by more small streams. The bridges under county supervision number more than one thousand, and the loss on bridges by flood three years ago was more than $40,000. This is mentioned in connection with what has already been said about the Miami River and its tributaries, to impress upon the reader the significance of a natural system of irrigation and drainage. The uplands abound in springs, and in seasons of drought give out the hoard of water they store during seasons of plenitude. In seasons of extreme rain-fall the inclination of the land toward the river readily conveys away the hurtful surplus. It has been found necessary in but few portions of the county to resort to artificial draining— nature has so well provided for the wants of the husbandman. There is no doubt that if artificial means were used the productiveness of the county could be largely increased, for wherever drainage experiments have been tried the results have been exceedingly satisfactory. A good illustration of This natural drainage can be seen along the bank of the canal, just north of Hamilton, or on the rocky road between Madison City
278 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
to Miltonville. Where the rock crops up from the cuttings it will be found that there is a sufficient depth of soil from deposits of verdure to insure richness and stability, while the underlying rock prevents too great evaporation in drought, and at the same time acts as an underground roof to turn excessive water into the Miami River. We have tried in this way to briefly explain the most striking feature that pertains to the general outlet of the county.
A wrong impression is abroad with respect to the fertility of the Miami Valley. We have endeavored to show that the uplands are good for wheat and for barley, where the low lands are good for corn. The exceeding richness of production is, therefore, not due to natural fertility of soil so much as it is due to a plan which in nature appears to have been provided for the continual renewal of the land. In the bottoms this renewal of land comes from the annual overflows of the river. In the uplands it comes from the absorption by the soil of nitrogenous elements from the atmosphere. From these two sources, widely apart as they are, spring the sources of Butler County's wealth.
It would be hard between the Lakes and the Gulf, or between Portland, Maine, and the Rocky Mountains, to find the same number of acres better adapted to general purposes of cultivation. It would appear as if all the elements, both in soil and in climate, had combined in the Miami Valley to make the labor of the farmer successful. On every side come fructifying rills, the snows of Winter cover the sleeping grain, the warm breath of Spring breathes nowhere more gently, and above are no more benignant Summer skies.
GEOLOGY.
As we have noted in our article on the topography of the county, the main stream rung southwest, while all its tributaries have south-east valleys. Even the Great Miami at some former period diverged from its present route and bent to the east. The larger and more plainly marked of these channels is that which divides just below Hamilton, and follows the line of the present Mill Creek through Fairfield and Union Townships. This valley is in the neighborhood of a mile wide, and the gravel and bowlders show plainly where its waters once flowed. The other channel of the Miami began in Lemon Township, and followed Dick's Creek through this and Warren County until it finally debouched in the Little Miami. The canal follows the valley first mentioned, while the Lebanon Canal once followed the other. It is probable that these depressions, as well as those or the various creeks, owe much to glacial action.
In the earliest map of this region the Miami is indicated as Rocky River. Its bed in many places shows the rock foundation, and so do those of Seven-Mile Creek and its affluents. But Twin Creek and Indian Creek have the evidences of greater antiquity, as their beds are entirely alluvial, so far as is visible to the eye, and the rock is buried beneath. In each valley there is a little extent of level ground, varying from a few yards to upwards of three miles wide in the Miami at Hickory Bottom, in the south part of Madison Township and north part of St. Clair. These bottoms are known as prairies, and were partly without wood at the beginning of the settlements, and where free were covered each year with an excellent growth of grass. These low-lying alluvial districts cover an area of not less than eighty square miles, or between one-fifth and one-sixth of the total surface.
This county is one of blue limestone. Most of this is not of a high character for the quarry ; but there are several beds that make excellent building-stone. Orton's geological survey, which we shall follow in this description, says one of the best sections in the county can be found at or near Hamilton. In the quarries just west of the river, the section can be begun at a horizon about two hundred and seventy-five feet above low water at Cincinnati, and it can be followed in frequent outcrops to the summit of Heilsman's Hill, on the Millville pike, where many of the characteristic fossils of the Lebanon division are found.
The bedded rocks of Butler County belong, with the exception of the very limited area of one or two square miles, to the LoWer Silurian or Cincinnati group of Ohio. The exception named is found in the northeastern corner of Oxford Township, where a spur of the cliff limestone crosses the county line, 'and covers a section or two of the county. Both the Clinton and Niagara formations are shown here, but the area is so small, and is known to so few residents of the county, comparatively, that it may be dismissed from further consideration.
