(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 50 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. than political, interest, was the most potent factor in determining the result. Mr. Iredell was a venerable Pennsylvania Quaker, a man of liberal means (for those days), and had been thoroughly identified with the growth and, prosperity of the Lower Town from its very start, while Dr. Crosby was, in reality, the very father thereof, by reason of his having projected and successfully completed the Cascade Mill race, which made the very existence of the Lower Town possible. The vote for Mayor stood : Iredell (Whig), 91; Crosby (Democrat), 75; clearly indicating that the very fact that the Lower Town existed through the genius and push of the enterprising Doctor, compassed his defeat. A like influence is also seen in the vote for Recorder; Mr. Howard, (Whig, but son-in-law of Dr. Crosby), receiving but 75 votes, while his competitor, Mr. Bryan (Democrat), received 87. The contest for. Trustees seems to have been a sort of "go as you please" scrub race, 16 different persons receiving votes as follows : Erastus Torrey, 153; Jedediah D. Commins, 143; William B. Mitchell, 114; William E. Wright, 88; Justus Gale, 87; Noah N. Green, 124; Ansel Miller, 23; Robert K. DuBois, 43; Samuel A. Wheeler, 4 ; Alvah Hand, 3 ; Hiram Payne, 7 ; Eliakim Crosby, 13 ; Seth Iredell, 3 ; Richard Howe, 1; Eber Blodgett, 2 ; and Capt. Howe, 1. Erastus Torrey (South Akron, Whig), Jedediah D. Commins, (South Akron, Democrat), Noah M. Green, (South Akron, Whig), William B. Mitchell, (North Akron, Democrat), and William E. Wright, (North Akron, Whig), were returned as duly elected, but Mr. Mitchell declining to qualify, the Council, at its second meeting, appointed Col. Justus Gale, (of North Akron, Whig), to fill the vacancy ; the Mayor and Recorder, with the five Trustees, constituting the Town Council, and five members constituting a quorum Marshal, Treasurer, Engineer, Solicitor, etc., being appointive offices by the Council. AKRON'S FIRST MAYOR. As above stated, Seth Iredell received 91 votes for Mayor out of a total vote of 166, being a majority of 16 over the vote of his worthy competitor, Dr Crosby. This total vote of 166, making the very liberal allowance of five inhabitants for every vote cast, would make the total population of the town at this period, 830 souls, only, instead of 1,200 or 1,300, as represented a year previous, in the memorial to the Legislature for a bank charter, heretofore alluded to. Mr. Seth Iredell, the first recipient of Akron's highest honor, the mayoralty, was a Pennsylvania Quaker, then about 62 years of age, but still remarkably vigorous, both physically and mentally. Though, characteristic of his sect, he was moderate in conversation, and con- AKRON'S FIRST MAYOR - 51 servative in business and official matters, he was, nevertheless, decided in his opinions, and diligent in the discharge of every private obligation and public duty. Thus, while he looked" carefully after the welfare of the public, and labored faithfully for the prosperity of the entire town, being a man of peace, he also earnestly sought to harmonize sectional differences, and allay sectional animosities. This characteristic also led him to discourage every species of litigation, and to peaceably and amicably adjust antagonisms among his neighbors. Hence, though opening and keeping a mayor's docket, as required by law, he not only did not court magisterial business, but, so far as he could, turned such parties as were bound to fight, whether civilly or criminally, over to the justices of the peace of the respective townships out of which the municipal corporation had been carved. The venerable and most amiable and devoted Quaker wife of Mr, Iredell, Mrs. Mary Iredell, died on the 17th day of March, 1839, at the age of 65 years, leaving no children. As soon thereafter as the proprieties would allow, Mr. Iredell married, for his •second wife, Elizabeth (or Betsy) Davidson, who had been a faithful domestic in the family for several years, and who died Nov. 30, 1840, at the age of 34 years, leaving one son, Charles Iredell, for many years a worthy citizen of Portage county, but now residing in Akron. Mr. Iredell married, for his third wife, Miss Mary Irvin, of Middlebury, March 4, 1841, with whom he lived quietly and happily until his death, March 22, 1854, at the ripe age of 80 years. The fruit of this marriage was two sons—Seth, a bright and promising boy, who died at the age of seven years, September 13, 1849, and Robert S., still living, a highly respected resident of his native city, over which, in its chrysa existence, of more than a half a century ago, his venerable father reigned as its first chief magistrate. Mrs. Mary Irvin Iredell died April 19, 1883, at the age of 78 years. By the provisions of the charter, the tenure of municipal office was one year, only. The second annual election was held on the first Tuesday of June, 1837, at Clark's hotel, in South Akron, with Councilmen William E. Wright and William K. May, as judges, and Recorder Constant Bryan, as clerk. The record does not give the names of all the candidates voted for, but the result only. There were 155 votes polled, of which John C. Singletary; Jr., received 85 votes for Mayor ; William E. Wright, 135 votes for Recorder ; and for Trustees, William K. May, 133 ; William T. Mather, 145 ; Dana D. Evans, 125 ; Jesse Allen, 147 ; and Eber Blodgett, 110 votes, being an entirely new set of men, with the exception of William E. Wright, Recorder-elect, who had served as Trustee during the preceding year, and William K. May, who had several months before been appointed Trustee, in the place J. D. Commins, resigned. The new Council met for organization June 12, with Mayor Iredell in the chair, until the bond of the Mayor-elect, in the sum of $3,000, was approved, which was unanimously done, one of the eleven sureties upon the bond being the late Paris Tallman, Esq., of 803 East Market street. At the second meeting, September 17, Horace K. Smith was elected Treasurer, and Moses Cleveland, Marshal, which, with the regular standing committees, completed the organization. 52 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY AKRON'S SECOND MAYOR. Although Mayor Iredell, as before intimated, had declined to do very much judicial business, his administration had been genadministrationctory, and as the time for the new election approached, it was supposed he would be his own successor ; but it was destined to be otherwise. In 1834, there had come into, Akron, a stalwart young lawyer, by the name of John Curtis Singletary, Jr. He was fully six feet high, and every way well proportioned, with an intelligent and genial counteenance, good-natured,countenance (0 kind-hearted. His father, Col. John. C. Singletary, was a wealthy and highly respected farmer of the township of Streetsboro. Young Singletary was born in Aurora, Portage County, December 19, 1810, and was a graduate of Western Reserve College, at Hudson, of the class of 1835. His proficiency in his studies was such that he had substantially completed his course a year or more before graduation day, and had also studied law with his uncle, in Middlebury, the late Senator Gregory Powers, and had been admitted to the Bar, by the Court in Banc, at Columbus, in 1834, Judge Reuben Wood presiding. Though not very liberally endowed with ready money, he had been provided by his father with a good law library (for those days) and started in, at the age of 24, with bright prospects of winning for himself a brilliant career in his chosen profession; building a commodious and comfortable office on the south side of Exchange street, a little east of Main. Had the young lawyer stuck closely to his briefs, all would have been well; but, unfortunately, like the most of his associates, he was seized with the prevailing mania for speculation, the embryo "Lowell of the West," as Akron was then called, being at that time decidedly on the boom; both business blocks and tenement houses being in retenementspective demand. Accordingly, with but limited business or financial experience, but, (as he himself expresses it in a private note to the writer), with "immense credit," he largely "invested" in village lots, building materials, labor, etc.; one of the monuments of his enterprise being the substantial two story tenement house, on the corner of Bowery and West Middlebury streets, now owned and occupied by Dr. John G. Carpender. The tightening down of business and monetary matters, in 1836, precursory to the great financial and commercial crash in 1837, brought matters to a crisis, and our youthful speculator was forced into bankruptcy. Everything he possessed, even down to his law office, library, etc., had to be sacrificed. This, of course, very materially clouded his prospects, and subjected him to many indignities, and considerable persecution, from those who held, but were unable to realize AKRON'S SECOND MAYOR - 53 upon, his paper. But he still maintained his genial good nature, and, to a limited extent, his law practice; his desire being rather to see justice done, through his services, than the filling of his own pockets. As a sample of his mode of procedure, in