HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 225 The West Side Market House was completed and opened March 29, 1889. The middle eighties saw the rise, rage and decline of the roller skating craze. It would seem that next to man's great natural biological needs comes the urge to travel faster than a walk. When the roller skate made its appearance it was immediately seized upon as filling a "long-felt want," and when it was discovered that, when shod with skates, the male and female could hold hands and glide over a smooth floor together, swaying and swinging in unison to waltz music, the thing assumed the proportions of an epidemic for which there was no cure but to run its course. Two great rinks were built in Columbus : the Park, on the northeast corner of Goodale and Park Streets, and the Princess, on the northeast corner of Spring and Front Streets. In other parts of the city old halls were refloored and made available for skating purposes. Every afternoon and evening these places were crowded, while on the streets it looked as if half the people under forty were either going to or coming from a skating party. For a time the reformers and professional uplifters railed against the innovation and gave due warning that the world was going to hell on wheels, and thus added the tang of curiosity to the exhileration of motion. After a time, finding that the predictions were unreliable, the skaters gradually lost interest and returned to normalcy. However, the warnings made an impression, for the roller-skaters of the Eighties are the grandparents of the flaming youth of today and are now using the same preachments that were hurled at them—and with the same effect. CHAPTER XIV THE END OF THE CENTURY. GOVERNOR CAMPBELL-STREET RAILWAY STRIKE-THE HIGH STREET VIADUCT-BISHOP WATTERSON'S JUBILEE-VISIT OF THE DUKE DE VERAGUA-STRIKE IN THE MINES-WASHINGTON C. H. RIOT-A RAILWAY COLLISION.-BICYCLE DAYS-BRYAN AND FREE SILVER-FRANKLINTON CENTENNIAL-THE WAR WITH SPAIN-CAMP BUSHNELL-THE 4TH REGIMENT IN PORTO RICO-ADDITION TO THE STATE ROUSE. James E. Campbell was inaugurated as Governor of Ohio on January 13th, 1890. At that time he was a citizen of Butler County but, a few years after retiring from the Governor's office he became a citizen of Columbus and spent the last sixteen years of his life in the capital city. For six years he was president of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society and was a member of and active in various social organizations. He died December 17th, 1924. In the spring of 1890 the street railway employes were unionized and on June 3rd they struck for higher wages and shorter hours. The strike lasted a week and there was some damage to railway property, but there was little disturbance otherwise. The strike was popular with the general public. The people refused to ride on the few cars that were run and the company met the demands of the men for increased wages and a reduction of working hours from sixteen to twelve hours per day. In 1892 the traffic on High Street had grown to such proportions that it was no longer possible to transact the city's business safely and satisfactorily with the grade crossing over the railroad tracks entering the Union Station from the west. This condition had been partially met in 1874, so far as the street railway lines were concerned, by the construction of a tunnel under the tracks—and a dark, - 226 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 227 evil-smelling crypt it was. With the large number of trains, both passenger and freight, passing through the station and crossing High Street and the multiplied volume of vehicular traffic, the grade crossing could not longer be tolerated. The legislation necessary to provide for an overhead crossing was passed by the city council, the cooperation of the railroads obtained and one of the city's greatest improvements was gotten under way. The old tunnel was dismantled and a temporary wooden overhead crossing built on the railroad property east of High Street. The railroad tracks were lowered and the work of constructing the viaduct, under the supervision of City Engineer Josiah Kinnear was pushed to completion within two years at a cost of $369,000. At the same time the Union Depot Company began the construction of the present railway station which, however, was not completed until 1897. The cost was approximately three quarters of a million dollars. The Silver Jubilee of Bishop Watterson, of the Columbus Diocese, was celebrated August 9th, 1893, bringing to the city one of the largest gatherings ever called for any event of a Catholic Church nature. The Bishop, who was a brother of Henry Watterson of the Louisville Courier, possessed all the graces of the distinguished journalist and enjoyed a degree of popularity locally difficult for one in his position to cultivate. Some features of the jubilee assumed proportions broader than church lines, particularly the public reception in the City Hall and the complimentary dinner at the Chittenden Hotel in which the citizens of all faiths united to do honor to a great man. The World's Fair at Chicago in 1893 was held in celebration of the Four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. The directors brought to this country the Duke de Veragua, the lineal descendent and successor in title of the great Genoese. As Columbus, Ohio, is the largest city in the world named in honor of the discoverer, a successful effort was made to bring His Grace here on his return east from the Fair. On June 8th the party, consisting of the Duke and Duchess, with three children, the Duke's brother, secretaries and supernumeraries, under escort of an officer of the United States Navy, arrived and were entertained at the residence of Henry T. Chittenden in Broad Street. A reviewing stand 228 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY was erected at the north entrance to the State House on which the visitors were received by Mayor Karb, on behalf of the city, and Governor McKinley, on behalf of the State of Ohio, and from which they were treated to a view of young America on parade—more than ten thousand school children, with flags and flowers, passing and paying their respects to the guests of the city. The Governor and the Mayor, knowing no Spanish, delivered their addresses of welcome in English, and the Duke, knowing no English, responded in Spanish—and rather inaudible Spanish at that. Nevertheless both speeches and responses appeared in the afternoon papers in full causing much favorable comment on the Duke's easy handling of the American tongue and apparent familiarity with the idiom. Unfortunately, his opinion of the reporter's ingenuity was never learned. In June, 1894 there was a general strike in the mining districts of eastern Ohio. Disorders grew to the point that the sheriffs of the counties affected were obliged