100 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Bushey and James H. Cook together with such persons as they may associate with them be authorized and empowered to organize a fire company. Under date of March 6, 1848, the bill of Sturges, Grimes & Co. for $21.95 for one barrel of oil and forty-two pounds of tallow was allowed and they were given certifieatete of the same to apply on the payment of their Corporation taxes. KIRKWOOD, MAYOR. At the election March 27, 1848, Samuel J. Kirkwood had two hundred and forty-four vote; for mayor, P. P. Hull two hundred and three, Levi Zimmerman defeated James E. Cox for recorder by nine votes. FENCING PUBLIC SQUARE. The proposition to fence the public square was voted upon at the election, two hundred and eighty-three votes were cast against fencing it and one hundred and fifty-two for the fence, three hundred and ninety votes were cat for railroad tax and forty-seven for no railroad tax. P. P. Hull was appointed town recorder April 17, 1848, Mr. Zimmerman having resigned. In 1849 Mr. Hull was elected mayor receiving two hundred and twenty-seven votes to two hundred arid nine for N. M. McMullen, Alexander McIlvaine was elected recorded by majority of sixteen. DOG LIST. At the meeting May 10, 1849, the marshal was instructed to take a list of all dogs and the owners thereof in the town of Mansfield and return the same to council. At the meeting of July 2, 1849, a resolution was adopted that the Board of Health be requested to procure lime and have it distributed in such manner as they may deem proper for the health of the town. At the next meeting J. Rickets was allowed $26.60 for money expended for lime. At the same meeting an ordinance was passed making it an offense punishable by fine to open any of the public cisterns or to take any water out unless hr the direction of the trustees or the fire company. TO DIG A WELL. In the record for October 1, 1849, P. P. Myers was given the privilege of digging a well on the sidewalk in front of the stable on West Diamond street belonging to the North American at his own expense providing he fixes up the sidewalk and gutter. RAILROAD SUBSCRIPTION The proposition to subscribe $ 30,000 to the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad company voted upon at the courthouse. February 16, 1850, was nearly unanimous, two hundred and ten votes being in favor of it and only one against. MARKET DAYS. The market laws were repealed September 23, 1850. Section 1 providing that “the market days for the town shall be Tuesday, Thursday and HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 101 Saturday of each week and market hours from one hour and twenty minutes before sunrise until nine o'clock a. m. during which time no article of produce or meats shall be old within the limits of said corporation by retail other than at the market house and any person violating the provisions of this section by purchasing or selling any such articles during time at any other places shall be liable on conviction thereof to a penalty not exceeding $10 In the council proceedings for December 2, 1850, it is recorded that ''Mr. Wise who was a committee to have an alley filled up in Frogtown reported the job finished." REPAIRING COURTHOUSE. At the extra session two days later an ordinance was passed by which the town of Mansfield released unto the county the use and occupation of much of the public square in said town as the courthouse on, said square now occupies or mar hereafter occupy with the improvement thereto, provided the county of Richland will within a reasonable time repair the courthouse by putting the courtroom on the second story thereof and the county offices on the first floor and raise and construct, a new roof, build porticos on the north and south sides. RENTED TO CHURCH. In the council proceedings May 5, 1851, a. motion carried that the Methodist E. Church shall have the use of the Town House for the sure of $1 per month for the Sabbath Day alone, finding their own wood and light and keeping the House in good order.'' CISTERNS OFF HIS HANDS. The following appears in the record of council for June 2, 1851: “Mr Shull being present requested the council to take two cisterns off his hands which he claimed he had made according to the agreement." A. McIlvaine and J. M. Snider were appointed to examine the cisterns and report. At the next meeting they reported favorable to the acceptance of the cisterns. General William McLaughlin had presented a. petition to council asking for an appropriation of $300 to be expended on West Diamond street from the railroad north to the mill race. Under date of June 4, 1851, appears the following: "The committee who was appointed by his honor the mayor to examine the street or public highway from where the Rail Rode crosses the same north of the warehouse of Messrs. Hedges & Weldon to the mill race north of the foundry arid recommend that the cum of $200 be donated." At this meeting Judge Charles Sherman was present and made a few remarks on the subject of selling the pavement belonging to the railroad company on the north end of West Diamond street and a lot owned by himself on the same street. DIDN'T WANT TO PAY. At the meeting February 2, 1852, a communication was read from Marshal M. H. Gilkison as follows: "Having been informed by the mayor 102 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY that those persons having purchased the market stall; intend trying to be relieved from the payment of said stalls on account of the house having been burnt, I would here say that the time had fully expired for which they rented said stall some .sixteen days before the burning, of the house and it was distinctly understood on the day of the vale that the stalls was yelling during market hours and that they had no legal right to the house at any other time and further I proclaimed to them all at such a time the market would close and it was by me closed at that time." The council later decided to make no reduction. No time was lost in taking steps toward rebuilding for at the same meeting, on motion of J. Rickets a committee of three was appointed to get a suitable place to erect a market house and report at the next meeting. SHUTTERS FOR ENGINE HOUSE. On the same date a committee was appointed to get shutters made for the "lore winders" on the engine house and $60 was appropriated for the use of the fire company. MAYOR ELECTED ANNUALLY. In those days, they elected mayor, recorder and trustees annually. In 1852 Perkins Bigelow defeated R. C. Smith for mayor by one hundred and fifty-two vote, Alex McIlvaine defeated E. McFall for recorder by one hundred and thirty-one votes. H. D. Shreffier, Adam J. Endly, H. B. Green, Abner Wright and Eckels McCoy were elected trustees. At the council meeting April 13, 1852, Mayor. Bigelow win authorized "to lease or grant the Inge of the Town Hall it such prices and for such purposes as he may determine, when unoccupied by the Town Council or Fire Company, with the advice and consent of the recorder and trustees.” THEIR OWN WOOD AND LIGHT. At this meeting on motion of Abner Wright the members of the Second Methodist Episcopal church were given the use of the Town Hall on Sabbath days only for the ensuing year free of charge, " providing they find their me wood and light.'' TEMPER, CE PETITION. At the council meeting December 6, 1852, a petition was presented signed by some three hundred citizens praying council to pass an ordinance prohibiting the sale of intoxicating drinks. This was referred to a committee "to report at some future meeting." At the meeting of January 1803, James Purdy was allowed $9.50 "for Rent of Barn for use of engine in the year 1850." In the old records of council are found numerous indentures of apprenticeship, the person taking; the apprentice agreeing among other things to teach him to read and write and the first four rule, of Arithmetic and at the expiration of the time of service to furnish him with a new Bible and "freedom suit.'' HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 103 GRANTED SHERMAN'S REQUEST. In the record of December 5, 1853,. the committee appointed to investigate the petition of John Sherman reported favorable to granting the request. The petition of John Sherman, the owner of certain lots in the addition had been filed together with the written consent of John Wood and the trustees of the Mansfield Female Collegiate Institution and the mayor and council being satisfied that there is goad cause for the, vacation of said alley * * * declare the alley running cast and west between lots No. 7, 8 and 9 and lots 10), 11 and 12 in said addition and also one alley lying east of said lots between the same and the property of the institution are hereby vacated." FAMOUS FIRE COMPANY (Communicated) Two early Mansfield boys, knowing eachother over sixty years ago, met in Central Park the other day. As usual the old-time greeting was extended. Seating themselves under the broad foliage of a beautiful elm they began to talk. The more talk the more reminiscences of old times were revived, how things looked then compared with the present. . The cobwebs of memory seemed to be brushed aside and they stood once more on the playing ground of their Youth. There stood the old court and market house. The old barnyard of a square seemed to smell as savory as of old. The team horses hitched to the rear of the wagons seemed to be nibbling their feed as leisurely as of yore fast. but not least. Ihere also was the irrepressible boy in all his glory deeply interested in his favorite games of "Black Man," "Prisoner's, Base," "Town Ball," marbles, anty-ball over the market house, etc., etc. Those boys are scattered to the four winds—dead and missing are the vast majority, few living remaining with us. The three oldest living born in Mansfield are Mathias Day, William Morgan Roop and Manuel May, the latter being the youngest. is entitled to the first premium as the infant among the trio. What changes time brings about! The boys of the present have long since hunted up new playing grounds. Progress annd culture has changed the old square into of beauty and job forever.'' Its beautiful shade trees, comfortable seats, sparkling fountain, historic monuments, beautiful surroundings all embellished with plants and flowers, bid welcome to thousands of visitors and citizens, who leave with pleasure and good impressions of the taste, thrift and enterprise of the newer Mansfield, Hoping the above digression will be excused, we wish to speak of what occurred July 4, 1852. Just fifty-six year's ago. On than day a number of our citizens met and organized Torrent Fire Company No. 2, it being the second volunteer fire company established in Mansfield, Old Deluge No. 1 having been organized some year's previously, and both the nucleus of our present and splendid fire department. Our purpose is to speak only of the early members of Torrent No. 2. The early records of the company being lost or misplaced, we, are obliged to rely on our memories for the few early members found in the list below. Under 104 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY such circumstances many names will not appear, because they have been forgotten in the lapse of time, much to our regret and sorrow. Here are the names obtained at this writing, those deceased being designated by * : * Jud E. Barbour, *Amos Townsend, H. H. Smith, William Morgan Roop. * Ephraim McFall, M. L. Miller, * Gaylord McFall, *John Bitter, *John L. Wiler. * Thomas H. Ford, * George W. Waring, "Samuel J. Kirkwood, * W. I. Strong, * William Ritter, * P. P. Myers, * Jerry Myers, * Joseph Holrnes, * J. S. Crall, *John Krause, *J. B. Netscher, * T. B. Todd, * C. C. Townley, * Eckels