The Butler County scale begins at about two hundred feet above the base of the system, and extends to the summit of the series. In Cincinnati this system is about eight hundred feet in thickness, making the Lebanon beds about three hundred, the Cincinnati division proper four hundred and twenty-five, and the Point Pleasant beds fifty feet. Thus in this county it gives about six hundred feet of bedded rocks. There are few points of interest in the formation at large that are not found in Butler County, and on the other hand there are few peculiarities of stratification or fossil contents that deserve special mention as differing from other portions of the Cincinnati group.
The streams in the vicinity of Oxford, Four-Mile, and its tributaries, furnish very prolific although not very extended exposures. The horizon is quite definitely fixed by the presence of Orthis retrorsa, Salter; Orthis
GEOLOGY - 279
Carleyi, Hall. This shell is found on the banks of Four- Mile very near to the water's edge, directly east of the village of Oxford. The vertical range of this fossil is very limited, while its horizontal range is wide, so that it serves an excellent purpose as a landmark on the system. Its latitude is a horizon about four hundred and seventy-five feet above low water at Cincinnati, or about three hundred and forty-five above low water in Hamilton.
The Oxford sections are of interest from the fact that they yielded thirty-five years ago many of the type fossils of the formation. The early geological work of David Christy, Esq., was done in this field, and through him collections of the fossils found here were distributed among eastern and foreign geologists. The name of Oxford is, accordingly, very widely known as one of the typical localities of the blue limestone or Cincinnati group of Southern Ohio. The original cabinet of Mr. Christy is now in possession of the Miami University. It contains a number of interesting fossils.
Wayne and Madison Townships, and especially the latter, furnish unsurpassed exposures of the Lebanon beds on the banks of the smaller streams that drain their highlands. Kemp's Run, near-Middletown Station, furnishes excellent ground for the collector, as do several branches that flow from Loy's Hill to Twin Creek, on the north line of the county.
The lowest ground in the county is to be found on its southern boundary in the Miami Valley. Its approximate elevation above the level of low water in Cincinnati is fifty feet. The alluvial division represents the valleys both ancient and modern—the eroded regions from which the rocks have been carried away to a depth at least below existing drainage courses. These areas could be appropriately described as the portions of the county that have an elevation of not more than two hundred and fifty feet above the Ohio River. The uplands embrace the lands above this level. A large proportion of them, however, lie at an elevation between four and six hundred feet above the Ohio. This division of the surface of the county is much less definite on the east side of the river than it is on the west, for the reason that the drift deposits are heavier in the first named district. In other words, the lines of the valleys are here harder to be traced. There are areas of unmistakable uplands, but they are connected with the valleys by slopes of considerable extent, which completely obscure the true outlines of the rocky floor.
The uplands proper are remnants of the blue limestone plateau which once occupied all of southwestern Ohio, but so much of which has already been removed by aqueous and glacial denudation. They are almost universally covered with shallow deposits of drift, but over very large areas the character of the underlying rock shows through, giving its peculiar features to the topography, to the agricultural capacity, and to the water supply of the districts occupied. These upland drift deposits are in considerable part derived from the waste of blue limestone land to the northward, so that a closer bond of connection exists between the soil and the underlying rock than is usually found in drift-covered regions.
The lowest of the drift deposits, or that which rests directly upon the bedded rocks, is the bowlder clay. This formation is shown with great distinctness and in very numerous exposures in Butler County. Almost every stream in some portion of its course discloses it. A particular feature of the bowlder clay in Butler County is that of ancient vegetable growths, branches, trunks, and roots of trees in large quantities. Examples can be seen in following almost any stream to its source, but one or two points may be named which are specially noteworthy in this respect. Collins's Run, near Oxford, a small tributary of Four-Mile Creek, shows iu its banks very numerous exposures of these pre-glacial and interglacial forest growths. The vegetation is imbedded in the clay very often, and part of it shows that it has been subjected to rough mechanical agencies. The frequent presence of leaves and roots in or upon the deposit serves to show, however, that the source of the vegetation was not very far removed. The north bank of Elk Creek, opposite the mill at Miltonville, also gives a fine exposure of the clay. At this point a peculiar modification of the bowlder clay is found that deserves particular mention. It is a clay distinctly green in color, and as shown by a single analysis or a specimen obtained at this point, is very rich in potash and soda. The analysis made by Professor Worml'ey is here subjoined: -
Water combined, - 4.50
Silicic acid, - 55 10
Iron sesquioxide, - 6 79
Alumina, - 19 41
Carbonate of lime, - 4 55
Magnesia, - 0.82
Potath and soda, - 4 95
Silicate of lime, - 3.55
Total - 99.67
It will be seen that the elements above named, potash and soda, are abundant enough here to make the clay a fertilizer of considerable value. Vivianite, or phosphate of iron, is of frequent, perhaps constant occurrence in it. Vegetable matter is also always present. This green clay has been more frequently met with in Warren and Butler Counties than elsewhere.