to call for military aid. Governor McKinley ordered out some four thousand men of the Ohio National Guard, under General Howe, a number sufficient to handle the situation without resorting to force. The 14th regiment, of Columbus, saw service on this occasion, being in the field some two weeks. In October of the same year there was a call for militia in aid of the civil authority at Washington, C. H., where there were indications of an attempt to lynch a prisoner who had been tried and convicted and was awaiting transfer to the Ohio Penitentiary. A portion of the 14th regiment Ohio National Guard, under Colonel A. B. Coit, was sent to assist the sheriff. The troops were quartered in the jail when it was attacked by a mob and, when one of the doors finally yielded to repeated batterings, a volley was fired by the soldiers resulting in killing three of the attackers and wounding some others. There was some criticism of the action of the militia and a court of inquiry was instituted to investigate the conduct of the Colonel. The result was a complete exhonoration of Colonel Coit. Governor McKinley, in approving the finding of the court, said : "Surely no friend of law and order can justly condemn the National Guard, under command of Colonel Coit, for performing its duty fearlessly and faithfully, and in the face of great danger, for the peace and dignity and honor of the state." HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 229 The people of central Ohio were given an opporutnity to see a deliberately planned railway collision on Decoration Day, 1896. The promoters gave several similar exhibitions in Ohio, but the show was too short to catch the popular fancy permanently. On this occasion over a mile of temporary track was laid along the Hocking Valley railroad at Buckeye Park, near Lancaster. Two locomotives with just enough vitality left for one more spurt were carefully groomed, two or three worn out box cars attached to each, and, after being steamed up to full capacity, they were started on the sure road to destruction, with throttles wide open. To add a touch of realism, dummy figures of trainmen occupied places on the cars. More than ten thousand people from Columbus made the excursion to Buckeye Park to see a perfect wreck. The two locomotives, of approximately the same weight and traveling at the same speed, met at the exact spot calculated by the promoters. For a moment they seemed to melt and fuse together, and then they reared up on their hind wheels like two vicious bears about to claw, then slowly settled down in ruin, while bolts, nuts and bits of debris spat wickedly in every direction. One or two of the reckless, who ventured beyond the ropes into no-man's-land came in contact with some of this shrapnel. Ten years afterward one of them was still limping. Probably the hurried rise of insurance rates on spectators discouraged an otherwise promising outdoor sport. About 1896 bicycle riding as a sport reached its climax. The old high wheel of the eighties, known as the "ordinary" gave way to the so-called "safety" in the early nineties. The new type quickly became popular after the application of the pneumatic tire. The cost dropped from $150 to $125 and then to $100, while improvements were made in construction and weights reduced from about sixty pounds of the ordinary to sixteen pounds for racing wheels and eighteen to twenty pounds for light roadsters. A large class of professional racing men was developed, riding the grand circuit. Conn Baker, of Columbus, rode the circuit for several years and ranked with the half dozen at the top. The League of American Wheelman was organized with members in every part of the country. To it belongs a share of the credit for early agitation in favor of good roads. Indeed, the old bicycle riders, who turned to the automobile 230 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY when it first arrived, created the insistent demand that brought about the era of highway improvement. The Columbus Cycling Club and The Columbus Wheel Club were local organizations with large membership, and there were others. For a time the streets were almost as much crowded with bicycle traffic as they are today with automobiles, the great difference being that with the bicycle there was no parking problem—the rider could take his wheel with him into the office and park it behind the water cooler. In 1896 and again in 1897 the Ohio State Journal sponsored an amateur road race on Memorial Day in each of which there were almost a hundred entrants for the contest over a twenty-five mile course. As wheels became cheaper and were adopted for utilitarian purposes, their use for sport declined and soon passed. By the time the good roads arrived there was not a single Century Rider left to enjoy them. The Fall of 1896 was enlivened by the Free Silver campaign. The recurrent proposition that wealth can be created by legislation caught the fancy of many thousands. Branches of Coin's Financial School were opened in vacant store-rooms in the down town districts and orators mounted on soap boxes day and night sought to educate the public to believe that prosperity could be gained by fixing the price of silver at one-sixteenth that of gold. In October William Jennings Bryan, the high priest of necromancy in politics, the apostle of the cult claiming that prosperity and virtue may be decoyed by statute, came to Columbus and addressed the largest purely political gathering of local history. Twenty-five thousand persons assembled on the east side of the State House and the adjacent street and all were able to hear and enjoy the speaker. Mr. Bryan had been endowed by nature with a pleasing stage presence, an attractive personality and a voice that would have been golden had he not been so partial to silver. He entertained his audience for over an hour. Frequently his oratorical progress was delayed by laughter and applause. The people enjoyed Mr. Bryan and he enjoyed every minute of his own meeting. As in Columbus, so everywhere he went that year, Mr. Bryan was greeted by vast crowds of HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 231 people who approved him as an orator in October and voted for McKinley for President in November. The One-hundredth Anniversary of the founding of Franklinton was celebrated September 14th, 15th and 16th, 1897. In May Rev. Father Clarke, of the Holy Family Church, called a meeting of citizens at the West Side Market house and the project was duly launched. A general committee of one hundred was formed, with numerous special committees, and extensive preparations made for the main events held in a natural amphitheatre west of the Columbus State Hospital, while expositions of pioneer relics and handiwork were displayed in the Highland Avenue school building. The first day's proceedings were opened by D. J. Clahane, almost a pioneer