ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 425 Othniel Looker, of Hamilton County. John Pollock remained as speaker of the House. Adam Betz was doorkeeper, as he had been successively ever since the first session in 1803, and as he was to be for several years longer. Speaker Looker was born in New Jersey, had served for five years as a Revolutionary soldier, had been a member of the New York Legislature, and had moved to Cincinnati in 1804. He was fifty-six years old when elected speaker of the Ohio Senate in 1813, and lived to the age of eighty-eight, serving as judge of courts of common pleas and in other official capacities. His last years were spent in Illinois. Governor Meigs' message to the Legislature dwelt at length upon the progress of the war, and referred with great pride to the victory won on the 10th of the preceding September by Commodore Oliver H. Perry and his officers and men over the British in the naval battle at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. This was the last engagement of the war to take place in Ohio territory. Governor Meigs also detailed the services of the state militia in the war and highly praised the officers and men for their gallant conduct. A new problem now confronted the Legislature. The United States Government levied a direct tax upon the states to aid it in the prosecution of the war, and the first sum demanded of Ohio was more than $88,500. This was more than the total annual revenues of the state, which was, besides, paying for its own militia service. The amount available in the state treasury at the moment was $30,000. But the Government's demand was for immediate payment. An act was therefore passed without delay authorizing the governor to borrow $55,000, which he did, and the state treasurer paid $88,527.62 into the treasury of the United States. The whole incident shows the wonderful spirit of the people of that day. They made no complaint, but met every situation, however difficult, promptly and completely. The necessity of paying nearly $90,000 on immediate demand, in 1812, with a population of something over 250,000, was a heavy burden on the State of Ohio. War measures and activities occupied almost the whole time of this Legislature, and very little attention was given to civic matters. But one evil not connected with the war had become a menace, and was dealt a death blow, so far as legislation could accomplish that end. It has been seen that gambling was a common practice even among the members of the General Assembly itself, and that a future governor had vigorously defended himself against aspersions on his honor for having used "pick'd cards" in making his winnings at lieu. The gambling habit had grown to an alarming extent among almost all classes, notwithstanding the stringent law which had been on the books for a number of years—one law going so far as to impose a penalty of $20 for each pack of playing cards brought into or owned in the state. The General Assembly now addressed itself anew to correcting the gambling evil. In an act passed January 4, 1814, gambling debts were made "utterly void." The language describing such debts seemed to cover the whole subject : "Promises, agreements, notes, bills, bonds or other contracts, mortgages or any other securities whatever, when the whole or any part of the consideration of such promise, agreement, conveyance or security shall be for money or any other valuable thing whatsoever, won, laid or betted, at cards, dice, tables, tennis balls, or any other game or games whatsoever, or at any horse race, cock fighting or any other sport or pastime, or on any wager whatsoever, or for the reimbursing or repaying of any money lent or advanced at the time of such play, bet or wager." The law allowed gambling losses to be recovered by suit at law. The law-makers had a lively sense of the evils of the gambling habit, as the language of another section indicates : "It must often be attended with quarrels, disputes and controversies, the impoverishment of many people and their families, and the ruin of 426 - HISTORY OF OHIO the health and the corruption of the manners of youth, who upon such occasions often fall in company with lewd, idle and dissolute persons, who use this way of maintaining themselves." Therefore, gambling was to be fined from $10 to $70 for each offense, and the person convicted must furnish security not to gamble again for twelve months. Cheating at gambling was punishable by a fine of from $50 to $500, and the man or woman keeping a tavern or other public house who permitted gambling was to be fined from $50 to $200, forfeit his or her license, and not be licensed to keep a tavern again for a year. In the West the curtain had descended on the stage of war after the battle of Lake Erie and Harrison's capture of General Proctor's army. The papers of Ohio continued to tell their readers of unimportant engagements with the Indians and of minor movements of troops in Upper Canada and along the waters connecting Lakes Huron and Erie, but the anxious concern of the people for their safety and the lives of their volunteer soldiers had subsided. The state press of 1814 carried much news, however, as to war activities in the Niagara section, in the South, in the harbors of the East, and on the high seas. Publication was made of every scrap of information and of rumor about negotiations for peace. The editors had informed their readers during the latter part of the preceding year that the Czar of Russia had offered his good offices looking to a peace conference at St. Petersburg by commissioners of the United States and of Great Britain, and of the appointment by President Madison of John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Albert Gallatin, James A. Bayard and Jonathan Russell on this mission. Throughout the whole year 1814 there were many references to this subject, which were, of course, read with intense interest. The inhabitants of all the cabins, hamlets, villages and towns followed the changes of location of the conferences—to Gottenburg, to London, and finally to Ghent, where a "treaty of honorable peace" was finally signed on December 24, 1814, more than a year after the American commissioners had first arrived in St. Petersburg. Gen. Andrew Jackson, almost unknown until the end of 1813, now became a very important factor in the news of the day. He won a series of victories over the Creek Indians in the South, and his reports of them, filling many pages, were published in Ohio and read with avidity. On June 18th it was announced that the President had appointed him a major general in the army of the United States, "in the room of General William Henry Harrison, resigned." Harrison's resignation was the result of disputes with the secretary of war. Gen. Duncan McArthur was made commander-in-chief of Military Division No. 8, which included the territory over which the Northwestern Army had operated under Harrison. There was much in the newspapers from time to time about the court-martial of General Hull for his shameful surrender of Detroit in 1812. The proceedings dragged along, often postponed and resumed, in the court room of the New York State House at Albany. The charges preferred against him were treason, cowardice, neglect of duty and un-officer-like conduct. Finally, on March 26, 1814, he was sentenced to be shot to death, but this was added : "The court, in consideration of Brigadier General Hull's revolutionary services and his advanced age, earnestly recommend him to the mercy of the President of the United States." When the report of the court was given out for publication some weeks later, it was endorsed, "The sentence of the court is approved, and execution of it is remitted"—signed James Madison. And the adjutant general issued : "General Orders—The roll of the army is not to be longer dishonored by having upon it the name of Brigadier General William Hull." The Ohio papers, which had so violently assailed General Hull at the time of his surrender, were silent upon the subject of his escape from the death penalty. ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 427 The British prisoners of war who, as previously noted, had been taken to Chillicothe, provided the newspapers with a sensation of large proportions in attempting to make their escape by desperate means, according to the Supporter of February 16: "During last week considerable alarm was manifested by the citizens of this place in consequence of a design entertained by the British prisoners of war here, but which was happily discovered in time to prevent the threatened mischief. An order having been recently sent from the War Office to Colonel Campbell, commanding officer at this post, to take charge of the British officers on parole here and send them to Frankfort, Kentucky, they were confined in the jail until preparations could be made for their removal. Early on the morning of the 11th inst. two gentlemen of respectability gave information to Colonel Campbell that the British officers were conspiring with the prisoners of the garrison a short distance above this place, for the purpose of forcibly effecting their escape. The disclosure of the plan was made by two of the British officers, in great confidence, to one of the gentlemen, who considered it his duty to make the plan known, and accordingly consulted a friend on the proper manner to proceed. In consequence of this information, Colonel Campbell, having first consulted with Governor Meigs and obtained his most decided approval and concurrence, ordered eleven of the officers to be put in irons, and took such other measures as would completely render any attempt to escape ineffectual. The Mayor also procured a party of militia to patrol the streets and suburbs of the town to make assurance doubly sure. "It appears from developments subsequent to the first disclosure, that a part of the plan was, after the prisoners of the garrison had forced the guard, to set fire to the town and while the citizens would necessarily be engaged in extinguishing the fire, to rescue all officers from confinement and then all make their escape in the best manner possible. "On Monday last the officers were sent from here in a boat 'for Frankfort, Kentucky." An echo of the war in Ohio was heard in another serious occurrence in Chillicothe, where deserters from the Northwestern Army were tried by court-martial. The supporter of July 29 contained an account of these trials. A peculiar feature of it is the expressed regret that the whipping post had been abolished. We quote in part : "We are informed that twenty-six soldiers of the United States Army have been tried by the general court martial now convened at this place and found guilty of desertion, five of whom are sentenced to be shot. The most of the other criminals, we are informed, are sentenced to be picketed, a mode of punishment which is inflicted by compelling the culprit to stand with his heel upon a sharp pointed stick. It is much to be regretted that corporeal punishment by whipping has been abolished in our armies, as by this means new and barbarous modes of punishment have been introduced which are disgraceful to humanity !" The tragic sequel was told in the issue of two weeks later : "On Friday the 8th inst, agreeably to the sentence of the court martial, five of the United States soldiers were shot at this place for the crime