McCoy, S. B. Sturges, * G. F. Carpenter, * John Y. Glessner, Sr.. * James Dickson. * Perkins Bigelow, * Joseph Richart, Jacob Cristofel, James P. McElroy. * Warner Young, * J.H. Cook, * Peter Steinbacker, * C. A. Bowland, * B. F. Blymyer, *John Cary. Blymyer, * Jacob Reisinger, *Edward Wilkinson, Sr.. * Jerry Bollman. * Foster Coutes, * George W. Irwin. * S. L. Nash, * B. Burns., * Alexander R. Patterson, * Edward Sturges, Sr. * Dr. J. N. Mowry', * B. S. Runyan, * Adam Endley, * Isaac Gass. The death rate since fifty-six years ago seems appalling, only three living out of the fifty above recalled. "Tis a sad commentary on the uncertainty of life. With sad hearts and sympathetic tears we recall the departed, awaiting our turn to soon join them, fully believing the inspired poet as he sang: 'Tis the wink of a an eye, 'tis the draft of a breath, From the blossom of health to the palenss of death, From the gilded salon to the bier and the shroud; Oh! Why should the spirit of mortal be proud?" TORRET NO. 2. EARLY RAILROADS. The Mansfield Lyceum during the year 1899 gave one evening a month to the consideration of historical topic. The meeting held February 2, being local history night, a paper was presented by A. J. Baughman on the history of the first railroads in Ohio, particularly Mansfield's first road. Mr. Baughman referred in his preface to the condition of the country prior to the construction of the canals, and stated as the country became more thickly populated and its resources better developed and as its products increased cheaper means of transportation were studied and considered. The question of canals was then discussed and considered, and as these waterways had been constructed and successfully operated in the older countries, it was concluded to be desirable to have canals in Ohio, and the state under took the construction of them. Ground was first broken for the Ohio and Erie canal at Newark July 4, 1825, with imposing ceremony, De Witt Clinton, then governor of the state of New York, throwing the first shovelful of dirt. The first canal boat passed through Massillon in August, 1828, and the cannon boomed and the people rejoiced over the event. Canals, however efficacious in their day! were soon supplanted by railroads, thereby keeping stroke with American enterprise and progress. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 107 The first railroad in Ohio, according to the historian Atwater, was finished in 1835 and extended from Toledo westward into Michigan a distance of thirty miles. The late Hon. E. D. Mansfield, whose historical statements have generally been accepted a correct, claimed that first actual piece of railroad laid in Ohio was. on the Cincinnati & Sandusky, better known in history as the Mad river railroad. But, as the charter of the Mad River road was not granted until March 11, 1836, and its history shows that work was not commenced on its roadbed until 1837, and it is a fact that the Toledo road was in operation in 1836, we must accept Atwater's statement in the matter, and as his history of Ohio was published in 1838, and the railroads were then few and far between. At water. no doubt, knew whereof he wrote. Mansfield's first railroad was the Mansfield & Sandusky City railroad. and extended from this city to Sandusky, a distance of fifty-four miles. This road was a consolidation or conglomeration of several roads, as follows: Monroeville & Sandusky City, chartered March 9, 1835; the Mansfield & New Haven, chartered March 12, 1836; the Huron & Oxford, chartered February 27, 1846. The Monroeville & Sandusky City road at first had wood rails and the cars were drawn by horses. The Columbus & Lake Erie railroad was chartered March 12, 1845, and its construction was commenced a few years Inter, but consolidated with the Manfield & Sandusky City, and the new corporation was entitled and known as the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark railroad, and the line was extended to Newark, sixty-two miles south of Mansfield, making the total line one hundred and sixteen miles in length. The first train on the Mansfield & Sandusky City road carrying passengers, was run on the 16th day of May, 1846, and brought a party of excursionists from Plymouth and Shelby to attend a war meeting in Mansfield. when General McLaughlin was recruiting a company of volunteers to serve in the war with Mexico, in which the United States was then engaged. The track was then "barely passable'' (as the Swiss guide told the great Napoleon of the pass in the Alps), and was laid only to the north edge of the town not far from where the waterworks pumping station now stands. Our late esteemed fellow citizen, J. H. Cook, was the conductor of the train, and among other incidents of the occasion, often related how the crowd which had gather to see the cars come in, scattered and scampered when the engineer blew the engine whistle. But the first passenger train that ran into Mansfield was on the 19th of June, 1846. The extension to Newark was completed in 1850, but no definite date can be ascertained when regular trains ran through on schedule time. In conclusion, Mr. Baughman spoke of the contrat between file railroads and their equipments of today with those of the earlier period, and, in illustration, stated an incident that occurred north of Shelby in the long ago, as narrated by the late. John Hoover, for many years a conductor on the Mansfield-Sandusky road. Something had gone wrong with the engine, and when they got it in running order again night was upon them and they 108 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY sought lodgings for the night at a farm house near by. A passenger suggested that if they had a big lantern a man might carry it ahead and the train follow him to Shelby. The idea was looked upon as absurd and the man who suggested it viewed with pity, if not with contempt for whoever heard of a train of cars running after might! Mr. Baughman's paper called forth reminiscent remakrs from Miss Sturges, General Brinkerhoff, Captain A. H. Condict, S. C. Parker, Samuel Bell and others. MANSFIELD'S INDUSTRIES The manufacturing industries of Mansfield were so well presented in a special article in the Mansfield News during the week of the Feast of Ceres, held in this city in the fall of 1907, that it is reproduced here: It is not untimely, as Mansfield approaches its centennial anniversary, to stand for a brief spell on the proud eminence of the city's present prosperity and cast a backward glance over the hundred years in which it has grown from a wilderness settlement into a city which is fast approaching the 25,000 mark in population. Mansfield does not come under the classification of "boom'' cities, the kind which grow up in a day, stand for a short time in the limelight and then pass quietly from view. This is not a city hastily built to meet temporary requirements, but is the result of gradual development which was made necessary in meeting the increasing needs of its people. As the slow-growing oak sinks its roots deeply and clings so tenaciously to mother earth as to withstand the buffetings of the severest storm, so Mansfield has grown, and the growth to its present stature has required an hundred years. But, looking now upon the result of this hundred tears of growth, every resident of the city and every resident of the county well feel proud of the achievement. The development of the city has not been one-sided-no one part of the city structure has been strengthened at the expense of some of the other part, but as he who would bcome a perfect athlete trains each muscle in order that no vulnerable point can be found, so has the city steadily grown in strength and numbers until now it stands firm and well rounded, a credit to its founders and its present residents. Contemplate for a moment if you will Mansfield as yon now see it, with its busy factories, fine mercantile establishments , beautiful parks, elegant residences, handsome churches, commodious schoolhouses, its paved streets. street car lines, all of its modern improvements and conveniences; then imagine. if you can, the desolate wilderness from which all of this has grown in a short five score of years. Where stands a fine business block was erected the first unpretentious cabin which served as the home of one of the earliest settlers, and during the seven years that followed the total building done amounted to only two houses and two block houses, the latter being required about that time for protection against: the attacks of hostile Indians. many of whom skulked through the woods about the little settlement.. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 109 For a time the rough hewn logs sufficed in the construction of places of abode, but it was not long, until the sprit of progress which impregnated those sturdy people of the early days made itself felt and resulted in the erection of a sawmill, primitive, it is true—propelled, in fact. by three yoke of oxen, but indicative, nevertheless. of a confidence that the settlement was to be a permanent one. Then, as the needs of the settlers increased and the ability came to meet these needs, there followed the erection of the first grist mill, the grinding theretofore having been done at Fredericktown or Mount Vernon which, in view of the fact that horses and oxen furnished the only means of transportation was about a two days' trip. And after a while conic the first store, the first tailor, the first shoemaker and the first tinner, each fitting into his respective niche in the growing community and each arriving at the psychological time when his services were required. So the little settlement grew and there came the hotelkeeper, preacher, the lawyer and the doctor. And among the early manufacturing enterprises there was the carding mill, which carded the wool that went into the clothing of the settlers, the tannery, the pottery and the cooperage shop. Toiling on through the years Mansfield finally in 1828, reached a sufficient degree of importance to he incorporated as a village, but, although all steps were forward, it was not until 1846, when the first railroad train come into the city, that the town began to take on that marked activity which has brought it to the position which it now occupies. And now after this hasty glance at the receding years, a picture of the city in its straddling clothes, let us take a look at least at one feature of the present-day city—Mansfield as a manufacturing canter. Probably few people are aware of thee fact that Mansfield is located in the very center of the manufacturing belt of America it being shown by the official report of the factory department of the United States Census Bureau that the actual center of manufacturing in the United States, based on the value of output, is just seventeen miles southeast of this city. At the present time Mansfield has sixty-one manufacturing industries, the largest of these being the Ohio Brass Company, with six hundred and twelve employees. This concern is regarded as one of the best of the kind in the world, and is looked upon as ranking high in its class in point of general construction, convenience of operation, economy of conduct and also as to the appointments for the employees in the way of sanitary conveniences. Employed in the factories of Mansfield at the present tine are 4,492 persons, 3,110 men and 1,382 women, and the amount paid annually in wages to those employees is computed at $2,241,820, while the output of the factories for the year ended July 1 will reach nearly $9,000,000. The investment of capital in the manufacturing plants of the city and their equipment is estimated at $4,200,000. The number of factory employees as above given is exclusive of the plants of the Seneca