himself, affectionately known as the Duke of Middletown. There was an address by Governor Asa S. Bushnell on behalf of the State of Ohio, greetings from the Mayor, through his Director of Law, E. C. Irwin, and a scholarly oration by General John Beatty on "The Pioneers." The oratory was followed by athletic sports and historical tableaux. The second day opened with a military and civic parade and a flag-raising, followed by speeches by Senator M. A. Hanna, Right Reverend Bishop John A. Watterson and Colonel Edward L. Taylor. An exhibition of fireworks in the evening concluded the day. The last day's program included addresses by B. F. Martin, Rev. J. H. Creighton and Hon. John J. Lentz, after which an impressive chorus sang Keller's American Hymn and "The Buckeye Pioneers," the words of which were written by Osman C. Hooper for the occasion and the music by Mrs. Ella May Smith. The Centennial concluded with a sham battle in which a large tribe of Indians, specially recruited for this one battle, made an assault on a block house, erected for that purpose, and not only captured it but no doubt would have overrun all the hunting grounds to the west had not a heavy rainstorm dampened their ardor and delayed activities until a contingent of the 14th regiment could be brought up to restrain further proceedings to the order laid down in the program. The Franklinton Centennial was practically free from commercial entanglements therefore its success was not marred by the usual casualty list of personal disappointments. 232 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY Beginning in February, 1895, the people of Cuba were waging war for independence from their Spanish rulers. The struggle for freedom always finds response in the American heart. The popular emotion was skillfully played upon by the metropolitan press and that class of politicians who are ever looking for opportunities to win applause. The sufferings of the Cubans and the attrocities of the Spaniards were magnified for home consumption, but the government at Washington remained calm. Representations were made to Madrid touching the obligations of that government to protect American lives and safeguard American investments on the island and satisfactory assurances were immediately forthcoming. American intervention might have been withheld but for the destruction of the U. S. Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15th, 1898 by an explosion on board due to some external agency. While there was no proof that official Spain was in any way responsible for this disaster and no such proof could be had but through the investigations of a Naval Board over a long period of time, the country decreed war and instinctively adopted Napoleon's advice, "Shoot first and temporize afterward." "Remember the Maine" at once became the national slogan. Yielding to the popular clamor, and that without apparent reluctance, the National Congress, on the 18th of April, adopted resolutions declaring and recognizing the independence of Cuba and clothing the President with the necessary power to engage in war. On April 23rd President McKinley called for 125,000 volunteers. Ohio was ready. Governor Bushnell had been a Captain in the Civil War. He was a man of splendid business abilities and had wide experience with both men and affairs. His Adjutant General, Henry A. Axline, was an ex-soldier and was thoroughly familiar with every detail of the Ohio National Guard. The Governor was also fortunate in having a military staff composed of men who were prominent because they had the abilities to justify recognition. One of these was W. P. Orr, of Piqua, Commissary and Quartermaster General and another was Colonel Clarence E. Bush, of Cleveland, Chief of Engineers. These men were called in to assist General Axline in the preparation of a camp for the care of the National Guard until it could be mus- HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 233 tered into the National service and transferred to Federal camps. A camp site was procured on the east bank of Alum Creek at what was then known as Bullitt Park, now a part of Bexley. A five hundred acre tract of ideally located land was quickly transformed into Camp Bushnell, with drainage, water, lighting, tentage and commissary supplies, so that as fast as the soldiers came they were cared for without confusion or inconvenience of any kind. This preliminary work was so well done as to deserve and win the praise of all army officers who had business with Ohio's rendezvous. Immediately following the declaration of war the Governor was almost overwhelmed with tenders of service. There were many distinguished citizens of Ohio with Civil War experience still young enough for the field and able and willing to raise companies, regiments or brigades. There was barely room for the eight regiments of infantry, the cavalry troops, the eight batteries of artillery and a battalion of colored infantry. To all others the invariable reply was, "you must wait for the second call." And the second call, when it came in May, admitted only the 10th Ohio Infantry, with General Axline as its Colonel, and enough men to fill existing organizations to full war strength. Commenting on this situation in his annual message of 1900, Governor Bushnell said : "There was no difficulty in obtaining recruits. As a general proposition it may be said that Ohio could have furnished many times the number it did." The Governor might have gone further and said truthfully that Ohio could have furnished the entire American army with volunteers and could have furnished them in thirty days. As it was Ohio was allowed to contribute a total of 15,354 men. The Fourteenth Regiment, headquarters at Columbus, Colonel A. B. Coit, mobilized at its armory, on Goodale Street, and on the 29th marched to camp, cheered every step by the assembled crowds. Organized October 20, 1877 as the 14th Regiment Ohio National Guard, it was mustered into service as the Fourth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, May 9th, 1898. Its war strength was forty-nine officers and 1319 enlisted men. It was first stationed at Camp Thomas, Chickamauga, Georgia, and then formed a part of General Brook's army in the occupation of Porto Rico. It was under fire at Barrio de Las 234 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY Palmas, near Guayama, where five men of the regiment were wounded. During the war period the Fourth lost twenty-six men, victims of fevers. It was mustered out at Columbus January 20th, 1899. The Fourth Regiment contained the following Franklin County officers and organizations : John C. Speaks and Charles V. Baker, Majors ; MacLee Wilson, Captain and Adjutant ; Henry M. Taylor, Captain and Assistant Surgeon ; Thomas P. Williams and Harry W. Krumm, 2nd Lieutenants and Batt. Adjutants ; Joseph J. Walsh, Captain Co. A. ; Will