FIRST DECADE, 1812 TO 1822. CHAPTER 1. IT is now seventy years since the State of Ohio was admitted into the Union, and sixty years since Columbus was selected for its capital. We propose to trace briefly the history of the latter in six chapters, each embracing a period of ten years. SELECTION OF THE STATE CAPITAL. It was not of its own seeking that Columbus became the capital of Ohio. That was its destiny from the beginning. At the time the law was enacted that made it the state capital, its site was covered by an almost unbroken forest, and not a human being was resident within its original limits. Ohio wanted a capital at or very near the center of the State. Chillicothe was originally the seat of government. In order to make this seat more central and permanent, the legislature, in February, 1810, appointed five commissioners—James Findlay, W. Silliman, Joseph Darlington, Reisin Beall, and William McFarland—to examine and select the most eligible site. The commissioners were to meet at Franklinton, on the first of September following. Franklin county was organized in 1803, with Franklinton for its county seat. This town was situated in a bend of the Scioto river, south of the point of its confluence with the Olentangy or IV, hetstone, and about one mile west of the site of the present state house. The town was laid out in 1797, by Lucas Sullivant, a young man from Kentucky, engaged in surveying lands and locating land warrants in the Virginia military district, west of 14 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO the Scioto. Its settlement began soon afterward, and it grew apace. From having been made the county-seat, and from other causes, it soon became, for that time and country, a. place of considerable importance, and was talked of as the future capital of the State. But the plan upon which it was laid out, and especially its low situation. were, by many, deemed objectionable. The five commissioners met at Franklinton as directed. They examined that and several other places proposed as sites for the state capital. In their report to the legislature. dated September 12, 1810, the commissioners recommended a site twelve miles above Franklinton, on the west bank of the Scioto river, where the town of Dublin, in Franklin county, was afterward located. Here the subject rested until the, next session of the legislature. At that session, in February. 1812. a company composed of Lyne Starling, John Kerr, Is Alexander McLaughlin, and James Johnston, proposed that, if the legislature would establish the seat of the state government on the high bank, east of the Scioto river, nearly opposite Franklinton. in township five, range twenty-two, of the refugee lands, and would, on or before the first Monday of December, 1817, begin to hold its sessions in a town to be laid off thereon by the company, and continue to hold the same there until the year 1840, the company would : First. Lay out a town on the lands mentioned, on or before the first day of July, 1812, agreeably to a plan presented to the legislature. Second. Convey to the State by general warranty deed, in fee simple, such square in the town, containing about ten acres, for public buildings, and such lot of ten acres for the penitentiary and dependencies. as a director or such person or persons as the legislature should appoint, might select. Third. Erect and complete it state-house, offices, and penitentiary, and such other buildings as should be directed by the legislature to be built., of stone and brick, or of either—the work to be done in a workmanlike manner, and of such size and dimensions as the legislature should require; the penitentiary and dependencies to be completed on or before the first of January, 1815, and the state-house and offices on or before the first Monday of December, 1817. HISTORY, 1812 TO 1822 - 15 When the buildings should be completed, the legislature and the company were, reciprocally, to appoint workmen to examine and value the whole buildings, which valuation should be binding: if it should not amount to fifty thousand dollars, the company were to make up the deficiency in such further buildings as should be directed by law; but if the valuation should exceed fifty thousand dollars, the legislature were, in such way as it might deem just and equitable, to remunerate the company for such excess. Annexed to these proposals was the penal bond of the company, dated February 10, 1812, conditioned for the faithful performance of the agreements and obligations therein set forth. An act was passed, February 14, 1812, accepting the proposals and bond of the company, and permanently establishing the seat of government of this State on the lands named therein, the legislature to " commence their sessions thereat on the first Monday of December, 1817, and there continue until the first day of May, 1840, and from thence until otherwise provided by law." The act provided for the appointment by the legislature of a director to superintend the surveying and laying off of the proposed town—to direct the width of its streets and alleys and select the square for the public buildings, and the lot for the penitentiary and dependencies. It was also provided that McLaughlin, Kerr, Starling, amid Johnston should, before the first day of July, at their own expense, cause the proposed town to be laid out, and a plat of the same recorded, distinguishing thereon the square and the lot to be conveyed to the State. COLUMBUS LOCATED. Under this act, Joel Wright, of Warren county, was appointed director or agent of the State; and Joseph Vance, of Franklin county, was selected to assist him. Under their joint superintendence was platted a town destined to be the capital of Ohio, and the thriving metropolis of the central portion of the State. The refugee lands, upon which our state capital was located, comprised a narrow tract four miles and a half wide, from north to south, and extending forty-eight miles eastwardly from the 16 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO Scioto river. It took its name from the fact that it was appropriated by Congress for the benefit of persons from Canada and Nova Scotia, who, in our revolutionary war, espoused the cause of the revolted colonies. The lands in this tract were originally surveyed in 1799, under the authority of the general government, and divided, as other public lands, into sections of six hundred and forty acres each. But in 1801, they were divided into half-sections, and numbered as such. Patents were issued for half-sections, designating them by these numbers. On the recorded plat of the town, the streets and alleys crossed each other at right angles, bearing twelve degrees west of north, and twelve degrees north of east. High street, running north and south, was one hundred feet wide; and Broad, an east and west street, was one hundred and twenty feet in width. The other streets were eighty-two and a half feet wide, and the alleys generally thirty-three feet. The in-lots were sixty-two and a half feet front, and eighty-seven and a half feet deep. The out-lots, east of the town plat, each contained about three acres. On the 18th of June, 1812, the same day on which the United States declared war against Great Britain, the first public sale of lots took place. It had been extensively advertised. The terms of sale were extremely liberal. Only one-fifth of the purchase-money was to be paid in hand ; the residue in four equal annual installments, without interest, unless default was made in prompt payment. The lots sold were principally on High and Broad streets, and brought prices varying from two hundred to one thousand dollars each. Immediately after the sale, improvements began to be made rapidly. The first buildings erected were small frame-houses and shops, inclosed with split clapboards, instead of sawn weather-boards which were not easily obtainable. THE INFANT CAPITAL. Thus we see Columbus, in the summer of 1812, started on the career of development and future greatness. At the time of the public sale of lots, its prospects were by no means enticing. The streets and alleys marked on the plat lad to be traced HISTORY, 1812 TO 1822 - 17 through a dense forest. Its site and immediate surroundings presented but few evidences of the former presence of civilized man. There was a small spot of cleared ground on Front, a little north of State street; and a small field and cabin on the river bank, at the western terminus of Rich street. John Brickell lived in a cabin and cultivated a small garden in the old Indian encampment in front of the site of the present penitentiary, being part of the ten-acre lot conveyed to him by Lyne Starling, long before the town of Columbus was located. The site of the first water-mill in Franklin county, erected by Robert Balentine, was on a small stream, near the spot where Hayden's rolling mill now stands ; and near the location of Hayden's (formerly Ridgway's) foundry, was the site of a small distillery, built by one White, in which was distilled the first whisky ever made in