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350 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY The department in Ada, Columbus Grove, Vendocia and Wapakoneta serves Allen County patrons, while Bluffton, Delphos and Spencerville all serve patrons in other counties. Bluffton was once called Shannon, but because of postal conflict its name was changed; Delphos was Section Ten, and Spencerville was Acadia ; another Acadia rendered the change of name a necessity. Sometimes the name of the postoffice is different from the name of the town—a confusing state of affairs, but there is no confusion about the name of Lima-strangers always asking the relation between the town and beans. It seems that there are Boston beans and Lima beans. Again the story-the man credited with naming Lima was a stickler for the Spanish pronunciation—Leemah. There was a postoffice established at Section Ten in 1847, and since the name was changed to Delphos early in the history of the community, it is likely the name of the office was changed simultaneously. Mrs. Mary Risley Was postmistress in Delphos for twenty-five years. She, perhaps, holds the record in Allen County. "To the victors belong the spoils," and the postmaster today usually changes with the national administration, although civil service prevails in the subordinate positions. While Congressmen have distributed patronage in the past, the local political organizations now control the patronage question. Congressman John L. Cable does not have the same opportunity of awarding his political henchmen as was accorded to Congressman B. F. Welty. Candidates for postmaster now visit the county republican committee, and thus United States Congressmen are relieved of criticism because of their failure to distribute "political plums" to suit their constituency. The city mail service was established in Delphos May 1, 1908, with four carriers ; the rural mail service began there September 2, 1900, with three carriers ; the service has since been increased to six carriers. It is a tri-county mail service from Delphos—carriers serving patrons in Allen, Putnam and Van Wert counties. The three rural carriers who started in 1900 are: Noah A. Brown, John H. Judkins and Charles 0. Enslin; while none of them remained in the service long enough to receive a pension, Eugene Metcalf, who served as a rural carrier for seventeen years and five months, is now a pensioner. Alexander J. Shenk, the 1920 Delphos postmaster, reported the rural carrier system as highly appreciated; the people would not be without it ; when there are legal holidays they miss the rural mail service ; rural carriers receive many courtesies from their patrons. The Lima mail delivery service was established in 1888, while R. W. Meily was postmaster ; it began with four carriers and has been increased to twenty-six foot carriers, and two mounted on parcel post delivery trucks ; the first Lima carriers were : Charles Thoring, Daniel Gorman, John McKerron and Charles Hover. From census to census-1910 to 1920—the Lima postoffice has more than doubled its volume of business, advancing from $84,872 to $171,936, and the October receipts in 1920 were without precedent in the office history. Additional clerks were expected from the recent civil service examination. People used to regard letters as present-day citizens think of telegrams, although their friends were often dead and buried long enough before the letters reached them; now that practically every family in Allen County receives daily mail, some of the stories of the long-ago are "stranger than fiction" to the generation now on the stage of action in Allen County. No news was always good news, and a letter sometimes disturbed the peaceful tranquility of the whole community. While most families have postage stamps in the home today, time was when they paid HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 351 the postage on letters received by them; today a letter is returned to the sender if it lacks postage. The story is told of a man who pawned his hat to "lift a letter." It has been a long time since tidings from the homef olk had reached him, and he would have the letter at any sacrifice ; the system of collecting postage at the time of delivery worked hardships on many settlers ; the law did not remain long on the statutes of the country. While the settlers were always anxious for tidings, the contents of some letters meant nothing to them, and now those who write letters pay the postage on them; there was a time when the letter was so folded that the superscription became the face of the letter ; there were no envelopes for many years ; those letters were sent by carrier whenever a traveler was passing from one place to another. Necessity has always been the mother of invention ; in time the envelope saved the necessity of so carefully folding the letter, with one blank side for the superscription. There was no such thing as a postage stamp, and "collect 12 cents" was written where the stamp is now placed on one corner of the letter ; wafers and sealing wax were used before postage stamps were on the market. It seems like a far cry from the day when the mail was carried on horseback and by stage, or by personal messenger-and once a week was as often as any one heard from the outside world. Now that the whole community reads the daily newspapers—expects them as a matter of course—the news from the four corners of the world, who pays any attention to the minor details connected with the United States mail service? Who knows anything about the rural carriers and their difficulties? Fortunately the United States Mail Department is so organized that it not only looks after itself, but serves the community most acceptably. The Star Route United States mail system was introduced in 1882, and like all other advance measures it was later installed in Allen County; it served the community until the coming of rural free delivery. Delphos and Lima are first-class postoffices-serving a population of more than 50,000, and the postmaster usually holds his position as a reward for his political activities. The time came when the postoffice at Fort Amanda was no longer in Allen County ; the Lima postoffice was established February 1, 1832, and Lewis Srouf was the first postmaster. In the order of their names, the following have served as postmaster in Lima : Lewis Srouf, John Ward, Henry Lippencott, Charles Baker, William Cunningham, John W. Thomas, John B. Wamsley, Samuel A. Baxter, Sr., B. A. Satterthwaite, John Keller, Samuel Sanford, Orrin Curtiss, John R. Beatty, Cornelius Parmenter, Dr. William H. Harper, Cornelius Parmenter, George W. Waldorf, R. W. Meily, Dr. George Hall, W. R. . Mehaffey, Dr. George Hall, William A. Campbell, Albert E. Gale and James E. Sullivan. The Lima postoffice has had a migratory history; on July 4, 1894, the cornerstorre of a new federal building was laid at the corner of High and Elizabeth streets ; the ceremony was under the direction of Allen Andrews, Grand Master Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio ; the building was completed September 30, 1895, and the postoffice was installed there the first of October ; the building was erected at a cost of $40,000; such rapid growth for Lima was not anticipated when the appropriation was made for the federal building; it was soon found that it was too small for the needs of the community. In 1909 the building was remodeled at a cost of $60,000, thereby gaining much needed space ; while it was being remodeled the office was removed to the Piper Building on South Main Street ; the remodeling and extensions to the building were completed, and the postoffice was returned to it in the first part of A. E. 352 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY Gale's incumbency ; this $60,000 expenditure afforded but little temporary relief, as the rapid growth of the postal business, together with the closing of the South Lima station (established August 1, 1903, and discontinued December 31, 1911) which necessitated the removal of two clerks and five city carriers to the main office, and this utilized practically all the space gained from remodeling the building. When rural free delivery of mail from Lima was an experiment, Robert G. Stockton served the Shawnee Township area beginning April 1, 1900, and by June 1, four other routes were started and today the nine carriers from Lima cover a total of 241 miles, serving 1,467 families numbering in all 5,638 patrons. In 1918, the interior of the local post-office was remodeled again ; a chute for sending parcel post mail to the basement was installed at an expense of $1,200; the growing parcel post and collect on delivery service as now established throughout the country, is the biggest proposition postal officials have to handle because of the lack of proper facilities ; there is so much bulk to this class of mail. Since 1916, every effort has been made by Postmaster J. E. Sullivan and Congressman B. F. Welty to secure an appropriation for a much-needed new federal building and site ; in the Sixty-sixth Congress an omnibus bill was recommended for passage ; in this omnibus bill an appropriation was included for a new site and federal building in Lima; however, the bill failed of passage. Lima postoffice was made a central accounting office for the County of Allen, effective July 1, 1917, and it included all post-offices in the county except the office at Delphos ; the offices reporting were : Beaver Dam, Bluffton, Conant, Elida, Gomer, Harrod, Hume, Kempton, Lafayette, Spencerville, West Cairo and Westminster ; on March 15, 1920, Cincinnati was named central accounting office for the third and fourth-class offices in this part of Ohio ; all business for the above named offices except Conant which was discontinued December 15, 1919, was transferred from Lima to Cincinnati. CHAPTER XXXIV THE BENCH AND THE BAR IN ALLEN COUNTY The story of the bench and the bar in Allen County is contemporary with the history of the county itself. Indeed, there were jurists in the little group of over-night guests in the Daniels cabin when the name Lima was last in the hat the night of the christening, Patrick G. Goode being a lawyer along with his other accomplishments. It was "circuit" court in the beginning, since none of the lawyers lived in Allen County. One handicap of the law practice in the days of Count Coffinberry and his contemporaries was the frequent high waters-they had to "swim the streams lengthwise," in reaching the scattered courts. The courts as well as the churches were served by circuit riders. An old account says : "Our jail was a small log hut with only two rooms, one above the other, but they scarcely ever had inmates ; our court hardly ever lasted more than two days ; the first that went from this county to the penitentiary was Alexander Hof man for horse-stealing," and in the chapter, "The Official Roster," is detailed the story of the one execution in Allen County. The law literature of Ohio is abundant, it having been accumulating since the time Judge. Timothy Walker of Cincinnati wrote "The American Law." The Allen County bar has pride in its law library maintained in the courthouse and accessible to all. Membership at the bar entitles an attorney to the use of it, and it is a solution of the financial difficulty for any young lawyer who is limited in his book purchasing ability. All the Ohio reports and those of nearby states are found there, and through the use of it the individual attorney does not require such an extensive and expensive working library of his own, and while books may be removed the borrower must always leave his card covering his obligation for them. The story is related that an attorney from West Virginia thought he knew more law than the Ohio attorneys, and he would sometimes cross the river and practice in Ohio ; when he found that he would have to pursue a course of study to practice in Ohio courts, he said : "I never did pretend to be much of a Blackstun lawyer, but I'm thar on the Virginny statoots." Before entering upon the practice of law in Allen County, the candidate must pass the state examination ; he must show literary qualifications equal to three years of high school training; a man must register as a law student three years before he is admitted to the Allen County bar ; the requirements were not always so stringent. Law has been commercialized along with other commodities, and attorneys must make money ; it has been defined as a "hocus pocus science which smiles in your face while it picks your pockets," and again it is said the mission of the lawyer is not to tell their clients what they cannot do, but to get them out of their difficulties after they have done certain things. President Abraham Lincoln once said: "In law it is good policy never to plead what you need not lest you oblige yourself to prove what you cannot," and that plan saves the witness unnecessary confusion. There is an Arabian proverb : "A secret is in my custody if I keep it ; but should it escape me, it is I who am the prisoner," and from the same source comes the statement : "A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason ; if he possess some knowledge of these he may venture to call himself an architect." - 353 - Vol. 1-23 354 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY When Allen County was but a small part of the great Northwest Territory and without name or outline, Judge Burnett of Cincinnati would hold territorial court at Marietta and Detroit, from 1796 to 1802, and there was much difficulty then with the Indians in Western Ohio and in Indiana from horse-stealing; the judge traveled from one court to the other on horseback, and he was in sympathy with the white settlers who suffered so many such losses; in his notes he wrote about stopping at Wapakoneta and witnessing a ball game there, so that he must have crossed Allen County several years in advance of Judge Samuel Marshall who carried the United States mail from Piqua to Fort Defiance. There was litigation from the beginning, and the situation described by John Greenleaf Whittier, the Quaker poet, seems an impossibility: "No doubtful balance of rights and wrongs, Nor weary lawyers with endless tongues." Before the judge of the court comes all the woes of humanity, and a well-known humorist has said : "Some folks are so guilty they cannot find a lawyer famous enough to defend them." It is said that when people know themselves innocent they are satisfied with a trial before the judge, but when they are guilty they have a dozen chances for a more favorable decision as to their guilt or innocence by leaving it to a jury; when the retainer is sufficient, the spellbinders at the bar are sometimes able to influence a jury, while the judge is often immovable under the pressure of their eloquence. In a figurative sense, the terms bench and bar indicate the judge of the court and the practicing members of the legal fraternity; in another chapter all the judges who have occupied the bench in Allen County are enumerated, while there is a roster of the bar on file with the clerk of the court ; some of the members of the Allen County bar have enrolled themselves as patrons of the Allen County History, in the biography section. Bench is a time-honored term, English in its origin ; the judge is a public officer vested with authority to hear and determine causes—civil or criminal—and to administer justice according to the law and the evidence produced by the litigants before him. Laws are the necessary relations resulting from the nature of things ; many matters are settled in court every year about which there has been no controversy-litigation without the element of contest—simply an amiable adjustment of matters. Judicial proceedings do not necessarily mean controversy, and there are many prosperous lawyers who seldom appear in court. There are estates to be settled and titles to be cleared, and the mimic dictionary definition of the word lawyer : "The man who rescues your property from the adversary and keeps it himself," is perhaps descriptive of the situation ; some who have experience in the courts of injustice feel that way about it. There is mention of the accuracy of the work of Esquire James Nicholas, who served in minor legal capacity in Allen County for fifty-seven years, that he wrote more wills and acknowledged more deeds than any man in his generation, and there was never a will broken that he wrote and frequently he effected compromises without causes coming to trial ; he was a student of nature—never an eclipse of the sun or the moon without his knowledge, and he could name the stars. Esquire James Nicholas of the Welsh community was the historian and astronomer of his day, and while he never qualified as a judge he does hold the record for term of legal service. As justice of the peace all sorts of complaints were heard in his court. In the way of minor courts, there are few incidents that will eclipse the record of Henry DeVilliers Williams—the first mayor of Lima. While HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 355 it may be said that Mayor Williams introduced his own views as to what constituted the work of the "blind goddess," he did set an example in administering justice ; a strapping fellow, Jacob Ridenour, and powerful as he was massive, was one day in the mayor's court as the culprit ; a smaller man on the street had started making fun at his expense ; the unoffending youth from the country stood it for awhile, but then as now there was a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue, and Ridenour ordered the offender to shut up, and when the warning went unheeded, the "strapping" one picked up the diminutive fellow and slammed him down in the mud ; the youth had Ridenour arrested for it. He was brought before Mayor Williams charged with disorderly conduct ; the evidence was against him, and like a man he pleaded guilty. - "Hizzoner," the mayor gave the offending youth a lecture, and in order to maintain the dignity of the law he fined the culprit before him $5, and in it all there was no show of sympathy ; however, Mayor Williams was an actor and in the "nick o' time," he patted Ridenour on the shoulder, saying: "Now, Jacob, for having administered a well-merited punishment to a bully, I will allow you $5.25, and here is the change," and thus Ridenour was vindicated and had 25 cents left after paying for his experience. Where is the man today who does not justify Mayor Williams ? In reminiscent mood a man looking back over the years said that it was a wonderful bar—that first generation of Allen County lawyers ; the second generation held its own, and the men at the Allen County bar today are recognized as jurists-there are some outstanding characters among them. There are some fine legal specimens-some towering intellects, and some lawyers still give advice that keeps people out of court ; difficulties may be adjusted through arbitration, and the story is told of an Allen County lawyer who adjusted a difference between a German and Negro woman who had quarreled about their chickens ; their poultry all used a common range, and when night came on each tried to round up the whole flock ; they had words and when they brought their case to a lawyer, he advised them to remain away from the range in the evening—neither try to drive home the flock, as their chickens would settle the dispute by going home to roost ; they both accepted the logic, and both refused to pay for such ordinary advice-something they already knew themselves. However, most Allen County lawyers are able to commercialize their knowledge of law. While the third generation of lawyers is now practicing at the Allen County bar, those of today have had an opportunity of enrolling themselves and their ancestry ; it is said that old galaxy of Allen County lawyers used to occupy chairs on the sidewalk in front of their respective offices-there were no skyscraper office building in Lima then, and a possible client who accosted one must wait until the attorney finished the story he was telling, before he would think of taking on any further litigation obligations ; some members of the local bar who otherwise distinguished themselves in the past were : Isaiah Pillars, who represented Allen County m the Ohio Assembly and who was attorney-general of Ohio ; Charles N. Lamison was a member of Congress, and C. S. Brice, who distinguished himself as a financier, was a member of the United States Senate. Senator Brice did more than any other to focus the attention of the outside world on Lima ; the most satisfactory likeness of him now hangs in the office of Self ridge and Self ridge, and those who see it imagine they see the senator again. Others in that group were James Mackenzie, B. F. Metcalf, E. A. Ballard and T. E. Cunningham. They never sullied the ermine and there is still a very high moral standard at the Allen County bar. There are men in the local bar who are known 356 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY in the halls of state, and there is a fraternal spirit apparent at all times. The bench and the legal profession have had recognition beyond the confines of Allen County and local legal acumen is appreciated in the courts of the Commonwealth of Ohio. While there are unwritten laws in society and lynch laws in some communities that do not require legal advice in their execution, jurisprudence is a systematic knowledge of the laws, customs and the rights of man in a state or community, necessary to secure the due administration of justice. A jurist is one who professes the science of law and sometimes he writes it. Although no one enjoys a mirthful aspersion upon his own profession more than a lawyer, it is unanimously declared that the legal light who defined arson as "pizen" was not a member of the bar in Allen County. However, it is related that Michael Leatherman