S. White, Captain Co. B. ; Arthur W. Reynolds, Captain Co. C. ; and Joseph D. Potter, Captain Co. F. Franklin County also furnished Troop D., Captain Byron L. Bargar, to the First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry ; Battery H., Captain Frank T. Stewart, to the First Battalion Ohio Light Artillery ; and Co. B., Captain Deaton J. Brooks, to the 9th Battalion Ohio Volunteer Infantry, colored troops. The first Sunday there were eight thousand men in camp. They were visited by many more thousands from all over the state, and by other thousands of young men looking for a chance to get into the war. While the soldiers were in camp awaiting orders, the news of Dewey's victory in Manilla Bay was received and added greatly to the already profound war spirit. On May 14th the soldiers began to leave for the southern camps. The first to go were the two battalions of cavalry, under Colonel Day, followed by the First and then the Fourth Infantry. In a few days Camp Bushnell was deserted except for guards on police duty. In the War with Spain, Ohio was prepared. The state furnished its full quota of soldiers, drilled, uniformed and armed, needing only a term of seasoning in camp to be ready for any duty. On its return the Fourth Regiment was given a reception that was a compliment to its personnel and a credit to the city. The prophecy of the song of the war, "There'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," was literally fulfilled. The United Spanish War Veterans of Franklin County are organized as Columbus Camp No. 49, Department of Ohio. The first officers of the Camp were : Commander, John C. Speaks ; Senior Vice-Commander, Harold M. Bush ; Junior Vice-Commander, Arthur C. Mc- HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 235 Guire ; Adjutant, Charles W. Finley ; Quartermaster, Ben W. Chamberlain ; Officer of the Guard, Morton H. Haynes ; Surgeon, Henry M. Taylor ; Chaplain, Harry W. Krumm ; Trustees, George B. Donavin, MacLee Wilson and Byron L. Barger. During the administration of Governor Bushnell the need for additional room to house Ohio's departments of the state government became acute. During his first term the General Assembly passed a bill providing for the completion of the State House and dome and the building of extensions north and south, with a sufficient appropriation to accomplish that purpose. This action was stimulated by the exhibition of a model and plans prepared by Yost & Packard, Columbus architects. Even members of the Legislature could see that the design contemplated a building that would have been second only to the Capitol at Washington in beauty and dignity at a cost that even then did not seem excessive. However, the bill was so drawn as to burden the project with a commission of unweildly size, partly composed of members of the legislature, a thing that did not appeal to the business sense of the Governor and he accomplished a virtual veto by failure to make any appointments. At the next session a new bill was introduced and passed, providing for a commission consisting of the Governor, the Attorney General and three members to be appointed by the Governor, for the purpose of erecting a building for state uses either on the State House grounds, or elsewhere in the vicinity, and appropriating $400,000 for its accomplishment. Under its authorization the commission was created, including Major A. D. Rodgers, of Columbus ; Lewis P. Schaus, of Newark ; and Charles A. Bauer, of Springfield (succeeded by Captain E. L. Lybarger, of Coshocton County) ; with Opha Moore, as Secretary. Unsuccessful efforts were made to procure desirable real estate on Third Street, and the building was finally located on the east side of the grounds. Samuel Hannaford & Sons, of Cincinnati, were chosen as architects. In the preparation of the plans the fullest consideration was given to the general idea that the State Capitol should be developed into a group of buildings, separated for light and air, but connected for convenience, of which ultimate group the east an- 236 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY nex should be a harmonious unit. This plan may or may not be carried out at some future time—the future stretches away into the unknowable. The corner stone of the new building was laid February 16, 1899. One of the speakers on this occasion was William G. Deshler, of Columbus, who had been present at the laying of the corner stone of the old building, sixty years before. The building was completed in slightly over two years at a cost of $360,000, about one-third of what it would cost today. Since its completion this building has housed the Supreme Court, the State Law Library, with its officers, the Attorney General, the Clerk of the Supreme Court and the Court Reporter, with some other state departments, including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Insurance and the Board of Health. CHAPTER XV 1900 AND THE GREAT FLOOD. FRANKLIN COUNTY GOVERNOR—MEMORIAL HALL—THE McKINLEY MONUMENT—STREET CAR STRIKE OF 1910—COLUMBUS CENTENNIAL— FOURTH OHIO CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION—ROOSEVELT'S PROPOSAL—"BILLY" SUNDAY REVIVAL MEETINGS—THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1913—"BOB" WOLFE AND THE BUCKEYE BOATS—THE DAY THE DAM BROKE—FLOOD PROTECTION PLANS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS—A NEW CITY CHARTER—THE NATIONAL GUARD ON THE MEXICAN BORDER. The opening event of the Twentieth Century was the inauguration of George Kilbon Nash as Governor of Ohio. Judge Nash was the second Franklin County citizen to attain to this high position. He was born on a farm in Medina County, Ohio, August 14, 1842. He was a student in Oberlin College when he quit school to enlist as a private in the One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the end of the Civil War. Returning to private life he came to Columbus and taught school while he studied law and, in 1867, was admitted to the bar. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1870, re-elected in 1872, and in 1879 and again in 1881 was elected attorney general of Ohio. Governor Foster appointed him on the Supreme Court Commission in 1883. From 1885 until his election to the Governorship, Judge Nash was engaged in the practice of law, being associated with John J. Lentz under the firm name of Nash & Lentz. At all times of his life in Columbus Judge Nash stood high at the bar and in the councils of the Republican party. He enjoyed the friendship of John Sherman, McKinley, Hanna and the other leaders in National and state affairs. His administration covered a period of progress in legislation relating to taxation and the regulation of corporations, - 237 - 238 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY largely suggested by the Governor. He died in Columbus October 28, 1904, less than a year after his retirement from an honorable public service. Many of the cities of Ohio have erected imposing public buildings to commemorate the services of their soldiers and sailors in times of war, and a movement to this end was inaugurated in Columbus in 1885, when The Columbus Memorial Association was incorporated. In 1887 a tax levy of $100,000 was authorized by a vote of the people for this purpose. The amount being deemed insufficient to permit Franklin County to honor itself as well as those who had represented it in times of National stress, the enterprise was deferred for a time. However, in 1904 the construction of the present Memorial Hall was begun and the building was completed in 1906. The building and real estate cost a quarter of a million dollars and the equipment $27,000 additional. A pipe organ was installed by the Women's Music Club at a cost of $22,000. The auditorium has a normal seating capacity of 3,800, susceptible of some expansion by re-arrangement. It has been the scene of many of the city's most important meetings in recent years, and is a favored setting for political conventions. It is consistently used by the Women's Music Club and others for great concerts ; many of the stars of the operatic stage have filled it to capacity during the past quarter of a century. In addition to the auditorium, the building contains halls for the use of the posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Spanish-American War Veterans, the American Legion and their auxiliary organizations. The architect of the building was Frank L. Packard, and the trustees in charge of construction were N. B. Abbott, John Siebert, William H. Knauss, Eugene Powell and Thomas Carpenter. The assassination of President McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, 1901, stirred the people of Ohio to the depths. In Columbus the general emotion of sorrow was transformed into a sentiment for the creation of a permanent memorial in the State House grounds. During the major portion of his residence in Columbus, Governor McKinley occupied a suite of rooms on the second floor of the Neil House, fronting High Street. Going to his office in the morning he would stop for a moment when he had gained the west entrance, turn and wave to Mrs. McKinley who was always waiting HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 239 at her window. This spot was chosen as the site for the monument that honors him as a statesman while recalling memories of him as a man. Columbus, by popular subscription, raised $25,000, contributed by fifteen thousand different persons, and the General Assembly of Ohio appropriated another $25,000 for the expenses of the work. H. A. MacNeil, of New York, was engaged as the sculptor. He spent four years in designing and executing what has proven to be the outstanding art work of the capital. A commission composed of state and city officials and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce gave time and ability to the details of the undertaking from the raising of the money to the dedication on September 15, 1906. Of this commission John G. Deshler was President John Y. Bassell, Secretary, and W. F. Burdell, Treasurer. The unveiling was witnessed by fifty thousand people. The speakers on that occasion were Justice William R. Day, of the Supreme Court of the United States, a life-long friend and associate of McKinley, United States Senator John W. Daniels, Past-Commander Joseph W. Kay, of the Union Veteran Legion and Commander-in-Chief R. B. Brown, of the Grand Army of the Republic. The street car strike of 1910 was a failure through lack of public approval. Early in the year the employes were unionized and, in March, demands were made upon the company for increased pay and recognition of the union. An agreement was patched up that served temporarily but left ruffled feelings on both sides. On the claim that the terms of this agreement were not being observed by the company, the employes called a strike on July 24th, and the company attempted to run cars with imported strike breakers. The striking employes patrolled the streets and sought to dissuade the people from riding the cars. Their fairly peaceful methods, however, were quickly superceded by others of a more violent nature adopted by the turbulent element sympathizing with the men but without their responsibility. The situation soon got beyond the control of the Mayor and the Sheriff, and the Governor was appealed to for state aid. A brigade of the National Guard was ordered to Columbus and from July 28th to August 7th the city was a military camp. When peace seemed once more assured, the troops were relieved of duty but, im- 240 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY mediately on their retirement, the mob spirit broke out again worse than before. Cars were attacked, passengers stoned and there was some shooting. The local authorties failed again to meet the situation. An attempt to put police on the cars was met with a flat refusal from thirty-three of the blue-coats to obey orders and they were dismissed. Again the Governor took charge and recalled the National Guard when the rioters shifted their activities and attacked the car barns and cars in the outlying districts with dynamite. These outrages completely alieniated the sympathy of all law-abiding citizens. Rioters were arrested and locked up. Four of them were sent to the penitentiary and two to the Mansfield reformatory. Car service was resumed with new operators, although many of the old men were taken back from time to time. The strike cost the state of Ohio $180,000 and the city $75,000 the company lost business and suffered considerable property damage; while the employes lost three months' wages and the support of the community for ten years. The One Hundredth Anniversary of the founding of Columbus was celebrated, in connection with the State Fair, during the week of August 26, 1912. Columbus Day, Monday, was featured by a parade, in which automobiles successfully participated, and an outdoor meeting addressed by Governor Harmon, Mayor George J. Karb and Dr. W. O. Thompson. On Tuesday there was a parade of four thousand women interested in suffrage. This was the most impressive argument in favor of female suffrage ever presented to the then voters of Columbus. For the first time they realized that their wives and sweethearts meant business and that they could engage in the pageantry of politics as well, if not better than, the men. On Wednesday there was a gathering of German singing societies, representing all of the larger cities of the state. President William H. Taft came on Thursday, speaking at the fairgrounds in the afternoon. He was entertained at dinner by the Bar Association in the evening. On Friday there was a reunion of the veterans of the Civil War and the War with Spain. On Saturday there was a pageant by the children on