this regard, and of the persecutions with which he was beset, the following incident will suffice: A farmer's boy, from Springfield, came to town on business, riding upon one of his father's horses. A local shark had induced the boy to swap horses with him, and had palmed off upon the boy a tolerably good looking, but totally blind, horse. On discovering the swindle that had been perpetrated upon him, the boy sought the office of young Singletary, and weepingly told his tale. "Where is your horse ?" enquired Singletary. "Over in the tavern barn," said the boy, and then looking out of the window, he exclaimed, "there he goes now ; they're leading him away— please stop 'em, Mister !" Looking in the direction indicated, Singletary saw a noted horse-jockeyboat-captain, leading the farmer's horse past his .office. Stepping into the street, he took hold of the halter strap, and said to the boatcaptain, "Here, give this boy his horse." "'Tain't his hoss ; it's my hoss ; it was a fair trade," replied the captain. Singletary pulled one way, and the horse-jockey the other, until the latter began to make some hostile demonstrations towards the former, when Singletary, striking straight-out from the shoulder with that brawny right fist of his, knocked the tricky boatcaptain nearly half way across the street. Then, before the captain could recover his equilibrium, and his grip upon the halter, Singletary picked up the boy, threw him astride the horse, and told him to "run for his life," which he literally did ; neither the boy nor the horse ever having been seen or heard of by Mr. Singletary from that day to this. The discomfited horse-jockey, backed by the, entire :gang, caused Singletary to be arrested for assault and battery. The warrant was issued by Justice of the Peace, John H. Cleveland, whose office was located in North Akron, in the second story of a building standing where the office of the Thomas Lumber and Building Co. now stands, on the west side of West Market Street, canal bridge. Justice Cleveland was a short, corpulent man, a veritable "Dogberry," and very decidedly appreciated the importance and dignity of his official position. The case was prosecuted by David K. Cartter, Esq., late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Cartter was then, 1835, a new accession to the legal fraternity of Akron and the bar of Portage County. He had, however, been here sufficiently long to have fully established his reputation as, a sharp, witty, and terribly sarcastic pettifogger, before the lower courts, as well as a profound and sagacious lawyer, and skillful pleader, before the higher courts. Singletary defended himself, assisted by Harvey H. Johnson, Esq. During the examination of witnesses, by Cartter, numerous objections interposed by Singletary, and his associate counsel, were nearly all promptly and pompously over-ruled by the Court. At the conclusion of Cartter's opening plea, in which the accused 54 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. had been unmercifully scored, Singletary arose, and with smiling countenance, commenced his defense something in this wise : "May it please your Honor, I stand here nominally to defend myself against the charge of assault and battery, but in reality as the defender of virtue and innocence against such unmitigated scoundrels as the complainant in this case, and the perjured villains who CARTTER : (Interrupting) "I ask the Court to protect the witnesses for the State from the abusive epithets of the prisoner now on trial." THE COURT : "Mr. Singletary, you must confine your remarks strictly to your defense, under the evidence that has been given." SINGLETARY : (Resuming) "That, may it please your Honor, is precisely what I am doing, and I repeat, that I stand here as the defender of virtue and innocence against thieves and robbers, and I am not to be intimidated by the foul-mouthed billingsgate of the imported blackguard from New York, nor am I to be frowned down, nor awed into silence, by the bloated dignity of the Court____ “ JUSTICE CLEVELAND : (Hastily rising) " Stop, sir ! Stop sir ! I won't listen to you, but bind you over to Court !" and seizing his docket he rushed from the room. As he reached the door Singletary laughingly called to him : "Hold on, Squire ! What's the amount of the bond ?" "Three hundred dollars !" yelled the irate Justice, as he disappeared through the door. The bond was duly executed, and the transcript sent to the Court of Common Pleas of Portage County, but the case was promptly ignored by the Grand Jury at the September term, 1835, on hearing all the facts connected therewith. As above related, the financial and business status of the young lawyer, was considerably below zero, on the setting in of the Winter of 1836-7. Clients were few, and most of those who did employ him were as impecunious as himself; and being too proud to call upon his father for further pecuniary aid, he was often in dire straits for his daily bread. In addition to this, he was constantly hounded by his creditors, and taunted with his failure and poverty. One, day, in the latter part of the Winter of 1836-7, he turned upon a party of his high-toned annoyers, saying : " Never mind, gentlemen, it is your turn now, but my turn will come by and by, for I intend to be your next Mayor !" This declaration was received with shouts of derision, and after a few days' gossip and laughter over the boast, the circumstance was forgotten by those who heard it. Not so, however, with the moneyless and almost briefless lawyer. As the June election drew near, he announced himself as an independent candidate for Mayor. His announcement was fairly hooted at by the "aristocracy" of both sections of the town; his lack of success in business, and his poverty, being the chief accusations against him, for his honesty, morality and ability could not be called in question. It is not now remembered who was placed in nomination against him, but, by concentrating the vote of both parties upon a single man, it was not supposed that Singletary stood the ghost of a chance of being elected. The opposition to him at length became so bitter and abusive that a reaction in his favor finally set in. The SUBSEQUENT MAYORS TO DATE - 55 majority of the voters of the town, mostly young men ___ nearly, if not quite, as poor as himself ___ began to argue that poverty, though mighty inconvenient, was not a crime, and that even in a rough-andtumble physical fight, it was mean to kick a man when he was down. Consequently the "kids" of that day, of whom the writer was one, openly espoused the cause of the plucky independent candidate, and the election of June 13, 1837, resulted in his triumphant election by the handsome majority of 15, above indicated. Mr. Singletary, who had hitherto resided in the South End, immediately opened an office in the north village, and announced himself ready to attend to all the duties of the office, both municipal and criminal. So successful was his administration that he was triumphantly re-elected on the 5th day of June, 1838, against a prominent South End lawyer, William M. Dodge, Esq., receiving 125 votes out of a total of 222, being a majority of 28. He continued to satisfactorily discharge his municipal and magisterial duties until February, 1839, when, by reason of debility superinduced by oft recurring attacks of fever and ague, he went home to Streetsboro to recruit, where, on account of the poor health and the increasing years of his father, he concluded to permanently remain, and where, as successor to his father's fine estate of some 350 acres of excellent land, he has since lived the life of a quiet but highly successful and enterprising farmer. On the 11th day of August, 1845, Mr. Singletary was married to Miss Mary Ann Carter, of Boston township, who is still living. There have been born to them eight children three sons and five daughters-of whom three of the latter only survive. For the past few years the health of Mr. Singletary has not been very good, and yet, at the age of 80 years, he is able to superintend his extensive farming operations, and will be happy to receive calls from any of his old Akron friends and constituents, at his hospitable domicile, on the northwest corner of the public square, at the center of Streetsboro. It is not the purpose of these papers to give the biographies of all the persons who have held the honored post of Mayor of Akron during the half century of its municipal existence, both as Town, Village, and City, some of whose characters and idiosyncracies were, perhaps, as marked as those of the two already named. The bare names, theretore, of those who have successively filled that office, since June, 1839, with the length of their respective terms of service, will have to suffice: 1839, Lucius V. Bierce; 1840, Arad Kent; 1841, Lucius V. Bierce; 1842 and 1843, Harvey H. Johnson; 1844, Lucius V. Bierce; 1845, 1846 and 1847, Philo Chamberlin; 1848, Israel E. Carter; 1849, Lucius V. Bierce; 1850, George Bs; 1851, Charles G. Ladd; 1852, Frederick Wadsworth; 1853, Philip N. Schuyler; 1854, William T. Allen; 1855 and 1856, Nathaniel Finch; 1857 and 1858, Frederick A. Nash; 1859, George W. McNeil; 1860 and 1861, Henry Purdy; 1862 and 1863, Charles A. Collins: 1864, George D. Bates; 1865 and 1866, James Mathews; 1867 and 1868, Lucius V. Bierce; 1869, 1870, 1871 and 1872, John L. Robertson; 1873 and 1874, Henry Purdy; 1875 and 1876, Levi S. Herrold; 1877 and 1878, James F. Scott; 1879 and 1880, John M. Fraze; 1881 and 1882, Samuel A. Lane; 1883, 1884, 1885 and 1886, Lorenzo Dow Winters; 1887 and 1888, Louis D. Seward; 1889, 1890, 1891 and 1892, William H. Miller. 