and John Collett once occupied the same law office and in order that each might have a key they had two locks on the door. When Leatherman went out of the door he locked it. When Collett was ready to leave his key availed him nothing and he crawled out through a window—a duplicate of the story of the settler who cut a hole in the cabin door for the cat and a smaller hole by it for the kittens. There is a commendable thing noticeable among the attorneys at the Allen County bar that when speaking to other members or of them, titles are given them, thus preserving dignity in the social relation. There have been so many changes in the judicial relation of Allen to other counties that in the official roster judges are listed who never lived in Allen County, while there were associate judges under the original Ohio Constitution, on the adoption of the second Constitution, March 10, 1851, the District Common Pleas and the County Probate Court assumed all local jurisdiction. From the beginning there had been a president judge sitting with the associate judges since 1831, when local government was established, the judge being required to hold court in turn in each county. The regulation was preposterous under old-time transportation difficulties, and time was when the word circuit was not devoid of meaning. Men have frequently crossed swollen streams—the contemporaries of Count Coffinberry, under difficulties. They must reach some distant court in time to deal out justice. Some noted jurists were Allen County visitors, and Judge William L. Half en- stein at one time projected a community-Auglaize City. The Supreme court had both original and appellate jurisdiction, and important criminal cases were tried before it while the judges were still peripatetic, holding court in all of the counties. While in some counties the courthouse bell still calls the litigants to court, in other courts the bailiff shouts the words : "Come to court! Come to court! Come to court !" and when he says "Hear ye, court is now in session," the "mills of the gods begin to grind slow and exceeding fine." When court is in session those in durance vile know their doom is approaching, and they are more or less anxious about it. While the rain falls on the just as well as on the unjust, the judge of the court must possess his soul in patience while the lawyers at the bar quibble over seemingly irrelevant matters, and at all hazards the witness must be protected from the onslaught of unscrupulous attorneys. Sometimes timid unoffending and innocent witnesses are made to suffer in cross-examination, and the voice of sympathy and the kindly look on the face of the judge may inspire them. It is well understood that every prisoner at the bar must have the benefit of the doubt and conviction must come only when there is no uncertainty about his guilt. Sometimes a man who is a prince at cross examinations is inclined to forget HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 357 the rights and privileges of the witness unless the judge protects him. At all hazards the dignity of the court must be maintained, although there are vexatious problems in jurisprudence. Some lawyers comprehend while others do not, but bulldozing tactics are ever under the tans in Allen County. It has been said that obedience to law is liberty and while pettifoggers may attempt to blind the jury, the unfailing judge always charges them that he is impartial—that they must not gain the impression that he has any personal opinion about cases given to them for settlement. There are two sides to all questions, and the jury must weigh the law and the evidence in all maters brought before it. The judge always explains to the jury the construction of the law with reference to particular situations. The witnesses and the jury all take the oath "So help me God,"• and they are always impressed with the fact that right wrongs no one at all. What is true in other communities is true in Allen County and lawyers no longer depend wholly upon their eloquence in giving to the jury a pithy story to carry them through, the newspapers having spoiled that possibility, having "stolen their ammunition" by spreading the story in advance, and crowds are no longer attracted to the court rooms for such details, only in extraordinary instances. Only the bare facts in the law and evidence are now summed up by the most successful attorneys. While not so much is required by way of qualifications in order to be admitted to the bar, the shrewd Allen County lawyer well understands that his knowledge is• his capital, and that cold-blooded facts without garniture are the convincing things-the bread and butter end of the story. It is taken for granted that there is not a lawyer at the Allen County bar who would not offer $2 worth more counsel when asked to take a $3 fee out of a $5 bill, were such an emergency confronting him. It is universally conceded that the average Allen County lawyer will take care of himself in the matter of charges for his services. Time was in the Allen County court when both prisoners and counter- clients were afraid of the "spellbinders," who were reputed to be able to influence juries by their eloquence, but under the searchlight of more widespread general intelligence, the advocate at law must be wholly in sympathy with his cause, if eloquence comes to his rescue at all. Most attorneys at law are students, and when fiery oratory prevailed decisions were often reached purely under the stress of emotion. Just as the martial music of the fife and drum stir a crowd on a gala day, some men have been able to sweep everything before them with their own strong personality. There is inspiration in numbers, and oratory always attracts the crowd. There are men at the Allen County bar who are eloquent in or out of court, but, as has been stated in many instances, the newspapers have already heralded forth the story, and the businesslike lawyer comes to the point in the fewest possible words. While there may still be causes that stir the heart, the orator at the Allen County bar must feel the burden of his words, or they fall without impress upon the jury and upon those sitting beyond the jury box as well as those who always arrive at their own conclusions, and unless an attorney has a distinctive message, why should he exert himself to the point of frenzy? This is the age of calm reason, rather than disturbed emotions, and the Allen County legal fraternity has adapted itself to the changed conditions. Litigations arise from various sources and the business of the bench and the bar alike depends upon litigation. From the nature of the case lawyers naturally enjoy trials and tribulations. Questions of title-friendly litigation-often claim the attention of eminent attorneys. A flaw may have occurred in the spelling of a name, as 358 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY "Johnzy Keeth," with which Allen County realty dealers and abstracters have frequently juggled, or a signature may be in doubt-many technicalities and legal entanglements are annually straightened out in court. Interpreters of the law quite frequently become lawmakers, as has been demonstrated in Allen County, one solon achieving much notoriety because of his attack on a Federal judge who was drawing two salaries—Congressman B. F. Welty criticising Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis of Chicago. Quite of ten the political bee buzzes in the legal head gear—the lawyer's bonnet-and sometimes he is adapted to legislative requirements. When politics becomes morals applied to government, the Decalogue and the Golden Rule will assist men greatly in framing the necessary laws, and patriotism, always commendable, will be as pure as the sunlight and not tainted with the influence of the almighty dollar. When partianism is buried in patriotism and all hearts throb with one common purpose, the purification of politics, now an iridescent dream, may then be accomplished in the world. The battle for supremacy is as old as nature itself, and in it there are no humanities ; there is no sentiment, and yet passing inquiry indicates that the Allen County bar is a good, average group of attorneys. There seems to be an elevated sense of justice and right in the minds of all of them. There is such a thing as justice tempered with mercy. There are human interest stories heard in court every day, and while there is a jury to decide their merits, there are attorneys at the Allen County bar who understand all about the psychological moment—know just when and how much pressure they must bring to bear to accomplish their purpose. There are lights and shadows. There are cheerful as well as gloomy pictures, as the panorama is enacted in the courts of Allen County. The following tribute to the personnel of the Allen County bar, past and present, is from one having personal acquaintance with most of them : "Among the gentlemen who have worn the ermine and who are actual, bonafide residents of Allen County, Judge Benjamin T. Metcalf, at that time considered the greatest of Allen County's lawyers, was the first. He started in life as a tailor and while thus working he studied law, and he came up to the front by his ability and industry. He was elected in 1851, and was serving his third term in 1865, when death overtook him. James Mackenzie, second to none as a judge, was the son of a member of the Canadian Parliament, and a native of Scotland. He was one of the strongest characters of the early years. He had been a member of the school board in Putnam County, and he became school examiner in Allen County. As prosecuting attorney Judge Mackenzie served three counties—Henry, Putnam and Allen. As common pleas judge he filled the unexpired term of his predecessor. He was elected then in 1869, and again in 1875, practically serving three terms. "Charles M. Hughes was the first judge born in Allen County. He had the confidence of the people in a remarkable degree. As a captain in the Civil war he led the company in some of the most serious engagements ; as probate judge, prosecuting attorney, and finally as common pleas judge for ten years, he was loved and respected by all. John E. Richie was one of Lima's most public spirited citizens. He was a native of Van Wert County. He was a farm boy and a teacher in public schools. He was admitted to the bar in Lima and took front rank at once. The firm of Ballard & Richie was known all over northwestern Ohio. Serving as judge of the common pleas court for ten years, he left a record that anyone could well be proud of. William H. Cunningham was first elected judge of the court of common pleas for Allen HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 359 County in 1898, and again in 1903, and no man stood higher in the estimation of his fellow citizens. "Judge Cunningham was noted for the fair and impartial decisions that characterized his labors on the bench. In November, 1906, he died and Governor Harris appointed George H. Quail to the vacancy until 1908, the time of the next general election, when M. L. Becker was elected to finish the term. Both Quail and Becker were recognized as judges of a very high order, and of great force and ability. William Klinger started in official life as prosecuting attorney of Allen County, serving two terms from 1899 to 1905, and in 1908 he was elected to the common pleas bench and re-elected at the end of his first term, thus serving Allen County twelve years. He has the reputation of having been one of the most careful, impartial and painstaking judges that ever occupied the bench in Allen County. Fred C. Becker, elected in 1920, is a son of Judge M. L. Becker. He had served as probate judge to the general satisfaction of all of the people and came from that office to the bench in the common pleas court of Allen County. "Among the prominent attorneys who became citizens, or who were born in Allen County was M. N. Nichols, who was three times congressman, and who served with distinction as an officer in the Civil war. Charles N. Lamison was also a Civil war veteran. He went out as captain and was afterward major of the Eighty-first Ohio Volunteers. He served as prosecuting attorney two terms, and was later elected for two terms as congressman from this district. When he died he was holding a government appointment in one of the southwestern territories. Theodore E. Cunningham, known to everybody as 'Doan,' was a very able attorney and he was one of the most lovable of men. The latch string was always. out with him, and none went to him for a favor that came empty away. He edited The People's Press for a while, was commissioner of the board of enrollment during the Civil war, and later he was assessor of internal revenues. In 1873 he was elected as delegate from this county to the Ohio Constitutional Convention. He learned the printing trade when a very young man, working on the Kalida Venture, and later, in an editorial capacity, he worked on The Lima Argus. His son, the Hon. W. H. Cunningham, who was one of the best loved judges of the common pleas court, inherited the sunny disposition of his father. There was no man in the county more universally respected and beloved than 'Doan' Cunningham. "Isaiah S. Pillars was probably the ablest lawyer practicing at the Allen County bar. As attorney general of the state, elected in 1877, it is said of him that the opinions he formulated in that office were almost invariably sustained by the Supreme court. In 1861, he was appointed by Governor Tod as commander at Camp Lima with the rank of colonel. In 1868 he was a presidential elector. In 1853, Thomas M. Robb was admitted to the Allen County bar. He led a very active life. He was clerk of the court for seven years in Logan County. He was postmaster at Bellefontaine and mayor of Lima. In 1856 he was elected probate judge in Allen County. He served for six years with credit to himself. Judge Robb edited The Western Aurora at Beliefontaine, The Gazette at Marysville, The Democrat at Logan, and later The People's Press at Lima. While in Columbus serving as representative of Allen County he was stricken with paralysis, which left him incapacitated till his death. "Colonel Lester Bliss was the first mayor of Delphos. He was also elected and served as Allen County's first representative in the Ohio Legislature under the Constitution of 1852. He served with great credit in the Civil war, being rewarded with a commission as lieutenant colonel. 360 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY In August, 1851, he located as a practicing attorney at Lima. Samuel Brown was also an early attorney at Delphos, settling there in 1856. He was appointed United States district attorney in one of the western states by President Buchanan. He died at the age of ninety in Denver. Samuel Barr, Theodore Brotherton and J. A. Anderson were other early attorneys in Delphos. A. J. Owens, who located at Bluffton in an early day, is favorably known as an aged attorney there. "For many years the name of Walter B. Richie was one to conjure with. He was a member of many secret societies, and he was known all over the United States. He was grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and the author of its improved ritual. In every sense of the term he was a public spirited man. Although never a candidate for political preferment he never failed to assist his friends. When the storms beat he was a 'house of refuge' for them. In the interests of his clients he was an untiring worker, honest and faithful in all things. Theodore D. Robb, three times mayor of Lima, was a well known Lima attorney. He was elected probate judge in 1894 and served six years. "Col. H. S. Prophett, a Civil war veteran, wounded in battle, and honorably mentioned by his commanding general for 'conspicuous gallantry and efficiency in battle,' came to Lima in 1872. He served as city solicitor for four years, and later as prosecuting attorney for the same length of time. He served as a member of the board of education for nineteen years, and was for ten years its president. Jacob C. Ridenour was one of the best trial lawyers in northwestern Ohio. He was a student always, had a prodigious memory, and was a wonderful mathematician. He sprang into notice at once. He was prosecuting attorney for six years. He was a delegate to the national convention of the democratic party in 1900. Before he reached middle age he died in the height of success. J. N. Bailey of Spencerville had a large law practice. As attorney, farmer and banker he was very successful. "From the opening of the first court until now the bar of Allen County is second to none. It has been composed of a clean lot of honorable men. They have now and always have had the respect and confidence of the entire people of the county. The attorneys already mentioned have gone to their reward, some of them many years ago. The following now doing business as attorneys, many of whom are widely known outside the county (some of them with a national reputation) are worthy representatives of the present Allen County bar : Half hill, Quail and Kirk, L. E. Ludwig, William L. Parmenter, Mackenzie and Weadock, Cable & Cable, F. N. Downing, Wheeler & Bentley, Stephen A. Armstrong, Emmet E. Everett, J. H. Goeke, Henderson & Durbin, Lippincott & Lippincott, J. W. Kilgore, Klinger & Klinger, W. P. Anderson, M. A. Atmur, Axline & Miller, Becker & Becker, Edwin Blank, E. M. Botkin, C. J. Brotherton, Beryl A. Crites, E. G. Dempster, J. F. Ewans, C. L. Fess, H. D. Grindle, William H. Guyton, T. R. Hamilton, Hersh & Sutton, B. H. Holmes, Walter S. Jackson, Kies & Garling, Leete & Light, Paul T. Landis, I. R. Longsworth, McClain & Gerstenlauer, F. E. Mead, C. H. Neville, J. H. O'Connor, Neil R. Poling, W. J. Richie, Roby & Jackson, Rockey, Rodger & Steiner, L. H. Rogers, W. L. Rogers, Selfridge & Self ridge, W. W. Sutton and R. R. Trubey. In Delphos Lindemann & Lindemann are prominent attorneys." In reminiscent vein, the following good story is an incident that occurred more than seventy-five years ago, and was published in The Delphos Herald while under the editorship of D. H. Tolan : A prominent attorney of Findlay, who attended and participated in all the courts in adjoining counties, including Allen, and well known to all the members HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 361 of the old bench and bar of northwestern Ohio, was supposed to have that besetting sin sometimes discovered among those otherwise good and great, the vice of using to excess spirituous liquors. He was once gently reminded by his younger brother of the bar, the Hon. James M. Coffin- berry, that his truest and best friends considered that he was using stimulants to a degree that might be regarded as excessive. Count Coffinberry also reminded him that he had a most valued and affectionate family whom he dearly loved and whose love was reciprocated by them, and that they had the highest claim upon him. Count Coffinberry also reminded the man that he had troops of friends and could have eminent success in the line of his profession, and that the only stumbling block in his pathway was the unfortunate habit referred to, when the attorney under fire replied: "Well, Coffinberry, I have myself often reflected on the matters to which you have called my attention. They have inflicted upon my mind and heart unnumbered pangs, and I have thought that if half a dozen good fellows like yourself, with their families, would arrange to go Iowa or some state where God had not covered the earth with an unconquerable wilderness, and where the surface, was two-thirds of the year covered with water, and where in order to practice law you have got to go from county to county and swim the d____d stream endwise, I would quit it. But the situation being as we find it, how in h___ can you expect me to change my habits ?" And the story serves to illustrate the advantages vouchsafed to such characters by national prohibition. CHAPTER XXXV MATERIA MEDICA IN ALLEN COUNTY The history of medicine is as old as civilization itself. While the fathers and mothers in the log cabin days in Allen County history, when there were only scattered clearings in the wilderness, always "worked it off" when they were "under the weather," there was always a bottle of quinine on the shelf along with their copy of Doctor Gunn, and somementimes there was something in a jug that never failed to relieve them. Thus they understood materia medica in their day and generation. The history of medicine is the story of man in his most vital relations. It leads to the study of the laws of nature as applied to and governing his physical well-being and someone has said : "The proper study of mankind is man ; higher than this there is none, and the study of medicine involves the philosophical truth many centuries old : "Know thyself," the inscription written on the Delphic oracles. One hundred years in history is not so long a time, and the centenary of the birth of Florence Nightingale—May 12, 1920—just exactly three months after the first centenary in Allen County, February 12, 1920, shows that extraordinary strides have been made in all lines of advancement, and the nursing and medical profession have kept pace with the rest of the world. Florence Nightingale is the patron saint of the hospital and the handmaiden of the medical doctor. While the career of the Allen County Medical Society has been checkered, and the present secretary does not have the record of its organization, an item in The Lima Weekly Gazette in 1867 mentions it, listing Doctors Cunningham, McHenry, Sanford, Ashton, Neff, Thrift, Baxter and Hiner as members. Other doctors of the period were : Harper, Kendall, Kincaid and Curtis. The 1920 organization shows as president, Dr. Charles D. Gamble ; secretary, Dr. E. C. Yingling, but the official roster is changed frequently, thereby shifting the responsibility for the success of