Chain company, the Globe Steel company and the Safety Cylinder Valve company, which will add at least another three 110 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY hundred male employes to the wage-earning population of the city within the next four months. A marked diversification of manufactures has been advantageous to Mansfield in many ways and with the satisfactory labor condition the wage-earning population of the city is found to be uniformly happy and contented. It is a fact worthy of note that no less than sixty per cent, of the skilled mechanics of the city own their own homes, while the percentage of other wage earners owning their homes iss vastly larger than is to be found in many other cities of the state. The manufacturing interests of Mansfield have been very largely built up by home people and nearly all the factories are practically owned by Mansfield citizens, there being only one case in which the holdings of the company are entirely foreign to our people and only three in which the majority of the stock is held by non-residents. Prominent among the industries of the city and giving some idea of the diversified nature of their output, may be mentioned the two manufacturers of agricultural instruments, the stove foundries, the sanitary appliance plants, the three brass factories, two manufacturers of electrical equipment. on chemical manufacturing plant, a suspender factory, a number of cigar factories, seven wood working establishments, and a great many smaller iron-working establishments. Prominent among the newer factories of the city is the growing plant of Browning Bros., which is now operating entirely in the rnanufaeture of railroad wreckers and cranes. And too, it may he said that the local plant of the National Biscuit company is regarded a one of the prominent ones of the concern and that it is known abroad as being a producer of the best oyster cracker made. Taste of the water with which the people of Mansfield are supplied and then, if you will, consult the mortality statistics of the city, take into consideration the extremely low death rate, give a thought to the general health conditions and the beauty of the surroundings, and you cannot help realizing that when our forefathers chose this as the site for a future city they builded better than they knew. In the growth of Mansfield as a manufacturing city there has been one factor that stands out with more than ordinary prominence as an attraction to industries of every sort, this being the railroads, for without facilities for transporting their output the factories would have no way reaching other than it strictly local market, while as it now is the product of these factories finds buyers in every part of the world. From the standpoint of its railroad facilities Mansfield is one of the mat advantageous points for manufacturing in the United States. It is located on the main lines of the three greatest railroads of the country—the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore & Ohio, and the Erie—and in this Mansfield stands out prominently as being the only city between New York and Chicago transversed by these great arteries of interstate commerce. The iron-working industries of Mansfield draw their supply of iron HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 111 ore from seven different sources at the equal tariff of one dollar this one thing tanking the situation of the city more advantageous than any one of the sixteen other Ohio cities of about the smile population. At the same time Mansfield has two direct lines of transportation to the rivers amd the great lakes, giving is unexcelled fuel advantages, in addition to which the natural gas supply of Mansfield is without doubt superior to that of any other Ohio city, with a possible single exception. The progressiveness of the people of Mansfield and their adaptability to modern conveniences could scarcely be shown in a better way than by a reference to the growth of the telephone business in the city. While twenty-five years ago only forty business offices and residences enjoyed the advantages of telephone service, it is found that at the present time the total number of subscribers of the two competng companies in the city will pass the four thousand mark and the vicinity business adds another fifteen hundred to the list. In the wholesale or sobbing business in the city there are three large grocery firms, one of general merchandise, one wall paper, two hardware, an oil company, a drug firm, one of agricultural implements and two cigar jobbing houses, all enjoying it lucrative business and covering many states with their traveling salesmen. In the retail business the merchants of Mansfield, in every line. are live and progressive, glad of a chance to compete in quality and prices with the stores of the larger cities and handling such comprehensive stocks as to leave no inducement for residents of the city to do out-of-town trading, but at the same time offering many advantages to the residents of the surrounding country and nearby towns. From the standpoint of churches and schools Mansfield may he said to offer exceptional advantages, all of the leading, denominations having beautiful and costly houses of worship, while the schools take high rank in the recognition received from colleges and universities of the country. THE TELEPHONE ITS GENERAL AND LOCAL HISTORY That the American people readily take to new utilities and adapt themselves to the new conditions shown by the fact that, although it has been to twenty-nine years since Alexander Graham Bell fist exhibited his apparatus for the "transmission of sound by electricity." over two million telephone instruments are now in use. This shows a phenomenal growth of the use of one of the greatest inventions of the age along the line of general utility. In 1881, two years after Professor Bell had strung his first long-distance wire from Boston to Lowell, a distance of forty miles, there was only one telephone subscriber to each 1,074 of population; in 1904, the ratio was reduced to 1 to 53. During, the year 1881, the telephone was used 300,000 times in the United States; in 1904, the average daily number was 10,134,020. In 1881 the number of communications per inhabitant per year averaged two; in 1904 the average had risen to forty-two. 112 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY At the time of the invention of the telephone, O. H. Booth was the superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph company at Mansfield. One of his co-workers was Samuel Uhlrich, an expert electrician, with ample means to engage in any business enterprise that might suit his fancy. Soon after Professor Bell had made his invention, Messrs Booth and Uhlich took the initiative Work of introducing, the telephone in Mansfield. and in the summer of 1877, a telephone entertainment was given in the Sunday school room of the Congregational church. A wire was run from the old parsonage to the church, with all instrument was each building. Singers were at the parsonage, and an audience at the church. At a given signal, the choir would sing, and then the people at the church would file along by the table where the instrument was placed, each having the privilege of taking the receiver and listening a moment to the singing, all declaring, "it is something wonderful." About tins time a third person (W. L. Leonard), without being financially interested in the matter assisted Messrs. Booth and Uhlich in founding as telephone plant in Mansfield. Prior to coming to the city, Mr. Leonard was a telegrapher in Cincinnati. After locating here he conducted a cigar stand in the Wiler House. The "Wiler" was then under the management of Rush H. Fieid, and was one of the leading Hotels in this part of Ohio. Mr. Leonard installed a telegraph instrument in the office of the Wiler House, and became interested in the sale of tickets for a number of railroads connecting with the trunk lines that pass through Mansfield. and the hotel became headquarters for information relative to trains, the price of grain, etc., and this line of business information was increased after a phone had been placed in the office, and prior to the telephone getting into general use. In 1880, Messrs. Booth and Uhlich installed a telephone exchange in the Stocking building and got a few subscribers, and after conducting the same for a year or more, sold out to the Central Union Telephone company which had obtained a franchise from the city council in 1881, and early in 1882 the exchange was removed from Stocking to the Dickson building where it remained for a number of years. It is twenty-six years since the Central Union exchange was in talks with forty-nine subscribers, and now there is a total of about six thousand phones in use, city and suburban, by the two Companies operating in Mansfield. Miss Ella Wulle was the first. lady operator and served a year or more before she had an assistant. Miss Wulle was attentive to her duties was a plain talker, anid gave general satisfaction to the public. There was no night operator at the exchange for several years. The first step toward a night service was to get a man to sleep in the office, who was supposed to answer calls, if he heard them. About ten years ago a Mansfield Telephone company was organized and installed, and the two companies now fully occupy the field, making Mansfield one of the most thoroughly 'phoned towns in Ohio. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 113 The following incidents are given to show how little the people knew of the use of the telephone twenty-five y ears ago. The late John B. Netscher for a number of years bought apples at a frame building that, stood between West Sixth street and the B. & O. freight. home. One day a tanner entered the. Wiler Rouse and asked Mr. Leonard what Mr. Netscher was paying for apples. Mr. Leonard said he would inquire, and going to the 'phone at the door of the cloak room, asked, Mr. Netsher, what are you paving for apples today?" Upon getting a reply, Mr. Leonard turned to the fanner and stated the price. "Why doesn't Netscher come out and tell me himself? What is he cooped up in that little room for?" the farmer asked. He did not know about the telephone and supposed Mr. Netscher was in the cloak room. A man and wife from Butler came to Mansfield on a shopping trip soon after telephones had been placed in some of the stores. At Sam Lowenstein's, in the Dickson building they were looking at a suit of clothes shown them by Mr. Geltz. A man was using a phone at the back part of the store. The woman saw him, but did not know of the phone and addressing her husband in an undertone, she requested him to leave the store, saying, "Thehere is an undertone back there talking; to the wall. He is evidently crier and is liable to get violent at any time.'' A story is also told of a new subscriber who heard his telephone bell ring after he had retired. and, jumping out of bed, said, "All right; I'll be there in a moment." Before he got down stair's the bell rang again, and this time he answered impatiently, "I told you I am coming." With the telephone, trolley cars and other modern utilities, Mansfield people have within their reach more conveniences and better facilities than had any other people of all the years that have gone to make the history of the world. THE BUTLER OIL AND GAS FIELD The finding of oil and gas in the vicinity of Butler, in the southern part of Richland county, was an event of so much importance that the subjoined account of the same is taken from the Butler Messenger newspaper, of Friday, March 30, 1903. The village of Butler has been the Mecca of oil and gas men for nearly a year and still holds its record for that. This town, with its eight, hundred inhabitants nestles cosily amid the hills of Worthington township, about one mile west of the geographical center of the township which is the extreme southeastern one in Richland county. It is surrounded by fertile, well-improved agricultural, bind. and up to a little over a year ago the raising of all kinds of Crops occupied the attention of the bind owners of this locality. But a change come over the scene. One year ago last December leasing of the territory for prospecting for gas and oil was commenced in earnest. Although many of the land owners had leased some years ago without any consideration whatever, they were willing to lease once more for the privilege of finding what lay underneath their farms. 