56 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. JAMES MATHEWS,--born in Washington County, N. Y., April 23, 1803; in boyhood removing with his parents to Vermont; educated in common schools and bred a cabinet maker and ornamental painter ; in 1839 came to Akron, and engaged in manufacturing grain shovels, in 1841 engaging in grocery business, until 1849 when he became secretary and manager of the Summit Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and on the winding up of the business of that company, a few years later, becoming the agent of several of the leading fire insurance companies of the country, and of the Mutual Life of New York, for which he secured a very large clientage in Akron and vicinity, the policies written by him aggregating over $12,000, 000. Mr. Mathews possessed both public spirit and private enterprise, as witness the fine block on Howard street bearing his name ; was a member of Akron Town Council in 1843 ; member of first Board of Education in 1847, and the first Mayor of Akron, under city charter, 1865-1866. Mr. Mathews was married to Miss Agnes Grant, of Wells River, Vt., in January, 1833, who died in Akron in April, 1870, leaving three children—George H., who died in December 1873, Henry G. and Charles H., now of New York. Mr. Mathews was again married , to Mrs. Isabella (Howard) Tayler, a native of Middlebury, ( Akron, Sixth Ward ), who now resides in California, Mr. Mathews dying December 25, 1883. aged 80 years, 8 months and 2 days. HENRY PURDY,—son of Solomon 1 1 Purdy, was born in Zanesville, Ohio, September 30, 1815, removing to Springfield township, with parents, when 13, years of age; educated in Putnam Academy in Zanesville and Randolph Academy. In 1837 became associated with his father in the manufacture of stoneware at the center of Springfield. In 1852 Mr. Purdy was elected County Recorder on the Whig, ticket, and re-elected in 1855 on the Republican ticket, holding the office six years; was member of Council in 1857 ; Mayor of Akron in 1860-1861, 1873-1874; and Justice of the Peace for Portage Township, with the exception of a single term, from 1868 till his resignation, by reason of failing health, February 12, 1888. February 2, 1837, Mr. Purdy was married to Miss Diantha C. Clark, daughter of Barber Clark, of Franklin Ming, (now Kent). Mr. and Mrs. Purdy, who have continuously resided in Akron since April, 1853, have three children—Mills B. (City Clerk 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872 and 1876) born June 27, 1839; Mary C., (now Mrs. J. A. Boynton, of Salamanca, N. Y.) born July 10, 1841; and Melissa C. (now Mrs. S. K. Zwisler, Akron) born November 29, 1847. THERE WERE "CROOKS" IN THOSE DAYS - 57 CHAPTER III. EARLY CROOKEDNESS--CONFIDENCE GAMES, "KEG" MONEY, ETC.—UNSAVORY REPUTATION—THE "GORE"-Y BATTLE GROUND--BITTER POST-OFFICE CONTROVERSY—CRIMINATION AND RECRIMINATION— SCANDALOUS CHURCH SQUABBLES—DECADENCE OF MIDDLEBURY AND THE SOUTH END—DESPISED "CASCADE" IN THE ASCENDENCY—THE "WHIRLIGIG OF TIME BRINGS ALL THINGS EVEN," ETC., ETC. EARLY CROOKEDNESS. IN those early days, the Ohio, Mississippi, and other western rivers and lakes, and the cities and villages contiguous thereto, were swarming with, and infested by, gamblers, counterfeiters and thieves; and on the opening of the Ohio Canal, as a channel for trade and travel, not only the passenger boats navigating its waters, but the thriving towns that immediately sprang into existence along its entire line, were soon thoroughly infested by the several classes of "sports" and "crooks" alluded to, with branch resorts at many of the "centers" and "corners" of adjacent townships. Akron and other points within the present limits of Summit County, were by no means excepted from the general rule, but, on the contrary, the large number of locks here, and the peculiar formation of the country, particularly down the valley, northward from Akron, afforded especial facilities for the successful operations of the fraternity, and for the effective concealment of their nefarious occupation, their gambling and counterfeiting implements, and their stolen plunder. At the date of my arrival in town, (1835) the average honest stranger was filled with astonishment at the large number of finely-dressed, ruffle-shirted, plug-hatted, kid-gloved, lavishly-bejewelled, and apparently wealthy sojourners at the various hotels. To the writer, though, the genus was very familiar, the several preceding months having been spent in New Orleans, Louisville and Cincinnati, and on the steamers plying between those points, with brief calls at Natchez, Vicksburg, Memphis, and other blackleg-infested towns upon those great thoroughfares the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Indeed, so flagrant had become the operations and outrages of this class of scoundrels, that about this time the honest people of Vicksburg, after giving the gamblers proper warning to leave that place, arose in their might and summarily hung half a dozen or more to the lamp posts and shade trees of the city, creating the most intense excitement among all classes, and a decided panic among tha fraternity throughout the entire South and West. Besides the numerous raids that were made among the pioneer fanners of the vicinity, by those early " crooks " and shovers of the queer," for predatory purposes, and for the purchase of horses, cattle, sheep and other property with bogus coin or spurious paper, there was in Akron and other business centers of the gang, a set of confidence operators, who got in their work something in this wise : An unsophisticated farmer would be inveigled into some back room, and "confidentially" shown a number of genuine American or Spanish silver dollars, with the statement that they were bogus, 58 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. but so cleverly executed that they could never be detected, and that if he would buy 500 or 1,000 of them, to operate with among his neighbors, he might have them for 10 or 20 cents on the dollar. If the cupidity of the ruralist should over-balance his discretion, and he should " tumble to the racket," he would be shown several small kegs, said to contain 500 or 1,000 each of the bogus coin, so arranged that by taking out a plug in one end, he could see the glittering metal of a genuine silver dollar inside, and be assured that if, on getting home and counting it, he did not find the full number there, the dealer would make it all right the next time he came to town. Having duly paid over his $50 or $100 in good money, and having with due secrecy deposited the keg selected under the straw in the wagon, the "honest" yeoman would depart for home, to find, on examining his treasure, that, with the exception of the genuine dollar seen through the hole in the end, his precious keg contained the regulation weight of scrap-iron, only. Generally the victim would quietly swallow his disappointment and shame, and never be heard of again ; but now and then one would return to seek redress, only to be told by the operator, if found, that he had never seen him before, or to be informed by his lawyer that his own hands were too badly soiled in the transaction to enable him to proceed against his confederate in crime. The game was by no means confined to Akron, or the neighborhood of the canal, as witness the following item from the Western Courier, of Ravenna, under date of September 15, 1836: "Several attempts have been made lately, to defraud in the way of what is called keg money speculations ; obtaining money and property on a promise to deliver a keg or box of money, of large amount, and 'just as good as genuine.' The keg or box supposed to contain the money, and perhaps having some on the surface, is usually delivered in some dark place, and is then, if of any value, wrested or stolen from the owner by ruffians before lie gets home with, it. Many such cases have formerly occurred in this county, in Geauga and Cuyahoga, and several lately—the last one in Newburg. But the people are learning to expose them, and the head ones have to abscond from the officers of the law." Similar transactions in paper "money" were also often negotiated, genuine bills being exhibited and represented as counterfeit, and duly placed in a package, under the eye of the purchaser, to be adroitly exchanged for a similar looking package of wrapping paper, cut to proper size, while the purchase money was being counted out and examined. Still another mode of procedure was for a couple of sharpers to purchase a horse from some rustic, to be paid for in non-detectable counterfeit money, at a nominal price, the exchange to be made after dark, in some neighboring thicket, and after the transfer had been duly made, and the horse led off by one of the sharpers, other confederates would rush in, under the guise of