of desertion. And it is not a little surprising that on the same evening, after the above mentioned executions took place, another soldier named Larkin Johnston deserted from his post, notwithstanding the awful example he had just witnessed. In a day or two afterwards he was apprehended and brought back, when he was tried by a court martial and sentenced to be shot, which was executed on Wednesday last." The capture of the City of Washington and burning of the public buildings caused consternation in Ohio, as did many rumors of arrivals of thousands of British soldiers who, after Napoleon's fall and abdication, had been released from the forces of the Duke of 'Wellington for service in America. Affairs with the Army of the North were bad, and there was great depression among the people of the state. Any encour- 428 - HISTORY OF OHIO aging news would be very welcome. And when it came in the account of the glorious victory of General Jackson at New Orleans, their cup of joy was filled to overflowing. It was, at first, only a rumor, which had gone in twenty hours from New Orleans to Natchez, and thence via Nashville to Ohio, where it arrived January 31, 1815, twenty-three days after the battle occurred. But by the following week the full official report had been received, and General Jackson's name at once became—and has continued to be—one of the most illustrious of the War of 1812. Meanwhile, it was utterly unknown in America that the peace treaty had been signed at Ghent. Not until February 12, 1815, was it known in New York, and only on February 24th—two months after the event, and six weeks after the battle of New Orleans—did the people of Ohio learn that the conflict, with all its attendant sufferings, had come to an end. But the year 1814 was notable by reason of other events which were recorded in the newspapers. Robert Fulton, whose genius had created the steamboat which during three years had become very familiar to dwellers along the Ohio River, laid before the United States Navy plans for, and a model of, a war vessel to be propelled by steam. It had been submitted to five of the most distinguished naval officers in the service —including Stephen Decatur and Oliver H. Perry—and they had unhesitatingly pronounced their opinion that it would be "more formidable to an enemy than any kind of engine hitherto invented." The new boat, the Fulton the First, was built, but was not ready for service until some weeks after the war ended. This was the forerunner of those "oak leviathans" that completely revolutionized naval warfare throughout the world. In May, Southern Ohio was visited by a tornado which wrought terrible havoc over many miles. The description of it, published June 4th by the Supporter at Chillicothe, is interesting even today, aside from its place in history : "DREADFUL TORNADO.—On the twentieth ult., just before sunset, a tremendous tornado, accompanied by thunder, lightning and rain, passed through the western district of this county. Its aspect on approaching was appalling and terrible in the extreme. Like the fiery curling volumes of smoke which issue from the crater of a volcano, the clouds by a rapid vertical motion mounted aloft in the atmosphere, through which they moved forward with prodigious celerity. Its course was northerly and easterly, marking its destructive progress with awful desolation : upturning the loftiest as well as the humblest trees of the forest, driving their torn branches and leaves to a league's distance, or more, throwing down fences, covering the farms with dead timber, carrying off the roofs of the houses, and even razing some of them to their foundations. The track of this hurricane, taken in its greatest latitude, and particularly where it crossed the road from Chillicothe to Lebanon, is about two miles wide ; but the most remarkable part of the ruin may be estimated at a mile and a quarter wide. Scarce one tree in a thousand is seen standing. About two-thirds of the forest trees are thrown down to the earth in every direction, while the other third are broken off at the height of ten, fifteen, twenty or thirty feet, leaving their riven, shivered and denudated stumps, the awfully impressive monuments of the power which destroyed them. Through the good Providence of Him who `rideth on the wings of the wind,' no human creature has been hurt, as far as yet known. The oldest persons living in the neighborhood say they have never before seen a storm so dreadfully alarming and ruinous." Governor Return Jonathan Meigs, who had rendered such effective service to his state during the first two years of the war, and without whose well directed and indefatigable efforts the results in the West might have been far different, was called to a new field of service. The promotion was "covered" April 2, 1814, in just five lines of the principal newspaper at the capital : "R. J. Meigs, Esq., has resigned the office of governor in consequence of his appointment of Post Master General, and ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 429 has, accordingly taken his departure for Washington City." Such was the lack of appreciation of news values by the editor of the Supporter. Meigs' name apparently did not appear again in the weeklies of Ohio until July 6th, when it was officially signed to a full page advertisement asking for proposals for carrying the mails from January 1, 1815, to December 31, 1817. Transportation of mail was on horseback, but that stage coaches had begun to appear on the roads of Ohio is evidenced by this sentence in the advertisement : "When the proposer intends to convey the mail in the body of a stage carriage he is desired to state it in his proposal." The details of these required mail deliveries—which appear to be the first on any extended and regular system in the history of the state—throw a flood of light on the conditions of communication between people of that day. On only one route in Ohio were there to be as many as three mails a week—from Wheeling to Chillicothe, by way of St. Clairsville, Barnesville, Cambridge, Zanesville, Springfield (afterwards named Putnam), Somerset, Lancaster and Tarlton. The distance was 145 miles and the route was to be covered between 4 :00 A. M. the first day and 5 :00 P. M. the next, with return over the same route. Two mails a week were to be carried from Chillicothe to Cincinnati, via Bainbridge, Willis' Cross Road, New Market, Williamsburg, New Town and Madison—ninety-five miles ; time from 5 :00 A. M. one day to 10 :00 A. M. the next. Every Tuesday at noon a mail was to start from Lebanon and reach Urbana by 6 :00 P. M. Wednesday, going via Waynesville, Xenia, Ludlow and Springfield. A long route through the heart of the state was from Chillicothe to Mansfield, via Circleville, Columbus, Franklinton, Delaware, Mt. Vernon and Fredericktown-125 miles—leaving Friday at 6 :00 A. M., arriving at Columbus at 7 :00 P. M., and reaching Mansfield at 10 :00 A. M. the following Monday ; one mail a week. Some towns were served every two weeks only. The whole central, western, southern, eastern and northeastern parts of the state were reached by these mails, and it was a great improvement over any service theretofore provided. The rates of postage were also advertised by Postmaster General Meigs, as follows : "Single Letters— . "For any distance not exceeding forty miles, 12 cents. "Over forty miles and not exceeding ninety, 15 cents. "Over ninety miles and not exceeding one hundred and fifty, 18 3/4 cents. "Over one hundred and fifty miles and not exceeding three hundred, 25 1/4 cents. "Over three hundred miles and not exceeding five hundred, 30 cents. "Over five hundred miles, 37 1/2 cents. "Double letters, or those composed of two pieces of paper, double these rates. "Triple letters, or those composed of three pieces of paper, triple these rates." The political campaign in August and September was very mild, so far as the newspapers disclosed. Notwithstanding that Thomas Worthington, while in the United States Senate, had worked and voted against the declaration of war, and had been warmly criticised for his stand on the issue, he had no opposition worth considering in his desire to be governor, and he easily won by a large majority at the polls. ADMINISTRATION OF OTHNIEL LOOKER Acting Governor March 25, 1814, to December 8, 1814 Othniel Looker, acting governor of Ohio, who succeeded Return Jonathan Meigs, had the honor of occupying that responsible position ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 431 for a short time while the War of 1812 was in progress. That he performed his duties faithfully and well without special opportunity for spectacular action to attract public attention to him personally, is attested by the official record of his brief services as acting governor. Othniel Looker was born in Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey, October 4, 1757. He died at Palestine, Illinois, July 23, 1845. In 1777, at the age of twenty years, he volunteered in the New Jersey militia and served through the Revolutionary war. After the close of the war, in 1782, he moved to New York. He became a member of the Assembly of that state in 1802 and served in the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Sessions of that body as representative from Saratoga County. In 1804 he moved to Hamilton County, Ohio, which he served in the House of Representatives from 1807 to 1809. He was a member of the State Senate from 1810 to 1811 and again from 1813 to 1816. It was in this later service that he became acting governor. He was speaker of the Senate when Governor Meigs resigned, and became acting governor from March 24, 1814, to December 8th of that year. At the conclusion of his service in the Senate he returned to his farm in Harrison Township, Hamilton County. He was afterward associate judge for seven years. In 1844 he moved to Palestine, Illinois, to spend his remaining days with his daughter, Mrs. Rachel L. Kitchel. On July 4, 1845, he delivered his last public address. "Appearing in his continental uniform, bowed with the infirmities of age, his emotions almost overcame him as he contrasted the feeble beginnings of the Republic with the splendid destinies assured in the future." Governor Looker married Pamela Clark. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. He had a large number of grandchildren, and many of his descendants are still living. This somewhat extended sketch is given here because it is only in recent years that reliable information has been available for a trustworthy account of his life. Most writers have stated that he was born in New York, that he died at an unknown date on his farm located somewhere in Ohio, and that he never married. ADMINISTRATION OF THOMAS WORTHINGTON THIRTEENTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 5, 1814, to February 16, 1815 Governor Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., who had so often been changed from one high office to another, was now, as before stated, postmaster general of the United States—since March 25, 1814. His resignation as governor had left Othniel Looker, speaker of the Senate, as acting governor ex-officio. Thomas Kirker was again elected speaker, and John Pollock was reelected speaker of the House of Representatives. When the vote at the late election was canvassed by the General Assembly, Thomas Worthington was declared elected over Looker, his only opponent, by a vote of 15,879 to 6,171. Worthington resigned as United States Senator and was inaugurated governor on December 8th. His inaugural address was largely devoted to the subject of the war just closing. Benjamin Ruggles was elected to fill the unexpired term in the United States Senate. He had been a judge of the Common Pleas Court at St. Clairsville. He remained in the National Senate until 1833. Ethan Allen Brown, of Cincinnati, was now appointed by the Legislature as a judge of the Supreme Court, and then, at the age of thirty-nine years, entered upon a brilliant official career. He had been a student of law in the office of Alexander Hamilton in New York, and removed ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 433 to Cincinnati in 1804. His occupancy of the Supreme Bench continued until 1818, when he was elected governor and served two terms. He was then sent to the United States Senate, and was afterwards minister to Brazil. There was now another direct levy of taxes on the state by the National Government, and this necessitated a loan, negotiated by the governor under authority of the Legislature, of $177,055.21. The money was secured from various state banks, for one year at 6 per cent interest. Official figures submitted disclosed that Ohio had furnished 23,951 soldiers for the war. This was one-third of the entire white male population of the state above the age of twenty-one, and more than one-half of those of military age. It was almost 15 per cent of all the soldiers contributed by the entire nation. A question of much moment had been occupying the attention of the members of the Legislature—what to do with the insane ? Not up to this time had there been any legislation whatever concerning them, and the unfortunates had entirely lacked the care which an enlightened commonwealth owed them. Consideration of this question now bore fruit in an act, passed February 13, 1815. It required that when notice was brought to a justice of the peace of a township that any person residing therein was "idiotic, non compos, lunatic or insane" he should be brought by the constable before the justice for examination. Seven discreet, disinterested householders were appointed to inquire into the case and make written report to the justice. If the "accused" person was declared by them to be sane he was discharged and the inquiry ended. If reported insane and dangerous he was confined in the county jail unless his friends and relatives executed bond for his safe-keeping elsewhere. The county provided him the services of a physician in the jail, and the Court of _Common Pleas appointed a guardian over his person and property. The county commissioners were authorized to discharge him from confinement if a physician certified that it was safe to do so. There was apparently no thought of trying to effect a cure, nor to do anything whatever except to confine and keep him safe, as a prisoner, from doing harm. He was not in any sense considered as a patient to be ministered to or assisted in his affliction. At this session of the Legislature three more counties were organized —Pike, Huron and Monroe. The penitentiary at Columbus was now nearing completion, and it was known that it would be available for use before the seat of the state government could be transferred to the new capital. This fact made possible immediately a complete change in the system of punishment for crime. An entirely new criminal code was accordingly enacted by the General Assembly at this session. Long terms at hard labor in the penitentiary were substituted for stripes on the bare back at the whipping post. The death penalty was retained for the crimes of treason and murder in the first degree ; for murder in the second degree the new sentence was a maximum of twenty-one years at hard labor ; for manslaughter, seven years ; for counterfeiting, twenty years ; for challenging to a duel, nine years, etc. The law contained forty-five sections and repealed acts previously in force prescribing punishments for crimes included in the new act. Another new law established the system of discipline in the state prison. Males were to have the right side of their heads shaved close at least once a month ; they were to wear garments of coarse material, and fed coarse but wholesome food ; their health was to be cared for by a physician, and a hospital was to be maintained. An elaborate scheme of government of the prison was to be administered by inspectors to be appointed by the Legislature, by a keeper, by deputies and assistants. One provision, intended to make the keeper very alert, required the keeper to forfeit $50 for every escape. But this was found to be unfair to the keeper and was later changed. A reward of $50 for the return of an 434 - HISTORY OF OHIO escaped convict was substituted—and it has been the rule for more than a century. It was at this session of the General Assembly that a banking law was enacted that brought about a celebrated controversy between the state and the general government. This extended through several years and was accompanied by some remarkable events. The act required that all banks, chartered or unchartered by the state, doing business anywhere in Ohio, should pay a tax of 4 per cent of all dividends declared by them. if any of them refused to comply with this requirement the auditor of state should levy a tax of 1 per cent upon the nominal amount of their capital stock, and place execution for its collection in the hands of the sheriffs of the counties in which the banks were located. The sheriffs were to make demand for the money, and, failing to receive it, make levies upon the specie or bank notes, and any other property found in the banks by him. The act prohibited any person or company from issuing or circulating bank bills or notes unless specially authorized by state laws to do so. The penalty for a violation of this provision was a fine of $5,000 and imprisonment for one year. This law was enacted with the deliberate intent of preventing United States banks from doing business in Ohio. As will be seen, it was followed by tumultuous events, and not until the Federal Supreme Court rendered a decision against the State of Ohio did the conflict which this law precipitated come to an end. The war over, the newspapers of Ohio resumed features of humor, poetry and miscellaneous matters, became very vigorous in their discussions of politics, and found room in their columns for communications from prolific correspondents. During the time of intense anxiety incident to the dangers of the Republic the editors had ceased their violent abuse of one another, but they now indulged in personal allusions which proved entertaining not only to those who read them when the sheets came fresh from the presses, but also to any one who, more than a century later, peruses their yellow and somewhat faded pages. Charles Dickens, when he took Mr. Pickwick to Eatanswill, in the heat of a political campaign, found that : "Of course it was essentially and indespensably necessary that each of the powerful parties should have its chosen organ and representative ; and accordingly there were two newspapers in the town—the Eatanswill Gazette and the Eatanswill Independent. Fine newspapers they were ! Such leading articles and such spirited attacks! 'Our worthless contemporary the Gazette'—`That disgraceful and dastardly journal, the Independent'—`That false and scurrilous print, The Independent,'—`That vile and slanderous calumniator, the Gazette'—these and other spirit-stirring denunciations were strewn plentifully over the columns of each, in every number, and excited feelings of the most intense delight and indignation in the bosoms of the town people." Mr. Dickens no doubt drew upon his imagination in painting this picture. But how much more vividly colored it would have been if he could have made literal quotations from the papers of Ohio ! For example : " 'The editor of the Scioto Gazette, the Rev. Joseph S. Collins, that malignant Jacobin and quibbling, time serving, whining reptile.'—The Fredonian. " 'The miserable and pitiful wretch who conducts the Messenger (Zanesville) is scarcely deserving notice, but as it is our object to 'whip the rascals naked through the world' he shall be gratified with some remarks of ours at a time when we have more leisure to attend to him.—The Independent Republican. " 'The article in the Messenger is a pitiful, puerile production, as destitute of reason as it is wanting in truth.'—The Zanesville Express. " 'The public will pardon us for condescending to notice this miserable ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 435 wretch—we know as well as they do that he is individually too contemptible to deserve print and paper.'—The Fredonian. " 'The matchless genius of the sapient editors of the Messenger must have been nearly or quite exhausted by the production of the very laborious and filthy articles inserted in their last.'—The Independent Republican." Large space was given during some months after the peace to articles describing the horrors of the treatment accorded American prisoners of war by the British, to reports of American successes at sea which could not be made by ship commanders until they returned to port, and to many other war incidents of interest to Ohio readers. But gradually almost all subjects pertaining to the conflict, as well as bitterness of expressions against the British, were dropped. On March 10, 1815, Governor Worthington issued a Thanksgiving proclamation, which was reproduced in all the journals of the state. "After the severest afflictions and trials," it began, "resulting from a state of war with one of the most powerful nations on earth, it has pleased the Almighty to restore peace to our beloved country. In the bloody conflict entered into for the defense of our invaluable rights and liberties, He has verified the assurance of His word, that 'the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.' " Friday, March 31, was set apart by the governor as a clay of thanksgiving and prayer. A month prior to this time the General Assembly had passed a series of resolutions in praise of Andrew Jackson, and had publicly given thanks in a church at Chillicothe for his victory at New Orleans. The Zanesville Express of February 16 contained a serious editorial upon this incident, during the course of which it no doubt reflected the opinion of many sober minded citizens, who did not know at that time that peace had been declared. "This conduct of our rulers," observes the editor, "wears a pleasant aspect, and must be highly gratifying to the friends of Zion. How much more rational and sublime do gratitude and thankfulness, expressed in this way, appear, than that which is evidenced by bonfires, meaningless huzzas, firing of guns, beating of drums, etc." At Hamilton, then a town of less than 500 inhabitants, the Miami Intelligencer was started at the beginning of the year 1815, and immediately established itself as one of the best papers of the state. Within two weeks after its birth it made a vigorous complaint against the bad mail service from Cincinnati, and charged that the editor of Liberty Hall, the chief paper of that town, who was also the mail contractor, was responsible for the delinquencies by holding the mail back, sometimes for a full day, until his paper should be printed and ready to send out, regardless of the mail time schedule. "These evils must be remedied," thundered the Intelligencer. "The Postmaster General must attend to it !"