114 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY The farmers, who were the first to sign leases in favor of the Butler Oil and Gas. Co., were promised fifty cents per acre per year, payable at the end of the year. Several thousand acres were taken up at this figure. Many others, more fortunate, refused to pease at such a small stipend, and consequently secured $1.00 per acre. Others who were slow in leasing received much more than that, especially after the first well came in. After considerable speculation regarding the matter of gas and oil, the Butler Oil and Gas Co. was finally incorporated with $40,000 capital. Stock was readily sold at $25 per share, and it was a momentous day when the work of constructing the first derrick, which is on Marion McClellan's farm one and a half mile, southeast of Butler, was begun. As soon as it was completed drilling machinery was installed and the work of sinking a shaft went forward. As the immense drill kept on going lower and loner into the earth, enthusiasm continued to increase. and when oil June 18, 1905, the McClellan well carne in a mammoth gasser, it knew no bound. It is always pleasant, and it is usually inspiring, to contemplate success, and a retrospect of the development of the Butler Oil territory will be full of interest. So far as coal be determined, the early stooges of the development of the field has proved an unqualified success in every particular. The first well was drilled on the Marion McClellan farm. The well came in about July 25 a big gasser, with about 4,000,000 capacity. Steps were immediately taken to pipe the product into Butler, and also supply Bellville with fuel. Some delay in securing the necessary piping was caused, but about he firs of October gas was turned into the mains and big demonstration took place in honor of the event. Two large pipes were erected at different place; in Butler and the gas fired, while the band played on. The consumer; were given gas at twenty cents per thousand, with a tell per cent discount, making it eighteen cents net. Soon after the first strike arrangements were formulated to put down a well on A. W. Mishey's form, a little south of east of the McClellan well. This well was drilled to a depth of twenty-six hundred feet and abandoned as a duster. No Clinton sand was encountered in this well, hot instead, a sort of reddish sand, such as was later found in the Russell well, There was no indication whatever of oil or gas and the derrick was at once torn down and the casing removed. Failure in the Mishey well did not dishearten the projector, and almost immediately another well was located. This, was about five hundred yards south of the gas well on the Mengert farm, the property of L. C. Mengert of Mansfield, Peter Mengert, of Troy townshp, and Fred Mengert, of Washington township, heirs of the late William Mengert. The drilling of this well consumed mile weeks, and on December 22, 1905, at a depth of two thousand five hundred curd forty-eight feet oil was found in nine feet of Clinton sand. Before the full depth of the sand had been retched the oil spurted forth twenty feet higher than the eighty--foot derrick, throwing oat stones and sand with great force. And what oil it was! Genuine Pennsylvania oil in every particular. In color it was of a transparent yellow, and In specific gravity fifty-seven. making it eligible to the top notch of market HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 117 price. A dilemma confronted the company at this time. Expectant of a flow of gas insead of oil, they were illy prepared to receive the golden shower precipitate upon them from nature's refinery, arid as a result, at least one thousand barrels of the precious liquid ran away. A small springran near it and floated into Gold run, where much of it was secured by Butler residents, as it doomed through the east part of town, however, a force of men was secured and a dyke was made below the well, checking the wasted oil until the tanks were secured to put it in. The well was afterward drilled In and a steady flow of oil resulted. The estimated capacity wits from two hundred to two hundred and fifty barrels per day for several days, and finally it dropped down to a flow of from seventy-five to one hundred. This capascity has been held up since that time. When the McClellan gas well became clogged a gas saver was attached to the Mengert well, and the wonderful well has since kept up its record of pouring out both oil and sufficient gas for Butler and Bellville also. The finding of oil in this territory caused an influx of interested men from all parts of the United States. Butler hotels were taxed to their utmost capacity, and the livery business flourished. Butler had become more than a mere speck on the map. Experts were early in the field and readily recognized from the quality of the oil, the possibility of the great new oil field. The Remy well operations toward putting down a well about two hundred yards from the Mengert well, was begun soon after the famous hole had commanded the attention of the oil world. This well came in March 7, and proved to he almost as good an oiler as the Meregert No. 1. The sand at this point is thirteen feet deep, and the oil is mixed with a good flow of gas. The intermittent spurts of oil in the early stages of this well caused more than one spectator to get a drenching in oil. For a time the flow was pulsating, but it finally settled down to a flow of from twenty-five to thirty-five barrels. Tanks were ready to receive the oil, and there was no waste to speak of. The Buckeye Pipe line takes charge of the oil at the wells, and after being gauged, it is transferred through pipes be gravity to the loading point at Butler. Here twenty-six cars of oil have already been loaded and shipped away. Some to the Sun refinery at Toledo, and some to the Standard refinery in Indiana. Each well receives proper credit for its output, and as the quality is the same, commands the same price at the wells, $1.58. The Edna Oil company had in the meantime, erected a derrick and begun drilling on the Reed lease, consisting of twenty acres for which $2,000 had been paid. March 21 this well came in an oiler, but gas was a minus quantity, and the oil did not flow from the top of the pipe as is the case with the Mengert and Remy wells. The oil stands about one thousand five hundred feet deep in the pipe, and although the quality is the same, the well will have to be pumped. The Reed well stands on much higher ground to the southeast of the Remy well and is not over two hundred feet from Mengert No. 2, which came in in due season. Mengert will No. 3, came in with a flow of gas estimated at about 6,000,000. In less than an hour afterward a heavy flow of oil which spurted 118 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY to a great height. Thirty barrels of the oil came from the well during one night. It is of the some transparent yellow color, which characterizes the other wells in the Butler field. This well is located about one tlhousand feet from the Mengert No. 1, in a southwesterly direction, and the oil an piped to the tanks at No. 1. SOLDIERS OF THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. A number of the soldiers of the War of the Revolution are buried in Richland county cemeteries. The list in the possession of the Richland County Historical society is not complete, but the following are given. Henry Nail, Sr., is buried on lot 1218, Mansfield cemetery. He was born in Germany in 1757; came to America in 1777, and some time later enlisted in the Continental army, and served until the close of the war. He came to Richland county in 1816, and remained here until his death. He was the grandfather of our A. F. Nail, of "Drummer Boy" fame, who was a soldier in the war of 1861-5, and is the son as well as the grandson of a soldier. John Jacobs, another soldier of the war of the Revolution, is buried in the Mansfield Roman Catholic cemetery. Jacobs died about seventy years ago and was first buried in the old cemetery, but the remains were later removed to the present buried ground. On Memorial Day list is the name of Jacob Uhlich as having been a Revolutionary Soldier. The name should be George Uhlich, a soldier of the war of 1812. Mrs. Miller, of Bowman street, a daughter of this soldier. states that her father served his country in the war of 1812, and that he died in 1832. His father's name was also George, but he was not a soldier. Mrs. Miller accounts for these errors from the fact that after the removal of the remains from the old burial grounds at the corner of Adams and First streets, to the present cemetery, a new headstone was put up, and the mistake in the inscription was not noticed at the time Mrs. Miller later requested that the inscription be corrected. but it was never done. The Memorial list also gives the name of Jacob Cook as a. Revolutionary soldier buried in the Mansfield cemetery. This statement is also incorrect. On the Cook monument are several cenotaph inscriptions—those of Jacob Noah and Jabez Cook. Jacob Cook was the great-grandfather of the late J. H. Cook, and died in 1796, aged eighty-four years. and was buried Washington County, Pa., Noah Cook, son of Jacob Cook, served several terms of enlistment in the Revolutionary war, and at one time was chaplain of the Fifth regiment of Continental troops in General Sullivan's brigade. Noah Cook came to Lexington, Richland county, in 1814, and died in December, 1834, and is buried at Lexington, but has a cenotaph inscription on the monument of his grandson, the late James Hervey Cook. Noah Cook did much to promote the religious interests of Troy township. He announced a meeting for a religious service at the schoolhouse but at the appointed hour. "Uncle Noah" was the only one there, but he held HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 119 the services. Some passers-by heard him singing and stopped to listen. Then he prayed, and read and preached as though the benches were listeners with cars to hear and souls to save. The report of this service was noised abroad. with the result of good congregations of people at subsequent services. Noah Cook was descended from Francis Cook, one of the Mayflower passengers, who with other pilgrim fathers came from Holland. James McDermot a Revolutionary soldier buried in the Koogle cemetery, east of Mansfield was a native of Pennsylvania, and served two years at Fort DuQuesne, then marched over the Allegheny mountions and joined Washington's army at Valley Forge. He was at Princeton and other battles. He died in Mifflin township, this county, June 25, 1859, aged over one hundred years. Christian Riblet enlisted in the Continental army in Pennsylvania in 1779, at the age of eighteen years, and served to the close of the war. He died April 6, 1844. and is buried at the east line of Sandusky township, on the road leading from Mansfield to Galion. Daniel Riblett, a son of this Contenental soldier, represented Richland county in the