officers, and pretend to arrest the remaining two, but finally let them off on their handing over all their loose change ; and thus the victim would not only be done out of his horse and the pretended counterfeit money he had received in exchange for him, but also of whatever good money he might happen to have about him at the time. By this and similar devices were the unwary pioneers of the rural districts "taken in and done for," while from the lack of information, now so rapidly and so generally transmitted through EARLY CHURCH IMBROGLIOS - 59 the mails, the railroads, the telegraph and the newspapers, whole droves of horses, cattle, sheep, and even hogs, could be gathered up and paid for wholly in counterfeit money, and safely driven out of the country, before the sellers would discover the fraud that had been practiced upon them. And yet, notwithstanding such was the early status of Akron, as well as many other enterprising business points along the line of the canal, and notwithstanding good friends with whom I was visiting in the northern part of Portage County, in the early Spring of 1835, advised me, in my search for a location for permanent settlement, by all means to avoid Akron and Cascade, I found, on coming here, later in the season, that the great majority of the people were honest, industrious and enterprising, and that its unsavory reputation was wholly due to a comparatively small minority of local crooks, and the large contingent of transient sharpers continually moving from point to point, along the line of the canal as above noted. That this vicinity was, however, for many years the general rendezvous and headquarters of one of the most extensive gangs of counterfeiters in the entire country, admits of not a doubt. The reputed leader of this gang, together with several of his most important subordinates, were permanently located within the limits of what is now Summit County, some of whom sought and obtained positions of public trust and honor, the more effectually to cover up their true characters, and their nefarious operations. To the chief of this gang, and his prominent lieutenants, with an inkling of their operations, their successes, reverses, arrests, trials, imprisonments, etc., one or more chapters of this work will be devoted, as well as one, or more, to the measures that were finally taken to rid the village and county of local sharps and traveling blacklegs and thieves. The bitterness existing between the inhabitants of the north and south villages has already been alluded to, in the " guide board war" spoken of in the first chapter, and otherwise. It will be impossible, of course, in the prescribed limit of this work to relate all the acts of hostility, overt and covert, manifested ; but one or two episodes, illustrative of that feeling, somewhat in detail, may not be amiss. The two villages were divided by a wedge-shaped strip of unplatted land, called the "gore," embracing the territory between Quarry street on the north and Center street on the south. On this unplatted strip the earlier churches the Congregational the Methodist and the Baptist, were originally erected, not only because their respective sites were generously donated by Gen. Perkins, but more particularly, perhaps, because the adherents of the several denominations, residing in either section, were unwilling to worship, on Sunday, in houses located within the boundaries of the rival village they so heartily, and perhaps religiously, hated through the week. This feeling was so strong that when, in 1836, the majority of the trustees of the Baptist Church decided to face the new church edifice they were then about to build (on the site of the present fine German Reformed brick structure) towards South Akron, instead of towards the West, as had been done by both the Congregationalists and Methodists, (the Congregational Church 60 - AKRON. AND SUMMIT COUNTY. then stood on the present Court House grounds), several contributors to the building fund, living north of the "gore," withdrew their subscriptions, and a few even severed their connection with the society in consequence of such action; the facing of the church in that direction being considered an advantage in favor of South Akron. This animosity became intensified as the work progressed, and by the time the structure was completed had culminated in a mos bitter controversy between certain prominent members, trustees, building committee, pastor, etc., in which charges and counter charges of falsehood, dishonesty, malice, etc., were freely bandied, resulting in the calling of a church council on the 6th day of October, 1837, at which Rev. Levi Tucker, of Cleveland, presided as Moderator, and by which it was "Resolved, That brother Dodge has not been labored with according to gospel discipline; that brother Dodge's conduct has rendered him unworthy of a place in a Christian church, and that he ought not to be recognized as a member until he make satisfaction to the church ; that brother Crane (the pastor) did not act judiciously ; believing, however, that his press of duties ought in this case to be admitted in extenuation.; that Elder Austin (a retired minister) has acted injudiciously, and the church had better grant him a letter of dismission and a recommendation to any other sister church ; that the course of brother Alvin Austin has been incautious and wanting in prudence ; and that this Council earnestly recommend to each individual in any way concerned in the late difficulties, to make very strenuous efforts to promote the peace of the church, and zealously engage in the cause of our dear Redeemer." Notwithstanding these dissensions the church was duly dedicated October 26,- 1837, Elder Tucker preaching the dedicatory sermon. But neither that solemn proceeding, nor the action of the Council, were productive of any perceptible mollifying influence, as is evidenced by some six or seven columns of crimination and re-crimination published in the several issues of the American Balance, from December 7, 1837, to January, 4, 1838, in which the names of Rev. Eber Crane, (pastor and building agent) Alvin Austin, H. K. Smith, Smith Burton, Richard Howe, J. Rockwell, R. K. DuBois, S. R. Brackett, Erastus Torrey, Nathan B. Dodge, Miner Spicer, Warren H. Smith, Justus Gale, Joseph Cole, David Allen, Jesse Allen, Jacob Brown and Nathan S. Jones, were somewhat promiscuously mingled. Though nearly, if not quite, all of the belligerents in this wordy warfare have passed away, and though the society, in another location, has for many years maintained more than an average standing in usefulness and numbers, among the many similar beneficent institutions of our goodly city, it is questionable whether the deleterious influences of those early contentions, among really good men, have not been felt, in a greater or less degree, through all the intervening half century. The Methodist Society, also, got into a similar tangle, mainly through sectional jealousies, regarding the building of their first house of worship, about the same time; certain of the members connected with the raising of funds and erecting and furnishing the building, accusing each other of gross irregularities. This bitter feeling, though not ventilated through the public press, continued for several years, and finally, when the building was destroyed by fire, on the morning of March 17, 1841, each party accused the other of having set the building on fire, though the "UPPER" VERSUS " LOWER " TOWN - 6t origin of the fire was, doubtless, purely accidental. The original Congregational society was alannihilated asunder, and finally ilannihilated, by unhappy dissensions, which will be fully set forth in a subsequent chapter. BITTER POSTOFFICE WAR. Up to 1837, a full year after both the rival villages of North and South Akron, had been consolidated by Legislative enactment into the corporate "Town of Akron," and though by this time much the larger portion of the business of the town was done north of the "gore," when it was sought to remove the postoffice from the upper to the lower town, a struggle ensued, which in point of bitterness, renders the partisan and personal squabbles of modern office seekers the very extreme of mildness and cordiality. Some three or four years prior to that time, Akron's first postmaster, Wolsey Wells, Esq., having left the place, had been succeeded by Mr. Lewis Humiston, keeper of the Clark tavern,. the office being located in a small building immediately east of the hotel, on Exchange street, the late Arad Kent officiating as his deputy. As Mr. Humiston was about to leave the town, it became necessary to secure the appointment of his successor. There were, of course, a number of applicants for the place, and among the rest, the late Judge Constant Bryan, and another lawyer by the name of Harvey H. Johnson, both Democrats and both northenders. Who the southern candidates were, is not now remembered, but the contest was so bitter that the appointment hung fire for some time, Postmaster General Amos Kendall finally intimating that unless the two factions reconciled their differences he would discontinue the office. In this emergency, after a conference with that gentleman, the southenders gave in their adhesion to