The vegetable matter that is intermingled with the bowlder clay is to be distinguished from that which is borne upon its surface. The presence of a buried soil of inter-glacial age has been noticed frequently in other counties. An interesting example is recorded by David Christy in his Letters on Geology, published in 1848. In the last letter of the series, page 5, he says:
"Beneath our diluvium are occasional beds of hard pan or very tough blue clay, with imbedded pebbles.' I had my attention called to this new and interesting
280 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
feature of our geology last Summer by Robert Beckett, Esq., eight miles east of Oxford. He called upon me to examine the stump of a tree standing erect in this deposit at a point where a small stream is encroaching, upon a bluff. The roots penetrated the hard pan in all directions. Twenty feet of diluvium overlies it. We dug out the stump and a part of the roots. Some years since Mr. Beckett, in digging a well twenty or thirty rods distant from this point, at a depth of ten feet in the diluvium, struck upon another small tree, standing erect, with the trunk and some of the branches almost entire. This tree continued down to a depth of thirty feet, where he found its roots, in the natural position of growth, penetrating the hard pan."
Mr. J. P. MacLean has found, in the neighborhood of McGonigle's and from there northward to Darrtown, trees buried at a depth of from thirty to fifty feet, and is of opinion that a forest is there covered by later deposits.
The yellow gravelly clay that makes the main element of the drift in all of this region is very abundant in this county. It is not formed from the weathering of the upper portions of the bowlder clay in place. The action of the atmosphere upon an exposed bed of blue clay changes its color and also its texture, it is true, but much more than this is required to account for the surface clays of Southern Ohio. They have been worn away from their old places of deposit by water, and have been redeposited. The bowlder clay is always unstratified; the yellow clays are generally distinctly stratified. The uplands of the county, especially of its northern and central portions, are almost universally covered with deposits of this kind. There are no _ elevations in the county that escape the deposits of the modified drift.
The sand and gravel that make a third element in the drift of this region do not deserve a place by themselves. They form a phase only of the 'second order of deposits, and must be referred not only to the same general line of agencies, but also approximately to the same time. As has just been stated, the highest elevations in the county give clear proof of having been involved in the submergence, by which alone these facts can be explained. Bowlders are found at all elevations, and some of the largest size are found at the greatest altitude. One lying on the highest land of the west side of Ross Township measured one hundred and thirty feet above ground.
It is to be noticed that the bedded rock has been cut out to a greater depth than existing agencies can account for throughout most of the area of the Miami Valley. The rocky floor is very seldom laid bare by the river, and is as seldom struck in any excavations or borings that are made in the valley.
The valley is filled with immense accumulations of gravel and bowlders. These gravel beds undoubtedly overlie deposits of bowlder clay in many parts of the valley. Indeed, these deposits are occasionally, though rarely, struck in wells and similar excavations, and somementimes they even approach very near the surface. The gravel is of various sorts and sizes, and indicates various degrees of strength in the currents that have transported it. Large quantities of sand are scattered through it. In composition it is principally limestone, thus agreeing with the pebbles and bowlders that fill the drift clays of the country; but unlike the true drift pebbles, it has lost the marks of the previous stage in its history, the shaping which it received under the glacial sheet. Its pebbles no longer show the polish and striation due to this stage, but, on the other hand, bear unmistakable marks of having been fashioned in running water.
The gravel beds are in all cases covered with considerable deposits of loam and sand, which form the present sources of the valley. These deposits are arranged in three natural and well marked divisions, the first bottoms, the second bottoms, and the gravel terraces, sometimes called the third bottoms. Of this series, contrary to the general order in geology, the lowest member, the first bottoms, is the newest, and the highest member, the gravel terraces, is the oldest. In other words, the first and second bottoms do not extend beneath the gravel terraces, and consequently do not result from the denudation of portions of the valley. The gravel terraces are at least one hundred feet above low water of the river now. They are generally left in small and isolated fragments on the margins of the valleys, but sometimes they are found to hold considerable areas. In the vicinity of the village of Trenton they can be seen and studied to considerable advantage, as also in the vicinity of Poast-town, on the Banker and Lucas farms.