Ohio Field. Other features of the celebration were the Court of Honor in Broad Street and the historical exhibit in the public library building by the Daughters of the American Revolution. HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 241 The Fourth Ohio Constitutional Convention convened in the hall of the House of Representatives January 9th, 1912. With a few exceptions the 119 delegates to this convention were recruited from the minority of unstable and fretful minds, holding that movement in any direction is progress. The Reverend Herbert S. Bigelow, of Cincinnati, was elected president and he loaned to the convention some flavor of his own exotic theories of government. This was the same Reverend Bigelow who achieved notoriety at home at the beginning of the World War by preaching the doctrine of non-resistance to foreign enemies while advocating interference with military preparations, and brought upon himself public chastisement at the hands of unofficial patriots. A concession to conservatism was made in the selection of Charles B. Galbreath as secretary. The convention lasted 151 days, of which eighty-two were spent in public sessions. While this convention lacked the dignity and ability of its three predecessors, the delegates displayed a degree of cleverness in two particulars—they did not attempt to write an entirely new constitution, and they submitted the forty-one proposals for amendment at a special election on September 3rd, at which they assumed, and correctly so, that there would be a small vote. As a matter of fact, but three of the proposed amendments were defeated. One providing for the amendment of Section 1 of Article V, The Elective Franchise, omitting the word "white" used as a qualification for voting, in order to make the charter of Ohio agree with the Constitution of the United States, was defeated by an overwhelming majority. This furnished a fair standard for guaging the thoughtful consideration given to the thirty-eight proposals that were triumphantly approved by a majority of the small minority who voted at the special election for the initiative, referendum, recall and the other experimental innovations. The feature of this convention was the appearance, on Wednesday, February 21st, 1912, of ex-President Theodore Roosevelt, who came by special invitation to point the way to Ohio. His address on this occasion would not be noteworthy except for the fact that he took advantage of the opportunity to present and urge the adoption 242 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY of the most amazing proposal ever heard by a deliberative body in this state. Early in his address he advised : "Permit the people themselves by popular vote, after due deliberation and discussion—I emphasize that, due deliberation and discussion—to finally and without appeal, to settle what the proper construction of any constitutional point is." And, later, referring to the same subject : "But when a judge decides a constitutional question, when he decides what the people as a whole can or cannot do, the people should have the right to recall that decision." The recall of judicial decisions ! Mr. Roosevelt was not a lawyer and probably had not been told that a constitutional question can be raised in almost any important case in court. He could not have had any vision of the unutterable confusion that would result from differing popular determinations of constitutional questions in forty-eight different states, and he did not visualize the contrast between a decision reached by qualified judges, after impersonal consideration and research into every fact and principle bearing on the subject, and a decision made by the thoughtless multitude in the white heat of passion. But the great Rough Rider had out-Heroded Herod. The delegates were appreciably stunned for a time but, on recovery, declined to follow even so valiant a leader so fast or so far. It was feared that the submission of a scheme so subversive of American representative government would wake the slumbering voters in the remote townships and defeat all the work of the convention. Mr. Roosevelt did not continue his campaign in behalf of this novel idea. His admirers have often tried to explain and apologize for his presentation of it in Columbus, but none of these offerings is sufficiently charitable for citation here. Reverend William A. (Billy) Sunday literally occupied the center of the stage from December 29th, 1912, to February 16th, 1913. Careful preparations were made in advance for his meetings. He brought with him Mrs. Sunday, Homer A. Rodehaver and a company of assistants. A tabernacle, with seats for a congregation of 12,000 and a choir of 1,200 was built at the corner of Goodale and Park HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 243 Streets. Sixty of the Protestant churches of the city cooperated in the preparations for the revival, their ministers joining in conducting auxiliary services and their houses of worship were closed on Sundays. The newspapers gave Sunday the front page every day, the people generally heard him preach, some of them many times, and the general attitude of the public was either of deep interest or respectful tolerance. More than eighteen thousand people "hit the sawdust trail," as Mr. Sunday defined the act of going forward and making a profession of faith. As these thousands signed cards indicating their denominational preferences, the revival was followed by a large increase in church membership enrollments. The expenses were guaranteed by advance pledges, but generous voluntary offerings probably covered all costs. The personal offerings to Mr. Sunday amounted to $21,000. THE FLOOD. The flood of 1913 stands alone as the most serious disaster that ever fell upon the people of Franklin County. Within the limits of Columbus ninety-three human lives were lost, and in the immediate flood district, from Delaware to Chillicothe inclusive, the total was 145. The flood area in the city covered 4.2 square miles, occupied by a population of 27,000. The direct damage to property was $5,291,000 and the ascertainable indirect damage amounted to $9,000,000 additional. Beginning on March 23rd there was a heavy rainfall over the entire watershed of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers above Columbus, covering 1,614 square miles, which continued almost without interruption for three days and averaged 9.14 inches in depth. However, the crest of the flood at Columbus was created by a fall of six inches on the second and third days, half of which fell in the last twelve hours. By Tuesday, March 25th, the water began to run over the river levees and by noon the West Side was an inland sea. Then the levee near Sandusky Street broke the water tore its way through the viaduct openings in the railroad embankments further west, and torrents swept through the