this county. The mill and distillery were put in operation about the beginning of the present century, but soon became of the things that were, but are not. South of the noted Indian mound, from which Mound street took its name, was a small cleared field, on a tract of land which, in 1814, was made by John McGowan an addition to the original town plat, and designated as 11 South Columbus." The proprietors, some time after they had laid off the new town and the eastern out-lots, caused to be recorded a separate plat of forty or fifty out-lots, north of the town, each containing a little over two acres. From a part of two of these lots, they conveyed to the town an acre and a half for a graveyard. For the first three or four years after the decree had gone forth that Columbus was to be the future capital of Ohio, immigrants sought homes within its borders. Improvements and general business went forward with the increase of population. Frequent sales of lots were made by the proprietors—usually by title bond. A third, fourth, or fifth of the price was paid in hand, and promissory notes given for the payment of the residue in annual installments—without interest, if punctually paid when due; otherwise, bearing interest from date. The proprietors then executed a bond conditioned for the execution of a deed to the purchaser of the lot upon the punctual payment of the rates. It often happened that after a payment or two, and 18 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO some improvement had been made, a default in subsequent payments would cause the lot to revert to the proprietors. The prices of lots, for seven or eight years after the public sale in June, 1812, ranged from two to five hundred dollars each. The capital of Ohio had its birth and passed its early infancy on a rough, wild, and secluded portion of the now beautiful and productive valley of the Scioto. It had scarcely any road or mail facilities, The, travel, east and west, left Columbus to the north, passing through Zanesville, Lancaster, and Chillicothe. The mails came in on cross lines, and were carried on horseback. The first successful attempt to carry them in any other manner, was made in 1816, by Philip Zinn, under a contract to carry a mail once a week between Chillicothe and Columbus. About 1819, Mr. Zinn carried the snail in coaches to and from Delaware. The Columbus post-office was established in 1813, with Matthew Matthews for the first postmaster, who, in the spring of the next year, was succeeded by Joel Bottles. Notwithstanding its small population and its comparative isolation from the outside world, Columbus could not do without that great modern necessity—the newspaper. There was one published weekly at Worthington, the first ever started in the county, and called the Western Intelligences. It was removed to Columbus in 1814, and the title changed by adding to it the words "and Columbus Gazette." The first part of the title was afterward dropped and it was issued for many years under the name of the Columbus Gazette. MANY FIRST THINGS. Having mentioned the first newspaper, we proceed to notice many other first things in and about Columbus. All enterprises of great pith and moment" have their small beginnings, and Ohio's capital had hers. And first, we find it recorded that the first marriage in Columbus took place in February. 1814. and was that of' George B. Harvey to Miss Jane Armstrong. The second wedding, that of Joseph Dille to Miss Polly Collett. soon followed. The first saw-mill was built on the Scioto, by John Shields HISTORY, 1812 TO 1822 - 19 and Richard Courtney, in 1813, a short distance below the site of the present. penitentiary. Three years afterward, Mr. Shields built a flouring mill on a run in the southwest portion of the town. In 1815, or 1816, the first jeweler's shop in Columbus was opened by William Platt. The first stores opened in Columbus were these : One belonging to the Worthington Manufacturing Company, in charge of Joel Buttles, in a small brick building, on the west end of the lot afterward covered by the Broadway Exchange building ; and one owned by McLean & Green, kept in a cabin on the south side of Rich street, just cast of the corner subsequently occupied by the Mechanics' Hall building. The first tavern was opened, in the spring of 1813, by Volney Payne, in a two-story brick house erected by John Collett for that purpose, on the west side of High street, where the 11 Johnston Building" now stands. Several other taverns and houses of entertainment were soon afterward opened. The first school opened in Columbus was in a cabin on the Public Square. To this, in 1814-15, succeeded numerous private or subscription schools—the free-school system not having been then introduced. The first census of the infant capital was taken by James Marshall, in the spring of 1.815. It shoved a population of seven hundred. In 1820, it had more than doubled, having increased to fourteen hundred and fifty. About 1815, lawyers began to locate in the new town. The first of these were David Smith, Orris Parish, David Scott, and Gustavus Swan. These were soon followed by many others. The first market-house was erected in 1814, in the middle of High street, near its intersection by Rich street. It was built by the contributions of citizens in the vicinity of its location. Three years afterward the town council declared it a nuisance; and a new market-house was built on State street, immediately west of High. The first bridge over the Scioto river was built by Lucas Sullivant about 1813, under a charter from the legislature. It crossed the river at the west end of Broad street, on the road to 20 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. Franklinton, where now stands the present National Road bridge. William Lusk, in 1817, published his first almanac in Columbus. It continued to be published annually for about thirty-five years. The first physician who located in Columbus was Dr. John M. Edmiston. In 1815 or '16, Dr. Samuel Parsons removed from Franklinton to Columbus, where he fixed his permanent residence. In 1814, the first two churches built in Columbus were erected. One was a small hewed log-house, used by the Methodists as a place of worship. It stood on tho same lot upon which was afterward erected the Town Street Methodist Church. The other was a log-cabin built by the Presbyterians, near the corner of' Spring and Third streets, and used as an occasional place of worship, until it was superseded, in 1818, by a frame building erected on the west side of Front street, south of Town. For several years after Columbus had begun to grow, its streets were so obstructed by stumps, brush, and logs, that teams were obliged to move in zigzag directions, in order to get around these obstacles. These impediments gere, however, gradually removed by the citizens, who used them for fire-wood and building materials. In 1815 or 1816 about two hundred dollars was raised by subscription and used for removing the remaining obstructions from High street. Soon after the incorporation of the town, the streets were gradually improved by order of the council. The town was incorporated on the 10th day of February, 1816, as "The Borough of Columbus." On the. first Monday of May following, Robert W. McCoy, John Cutter, Robert Armstrong, Henry Brown, Caleb Houston, Michael Patton, Jeremiah Armstrong, Jarvis Pike, and John Kerr were elected members of the first board of' councilmen. The Franklin Bank of Columbus was incorporated February 23, 1816, and on the first Monday of September following, it was organized by the election of directors, with Lucas ,Sullivant for president, and A. J. Williams, cashier. HISTORY, 1812 TO 1822 - 21 THE FIRST STATE BUILDINGS. In pursuance of their contract with the State, the proprietors of Columbus set to work with characteristic energy. and in 1813 excavated the ground on the southwest corner of the Public Square for the foundation of a state-house. The building was erected the following year. It was a plain brick structure, seventy-five by fifty feet, and two stories high. A two-story brick holding, one hundred and fifty feet in length, by twenty-five in width, and fronting on High street, was erected in 1815 for state offices; fifty or sixty feet north of the state-house. Both buildings were constructed under the superintendence of William Ludlow, the agent for the State. The Public Square, on which these buildings stood, was, in 1815 or 1816, cleared of the native timber and underbrush by Jarvis Pike, generally known as Judge Pike, who inclosed the lot with a rough_ rail fence, and farmed the ground three or four years, raising upon it wheat:, corn, etc. The fence having got out of order, and not being repaired, was at length destroyed, and the square lay in common for a dozen years or more, Under the direction of William Ludlow, the state agent, the first penitentiary building was erected in 1813, on the ten-acre lot designated for that purpose. It was a brick structure, fronting on Scioto street, three stories high, on