To follow their history we must go back to the Champlain epoch of geology—to the period of submergence that followed the glacial period. The level of this portion of the country was at that time four hundred feet lower than at present. Stratified deposits, on a large scale, of sand, gravel, and clay ame found four hundred feet above the present drainage of the country. At the period of greatest submergence there could have been little or no current throughout the valley, but during the slow advancing movement of depression the valley was filled with immense accumulations of rearranged drift. We may suppose, then, that the gravel terraces are a part of the old floor of the valley, and that they once extended with a degree of uniformity throughout the wide basins in which we find the remnants of them to-day. As the continent emerged once more and slowly regained its present elevation, the river channels would be cut deeper and deeper into these deposits, the former surfaces of which would be left one hundred feet or more above the present river beds.
Little needs to be said in regard to their composition, as the name by which these deposits are known, the gravel terraces, indicates the main element in their mak-
GEOLOGY - 281
ing up. Gravel, sand, and loam, variously intermingled, constitute the whole series. The sorting and arranging of materials could only have been accomplished in long extended portions of time. There are no indications of tumultuous deposition in any portion of the series. The' soils formed from the weathering and decomposition of the surfaces of these beds are kind and productive.
The second bottoms, like the terraces, must be referred to causes and conditions not now existing in the valley. They lie above the reach of the highest floods, being thirty feet or more above low water in the main valley. They occupy broad areas, and constitute, by way of excellence, the farming lands of the main valley. They consist of loams from two to six feet in thickness, overlying gravek They seem to owe their origin to an arrest of the upward movement of the continent, which continued for a considerable period.
The first bottoms are the most recent of the series. They are, indeed, very closely connected with the present state of things. They occupy the deeper part ,pf the valley, and are covered by all of the higher floods. To these floods they owe their origin in part, being made up of the sediments deposited from high water. 'An arenaceous deposit filled with land shells is a common and characteristic member of the formation. The shells must have mainly grown upon the regions where we now find them, and were buried by the deposits of annual floods. The clearing of the valleys and their drainage basin has introduced many elements of change, and the formation of these bottom lands may almost be said to have been interrupted. This sandy bed, to which reference has been made, is akin in composition and character to the loess of European geologists. An excellent example of the formation may be seen on the river banks within the limits of the village of Middletown. It is burned here into a cream-colored brick that answers well for a paving brick, and which is extensively used for this service.
Professor Wormley gives the following as the analysis of a specimen taken at this point:
Water combined, - 5.20
Silicic acid, - 42 30
Sesquioxide of iron, - 3.48
Alumina, - 7.52
Carbonate of lime, - 23 21
Silicate of lime, - 5 09
Carbonate of magnesia, - 13 09
Total - 99.89
As can readily be judged from such a composition, soils of great fertility can not be formed from this deposit, but there can be no doubt that it would serve an excellent purpose as a top dressing for uplands. It is, in reality, a shell marl, and would reward intelligent use very liberally. The thickness of this bed has not been found to exceed four feet in any exposures noted.
There is often associated with the above named formation a sort of clay from two to four feet in thickness that agrees in physical characters very closely with the "joint clay" of the western valleys. Its shown in the appended analysis made Wormley:
Water combined, - 4.20
Silicic acid, - 70.10
Sesquioxide of iron, - 5.30
Alumina, - 13.90
Silicate of lime, - 2.10
Magnesia, carbonate, - 1.44
Potash and soda, - 3.20
Total - 100.24
This deposit can be also seen at the point named under the last head. It is, however, less widely distributed through the valley.
Butler County, says Professor Orton, stands scarcely second in productive power to any equal area in the State. No qualification certainly would be required if the valley of the Great Miami and that portion of the county lying east of the river were alone to be taken into account. This region might put in an unquestioned claim to be styled the garden of Ohio. It is made up of the broad and fertile intervales of the streams that now traverse the valleys or of the still more desirable areas that were the valleys of an earlier epoch, but which are now deserted by streams, and which are evenly filled with the beds of the later drift, together with uplands rising by gentle slopes to an altitude of four to five hundred feet above the river, and whose surfaces are hardly less productive than the areas first named.
The soil of all this district consists, in great measure, of decomposed limestone gravel, and exhibits every excellence of limestone land. A single area may be noted here as fdrnishing a unique line of facts in the native vegetation of the county. A chestnut grove is to be found in the southeast corner of Union Township, in section fourteen. It is well known that the chestnut confines itself generally to the slate and sandstone soils of the county. Indeed, the boundary between the slates and the limestones in southwestern Ohio could be defined with satisfactory precision by noting the line where the chestnuts begin as one passes eastward. Isolated trees are known in the gravels and sands of limestone districts, it is true, but they are very rare. Dr. John A. Warder has called attention to one growing near Milford, ill the Little Miami Valley, and another is known in Greene County, but in the area to which attention is now invited a forest growth in which the chestnut is a large element is found. The trees have attained a diameter of four , feet in some instances, and in others stumps, long dead, are seen with large trees growing from them. The trees fruit well here and reproduce themselves abundantly. Chestnuts (the fruit) were sold to the amount of forty dollars from a single farm a few years ago.