stricken district, tossing the lighter buildings to immediate destruction, rending and tearing where it did not 244 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY demolish, uprooting trees and spreading havoc as only the unleashed forces of nature can. This was a strange, new experience, for which no one was prepared. The West Side had seen floods before. In 1898 the water came over the lower levees and quietly spread out over the same territory. It filled the cellars and crept into the first floors. It drove the people from their homes, stopped the cars and factories and paralyzed business for several days ; but there was no sudden descent of a raging wave and no loss of life. Indeed, the record shows thirteen floods before that of 1913—all insignificant so far as damage is concerned, compared with this wrathful visitation of an ordinarily benign element, crazed and running amuck. The city east of the river did not suffer by contact with the water, except a portion of the North Side where the Olentangy, out of its banks, threatened for a time ; but the entire city was without water supply for twenty hours, the schools were closed for three days, street car service was suspended and not resumed across the river for a month, and the railroads were crippled for weeks. Four bridges went down under the strain of rushing drift—only the old Rich Street bridge, condemned and almost dispised, still stood and served as a way of escape for the refugees and as the road for carrying relief. Out of the flood there was a cry for help. The relief forces were quickly mobilized. Mayor Karb came to the rescue with the entire organization of the city government ; the Associated Charities and the Chamber of Commerce, and citizens generally, joined in orderly effort. If there had been years of preparation and weekly flood drills, Columbus could not have done better than it did in caring for its own. Credit cannot be given here to all of those who deserve decoration. The city directory of 1913 is an honor roll. But in all this strange mixture of seeming confusion and orderly rescue, one figure stands out so clearly apart that no impartial historian can fail to note—Bob Wolfe. His part in saving lives during the flood won no hero medals because no man knows how many lives he saved. The story has been so well told by A. E. McKee, in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, that it is reproduced here for the benefit of those who wish to know their HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 245 Columbus well and understand the inside of a man so much misunderstood. "This story is known to many people who were in Columbus during the ten days when the swollen Scioto River deluged one-third of the city, destroyed an immense amount of property and took a hundred lives. It was during these days of the flood that Robert F. Wolfe, better and more popularly known as 'Bob' Wolfe, earned his title of commodore. He was the champion life-saver of the city in the days of the flood. He was probably the first man in the city to foresee the grave nature of the overflow of the river and estimate the fight that would have to be made to get the people out of the flood district. His shoe factory faced the river and from his office he could watch the rising waters, see them overlap the river bank and slowly spread out over the west side. He could see that many people were in the houses, marooned in a rising flood and in great danger. "Wolfe is a worker. He uses direct methods. He wants results and knows how to get them quickly. He knew that at Buckeye Lake were a score of boats with men who knew how to use them in rough water and were unafraid. He chartered a train on the Ohio Electric, took it to Buckeye Lake, had the men load on a score of boats, including two motor boats. Locks were smashed on boat houses to get out the boats so badly needed. Then Wolfe loaded the men and the boats on the train and started back to Columbus. "Half way they found a section of the track covered with water. A traction train was on the opposite side. They pulled a motor boat off the train, pushed it into the water, tied on the smaller boats and the motor boat pulled them across the water. They were loaded onto the waiting train and hurried into Columbus. Wolfe and the men hired teams and got the boats and the men on the West Side. It was late in the afternoon. Men and women were calling for help. The cries of little children were heard above the dull roar of the waters. "Directed by 'Bob' Wolfe, the boatmen went into the flood district and began rescuing women and children. By scores they were taken in boats to places of safety. Wolfe worked with feverish energy. When darkness drove them from their labors, they planned for the next day and all that second day, when the destruction of the West Side seemed certain, Wolfe hurried his boat crews to and fro in the 246 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY flood district. They changed crews at meal-time, but Wolfe worked on, and it was not until relatives forced him to desist that he gave up and was taken home. The next day it was the same, and until the flood was past Wolfe worked harder and faced more danger than any other man in the city. "Wolfe is strong as a blacksmith and seems never to tire and he worked with the energy of a steam engine. From his own purse he bought food for many. He paid the boatmen their fees and, when the flood was over, refused to render a bill to the state for his expenses, and paid his own bills as his offering to the people who had been menaced by the flood. "When the flood was over and the reckoning made of what had been done and by whom, Governor James M. Cox conferred on Robbert F. Wolfe, as the law provided the title of commodore of the Ohio Naval Reserves." A story of the flood without reference to the wild scenes following the rumor that the storage dam had broken is but a half-told tale. T. T. Frankenberg was in the midst of it. A newspaper man, inured to alarms of all kinds, he was caught in the mad stampede and experienced all of the emotion as one of the mob ; but he retained his appreciation of news and wrote this classic for the Ohio State Journal the same night before some of the fugitives had stopped running : PANIC SWEEPS CITY WHEN DAM IS REPORTED OUT. "The storage dam has burst." Panic that froze men's blood in fear ; panic that in some instances paralyzed legs and arms and in others spurred them into abnormal activity ; panic that swept like a flame through fields of parched grass; panic that halted business, drove thousands into streets, crowded street cars, caused horses to be lashed to top speed and automobiles to be driven at full engine power—sprang into being almost instantly as these words "The storage dam has burst ;" struck upon the ears of exicted tens of thousands in the business section of Columbus yesterday