a ground plat of sixty by thirty feet. The prison-yard was one hundred feet square. Another and larger prison was constructed in 1818 on the same lot. The public buildings having been completed nearly two years before the expiration of the time limited by the contract, the legislature, on the 17th of February; 1816, passed an act establishing the seat of the state government at Columbus, from and after the second Tuesday of October following. The state offices were accordingly removed from Chillicothe to Columbus, and the session of the general assembly, beginning on the first Monday of December, 1816, was held in the state-house at the latter place. Columbus thus became, fifty-six years ago, the permanent seat of' the state government of Ohio. The proprietors of the town having, according to contract, 22 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. conveyed by deed the two ten-acre lots to the State, and finished the public buildings, presented their account for the erection of the buildings. By an act passed January 29, 1817, the governor was authorized to adjust and settle the account. In the settlement that followed, after deducting from the charge for carpenter work six or seven per cent., and the fifty thousand dollars the proprietors had agreed to donate, there was found to be due them a balance of thirty-three thousand dollars. This was paid over to them by the State—and thus was amicably closed their large and responsible contract to locate a town for the state capital; donate twenty acres in two separate lots of equal size; and erect the necessary public buildings thereon, donating fifty thousand dollars to aid in their construction. THE PROPRIETORS' ASSOCIATION. Immediately after the acceptance of their proposals by the legislature, the proprietors—Lyne Starling, John Kerr, Alexander McLaughlin, and James Johnston—entered into articles of association as partners, under the act accepting their proposals and establishing the seat of the state government, In these articles it was stipulated that a common stock should be created for the material benefit of the partners. To this stock Starling was to contribute half-section twenty-five, with the exception of ten acres previously sold to John Brickell; Johnston's contribution was to be half-section nine and the half of half-section ten; and McLaughlin and Kerr, who had previously been partners and were considered as a third party to this agreement, were to contribute half-section twenty-six. The proceeds of the sales of lots were to remain as common stock, until their contract with the State should be completed. An agent was to be appointed to make rules and superintend the business of the association. Each of the three parties was to pay to the agent $2,400 annually, on the first Monday of January, for five successive years, and such further sum as might be needed to complete the public buildings. The title to the land contributed to the common stock was to be warranted by the party contributing the same. Each party was to derive a mutual benefit from all donations obtained by subscription or other- HISTORY, 1812 TO 1822 - 23 wise. Upon the completion of' their contract with the State, a final settlement was to take place, and the profits or losses equally divided. John Kerr was appointed, in April, 1813, the first agent of the associates, and continued until June, 1815, when he declined longer service, and Henry Brown was appointed in his place. The latter continued to serve as agent till the business of the association was closed in April, 1817. A distribution of the unsold lands, and of the evidences of indebtedness for lots sold, as well as of other property belonging to the association, was then made, and each party released the others from all obligations under the articles of association; and the several parties executed to each other quitclaim deeds—so that the lands originally contributed to the common stock, and remaining unsold, became the separate property of the different members of the association. The amount of donations, which the proprietors obtained to enable them to fulfill their contract with the State, has been variously stated at fifteen to twenty thousand dollars. Rev. James Hoge conveyed to them eighty acres on the south end of half-section eleven to enable them to. make the plat of the town of the size and form desired. Of the lots laid out on this grant, the proprietors retained one-half, and reconveyed the remainder to Dr. Hoge. Thomas Allen, for a like purpose, conveyed to the proprietors twenty acres in the southwest portion of half-section ten. As in the case of Dr. Hoge, the proprietors reconveyed to Mr. Allen his part of the lots, and retained the residue as a donation. The town plat, including out-lots and reserves, covered the whole of half-sections twenty-five and twenty-six, and parts of half-sections ten and eleven. The reserves were afterward laid off into in-lots and made additions to the original plat, as were also many of the out-lots as successive years rolled by, and the new capital expanded its limits. HISTORY, 1822 To 1832 - 25 CHAPTER II. SECOND DECADE, 1822 TO 1832. DURING the first eight or nine years of its existence, the infant capital of Ohio improved rapidly. Then came A PERIOD OF DEPRESSION. About 1820, owing to the failure of two of the original proprietors, McLaughlin and Johnston, and of many other owners of real estate in the town, numerous lots were offered at public sale by the United States marshal and the sheriff of Franklin county. Money was scarce; and the lots would not sell at the required two-thirds of their appraised value. In consequence of this. they were re-appraised and offered again. This process was repeated until lots which had, a few years before, been considered worth two and three hundred dollars, were struck off at ten and twenty, and, in the less central parts of' the town, at even seven and eight dollars. This depreciation of real estate served to depress business in general; and the evil was further aggravated by the springing up of QUESTIONS OF TITLE. It was in 1822 or 1.823 that the title to Lyne Starling's half-section. on which Columbus was in part located, began to be disputed. The general government had originally granted that half-section to one Allen, a refugee from the British North American provinces in the time of the revolution. The grantee conveyed it to his son, by whom it was mortgaged. It was sold under the mortgage to Lyne Starling. The heirs of' Allen the elder disputed Starling's title. They took exception to the sale of the elder Allen to his son, and to the authentication of the son's mortgage. They especially excepted to Starling's title under the mortgage sale. on the ground that there was no evidence that an appraisement of the land had been made as required by the statutes of Ohio. Ejectment suits were brought, both in the Supreme Court. of Ohio and in 26 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. the United States Circuit. Court. against the owners of the best improved and most valuable lots in the disputed tract. Mr. Starling, who had warranted the title to the purchasers of the lots, defended these suits. He engaged Henry Clay as his attorney, who was then. practicing in the United States courts at Columbus. But Mr. Clay having been, in the spring of 1825, appointed Secretary of State under the administration of John Quincy Adams, could not attend to the eases. Mr. Starling next engaged Henry Baldwin, then of Pittsburg, by whom the defense was conducted with signal ability. Some time in 1820 a final decision was made in favor of the validity of Starling's title. Scarcely had the dispute as to the title to Starling's half-section been quieted, when a claim was set up to Kerr and McLaughlin's half-section. They had purchased from one Strowbridge. The claim was founded on an alleged defect in Strowbridge's deed, which was executed, not by the grantor in person, but by an agent or attorney in fact, who stated in the conveyance that he signed and sealed it for Strowbridge, instead of saying that Strowbridge had executed it by him, the agent, It was contended that the deed was not Strowbridge's, but that of the agent, who claimed no title. Some one having obtained a quitclaim deed from Strowbridge's heirs, brought suits in ejectment against the occupants of the most valuable lots in the Kerr and McLaughlin tract. But this proceeding was checkmated by a suit in chancery to quiet the title, entered in 1827. The title of Kerr and McLaughlin was held to be valid,—and thus ended all disputes as to the titles of the original proprietors and founders of Columbus. THE FOUR PROPRIETORS. Having thus seen how claims set up against proprietary titles of lands in Columbus came to naught, it is in place here to note briefly the final outcome of the business and lives of the four original proprietors of a little town struggling into life out of the depths of a dense forest, now a thriving city, and the prosperous capital of a great state. John Kerr left a young family and