Mr. Johnson, and he, consequently, received the appointment some time in June, 1837; it being aftewards vigorously claimed that the withdrawal of their opposition to him by the southenders, was upon the distinct understanding that, if appointed, he would not remove the office north of the "gore." For several months after the appointment of Mr. Johnson, the Akron postoffice, continued to "do business at the old stand," on Exchange street, much to the delight of the southenders, and very greatly to the disagruntlement of the northenders, who were not backward in expressing their feeling to Mr. Johnson, both verbally and through the press. At length, some time in December, 1837, the confiding south-enders one morning suddenly awoke to the disagreeable and astounding fact, that the office had not only been removed, but that, not stopping to rest, for even a single moment, upon the "gore," it had gone "clean down" to their hated rival, "Cascade," into the building then owned by the late Col. Lewis P. Buckley, on the site of our present splendid postoffice structure. This high-handed act of "perfidy" and "treason" immediately called down the direst anathemas of the southenders upon the devoted head of the offending postmaster, the arraignment of whom, written by the late Jedediah D. Commins, and signed 61 62 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. that gentleman and the late Judge Samuel A. Wheeler and Gen. Philo Chamberlin, as published in the American Balance, commences as follows: "The doctrine that a public servant is bound to resign when he finds himself unable, or unwilling, to perform the duties of an office in the manner he had pledged himself to those who were the active cause of his appointment, has been long sanctified by the republicans of this country, and acted on by every hihighlismindedan, when he found himself so circumstanced." After nearly a column of high sounding platitudes—"violation of solemn pledges," "plighted faith," "stung by the viper we had nonourishedn our bosoms," "stab in the dark," "forfeited honor," "want of gratitude," "gentlemanly feeling," "moral restraint," etc.—the mamanifestooncludes with several affidavits to the effect that the affiants had, at divers times and places, heard Mr. Johnson say that if he should receive the appointment, he would not remove the office north of the "gore," or stone quarry. To this severe castigation, Mr. Johnson, after a few prpreliminarybservations, gets back at the gentlemen whose signatures are thereto attached as follows: "As your communication was intended to affect the public mind, no only in our own vicinity, but at a distance, it is proper that I should premise by informing the public by what and by whom my private as well as my public character has been wantonly assailed. Is it not true of one of your number, that he has succeeded, to his entire satisfaction, in failing two or three times in the State of New York, and from the wreck has been able to estabh two most splendid wholesale and retail stores in Ohio ? In regard to another, is it not true that there is a letter in town which asks if a note of some $30 or $40, can be collected, which was given before he absconded from the town of E., in Vermont ?" After much more similar verbiage, reflecting upon the honesty and credibility of his assailants, Postmaster Johnson continues as follows: "I will only add that where the parties to this transaction and the circumstances are known, I do not deprecate the righteous decision of a virtuous community—your allegations and affidavits to the contrary, notwithstanding."' The editor of the Balance having declined to publish anything further on the subject, in a 16-page pamphlet, now in possession of the writer, Messrs. Commins, Wheeler and Chamberlin, in a lengthy rejoinder, including affidavits from Ferdinand Durand, C. P. McDonald, Dr. Dana D. Evans, Asa Field, Jonathan Myers, George Howe, Joshua Catlin, Silas Anson, E. M. Chamberlin, Miner Spicer and Arad Kent, in opening, say: "In regard to what you are pleased to say about ourselves, it may be proper to remark that it does not become us to speak of our own standing in this cocommunity,ut whatever it may be, we have too much self-respect to notice your abusive epithets and innuendoes, further than to say, if our characters need defense from such vituperation, they are no longer worth our care." And further on they clinch the matter against the offending P. M., thus: "But it requires not the gift of prophecy to foretell that when your hair shall have been whitened by the frosts of a few more winters, as you walk among mankind, and they shall hereafter see you moving alone in the midst of society, with the brand of 'forfeited faith burnt deep in your foforehead,ou will regret, in the bitterness of your soul, the course you have taken in relation to this whole matter." DISSENSIONS HAPPILY ENDED - 63 Rut the fact remains that the Akron Postoffice was removed to "Cascade" just 54 years ago, and that, as water—then the most potent factor in the growth and maintenance of towns and cities would run down hill, instead of up, the preponderance of business and industry were largely in its favor. Commins, Chamberlin and others of the original business men of the South End, had to succumb to the inevitable, and a few years later removed their own business operations north of the "gore;" though the decadence in the volume and value of water power, and the rapidly increasing use of steam, as a propelling agent, has, in these latter days, again brought to Ancient Akron, south of the "gore" and in fact to said "gore" itself, as well as to the ancient burgh of Middlebury, a high degree of business enterprise and prosperity, thus wonderfully demonstrating the truth of the old adage that "the whirligig of time makes all things even," while the offending postmaster was elected Mayor of Akron in 1842 and 1843, afterwards went to Congress from the Ashland District, and was subsequently U. S. Land Commissioner, in Minnesota, where he still resides. The office was, a few years later, removed still further "down town," and after several changes of location, was finally estabhed in "Gothic Block," a view of which is here given, where it remained until removed to its present location, in 1871, as elsewhere stated. Drawing of the Gothic Block, erected by Ex-Mayor James Mathews, on present site of J. Koch & Co’s Clothing Store. --From photo by George W. 64 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. CHAPTER IV. THE BOOM AND THE COLLAPSE-POETRY VERSUS FACT-SPECULATION RAMPANT-WONDERFUL ENHANCEMENT OF VALUES, AND STILL MORE WONDERFUL DECLINE--THE MORUS MULTICAULIS CRAZE-IMMENSE FORTUNES THAT DIDN'T MATERIALIZE-THE PANIC OF 1831--HARD TIMES AS WAS HARD TIMES-THE SHIN-PLASTER ERA-DECIDEDLY A MIXED CURRENCY-THE "TRUCK AND DICKER" SYSTEM, ETC., ETC. A DECIDED BOON. In a work of this character, it will, of course, be impossible to present a strictly chronological narrative of the events to be treated of; consequently there will sometimes be, for the sake of continuity on the subject under immediate consideration, a reaching forward, and at other times a backward movement, as to the order of occurrences herein recorded. Though the growth of Akron, notwithstanding its antagonisms, had hitherto, from its very inception, been almost phenomenal, in the West, for those early times, the location of the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal, commonly known as the "Cross-cut" canal, from the Ohio River a short distance below Pittsburgh, to this point, gave an impetus to the boom which has scarcely been exceeded in the later gold, silver, oil and gas booms of California, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Ohio. While Howard and Market streets were then, as now, the chic business streets in North Akron, the sticking of the stakes in Main street for the new canal, in 1835, caused the real estate upon that street, between Mill and Tallmadge, streets more than quadruple in value in a very short time; it being confidently believed that the completion of the canal would immediately create a demand for large warehouses; and other business blocks, along the entire street. Such was also the case in South Akron, and lots abutting upon the canal, fronting on Main street, between the present City Building and the Clarendon Hotel, were immediately and eagerly sought after, and contracted for (but not always paid for) at almost fabulous prices, both on speculation and by persons who really designed to improve and occupy them on the completion of the canal; one substantial three-story brick block having actually been built, and the store-room filled with goods, by Mr. Benjamin W. Stephens, on the present site of Merrill's pottery, the south end of which is part of the original building. Money, such as it was, was plenty, and credit was seemingly lavished upon all who asked for it; large stocks of goods were ordered, and stores and other business enterprises rapidly increased so that, in the early part of the year 1836, the town was seemingly upon the very apex of the high road to prosperity and wealth. A local poet (Mr. Milo Fuller, brother of the late well-known "Doctor" Isaiah Fuller) voiced the popular enthusiasm and