—which he presumably did, as the first broadside was the last. Probably the largest and most imposing advertisement which had yet been published in any Ohio paper appeared in the Intelligencer January 26th of this year. It was also notable as announcing the first amusement enterprise of any kind traveling through Ohio, so far as the papers disclose. "The National Panorama and American Museum of Wax Figures" was exhibiting at the dwelling of David Latham. Figures were shown of the Immortal Washington ; the Goddess of Liberty Supporting the American Standard ; the Undaunted American, Hero Commodore Stephen Decatur ; Napoleon Bonaparte, Late Emperor of the French ; Maria Louise, Late Empress Queen of France ; Thomas Par, Who Lived to the Age of 152 Years ; and other notables. Also, an Interesting Scene Representing Othello Murdering Desdemona, His Wife, and a Sleeping Beauty with an Infant By Her Side. There were a number of "elegant and interesting paintings, never before exhibited," including the "Burning of the Richmond Theater. Open 9 a. m. to 9 p. m." "The company will be entertained by music on an elegant organ during the exhibition. Smoking prohibited. Admittance, twenty-five cents ; children, half price." 436 - HISTORY OF OHIO One can imagine the excitement this created among the people of Hamilton in 1815 ! During the war there had been a cessation of press notices descriptive of the coming of new settlers in the state. But soon after peace was declared normal conditions had been resumed and the influx became greater than ever. "Emigration to this state is immense," said the Zanesville Express. "The road leading through this town seems to be covered with waggons and carriages of all descriptions. We have counted eleven waggons crossing the river at one time. In all probability by the next census we shall be equal to most of the states in point of population." A large proportion of the emigrants entered Ohio by ferrying over the river at Wheeling, and it was felt that the facilities for crossing were not adequate. There was agitation of the question of providing better means of reaching the west side of the river, and the news was given out, in one form or another, and in several papers, that a bridge was to be erected there. The difficulties of the situation were emphasized in the Zanesville Express as follows : "An association has been formed for the purpose of erecting a bridge across the Ohio river near the mouth of Short Creek a few miles above Wheeling. This is an undertaking worthy of the exertion and enterprise of the citizens of this western country. It will be highly advantageous to the public, and profitable to its proprietors. The Ohio river is often of dangerous passage on account of floating ice. The public mail and travelers are not infrequently detained on this account for several days, and greatly retarded in their progress. To obviate these and many other difficulties is an object of the greatest importance." Traffic on the river had enormously increased, thousands of United States soldiers from the East had floated down from Pittsburg during the war, and immense supplies of munitions of war had been transported in the same manner. The number of steamboats had not grown large enough to take a very important part in this, and the old keel boats and barges had been extensively used. But the steam craft had nevertheless been growing in both size and numbers, as well as in speed, and much attention was given to them in the newspapers. An account from Cincinnati in July described the "amazing speed" of the steamboat Enterprise, which had sailed past that town to Louisville, and just returned on her way up the river. "She sailed again for Pittsburg on Thursday evening. We were pleased to see her deck crowded with passengers, ladies and gentlemen. This is the proper mode of rewarding enterprise and industry." Ohio people were also reading a great deal about the Fulton the First, the war steamboat which had been ordered the previous year for the United States Navy, and had been put in commission in New York early in the summer. She had met every expectation, and the whole project of steam navigation took on a new and powerful impetus. On December 7, 1815, the important news was printed in the Zanesville Express that "it is contemplated that most of the business on the Ohio river will shortly be accomplished by means of steamboats. It is said that Mr. Croninshield, (brother of the secretary of the navy) is about to embark his extensive capital in that kind of navigation on the western waters." The sudden return of Napoleon Bonaparte from the Island of Elba, his resumption of the throne of France, and the apparently permanent overthrow of the new regime of the Bourbons, excited great interest in Ohio. The papers devoted columns and pages to publishing the particulars as they became known. A curious and interesting controversy broke out among the papers of the country—in which those of Ohio took a vigorous part—caused by the sympathy which many editors and people held with Napoleon, and their evident desire that his revolution should ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 437 succeed. An example of the opposition to this feeling favorable to Napoleon, was printed in the Chillicothe Supporter of June 20th : "The partiality felt by many Americans for Bonaparte cannot be accounted for on any rational grounds. We are a king-hating people—despisers of all crowned heads, with the single exception of one who for fifteen years has been fighting for universal rule—who has been foremost in duplicity, tyranny, ambition and all the vices of monarchs—whose iniquitous measures and artful intrigues forced us into a ruinous war with his strongest enemy—and who to this moment has contemptuously refused any satisfaction for an immense number of vessels stolen from our merchants on the high seas and even in his ports." Although the Indians were still troublesome, in the territory west of Ohio, especially along the Mississippi River, there were no accounts of hostilities on their part within the state itself. On the contrary, they were themselves the victims of some barbarities by whites, and this was the occasion of uneasiness to Governor Worthington, as was shown in a proclamation which he issued under date of April 11th of this year : "Whereas, It has been represented to me that three Indians belonging to tribes at peace with the United States have lately been murdered by citizens of this state, within the jurisdiction of the same; and whereas, such acts of hostility and barbarity, whilst they are gross outrages on humanity and civilization, as well as an open violation of the pledged faith and friendship of the United States, tend to excite retaliatory measures on the part of the savages, by which innocent and unoffending citizens may fall a sacrifice to the tomahawk and scalping knife, and harmless women and children be inhumanly butchered,—therefore, I, Thomas Worthington, governor of the state of Ohio, do by this my proclamation, call upon and require all the good people of this state, and more especially upon the various officers, civil and military, within the same, to be active and dilligent in the detection of such heinous offenders—to protect the various Indians at peace with and friendly toward the United States, from the outrage and injury of all evil-disposed men ; and to use all necessary and energetic measures possible to bring such base offenders and gross violators of all law, human and divine, to their merited punishment." The subject which at this time was perhaps of more importance than any other to Ohio as a state was the clearing up of difficulties with ref erence to that great unsettled section in its northwestern section. It was a complicated situation because of the animosity of the Indian tribes which occupied it as a reservation, but who had in 1807 entered into a treaty to concede part of those lands to settlement by the whites. Congress had promised lands to certain classes of soldiers who had served during the war. Ex-Governor Edward Tiffin, who was now surveyor general of the United States, located at Chillicothe, was supervisor of the territory in which the disputed lands lay, and in the early summer he sent a party of surveyors to locate them. But they were unsuccessful, and the people were apprised of the situation in the following article, which appeared in the Supporter of June 13th : "The surveyors lately sent to survey the military boundary lines in the Michigan territory have returned without executing any part of the work for which they were sent out. The cause of their premature return was occasioned by the Indians forbidding the surveying of any lands in that territory, inasmuch as they in effect deny the treaty or sale of any lands therein. The Indians who have been arrayed against us during the late war with Great Britain consider themselves as much at war now as they have during any part of the contest. * * * It appears from the Indian agents or interpreters and others who were at the treaty, that the principal chiefs interested in that country never did sign the treaty ; and the more inferior chiefs who did sign it dare not acknowledge it at this day." Within a few weeks—on July 4th—the public was informed that "an 438 - HISTORY OF OHIO Indian treaty will shortly be held with the Northwestern Indians at Fort Wayne, under the direction of General Harrison, General McArthur and John Graham, Esq., commissioners appointed for that purpose." And on September 19th this paragraph imparted the news of the success of the conference : "We are informed from indubitable authority that on the 8th inst. a treaty was signed by the commissioners of the United States and a full representation of the Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Seneca, Ottawa, Chippewa, Pottawotomie and Miami tribes, giving peace to those who had taken part against us in the late war, and renewing all the treaties which had been made with them from that of Greenville in 1795, inclusive." Meanwhile, Surveyor General Tiffin had a few days before been informed of the improved situation, and his surveyors had been returned to the territory. "We understand," said the Supporter, "that the surveyor general has also made arrangements to have the geographic position of the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan ascertained this fall, and the northern line of the state of Ohio run, which, when done, but little doubt is entertained, agreeable to the cession made by the Indians at the treaty of Detroit, on the 17th of November, 1807, a million acres of excellent land will fall within the state of Ohio. Should congress have a correct view of this subject at their next session, and direct by law that these lands should be surveyed and erected into a land district, they will immediately sell, and an incalculable benefit would accrue to the weak territory of Michigan and the prosperous state of Ohio, as well as to the United States in general." But prior to this happy solution of the difficulty there had been great dissatisfaction because the soldiers had not been given their bounty lands. Some of the papers had fanned the flame of this discontent, and Tiffin had issued a public official