legislature (senate) in 1854. William Gillespie was a major in the Revolutionary war, and is buried at Bellville, and a headstone marks his grave, which is yearly decorated with flowers by the comrades of Miller Moody post, G. A. R. Major Gillespie died February 17, 1841, aged one hundred and four years. Samuel Poppleton was one of the Green Mountain boys who fought under Colonel Ethan Allen, and as color sergeant, planted the American flag upon the walls of Fort Ticonderoga at its surrender and heard the historic words: "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental congress." Major Poppleton died in 1842. aged ninety-nine years, and is buried in the Evart graveyard, a mile south of Bellville. The inscription on his headstone has been somewhat effaced by the frosts and storms of time. The major was the grandfather of the late Hon. E. F. Poppleton. Adam Wolfe, another Revolutionary soldier, is buried at Newville. He was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania; Dec. 16, 1730, and came to Richland county, Ohio, in 1816, and entered the southeast quarter of section 26 in Monroe township. He died April 24, 1846. Adam Wolfe was the grandfather of Judge N. M. Wolfe and a great-great-grandfather of Harry L. Goodbread of Wyandot county, and of Verner Z. Reed, of Colorado. Hiram R. Smith, then with McFall, frequently cashed Adam Wolfe's pension draft. While the victories and achievements of our recent and present wars take the attention of the people of today, the soldiers of other American conflicts, especially the war of the Revolutionary, must not be forgotten, for to that struggle we owe our existence as it free, and independent nation. An in to other period of the world's history were event, more deeply fraught with interest or more full of moral and political moment than in the era in which American independence was achieved. It is said tile noblest work of the pen of history is to state facts, describe conditions and narrate events which illustrate the progress of the human mind: that in the coming age the history of wars, event when presented in 120 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY the fascinating garb of brilliant achievements, will be read more with sorrow and regret than with satisfaction and delight. But who would obliterate from Roman history the record of the heroism of those who drove the Persian hordes into the sea at Marathon? No Englishman desires to take front the history of his county the deeds of her Wellington or her Nelson. The French point with pride to the man whose frown terrified the glance his magnificence attracted. What patriot would rob American history of the record of the victories of our army and navy in the several wars in which our nation has been engaged, and deprive the people of the benefits and results of those grand achievements? Memorial Day is a tribute to patriotism—a tribute of utility to gratitude —a confession that war is at times necessary, that life has nobler things in it than mere business pursuits and that men sometimes rise to those sybling heights when life is looked upon as of secondary consideration and that honor and liberty and law are the only things for which the heart beats in pulsating flow. The people of today are far removed from the events of the war of the revolution. but the principles for which the patriot fought underlie our political superstructure and permeate every department of the government, and the heroism of the Continental soldier, shine with effulgent glory through the mists of a century. John Stoner served through the entire, war of the Revolution. He was born in 1758 and died in 1845, in Blooming Grove township, this county aged eighty-seven year. He was buried with military honors in the Presbyterian cemetery at Rome, this county. There is no monument headstone stone to mark his grave. A MASSACRE BY THE INDIANS At the northern limit of the Blackfork settlement, to which reference has heretofore been wide, lived a Pennsylvania German, Martin Ruffner by name. The Ruffner cabin stood about a mile northwest of Mifflin and about a half mile west of the Staman sawmill on the Ruffner run. Ruffner had in his employ a German boy who is known by the headstone ical sobriquet of "Billy Bunting." A few day; after the burning of Greentown a party of Indiana were seen sitting upon it small elevation of ground not far from the Ruffner colon. The Indians were seen by Billy Bunting, who hastened to inform Mr. Ruffner of his discovery. Ruffner at once took his rifle and followed the Indians who were making directly for the Zeimer cabin farther down the valley. Ruffner deployed around the Indians and reached the Zeimer cabin in advance of the savages. The Zeimer family consisted of Frederick Zeimer and wife, their son Philip and their daughter Kate. Soon after Ruffner arrived at the Zeimer cabin the Indians put in their appearance. Philip Zeimer, leaving Ruffner to protect his family, went to inform James Copes, John Lampbright and other settlers of the approach of the HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 123 Indians, and to secure their assistance. As the settlers lived some miles apart it took Philip several hours to make the trip. Soon after Philip had left the house the Indians came and seemed surprised upon finding Ruffner there. The friendly hate, thinking to appease therm, got them supper, but they still seemed sullen, showing that they meant harm to the family, For some time a desultory conversation was held at intervals, but finally the actors to the impending tragedy sat and eyed each other in silence, conflicting emotions, no doubt, passing through the mind of each. Ruffner, the valiant German, sat like a Trojan soldier between the helpless family and their savage foes. Finally, when suspense could be borne no longer, the Indians sprang to their feet with a yell of demoniacal fury, and made a rush at the brave Ruffner, who shot his foremost assailant dead, and, clubbing his rifle, felled another prostrate to the floor. As he struck at the third, he accidentally hit the stock of his rifle against a joist, and the Indians, taking advantage of the mishap, fired upon him, two shots taking effect, either of which would of itself been fatal. They dragged the body of the dying man into the yard, and inhumanly removed his scalp ere he expired! At the beginning of the assault Kate fainted. When she regained consciousness she realized that Ruffner had been killed, and, seeing then assault her aged parents, she again fell in a swoon, unconsciousness kindly veiling; from her sight the horrible spectacle. When Kate recovered and realized the awful butchery that had been committed, her grief gave vent in heart-piercing shrieks and lamentations, whose intensity should have reached the calloused hearts of even those inhuman :savages. But, instead, she was ordered by her relentless foes to give them her father's money and the valuables of the family, and as she complied with their demand, her betrothal ring was rudely taken from her linger. But they did not then spare her life, for Kanotche, raising his tomahawk, buried it in her brains, and he fell upon the hearth, mingling her life's blood with that of her parents The account of this tragedy was given some time later by Kanotche himself. while he was confined as a prisoner in the jail at New Philadelphia. The principal motive which lead to the murder of the Zeimers was that of robbery, as they were regarded as quite wealth- and were known to possess considerable money. When Philip returned with his party, nature had already thrown her sable mantle of night over the valley. Except for the occasional hooting of an owl, there was almost. deathlike .stillness. No breath of wind stirred the leaves of the forest, and the stars shone with a pale, flickering, light. As the party neared the cabin, no light was seen and all was quiet and still within. After a consultation, Mr. Copus advanced alone to the rear of the house and tried to peer through its four-light window, but nothing could he seen in the darkness within. He then cautiously crept upon his hands and knees around to the front of the building, and, finding the door ajar, endeavored to push it further open, but found something against it like a 124 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY body on the inside. He then placed his hand through the opening of the door and found that the floor was covered with blood. Returning to the party, he thought it best not to tell Philip what he had discovered, fearing that the Indian, might still be in the house awaiting. the son's return. Enjoining silence, he led them quietly away, and when at a safe distance, told them that he feared the family had been taken prisoners and that they had better go to the block-house for assistance. Philip's anxiety for the safety of the family made him want to rush recklessly inside the house to learn their fate; but his friends restrained him and the weary, groping walk through the darkness to the block-house was commenced. A halt was made at a Mr. Hill's, where the town of Lucas now stand, and upon the break of day they proceeded to the Beam block-house on the Rocky Run, where the first settlement in the county was made, and there got a detachment of troops and some settlers, who accompanied them back to the Zeimer cabin, where they found the dead and mutilated body of the brave Ruffner in the yard. and those of the family inside the house. The grief of Philip was so great that many or the strong men present were moved to tear's by witnessing his sorrow. Father, mother and sister all gone. and he left alone! Would that he had shared their fate with them, was his wish. Kind friends tried to console him, while others dug grove and performed the last office the living, can do for the dead. Then they returned to the block-house. Philip gave his service to his country during the remainder of the war. Several years later he sold the farm to a. Mr. Puller, whose descendants own it today. and upon the site of the ill-fated cabin a monument now stands, erected to the memory of the Zeimer family and Martin Ruffner, who fell in their defense. The Indians who committed these crimes were stragglers from the Greentown tribe, who returned for rapine and murder. Of the five who constituted the party, Ruffner killed two, whose bodies were carried away, as was the custom among the Indians, amid the three survivors were afterward captured about five miles below sew Philadelphia, on what is now called Fern Islands a picnic resort on the C. L. & W. railway, near the Royal Clay works. The massacre of the Zeimer family aroused the feelings of the people not only in Richland, but also in other counties, almost to frenzy, and companies were organized at Wooster. New Philadelphia. and other places to protect the settlers. Captain Mullen commanded the Wooster company and Alex. McConnell, the one at New Philadelphia. Fern island is an isle in theTuscuawas river, one of the most fertile inspiring streams in the state. It courses through one of Ohio's most fertile valleys with an ease and grandeur that is both restful and inspiring rays of light shine upon its dark waters that reflect emerald tints as though the bottom was paved with precious stones. But the Indians had not sought that locality because of its romantic beauty, nor because the wasters of the Tuscarawasa were wont to dazzle one with their diamond-like gleams, but for HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 125 the protection the dense forest of that secluded isle would give them. The mark of Cain was upon them and the avenging Nemesis was followin their trail. In that forest-embowered isle stood armies of ferns with nodding plumes and crimson falchions, and among