con- POETRY VERSUS FACT - 65 fidence in Akron's future, in the following " jingle," which we find in a local journal of the time: "AKRON IN 1840." Hail lovely city! Thy unrivalled powers, Thy feathered waters and thy lofty towers, Thy stately cars in their majestic flight, Thy rumbling coach, fast rolling through the night, Thy hundred wheels that raise the factor's din, Thy boat, swift gliding round each nook and lynn, Thy growing greatness and thy busy clan, Proclaim to all, the enterprise of man! A few days since, in this now peaceful glen, The wild-beast lurked securely in his den, The stately savage, with his dart and bow, With dauntless step pursued his stealthy foe; The serpent's hiss, the war-song and the yell, Was oft re-echoed frcm each hill and dell, And in this vale from which you Summit rose, The panther crouched, and safely sought repose, The gloom of darkness, as in sable night, Hung o'er this valley and obscured the sight, Where Nature saw would rise, in grandeur drest, The great, unrivaled Princess of the West. The white man came, the savage Indian fled, The wild-beast started from his leafy bed; The war-song ended when the mighty blow, Of Eastern genius laid the forest low; Yon rugged hills, that sought the sky in vain, Fell by the shock, and formed a pleasant plain ; Hence grew this city, which unrivaled stands, A beacon-light to all benighted lands. Here, Science reigns and guides the statesman's quill, And Arts develop all their wondrous skill; Here, Virtue sits enthroned in robes divine, With modest Beauty kneeling at her shrine; Here, Pleasure, too, with all her matchless charms, Invites the youth, and calls them to her arms, And gently whispers to each mirthful son, ' The banquet's open for your sport and fun; While all things grand and pleasing to the eye. Allure the traveler as he passes by, And with glad accents from his weary breast, He hails a home, a refuge and a rest. Thus has Dame Fortune from her bounteous store, Poured forth her treasures on this happy shore, And every breeze from every sunlit land, Is wafting blessings with a liberal hand, And all the world with honor deigns to bless, THE GREAT AND MIGHTY LOWELL OF THE WEST. The foregoing doggerel was, as before intimated, a true index of the prognostications, as to both its proximate and ultimate greatness, indulged in by the average citizen of Akron, in 1835-6. But, alas ! how uncertain are human calculations and human prophecies. Not only the new and snappy town of Akron, but the entire country was at that period on a high pressure boom; all making haste to get rich, but to be overtaken by the inevitable sequence of over-production, over-trading and excessive speculation—irretrievable collapse—the now historical panic of 1837. So disastrous was the collapse in Akron that only two or three, out of the score or more of the mercantile establishments of the town, maintained their financial integrity, while real estate sank in value almost out of sight. To such an extent did this depreciation fall, and continue, that, in 1839, the writer leased from .Col. Justus Gale the lot on Main street now covered by the handsome new brick blocks of Augustus Warner and E. G. Kubler, and from Mr. Nathan B. Dodge the adjoining lot upon the north, now occupied by Paige Brothers' magnificent stone front block, for which 5 66 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. $1,000 each had been paid in 1835, for the period of five years, for the payment of the taxes; while hundreds of lots, thus purchased at boom prices, either reverted to the original owners or were sold for taxes. GENERAL MONETARY CRASH. At that period the most of the banks of the country were chartered under loosely-constructed State laws, the greater portion of them being what were properly denominated " Red Dog," or " Wildcat " institutions. When the crash came, all the banks of the country, good, bad and indifferent, immediately suspended specie payment, and gold and silver, which had been in fair supply during the flush times, at once almost entirely disappeared from circulation. Many of the banks failed out-right, and the large vollisume of the notes of such banks then in the hands of the people, became entirely worthless. Others maintained a partial standing, their notes for a time being taken by merchants in exchange for merchandise, at discounts ranging from 10 to 90 per cent. This condition of things continued for several years, THE BEACON of June 15th, 1842, giving quotations of discounts as follows: Mechanics' and Traders' bank of Cincinnati, 10; Marietta, 10; Chilicothe, 20; Franklin bank of Columbus, 20; Lancaster, 20; Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, 40; Farmers' Bank of Canton, 50; Hamilton, 60; Cleveland, 70; Steubenville, 75; Urbana, 75; Granville, 80; Ohio Railroad, 85. As indicative of the dire financial distress of the entire country, particularly Akron and Summit County, at that period, THE BEACON of November 2, 1842, contains five full pages of delinquent taxes, while wheat is quoted at 50 cents per bushel, and a year or so later a single number of THE BEACON advertises 54 sheriff sales. A few of the old banks of the country, though suspending specie payment, maintained their financial standing, among which, in this vicinity, were the old Western Reserve, at Warren; Banks of Geauga, Massillon, Wooster, Norwalk, Sandusky, etc., (Akron having no bank at that time). The notes of these banks were readily taken at par in all commercial transactions, though being extremely conservative as to discounts, their limited issues were entirely inadequate to meet the wants of the people in their absolutely necessary business transactions. Then came into existence, all over the country, a class of local " shinplaster " factories, from which small notes for circulation were issued, payable, not in specie, but in current bank notes, the most of these institutions purporting to be based upon real estate securities. Of this class, now readily recalled to mind by the writer, were the "Kirtland Safety Fund Bank," under the auspices of the original Mormon prophet, Joe Smith; "The Orphan's Institute," at Canal Fulton; "The Cuyahoga Falls Real Estate Association;" "The Medina Land Company;" "The Munroe Falls Manufacturing Company;" "The Franklin Silk Company," etc. THE MORUS MULTICAULIS CRAZE. This latter institution was based upon the silk culture craze that then prevailed in many sections of the country, with which the people of Munroe Falls, Franklin Mills (now Kent), and other THE "SHINPLASTER" ERA - 67 places in this vicinity were severely smitten—village lots, as well as farm lands, being held and sold at fabulous prices. Immense cocooneries were built, and everybody having land went into the raising of the morus multicaulis variety of the mulberry tree, on which to feed the silk worms. A wealthy farmer by the name of Barber Clark, a short distance east of the village of Franklin Mills, made arrangements to devote his entire farm to the business, and among other like transactions, contracted with Joy H. Pendleton, Esq., now of the Second National Bank of this city, then residing there, for all the young trees of a single year's growth, that he could raise for three years, at 25 cents each for the first year, 15 cents for the second year and 10 cents for the third year. As they could readily be grown from slips, or cuttings, it will be seen that Pendleton had a mighty good thing of it, (in his eye). The first year the plant was comparatively small, but the second year he was on hand with some $3000 worth, and by the third year he would have realized, under his contract, about $50,000. But, alas! for human calculations and, alack! for Pendleton and Clark. The bottom suddenly fell out of the silk business; Clark was irretrievably bankrupted and Pendleton not only did not realize his $50,000, but absolutely lost, from Clark's failure, about $2000 of the $3000 already earned, and, considering the outlay he had made, was probably considerably out of pocket by the operation. In the general dearth of real money, the bills of these local institutions circulated more or less freely, in the traffic of the vicinity where they were issued, and to a limited extent in more remote localities. Being redeemable in sums of not less than five dollars, holders of lesser sums at length found it difficult to get, rid of them, giving rise to a brood of street brokers, who would buy them up at a discount, paying for them, perhaps, in the equally worthless notes of the "Bank of Pontiac," or "River Raisin," of Michigan, or simular red-dog "currency." When these speculators began to pass in their accumulations for redemption, the shinplaster fabricators were found to be decidedly short of "current bank notes" wherewith to redeem their promises to pay, and speedily fell into disrepute and eventual failure. The Franklin Silk Company was an exception to this rule; the late Zenas Kent, father of the Hon. Marvin Kent, then a substantial merchant in Ravenna, being a large stockholder in the company in question, rendered the value of its notes certain and their redemption sure. Owing to the scarcity of coin, merchants, hotel-keepers and other business men, issued considerable amounts of a species of private "fractional currency," payable on demand in their own wares, or in current bank bills, when presented in sums of one dollar or its multiple. These however, unlike the majority of the class above named, were pretty generally redeemed, in one or the other of the modes indicated upon their face. In fact, so uncertain was every species of "currency," that people at length became distrustful of even the very best, and preferred to exchange such commodities as they raised, or manufactured, for such fabrics or produce as they themselves needed; and even if a man got hold of a dollar- or two in "currency," he would hasten to get it off his hands the same day, lest he should 68 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. wake up the next morning to find that the bank had failed during the night. Hence, the inauguration of the "truck and dicker" system that will be so vividly remembered by the older portion of my readers, and which was operated something as follows: Country produce was bought by all our merchants, and invariably paid for in goods, or credited on running accounts, farmers, in turn, paying their help, farm hands and mechanics, whom they employed or dealt with, in their own products, or in orders upon the stores. There were a number of woolen factories then running in the town and vicinity, and "sheep's gray" cloth, was almost a "legal tender" in the transaction of nearly every kind of business, while the goods and wares of the numerous stove founders of the town, were of almost equal potency as factors of trade and commerce. How was it done? Something like this: A carriage maker, for instance, would sell a wagon or buggy to the factory or foundry man, and agree to take his pay in cloth or castings. Then he would trade off his cloth or his castings for lumber, wood, coal, horses, hay, oats, beef, pork, potatoes, apples, butter, cheese, poultry, eggs, etc., or perhaps sell a roll of cloth at a discount to a merchant to be paid for in goods. Then, in turn, he would pay his hands in sheep's gray, farm produce, orders on stores, furniture dealers, tailors, shoemakers, butchers, etc. In payment for his new wagon of carriage, the farmer would turn in ten or a dozen fat steers, which the wagon maker would pass over to the butcher to be paid for in daily steaks and roasts for the family of the wagon maker and his hands. And this system of exchange entered into all the ramifications of business, agricultural,, manufacturing, mechanical and commercial, and to a great extent into real estate transactions; the writer once taking in part payment for a house and lot on Howard street, 40 brass clocks, which in turn, were traded off to the lumber dealers, the stone mason, the carpenter, the brick mason and the plasterers, for the erection of another house on the lot next north of the new Baptist Church on South Broadway. Individuals and firms doing thousands of dollars worth of business per year, would thus sometimes go weeks at a time without handling scarcely a dollar in money. During a good portion of the time covered by this financial and commercial depression, the wri ter was engaged in the publication of a small paper in the interest of which he personally canvassed the most of the towns and villages of Northern Ohio, and in about the proportion of nine to one, payn ents for subscription and advertising were made in trade, woolen cloths, calicoes, sheetings, shirtings, furnishing goods, boots, shoes, tinware, saddlery, etc., which in turn were traded for paper, wood, coal, farm produce, etc., for the use of his own and his printers' families. This state of affairs was, in many respects, a very wholesome experience and discipline for both the business man and the farmer, mechanic and laborer of the day, inasmuch as the constant figuring and ingenuity required to transmute such commodities as he could get for his own labor or products, but for which he had no use, into such articles as he really did need, had a tendency to sharpen both his intellectual and his business faculties, while at the same time it inculcated habits of the strictest industry and the most rigid economy of both individuals and families. IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT - 69 Of course, merchants had to have some money to make their purchases in the East, though these were largely made with wool and other produce taken from the farmer in exchange for goods. Mechanics would also need to have a little money, to buy their iron, steel, paints, etc., and in making their contracts would have to stipulate accordingly, a liberal amount of good Eastern money finding its way into circulation here, during the Summer, in the purchase of wheat, wool, etc. There being no railroads in those days, transportation of every description from the East to the West, and from the West to the East, was entirely suspended for nearly one-half of the year; the writer, on getting married and going to housekeeping in November (1838), being obliged to hire beds and bedding to use through the Winter, until the provident young lady, who had consented to unite her destiny with his, could get her own liberal collection of such articles, from her former home in the State of New York, on the opening of navigation in the Spring. And dire, indeed, was the condition of the poor wight who was so unfortunate as to be indebted to a heartless creditor; and the town and county was then, as now, perhaps, cursed with a class of Shy-locks, who not only stood ready to prey upon the necessities of their fellows, but to invariably insist upon the "pound of flesh," if the victim found himself unable to meet the fullest requirements of his bond, Or of the inhuman and oppressive laws then in vogue. There was then no exemption of real estate from execution; and but about $20 worth of personal property, such as furniture, personal clothing, etc. In one instance in the South Village, in December, 1838, and which created the most intense excitement in the community, as well as severe newspaper comment, in collecting a small store account from a hard-working mechanic, the creditor caused the Sheriff to levy upon everything he could find in and about the house—furniture, meat, flour, potatoes, beans, apples, etc., and even the cradle of a sick infant and the washtub which contained its soiled linen, the family books, the ax from the scanty wood pile, etc., and when, in setting off the exemptions, the wife of the debtor wanted them to include a portion of the provisions, the creditor objected, because the law exempted clothing and furniture on Iv. The law then sanctioned imprisonment for debt, and if the creditor chose to do so, by paying a dollar or two a week for board, to the Sheriff, he could cast his debtor into jail for an indefinite period, unless he could prevail upon some friend to sign a bond admitting him to the limits of the county, in which case, if he but stepped over the county line for a single moment, the bondsman would become liable for the entire debt. Under this barbarous law, Mr. Charles W. Howard, one of Akron's pioneer manufacturers and merchants, and for whom our well-known and well-used Howard street was named, was, in 1837, incarcerated in the jail of Portage County for nearly a year, at the instance of the local attorneys of the well-remembered New York dry goods firm of Tappan, Edwards & Co., the senior member of which firm—Arthur Tappan—was the best known philanthropist and promoter of the Anti-slavery cause, and other humanitarian and benevolent enterprises, of half a century ago. Of course, in the extensive operations of the firm,. Mr. Tappan had no personal knowledge of this particular transaction, but, on the contrary, it was said that on his atten- 70 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. tion being called to the matter, through certain strictures in the little paper, devoted to the righting of similar wrongs, which the writer was then publishing (the " BUZZARD " ) Mr. Howard's discharge was at once ordered. Be this as it may, Mr. H. was released from custody, either by such order, or by the repeal of the law in question, in March 1838. Mr. Howard's case was, by no means, the only case, in which citizens of early Akron and contiguous villages, suffered imprisonment for, debt, though in most of the cases so long a confinement, or perhaps any actual incarceration, was obviated by furnishing the required bond, giving them the range of the county—thus, of course, affording them the privilege of being with their families and of pursuing their customary vocations. It will thus be seen—and those of my contemporaries who have lived through them all, will bear me out in the assertion that the "hard times" resulting from the panics of 1873 to 1877, and from 1883 to 1887, were unalloyed prosperity, compared with the disastrous nine years' panic and financial and commercial depression, from 1837 to 1846. As may readily be imagined, during that dark period in its history, Akron made but comparatively slow progress; though even then, it pluckily more than held its own with its sister towns in Ohio, and of the West generally. View from near residence of Mr. Lorenzo Hall, "West Hill," looking northeast—From photo. by G. W. Manley, 1870.  