communication upon the subject, addressed to "those patriotic citizens who composed the late United States army." In this document he defended the Government with some spirit : "Observing that attempts are making in some of the public papers to lessen your confidence in the honor and assurances of the government, which pledged itself to give those who enlisted for the war donations of public land, because those lands are not miraculously prepared at the moment of the termination of the war for location ; I have therefore thought it might be proper and satisfactory to you to submit the facts to your consideration, in order that you may know that the government, which has already expressed its sense of your meritorious services, is anxious to comply with this engagement. The facts set forth by Tiffin were, in brief, that he had been instructed by the general land office of the Government to set apart the best bodies of land belonging to the Government for the soldiers-2,000,000 acres in each of the Territories of Michigan, Illinois and Missouri, but the objections of the Indians had made the surveys impossible and the distribution could not be made until that obstacle had been removed. This was the beginning of those operations which finally made possible the settlement of the northwestern part of Ohio. They also brought on a boundary line dispute with Michigan which twenty years later led to hostility between the two states that for a time threatened resort to arms on both sides. FOURTEENTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 4, 1815, to February 27, 1816 This was the last session of the general essembly held in Chillicothe. Peter Hitchcock, of Geauga County, was elected speaker of the Senate, and Matthias Corwin was again made speaker of the House of Representatives. Hitchcock was another of the long line of men from New England who attained prominence in Ohio after migrating to the ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 439 Western Reserve. He was at this time thirty-four years old, a graduate of Yale in 1801, and had been a lawyer at his home town of Cheshire, Connecticut, prior to his removal to Ohio in 1806. He had divided his time in Geauga County between helping to clear the wilderness as a farmer, practicing law, and teaching. He had been a member of the House of Representatives in 1810-11, and had served one term in the Senate before his election as speaker of that body. Immediately following this year he was sent to Congress by his district. Before his term there was finished he was made a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court, which office he held continuously for twenty-eight years. He was noted in the state's history as a generous supporter of benevolent enterprises. The Supreme Court judges appointed by the assembly of 1815-16 were John McLean, Calvin Pease, and Jessup N. Couch. The last named was a new man on the bench of the highest court ; he remained there until his death in 1821. Judge Ethan Allen Brown was still a member of the Supreme Court, which thus numbered four judges instead of three, as theretofore. There had been another enumeration of men qualified to vote in the state, and report was made to the general assembly that they numbered 64,814. The substantial growth of the state was further indicated by the treasurer's report that there were now 11,090,214 acres of taxed land, from which the total annual tax income to the state would have been $259,486.19 if it could all have been collected. Two new counties organized—Lawrence and Jackson. The name of the town of Washington was changed to Piqua by the Legislature, and that of Staunton to Ripley. Traffic by water on Lake Erie had been increasing greatly, and it was now necessary to make provision for caring for it in the port of Cleveland, which was still a very small place—referred to as a "village" in the law of December 28 (1815) incorporating the "Cleveland Pier Company." This was the first company incorporated for a business of this kind in Ohio. It was authorized to "construct a pier or harbour, wharves and warehouses, on the south border of Lake Erie, at the village of Cleveland, for the security and accommodation of ships and vessels, and for the encouragement of commerce." A schedule of charges the company might make for wharfage and pierage was designated, and it was particularly provided that no charge might be made for the accommodation of vessels of the United States conveying troops, arms, ammunition, provisions or baggage. The need of many more notaries public than the four already commissioned in the state made necessary a new provision in that regard. The new law now passed took the appointment of notaries out of the hands of the general assembly and placed it in those of the governor, where it has since remained. Each notary was commissioned for three years, "if so long he behave well." It was at this session that county infirmaries—then known as "poor houses"—were established. Prior to that time, as previously described, there had been no provision for caring for the destitutes except such local relief as township overseers could afford. They did the best they could with the small means at their command, but the law of February 26, 1816, required that the counties themselves, by their commissioners, should provide and maintain proper places for the care of those who could not support themselves. "Wild-cat" banks were a growing menace in 1815, and their operations required legislative attention and control, which was provided by the passage at this session of "an act to prohibit the issuing and circulating of unauthorized bank paper ;" the principal features of which were : "If any person shall, within this state, act as an officer, servant, agent or trustee of any bank or monied association, except a bank incor- 440 - HISTORY OF OHIO porated by law in this state, he shall for every such offense forfeit and pay the sum of one thousand dollars. * * * If any person shall receive an offer, in payment of bond, bill, note or contract of any such bank, knowing the same to be unincorporated, payable to bearer or to order, and endorsed in blank, he shall for such offense forfeit three times the amount of such bond, bill, note or contract." This law did not correct all the evils at which it was aimed, but it was the beginning of legislation upon a vexed subject of great importance in those early days. The evils did not terminate until money was issued exclusively under conditions imposed by the United States Government. The federal constitution, notwithstanding the series of necessary amendments which had been made during the first few years of the government which it established, was still regarded by some of the states as far from perfect, and the Ohio assembly was rather frequently called upon to approve or reject proposals for amendment made by the other legislatures. But it uniformly regarded them with disfavor. At this session of 1815-16 it refused approval of no less than ten. It is interesting to note the kind of "tinkering" with the "Supreme Law of the Land" that was suggested with great seriousness and in high places. Massachusetts had adopted seven of the proposals which were laid before the assembly by Governor Worthington at the request of the governor of that state. Most of them were evolved either from her hatred of the slave-holding states of the South, from her jealousy of Virginia, or from her own unhappy experiences in the War of 1812. They were as .follows: "1. That no part of the slave population of a state shall be counted in determining the number of representatives of that state in the house of representatives of congress. "2. That no new state shall be admitted to the Union without the concurrence of two-thirds of both houses of congress. "3. That congress shall not have the power of laying any embargo on American ships for more than sixty days. "4. That Congress shall not have the power, without concurrence of two-thirds of both houses, to interdict the commercial intercourse between the United States and any foreign nation or the dependencies thereof. "5. That congress shall not declare or make war or engage in hostilities against any foreign nation without the concurrence of two-thirds of both houses, except in defence of territories of the United States when actually invaded. "6. That no person who shall hereafter be naturalized shall be eligible as a member of the senate or house of representatives of the United States, nor capable of holding any civil office under the authority of the United States. "7. That the same person shall not be elected president of the United States a second time, nor shall the president be elected from the same state two terms in succession." The Legislature of North Carolina sent a proposition for an amendment providing that electors of president and vice president should not be chosen at large by the states, but that each state should be divided into districts, one elector to be chosen in each. Georgia's assembly submitted an amendment reducing the term of office of United States senators from six years to four. The Ohio general assembly, in its unanimously adopted resolutions disapproving all these proposed amendments, addressed very polite language to the states proposing, but they were unequivocal and definite. Various reasons were given, but the one paramount reason was that it deemed it unwise to alter the constitution except for great and urgent necessity. On February 10 (1816) the final act necessary to make the new seat of government of the state a legal entity was taken in "an act ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 441 incorporating the borough of Columbus." It prescribed in great detail the necessary processes of organizing the town, of elections, duties and obligations of the mayor and common council, and the other officers. It seemed to the law makers important to require that "no law shall ever be made by this corporation subjecting cattle, sheep or hogs not belonging to the residents of said borough to be abused or taken up and sold for coming within the bounds thereof." It also made sure that no law should ever be made preventing the council from levying a tax on dogs. Notwithstanding the great advance which had been made in the progress of the commonwealth, the pioneer view-point seemed to be just what it had been in 1802-3. A law of February 26 (1816), entitled "an act pointing out the mode of trying criminals," the first enacted in the state upon that subject, contained some features now curious and interesting. Upon request of a prisoner the sheriff was required to call an examining court, consisting of the associate judges, the clerk and the prosecuting attorney of the county, who, after hearing witnesses, were to determine whether the prisoner ought to be discharged, admitted to bail, or remanded to jail if the offense was not bailable. A prisoner indicted for a capital crime might elect to be tried by the common pleas court instead of by the supreme court. If by the latter the prisoner must be tried at the first term after his arrest unless the court found good reasons for postponing the trial to the second ; but if the trial was not held during the second term the prisoner was to be discharged unless attendance of witnesses against him had been prevented by himself. If a prisoner called to trial "stood mute," a jury should