The soil does not betray any peculiarities upon a superficial view, but the wells in the vicinity all show a great deposit of yellow sand beneath the surface. Many fruitless attempts to secure wells in this neighborhood composition is by Professor
282 - HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
are on record, the sand proving to be a quicksand, and caving in so rapidly as to prevent the sinking of the shaft to water. It has been thought that the sand would prove to be a molding sand, but no trials of it have been made. The bed of sand is anomalous, and it is interesting to note that the native forest growth which covers it is also exceptional. There are no peculiarities• in the remaining drift soils of the county that requiremention.
The poorest of them, like those covering the uplands of the northern and western townships, if handled with skill and subjected to a rational system of agriculture, would take high rank when compared with even the strongest lands of the Atlantic border. Measured against the fruitful valleys and slopes just mentioned, and tilled under a system which even these noble tracts can not much longer endure, they seem somewhat stubborn and sterile.
There are no native soils on the uplands of the county, but the beds of drift grow thinner as we pass to the southward, and occasionally they disappear for ilimited areas from the slopes of the hills. The soil that is there formed' from the waste of the shales and limestones of the Cincinnati series is of unusual excellence. The famous blue grass land of Kentucky, it will be remembered, is derived from this same system.
The fact that the boundary of the drift is being rapidly neared as we approach the southern line of the county explains certain points in the topography of the four southwestern townships. They are much rougher and more broken than the remaining areas. This arises from the failure of the drift to cover the irregularities here as it has done elsewhere. There is certainly no reason to suppose that the contour of the rocky floor is more irregular in one district than in another. What Butler County owes to the drift can be seen by comparing Liberty and Union Townships of the southeastern corner with Reily and Morgan Townships of the southwest.
The views furnished by the uplands, especially as we approach the Great Miami Valley from either side, are many of them very wide and attractive. Several can be named that are not to be surpassed in quiet pastoral beauty by any thing within the limits of the State.
From Snively's Hill, near Jacksonburg, a wide and beautiful expanse of country is shown of the main valley on the east and south, and of the valley of Seven- Mile Creek on the west.
A still more commanding outlook is furnished on the farm of Randolph Meeker, near Pisgah. It comprises nearly one-fourth part, and that the richest corner, of Butler County.
Such elements as these are not to be overlooked in making out the catalogue of the attractions that a county possesses for human occupation.
The water supply of Butler County can not be said to be good. The geological formation from which the county is built is universally and necessarily poor in this respect. The rain-fall can not penetrate the fine grained clays of the Cincinnati series, and is consequently turned outwards in surface drainage. Wherever the rock is heavily covered with drift beds the supply is improved, both in quality and quantity; but in the thinly covered uplands reliance can not be safely placed on wells. There is no excuse, however, for a defective supply for either man or beast in a district which has so generous a rainfall as Southern Ohio enjoys. .It is only necessary to save the roof water in properly constructed and properly guarded cisterns.
The highest land in the county is not more than six hundred and fifty or six hundred and seventy feet above the Ohio River at Cincinnati. The highest land measured is in the western portion of Madison Township, the ground now owned by Hampton H. Long. Another very high spot is two miles west of Jacksonburg, Wayne Township, on the farm of Colonel Phares. Its elevation by barometer is six hundred and forty-two feet above the base above named. Locke gives the elevation of a point of cliff limestone that barely enters the county on the north line of Milford Township as six hundred and one feet. Two miles due west of Oxford, on the Fairfield Turnpike, an elevation, determined by the level, occurs of six hundred and ten feet above the Ohio River at Cincinnati. The elevations of a few of the prominent points in the county are appended:
Miami Canal at Hamilton above low water at
Cincinnati, - 169
Low water of the Miami at Hamilton, - 131
Middletown, canal level, - 211
Oxford, grade of railroad at depot, - 480
Oxford, highest ground within corporation, - 532
Somerville, - 334
Jacksonburg, - 543
Phares's farm, two miles west of Jacksonburg, - 642
Snively's Hill, one mile south of Jacksonburg, - 563
Turnpike, two miles west of Oxford, - 610
Northeast corner of Oxford Township, on Darrtown Pike (formerly Riley's tavern), - 601
Miami River at Venice, - 50