the meetings. The Allen County Medical Society is an adjunct to the State and American Medical Associations. Any medical doctor in good standing in the Allen County Medical Society is eligible to membership in the greater associations. While there has long been a more or less active Allen County Medical Society, sometimes questions have arisen that created a difference of opinion, and lack of harmony and interest resulted in the cessation of regular meetings. The service fee has always been one source of disagreement, physicians in the larger centers rating their services higher than the country doctors. When there were fewer people in the community there were fewer ailments and consequently fewer physicians, but today there is a capable group of medical men holding membership in the Allen County Medical Society. Doctor Yingling reports a membership of seventy-five, with only reputable physicians admitted, and there are monthly meetings. There is a code of ethics in the society and advertising is not allowable under any circumstances. While a physician may use personal cards he must not quote prices nor promise cures. Malpractice disqualifies a physician from membership, and while there are specialists there is always room at the top of the medical profession. While in modern surgery tonsilitis is described as tonsil-out-is, the Allen County physicians and surgeons are spoken of as a conscientious body of professional men—capable practitioners who have fitted themselves for it. There is - 362 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 363 the requisite professional courtesy, and instead of jealousy controlling them, groups of physicians have their offices together. Many Allen County physicians are postgraduates and the doctor who does not review his studies and keep abreast soon finds himself losing patronage. While many Lima physicians came in from the smaller communities, they hold their rural patronage. An office practice with established office hours is different from a country practice with calls at all hours. There are signs reading: "Office business strictly cash," and thus there are no collections or bad accounts. The service rendered one family is not charged to another considered better able to pay for it. Before he is admitted to membership in the Allen County Medical Society, a doctor must be registered and live one year in the county ; his qualifications, a diploma from any recognized, reputable school of medicine. There are allopath, homeopath and eclectic physicians in the Allen County Medical Society. The medical doctor must have a good literary education before beginning the study of medicine, the standards having been raised recently. The early day country doctor knew little about anatomy and physiology, although he was often successful in combating diseases. Science has always been the great enemy of disease, and a sound mind in a sound body is the ideal for which scientific research is striving. For every weapon which chance has revealed in fighting the spread of disease, there are many discovered by science. While Dr. Daniel Drake's monumental treatise "The Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America" was about the first thing on materia medica written by an Ohioan—Dr. Drake, a Cincinnatian—there is no lack of concerted action in combating disease. While it is said "The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind, the lawyer all the wickedness and the theologian all the stupidity," nothing is more terrible than to see ignorance in action. Error of opinion may be tolerated when reason is left free to combat it, and a complimentary news item was lately given to the world, "Lima is the fifth city in Ohio in efficiency of method taken to combat venereal diseases," the rating disclosed in a survey of 444 of the largest cities in the country. Dayton, Portsmouth, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Lima-and while that is foreign to malaria, a pestilence which since the memory of man has made life in great regions of the globe almost unbearable—malaria has been conquered by a study of the cause of the disease and the manner of spreading it. The very name "mal-ari-a" is suggestive of bad air, all indicative of the early attitude toward the disease. Years ago everything was bilious fever, black measles, black diphtheria-malignant disorders with phthysic and flux thrown in for good measure and typhoid fever was prevalent—but there is not much contagion today because science has reduced it. In the Garden of Eden under the old apple tree man became wise about many things, and today the human family knows something about diseases and their prevention, an ounce of the latter being worth all of the cures in the world. Bacteria, germs-why, the shortest poem in the English language, "Adam Had 'Em"—was written on the subject of germs. Doctor Plain-diet has always been regarded as an exemplary citizen, and there are conscientious doctors who recommend sanitary measures sometimes rather than prescribe antidotes. That story is in contradistinction to the one of an Allen County woman who administered a stimulant to her husband before showing him her millinery bill, but she realized that he would need it. There is another stock story that fits anywhere, so it may be reproduced as an Allen County episode. A man wrote the doctor that he had itch because he could not spell rheumatism. Because the doctor 364 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY could not diagnose the case according to the patient's conception of it, he caused the man to have fits, saying he was an expert in handhng them. Fits were his specialty ; he was strong on fits. Another query: Was it an Allen County physician who suggested vaccinating a little girl on her tongue because the mother had no idea what styles would prevail when the child had attained to womanhood and might wish to conceal the scar ? Emergencies usually disclose the necessary qualities. The pioneer mothers-and their name is legion—were always first at the bedside of the sick and in the absence of the doctor they ministered to their needs. They concocted their own remedies from barks and herbs—used hoarhound tea, calomel, jalap and other simple remedies, and neither the blasts of winter nor the heat of summer interfered with their mission when chills and fevers were so prevalent—the chills and ague now diseases of yesterday. Drainage has worked the transformation; science has rescued the community. It is said that dispensary physicians prevail again. Only a few write prescriptions, thus dividing the legitimate drug store patronage. Someone writing of old-time home remedies, says : "They fed us on tonics from bottles and glasses and begged us to try one more plateful of greens," and while the Ottawa River as Hog Creek has been regarded as a reproach to the community, the Allen County medical fraternity has never attributed any epidemic directly to the classic Swinonia, chemical conditions seeming to neutralize the danger, and while sanitary measures seem imperative, people are healthy in face of the stench arising from the water. The annals of the community mention Dr. William McHenry, who came to Allen County in 1834, as Lima's first surgeon. For many years he had all the surgical business within a radius of twenty miles, and he was watchful of the community welfare. When the canal was being constructed at Delphos the contractor wanted reliable medical advice and they paid Doctor McHenry $20 a trip to come twice a week and look after their men. They were disposed to keep them well rather than doctor them when they were sick. Some families have that policy today. When the roads were muddy it was a wearisome trip twice a week for Doctor McHenry and he almost succumbed to disease himself at times. He knew what it meant to combat stagnant water, pools, ponds, driftwood, decaying vegetation and the consequent malaria. He was the advance guard of present-day health conditions in Allen County. An old account says of Dr. William Cunningham, who was Lima's earliest physician, and whose practice extended over a large territory, his professional visits leading him through unbroken forests when there were only bridle paths through the mud and water. He was always ready to relieve distress with or without remuneration for his services. He would ride night and day and he always encountered myriads of mosquitoes. In these days of rapid transit, when the family calling the doctor by telephone asks whether or not he has a self-starter on his automobile, it is of interest to follow Doctor Cunningham on his professional rounds. After a hard day through bad roads the doctor had a night call five miles in the country. With a wornout horse he was slow about starting, when the messenger cried out : "Doctor, you must ride like the devil ; she is awfully sick," and his reply was : "I do not know his gait, but you try it ; old Caesar and I will try and imitate you." And one who does not understand should read James Whitcomb Riley's "Rubiayat of Old Doc Sifers." It is said that in the 70s Dr. J. W. Hunt, a Delphos druggist, created a mammoth business in slippery elm bark by compounding a remedy that attained popularity. Hundreds of cords of elm HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 365 were cut in the adjacent ,swamps, and the printers got the elm while the people got the beverage made from the bark—a proprietary remedy that benefited the whole community. Perhaps the Hoosier poet received the inspiration for his Rubiayat while associated with the Townsend Medicine Company in Lima, worm lozenges being one of the products. In addition to his high professional standing, Dr. Edwin Ashton is spoken of as an Englishman who dressed well and carried a cane. He was always seen wearing a plug hat, but such stories do not detract from his professional standing. People like to see a professional man seem prosperous, and Doctor Ashton was very positive. When he said a thing was so he meant it. There is reference to him in the temperance and military chapters. Dr. Samuel A. Baxter, who has written much local lore, and who has been identified so intimately with community business development, had a military medical practice in the Civil war. He gained much notoriety because of his experience with smallpox when there was a scourge in Lima. He cared for the living and buried the dead, and it was the tide in his affairs that led on to affluence. He was able to combine experience thus obtained with business ability. There was cholera in Lima and in Delphos in 1845. and while many went away to escape it, many died from it. It is said that a man named Linn, who kept a store in the old log courthouse, went to Cincinnati for goods and he brought it to Lima. In June, 1851, it broke out again. By some it was called the Bubonic plague. In 1854 cholera swept the community again., Along in the '70s came the Wabash scratches. Allen County has been in line for everything. It is said the county could not have been settled without whisky and quinine. In the days of "snakebite" the air was so poisoned with malarial effluvia from the swamps and marshes that not only human beings but dogs suffered from fever and ague. There was milk fever and all the varieties of ague. There was quinine on the shelf long after Section Ten became Delphos, and the Black Swamp had been lowered and drainage finally solved the problem. When "Flu" struck Allen County in 1918 it became epidemic and there was consequent loss of life, although sanitary measures had long been inaugurated in Allen County. There is sanitary plumbing in the towns, and in the country there is sufficient range for safety. Since people do not throw dishwater at the kitchen door there are fewer diphtheria cultures in the community. There have been mothers who threw their slops from the back door and wondered why their children had all the diseases. Now and then a pioneer mother understood the theory of balanced rations, and served such varied menus of well-cooked foodstuffs that her family escaped many of the ills of the flesh. Before drainage removed the swampy rendezvous of the mosquitoes, and the sanitary commission objected to the accumulation of effete matter where flies secured filth that caused disease, people were the victims of their own ignorance. "Baby bye, here's a fly; let us watch him, you and I," but the foolish mother has learned better and today she "swats" him. Along in the centennial year some inventive genius constructed the screen door, and when flies and mosquitoes stopped outside of the house there was relief from some of the infections. In another direction science has become an enemy of disease. A knowledge of the human body's mechanism, both in health and disease, has enabled science to overcome many things. Now that men understand the fundamental law of digestion, nutrition and combustion, unnecessary troubles are obviated and some of the mechanical devices which have yielded most and which still will render the impossible pos- 366 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY sible are as simple and as commonplace as the wire screen in the prevention of malaria. In connection with this germ study it is said that Bluffton has given to the world Dr. Robert Murray, whose study of yellow fever conditions made him famous. He became chief surgeon in the marine service of the United States Army years ago, and his discovery overcame the yellow fever difficulty. There are county and city health doctors and now they designate certain cleanup days in every community. While it is a sanitary requirement it adds to the appearance of the town, and where there are diphtheria and typhoid fever contagions there is usually impure water. There are families who employ physicians to keep them well rather than to cure them of illness. An old account says : "At the time when the people were exterminating bears, panthers, and the vast forests, there was no time to make war on such small and ubiquitous things as mosquitoes," but they do not buzz quite so serenely today. When the swamps attracted millions of them, neither the doctor nor his patients suspected their deadly mission as disease spreaders. When the housewives used peach tree limbs and peacock tails to "mind the flies," they did not think of them as deadly enemies at all. When the fly had been barred, the American people had the advantages arising from it. When the barn yards were cleaned up and his breeding places were removed, many of the diseases he used to impart to the family were no longer prevalent. In Bible times there were hogwallows and as long as there are sows they will continue to return to them unless their owners use some precaution about such conditions. Instead of the lullaby about watching the fly, "Swat the fly" means more to motherhood today. It has been demonstrated that disease is caused by gases generated from decaying vegetation. While the results may not be immediate, and in the war period there has been less flagrant waste, it only requires sufficient time for incubation before the people are seized with fevers, etc., and all that may be obviated by removing the offending substances. When cellars are cleaned regularly there is little decaying vegetation. Yes, "cleanliness is next to godliness," and home sanitation has had much to do with changed health conditions. While the pioneers were not insanitary, they had not studied drainage and other questions that have revoplutionized social conditions. While there was no filth within the cabin walls, and some of the grandmothers were scrupulously clean housekeepers, there was stagnant water and the mosquitoes and files had their own way about everything. There are systems of house ventilation today, while the cracks in the floor and the open fireplace were about all the ventilation known to the settlers. There are bath tubs and shower baths available, while many of the pioneers never had a bath only in running water when the weather was warm—when they "went in swimmin'. Years ago a young woman said it was time a year to take a bath again. There used to be "sickly seasons," and if there was anything in suggestion, the settlers had the benefit. The doctors were disposed to mystify their patients by saying the trouble was resultant from "vegeto-animalcular" causes, meaning that the people were infected by organisms bred in decaying vegetation, and with that view of the situation home sanitation is largely responsible for better conditions. One account of a "terribly sickly season" says : "The fever was so continuous and so frightful were its effects that it is remarkable the settlers were heroic enough to remain in the new country. They stayed partly through grim determination, partly through natural indisposition to move backward, partly through love of HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 367 the beautiful country, and partly through that hope springing eternally in the breasts of the pioneers to cheer them in their toil and suffering," but time has drawn the curtain and only for the recent visitations of influenza it had cut off the memory of such things. Chills and fevers-who has them or thinks of them today? Flu is a twentieth century visitation that has given many people a comprehensive understanding of the chills and fevers of the pioneers. While writing the line one feels the symptoms, but here's hoping the reader escapes it. Rudyard Kipling exclaims : "Lest we forget, Lord, lest we forget," and the Flu epidemic has been sufficient reminder to all. When the chills were prevalent sometimes not a cabin escaped the visitation and there would not be a well person in the community. Many families had that experience in the Flu epidemics for two winters. In the early morning before the "shakes" came on, the water buckets would be filled by the most ablebodied ones and placed in reach of all, and when the fever would rise again each one could help himself. Many times the settlers wished themselves back in their old homes when the fever was highest, but when they were better they would remain and try it again. There were always some so sick their relatives could not leave them and each year brought new neighbors and changed conditions, until finally no one wanted to leave the community. In 1872 there was epizootic among horses that crippled all industries requiring their use, and it left diseased and imperfect animals. Many got rid of them as an economic measure. The effects of Spanish Influenza have been almost as serious among human beings. Some persons have not regained their normal strength since having the Flu. While there are frequent epidemics of measles, whopping cough, chicken pox, nettle rash, lagrippe and-say it softly-the seven-year itch—some of the people having it as many as three times—bathing and home sanitation have reduced the awful effects of them. Along with chills and agues there were dental troubles, and when the settlers used to twist out the teeth for each other they suffered untold agony. Many men and women of today have never seen the instrument of torture—the turnkey used by the settlers in twisting out their molars and incisors. Knocking out teeth for horses cannot be more barbarous than was this twisting process with the turnkey. NORTHWESTERN DENTAL SOCIETY—In 1882 there was an Allen County Dental Association organized which was in existence for many years. It finally "went to sticks," and Dr. George Hall, Lima's senior dentist, is about all who knows about it. He does not hold membership in the Northwestern Dental Society, embracing members in Allen, Auglaize, Mercer, Van Wert and Putnam counties-younger men making up the society. While Dr. H. M. Crawford is the recently elected secretary, he only has the 1920 records of the society. It has been in existence several years and meets once a month in the Y. M. C. A. in Lima. Dr. C. K. Tolf ord is president. The Northwestern Dental Society is a branch of the Ohio State Society, organized in 1866 and reorganized in 1884 and again in 1908, and the benefits of such society arise from its interest in legislation, the character of bills introduced regulating the practice of dentistry. Section 3 in the code of ethics of the Northwestern Dental Society reads : "The dentist should be temperate in all things, keeping both mind and body in the best possible health, that his patients may have the benefit of that clearness of judgment and skill which they have a right to expect," and certainly no objections will be sustained toward this welfare declaration. Quacks and advertising dentists are not eligible 368 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY to membership in the society. While high professional standards are maintained, the up-to-date dentists establish them. Now that dentition is claiming attention in the public schools, the next generation will be enabled to avoid some of the difficulties. Teeth are examined and recommendations are made, and in the light of science salivary calcali - once called tartar—is no longer allowed to run into pyorrhea, and the loss of the teeth. While there can be no ease in disease, with a deft movement of the wrist the modern dentist draws the tooth and there is an aching void, and many diseases are traced to defective teeth, the eyes and the teeth, but this is an age of specialists and it is quite proper to consult them. While Christian Science is not recognized by the medical or dental profession, there are practitioners in Allen County who effect cures without the use of medicine. It was first established in Lima in 1888, through a remarkable case of healing and soon others were interested and "strange doctrines" are advocated by seemingly progressive persons. Christian Scientists claim the practice a lost art that has been rediscovered by Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy. There are men and women who do not claim Science who still make use of the old prescription "Work it off" when some malady seizes them instead of invoking medical advice about their ailments. However, they recognize physical conditions while Christian Scientists say there can be no disease in matter. Materia Medica is subject to change and physicians handle their patients differently today. Since the understanding of theology changes, why not allow of the changes in the understanding of Materia Medica. The Northwestern Osteopathic Association was organized in Lima, A. D. 1920, including in its membership practitioners from a neighboring group of counties. A dozen osteopaths were present when the organization was effected at the Lima Club. The Allen County Chiropractic Association is another 1920 organization. The human body is a marvelous machine, and the chiropractor keeps it in working condition. Both the osteopath and chiropractor recognize the nervous system as the controlling agency of the body. While Christian Scientists, osteopaths and chiropractors do not recognize Materia Medica, they all practice the healing art and are mentioned in the same chapter. The cheerful practitioner, whatever his method, always has a benign influence when he enters the sick room, and metaphysics always will be his ally in combating diseases. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," and diet is better understood today. "Man is fearfully and wonderfully made," and emphasis is placed on the statement when woman is under consideration. However, since people better understand hygiene and sanitation there is less demand for medical advice in the community. Since men and women understand their own physical structures better, it works both ways, some feeling that such unusual complications require attention, while others rest assured about it. The quack doctor and his cure-all remedies answer the requirements of some, while others want the advice of reputable physicians. When most Allen County folk grow ill the material side of their nature asserts itself. They send for the medical adviser in whom they have the fullest confidence. The Indian sachem with his herbs and the old woman with her catnip tea and other concoctions are all right for a time, but there comes a day when men of learning are consulted. There may have been a time when Lima doctors depended upon Peruvian bark -something in a name-when they used quinine and calomel in heroic doses in combating chills and fevers, and while they were not often HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 369 fatal, the victims frequently suffered greatly from them. Sometimes the doctors themselves fell victims to the dread diseases in Allen County before the last vestige of the Black Swamp was a minus quantity. In Materia Medica Doctor Drake himself cites instances where treatments acting on the imagination had effected cures, and who has not sat by an open window with impunity while ignorant of the fact and yet immediately taken cold when told about it? The pioneer doctor used to bleed his patients, and they still "bleed" them. While they used to come on horseback and at breakneck speed when they wanted the doctor, they now call him by telephone. When a new doctor came into the community he would always have himself called out of church, or would be seen riding rapidly toward the country -anything to attract attention to himself. There are always two sides to any question and in commenting on Materia Medica one doctor said that nowadays people take time by the forelock ; they send for the doctor sooner and save continued ailments. The pioneers used more home remedies and when the doctor came the next thing they thought about was a minister for the funeral service. The Irish woman thought the patient was in danger as long as the doctor continued his visits, and again the family is under censure that does not send for the doctor. The history of medicine in Allen County has been a study in evolution and but few of the present day medical men remember when "yaller janders" was so prevalent. The good old doctor of the long ago would throw his saddle bags across his faithful horse and start out on his rounds which would often take all day and part of the night. If the roads were bad he never knew when he would reach home again. When the roads were too bad for the horse he walked the distance, but with better drainage and less stagnant water there were fewer mosquitoes, and consequently less malaria and kindred diseases. The time came when the country doctor had a two-wheeled sulky and later a buggy, and now, while the medical man is not unmindful of the faithful old horse of other days, the apothecary's hardships are not all in the past. If there isn't mud there's snow ; if there isn't snow there's mud, and the automobile is not always equal to the emergency ; it does not always negotiate in bad weather. When the rural family telephones the doctor they ask if he has a self-starter on his automobile, and they want to know that he will come in a hurry. The times have changed and the poetry and the sentiment of the long ago have been replaced by cold blooded business methods. It is no longer true—once the family doctor, always the family doctor. The old-time family doctor often ushered several generations into the world, but today one member of the family calls one doctor and another —well, there is no longer any sentiment about it. While doctors do not advertise, it is unprofessional, if one has success his patients advertise for him, and while doctors used to be afraid of each other and extremely jealous, there is a fraternal spirit today. When the old-time doctor had no spatula he would ask for a case knife in dealing out his powders. He uses capsules today. They are better than powders dissolved in water and taken every two hours. When the doctors used to give calomel there were salivated mouths unless the patients abstained from acid foods, and people sometimes lost their teeth from salivation. They used to follow calomel with quinine and then the capsules solved that difficulty. Who remembers taking sulphur in stewed apples or molasses ? Who said "backward, turn backward," in the world of diseases and their cures ? Vol. 1-24 370 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY SOME EARLY ALLEN COUNTY DOCTORS—While it is said that the medical man whose written directions "to be taken every hour, hourand-a-half or two hours" was a welcome visitor in the home of the settler, there seems to be more system about dispensing drugs today. Mention has already been made of some of the early doctors centering about Lima, and at Beaver Dam was Doctor Honnell, who belonged to the era when the physician sharpened his knife on his boot in order to try his hand at surgery. At Bluffton Dr. S. S. Yoder was once "the most beloved physician," while Dr. C. F. Steingraver was "highly respected" and there was once Dr. F. J. Baldwin, Dr. Charles Lanford Piper and Dr. J. R. Clark. At Delphos was Dr. H. P. Wagner, Dr. Joseph Reuhl and Dr. C. A. Evans. While all were eminent physicians in the early history of Delphos. Doctor Evans is remembered as a community builder who was active in securing the Narrow Gauge Railroad, now known as the Clover Leaf—a lasting monument to his enterprise. It is said that Doctor Wagner, who had no family, had amassed a small fortune and at the time of his sudden death it was distributed among distant relatives. There was no will disposing of it. At Elida were the following doctors : Hitchcock, Anderson, Rice, and at Gomer was Dr. John Davis, who was a Welsh musician and for thirty years a choir leader there ; also Dr, R. E. Jones, who has been designated "the grand old man of Sugar Creek." At Lafayette was Dr. Newton Sager—it is father and son—there being a Doctor Sager today. Among those who rode on horseback from Spencerville were Doctors Travis, Hart, Summers, Renner, while at Harrod was Doctor Johnson; at Westminster were Doctors Sullivan and Crabb and at West Newton were Doctors Huntley, Thomas and Davidson. Some of the pioneer doctors were successful in the practice of medicine, although the requirements are such today that they would be unable to pass the necessary examinations. CHAPTER XXXVI EARLY SOCIAL LIFE IN ALLEN COUNTY The following material is adapted from a paper written by Mrs. Julia Orbison Meily, dealing more particularly with conditions in Lima. It deals with conditions before the days of automobiles when the country seemed farther from the town, although the habits and customs of the people were the same in the different communities. Since there is no other paper on file in the archives of the Allen County Historical and Archaelogical Society in duplicate, much of it is used in the history. In assembling data, Mrs. Meily wrote many letters to absent friends and she quotes facts from many sources. The early families lived around and south of the public square, in the beginning of social life in Lima and Allen County. The whole population could easily be estimated, and in that day there was no newspaper nor outlet or inlet by rail or overland for the community. In the spring people traveled below and in the summer on top, carrying the idea of muddy roads in early history. An early home is described : the latchstring was always out and the family was happy and always ready to lend a helping hand ; the house was a cabin containing parlor, bed room, dining room and kitchen, with a shoe and broom shop where supplies were made for the family. In order to save fuel and light, the whole thing was in one room, which brought the family all together, and they could oversee each other. After supper each one knew his place. The father would make a sledge (frequently called maul), and the boys would strip broom corn while the girls spun 'yarn, and the mother knit or made garments. As the evening passes the girls sing songs, father makes chips and one of the boys relates a story while another laughs about it. Mother pokes up the wood fire on the hearth, and all enjoy the evening together. Each child cuts some antic for the amusement of the others. At times there were taffy pullings, corn huskings, cloth kicking, log rollings and frontier picnics. There was pleasure in those days, if there was no newspaper, we always had the news— "For Lima was a handy place, the people all like brothers ; When one had a little news, he would hand it round to others," and thus all the community knew about each other. The settlers were deprived of many comforts and conveniences, as places of entertainment and public resort, and the young people of today would think these were the most miserable people on the face of God's green earth, but such was not the case. They were a happy people, social without deceit, true and benevolent. The latchstring was always out and all were on a common level, Money had not yet become the test of manhood. The man in broadcloth and the woman in silk are seen today, while the loom, the wheel and the flax-brake are gone forever. Young people today wonder what use was made of them. When the young lady in silk asks her mother about her wedding gown she learns that the event was in January and the dress was plaid flannel made at home. The mother had made her own trousseau, spinning the yarn and coloring it indigo blue or madder red, and there had been a kicking party in making the cloth. When the people lived in the woods before there were any fulling mill§ or factories of any kind—not even carding machines-they fulled - 371 - 372 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY the cloth by kicking it with their feet, and kicking parties were much in vogue for many years. The father would kill a calf and a neighbor would tan the hide when some friend would make the bridal slippers and the young woman was as a bride adorned for her husband. The wedding was performed by the squire or a minister, with a taffy pulhng and a jolly time after the ceremony. It seems a far cry today that a young woman should weave her own wedding gown, and that the neighbors for miles around should be mvited to attend the kicking party. When the kicking party was in prospect, one of the boys would kill a wild turkey and some pheasants, and the mother would put the sugar kettle on and a pot pie was the result of it all. Ribbon cake was an unknown quantity in the frontier community. When the kicking party was announced the boys and the girls all came, the fun worth going for in those days. The water was warmed and the flannel was well soaped and soaked and piled into the middle of the floor. The motto "business before pleasure" was understood by all, the boys shedding their shoes and stockings and rolling up their trousers ready for the kicking process of fulling the flannel. A rope was stretched along the chairs to keep them from slipping and when all was in readiness the party was set in motion. Kick, kick, kick was the requirement from every side until suds and ,lather hid the flannel from view, and so the cloth was fulled for the wedding dress. When the fulling process was ended the rustic table was spread and the potpie was enjoyed by all. However, the party was not over. The floor is cleared again of the table, and the fun begins afresh-and thus is described a kicking party, a social party and a night of enjoyment in the backwoods in the early days of Allen County history. It was the means of bringing the young folks together in social way and of fulling the cloth at the same time when kicking was the only way to do it. ,Wool pickings and carding parties had been within the time of the writer of this folklore reminiscence, and the stories are understood by older persons in Allen County on the threshold of its second century in local history. Such gatherings belong to the past, and will never be revived again. They have followed in the wake of the wild animals that used to roam the Allen County forests and a more civilized condition exists today. The Bashore tavern was the center of the old social life, particularly for the men of the community. It was on the west side of Main Street half way between Spring and Elm, and for a decade politicians, teachers, preachers, story tellers, gathered around this festive spot, and argued all the questions of the day. When they were uncomfortable on the outside they went inside the hostelry. It was the stopping place for all newcomers who either inquired the way somewhere else or remained for a time within its friendly shelter. All comers and goers had much to say about "back yander" when lingering about the Bashore tavern in the early history of Lima and community. Even cases of love at first sight were not uncommon among the movers. When a young woman stuck her head out from the canvas top of a covered wagon she would sometimes see her fate, or the fate would see her. An early romance is mentioned. In the first year of Lima's history Miss Tompkins came to live with a brother, D. D. Tompkins, who had the first store in town, and who carried everything from laces and silks to candies and molasses. Doctor McHenry was seeking a location, fresh from medical lectures in Philadelphia. He arrived on horseback, stopping at the Tompkins store, and when he caught sight of Miss Tompkins the denouement came later when they were married, journeying to Xenia HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 373 on horseback for their wedding trip. The bride carried two silk dresses jammed into saddle bags and they were a mass of wrinkles when she saw them again. There was a reception for the bridal party, and she borrowed hot irons and pressed her dress to be in readiness. They later opened their home in Lima to all citizens of the community. Mrs. McHenry often received polite notes announcing company—will it be convenient for Mesdames So-and-So to spend the afternoons? And at supper time the husbands came and all had a good time together, the guests being the Bowers, Kellars and Binkleys. Along in the '40s in Lima history Mrs. R. L. Metheany would get word'in the morning by one of the children that Mrs. King, Mrs. Harper, Mrs. Dalzell and Mrs. Cunningham would spend the day with her. "If it is convenient Ave will spend the afternoon with you," the pronoun "we" always standing for from two to half a dozen, and since forewarned is forearmed in polite society, the aftermath was chickens to be dressed and pies and cakes to be made and held in readiness. There were always jars of preserves and pickles and the last thing to be placed in the oven was the biscuits. They called it supper, although it is dinner in polite society today. The husbands would arrive and the women would fold their work and lay it away and spend a pleasant evening. There were no fancy bags then as today. They knew how to fasten the knitting needles to guard against the loss of stitches and the simple life one reads about today was a reality in Lima society. At another time a child was sent to Mrs. Jacobs with a note asking if it would be convenient for Mrs. Cheevers, Mrs. Dalzell and Mrs. Bashore to spend the afternoon, which was interpreted to mean "stay for supper," and of course it was perfectly convenient for Mrs. Jacobs. So, with plenty of work carried along, the women of Lima spent many pleasant afternoons together. There were no clubs or research societies, but their social natures were gratified with friendly intercourse and frequently there were dancing parties in the evening. When a dance was in prospect the ladies prepared meat, rolls, chickens, cakes, pies and everything, and when it was 12 o'clock they made coffee, spread the table and had a meal together. What was left was given to the Indian squaws who were sure to come round next morning begging for it. The church sewing society was also a source of pleasure and benefit, for the ladies plied their needles while enjoying a visit with friends. There were refreshments—not pink teas, but substantial meals, and all enjoyed them. General Armstrong's home in the country was a very hospitable place and Mrs. Mayo Davison, speaking of the 50's, says : "We had to get our own amusements, but do not think for a moment that we did not have a good time. We had apple cuttings at our house to which all the young people would come. We would pare and quarter apples for drying, string them and hang them up in the sun and air. When we were through with the apples, we cleared the kitchen and had a dance. We hired a fiddler and danced French Four, Fisher's Hornpipe, Money Musk and Quadrilles, then had refreshments of doughnuts and cider which satisfied us as well as the ice cream and fine cake of today. One winter we had dancing school taught by Captain Fisher with a dance every two weeks on Friday night. They were not dress-up affairs. If we had a clean gingham dress we were well off. At the end of the term a big dance and supper were given at the Lima House. We had picnics in Robb's Grove and in Terry's Grove, now called Faurot's Park. We had a glee club and sang patriotic songs for political meetings. 374 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY Johnny Maxwell played the Allentown Tune and Cass Jolly beat the drum. The young people of Lima used to visit the Joseph Richardson home at the edge of town, where they were always welcome. It was the Virginia brand of hospitality there. While the Richardsons lived out of town, we did not need a carriage for the distance. Mrs. Meily had recently visited Mrs. Mary E. Mehaffey in Lafayette, who is the last of the Richardson family, a Mrs. Ballard also having been a Richardson. Mrs. Mehaffey enumerated the young people of her day : Katie and Sue Fickle, Hattie Armstrong, Fannie Binkley, Martha McHenry, Helen Cheevers, Matilda Faurot, Mary Hughes, Sarah Black, Sarah Jane Kellar, Martha Richardson, Ann Krebs, Mart Armstrong, John L. Hughes, Richard Hughes, A. R. Boggs, Robert Mehaffey, Charles Washburn, Doan Cunningham, Harvey Parmenter, Cloyd Jacobs, Isaiah Pillars and Isaac Satterthwaite. Five of the foregoing couples later married and all became successful in life and well known citizens. In 1845, when Professor Adams taught school in the Methodist church at Market and Union streets, he used to invite the young people to his home on Market street by the Lima House. No parties today could surpass those pleasant gatherings. The first part of the evening was spent in discussing important issues of the day and everyone took part. There was no silly talk and we always learned something. This was followed by something funny. At this party every young man sat by the young woman he escorted there ; they made machine poetry. A young man wrote two lines on a sheet and folded the paper. A young woman wrote two lines and folded it again. All had to write on a topic assigned and a critic was appointed and the grammar was subject to correction. The critics were usually very capable persons. Ref reshments of pound cake and chocolate were served and all went home not later than ten o'clock. When John L. Hughes was married another social center was open and Mr. and Mrs. Hughes instituted the 5 o'clock tea which became fashionable, every young man taking his girl and attending it. A fine evening was enjoyed and all were at home by 8 o'clock in the evening. There was a tea given at the home of D. C. P. Tirrell on West Market street—just a select crowd-and there was an elegant supper of salt-rising bread, dried beef, preserves, doughnuts, pound cake, float and chocolate. This was before the time of ice cream. There was an April Fool party at the Doctor Kendall home on Main street near the American Bank, and when supper was announced all went to the dining room and were seated at the table. All soon found out that everything on the table was made of mud-eggs, pickles, cake and everything. After a got of fun over it all, everything was removed and a fine supper was served. The Binkley home at Market and Elizabeth streets was another place where many parties were given. The halls were wide and the rooms spacious and after discussing the issues of the day there would be charades and music. They had a cabinet organ to accompany the singers. In the 60's Joseph Karnes and his wife celebrated their tenth wedding. anniversary in grand style, the biggest social event in Lima. They obtained the oysters and other specialties from Toledo. They stood under a tin wedding bell and were married again. The dinner was served from lap boards and it was the social event of the season. "We never had anything in Lima to compare in style and grandeur to this tin wedding." In the social life of Lima the people would come often with sugar to have a taffy pulling and leave quite late, with every plate and HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 375 cup in the house covered with the remnants of the taffy—plenty of reminders in every room in the house. One surprise party stands out above all others, and it seems that the family had prepared for over Sunday guests when Saturday night visitors were served the things in readiness. While the guests brought oysters they did not leave till everything prepared for Sunday was used and the hostess had her trouble all over again. Everybody rode on horseback in early days, and great cavalcades rode off to the country for a good time. General Blackburn's at Allentown was a great place to go ; the Amurugens was a military company formed in 1853 for horseback riding and the members in uniforms and mounted on spirited steeds always enjoyed themselves. There were a number of riding clubs and the best known people in Lima were in them. Among the horseback riders were : Mr. and Mrs. A. N. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Hughes, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Stevens,: Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Adams, Mr. and Mrs. C. Halliday, Miss Carrie Alexander, Miss Hattie Armstrong and Messrs. Knox, Kibby and Ramsey. Sometimes these riding clubs gave exhibitions in the public square and drew large crowds to witness them. They went through figures, riding four abreast, singly, forming a hollow square, etc. Mrs. J. P. Adams was accorded the honor as the best rider. The ladies were attractive in their neat, close-fitting riding habits of dark blue cloth, long skirts, high hats and streamers. Two of the largest parties ever known in the social life of early Lima were given in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Calvin S. Brice and in the home of Dr. and Mrs. S. A. Baxter. There were 600 guests at the Brice party, the occasion being their tenth wedding anniversary, and the spread was laid by a caterer—a departure in Lima customs. One thousand invitations were issued for the Baxter party. The grounds were illuminated, and there was a dancing pavilion, and because of the elaborate scale both these parties attracted many spectators to the vicinity of the two homes on West Market Street, the streets and sidewalks being lined with persons bent on witnessing the gaiety although they had no part in it. The Brice homestead is now the Christian Science Church property, while Baxter place remains a family possession, the home of Mrs. S. A. Baxter. CHAPTER XXXVII TEMPERANCE-ITS RELATION TO ALLEN COUNTY The Century Dictionary says : "The temperance movement is a social or political movement, having for its object the restriction or abolition of the use of alcoholic liquors as beverages," but in the United States the movement has become political rather than social. When the temperance question entered the realm of business its death knell was soon sounded, and while the taxpayers may be burdened with John Barleycorn's funeral expenses-well, that is an easy way out of the difficulty. In the 1920 presidential election, there was no drunkenness at the election booths and nobody wanted to see the return of whisky. In the countries of the world where laws are enforced, there seems to be little inclination to return to the liquor habit, to alcoholic conditions. The hair tonic consumer has one alternative—he can drink it or let it alone, and the "easy to take" nostrums that flood the market in the shape of patent medicines do not have smooth sailing in some instances. When the charge was made : "America began with the Declaration of Independence and ended with prohibition," some Allen County folk indulged the hope that prohibition was permanent. While a cherry seed dropped into a bottle of Scotch may convert the whole thing into bitters, one does not see Allen County shoppers carrying market baskets so carefully—baskets concealing bottle being "conspicuous because of their absence," now that prohibition is written into the law. "Ha, ha, ha, you and me, little brown jug. don't I love thee," is now obsolete in the whole United States, although there was always sentiment about it. At local political headquarters in the 1920 presidential campaign, some of the party leaders said prohibition would never be the issue again. The great drought is widespread—covers the United States and is fast spreading to other countries. While the fruits of prohibition may be raisins and apples, and there are always abundant crops of dandelions, a recent newspaper squib says : "Ten or twenty years ago people dismissed as lightly the fear that in time prohibition would be saddled on the country." Another squib said : "Prohibition has worked a hardship in newspaper offices, as editors are now unable to cite reporters where to find the leading citizens—the saloon always the 'hang-out,' " but the numerous clubs and fraternity houses now shelter them. With the passing of the saloon—the poor man's club, has been ushered in a different civilization. It is prophesied that the time will come when Allen County children will not know what father looks like when he is "soused," and when the song : "Father, dear father, come home with me now," no longer has local significance. When the saloon is a thing of the past, the parlance of the community center there will be forgotten, but in the dawn of the prohibition morning one hears such words as "soused," "spifflecated," "stewed," "corned," "pickled," and when there are no longer any groups of hilarious men under the influence of "inoccuous stewitude," perhaps there will be improved diction in the community. While "home brew" is so rotten, there will be—but the advance guard, of temperance reform is convinced that when the present corps of drunkards reaches the discard, there will be no more demand for the saloons-the hell-holes of destruction. The poor man's club is now a dead issue as a business proposition. No business corporation wants to employ a drunken man. As long as pro- - 376 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 377 hibtion was only regarded as a moral issue, it did not progress very rapidly ; when it became an economic question the question was no longer raised : does prohibition prohibit? The business of making men drunk, promoting crime, disorder and dishonor for profit is on the defensive almost everywhere, and if America stands firm in the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment recognizing women in politics, other countries will follow and legalized traffic in spirituous liquors will be under the bans in all countries. If America fails that will mean failure in other nations. American leadership in the dry reform is the hope of the entire world. National prohibition is close in many countries-closer than it was in America ten years ago. The liquor question is the problem in the large cities, and while some argue that prohibition is not effective, a paragraph on the subject reads : "In New York one may have liquor with his meals in hotel or cafe, but one is not permitted to lean out of the window and wave the bottle at passersby in the street," and gradually people are adjusting themselves to prohibition requirements. When it comes to the matter of technicalities, there is a difference between temperance and total abstinence ; now that prohibition has gained a foothold in the United States, it is interesting to trace its development through the different stages in Allen County history. When the Shawnees consumed "fire water" they were troublesome, and "moonshine" has had the same influence with their pale face followers. In the fall of 1841, says an old account, an Indian who had consumed "fire water" in the "moonshine," had an attack of mental aberration and while resting his head on the forks of a gate m Lima he lodged himself so firmly that he could not extricate his head and when he found himself choking to death in the rear of Musser's tavern, he roared like some haunted thing, and the noise brought everybody to his rescue ; when he was released he was a sadder and wiser Shawnee—wiser, if in future he let it alone. It is related that Samuel McClure, who was in the Allen County wilderness early, one time found some wild honey that was damaged and he make a drink of it which he called "methelgin." It was perhaps the first intoxicant manufactured in Allen County. It had the "kick," the same as whisky ; it was a prime favorite with the Indians who were always addicted to intoxicants ; the illicit Lima distillers in 1920 had nothing on Samuel McClure ; in his day there were none to molest-none to make afraid, and he could do as he wished with his "smear" of honey. In 1920, the illicit distillery business caused widespread trouble in Allen , County ; there were numerous arrests, and "wine of pepsin" did not shield the offender from the "clutches of the law." While some concoctions were sold as medicines, in the eyes of the law they were beverages. The illicit liquor business resulted in the death of one man in Lima, and a jury was only fifteen minutes in liberating the policeman who shot him : "A wild outburst of applause greeted the verdict of not guilty that was arrived at by the jury in the case of John Goebel, Lima police sergeant, who was charged with manslaughter in the case of shooting Melvin Flannigan, while attempting an arrest ; the jury was out exactly twenty minutes, and it is understood the verdict was arrived at after the first ballot ; a host of friends pressed forward to shake the hand of the defendant," and the law and order element felt that the safety and security of the people demanded protection ; the country would be over-run with bootleggers, moonshiners and thugs although it was urged by the prosecutor : "Policemen should not constitute themselves a law unto 378 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY themselves." The policeman in question was not disqualified-was on duty every day while awaiting trial. There used to be bars in grocery stores in Lima and other Allen County towns, and thus the women and children frequented the saloons. It is said that even prohibitionists have no objection to prices "taking a drop," but there have always been citizens who objected to their relatives using intoxicants. It was before the crusade that seventy-four Lima women banded together and addressed a communication to Dr. Edwin Ashton, a local druggist, citing their objection to his business as a dealer in strong drinks, and threatening a visit to his store unless he ceases from selling whisky. The communication read : "These resolutions will be put into practice in a short time," the last clause reciting: "Whereas we believe it our duty to put a stop to that, the result of which is the destruction of our fellow citizens, the manufacture of paupers and the corruption of the morals of the youth of our village," and it was signed by some of the best known women of the town. Doctor Ashton's reply, dated July 1, 1856, reads : "I have on hand now some five or six hundred dollars worth of liquors, all of the best that could be obtained ; they have been purchased for medical purposes, and I have endeavored to sell them for that purpose and no other ; it is well known that I do not sell to those who are in the habit of making an improper use of liquor," and seventeen years in advance of the crusade, this Lima druggist showed himself to be a man of determination, adding: "If those are the liquors you base your determination on, I would say to you that now is the time ; you may rest assured that I shall continue to sell them in the same way that I have done ; my past course will serve as a correct index to the future," and while the letter was properly signed there is no record that the women carried out their intention ; they had said : "We shall visit your place where the beverage is sold and destroy the contents of your whisky and other liquor barrels, unless you cease." But there is record of one woman playing Carrie Nation in a Lima saloon. She had requested the saloonkeeper not to sell liquor to her husband ; while she was regarded as a good woman, "she got her name up big" in the community, by destroying a stock of liquor with a hatchet. It was "quite a happening," but an effective campaign against intemperance. It is related that as early as 1834 a resident of Allen County named Henry Carter, "when he was a little in his cups which he was by times, he would hunt up all the friends who had come from his native heath, . and they would take a bumper for 'good old Madison.' " "Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?" Not by this man when "he was in his cups." It is related that when Bluffton dealers brought whisky from Piqua that cost them 25 cents a gallon, and sold it in Bluffton at 75 cents, the wagoners always carried more whisky than any other merchandise, and the statement seems like a reflection on the community. It is said that while in other campaigns a man's hand on his hip was construed as meaning a threat, that in 1920 it was sometimes interpreted as meaning a promise —there was always hope of spirits to spirit hopes, when a man's hand wandered to his hip pocket. A Lima man who admitted that he still had something that cheered in his cellar, exclaimed : "When I visit it I feel like one who treads alone some banquet hall deserted," and that reflected the mental attitude of others. The teacher in a men's Bible class at unday school related that when there was threatened scarcity, he had purchased a quart of whisky and paid $1 for it ; the time came when he could have sold it for $14, but in the presence of his wife, he removed the cork and allowed it to escape through the kitchen sink ; he was given applause HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 379 by the men in the class ; they all disclaimed any definite knowledge of "the six best cellars" in Allen County. Now people may be intemperate in other ways than the use of liquor ; it is in a narrow, restricted sense that temperance is applied to moderation in the use of beverages alone. Temperance is habitual moderation in regard to the natural appetites and passions, both in drinking and eating and it is said that in temperance dining halls, temperance is about all one gets for his money. It has been gratifying to note the rapidity with which the tremendous amount of capital invested in the liquor traffic, and the industries dependent upon it has been diverted to other channels, and seemingly without jar to local industrial conditions ; there are a number of dining rooms in Allen County that are still equipped with bar fixtures ; it was only one step from a thirst parlor to a hunger relief station ; the transition of monetary forces from destructive to constructive channels has been accomplished, and none seem losers from it. The Lima Lodge of Elks Year Book, 1920-21, carries the following statement : "Notwithstanding the elimination of the buffet, the business of the club continues to grow, the mortgage on the home has been paid entirely," and it is recited that there have been many necessary expenditures. An old account relates that when a man from Delphos thought to favor Lima with a saloon, he loaded three wagons with the necessary "goods," and drove one afternoon to within two miles of town and camped until darkness came on, intending to occupy The Old Fort before daylight without consulting the citizens about it. By 10 o'clock that night forty persons had congregated and demolished the building; there were four crowbars and the rest had sledge hammers and axes, and some were armed with revolvers ; there was no need of disguise as some were prominent citizens. The Old Fort had been the first storeroom in Lima, and it was not suffered to shelter a saloon. The wagons loaded with wet goods returned to Delphos without entering Lima. At another time an attempt was made by Wolf and Meyers to open a saloon on Christmas day ; five glasses of whisky had been passed over the bar, when the masculine population waited on the proprietors, and the gutters run with it ; this was in 1853, the crusade yet a good many years in the future. It is said that when humanity again attains to "normalcy" men will not want to defile their persons and that properly balanced rations will rid them of the craving for stimulants. A study of menus is necessary, and the depraved appetite may be corrected in a measure by appetizing foods. Since American prohibition has driven so many thirst ridden people to Cuba, it is said they are the only persons seen on the streets of Havana who show symptoms of over-indulgence; however, that is not saying that all American visitors drink to excess ; beer and light wines are so much a part of the Latin life that they do not have the effect of intoxication. Cuba happens to be the nearest "foreign country," or oasis in the dry desert and Cubans are learning the utter weakness of some Americans ; some who have reached Havana no longer ask for money to get their other shirt out of the laundry, but without shamefacedness boldly ask for money with which to buy drinks. Cuba is the dumping ground for drink-crazed Americans. LOCAL TEMPERANCE ORGANIZATIONS The first temperance agitation in the United States began in the year George Washington was elected President, and when old persons say they have heard temperance lectures all their lives, they no doubt speak truthfully about it ; that the evils of intemperance are as old as the race, is a 380 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY stock assertion in the mouth of each temperance orator, and Noah is a conspicuous example of the first drunkard. While there have been temperance movements all over the world, some of the best results have been attained in the United States. Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia was the first writer condemning intemperance, and his dominant note was total abstinence through prohibition ; the first temperance work in the United States was in the nature of a reaction against the use of intoxicants which threatened to produce a nation of drunkards, and the first actual temperance reform was among the farmers of Connecticut ; the "wooden nutmeg" agriculturists would not allow the use of liquor among farmhands, and the whisky jug in the Allen County harvest fields has long been a thing of the past while the pioneers knew all about it, today it is as a story that it told and that begins : "Once upon a time." When whisky flowed like water, there was a different moral status in the community. A pioneer minister one time admitted that a drink of whisky made him bold in his presentation of the gospel, and there were frequent drunken brawls and fights in the streets. Men would sometimes encourage boys to fight each other, but much of that was changed when the saloon was banished from Allen County. One day when a boy asked a drunken man for tobacco, he picked it off his whiskers for the child—but there are no such spectacles today. John Barleycorn will never again be welcomed to Allen County ; his uncouth habits are buried with him, and everybody is willing to forget him. While the one-armed bartender in the form of the town pump has been banished from most of the towns under recent sanitary rulings-Spencerville still has excellent water, there is not much danger from "snake bite," and like the rest of humanity Allen County folk will have to "worry along" without whisky even for medicinal uses ; there are not many "snake bites," and not many "snakes" in "dry" territory. While there was temperance agitation as early as 1789, and while drunkenness was ever considered as an enemy to society, it was not until 1826 that there was agitation of the question of total abstinence. Lyman Beecher, who was said to be "the father of more brains than any other man in America," was prominent among early temperance advocates. While liquor was once used in ordination services, the ministry soon revolted against it. While not all the temperance organizations have been represented in Allen County, the Washington Society organized in 1840, in Baltimore included some of the foremost temperance agitators known to the world. Matthew Hale Smith, John Hawkins and John B. Gough were shining lights. The Sons and Daughters of Temperance followed the Washington Society, and along in the '60s the Sons of Temperance was a strong organization in Allen County ; it created public sentiment against the liquor traffic. The Good Templers Lodge was active for several years in Allen County ; while it was a secret order, temperance was its object. In the '70s came the Murphy movement— Francis Murphy and his blue ribbon bow, and the different local organizations strengthened and expanded the gospel of total abstinence. It is said there was more aggressive temperance warfare in the '70s than since that time, and that comes up to the last fifty years in Allen County history. Francis Murphy was a converted saloonkeeper, and the movement started by him had a restraining influence on crime and lawlessness of all descriptions ; the blue ribbon worn by all who signed the pledge was the silent evangelist, although it was many years before prohibition swept the country. Writing on the temperance question in the '80s, Henry William Blair said : "The conflict between men and alcohol is