afternoon. There followed a sight which baffles description. It was an experience without parallel in the history of the city. An ashen gray HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 247 mantled the faces of thousands. Information was exchanged in short, hoarse whispers. Women in paroxysms of excitement that bordered upon hysteria clambered on all sorts of vehicles, pleaded with drivers of speeding automobiles to take them aboard. Fear lent wings to hurrying feet. The dam had burst! The people of the city, one-third of which was inundated by flood, accepted without question the report that the great concrete structure six miles north of Columbus had let go its granite foundations and that millions of tons of tumbling water were rushing cityward to add their might to the yellow waste that already had engulfed everything on the west river bank and which had encroached a little toward the east. That all the millions upon millions of gallons of water impounded behind the dam could add but an inch or two to the general level in the business district seemed to have occurred to only a few in all that vast panic-spurred throng. Crowds flocked to the State House. Before some of the officials were aware of the report, they had overrun the place. Many sought to climb to the dome for safety. Others chocked entrances to tall buildings. "Make for the high ground" was the suggestion flashed from man to man on the streets. "Higher ground" for almost every one meant "home" unless "home" happened to be on the stricken West Side." In instant response to the cry, police officers rushed into stores and office buildings to reiterate the alarm. In a twinkling the streets became a tangled jam of men and women, who had abandoned desk and counter to seek places of safety. With electric rapidity the thought and the accompanying horror communicated itself to everyone, young and old. A man rode up High Street shouting "The dam has burst" at the top of his lungs, lashing his mount as he cantered by. No one stopped to inquire into the reliability of the report. A few wiseacres reasoned that even if it were so the water would not be in sufficient volume to reach beyond High Street. These, however, were in a sad minority. Almost to a man, people took to their heels in blind desperation. With a rush that tumbled several off their feet, hundreds of officials and citizens fled from the city prison. The building was de- 248 - HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY serted in three minutes. Twelve story buildings in High Street were quickly emptied. Soldiers, with guns, forced people from the houses along Scioto and Front Streets, adjacent to the big jail. Horses released from stables, and Troop B horses, given their freedom, plunged madly up Town Street to High, adding confusion to an eddying torrent of people and vehicles. From every direction rang the cry : "Run for your lives ! The dam's broken !" Police patrols and military ambulances, laden with the sick, dashed by, drivers shouting as they lashed their horses. Many more sick people were carried to high ground on the backs of friends and relatives. From Front and Town Streets, looking north and south as far as eyes could traverse, snorting, panic-stricken horses were to be seen running to the elevation of High Street and further to the east. Goaded by terror, thousands besieged the City Hall ; some sought the upper floors for safety. In the North Side of the city, crazed residents fled pell-mell in all directions. Many left their houses wide open. Scores of women swooned. The instant the report was received at the City Prison, Sergeant Church, Detective Lester and Wagonmen Bennington and Fulk rushed in a patrol auto to the Godman Guild, in West Goodale Street, where they took out all the children. Then they warned the residents of that section, sending them all to the Railway Y. M. C. A., which soon overflowed with the crowd. People afraid to go to their homes stood for three hours in North High Street, packing the street from curb to curb. Families were broken up. Weeping and cries of alarm made High Street a bedlam. When the warning reached Captain P. B. Moneypeny and Sergeant Nichols of the National Guard, who were at the flooded. T. & 0. C. Station, they half swam, half waded to solid ground, then ran at top speed for safety. Hundreds of volunteer rescue workers fled from the West Side. Only officers and militia guard remained at Town and Front Streets. Automobiles from the Rich Street bridge sped through Scioto Street, then turned east in Town Street. Ten machines ran HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY - 249 abreast, or one or two feet behind, when the turn was made into High. Hundreds of people seized with fear, rushed like a helpless herd before the fast approaching autos and narrowly escaped being run down, maimed or killed. Following the machines clattered the horses, adding to the terror. Men and women stationed in the middle of the Rich Street bridge suffered most acutely. Some had passed two days and a night perched in the tops of houses, and were thoroughly soaked and chilled. These people were loaded into autos and brought into High Street. At the time of the warning many inhabitants of the West Side believed that the Rich Stret bridge had gone down with the rushing waters that swept their homes to destruction. When this report flashed along the line it threw these people into an ungovernable terror. North, east, west and south, wherever the report "The dam has burst !" found its way, the afternoon was filled with anguish, despair and flight. In ten minutes the first rumor had swept like a whirlwind. It crossed the waters to the West Side, knee-deep in flood, and brought hundreds of curious spectators back to the city. But it was all a false alarm. In another ten minutes the report was denied. Additional proof came pouring in as people came to their senses. One man called up the office of the dam keeper. The answer came that the water was pouring over the big abutment and that there was no chance of it giving way. Who was responsible for the report that the dam had let go ? Why did police and militiamen assist in spreading the report? These are questions Columbus citizens would like to have answered. The report of the dam's breaking, it was ascertained last night, was first given by Orderly Bryan, of the Second Ambulance Corps, who raced down High Street on a motorcycle, shouting the news, and by Trumpeter R. I. Culbertson, of the Second Brigade Headquarters, both of them acting onder the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Hall, of Cincinnati, assistant surgeon general of the National Guard. "I was told of the dam's breaking by Major George P. Zwerner," said Lieutenant Colonel Hall. "He said the people in the vicinity of the West Side were panic stricken. I immediately called out to Or-