THE " CROSS-CUT " CANAL - 71 CHAPTER V. EARLY INTER -STATE ENTERPRISE-THE "CROSS-CUT" CANAL-GEN. PERKINS, JUDGE KING AND DOCTOR CROSBY ITS ACTIVE PROMOTERS-CHARTER OBTAINED IN 1827—PRELIMINARY SURVEY-EIGHT YEARS' SLUMBER-PROJECT REVIVED- - OHIO A LARGE STOCKHOLDER-DELAYED BY PANIC OF 1837 -CHANGE OF ROUTE--MERGED WITH CASCADE MILL RACE-GREAT EXPECTATIONS- COMPLETED AT LAST-FIRST BOAT TO MIDDLEBURY-FIRST BOAT FROM PITTSBURG-GRAND CELEBRATION- MAGNIFICENT PENNSYLVANIA- BANQUETRTER OF PENNSYLVANIA- BANOTTET, SPEECHES, TOASTS, ETC.--DEATH OF EXCURSIONIST FROM APOPLEXY--EARLY MODES OF TRANSPORTATION- CANAL ^PROSPEROUSLY OPENED - ADVERSITY AND DECLINE-SWALLOWED BY THE MAHONING RAILROAD-LEASED TO AKRON HYDRAULIC COMPANY- NOCTURNAL NAUGHTINESS-BANKS CUT AND WATER DRAWN OFF--CHARTER FORFEITED- CANAL SOLD-MORE NIGHT WORK-FINAL DEMISE-RAILROAD BUILT UPON ITS RUINS, ETC., ETC. PENNSYLVANIA AND OHIO CANAL. UP to 1840, the only access to, or egress from, Akron, except by wagon, etc., was by the Ohio Canal, completed from Akron to Cleveland in 1827, and through to the Ohio river in 1830. As early as 1825, however, the project of constructing a canal from the Ohio river, a short distance below Pittsburg, to connect with the Ohio canal, then just commenced, at the Portage Summit, began to be agitated, a meetTrumbullominent citizens of Ti-umbull and Portage counties, in the furtherance of that project, being held at Ravenna, November 6, 1825, Gen. Simon Perkins, of Warren, and Dr. Eliakim Crosby, of Middlebury, being placed upon the committee to collect information as to the most favorable route, etc. The ensuing Winter, a bill was introduced in the Ohio Legislature to incorporate the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal Company, "for the sole purpose of making a navigable canal between some suitable point on the Ohio river, through the valley of the Mahoning river, to some suitable point on Lake Erie, or to some point on the Ohio Canal," said act to go into effect when the Legislature of Pennsylvania should pass a similar act, but final action upon the bill was postponed until the next session. The people along the line now became "terribly in earnest" on the subject, and numerous meetings were held at Beaver, New Castle, Warren, Ravenna, Franklin Mills, Middlebury, etc., in which Gen. Perkins, Judge King, Dr. Crosby, Judge Wetmore and others participated, and on the 10th day of January, 1827, the bill passed the Ohio Legislature, with Jonathan Sloane, of Ravenna, and Frederick Wadsworth, of Edinburg (afterwards for many years a resident of Akron), asCountyporators for Portage Co-linty, a similar bill passing the Pennsylvania Legislature the following April. Outside of preliminary surveys, under the auspices of the Canal Commissioners of Pennsylvania and. Ohio, nothing further was accomplished for the period of nearly eight years. Interest in the project at length having revived, on the 20th day of February, 1835, the charter was renewed with an amend- 72 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. ment, giving the company ten years from December 31, 1835, in which to complete the work; Pennsylvania taking similar action April 13, 1835. East side Main street, South of Market, showing sect ion of old Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, and ruins of Ohio Exchange-1855—from photo. by S. J. Miller, The Company was organized at Newcastle, May 21, 1835, with Judge Leicester King as a director, and as the Secretary; Col, Sebried Dodge (afterwards owner of the "Dodge farm," three miles west of Akron), being appointed Chief Engineer. The State having promised to take one dollar of the stock of the company, for every two dollars subscribed by private parties, judge King pushed the matter so vigorously, both at home and in Pittsburg, Philadelphia, etc., that he was soon enabled to report private subscriptions to the amount of $840,000, the State promptly responding in the sum of $420,000; the Pennsylvania Legislature, in 1839, contributing $50,000 for the completion of the work. In those days the present system of exchange was not in vogue, nor were there responsible express companies everywhere in operation, as now, and on his return from his successful canvass for stock subscriptions in Philadelphia, he brought with him, over the mountains, several hundred thousand dollars of gold and paper money in a common leather satchel, an exploit that would be considered very risky now, with all our improved police regulations and methods of travel. Though pushed quite vigorously for two or three years, for those comparatively slow times, the work was somewhat retarded by the panic of 1837, owing to the difficulty of collecting stock installments, so that the canal was not fully completed and opened to through navigation until the spring of 1840, though portions at either end were in use as early as May, 1839. The project, originally, contemplated running the canal directly through Middlebury, with its western terminus above Lock One, on the Ohio Canal. This would have entirely given Cuyahoga Falls and North Akron the go-by. But in the interven- COMPLETION OF THE WORK - 73 ing years a material change of interest had taken place with Gen. Perkins, Judge King, Dr. Crosby and several others of its early promoters, which, together with some engineering difficulties encountered by the management, and the powerful influences brought to bear by the people of Cuyahoga Falls, resulted in a change of route, by which, after crossing the valley of the Little Cuyahoga, it should merge itself with, and follow the route of, the Cascade Mill race, and unite with the Ohio Canal below Lock One. This change necessitated the construction south of Cuyahoga Falls, of nine descending locks to meet the level of the race, and of one lock up, at Mill street, in Akron, to meet the level of its j unction with the Ohio Canal, thus very materially augmenting the waters of the race, and by so much the power and value of the mills. View of North Main street from Market, showing old Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, Market street canal bridge, etc.,-1875. Under this arrangement, and to somewhat mitigate the disappointment of the Middleborians, a side-cut was constructed, following the race from the junction southward to the mills and warehouses in that village. The first boat to navigate the western end of the new canal, was the "Joseph Vance," which, on May 9, 1839, carrying a jolly load of passengers, sailed from the junction, in South Akron, making a triumphant entry into the "port" of Middlebury, amid the joyful plaudits of the people of that ancient metropolis. It was not only supposed that this canal would greatly inure to the advantage of the towns and villages, through which it passed, but that Pittsburg, Philadelphia and other points in Pennsylvania, as well as Cleveland, Columbus and other points in Ohio, and further west and south, would be largely benefited thereby. 74 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. On this point, the BEACON of May 6, 1839, said: "This canal will be of very great importance to the cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburg. In the Spring goods can be brought from Philadelphia four or five weeks earlier than by the New York Canal, which will make a vast difference with merchants who live far in the interior, who are naturally impatient at the long interruption to navigation which now occurs between the West and New York; and all the Eastern purchases will find their way to their destination by this route !" the idea also being advanced that during the long seasons of suspension of navigation, by reason of low water in the upper Ohio, shipments of merchandise and products to the lower Ohio. and Mississippi could be made over this route; a Pittsburg paper of about this date, saying: "This very important canal will open to our city the trade of Warren, Akron, Massillon, Cleveland, and all the north and western portions of the flourishing State of Ohio; also of the lakes and Michigan, New York, Canada, etc." View of P. and O. Canal, South Main street from rear of Howard—the dwelling and clothes yardrd in foreground, being the present site of O'Neil & Dyas' store. On the eastern division, the first trip from Beaver to Warren was made by the packet "Ontario," May 23, 1839, quite a jollification taking place on its arrival; among the impromptu toasts offered and responded to, being: " Judge Leicester King and Col. Sebried Dodge, to whom the public is much indebted for the earlcompletionon of this part of the P. & O. Canal, in which they have done the company great justice, and themselves much credit!" The first boat through from Beaver, freighted witmerchandisese from Pittsburg, mostly iron, nails, glass, etc., arrived in Akron, April 4, 1840, on noticing which fact the BEACON said: "Pennsylvania and Ohio are now united by a canal whicpromiseses to be of immense benefit to both, and the citizens of Akron should felicitate themselves upon the completion of this important work, which, from its termination at this point, cannot but be of great importance to our already flourishing town." In May, 1840, Judge King, Secretary of the company, successfully negotiated, at par, in Philadelphia, a sufficient amount of