these the tired savages lay down to sleep. Captain McConnel, hearing that the Indians were upon the Island, marched his company over the "Plains," and when the destination was reached, he left his men on the bank and swam his horse across the eastern branch of the river, end, surprising the redskins, tool: theist prisoners. On reaching the company with his prisoners, some of the men suggested that the Indians should be put to death. "Not until they have a trial according to law," said the captain. The prisoners were then marched up past the old site of Shoenbrun to New Philadelphia, and there its incarcerated in ,jail. When the news of this capture reached Wooster, the excitements there became intense and Captain Mullen marched his company to New Philadelphia to take summary vengeance upon the captives. Henry Laffer, then sheriff of Tuscarawas county, called upon the citizens to turn out and protect the prisoners, which they refused to do. John C. Wright, an attorney from Steubenville, was in town and volunteered his services to the sheriff. Mr. Wright was afterward the judge of the court of that circuit. Captain McConnel, Sheriff Laffer and Mr. Wright pleaded with the atttacking party for the lives of the Indians and declared if the prisoners were molested it would be after they had walked over their dead bodies. The attack was finally abandoned and the company returned to Wooster. While in jail there, Kanotche made a confession to the Sheriff, detailing the Zeimer-Ruffner murder and the part he took in the same, admitting that he had killed Kate, And that the principal motive for the crime was robbery. The other prisoners did not confess and Kanotche refused either to implicate or exonerate them. The Indians were kept in jail until Governor Meigs arrived in New Philadelphia when they were turned over to the military authorities and were conducted by Lieutenant Shane, of the regular army to the western part of the state, where, under the terms of a cartel, they, as prisoners of war. were released, the charge of murder not being placed against them. While enroute Lieutenant Shane. with his troops and prisoner's, stopped over night it Newark, where an attempt was made by two recruits, to buy drugs to poison the Indians, which show, the deep-seated feeling, then existing against them on account of the atrocities and murders they had committed. The fact that Kanotche, one of their Indian prisoners, was the self confessed murder of Kate Zeimer and other white persons, doubtless incensed the soldiers to such a state of mind that they made the attempt to buy the poison. Although Kanotche was not punished by the law, about a rear later he met his death by the hands of one of his own people. His punishment came according to Bible lines, that whoso sheddeth human blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Kate Zeimer was described by the writer's father, who lived a few 126 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY miles further down the valley and often saw her, as being a beautiful girl, a brunette, rather stout in build, and of cheerful disposition. Tradition says she was engaged to be married to a man who lived near her former home in the east, but. this is not verified by history. Her reputed lover, Henry Martin, like Lilly Pipe, was a myth. Both were the creation of that gifted novelist, the Rev. James F. McGaw. While June is the month of roses, September is regarded by mane as being the most charming of the year. The hazy halo of the atmosphere with its languorous warmth, are conducive to day dreaming. And, to follow the romance of the novelist, there were days of dreaming for the beautiful Kate, whose betrothed lover was soon to come to claim her for his bride, Days of roaming in the leafy forest or rowing upon the crystal lake; days of watching the crimson sunset shining redly through the darkness of the branches and glittering away as golden threads to a paradise too sweet to name; days when love seemed, to fill the air and remake music sweet in the rustle of the leaves; days when Kate wondered vaguely whether she was sot dreaming happy dreams—dreams too enhancing to last; and they were, for, instead of the bridal robe, the winding, sheet was soon to be her habiliment. The news of the murder of the Zeimer family caused the settlers to go to the blockhouse for safety, and nearly every cabin was left tenantless. and the country was filled with alarm, and not without cause, for other deeds of blood were soon to follow. The name Zeimer was pronounced by the settlers somewhat like "Zener,” and McGaw, in his historical romance, changed the name to "Seymour." That Zeimer is correct is fully proven by muniments of the Zeimer estate. It is a German name of Swiss origin, and has been Americanized, locally at least in the Blackfork valley as both "Seymour" and "Zimmer.'' In 1799, Frederick Zeimer came with his family from Maryland and entered one-half of section 27 in Washington township, Pickaway county, Ohio, where he settled and lived until he came to Richland county in 1812. Mr. Zeimer was a man of means, and after getting considerable land in Pickaway county, he gave each of his married children a farm, then removed to Richland county with his family. After Philip's return from the war, he retuned to his forever home in Pickaway county, and later sold the Richland county farm to Michael Culler. The deed was executed May 1, 1815. before Thomas Mace, a justice of the peace in and for Pickaway county, Ohio. On the 2nd of April, 1815, Philip Zeimer was married to Elizabeth Valentine, whose family was a prominent one in Pickaway county. Philip Zeimer and wife were the parents of five children—three sons and two daughters—all now deceased. Philip's wife died in 1836, aged forty-eight years. Philip died August 8, 1850, aged sixty-five years. The man who was said to be engaged to Kate Zeimer, and to whom McGaw gave the name of Henry Martin was Jedediah Smith, who came to Ohio and entered land in Washington township, this county, in 1812. Mr. Smith HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 127 when looking for land, was directed by Johnny Appleseed to the Zeimer cabin, where he met and fell in love with Kate, as is reputed. Mr. Smith, however was at his old home in Washington county, Pennsylvania, when the Zeimers were killed by the Indians, and he did not return to Ohio until 1816. He did not marry until several years after Kate's death. THE COPUS BATTLE. The news of the Zeimer massacre was spread in every direction, causing the settlers to flock to the blockhouses for safety. Every cabin became tenantless. Among the others, James Copus and family took refuge in the blockhouse it Beam's Mills. Mr. Copus, however, remained at the blockhouse with his family but a few days. Quiet having been restored and hearing of no more depredations, he concluded to remove his family back to his farm. Before leaving the blockhouse one of the officers promised him to encamp at his house with a reconnoitering party that night. A small squad of soldiers was detailed to go with Copus and family and remain with them for several days. The Copus cabin was down the valley from that of Zeimer's, about half way between Zeimer`s and Greentown. It stood at the foot of a high bluff about a half mile from the Rockyford. About. three or four rods from where the cabin stood there gushes out of the hill one of the bests springs of water in the country. A newly-cut road ran parallel with the bluff at its base and between it and the cabin. The range of the bluff is nearly north and south, and the cabin stood on the west side and a field of corn, then in roasting ears, nearly surrounded the cabin. The place was wildly romantic and well calculated to inspire the soldiers with a spirit of sport, and they enjoyed the afternoon in running, jumping and wrestling exercises until evening. As the shades of night advanced the mind of Mr. Copus became unaccountably agitated. The reconnoitering party having gone further than had been intended did not get to Copus' until the afternoon of the following day—too late to render aid. Mr. Copus told the soldiers who were with him that he feared they would be attacked that night. But the soldiers only smiled at his fears, telling him that they arose, doubtless, from the impressions left upon his mind on seeing the murdered family of Zeimer the day before. Nine o'clock came and the soldiers got permission to sleep in the barn, as the night was extremely warm. During the night the dogs barked almost constantly and in the direction of the corn field. The night was dark and moonless and the messengers of death, silent and frightful, had gathered themselves around that solitary cabin, ready at the appointed hour, to smite their victims to the earth. Yet no one of that little band except Mr. Copus expected that danger was so nigh. At the first dawn of that Tuesday morning, September 15, 1812, the nine soldiers, true to their promise, left their couches of hay at the barn and went to the cabin. As they grouped around the door, amber streaks darted into golden rays in the eastern sky, heralds of the coming day. The soldiers recalled the red-flamed sky of the evening previous and were thankful that the night was being succeeded by the glorious light 128 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY of another day, a light so beautiful in its aspect that one ought have imagined that it presaged the resurrection and looked for angels to appear and proclaim that "Time was, time is, but time shall be no more," but instead it was the angel of death that was soon to claim four of that little brood. Mr. Copps, still apprehensive of longer, cautioned the soldiers to be on their guard, but they laughed at his fears and. leaning their muskets against the outside of the cabin, went to the spring, a few rods from the house, but ere they had finished their lavations the Indians came upon them with demoniacal veils and—"On the right, on the left, above, below, sprang up at once the Indian foe"—and forty-five painted savage's, armed with muskets, tomahawks and scalping knives, rushed upon the unarmed soldiers and a scene of' murder and butchery ensued. When the attack was trade Mr. Copus seized his rifle and went to the door, and as he opened it a. bail fired by on lndian passed through the leather strap supporting his powder horn and entered Mr. Colors breast, inflicting a wound from which he died within an hour. When the soldiers were fired upon at the spring, being unarmed, they in different directions: two attempted to reach the forest upon the hillside for protection, but were pursued by the Indians, were overtaken, murdered and scalped. Their names were John Tedrick and George Shipley Another soldier—named Warnock—was shot through the bowels, but went some distance and becoming weak from loss of blood, sat down by a tree and died. He had stuffed his handkerchief into his wound in an effort to stop the flow of blood. His body was found several weeks afterward in a sitting posture. Five of the soldiers who were nearer the cabin got inside safely, but the sixth—named George Dye—was not so fortunate and was shot through the thigh as he entered the door, and George Launtz was shot in the arm a short time later while removing a chink to make a port-hole in the wall. Mr. Copus realized that he was mortally wounded and entreated the soldiers to defend as best they could his wife and family. The scene within the cabin was pathetically dramatic. He who an hour before stood as the protector of his family now lay in the throes of death, his grief-stricken wife and seven children grouped about his bedside: and as the spirit of this just man tools its flight, the mother, as the renter of that little band of mourners, was seen to gaze upward—heavenward—as if in prayer, commending her fatherless children to him who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb and who alone can bind up the broken heart. But they had soon to turn from the dead and assist the soldiers in their defense of the cabin, Early in the contest Nancy Copus, aged fifteen, was shot above the knee inflicting a painful wound. The children were then placed upstairs for greater safety, and that was but poor, for a nunber of the Indians were upon the hillside in front of the house and kept up an incessant firing upon the roof of the house, until the clapboards, it was said, afterward presented almost a sieve-like appearance. And nearly all that forenoon the battle raged and the deadly lead was fired riot only upon the roof, hot also upon the walls, window's and door of that home, and the wells of the murderous savages were enough to daunt the bravest heart. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 131 The few soldiers within made a heroic defense. They fired through portholes and their aim was often unerring, as a number of the redskins were seen to fall to rise no more. After five long hours of murderous assault from outside and of valiant defense within, the awful contest ended by the Indians retreating, taking their dead with them and firing a parting volley into a flock of sheep which had huddled together in terror near the barn. After the Indians had disappeared, one of the soldiers got out upon the roof of the cabin, and, cautiously glancing around and seeing no foe, climbed down and went to the Beam blockhouse for assistance. About 1 o'clock Captain Martin and his squad of soldiers who had been expected to arrive the night before, came upon the scene two hours after the battle had ended. but before assistance had time to come from the blockhouse. Captain Martin, not seeing any Indians in his reconnoiter the day previous and not expecting any, trouble at the Copes home, had bivouacked for the night at the Ruffner cabin, near where Mifflin now stands, three and a half miles north of the Copus settlement. During the forenoon Captain Martin thought he heard firing, but supposed the troops below were at target practice. When Martin and his troops arrived at the scene of the tragedy they were appalled at the horrible spectacle that met their view. Attention was given to the wounded and the dead were buried. An attempt was made to track the Indians and it was thought they went east: but, as they had three hours start, they were not pursued. The bodies of Copus. Tedrick and Shipley were buried in one grave a few rods from the cabin and a monument now marks their grave. Stretchers were made upon which to carry the wounded and the march of the whole party to Beam's blockhouse was commenced. As it was late in the day when the start was made, they went only a, short distance until they stopped for the night. By that time the number of the party had increased to about one hundred, and pickets were thrown out to grard against surprise. The march was resumed the next morning, the route being up the valley to Mifflin, thence west slong a trail now known as the Mansfield-Wooster road, and then down to the Beam blockhouse, the distance being about thirteen miles, where they arrived safely in the evening. Several weeks afterward it squad of soldiers accompanied Henry Copus, a son of James Copus, to the cabin and on the way, some distance from the Copus cabin, they discovered the missing soldier (Warnock) sitting against a tree dead. They buried him near where he was found. They also found the bodies of two Indians. which were left to their fate. Mrs. Copus and children remained in the blockhouse about two months and were then taken to Guernsey county, where they lived until the close of the war, when they returned to their home on the Black Fork and where Mrs. Copus reared the family and lived to a good old age, beloved and respected by her neighbors and friends. Sarah Copus the daughter, became Mrs. Vail and lived to be present at the unveiling of the monument, September 15, 1882, erected to the memory of her father and the soldiers who were killed in that awful tragedy at that humble cabin in the wilderness September 15, 1812. 132 - THE HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Among the incident, of the fight it is stated that Copus and an Indian fired at each other simultaneously, the former receiving mortal wound and the latter being killed instantly. Copus did not fall where he was shot, but staggered back across the room to a table, from which he was assisted to the bed. He told his wife that he could not live and that she would have to rear the children a best she could. A number of times while the battle lasted the savages tried to take the cabin by storm, but the soldiers had taken the precaution to barricade the door and windows with puncheons removed from the floor. George Launtz, the soldier who herd an arm broken by a bullet, caught sight of an Indian peeping around a tree tired, taking; deliberate aim, fired and had the satisfaction of seeing the savage bound into the air and then roll down the hill, dead. Another redskin, who had been shot, fell in the yard. His groans were heard as he attempted to crawl away, but a well directed bullet from the cabin put an end to his suffering. Forty-five scoop-outs where fires had been, were after ward found in the cornfield, where the Indians had roasted corn and from that it was taken there had been forty-five savages in the assault. Of that number, nine were carried away by the Indians when they retreated, which with the two bodies found later made their loss eleven, killed and wounded. During the greater part of the battle the Indians fought from ambush, taking refuge behind the trees on the hillside in front of the house. On the same day that the Copus battle took place. the cabins of Newell, Cuppy, and Fry, farther east, were burned, and the Indians who attached the Copus family were supposed to have been the incendiaries, as they went in that direction. Those families were at the Jerometown blockhouse. After the close of the war, a number of the Indians returned to this county. Sarah Copus, the girl who had seen the redskins lurking around the day before the attack was made on their home, did not seem to be in favor with the savages. Going on the hill beyond the spring one day, after the family had returned from Guernsey county, she saw one hiding, behind a tree. She ran toward the house the Indian pursuing her almost to the door. They said the girl "know too much" —was to observant of the them and their actions. Tom Lyons, an ugly redskin of the Delaware tribe in a conversation with Mrs. Copus in 1816, admitted he knew all about the attack on their cabin, but denied that. he took part in it. After the times became more secure, the settlers returned to their homes, but affairs were more or less trouble until these close of the war. THE COPUS AND ZEIMER MONUMENTS. Elsewhere in this work is a chapter on the public monuments of the county. Upon the same lines the monuments erected to the memory of the Pioneers and soldiers who lost their lives in the Zeimer massacre and the Copus battle will now be considered, as those bloody deeds we enacted within the original boundaries of Richland county, and therefore, belong to and are a HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 133 part of our early history. Space will not admit of giving the antecedent history of those awful tragedies. except to state that they occurred in the early part of the war of 1812, and that the Indians were acting as the allies of the British, which added to their inherent hostilities to the whites, made them dangerous foes, even when treacherouly professing friendship for the settlers. The Zeimers were early settlers in the Blackfork valley, about two miles south of the village of Mifflin, and southeast of the Petersburg lakes. The family consisted of Frederick Zeimer and wife and their son Philip and daughter Kale. They located there in 1810, and during their two years' residence, had tried to live upon friendly terms with the Indians. On September 10, a short time after the removal of the Indians from Greentown, a party of five redskins was seen one afternoon going toward the Zeimer cabin. Martin Ruffner, a stalwart German, who lived about a mile northwest of where the village of Mifflin now stands, heard of the presence of the Indians, and that they were going toward the Zeimer's. Mr Ruffner, suspecting treachery on the part of the Indians. shouldered his rifle, and as the savage had made a halt, Ruffner reached the cabin first and apprised the Zeimers of the. A conference was held, and it was decided that Philip should go and notify James Copus and other settlers further down the valley, of the presence of the Indians near his home, and request them to come to their protection. Soon after the Indians arrived the demanded supper, which was served to them by Mrs. Zeimer and Miss Kate. The Indians seemed sullen, and not long after eating supper made a murderous assault upon the family. They first assaulted the brave Ruffner, who shot his foremost assailant dead, then clubbing his rifle, felled another prostrate to the floor. As he struck at the third, he accidentally hit the stock of his rifle against a joist, and the Indians, taking advantage of the mishap, fired upon him, two shots taking; effect, either of which would have proven fatal. They dragged the body of the dying man into the yard, and inhumanly removed his scalp ere he expired.   At the beginning of the assault, Kate fainted. When she regained consciousness she realized that Ruffner had been killed, and, seeing them assail her parents, again swooned, unconsciousness kindly veiling from her sight the horrible spectacle of seeing her fattier and mother murdered. When Kate again recovered, she was ordered to give the Indians her father's money and the valuables of the family, and as she complied with their demand, they rudely tore her engagement ring from her finger. Then Kanotche one of the most bloodthirsty and treacherous of his kind, buried his tomahawk in poor Kate's head, and she fell dead upon the hearth and her blood was mingled with that of her parents. This squad of Indians was captured on Fern Island in Tuscarawas county, and the narrative of the massacre was obtained from Kanotche himself. while he was confined as a prisoner in the jail at New Philadelphia. As it was late in the afternoon when Philip went after assistance, the sable mantle of night covered the valley ere his return, and this narrative 134 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY of the massacre will here close, rather thou attempt to sketch or portray Philip's grief over the death of his parents and sister. "Zeimer" is a German name of Swiss origin. It was Americanized by the pioneers into "Zimmer," and finally into "Seymour," but the name as it is still retained by the family in Pickaway county. in their legal papers and upon their gravestones ''Zeimer.'' The news of the murder of the Zeimer and the settlers to go to the blockhouses for safety. The country was filled with alarm, and other deeds of blood soon followed. James Copus lived on the east side of the Blackfork valley, about midway between Mifflin and Greentown. With other settlers, he had taken the family to the Beam blockhouse, but after a few days he became restless and wanted to return to his cabin home. He believed the Indians were all gone, and that if any were lurking around he felt confident they would do him no harm, as he was their friend. That confidence cost him his life. The Indian character is one of treachery. Against the facts of history, writers speak of the "Noble Red Man"' and