be impanelled to determine whether he stood mute "obstinately and on purpose, or by the providence and act of God." If by such providence and act of God he should be remanded to prison and not tried until he should have recovered therefrom. But if the jury found that he stood mute obstinately and on purpose, then he was to be tried the same as if he had spoken and pleaded not guilty. This authorized a complete system of impanelling juries, provided for peremptory challenges on behalf of prisoners, and prescribed all the necessary rules for his protection, most of which are identical with the procedure followed in the twentieth century. Grand jurors received seventy-five cents a day for their services, and petit jurors fifty cents. One of the most important laws enacted at this session had to do with a direct financial interest of the state in the banks. Early in the session Governor Worthington had sent the assembly a special message accompanied by a plan proposed to him by State Auditor Osborn, under which the state would subscribe one-fifth of the capital stock of all incorporated banks. He estimated that the dividends to be received on this stock would, after ten years, amount to at least $120,000—a sum which would enable the state greatly to reduce the tax rate, and thus still further increase Ohio's population by making it a more desirable state in which to live and own property. Governor Worthington did not commit himself upon the wisdom of adopting this scheme, but he submitted it to the good judgment of the general assembly. It is evident from references made to it by the newspapers of the time that it was popular with the people. The general assembly gave the subject a great deal of time and thought, and finally, four days before adjournment of the session, passed the act entitled "an act to incorporate certain banks therein named, and to extend the charters of existing incorporated banks." This law, as passed, was a great modification of Osborn's plan as originally submitted, but it established a system which was so unique as to merit some examination. It retained the main idea of making the state a direct stock holder in the banks, but in effect it compelled the banks, as a condition of their being permitted to exist at all, to issue stock to the state without receiving any money for it. Instead of the 442 - HISTORY OF OHIO state investing in the banks, they were required to invest in the state. It established and incorporated banks in Columbus, Lancaster, Cleveland, St. Clairsville, Mt. Pleasant and West Union, and extended until 1843 the charters of banks already existing at Lebanon, Cincinnati, Urbana, New Lisbon, Chillicothe and Wooster. It required each of them to invest in the state one twenty-fifth of all its shares of capital stock. These shares so invested in the state were to participate in all dividends declared, and were "to be the property of the state as fully and absolutely as if purchased and paid for by the state." It further required that the dividends declared on the state's stock should be reinvested in other shares of the bank's stock until the total number of shares so held by the state should equal one-sixth of the total capital stock of the banks, after which the dividends on that stock should be paid into the treasury. All banks which accepted this arrangement were to have the advantages of the state's favor and were to be "exempted from the payment of any tax to be imposed and collected by any other law of the state." But those banks which did not accept the conditions were not to be so exempted from tax (including, of course, the four per cent tax on dividends imposed in the banking law of the previous year) and they were to be excluded from enjoying the advantages that would inure from the state's direct financial interest in them. Perhaps the most widely discussed subject in Ohio and throughout the whole western country in 1816 was the status of the steamboats. Robert Fulton, inventor and first builder of steam water craft, had died in 1814, but the Ohio Steam Navigating Company, which he and Chancellor Robert R. Livingston had incorporated in New York, still owned the patents which had been granted to him. Meanwhile, other inventors and engineers had made improvements and had likewise received patent papers on them. This created a condition in which any person who wanted to build and operate steamboats was compelled to secure rights from Livingston and either satisfy other patentees or be subjected to litigation brought by them. A great difficulty also arose from the fact that the Legislature of Louisiana had granted to Livingston the exclusive right to navigate the rivers of that state with steamboats, and this excluded all steamboat traffic to New Orleans except by arrangement made with him—which meant, of course, paying well for the privilege. The whole situation was an intolerable handicap upon the business of operating steam-propelled craft on the western rivers, and the general assembly of Ohio took cognizance of it. In the preamble to the resolutions it adopted it recited all of these facts and instructed and requested Ohio's representatives in Congress to exert their influence to obtain "a legal or judicial exposition of the conflicting claims to exclusive use of steam in navigation." Also, the Ohio congressmen were instructed to "institute an inquiry whether the Legislature of Louisiana had not exceeded their constitutional powers by enacting the law referred to in the preamble to these resolutions." This action of the general assembly evoked in the press widespread expression of approval. "Virginia is deeply interested in the free navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi," editorialized the Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette, "and equally so is every citizen in the Union to see Concluded the conflicting claims and prosecutions by every quack who can procure a 'legitimate' authority, under the name of a patent right, to swindle, intermeddle and vex his fellow citizens—thereby retarding public improvements." The first increase in salaries of officers of the state was made by this assembly of 1815-16. The governor, Supreme Court judges and state auditor were thereafter to receive $1,200 each per annum ; the secretary of state $800, the treasurer of state $700, members of the general assembly $3 per day, the clerk of each house $6 per day, and the two door keepers $3 per day each. ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 443 The state treasurer reported that during the year 1815 he had received from taxes $99,518.24, that the balance on hand was $4,954.22, that the aggregate receipts for the three per cent fund for road building had been $54,835.53, and the balance in this fund at the end of the year was $38,816.98. It was known that there would be. another direct tax against the state by the general government, and the assembly authorized the governor to borrow not to exceed $200,000 to meet it. Early in this year of 1816 there broke out, not only in Ohio but in other parts of the country as well, an epidemic of swindling by the circulation of spurious bank notes and counterfeits. The losses totaled many hundreds of thousands of dollars in Ohio alone. The first public mention of the subject appeared on May 17 in a letter addressed to the public by a firm of engravers in Philadelphia. "We were applied to in the course of last November," they wrote, "by a letter dated October 20, 1815, from Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio, to engrave various plates of bank notes for a banking company with the following title : `The Ohio Exporting and Importing Company.' It now appears from very respectable information that no company of merchants or other persons bearing the above title, now, or ever were, publicly known to have existed in or near the town of Cincinnati and that no such company do or ever did exist." The letter warned the people to be cautious in the receipt of bills struck off from these plates. Immediately—within a week—there followed a long statement, also published in all the newspapers, by an investigating committee representing the banks of Cincinnati, containing the statement that the plates engraved by the Philadelphia company had been used to produce bogus notes amounting to $670,000. Also, that "the villains engaged in making and circulating the above described notes are nearly the same gang who composed 'The Indiana Manufacturing Company of New Lexington' by which the public have been swindled of a very large amount." The committee named ten of the swindlers, four of whom were in the jail at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and two at Lewisburg, Virginia. Information was asked from the public concerning them, as the committee hoped "to put a stop to the further depredations of as desperate a gang of villains as ever infested society." Shortly thereafter the public was warned as follows by the Western Spy against receiving a ten dollar note of the Mechanics' Bank of Cincinnati : "Counterfeits are in circulation of this denomination, so well executed that good judges have been imposed upon by them." On May 22 the cashier of another Cincinnati bank made a public statement that "it has been recently discovered that some person or persons are in the habit of altering post notes issued by this bank—say 5 altered to 50, 10 to 100, etc." On June 21 there appeared a story of an incident showing the ease with which the swindling operations were carried on. Referring to another spurious bank note of which a large number had been successfully circulated, it said : "They were printed at Hamilton, Ohio, are on fancy letter paper, and the body of them is a good imitation of the genuine note. The printers say that a man from Kentucky called upon them and desired them to print him notes of the description exhibited by him, and, strange as it may seem, they complied !" A short news item, copied in March of this year by some Ohio papers from the National Intelligencer of Washington, recorded the arrival at the national capital of a deputation of Indians of the Cherokee nation. "These Indians," we are told, "are men of cultivated understanding, were nearly all officers of the Cherokee forces which served under General Jackson during the late war, and have distinguished themselves as well by their bravery as by their attachment to the United States." The Indians were in charge of Col. Return Jonathan Meigs, Sr.