a large fortune at his death in 1823; but the estate was soon dissipated after his decease. HISTORY, 1822 TO 1832 - 27 Alexander McLaughlin, who had taken rank as one of the wealthiest men in the State, failed in business in 1820, and never afterward retrieved his fallen fortune. lie supported himself in later life by teaching a common country school. Though a man of good sense, with a fine business education and qualifications, he had entered so deeply into speculation that the depreciation of real estate, occurring about 1820, rendered him totally unable to meet the obligations lie had incurred, and his large landed estate was sacrificed under the hammer. He died in 1832. James Johnston failed in business about the same time and from the same cause as did McLaughlin. He left Columbus in 1820, and resided in Pittsburg the residue of his life. He died in the summer of 1842, at a very advanced age. Lyne Starling survived the other three proprietors by several years, and was the wealthiest of them all. Having in 1819 and 1820 made a pleasure tour through Europe, he spent the remainder of' his days chiefly in Columbus. He was never married. He died in the fall of' 1848, at the. age of sixty-five. About six years before his decease he donated thirty-five thousand dollars for the founding of a medical college in Columbus. Upon this basis an institution has been founded, which bears the name of Starling Medical College, in honor of its principal donor. EARLY MANUFACTURES. Though Columbus is now rapidly becoming a prosperous manufacturing center, its early efforts in that direction, either from want of' the requisite capital or skill, or of both, were not very encouraging. But persistence has never been wanting in those of our citizens whose thoughts have been turned toward making manufacturing industry profitable. Now we are beginning to see in fair prospect the realization of their most sanguine hopes. We have mentioned in Chapter I the erection of the first mill (a saw-mill) in Columbus, by John Shields and Richard Courtney, in 1813, and the erection, three years afterward, of a flouring mill, by Mr. Shields. The first mill was regarded as good property, but after passing through several hands in a few years, it was suffered to go to decay and ruin. To the flouring 28 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. mill the water was brought from the east side of high street, in a race along the bank, falling upon an overshot wheel. This mill Was in operation a dozen }-ears or more, and was owned by a succession of individuals. It then went to destruction, and left , not a wreck behind." Along the hollow or valley of the run, in the south-rest part of the town, there arose in succession, during the early period of our city's history-, breweries. In 1819. Moses Jewett, Caleb Hinston, and John E. Parker built on the bank of the Scioto, just., above the western terminus of Rich street, a patent saw-miII. The saw was circular, and was to cut steadily ahead, with no back strokes the experiment was a costly one, and the experience dearly bought, with no Valuable results. Two years afterward, Colonel Jewett and Judge Hines undertook to manufacture Cotton yarn by horse-power, in a frame building on Front street, between Rich and Friend streets. After some time spent in experimenting with that. and with the circular saw in the mill, the spinning machinery was removed into the mill, where the manufacture of yarn by water-power was Continued fire sonic rears. The enterprise was finally abandoned; and the frame on Front street. long known as the " Old Factory," where the cotton spinning was first begun, vanished, many years ago, from sight, and almost from memory. About the time the cotton-spinning was in operation Judge Hines, who had invented a machine for dressing flax without the process of' retting, constructed and put in operation, in connection with William Bain, a machine for that purpose, at the southeast corner of High street and South Public Lane. It had a tread-wheel propelled by horse-power. Having, after some time passed into the hands of Lafayette Tibbetts it was continued in operation for a year or more after its construction, or till some time in 1824.. when Tibbetts failed, and the enterprise was abandoned. In 1832, a woolen factory for carding spinning, and weaving was erected by Ebenezer Thomas and others, on a lot now on the corner of High and ;A oble streets. It was operated by horse-power on a tread-wheel. It was not profitable, hating been experimented upon by several different owners. The HISTORY, 1822 TO 1832 - 29 building and machinery were removed in 1834, by George Jeffries, and reconstructed on the west abutment of the canal dam. Here the factory was operated for two or three years by water power. The machinery was then sold by piecemeal ender the hammer,—and so ended this manufacturing establishment. John McElvain, in 1831 or 1832, built a steam saw-mill at the head of the canal, where Hunter's warehouse afterward stood. Different persons had it under control for seven or eight years. It was probably not very profitable, as at the end of that time, the engine and machinery were sold, and a warehouse erected on the same site, the mill frame being used for part of the warehouse. The latter was consumed by fire in 1843, but was afterward rebuilt. The first successful manufacturing establishment, besides ordinary mechanic shops, was the foundry and plow manufactory of Joseph Ridgeway. put in operation in 1822. UNITED STATES COURT-HOUSE. A United States court-house was erected in Columbus, in 1820. It was built on the Public Square, in a line with the first state house and state offices, and fifty or sixty feet north of the latter. It was a plain brick building, with a rough stone foundation, and two stories high. It was forty-five or fifty feet square : the roof rose from the four sides to a circular dome in the center. In front, there was a large entrance hail, and from this a broad winding stairway to the second story, whence was afforded a fine view of High street, There was a halt through the center of the lower floor, with two rooms on each side, to serve as offices for the clerk and marshal of the United States courts, and for jury-rooms. In the second story was the court-room and a jury-room. The building was erected in part through an appropriation by the legislature of uncurrent fields of the Miami Exporting Company, then in the state treasury ; but the greater portion of the cost was borne by the citizens of Columbus, who raised the money by subscription, in order to have the United States courts removed from Chillicothe to the state capital. In spite of great and determined opposition, they finally succeeded, and the United 30 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. States courts were removed to Columbus, in 1821, and continued to be held here until 1855, when the state haring been divided into two districts, the courts were removed to Cincinnati. Soon after this removal, the court-house was taken down. The following is a list of the clerks and marshals of the United States courts while they were held in Columbus: At the time of their removal from Chillicothe, Harvey D. Evans was clerk, and Dr. John Hamm, of Zanesville. was marshal. Evans dying in July, 1825, William R. Bond, then of Chillicothe, succeeded to the clerkship. In 1829 or 1830, Bond was succeeded by William Miner, who filled the office at, the time of the removal of the courts from Columbus, and for some years afterward. After Dr. Hamill, the following were marshals in succession : William Doherty; General John Patterson, of Jefferson county ; John Patterson, of Adams ; Demas Adams; John McElwin; D. B. Robertson, of Fairfield county; G. W. Jones, of Knox county; and H. H. Robinson, of Cincinnati. REMOVAL OF COUNTY-SEAT. As Columbus grew, Franklinton, the first county-seat of Franklin county, went into a decline. During the second war with Great Britain, from 1812 to 1815, Franklinton, being the headquarters of the northwestern army, was at the zenith of its prosperity. After the conclusion of peace, it gradually ceased to be a place of much business or importance, but still remained the county-scat. In 1824, Columbus became the county-seat, and the county courts were held in the United States courthouse, until 1840, when the present county court-house was finished. The court of common pleas, at the time of its removal to Columbus, was composed or Gustavus Swan, president judge, and Edward Livingston. Samuel G. Flenniken and Arora Butties, associate judge ; A. J. McDowell, clerk and Robert Brotherton, sheriff. In 1828 or 1829, a lone one-story brick building was erected in the rear of the United States courthouse, for county offices. It was divided into four apartments, with an outside entrance HISTORY, 1822 TO 1832 - 31 door to each. The clerk of the courts occupied the north room the county recorder, the next room on the south ; the county treasurer, the next room beyond; and the county auditor, the fourth or south room. The county