as old as HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 381 civilization, more destructive than any other form of warfare, and as fierce today as at any time in its history." There has always been a wet and dry element in Allen County, and that long ago there was a good deal said about the whisky jug in the harvest field ; while some farmers harvested their grain without it, the hired labor usually went to the fields where there was a jug of whisky. When the Civil war came on there was not so much agitation of the temperance question, and for some years afterwards the dry forces were not as well organized as they are today ; the alcoholic evil is the subject of crucial investigation all of the time, and the wets and drys lie awake nights planning how they may outwit each other. In 1908, was the only time the local option question was before the Allen County voters alone. When Allen County was the unit there were sixty-seven more wet than dry votes, and the wets donned badges : "I am one of the sixty-seven," and it said their demonstration had its weight in creating unmistakeable dry sentiment in the community. While the question was before Allen County voters frequently it was as a state unit, and there were wet districts outside of Allen County. For twelve years The Lima Clipper, owned by John Carnes and W. E. Crayton, was published in the interests of prohibition. While prohibition and the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States are not exactly synonymous, much was expected and realized from the vote of the recently enfranchised women of Allen County. It is said that the saloon keepers were their own undoing, and their failure to comply with law requirements defeated them. May the children of the future know as little about the saloon as the men and women of today know about the crusade which was once such an effective agency in Allen County. Mayor F. A. Burkhardt of Lima was recently called to a meeting of Ohio mayors in Columbus, to consider different phases of the temperance question ; the conference was called by the national prohibition commissioner, John F. Kramer of Washington, District of Columbia, and the purpose was to devise methods of enforcing the prohibition laws, and the better understand the Volstead and Crabbe acts ; should the Crabbe Act be enforced in Lima, there would be some revenue from "bootleggers." While the "blind tiger" is a bugbear and a menace, it has never been a "poor man's club," and social center ; with the saloon a thing of the past some men have at last cultivated the acquaintance of their own families ; when the patronage began to wane, some saloon-keepers were glad of the technicality in the law that closed their doors before the sheriff did it for them. While the women had not voted on the local option question, and many had not cared for suffrage only along reformation lines, they were glad when the saloon was eliminated by automatic process. Local option in Allen County was not in advance of statewide prohibition ; while they would have accepted the half loaf in the form of county local option, the women of Allen County always had the slogan ; statewide prohibition. In the Allen County Women's Christian Temperance Union, A. D. 1920, there were twelve separate and distinct unions, with Mrs. D. R. (Villa) Cook of Lima as county president ; the Women's Christian Temperance Union members call themselves the Daughters of the Crusade. The Crusaders in Allen County were those women who taught their sons and daughters the truths of total abstinence ; to reverence truth and virtue in manhood and womanhood ; they definitely divided the people into ranks either for or against the liquor traffic. Some Women's Christian Temperance Union enthusiasts unhesitatingly say that the Anti-saloon League men who have worked hand in glove with them in bringing about 382 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY temperance measures, are sons of Women's Christian Temperance Union mothers and grandsons of Crusaders. There was an Anti-saloon League in Massachusetts in 1892, and it was organized in Ohio only a few months later. While there may not be any mothers of presidents among the Women's Christian Temperance Union or the Crusaders, there have been wives of presidental dignitaries who were temperance women. All Allen County women point with pride to Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes as an Ohio woman, who as first lady of the land banished wine from the White House, when Rutherford B. Hayes was President of the United States ; while many families had their barrel of cider and used it freely, saying unblushingly that it was best when the bead was on it, and while domestic wines were unhesitatingly offered to guests, in the social reign of Mrs. Hayes it became entirely proper to reverse one's glass at dinner, when wine was being poured by the hostess ; the White House precedent spread all over the country ; the name of Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes will always live in history ; she no doubt had her incentive from the Crusade. It was Dio Lewis of Boston who first interested Ohio women in the Crusade. He gave public lectures in Hillsboro and Washington Court House, exhorting the women into heroic action. Mother Thompson of Springfield, who was a daughter of Governor Trimble of Ohio, was the first Ohio woman to pray in a saloon in 1873, on Christmas morning. Her name and fame went around the world because of it. As the Crusade continued spreading, Lima women began asking themselves: what shall we do about it? Lima business men were importuned by local saloon-keepers to keep their wives out of the Crusade. They did not wish to suffer the loss of patronage that would ensue from it. When interviewed on the subject, Mrs. Mary E. Mehaffey of Lafayette quoted from her own written account : "Then came the Temperance Crusade in Ohio, begun December 23, 1873, in Hillsboro with a power of baptism from on high that brought into existence from the burning timbers of the Crusade, the W. C. T. U., proclaiming with its banners unfurled to the breeze that the saloon was doomed," these lines written several years before national prohibition had been written on the statutes of the United States. While the Crusade enlisted the most prominent women in Allen County, at the time of the visit to Mrs. Mehaffey there were only four living Crusaders : Mrs. Mehaffey, Mrs. Matilda Moore of Lima ; Mrs. Anna Morris of Gomer, and Mrs. Villa Cook, who is now the Allen County Woman's Christian Temperance Union president, although her Crusade work was not m Allen County. She was the wife of a minister whose charge was elsewhere at the time. The Crusade in Allen County had its beginning at Lafayette, and Mrs. Mehaffey writes : "In February, 1874, the Christian women of Lafayette caught the Crusade spirit ; the pastors of the churches and the Christian laymen stood with them and back, of them in their Christian endeavor, and helped them to make arrangements for the holy warfare ; each day for weeks they met at the churches for a prayer service, and from there they went by twos to visit the saloons and the taverns where spiritous liquors were kept ; they knelt around the curbstones, on the pavements and on the doorsills ; on one of those cold wintry days, after a season of prayer and song, the keeper of the tavern invited the Crusaders in, and weeping like a child he asked forgiveness for his discourteous treatment of them, and he helped the beloved women of God to pour out into the street several kegs of brandy, whisky and wine ; the next day the regular saloonkeepers surrendered ; the days before their surrender there were solemn processions : 'Not a drum was heard nor a funeral note,' but after the surrender all was joy- HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 383 ous in the streets, in the homes and in the churches ; bells were rung, drums were beaten and the voices of the people sang aloud the praise of Him through whom the victory was gained," and while Mrs. Mehaffey mentioned prominent women she was glad that Lafayette had taken the initiative in the Crusade. Mrs. Augusta Steiner led the Crusade in Bluffton, and it was not long until Mother Watt-Mrs. Hudson Watt, had marshalled the forces in Lima, among them Mrs. Richard Metheany, Mrs. J. R. Hughes, but a Lima directory is necessary in naming so many women. Mrs. Matilda Moore is alone today as a Lima Crusader. While some of the Lima women veiled their identity by wearing the heavy baize veils then m vogue, they finally developed more courage and went boldly to spend their time at the saloons. Owing to their social prominence, not many indignities were offered to the Lima women ; one saloon-keeper rang a bell while they were praying, and a woman who allowed her temper to assert itself asked God to paralyze his arm, never thinking that he might wish to have her tongue stilled in the same way ; like the Catholic sisters of today the Crusaders went two by two with the saloons always their objective points, and women who never had prayed in public kneeled and prayed in the slush on the streets ; some of the saloon-keepers opened their doors, inviting them inside, but when not invited in they would sing and pray on the outside, among their favorite songs : "What Means This Eager, Anxious Throng?" "J esus of .Nazareth Passeth By," "Coronation," "Nearer My God to Thee," and other songs of the day. In one Ohio town a German saloonkeeper employed a band to entertain the Crusaders ; when they would sing the band played and confused them. One day the women sang, "Rock of Ages," getting the start of the band and the leader refused to play. When the German saloonist expostulated with him, he said : "1 can't go against Rock of Ages," and the incident lost him his job. He had heard his own mother sing "Rock of Ages." One German saloonkeeper in Lima demanded that prayers be offered in German as he did not understand English ; there was a German woman in the group whose two sons had been ruined by drink, and she responded with unction ; she was fervent in prayer and her words had an affect ; when she finished he was in the distance ; he did not ask for prayers in German again. However, the incident was a suggestion to the women ; they pressed a Lima schoolgirl into the service to read from the German Bible when visiting saloons kept by Germans, and Mrs. Anna Melhorn Vicary, who rendered that service, was perhaps the youngest Allen County Crusader, although not listed by Mrs. Mehaffey. Some of the Lima saloon-keepers manifested anger, and one man and his wife grated horseradish close to them while the women were praying; while they could "smart their eyes," they could not stop them. While some of the Crusaders became discouraged, feeling that they might never accomplish anything, a number have lived to see the reward for their labors. At the forty-seventh annual Woman's Christian Temperance Union convention in Cleveland, A. D. 1920, Mrs. Villa Cook of Lima was one of the twenty-five Crusaders in attendance ; this convention was held in Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church which occupies the site of the Second Presbyterian Church in Cleveland where the first Woman's Christian Temperance Union was organized in 1874-a sacred shrine in Cleveland for many women. Mrs. Cook relates that once when she was in a crusade, an angry saloon-keeper threatened to "egg" them, but he ref rained from doing it. While Lima saloon-keepers boasted in advance of how they would handle the Crusaders, when they recognized the fore- 384 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY most women of the community among their guests they treated them with courtesy. At the Doepkins & Herrick saloon, Mr. Doepkins chalked off a space for them, saying any woman who crossed the line would be arrested; they all played safe, kneeling outside the line and they made it a "dead line" that he regretted, and Mr. Herrick was so annoyed that he tried to drown them out with a tin pan ; when he threatened dirty water and a knife, his own wife restrained him. One saloonkeeper fixed a trap in the floor, saying he would precipitate the Crusaders to the basement, but some one "tipped it off" to them and they turned a deaf ear to his invitations, praying that morning from the curbstone. Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church was the Crusade headquarters in Lima, and Crusade biscuits were served m many households ; a woman could make and serve them, and be back on duty again in fifteen minutes. Even the Billy Sunday campaign did not create more excitement in Lima than the Crusade. While there never was a saloon in Elida, a building in which it was planned to open a grog shop, went down the railroad track one night m the wake of a train, and the promoters never tried it again. In a sense the Woman's Crusade was a boycott, as men "suffering" for drink would allow their mothers and wives to usurp their places at the bars ; they did not have the courage to drink in their presence ; a woman praying in a saloon had a restraining influence ; they started in by going three days each week, finally going every day and picketing all of the saloons. In one place a black-eyed bartender named Fisher declared: "You are no ladies," and he tried to engage them in conversation. While the Crusade was a demonstration in the open against the saloon, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union is an outgrowth from it, "Mother Thompson" and Frances E. Willard, "America's Uncrowned Queen," indorsing it as a better expression of womanhood, the influence of the Crusade still lives in Allen County. It had its inception at Hillsboro, while the Woman's Christian Temperance Union came into existence in Cleveland. Ohio is thus the nursery of two great temperance organizations among women. Since 1874, the Women's Christian Temperance Union has encircled the world, the write ribbon badge of purity being recognized in all countries. In 1882, the Allen County Women's Christian Temperance Union was organized in Lima by Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge, and it "run well for a season," and in 1890, Lima entertained the State Women's Christian Temperance Union convention. While there were frequent temperance lectures, the Women's Christian Temperance Union organization finally lapsed, but was reorganized in 1899, and since then has maintained continued existence. It maintains all the departments, and the local unions were all active in promoting the franchise of women. Emotion, love and sympathy predominate the average woman, and as an organization of Women's Christian Temperance Union is both secular and religious ; when the men of the country advised the women that they should raise up voters instead of asking for the franchise, they immediately began a campaign of education among future voters ; through their efforts scientific temperance has been introduced into the public schools, and since the child of today becomes the citizen of tomorrow, the women are right in their campaign of education. 'The three unions in Lima are : Frances Willard, Florence Richards and Villa Cook, and there are unions in Bluffton, Beaver Dam, West Cairo, Gomer, Elida, Delphos, Spencerville and Lafayette. As long as a union pays its dues it is in existence ; some unions are more active than others, and the Frances Willard Women's Christian Temperance Union is in the Lima Club Federation. HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 385 Mrs. Augusta Steiner of Bluffton was Allen County Women's Christian Temperance Union president for many years, and some years ago there was an attempt to secure historical data, but in Mrs. Cook's time as president, the principal effort has been franchise education and citizenship. While women have always resorted to prayer in bringing about moral reforms, the oak and the vine simile does not mean so much to the aggressive Allen County woman ; she is inclined to do things on her own account, and while some are dropping out others are joining the Allen County Women's Christian Temperance Union. When local option began functioning, and Allen County was automatically dry, and when finally national prohibition was written on the statutes the local temperance women rejoiced with other women of Ohio and the nation—they felt that success at last had crowned their efforts. The Women's Crusade was the real beginning of definite action on the temperance question, and men of today enjoy recounting the part their mothers had in it ; there was rivalry among women in many places as to who should knock the heads out of whisky barrels ; in many communities it was a weakened article they emptied into the streets, whisky barrels frequently being shifted from one cellar to another in advance of them. The Christian Alexanders have conquered the world for temperance, and while the Crusade was temporary the Women's Christian Temperance Union seems like Tennyson's Babbling Brook—goes on forever, and yet in a short space of time some other instrumentality for good may supplant it. As yet nothing else has made a stronger appeal to the womanhood of the world. Vol. 1-25 CHAPTER XXXVIII PUBLIC UTILITIES While on the face of things it seems that public necessities should be public trusts, private ownership of public utilities is the prevailing condition. While government control of public utilities may be inconsistent with private ownership, there are men who advocate it, and the United States postal system is a strong socialist argument. However, the recent experiment with government controlled railroads as a war measure was not wholly satisfactory ; the United States Government seemed glad to let loose of them. It is just as important for railroad affairs to be in the hands of railroad men as for the shoemaker to stick to his last—politicians not always being able to "railroad" everything. The following paragraph was no doubt written under the pressure of circumstances : "So far as we are concerned, public utilities officials are welcome to their jobs ; if they make money the public kicks ; if they don't, the stockholders kick," and the president of a mammoth utility said: "I shall be disappointed if the company is not on a dividend paying basis when I appear again," and without question his feeling was unanimous. People do not give their time and effort to business without thought of gain from it. While the Bible says : "God made man in His own image," Disraeli declared : "But the public is made by the newspapers," and there are those who question the freedom of the press with reference to the discussion of public utilities, saying the truth is unknown to the masses about such things. Lima newspaper readers are given a lot of information, but it is not quite _easy to discern between news and propaganda sometimes. Just as the use of the words strenuous and conservation cause the thoughtful mind to revert to the late Theodore Roosevelt, whose distinctive Americanism stands out in bold relief, and the word reciprocity recalls the "plumed knight," James G. Blaine, and the word propaganda itself along with questionnaire came into the popular vocabulary with the World war, and everybody recognizes camouflage as a word borrowed from the French-the thoroughly commercialized term public utilities is always associated in the public thought with the commission, or with some private individual promoting such things ; the atmosphere of Lima and of Allen County is impregnated with utilities—the word has a meaning in no sense uncertain. The railroads, the traction systems and the public highways have already been described, and associated with them are the Western Union and Postal Telegraph systems, both in use in Allen County. While the telegraph office followed in the wake of the railroads, for a long time the public only used it when transmitting death or funeral notices. It is said that a woman suggested the first telegraph message : "What bath God wrought ?" that was flashed over the wire from Baltimore to Washington m 1840, and since that time through its cable system and wireless branch, the telegraph has encircled the world. However, the noonday of the nineteenth century had been passed in the onward march, long before the modern improvements that made of civilization a simplified problem had evolved from the brain of the genius, and the element of profit from the ownership of public conveniences-the utilities themselves as yet undreamed of-had taken deep hold on the mind of the speculator. While nothing but market reports and emergency notices - 386 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 387 were transmitted by telegraph for many years, because of the attendant expense, now the night letter by telegraph is frequently used in business correspondence when speed is necessary. It used to cost $1.50 to send a ten-word message from Lima to Chicago. There are now commercial rates, and business is largely transacted by telegraph all over Allen County. Perhaps the first utilities corporation to which Allen County citizens paid tribute was the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company which was later incorporated as The Western Union. It is operated wholly by nonresident capital, with a local representative, and Hiram Moore was the first man in charge of the local commercial telegraph. He was succeeded by Fred Limb and Harry L. Davis, but since 1890, E. B. Oglevie has been the Western Union manager. While the railway telegraph office used to serve the community in a commercial way, now its only business is its own traffic, entirely separate from commercial affairs ; it was in the early '80s that the commercial companies came into existence ; while they use the same poles and wires the same general equipment, for sveral years the uptown offices have handled the commercial end of the telegraph business ; even when Mr. Oglevie took charge