—that one line was the only reference to him. A modern newspaper reporter would have made at least a column story of him, for he was 444 - HISTORY OF OHIO the father of a distinguished man who had been Supreme Court judge, governor and United States senator of Ohio and was at that time postmaster general of the United States. The senior Meigs seems to have lost his place in history, but he had had a career very well worth while indeed. He was born in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1734, joined the revolutionary forces immediately after the battle of Lexington, was captured in the assault on Quebec, but was exchanged. In 1777 he raised a regiment in which he was promoted to colonel. In May of that year, at the head of 170 men, he attacked the British troops at Sag Harbor, Long Island, made ninety prisoners and destroyed twelve vessels without the loss of a man, for which brilliant action he was voted a sword by Congress. He commanded a regiment under Mad Anthony Wayne at Stony Point and was honorably mentioned by Washington. He was one of the original settlers of Marietta, and in 1801 was appointed Indian agent of the United States for the Cherokee nation in Georgia, among whom he spent the remainder of his days. He was eighty-two years old when he headed the Cherokee deputation to Washington in 1816, and at the age of eighty-nine was still United States agent with the Cherokees, when he died in 1823. His famous son, who signed his name Return Jonathan Meigs, Junior, practically all his life, survived him by only two years. A pretty, authenticated story is told explaining how the very unusual name of "Return Jonathan" was bestowed. The father of the man who first bore it was much in love with a fair Quakeress who lived near Middletown, but she always put him off with "Nay, Jonathan, I respect thee much, but I cannot marry thee." He persisted in his suit, and, after several rejections, dejectedly mounted his horse to depart for the last time. But she relented then, and called to him, "Return, Jonathan ! Return, Jonathan !" These were the sweetest words he ever heard in his life, and he vowed that if ever he had a son he would name him Return Jonathan Meigs. He kept his vow, and thus Return Jonathan Meigs, Senior, received his name. An event of extraordinary interest in the history of Ohio was the introduction of illuminating gas in Cincinnati in the summer of 1816. A few installations of the new discovery had been made in England just prior to that time and a small part of Pall Mall in London was lighted by gas. In America some cotton mills and light houses in New England had been equipped to use it, and in 1817 a small street lighting installation was made in Baltimore. Not for a good many years thereafter was gas used to any considerable extent in the western country, but the Cincinnati Gazette of July, 1816, contained an account of its use in that town, from which we quote, in part : "Gas Lights.—Mr. William Green, whose active and capacious mind penetrates every useful object, especially in the mechanic arts, has, we are happy to state, brought into successful operation this brilliant discovery. The fact has been witnessed by a large number of the citizens of Cincinnati, and the exhibition is open to all. It only remains now for the community to foster the enterprise, and, by lighting up the principal streets, dispel the gloom and still darkness which pervades them, even on our summer evenings. The expense we have not attempted to estimate ; we believe it would not be considerable, as we well know that in England, where gas lights are used to light streets and shops and manufactories, they are considered to be the cheapest of lights, not only because the light is more abundant and lively than that of candles and lamps, but because it absolutely costs less. * * * We shall at present content ourselves with inviting the ladies and gentlemen of Cincinnati to the steam flour mill to view this gratifying sight, confident that it will both enlighten and convince." On October 10 (1816) the Zanesville Express contained an announcement that "a convention of the clergy and lay delegates of the Protestant Episcopal Church from the states and parts of states west of the ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 445 Alleghany Mountains will be held in the Parish of St. John's Church at Worthington on Monday, October 21, and succeeding days, for the purpose of erecting and constituting a regular diocese in the Western Country and of selecting a bishop thereof." This was an historic event of the first importance, for, although the convention did not at its first meeting accomplish its whole program, it inaugurated the movement which shortly afterwards resulted in the establishment of the Diocese of Ohio, the first in the West. Less than two years later, at the same place, Philander Chase was elected first bishop of Ohio. Bishop Chase was one of the outstanding figures in the religious history of the state. He had just come to The West from New England, had organized several parishes, and had inaugurated the firm establishment of the Episcopal Church in the state. He took charge of the academy at Worthington, and was very active and successful amid the most primitive surroundings. Some years later he made a trip to England to secure funds for a great enterprise which he had in mind—the founding of an Episcopal college and theological seminary—and was so successful in his mission that Kenyon College, at Gambier, ever since that early time recognized as one of the best Episcopal institutions of learning in the country, was "established by him. Bishop Chase later resigned his charge, transferred his activities further west, became Bishop of Illinois, and founded another college in that state. A biographer says of him : "He was a man of indomitable perseverance and great strength of will, and was the most energetic and successful pioneer of the Episcopal Church in the 'west.' " The newspapers contained items upon many other subjects of interest not only to the people of 1816 but also to students of history of those times : The price of butter was 12 1/2 cents per pound ; corn and oats, 37 1/2 cents per bushel ; flour, best superfine, $4.50 per barrel ; gin, $1 per gallon ; hay, $10 per ton ; loaf sugar, 40 cents per pound ; New Orleans sugar, 25 cents per pound ; wheat, 62 1/2 cents per bushel ; whisky, 54 1/4 cents per gallon.—The District Court of Louisiana decided the steamboat case against Livingston, so that steam navigation was free on the Mississippi, but he appealed the case to a higher court.—Report of the Ohio Bible Society that 1,816 bibles and sixty-eight testaments had been distributed.—A column description of the wonders om Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.—A grand lottery to build the monument to Washington at Baltimore ; great number of tickets sold in Ohio.—A professional company of comedians played "Pizzaro," "A Point of Honor," "High Life Below Stairs," and other popular dramas of the day, in Cincinnati ; but the performances were marred by "gangs of ragamuffins" who congregated in front and pelted the theater building with stones.—A large number of wolves and bears played havoc with swine and sheep about Columbus ; "one man shot three bears off the same tree."—An embryo marine department in a Cincinnati paper recorded all arrivals and departures of steamboats.—The boiler of the steamboat Washington exploded on June 5, caused by defect in the safety-valve; two killed instantly, four more survived but a few hours, and eleven badly wounded.—The militia of Ohio now consisted of 37,373 infantry, 176 artillery, 1,148 dragoons and 2,256 riflemen ; total, 40,943.—Editorial plea for half a dozen porters in Cincinnati, "men to wait on the streets, ready at all times to carry or wheel all sorts of light articles from place to place ;" suggestion that they be procured from the negro population, "which has latterly begun to over-run us."—Report of invention of many perpetual motion machines, and learned articles showing that friction and the laws of nature made it impossible to accomplish the result.—News of incorporations in Virginia of companies to bridge the Ohio at Wheeling and Charleston. An important advance made in the commerce of the state was the formation of The Cincinnati Insurance Company—probably the first enterprise of its kind in the state. It advertised that it would not only 446 - HISTORY OF OHIO insure property against fire, but would also insure safe transportation of merchandise to and from New Orleans. Farmers could consign their products to the company, receive ready money at once for part of the value of their consignment, and have a full settlement after the report of sales was made the company's agents at New Orleans. By this means, it was emphasized, the producers need no longer take their goods to New Orleans themselves, and they could, besides, secure better prices because the company's agents could sell to much better advantage than could strangers in New Orleans. The chief interest in the political campaign centered in the Cincinnati district, where Gen. William Henry Harrison was a candidate for Congress against five competitors. As usual at such times, he had to endure violent personal attacks of political enemies, notwithstanding his great services and exalted reputation in the state and the country, but he was victorious, receiving more votes than all his opponents combined. The gubernatorial election attracted no attention whatever in the papers, as it was conceded that Governor Worthington would be reelected. The candidates against him were Col. James Dunlap and Supreme Judge Ethan Allen Brown. The people of Ohio were greatly interested in their new seat of government, and the papers gave them what information they had. On October 10, 1816, the Cincinnati Gazette published a letter from Columbus. "Last week, being the time fixed by law for that purpose, several of the public offices were moved to this town. The public buildings are nearly all completed. A sufficient number of apartments for the accommodation of the different officers are already finished, and the remainder, together with the state house, will be entirely completed before the first Monday in December next." It noted that "the town and streets wear the stamp and aspect of rapid and extensive improvement a substantial bridge across the Sciota River, upwards of five hundred feet long, into Franklinton, is nearly completed." There were already seven mercantile stores in town, and three more shortly expected to be opened, besides two printing offices, a bank, five practicing attorneys and three physicians. "Four years ago a forest waved its umbrageous foliage on the ground where the town now stands." It will be remembered that all the building operations for the state had been in charge of Mr. William Ludlow, appointed in 1812 by the general assembly for that purpose. This "director of Columbus," as he was officially designated, now became the object of ridicule and derision in some of the papers because of an inscription which he had composed and caused to be cut into the stone over the east door of the new State House : "General good the object of legislation, perfected by a knowledge of Man's wants, and Nature's abounding means applied by establishing principles, opposed to Monopoly. Ludlow." One editor confessed himself unable to "decypher" the meaning of these words. "That specimen has already been given to the world," he wrote, "and William Ludlow has perpetuated at once his name and talents by holding up to the gazing wonderment of posterity the foregoing motto of our Legislative Hall." And he suggested that unless some one could "show the conformity of this inscription either with the general rules of composition or the established rules of common sense," the people of Ohio should insist that it be erased. Over the west door of the State House there was built into the wall a neatly dressed stone slab bearing the following inscription : "Equality of right is nature's plan, And following nature is the march of man Based on its rock of right your empire lies, ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 447 On walls of wisdom let the fabric rise. Preserve your principles, their force unfold, Let nations prove them, and let kings