offices were kept in these rooms from the time the building was ready for their occupation, until the summer of 1840, when they were removed to the present court-house. at the corner of Mound and High streets. The county building, on the state-house square, was removed in the spring of 1857, when the square was graded. GRAND SQUIRREL HUNT. As in all new settlements, so in this, in the center of Ohio, hunting and fishing were favorite amusements. Fish and game being abundant, there was both pleasure and profit in the pursuit. The seine was sometimes used in fishing, but oftener a brush-drag, requiring a dozen or twenty men to manage it. There was a twofold object in hunting—one to obtain fresh game for the table, and the other to protect the crops from the ravages of birds and other wild animals. It, was this latter object, doubtless, that led to the celebrated squirrel hunt on the last day of August, 1822, for which a call was published in the Columbus Gazette, of August 29th. The call was signed by the following prominent pioneers : Ralph Osborne, Gustavus Swan, Christian Heyl, Lucas Sullivant, Samuel Flenniken, and John A. McDowell. It nominated and invested two persons in each of the seventeen townships, into which the county was then divided, " to meet in a hunting caucus," at the house of Christian Heyl, in Columbus, at 2 o'clock I'. u., on Saturday, August 31st. The squirrel hunt, contemplated in the call, we are informed, in a subsequent number of the Gazette, took place at the time appointed. After the hunt was over, nineteen thousand six hundred and Sixty squirrel scalps were produced. The Gazette added, that it was impossible to state the number actually killed, as a great many hunters had not come in. 32 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. CANAL CELEBRATIONS. On the 4th of July, 1825, the commencement of the Ohio Canal was celebrated at Licking Summit. Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New York, was present, accompanied by Solomon Van Renssalaer, and Messrs. Rathbone and Lord, who made the first loan to Ohio for canal purposes. Governor Clinton, on the. Wednesday following, was escorted to Columbus, by General Warner and suite, Colonel P. H. Olmsted's squadron of cavalry, Captain Hurzel's light infantry, Captain Andrew McElvain's rifle corps, and Captain O'Harra's artillery. In the state-house, in the presence of a large number of citizens Governor Clinton was welcomed by Governor Morrow to Ohio's fertile and productive lands, and to its young and growing capital. Governor Clinton, in his response, eulogized our state and its canal enterprise, closing with this remarkable but over-sanguine prediction : “In five years," said Governor Clinton,' it (the canal) may, and probably will be completed, and I am clearly of the opinion that, in ten years after the consummation of this work, it will produce an annual revenue of at least half a million of dollars ;and I hope this remark may be noted, if anything I may say shall be deemed worthy of Particular notice, in order that its accuracy may be tested by experience." Governor Clinton, after the ceremonies at the state-house, was escorted to Mr. Robinson's tavern, sign of the Golden Bell, on the west side of High street, between State and Town streets. where a sumptuous dinner was provided. The citizens of Columbus and Franklin county had another annual celebration, which cane closer home to their feelings and interests. It took place on the 27th of April, 1837, when the first spade was struck into the ground for the excavation of a lateral branch of the Ohio Canal to and from the state capital. On that day nearly a thousand people assembled at the statehouse. At two o'clock in the afternoon, a procession, preceded by General Warner and his suite, part of Captain Joseph McEIvain's company of dragoons, Captain Foos' company of rifle- HISTORY, 1822 TO 1832 - 33 men, Captain A. McElvain's company of riflemen, the Columbus Artillery, and state officers, and marshaled by Colonels McDowell and McElvain, marched to a place designated, near the present entrance of the lateral branch into the Scioto river. A brief but pertinent address was delivered by Joseph R. Swan. General McLane, Secretary of State, and Nathaniel McLean, keeper of the penitentiary, then removed the first earth taken up for the opening of the branch canal, which was wheeled away by R. Osborn and H. Brown, Auditor and Treasurer of State, amid the cheers and shouts of the enthusiastic assemblage. The company then withdrew and partook of a cold collation prepared by C. Heyl, on the brow of' the hill, a short distance from the old penitentiary grounds. Among the toasts were the following "THE OHIO CANAL—The great artery which will carry vitality to the extremities of the Union."" “THE CITIZENS of COLUMBUS—Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together iii unity. Who envies this clay-, lot him slink back to his cavern and growl." It took over four years to complete the branch canal. It was on the 23d of September, 1831, that the first boat arrived at Columbus by way of the canal. At eight o'clock in the evening of that clay, the firing of cannon announced the arrival of the "Governor Brown," launched at Circleville a few days previous. It was neatly fitted up, and had on board as passengers many prominent citizens of Pickaway county. Early next morning, Columbus ladies and gentlemen repaired to the boat to pay their respects to the visitors. A brief' and appropriate address was made by General Flournoy. After the exchange of friendly salutations and cordial greetings, the excursionists proceeded on their return to Circleville, accompanied part of the way by citizens of Columbus and the Columbus band of music. On the afternoon of the second day after this event, two canal-boats, the "Cincinnati" and the " Red Rover," from the lake by way of Newark, entered the lock at the mouth of the Columbus feeder. Here they were boarded by a committee from Columbus, and proceeded up the branch canal, under a national salute 34 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. of twenty-four guns, and music by the Columbus band, to a point just below the Columbus and Franklinton National Road bridge. Colonel Doherty, in a very neat address, welcomed the commanders of the two boats in the name of the citizens of Columbus. A procession was formed, and proceeding to Ridgway's large warehouse, the company partook, of a fine, repast prepared by John Young. On the clay after their arrival, the two boats, having disposed of their freight, took their departure for Cleveland, in the same order and with about. the same ceremonies as were observed on their arrival. A large number of ladies and gentlemen, with the Columbus band, accompanied their welcome and now departing visitors as far as the five-mile lock. Here they boarded the "Chillicothe" and George Baker,'' going up to Columbus, and returned home, highly delighted with their ride at the rate of three or four miles an hour !" LOOKING UP. From 1820 to 1825 was a period of great depression for the young capital of Ohio. The prices of real estate had greatly depreciated and business of all kinds was almost at a stand-still. But after that crisis was passed, business revived, immigrants sought permanent homes in the new capital; new buildings, some of them large and expensive, were erected; trade began to flourish, and real estate was rising in value at railroad speed. The census of 1830 recorded for Columbus a population of 2,437, being an increase in ten years of 987, or at the rate of seventy- five per centum. At the close of the second decade in our city's history, its area had been extended by several large additions to the original town plat, and its future growth and prosperity had become well assured 36 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. CHAPTER III, THIRD DECADE, 1832 TO 1842. THE ASIATIC CHOLERA. IT was in the summer of 1833 that this terrible scourge made its first appearance in Columbus. It broke out in the early part of' that summer on the canal, in Madison township, but its ravages were confined to a small space. On the 14th of July it appeared in Columbus, and continued to rage until the following October. Its first victim was a man by the name of Stagg, residing at the west end of Rich street, opposite the buildings known as the Jewett block," Probably the whole population of Columbus did not at that time much exceed three thousand. Of these it was estimated that one-third had fled to the country. Yet during the prevalence of the fatal epidemic, two hundred persons died in the city. There were also fevers and other diseases prevailing at the same time, and so interwoven with each other and with the cholera, that it was often difficult, if not impossible, to determine with certainty the disease chiefly instrumental in causing the death of the patient. Careful observations made at the time attributed two-thirds of the deaths to cholera, though the board of health discriminated only one hundred as being due to