of the local Western Union office the business was practically limited to death, marriage and birth notices-the telephone coming along just at that time and dividing the commercial patronage. For a time the telephone seemed to monopolize local business, when night letters were introduced by the Western Union ; they were so much quicker than the mail service ; correspondence by telegraph was ended in a few hours that used to require several days, and it was an important saving of time. Business men frequently close deals in one day that used to "hang fire" for a whole week. Life is too short for the old-time methods of business communication ; business is transacted on a knowledge of the changing markets, and grain and live stock dealers must know the latest quotations ; those who turn first to the market quotations when opening the newspaper understand the necessity. The Postal Telegraph system was installed in Lima in the early '90s, and E. A. Sif erd is in charge of the local office. All the towns in Allen County have some market demands, and it is conceded that Willis Grant Harbison, employed at the Chicago and Erie office in Spencerville, has been receiving and sending telegraph messages longer than any one else in Allen County. In his thirty years on the wire he has taught the code to many other operators ; he never worked in any other place. Many years ago, Horace S. Knapp, a local historian of some note, in writing of conditions in the Maumee Valley, said : "The transition almost confuses the mind to contemplate, when viewed in all its length and breadth ; what a marvellous change in the means of transmitting intelligence has been produced in a period less than a half century. Today, at any railroad station in Allen County, connected with which is a telegraph office, one may transmit a message 2,000 miles distant, or even to Europe or the Orient and receive to it an answer in less space than a half century ago would have been consumed by the speediest mode of travel then known to make the distance between two Allen County towns and return, and during the January and June floods that then appeared as regularly as the seasons, to communicate with a neighbor ten miles distant," and he did not dream of the wireless communication. Had Mr. Knapp lived A. D. 1920, and through several previous presidential campaigns, he would have known the results of the national political conventions—the last campaign in Chicago and San Francisco, 388 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY within a few hours, the telegraph and the printing press combining to have the news on the .streets in all the towns of the country. Because of the network of the telegraph, Lima had no advantage over other towns in Allen County. Mr. Knapp continues : "Imagine a pioneer who about three months after the presidential election in 1832, received an eastern newspaper or letter conveying to him the information that Andrew Jackson had been elected president of the United States in the previous November. If the settler happened to be a Jackson man, he donned his hunting shirt and coon-skin cap and sallied forth in search of the few neighbors of his political faith to communicate the glad tidings to them, and mingle their rejoicing over it ; the news of the result of a presidential election is now known in every considerable city and town in the United States and Europe within twenty-four hours after the close of the polls," and the foregoing was written soon after the coming of the railroads and telegraph lines into Northwestern Ohio. While men and women of today think they have lived through the greatest age in history, some regret their activities so soon-would enjoy greater advantages in the future. THE TELEPHONE SYSTEM-Before there were telephone wires connecting the different homes in Allen County, there were signals-a code that was always easily interpreted—a red rag hanging out, from an upper window always indicating distress ; different colors sent different things, and the neighbors knew when they were wanted by different signals. It is said that Dr. S. B. Hiner had the first telephone in Lima; it was of his own construction ; he called it a microphone ; he used a drumhead arrangement with a skin drawn across it for a sounding board. There were wires connecting his office and his residence before the telephone became a necessity. It was in 1878 that the telephone first claimed attention. Now the family not connected with the outside world by telephone is the exception. Allen County is a network of telephones, The Ohio Telephone News, a journal for independent companies, m its May, 1919, issue, carried a comprehensive writeup of The Lima Telephone & Telegraph Company, by George It. Metheany, in which he says : "Back in 1895, which year in a telephone sense is synonymous to year one of the Old Testament, D. J. Cable of Lima and George W. Beers of Fort Wayne, organized a telephone company which through the passing years has been developed into the Lima Telephone & Telegraph Company, as it stands today. When on March 4, 1895, the Lima city council granted a franchise to these two pioneers to build and operate an independent telephone plant, there were many individuals who shook their heads and lamented that two seasoned busmess men should get back of such a venture. It was pointed out that a telephone plant operating as part of the Bell System had been in service in Lima since 1878, and in 1895, had less than 250 subscribers ; the mourners were away in the minority, however, and business and professional men of Lima rallied to the standard of the new company, which promised to furnish service not only within a limited local area, but to the rural territory surrounding Lima, where service requirements were as great if not greater than within the city itself." In his 1920 report of the commercial department of the Lima service, H. E. Simonton says there are 11,239 phones in use in Lima, and it is understood that the Delphos Home Telephone Company serves 1,100 patrons in the three counties ; Allen, Putnam and Van Wert. Bluffton has two telephone companies : The Bluffton and the Bluffton Mutual the latter organized as a Farmers' Mutual with headquarters in Bluffton. The Spencerville Company connects with all others, and in Allen County HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 389 are the following exchanges : Beaver Dam Home Telephone Company, West Cairo Mutual Telephone Company, Elida Mutual, which serves both Elida and Gomer with an exchange in Gomer. While there are a few Lima patrons at Lafayette on private lines, the exchange there is operated though Ada ; Harrod and West Newton are connected with Ada ; Westminster connects directly with Lima. Ada has telephone territory in Jackson and Auglaize townships because it is the trade center for people in eastern Allen County. Cridersville also serves some Allen County patrons. The border telephone service is divided much as the commercial interests. Bluffton, Delphos and Spencer- vine companies serve patrons in Allen and adjoining counties. The Lima Telephone & Telegraph Company succeeded the Bell System, and there is a tendency to avoid having two companies in one community in the interest of efficient service. Since 1913, Lima has had a merged service ; while it required two years to effect the transition, results are better from it. For twenty years missionary work was necessary in extending the telephone service, but now that its advantages are so apparent almost all Allen County families have it. While party lines serve some subscribers, by listening in they have all the gossip of the community. Conservative persons sometimes withhold just what the eavesdropper wants to hear-and he hears something quite uncomplimentary ; it is generally known who weakens the service with receivers down, when people engage in conversation. Lima is in District No. 7 of the Ohio Independent Telephone System, embracing: Allen, Auglaize, Hancock, Hardin, Logan, Mercer, Putnam, Paulding, Van Wert and Wyandotte counties ; each county is always represented at the meetings which are always held in Lima. Under the 1908 law, the Public Utilities Company of Ohio supervises the rates to be charged by the railroads, telephones, telegraphs, water works-unless municipally owned as in Lima and Delphos ; electric lights, gas service, city and interurban lines—all utilities privately owned are regulated by the commission, and when profiteering is discovered, "the way of the transgressor is hard" in Allen County as well as in the rest of the world. Sometimes a subscriber has a quarrel with Central -the connections are slow, but a visit to the exchange would soften the criticism. The Lima office has the automanual equipment, and calls from subscribers are automatically distributed to all operators, thus insuring equally quick service to all. Many visitors have pronounced the Lima system excellent, and under the control of very few operators at simple keyboards, the automatic switches perform all the functions required of the telephone service. The Automanual system applies the speed and accuracy of the adding machine, linotype and typewriter to the telephone service ; connections are established by pressing buttons corresponding to the telephone numbers desired ; ease and simplicity of operation insures the highest quality of service. The welfare of the operators is taken into consideration. The company maintains a rest room for women employes, and each one is relieved for fifteen minutes at stated intervals. In the rest room there are couches, reading tables, music and lavatory advantages ; there is a two-cot hospital for emergencies and there is both shower and tub bath ; there is every hygienic arrangement, and each girl has a sanitary locker and individual umbrella rack with sewer connection for the drip. The men have similar quarters minus the hospital and entertainment features,. There are about 150 operatives-men and women—connected with the Lima telephone exchange. The employes 390 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY have frequent social functions, and a Christmas tree with special decorations is an annual feature. The Lima exchange owns its own property, and there are fewer cross arms with open wire systems than in most towns. Safety first has significance in the Lima system. While there are poles, many lines are through conduits, and expert mechanics are in charge of all the departments. There is some analogy between the telephone and the telegraph system, the telephone suffering more from ice storms than the telegraph. The telegraphic wires are usually along railroad tracks and the timber is cut back, allowing the sweep of the wind and the ice does not form on the wires so heavily. While the telephone is a local convenience, it will never supplant the long distance telegraph; people recognize the advantages of instantaneous communication, and by either telephone or telegraph Allen County citizens are in touch with New York or Chicago in a very few minutes. Messages have been received in Lima from Seattle in less than thirty minutes, with relays in Chicago and Cleveland. It is the policy to have a sufficient number of operators to insure quick telephone connections. In the most severe ice storms the wires are never all out of commission, there are times in the day when the service is taxed, and there are emergencies. When there is a fire or an aeroplane accident produces some excitement, then all rush to the telephone, and if they must wait for a minute it seems like an age. In the flood visitation of 1913, all the subscribers wanted immediate service at the same time ; that's what "overloads" the system. With the automanual the service is much quicker than in the days of the hand switchboards ; the subscriber should never attempt to engage Central in a personal conversation ; her time belongs to all patrons ; she may give you the time of day. Popular Mechanics reports an incident of a rural line that went on a strike for a sixteen-hour day. In the daylight hours the line worked to perfection ; the trouble shooters worked in vain to locate the difficulty ; between 9 and 10 o'clock every night the rural line went on a strike, and for eight hours there was no service ; finally, the manager and a lineman started out at night looking for the trouble; when they reached the last house on the line, they were admitted by an aged occupant ; the mystery was solved ; his metal-rimmed spectacles were resting in electrical contact across the terminals on the telephone, where it was his habit to leave them every night, The line was on a strike because the circuit was interfered with by the spectacles. The first underground conduits were installed in Lima in 1900, and there are almost ten miles of trench and thirty-five miles of single duct included in the underground system today ; there are seventeen miles of underground cable, and more than fifty miles of the aerial system connecting the citizens of Lima and the outside world when they carry on a telephone conversation. The company probably operates the largest switchboard in the country, since all the long distance lines are connected with it. Davis J. Cable has served as president of the Lima Telephone & Telegraph Company since its organization. Mr. Metheany has been its secretary from the beginning ; a visit to the exchange would be of interest to any patron. It would show that Central is a busy woman. THE WATER SUPPLY-It is frequently said that water and fire are at once the best of friends and the worst enemies of man ; a study has been made of both because of their relation to the history of Allen County. There are municipally owned water systems in Lima and HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 391 Delphos. Every town plans to have its water supply against fire emergencies ; in Spencerville water power is still utilized in the grist mill there ; when Mayor Jacob Sunderland was explaining the locks of the canal, he was also a guide through the grist mill and when the miller opened the flood gate, the machinery was in motion immediately. No power is more satisfactory than water. While Delphos has a self-sustaining municipal water system, in order to make it so the rates have been raised at times. As operating expenses have increased the rates have been advanced to meet them. There are drilled wells with standpipe pressure, and the water is chemically pure. Since 1872, Delphos has had water works ; that was the year of the disastrous fire there. At the time of the fire they only had canal water with which to fight it. The canal water comes from the reservoir connecting St. Marys and Celina. The Fire Fighters' Bucket Brigade needs no introduction to any community. There was a time when Lima fire protection depended upon water stored in public cisterns, the bucket brigade and volunteer fire-fighters. There are always deep water wells, and it is current report that the well in the J. C. Thompson door yard, Market and McDonel streets is the oldest well in Lima ; it is excellent water. A few years ago when the owner thought to repair the well and save it as a relic of the past, it was found to be walled with boulders and in a perfect state of preservation. It dates back to the early '30s, when James McDonel located there. James Isaac McDonel, a son of the man who dug the well fell into it, and the father dropped feet foremost after him. The boulder wall is rugged enough so that he climbed out with his boy in his arms without waiting for assistance from others. It was the McDonel farm and the children were watering the cows when the boy fell into the well. "First aid" was not an economic term that long ago, but the father did the heroic thing. In the study of wells, there was a time when "damps" was the arch enemy of well diggers. When the peach tree switch had located a water vein, the limb with which he did it never indicated the presence of the poison gas, and the well diggers took chances themselves. James Wright was perhaps the first victim of the "damps" m Lima ; when being lowered in a bucket, he struck the "damps" and fell to the bottom, and it was with difficulty the body was recovered ; such conditions were frequently encountered while digging wells in the early history of Allen County. While the public drinking fountain and the common communion cup are under the ban in polite society, all Spencerville drinks from a street corner well with a vent in the pump spout from which a miniature geyser issues when the thirst-driven visitor places his hand over the bottom, and the question of sanitation does not deter him. There is a public well in Westminster that has served the community for many years. Until recently the pump was a hollowed out log with the small end down for the stock, and it was always an unfailing source of excellent water. This "trunk of a tree" pump was the pride of Westminster at the time it was thinking about annexing the Allen County courthouse. The man who digs a well or plants a tree is a public benefactor ; while wells are going out of fashion, there has as yet been no substitute for trees. It is a stock story about the settler who was digging a well with a blind horse grazing near it ; his wife had gone to the cabin of another settler for fire, and she remained to gossip ; he had never known her to stay so long anywhere ; the blind horse wore a bell so the settler could find him, even though the animal lost its way ; a waggish neighbor knew of the absence of the well-digger's 392 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY wife and played a trick on him ; the man in the well was also in trouble; the waggish neighbor had removed the bell from the neck of the horse and slowly approached the well, the sound of the bell indicating that the blind horse was grazing; nearer and nearer came the sound. The man at the bottom of the well was frantic; he had worked along until he was so far from, the top in throwing out dirt that he could not scale the walls alone ; his wife had operated the windlass and she was gone after fire ; why did she not hurry? In order to avoid what seemed like certain catastrophe, the man in the well had shouted at Dobbyn ; he might "gee" or he might "haw," anything to get him away from this aperture through which he might blunder onto the well-digger; the blind horse was peacefully fighting flies under some nearby trees, oblivious of the impending danger ; the man still halloed at Dobbyn, and the woman still gossiped with the neighbor woman ; when the wag had punished his friend to his heart's content, he replaced the bell on the neck of the blind horse in the distance, and casually called down to the man at the bottom of the well. He was innocent of having caused him a particle of anxiety. The rapid growth of Lima in the '70s caused enterprising citizens to agitate the question of a public water system. On March 25, 1882, the Ohio Legislature authorized the city and county to issue bonds for $200,000, and it required $125,000 more to complete the system, and further bonded indebtedness amounting to $156,000 was incurred before Lima had a completed water system. There was water in the mains, February 1, 1887. There are always little discrepancies ; another account says January instead of February. The Lima Progress Club functioning at that time, was, back of the water works proposition. Water has always been taken from the Ottawa River. Some student of the economic situation once said : "Because the Ottawa River does not furnish sufficient water, Lima may never be a great city ; it will always be a desirable residence city if it cannot furnish water for the wheels of industry." Since in 1920 there were 1,678,753,000 gallons of water pumped by the Lima water works pumps, and this aqua pura was sold to Lima consumers for $212,000, it would seem like water is the staff of life— that man does not live by bread alone. Fitzgerald, Richmond, Merrigold-these names have always been connected with Lima water works history. Fitzgerald and Richmond were members of the water works board, and Merrigold was brought from Columbus as construction superintendent. Thomas Fitzgerald, Richard Stone and Samuel Berry— all have been connected with the development of the system. Mr. Berry, who has passed the fourscore mark, and who works every day is the oldest continuous employe; he was working before the water was being pumped, when Ed King was the chief engineer at the new pumping station. Until January 1, 1887, Lima had private wells and public cisterns, now it has 8,000 water consumers, the supply being taken from the Ottawa River. The oil development in 1885 started expansion along different lines in the community. As public service director, Elmer McClain is thoroughly acquainted with the Lima water works question ; the two Holly engines near the front door at the station are the first pumps installed : they are junk but are retained as relics ; they had a capacity of 6,000,000 gallons a day. When the next two pumps were installed their combined capacity was 12,000,000 gallons per day ; one was a Snow and the other a De Laval. While the latest pump is a small one, it renders satisfactory service ; when the whole pumping system is in action it throws an immense volume of water. When the Lima consumer turns a spigot and HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 393 draws a glass of water, he does not comprehend all the labor involved to enable him to enjoy it. A visit to the source of supply would fill him with admiration and respect for the system. The water from the Ottawa River is held in Lima Lake, opposite the County Home, until a sediment settles from it. The original supply is pumped from the Ottawa into the lake. Lima Lake is a broad expanse of water and here it undergoes chemical action from the rays of the sun ; by the force of gravity the water leaves Lima Lake and passes into Lost Creek Lake-the