behold. Equality your first firm grounded stand, Then free elections, then your union band ; This holy triad should forever shine, The great compendium of all rights divine. Creed of all schools, whence youths by millions draw Their theme of right, their decalogue of law Till man shall wonder (in their schools inured) How wars are made, how tyrants were endured. "Barlow." The author, Barlow, is, of course, Joel Barlow, the poet of American Revolutionary fame. Almost the last act of the general assembly at Chillicothe had been the adoption of a resolution instructing the doorkeeper to place all the furnishings and properties of the two houses in the hands of the secretary of state, to be sold at public auction. The fifteenth session was held at Columbus in far finer surroundings than had previously been known to the solons of Ohio. The new building containing the halls for the two houses was regarded as the last word in magnificence of construction and elegance of equipment. FIFTEENTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION December 2, 1816, to January 28, 1817 Abraham Shepherd, of Adams County, who in 1806-1807 had been speaker of the House of Representatives, was now elected speaker of the Senate ; and Thomas Kirker, also of Adams County, who had been at the head of the Senate in that same session of ten years before, was now speaker of the House. Shepherd had been very active in politics for many years. He was a perfect type of the politician of his day, and practically controlled official doings in Adams County. The year following the present session Brown County was organized, and that part of Adams in which Shepherd lived became a part of the new county. But he continued to hold various local offices until 1826, when he was again elected speaker of the Senate. He was a successful farmer and miller, but finally met with financial reverses, moved to Illinois, and died there in 1847. The name of Abraham Shepherd was one of the most prominent in Southern Ohio for more than thirty years. Governor Worthington, in his annual message, dealt with many subjects which had to do with the educational and material development of the state, and he informed the general assembly that under the authority given him at the preceding session he had borrowed $104,000 to meet the direct taxes of the United States upon Ohio. The general essembly paid this loan at once, and passed an act again authorizing a loan for the same purpose during the ensuing year in case the general government should impose a similar tax. Ohio was always ready to meet its obligations to the Federal Government with the greatest promptness, and was recognized at Washington as far more dependable in that regard than many of the older states. The official canvass of the result of the late election, made in joint session of the two houses, showed that Worthington had been reelected with a total of 22,931 votes cast for him. Col. James Dunlap had received 6,295, and Judge Ethan Allen Brown, 1,607. Thus Worthington's majority over all was 15,090—a handsome endorsement of his first administration. The new list of congressmen from Ohio, as proclaimed by the canvass of the governor and secretary of state, consisted of Gen. William Henry Harrison, John Campbell, Levi Barber, Samuel Herrick, Phile- 448 - HISTORY OF OHIO mon Beecher and Peter Hitchcock. All of these men were highly creditable to the state. Brief sketches of some of them have appeared on previous pages. Campbell had held only local offices prior to this time, but he continued a congressman for ten years after his election, and was thereafter United States judge for the district of Ohio until his death in 1833. Barber had been aide to Governor Meigs during the War of 1812, was a member of Congress for two terms, and later receiver of the United States land office at Marietta. Herrick also served two terms as congressman, was a presidential elector of Jackson and Calhoun in 1828, and United States district attorney for Ohio for many years. Secretary of State Jeremiah McLene was reappointed by the assembly and Hiram Mirach Curry of Champaign County, who had frequently been a member of the Legislature, was made state treasurer. Curry held the office until 1820, when he resigned under circumstances which left his name under a cloud. He was accused of embezzlement of the state's funds, and after an investigation the governor was instructed to proceed against his bondsmen and make collection. This was the first instance in the state's history in which corruption of any official was charged. Judge Ethan Allen Brown was again elected to the supreme bench, but resigned two years later to become governor of the state. Darke and Lawrence counties were established at this session. As there were other towns in the state named Clinton, the one in Fairfield County was changed to Rushville ; and the name of St. Clairsville in Adams County was for the same reason changed to Decatur, in honor of the naval hero. These places continue under those names to the present day, and are not much more populous than they were when rechristened more than a hundred years ago. Although the amount of business transacted by the general assembly of 1816-17 was small as compared with that of the year before, nevertheless it set in motion activities which very greatly accelerated the commerce of the state, and made life in the country much more pleasant and convenient. New toll roads, or turnpikes, were authorized in surprising number, controlling hundreds of miles of newly improved highways. These turnpikes had become a very great blessing to those who had occasion to travel over them. Many of the ordinary roads were so bad that they were often impassable in bad weather. Even horse-back riding over them was impossible at such times, and post riders, who used only the best of horses in carrying the mails, were sometimes unable to go through. Consequently the establishment of toll roads, which were kept in as good condition as possible at that day, was greatly encouraged, and they were the source of excellent profits to the companies which managed them. The laws incorporating these companies were uniform in their provisions. They required that no tolls should be collected from persons going to and returning from public worship on the Sabbath day, and also exempted troops of the state, the United States, and mail carriers from paying toll for traveling upon them. Persons who traveled along the sides of the roads were regarded as defrauding the turnpike companies, and were subject to a forfeiture of five dollars, payable to the companies owning the roads. Travelers on the roads were required to keep to the right and not interfere with the free passage of those they met ; the fine for violation of this rule was twenty dollars "for the use of the person aggrieved." The charges for toll are interesting at this day, so long after all tolls were abolished in Ohio. They were based on a travel of ten miles—all charges named in the laws were for the use of roads for that distance, with additions or deductions proportionate to distances more or less than the ten mile base: "For every four-wheeled vehicle drawn by two horses or oxen, 25 cents ; for every horse or ox in addition, 6 1/4 cents ; for every two- ANNALS OF OHIO ADMINISTRATIONS - 449 wheeled carriage drawn by two horses or oxen, 18 3/4. cents ; for every sled or sleigh drawn by two horses or oxen, 12 1/2 cents ; for every horse and rider, 6 1/4. cents ; for every horse, mule or ass led or driven, six months old or upward, 3 cents ; for every head of neat cattle six months old or upward, 2 cents ; for every score of sheep or hogs, 12 1/2 cents ; for every pleasure carriage drawn by two horses, 37 1/2 cents ; for every horse in addition, 12 1/2, cents ; for every two-wheeled pleasure carriage drawn by one horse, 18 3/4 cents." It was especially provided that the state might regulate these prices after the year 1843. The state authorities very fully appreciated the great importance of providing public roads also—as they had done since the beginning—and during this session more than one hundred additional such new roads were authorized, $60,000 being appropriated out of the United States three per cent fund for their cost. Permission was granted the Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company to construct a bridge over the Ohio. A proviso was made that the company should not use any of its funds as a banking company. This condition was now placed upon almost all incorporated companies—even the turnpike companies—the manifest reason being a determination on the part of the assembly to permit no evasions of the banking law passed at the previous session. Another attempt was made to establish by law an efficient system of assuring that practicing physicians would be competent. It formed district medical boards of censors, who should have a seal to authenticate certificates of licenses to practice, and were to lay down rules of examinations of applicants for such licenses. These examinations should not only include the answering of questions but also the writing of these upon any medical subject designated by the boards of censors. A rather curious incident at this session made plain the caution of Ohio law makers in taking any part in affairs which they thought belonged exclusively to the general government. The Legislature of Louisiana had adopted resolutions looking to the obtaining of "a steam frigate to be stationed at the mouth of the Mississippi River for the defense of said river," and had invited the cooperation of the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and the territories of Mississippi, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, for that purpose. The committee of the Ohio assembly submitted a long report upon this subject, but they refused to recommend that Ohio comply with the request, and resolutions were accordingly adopted declining to do so. The reason was that "this committee are not in possession of sufficient knowledge of the mouth of the Mississippi River, or of the efficiency of steam frigates, to judge of the propriety of adopting such mode of defense, but this general assembly feel the most entire confidence in the wisdom and vigilance of the general government to ascertain that mode of defense best suited to the peculiar situation of that part of our coast." The penitentiary, not yet eighteen months old when the general assembly of 1816-17 convened, was the subject of much anxious consideration. It was already found to be too small to take care of the convict population and there were difficulties in keeping the prisoners at hard labor because there was not enough for them to do. A committee of the assembly made a survey of the situation and submitted a comprehensive report. They recommended that the state prison he removed to Zanesville, to a ten-acre site long before set apart there for the use of the state if it should ever he needed. The reasons for this proposal were: (1) that Columbus did not provide a sufficient market for the prison-made goods and lacked facilities for shipping them ; (2) that no "stone coal," a new fuel then, was to be had there, and that this was necessary to successful manufacture where steam was used ; (3) that the penitentiary site was too small for necessary expansion. But the recommendation to move was not accepted by the assembly. Instead,