cholera proper. The sickness of this season produced greater mortality and terror in Columbus than any pestilence before or since. CRUSADE AGAINST COLUMBUS. On the 26th of January, 1838, the legislature passed an act for the erection of a new state-house in the Public Square at Columbus. The corner-stone of the new building was laid on the 4th of July, 1S39, and during that season the foundation of the new building was laid to a level with the surface of the ground. The next winter the progress of the work was arrested by one of those singular freaks that large and select bodies ofd Wien sometimes cut. HISTORY, 1832 TO 1842 - 37 'There had been for some time more or less ill-feeling, on the part of other towns in the central portion of the State, toward Columbus as the capital. She was accused of putting on metropolitan airs. An incident occurred in the legislative session of 1839-10 that served to kindle this comparatively latent spark of envy into a flame. There was an investigation by the legislature of certain charges against William B. Lloyd, a member from Cuyahoga county. After the investigation, a paper signed by sixty-three citizens of Columbus, principally young men, expressing undiminished confidence in Mr. Lloyd's integrity, appeared in the Columbus State Journal of February 17, with the signers' names attached. Many members of the legislature who had voted to censure Lloyd took umbrage at this publication. They denounced it as an unwarrantable intermeddling of the citizens of Columbus with the proceedings of the general assembly. While the excitement was still effervescing, George B. Flood, representative from Licking county, on the day following the obnoxious publication, introduced into the House a bill repealing the act for the erection of a new state-house. It finally passed both branches of the legislature, and became a law on the 10th of March. By this action, the work on the new state-house was suspended for more than six years. After the passage of the repealing act, the subject of removing the seat of the state government from Columbus was more earnestly agitated than before. Every conceivable objection was urged against the permanent location of the capital on the banks of the Scioto. The site was said to be the most unhealthy one that could have been selected in the whole State. Besides, it was urged by some that the capital should be nearer the center than Columbus was. For about three years the question of removal was discussed, when, at the session of the legislature in 1842 13, the subject was referred to a committee, who made elaborate majority and minority reports. The majority took the ground that the general assembly could not pass an act for the removal of the seat of government from the location established by a former act, without a violation of the faith of the State. The two reports were principally confined to the discussion of this proposition. The minority report recommended the adoption of joint resolu- 38 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. tions, requesting the governor to issue his proclamation, setting forth that the time had arrived for the permanent establishment of the seat of government, and inviting proposals for its location. These resolutions were adopted by the Senate, on the 6th of March, 1843, by a vote of eighteen to sixteen, but were, the next day, defeated in the House, by a vote of thirty-six to twenty-nine. This seems to have put a final quietus to the agitation about removing the state capital from Columbus, FIRST BRIDGE OVER THE SCIOTO. Lucas Sullivant, under a charter from the legislature for that purpose, in 1815 or 1816, built a toll-bridge across the Scioto river, on the road from Columbus to Franklinton. The location was similar to that of the present bridge, save that starting at nearly the same point on the east side of the river, it stretched more directly across it, and reached the west side several rods lower down the river. A new road was opened to Franklinton, and passed through the town a square further south than the road had previously done, or the present road now does. This caused some dissatisfaction to property owners. After the lapse of seven or eight years, the timbers having decayed, the bridge fell. It was immediately reconstructed, and the location of the new bridge was the same as that of the present National Road. bridge. The old road to and through Franklinton was also restored. The franchise of this toll-bridge fell to the share of Joseph Sullivant, in the distribution of the estate of his father, Lucas Sullivant. The superintendent of the National Road, during the progress of its construction to and through Columbus, in the years 1832 and 1833, proposed to erect a substantial, free bridge, over the Scioto, at the expense of the general government, for the use of the National Road, provided that the franchise or right of Joseph Sullivant to keep up a toll-bridge across the river should be relinquished. Citizens of Columbus, chiefly residing in the northern part of the city, went to work energetically, and, by the aid of a few donations from the west side of the river, raised, by contributions, eight thousand dollars. This was increased, by an appropriation from the county treas ury, to ten thousand dollars. This sum was paid to Mr. Sulli HISTORY, 1832 TO 1842 - 39 vant for his franchise. The present bridge was then built as part of the National Road. THE SANDUSKY TURNPIKE. The first joint stock company road ever constructed in Franklin county was the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike. The legislature, January 31, 1823, passed an act, incorporating John Kilbourne, Abram J. McDowell, Henry Brown, William Neil, Orange Johnson, Orris Parish, and Robert Brotherton, of Franklin county, and nineteen others, and their associates, as the Columbus and Sandusky Turnpike Company. The capital was one hundred thousand dollars, with power to increase it to two hundred thousand, divided into shares of one hundred dollars each. The company was to have a board of nine directors. The corporators accepted the charter. By act of Congress, passed March 3, 1827, 31,840 acres of the public lands were granted to the State of Ohio, in trust for the use of the company, to aid in the construction of the road. The road was forthwith surveyed and located. Colonel Kilbourne was the surveyor, and Orange Johnson was one of the leading commissioners, and the principal agent of the company through the whole of its active existence. Over seven years were spent in the construction of the road. It was finished in the fall of 1834. It was one hundred and six miles in length, extending from Columbus to Sandusky. It cost $74,376, or an average of over $701 per mile: The company's charter required at least eighteen feet in width to be made " an artificial road, composed of stone, gravel, wood, or other suitable material, well compacted together, in such manner as to secure a firm, substantial, and even road, rising in the middle with a gradual arch." The proper construction of this provision gave rise to an interminable controversy. The company concluded that a properly formed clay road met the requirements of the charter, while the public, in general, expected a stone or gravel road. The governor, in pursuance of the charter, appointed Nathan Merriman to examine the road, who reported that he had made the examination, and, in his opinion, it was completed agreeably to the provisions of the act 40 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. incorporating the company. Toll-gates were upon this erected, and tolls exacted. A good road upon that route was a great need of the time; but the one made was only a clay or mud pike. In the spring, and in wet seasons, it was, in many places, quite impassable. To be obliged, at such times, to pay toll, on such a road, was felt to be a grievance too hard to be patiently borne. The toll-gates were occasionally torn down, but were immediately re-erected by the agent of the company. At length the subject came before the legislature. On the 28th of February, 1843, the act incorporating the company was unconditionally repealed, with a provision making it unlawful for the company thereafter to erect or keep up any gate, or collect any tolls on the road. By commissioners appointed for the purpose, a state road was surveyed and located on the bed of the clay turnpike, from Columbus to Sandusky. An act was passed, March 12, 1845, establishing such state road a public highway. Until the passage of this act, notwithstanding the repeal of the charter, toll-gates had been kept up and toll exacted. But immediately on the passage of the act declaring the road a free public highway, the gates were tore down by the people along the road, and were never afterward reinstated. There was only one gate on the road within the limits of Franklin county, and that was about two miles north of Columbus. The company insisted that those acts of the legislature were unconstitutional, and that their road had been made according to the