billion gallon reservoir, where it undergoes further chemical action from the rays of the sun, and there is further deposit of sediment ; this new storage reservoir has been completed except ripraping the upper course at the sides, and here is a system of gauging the water. The cement "stair-steps" gauge has the capacity in gallons marked on each ledge, and the men doing the work were vigilant in order that no mischievous person bent on seeing his name written in the green cement had an opportunity. When water reaches the topmost gauge, there will be 880,000,000 gallons in the new "Billion Gallon Reservoir." The Lima water system shows some engineering feats that are only understood by seeing them. Yes, the Lima water supply is taken from the Ottawa River, but above the city sewage and putrid sea portion of the stream ; after it goes through the various processes the Lima consumer pronounces it splendid water. E. E. Smith of the Lima filtration plant reports : "The Lima filtration plant is now producing water of the highest sanitary quality, with marked improvement in appearance and taste over the former unfiltered supply ; after it becomes possible to use water from the new Lost Creek reservoir—the billion gallon storage, a reduction in hardness may be expected. On December 20, 1919, the Ohio State Department of Health certified the Lima public water supply for use on common carriers in interstate commerce," and that means pure water. Railway trains obtain their water supply while passing through the city. While the Solar Refinery obtains its water supply from its own artesian wells 300 feet in the earth, all other Lima industries use city water. From Lima Lake the water passes into Lost Creek Lake, and by its own weight it reaches the Twin Lakes adjoining the pumping station where the sunshine still purifies it, and it is from there pumped into the filtration plant where liquid chlorine, copper sulphate and sulphate of aluminum complete the chemical process. Three or four farms lying east of Lima are now utilized as reservoirs—water storage-and before this water is turned into the city mains it undergoes the refining process already mentioned. When the raw water passes the chemical action of the filtration plant, its purity is guaranteed—they wash the water-and the valves marked affluent and effluent, mean water of different stages in purification ; the sanitary engineer performs laboratory duties there. The water in bottles illustrates the different stages of sanitary perfection. Seemingly everything is taken from the water ; the different aquariums are stocked with, fish that come into the station through the pumps ; all the varieties known to the Ottawa River are found in these aquariums. The fishery at the water works always interests visitors. The billion gallon storage reservoir enables the department to operate the pumps when the Ottawa River is flush, and to have an immense amount of water in storage against dry weather. There are barricades in the river, and the water is pumped from behind them. In times of HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 395 continued drouth no water is pumped, and only the fresh water finds its way into the reservoirs. Lima Lake, which lies farthest out, occupies a tract of seventy-two acres that was purchased July 19, 1904, from the county infirmary directors. Think of 12,000,000 gallons of water being pumped into it in twenty-four hours, and think of a billion gallons of water stored in Lost Creek Lake, and the force of gravity impelling it into Twin Lakes from whence it is pumped into the station where it undergoes necessary processes, and then think of the wonderful pressure when your bath tubs are in service. The hydrant pressure in Lima is forty-five to sixty pounds to the square inch, and it is seldom there is complaint from consumers, The Lima water is one of the best resources of the community. ALLEN COUNTY FIREFIGHTERS—As early as 1865 there was a volunteer fire department in Lima, and every town has had its fire squad almost from the beginning of it s history. A scrap book made by Ezekiel Owen carries the names of David S. Fisher, T. C. P. Terrell, William Timberlake, Joseph G. Davis, John B. Lipsell, William Havil and Timothy Shroyer as members of the original volunteer department, and in an interview the late J. T. Black said he had been a member the following year. On July 4, 1866, he went with the department to Bucyrus. There was a tournament in Bucyrus, and the Lima department won in a water throwing contest. The first apparatus was Pacific Engine No. 1, and it was used for several years in Lima, it had been obtained secondhand from the fire department in Dayton. It was finally sold to Spencerville ; years later it was again shown in Lima, When a blaze was discovered in ancient Lima all shouted fire, and all armed themselves with buckets, dishpans-anything that would hold water. Lines were formed and buckets of water were passed while some pitched the furniture out of upper windows, and carefully carried the feather beds down the narrow stairways ; mirrors landed in the street while cushions and pillows were gently carried to places of safety. It is said that with such meager protection fires were seldom put out and the unfortunate families rendered homeless were always sheltered by friends until they could make different arrangements. For a long time a fire was the subject of conversation, and the fellow who managed to become the wettest was the greatest hero. The first move toward an organized fire department was when the village council ordered William Andres, a local blacksmith, to put a fire clapper in the courthouse bell. This clapper cost the town $1.8772, and when it sounded, the citizens rushed to the courthouse for information. Central was not yet on the job ready for such emergencies.. In the Lima small-town days there were frequent fights as to who should sound the fire alarm. The bell now resting in front of Memorial Hall is the first Allen County courthouse bell, and therefore it was the first fire bell in Lima. Some one was excited in sounding a fire alarm as there is a crack- an injury to the bell. While people pass it today without second thought about it, there was a time when Lima citizens vied with each other in being first to ring it. Sometimes the house burned down while they were quarreling about it. While there was no accurate fire department record in those days, the volunteer members all having other employment, whenever there was a fire alarm they all dropped their work and hurried to the scene of the conflagration. Mr. Black who related the story, exhibited an exemption certificate from road work and jury service, given him in recognition of his work as a fireman. When the Pacific fire engine was purchased there were two, engines under consideration, and it was understood that the one that had a 396 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY stream of water going over the courthouse quickest would be given the preference ; the result was a tie and there was divided sympathy. The council then asked for bids, and the contract would be given the lowest bidder—the town would buy the cheapest engine. The engine submitted by Clapp and Jones was priced the lower, while most of the citizens favored the other engine; a purse was immediately started, and while the council purchased one engine, the citizens purchased the other. It was charged that the people did not support the council in its effort to save money, and thus there were two steamers in Lima from the beginning of its fire department history ; one was purchased by popular subscription, and the other by the city fathers. The Pacific and the Citizens Gift were both drawn by hand, or sometimes hitched behind some passing wagon for greater speed in reaching the conflagration. The fire was always lighted before beginning the run, but the grates would shake out when rapid speed was attained and the fire must be built again. I. H. Cunningham was captain of the coal brigade, and there were boys who always went to the fires drawing a coal cart ; only Frank Boone, Lewis Cune, Arthur Smith and Marshall Thompson remain in Lima today of twenty-five boys who were always ready when there was a fire ; they pulled the coal cart while the men. pulled the Pacific and the Citizens Gift. When the streets were muddy, unless they could attach to a passing wagon, the volunteer fire department and the coal supply train always used the sidewalks, thereby gaining valuable time in reaching the conflagration. There were public cisterns in Lima, those on the public square being filled from the roofs of business houses, while others were filled from filtered gutter water ; these tournament displays sometimes reduced the water supply, and sometimes there were displays in order to empty the cisterns ; it was desirable to have fresh water in them. The department janitor always cared for the two fire engines ; in order to kindle quick fires there were always splinters soaked in oil, and there was always rivalry between those operating the Pacific and the Citizens Gift as to who was first at a fire ; there was no lack of attention. The story of the fireman looking for a gas leak with a lighted candle has spent its force in Lima, as well as in other towns. The shortcut of the servant girl for a better country, through kindling a fire with coal oil is a stock story all over the country. The volunteer fire department always attracted great crowds when throwing water for practice, and Mr. Black exhibited a trumpet—a primitive form of megaphone made of German silver, that was given the department September 28, 1865, by the Allen County Agricultural Association for an exhibition of throwing water at the county fair grounds ; it was a thing of beauty in its day, and Mr. Black, who was the last member of the volunteer department, said he meant to present it to the Allen County Historical and Archeological Society, adding it to the collection of curios in Memorial Hall. Horses were first used in the Lima Fire Department in 1878, and in 1916 they were all discarded by the department ; in 1890, when it became an organized department, all the volunteer firemen dropped out of the service ; it was necessary to have men trained in the use of fire-fighting equipment ; when the gong was sounded a stream of water must soon be playing on the blaze, and a growing city needed constant protection. In 1872, the Lima volunteer fire fighters went to Delphos ; a conflagration was sweeping the business district of the town ; the Pacific No. 1 hand engine was loaded onto a flat car on the Pennsylvania and hurried to the scene; it was a terrific ride, the firemen holding the HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 397 engine on the flat car with difficulty ; they had a hard workout in Delphos, Mr. Black saying the first steam engine he had ever seen came there that day from Fort Wayne ; the Lima department was the first outside help that came to the rescue of Delphos. While the town was almost wiped out by the fire-sixty-eight buildings in the business section, the women of the town rallied to the situation, and they served meals to all visiting firemen; they all showed their appreciation of the assistance. There are now three paid firemen in Delphos-two always on duty, and one to relieve them. There are twenty-five volunteer firemen and with a fire truck they render effective service; the same situation prevails in Bluffton and Spencerville. There has been an organized department in Lima since 1890, and since 1893 there, have been paid firemen always on duty. In the interim between the volunteer and the paid department, there were the Minute Men, who were always paid for each fire-paid for actual service. When the paid service was first installed in Lima, two drivers, John Maurer and Albert Coates, were paid for their time, and C. V. Eyster was the first fireman on full pay ; he had been a volunteer fireman in and out of the service, but since March 1, 1895, Mr. Eyster has been in continuous service. On March 1, 1920, he had been twenty-five years in the service and is eligible to retire on a pension; while he is an ablebodied man, Mr. Eyster does not care to claim his pension. Both the drivers, John Maurer and Albert Coates, were advanced to the position of fire chief, and both retired on pensions. Mr. Coates is dead and Mr. Maurer lives on a farm in Logan County. In 1889, Fire Chief John C. Mack entered the service as a volunteer fire fighter, and since March 6, 1912, he has been chief of the department. There are forty men in the Lima fire department, including Chief Mack and Assistant Chief Eyster ; there are six fire stations and accurate record is now kept of all fires. Lieutenant B. F. Garrigus as secretary to Chief Mack attends to it. There have been some heavy losses, the heaviest of all being April 24, 1918, when the Lake Erie & Western Railroad shops were destroyed, entailing an $800,000 loss, and the fire hardest to subdue was September 12, 1920, when the Leader store went up in flames. The loss was in excess of $215,000, and the crowd was unmanageable that day ; while an area was cut off by ropes, people constantly endangered their lives by crowding too close to the firemen. The most disastrous fires in the history of Allen County have been the conflagration that swept Delphos in 1872, and May 22, 1874 ; the Lima Flax Bagging Mill with a loss of $18,000 ; July 13, 1882, East & Lewis Flour Mill, loss $75,000 ; January 10, 1886, Hopkins & Gordon Flour Mill, $40,000 ; November 17, 1886, Schultheis Tannery, $26,000 ; January 18, 1888, Lima Car Shops, $80,000; September 19, 1888, Dayton & Michigan Railroad Shops, $70,000 ; September 6, 1889, Lafayette Car Works, $100,000; October 6, 1891, Holmes Block and Times-Democrat office, $45,000 ; January 12, 1895, street car barns, $20,000 ; August 22, 1896, C., H. & D. Railroad Shops, $52,000 ; December 24, 1898, Cambridge Hotel, $18,000; January 26, 1899, American Straw Board Company, $62,000; February 13, 1899, Newson, Bond Company, furniture house, $50,000 ; May 5, 1901, Watson Grocery Company, $40,000; February 23, 1902, Lima Steel Works, $40,000 ; December 11, 1902, Banta Candy Factory, $30,000; November 19, 1903, Lima Daily News, $40,000; November 29, 1903, Purtscher Block, $50,000; February 1, 1904, J. D. S. Nealy residence, $10,000; February 3, 1904, Heiston, Hoover, Overy Candy Company, $12,000; December 23, 1908, Morri- 398 - HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY son Livery Barn and others, $60,000; April 19, 1909, Musser Livery Barn and others, $30,000; February 22, 1911, Pangle Livery Barn, $30,000; March 2, 1911, Uhlen Hotel, $30,000; March 5, 1912, Monroe Manufacturing Company and others, $25,000; December 25, 1912, Gros- jean Shoe Company, $10,400; July 11, 1913, Curtis Livery Barn and others, $45,000; May 12, 1916, Prism Gas Engine Works, $18,500; August: 16, 1916, Eaggy Storage House and others, $34,000; January 19, 1917, Lima Clay Products Company, $12,000, with the Lake Erie & Western shops the following year, and May 21, 1919, the Metropolitan Block, $16,850, winding up with the Leader Store as among the most disastrous fires. When the volunteer service was merged into the paid department, no effort was spared in the way of up-to-date equipment-the best available in men, machinery and horses; at one time when there were twenty-one head of fine horses, they were the pride of the department. People always stopped to watch the horses when they were running to a fire; they were splendid animals with human attributes ; the removal of the horse was the removal of the poetry from the Lima Fire Department; the horses came into the department in 1878, and in 1916 they went out of it. The Lima Fire Department was motorized March 1, 1916, and the Gramm-Bernstein truck is used, thoroughly modern equipment. While the chief's car and a full line of equipment is kept at Station No. 1, where the entire department is shown in the photograph, there is equipment in all of the stations. Three departments always respond to an alarm, and No. 1 goes to all fires. Since automobiles are so common, no general alarms are given to the public ; the firemen must have the right of way in the streets, and foolhardy chauffeurs were always blocking their progress. The only safety lies in suppressing the information while the department is en route to a conflagration. When the motor-drawn equipment was installed, many Lima fire horses went on the market ; some of them are still used in the public service department, and when a fire alarm is heard it is with difficulty they are restrained from responding, although drawing street cleaning apparatus ; a fire department horse never forgets about it. A splendid team of dapple grays-Dick and Dock-was sold to a farmer and when the dinner bell rang they escaped with the plow, and went to the fire which happened to be in the kitchen range ; a fine bay-matched team was sold to a Kenton liveryman whose barn was later burned with forty horses in it, the Lima horses being the only ones rescued because they were used to fires and were easily led from the burning building; when harness is thrown on a frantic horse it will sometimes leave a burning building; it was always of interest to strangers to see the well-trained horses respond when a fire alarm was given, although sometimes it only meant their accustomed drill before they were given their oats. While efficiency is the watchword, the passing of the horse was the removal of most of the sentiment from the fire department-the men are there yet, but it is a matter of choice with them-the horses never forgot it. GAS-ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL It was in 1870 that Dr. Samuel A. Baxter, Calvin S. Price and Theodore Mayo installed an artificial gas plant in Lima ; it was a successful business enterprise, and they extended the service from time to time, supplying the growing community ; it was used for domestic purposes and for lighting and was a satisfactory business enterprise until 1888, when natural gas was brought to Lima from the St. Mary's gas HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY - 399 territory. The natural gas in Lima meant new pipe lines and installation of service ; it was never furnished through the artificial gas lines, and it meant that Lima was a city of trenches again. When B. C. Faurot began prospecting in Lima with a deep well on the Lima Paper Mill site, it was for water, natural gas or oil—but Lima was never a profitable natural gas center. Samuel Murdock of Lafayette, Indiana, invested his money in the proposition when natural gas was brought from St. Mary's to Lima. In a short time nature's own fuel was brought from the Indiana gas territory, but in 1900 the local capital—especially the Baxter money, was withdrawn and while there is now both artificial and natural gas used in Lima, it has been a most uncertain, unsatisfactory commodity. The Lima Gas Light Company of the early '70s had the confidence of the community ; since then the whole thing has been shrouded in uncertainty ; while the Baxter name is still known in the community, some of those early local enterprising citizens are no longer represented by kith or kin in the community ; it is said that Brice Hall on the campus of Miami University at Oxford is in commemoration of C. S. Brice. Miami University was his Alma Mater. The present-day Lima Gas Company has been heralded to the world through the local press because of unsatisfactory service ; a statement given out at the office is that since 1911, the company has secured its commodity through its contract with Medina Gas and Fuel Company from Medina, Ashland and other counties ; when there is an abundance of natural gas consumers are fortunate, but when there is a shortage the whole community is in distress. Since 1915, the annual consumption of natural gas has decreased because of this uncertainty. In December, 1920, the Lima Gas Company had 10,689 natural gas contracts and 987 contracts for artificial gas-some Lima homes never having been wired for electricity. Most Lima homes aside from the most modern ones have both artificial and natural gas pipes in them, and there is a three-way valve attachment by which natural gas consumers may switch the service to the artificial line in an emergency ; the company thus seeks to protect its patrons ; while it is the most economical fuel, the natural gas supply is about exhausted, and the three-way valve is, the solution of the difficulty ; gas is an economic luxury, and the company does what it can to perpetuate the service. While homes were once heated with natural gas, consumers are now asked to limit the use of natural gas to kitchen ranges, and to the bathroom hot water service. Indifferent consumers take advantage of the situation and work a hardship on all. While the newspapers have given much attention to the gas question, Frank L. Pringle in charge of the local office exhibits scrap books made up from newspaper clippings covering the years the company has been in the Lima field, and a study of the headlines indicates a variety of information. Mr. Pringle says he can prove anything at all by the clippings from local newspapers ; he stands between the consumer and the hole in the ground in some distant field, through which natural gas reaches Lima ; he knows all about "creature complaints." He knows all about newspaper criticism; the natural gas supply business is one in which "keep sweet" requires the exercise of Christian virtue. In 1915, the controlling interest of the Lima Natural Gas Company passed from the hands of the Indiana Lighting Company to the Northern Indiana Gas and Electric Company ; it is said the Lima Artificial Gas and Lighting Company has never been self-sustaining, but some day when natural gas has failed it will be placed on a profitable basis of local manufacture.