provisions of the charter. They relied most strenuously upon the formal acceptance of the road by the state agent. Application was made to successive legislatures for relief. At the session of 1843-44, Dr. Samuel Parsons was chairman of a committee that reported in favor of the State paying the stockholders, severally, the amount of their stock in state bonds, and of declaring the road one of the public works of the State, and placing it under the control of the board of public works, upon the conveyance to the State by the company of all its rights, interests, and privileges in the road. By a resolution of the legislature, in 1847, the subject was referred to Henry Stanbery, the attorney-general of the State. He did not give a direct opinion upon the constitutionality of the HISTORY, 1832 TO 1842 - 41 repealing act, but said he was of opinion that a great wrong had been done the company. About the same time, a bill passed the Senate, authorizing the company to bring suit against the State for the recovery of damages caused by the repeal of the charter; but the bill failed in the House. GROWTH AND PROSPERITY. In the summer of 1814, a large addition, which he called South Columbus," was made to the original town plat, by John McGowan. It was surveyed and platted by John Shields. We now pass over a period of sixteen years, till we come to 1830, when the wharf lots were laid out by order of the town council. They were town property. In 1831, a few lots were laid off by John Young, and called Young's addition. An impulse having been given to the idea of making “additions," the "borough of Columbus " expanded rapidly. In 1831 or 1832, Robert Brotherton and John M. Walcutt, owners of a few acres of an original reserve, sold some building lots on Town street, generally called Brotherton and Walcutt's addition. They did not have the lots platted, but sold them by metes and bounds. A plat of the addition was, however, subsequently made and recorded. John McElvain and others, in 1832, laid off into lots a tract of two acres, near the canal. It was called McElvain's addition. This, and Samuel Crosby's first addition, lying between Town and South streets, was laid off in February, 1833; and their second addition, which lay between South street and South Public Lane, was laid off in November of the same year. It was in 1834, that Columbus was incorporated as a city. The next year the following additions were made: Matthew J. Gilbert's, and Heyl and Parsons', in the southwestern corner of the city. In 1838, Alfred Kelly, Maylen Northrup, and the heirs of John Kerr, laid off lots to ~which, in the recorded plat, they gave the name of the "Allotment of the Central Reservation." It was, however, more commonly called Kelly and Northrup's Addition. As the foregoing list of additions indicates, Columbus prospered in her third decade. An authority before us states that in 42 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. 1837, our prospering little city contained twenty-five dry-goods stores, six drug-stores, three boot and shoe stores, three hardware-stores, one tin and stove shop, three wholesale groceries, one iron-store, six clothing-stores, two hat-stores, one steam saw-mill, one steam carding=machine and turning shop, two coach and carriage shops, and five churches—the First Presbyterian, the Town Street Methodist, the Lutheran, the Broad Street Episcopal, and the First Baptist (in process of construction). There were then in the city twelve lawyers, twelve physicians, one dentist, and five clergymen ; two weekly political newspapers (one of which was issued semi-weekly, during the sessions of the general assembly), one semi-monthly medical journal, and one monthly temperance paper. The population of Columbus, in 1840, was 6,048, being an increase of 4,611, or about one hundred and fifty per centum in ten years. Thus was Columbus growing and prospering. CHAPTER IV. FOURTH DECADE, 1842 To 1852. THE close of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth decade of our history constituted the road-making era.. Turnpikes, plank-roads, and railroads were projected and constructed, or put in the way of construction. Of the turnpikes and plank-roads directly affecting the business and interests of Columbus, we shall speak in this chapter, reserving railroads for separate treatment under the proper caption. TURNPIKES AND PLANK-ROADS, Of the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike, constructed in 1834, we gave an account in the preceding chapter. We now come to the Columbus and Portsmouth turnpike. This road was constructed in 1847. Separate subscription-books were opened in each county through which the road was to pass; and the stockholders in each county constructed, kept in repair, and controlled the road within their county. Yet to the public it was substantially but one road, leading through the entire distance from Columbus to Portsmouth. It was a good graveled thoroughfare. HISTORY, 1842 TO 1852 - 43 The capital stock allotted to Franklin county was $8,800, divided into ten-dollar shares. One gate only was put up in this county, about a mile south of the city. The Columbus and Harrisburg Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1847, and the road was built in 1848 and 1849. Uriah Lathrop, of Columbus, was the surveyor and engineer. The capital stock of the company was $20,815, divided into shares of twenty-five dollars each. This county made a donation of $4,500, for the construction of the bridge over the Scioto, southwest of the city. Two gates were kept on the road for the first two or three years, but the more western was afterward removed, leaving only one, two miles west of Columbus. The Columbus and Worthington Plank-road or Turnpike Company was chartered by the legislature, March 23, 1849, to construct a plank or turnpike road from Columbus to Worthington, with the privilege of extending it to Delaware. The capital stock was $27,825, with power to increase it to $50,000, divided into twenty-five dollar shares. There were to be three directors elected annually. The first directors, chosen in May, 1849, were B. Comstock, William Neil, and Alanson Bull. The road was made in 1849 and 1850. As it was .authorized to be built upon any public road or highway, the .company used the road-bed of the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike, which had been declared a public highway. The Columbus and Sunbury Turnpike and Plank-road Company was incorporated March 20, 1850, to construct a turnpike or plank-road from Columbus to Sunbury, in Delaware county. The limit of the capital stock was $75,000, divided into shares of twenty-five dollars each. This road was made to commence about three miles northeast of Columbus, where, verging off from the Johnstown road, it was extended to Central College, in the eastern part of Franklin county. It was built in 1852, and cost from six to seven thousand dollars. The Columbus and Granville Plank-road or Turnpike Company received its charter from the legislature February 8, 1852, for the purpose of making a road of gravel, stone, or plank, at option of the company, from Columbus to Granville, with the privilege of extending it to Newark. The capital stock, which was divided into fifty-dollar shares, might be extended to one 44 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, O1110. hundred thousand dollars. In 1852 the road was built, and one good plank track Iaid for about seven miles. to Big Walnut creek, and a gate erected. The Columbus and Groveport Turnpike Company, under a charter from the legislature, dated March 19, 1849, completed, in the fall of 1850, a turnpike road from Columbus to Groveport. The capital stock was $25,000, divided into one thousand shares; the actual amount subscribed was $12,300—less than the cost of the road. The balance was soon made up from its earnings. The Columbus and Lockwin Plank-road Company, incorporated in 1853, to construct a plank-road from Columbus, through the northeastern portion of Franklin county, to Lock-win, in Delaware county, built the same year the first five miles of the road, and the next year two miles more. The cost of the seven miles was $16,500—a little less than $2,400 per mile. The planks used were eight feet long and three inches thick, laid on, two strong pieces, four inches square. The original capital stock was $14,000; but the excess over this amount in the cost of construction was met by the net revenue derived from the collection of tolls on the road. BALLOON ASCENSIONS. The first balloon ascension from Columbus took place on the 4th of July, 1842. It was made by Mr. Clayton:. a celebrated ~ronaut of Cincinnati, from the state-house. yard, where a large concourse of people had assembled to witness the novel sight. The balloon, it was estimated, rose to the height of two miles. It bore southwardly at first, then eastwardly, and came safely down to the earth, about five miles east of Newark. Nine years afterward, or on the 4th of July, 1851, the second balloon ascension was made from the capital city, by the noted John Wise. Pursuant to an engagement with John 11. Kinney, Mr. Wise ascended from an inclosure at the corner of Broad and Seventh streets. The ascension was a fine one, and the æronaut landed, safe and sound; about. six miles from his starting point. These balloon ascensions are mentioned to show that Columbus, in this, her fourth, decade, was beginning to be regarded by those who provided costly entertainments for the people, us a place with metropolitan curiosity and tastes, 46 - STUDER'S COLUMBUS, OHIO. TWO EXECUTIONS IN ONE DAY. On the same day; February 9, 1844, two persons—William Clark, a white man, and Esther, a colored woman—were executed in Columbus for murder in the first degree. At the time they committed the murders, both were convicts in the penitentiary. Clark was convicted of killing Cyrus Sells, one of the prison-guards, at a single blow, with a cooper's ax; and Esther, of beating a white female prisoner to death with a fire-shovel. Both were tried and convicted at the same term of the Court of Common Pleas. The defense set up in Clark's case was insanity; in the case of the woman, that the killing was not premeditated, and was consequently not murder in the first degree. The execution took place on the low ground at the southwest corner of Mound and Scioto streets. It was witnessed by an immense crowd of people. Sullivan Sweet, a citizen of Columbus, was pushed down in the crowd and trampled on by a horse. He was so injured that he died in a few hours. THE JERRY FUGITIVE-SLAVE CASE. Few events in the history of Columbus have excited a deeper or more general interest than the arrest, under the fugitive-slave law, of Jerry Finney, a colored man, who had resided in the city fourteen or fifteen years. On the night of the 27th of March, 1846, Jerry was, by some means, cajoled or decoyed to the office of William Henderson, a justice of the peace, in Franklinton. There Jerry was arrested as a fugitive slave, and summarily delivered over by the justice to the persons claiming him, one of whom, Alexander C. Forbes, held a power of attorney from Mrs. Bethsheba de Long, of Frankfort, Kentucky, to whom it was claimed that Jerry owed service or labor. Handcuffs were put upon the alleged fugitive slave; he was placed in a carriage that was ready at the door, and taken to Cincinnati, thence to Kentucky, and returned to the woman who claimed that she was his rightful owner. As Jerry was generally known in the city, having been cook or waiter at nearly all the hotels and houses of entertainment, his sudden disappearance, and especially the cause and manner of it, produced intense excitement and bitter comment. Persons HISTORY, 1842 TO 1852 - 47 suspected of being concerned in his "taking off" were arrested and held to bail on the charge of kidnapping. They were William Henderson, Jacob Armitage, Henry Henderson, Daniel A. Porter, and Daniel Zinn. At the ensuing July term of the Court of Common Pleas for this county, a bill of indictment was returned against these persons and Alexander C. Forbes, for the unlawful seizure and carrying away of Jerry. All the defendants, except Forbes, who had not been arrested, were put upon trial at the September term of the court. The prosecuting attorney, A. F. Perry, and Wm. Dennison, Jr., conducted the prosecution; and N. H. Swayne and F. J. Matthews managed the defense. The trial occupied several days, and excited much interest in the city and abroad. During its progress, one of the jurors, Dr. George Rickey, was discharged on account of serious illness. It was agreed, on the part of the State and of all the defendants, to proceed with the remaining eleven jurors. The result was that the jury returned a verdict of "guilty" as to William Henderson, and of "not guilty" as to the other defendants. The latter were discharged, and Henderson was remanded to jail. Numerous exceptions had been taken on the trial by the defendants' counsel to the rulings of the court. The case was taken to the State Supreme Court on writ of error. The principal error relied on was that it was not competent to a defendant on trial in a criminal case to waive his objection to the absence of a juror, and that it was error in the court below to try the case with only eleven jurors. The point was sustained by the Supreme Court, and Henderson was set at liberty. By authority of our State legislature, William Johnson, a noted lawyer, instituted legal proceedings in Kentucky, in order to test certain questions of law, which would, it was claimed, result in the liberation of Jerry. Mr. Johnson argued his case before the Kentucky court with signal ability; but the decision was against him, and Jerry remained in bondage. Not long afterward, a sufficient amount of money was raised in Columbus to purchase Jerry's freedom and restore him to his family. But consumption was already sapping the citadel of life, and he died soon after his return home. 48 - STUDERS' COLUMBUS, OHIO. RETURN OF THE CHOLERA. The Asiatic cholera reappeared in Columbus on the 21st of June, 1849. Its first victims were four persons in the family of George B. Smith, residing in the Jewett block, near the place where the same fatal disease began its ravages in 1833. The alarm spread, and the fearful epidemic spread with almost equal rapidity. Many residents left the city. Isaac Dalton, N. W. Smith, George B. Harvey, W. W. Pollard, and James Cherry were appointed a board of health, who made daily reports and were active in the discharge of their duties, It was about the middle of September when the disease abated, and the board reported one hundred and sixty-two deaths in the city by cholera. The report did not include one hundred and sixteen deaths in the penitentiary, of which we shall take notice when we come to give an account of the institution. We find mention made of the following well-known citizens who fell victims to the cholera in the summer of 1849: Dr. B. F. Gerard, Dr. Horace Lathrop, General Edgar Gale, Samuel Preston, Abraham Mettles, William Cook and son, Robert Thompson and wife, Dr. Isaac F Taylor, Christian Karst, Joseph Murray, Bernard Berk, Christian Hertz, and John Whisker. The cholera demon, not satiated with its victims in 1849, returned the following year. The first victim in 1850 was Mrs. Robert Russell, who died July 8th at the United States Hotel, on the northwest corner of High and Town streets. Forthwith the disease spread and raged with the same virulence and fatality as in the preceding year till about the middle of' September. The population of the city was then 17,882, and about one-fourth fled from the face of the destroyer. A board of health was constituted, consisting of George B. Harvey, Isaac Dalton, and W. W. Pollard, who made daily reports from July 24 to September 4. During that time three hundred and two deaths were reported—two hundred and nine from cholera and ninety-three from other diseases. As the disease had prevailed more than two weeks before any reports were made, the deaths from cholera were supposed to be about two HISTORY, 1842 TO 1852 - 49 hundred and twenty-five; and from other diseases, about one hundred. The following persons are named among those who died during the prevalence of the epidemic in the summer of 1850: Elijah Converse, David S. Doherty, Emanuel Doherty, William Doherty, John Willard and son, William G. Alexander and his wife and two or three children, a son and three daughters of James B. Griffith, John Barcus, Joseph Ridgway, Jr., Robert Owen, Timothy Griffith, Dr. James B. McGill, Henry Wass, Isaac Taylor, Hinman Hurd, Mrs. Matthew Gooding, Mrs. E. B. Armstrong, and Miss Fanny Huston. There was no appearance of cholera in the city in 1851. In 1852 it reappeared, but with less virulence than in 1849 and 1850. The first victim in 1852 was Phillip Link, who died June 16, in the southeastern part of the city. Others are enumerated among the victims this year to the fatal epidemic, as William English and wife, Nelson Compton, Miss Henrietta E. Gale, John McGuire, and Newton Mattoon. The year 1853 passed over without a visitation from the cholera. There were a few cases reported in 1854, including among those that proved fatal, John Leaf and his wife and son, two children of Mr. Westwater, Jonathan Reason, and Jonathan Phillips and daughter. Since 1854 the cholera has not visited our city. LEGISLATION BLOCKED. Two events occurring in two successive years, seem, though relating chiefly to the State legislature, so inwoven with the history of Columbus, where they created general and intense interest, as to deserve a passing notice. It should be borne in mind that these scenes were enacted in the old state-house and under our first State constitution. The general assembly, as required by the constitution, met on the first Monday of December, 1848. The Senate organized by electing a speaker. But the House of Representatives could not organize. The difficulty was this: The apportionment law, passed at the preceding session, assigned to Hamilton county five representatives—the first eight