of the gratefulness of his character. Facts show that his deceit and treachery have left trails of blood through American history. When Mr. Copus stated that he intended to return to his cabin, Captain Martin, the commandant of the blockhouse, protested against him taking such a step, and told him he would endanger the lives of himself and family by doing so. But Mr. Copus had made his decision, and on the morning of the fourth day after the Zemier murder, started with his wife and seven children, to return home, a detail of nine soldiers going with them. Captain Martin, who took out a scouting party, promised to call and spend the night with the Copes family. But, finding no trace of the Indians, and reconnoitering further than they had intended to go, they did not get to the Copus home until noon the next day—too late to avert the fate. that had fallen upon that household. When night came, the soldiers who had accompanied Mr. Copus and family home, went to the barn to sleep the weather being very warm. At daybreak on Tuesday morning, September 15, 1812, the solders returned to the house and after conversing a little while with the family. went to the spring on the hillside, to wash. They left their arms stacked against the side of the cabin. When in the act of washirig, an Indian yell rent the air and in a moment the soldiers were surrounded by forty-five armed and painted savages. Upon being attacked the soldiers, being unarmed, fled in different directions; two attempted to reach the forest upon the hillside for protection, but were pursued by the Indians, were overtaken, killed and scalped. Their names were John Tedrick and George Shipley. A third, named Warnock, was shot through the bowels, went some distance and sat down by a tree and died. His body was found several weeks afterwards in a sitting posture. Five soldiers got inside safely, but the sixth, named George Dye, was not so fortunate, and was shot through the thigh as he entered the door. and George Launtz was shot through the arm later, while removing a chink to make a port-hole in the Wall. These soldiers were from Guernsey county and have many relatives living in that part of HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 133 The state at the present time. A descendant of George Dye is now the city editor of the Zanesville Signal. When the attack was made upon the Soldiers at the spring, Mr. Copus seized his rifle and went to the door, and, as he opened it a ball fired by an Indian passed through the leather strap that supported his powder horn, and entered his breast, inflicting a wound which caused his death within an hour. Early in the contest Nancy Copus, aged fifteen, was shot above the knee, inflicting a painful wound. The children were then placed upstairs for greater safety, but even the loft was insecure, for number of the Indians upon the hillside kept firing upon the clapboard roof. For five long hours the battle raged, the Indians often trying to take the cabin by assault, The soldiers made a heroic defense. They fired through port-holes, and their aim was often unerring, as a number of Indians were seen to fall to rise mp more. Finally the awful contest ended by the Indians retreating. taking their dead with them, and firing a parting salute into a flock of sheep, which had huddled together in terror, near the barn. When Captain Martin and his scouts arrived, they were appalled at the horrible spectacle that met their view. Attention was givers to the wounded, and the dead were buried. Eleven Indians were killed.  The bodies of nine were taken away and two were left upon the ground. The same day of the Copus battle. the cabins of Newell, Cuppy and Fry. further west, were burned by the Indians. The families were at the Jeromeville blockhouse. In 1881, the Ashland county pioneer society took steps for the erection of "monuments to the memory of those pioneers and soldiers who were killed by the Indians in the fall of 1812"—referring, to the Zeimer massacre and the Copus battle. Funds for the same were raised by subscription, largely through the work of the late Dr. Riddle. Two monuments, costing a hundred and dollars each, were erected the following year, one where the Zeimers and Ruffner are buried, the other where Copus. and the soldiers are interred. The monuments were unveiled with appropriate ceremonies on September 15, 1882 seventy years after the Copus battle. The attendance was very large, fully ten thousand people being present. Judge R. M. Campbell was the orator of the day. Short addreses were made by Henry C. Hedges, the late Dr. William Bushnell and Colonel B. Burns. Two aged ladies, who as, young girls had been pioneers in the county, were introduced to the audience and given seats upon the stand. They were Mrs. Sarah Vail, daughter of James Copus, and Mrs. Elizabeth Baughman, daughter of Captain James Cunningham. Twenty-two years have come and gone since these monuments, were unveiled. Many who were present upon that occasion, including a number who took part in the exercoses. are with us no more. A. J. BAUGHMAN CAMP COUNCIL. As Americans, we should remember, and as patriots we never can forget. the cost at which our National Independence was secured and has been 136 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY maintained. It cost seven long years of war to have America acknowledged as one of the nations of the earth; then came the struggle of 1812-15, for sailors' rights and for the protection of American commerce upon the high seas, against unreasonable search and seizure. Then our war with Mexico, where many brave boys found grave; in a foreign land, and then followed the war of the Rebellion, in which the boys in blue went forth to meet those in grey in the conflict of war, to maintain and uphold the union of the states, to give us in the future, as in the past, one country, one constitution. one destiny, under one flag. The arm which guides the hand which writes these lines, touched elbows with the boys in blue, and would like here to pay a tribute to the is it who carried the flag and kept step to the music of the Union—soldier what valor will continue to live in story and in song so long; as the peaks of the Rocky Mountains shall hold their snow-capped summits in the clouds of the sky, and the rivers that traverse our land flow onward to the sea. But it is the purpose of this chapter to deal with a few of the incidents and events of the war of 1812. Limit here will not permit of following the array of that period in its marches and trumphs' from Chippewa to Lundy's Lane and down through the sucesses and reverses of the years of that conflict, which ended in a blaze of glorious victory at New Orleans, January 8, 1815, when General Jackson whipped the Red Coats to a finish, but can only for a short distance follow Beall's trail to take a look at Camp Council, in the northern part of Richland county. At the time of which this deals Mansfield was only a small village and there were, but few settlers north or west of this. The Indians who had been peaceful in then way, before, were then acting as the allies of the British, and the settlers found it necessary to build blockhouses for protection from their savage foes. The settlers laud looked to the army in the north west for protection, but after Hull's surrender in August, 1812, this locality was in danger, alike, from the army of Great Britain and from marauding bands of Indians. To protect the settlers, Return Jonathan Meigs, then governor of Ohio, was organizing all army of volunteers and Colonel Kratzer, who had been stationed at Mt. Vernon, was ordered to Mansfield and his command was here joined by Captain James Cunningham's, and to this army was assigned the duty of guarding the western border. To protect the frontier on the north, General Reason Beall raised an annoy of two thousand melt, recruited principally in Columbiana, Harrison, Jefferson, Stark and Wayne counties, and came to the relief of the settlers on the northern border. While encamped for a few days at Wooster they heard of the Zeimer and Copus tragedies and hastened on to this county, cutting their way through a almost unbroken wilderness, and their route is called Beall's trail in history. Upon entering Richland county the army first went into camp on the Whetstone, where Olivesburg now stands. From the Whetstone they marched to the present, site of Shenandoah, There a short stop was made until a more desirable location was found a mile to the southwest, on land HISTORYOF RICHLAND COUNTY - 139 which is a part of the southeast quarter of section number 33, in Blooming Grove township, a short distarnce north of the south line of the township. General Beall went into camp there for the prupose of drilling his troops and to hold cousultation with the civil and military authorities as to the best means of protecting the settlers and the camp was, therefore, called "Camp Council." A brook, called Beall's Run, courses down a ravine that runs from the northeast to the southwest, and upon an upon an upland to the west and north the camp proper was located, the soldiers, clearing the land and using the wood for fuel. From the bank on the east side of the brook, a spring of clear. cold water rushes forth now as it did then, sufficient in volume to supply several thousand troops. The encampment was made about the middle of October and the army remained there for two months. As the camp was in an unsettled part of the country, with poor transportation facilities, it was difficult to obtain guartermaster and commissary supplies, and the troops had to do without proper clothing for the cold weather, which set in early that autumn, and were also put on short rations, which caused a. spirit of mutiny to develop among the men, a number of whom quietly made preparations to return to their homes. But ere such plans could be carried out, the commander-in-chief. General William Henry Harrison. who, learning of the threatened desertion, come said addressed the troops while on parade, appealing to their patriotism, to their manhood and to their honor, to stand by the old flag and to defend American home, aganist the murderous incursions of the Red Skins, and the threatened invasion of the Red Coats. He assured the soldiers that the camp would be provisioned as soon as possible and stated that, although they had been insufficiently provided for, their privations were light compared with those suffered by our forefathers in the war of the Revolution, who often left bloody footprints upon the frozen earth. The speech had the desired effect and not a man deserted. At that time the troops under General Beall had not been mustered into the service of the Federal government. General Wadsworth, to whose division General Beall's brigade belonged, ordered General Beall's command to Cleveland, which order General Beall refused to comply with, claiming that the exigencies of the situattion justified him in remaining at Camp Council to protect the frontier, and that his duty to his country would not permit him to leave the settlers in an exposed condition to the enemy, even to gratify the whim of a militia general. The result was that Beall was priced under arrest, his command taken from him the camp evacuated, and the troops marched to Cleveland. A court martial followed, resulting in General Beall's acquittal and his restoration to his command, with orders to reinforce General Winchester in the northwest. After marching his army as far as Freemont, received orders to return to Camp Avery, at Cleveland, where his men were mustered out of the service, their term of enlistment having expired. General Beall was a brave soldier. He had previously served in Harmar's campaign against the Indians, and was in action under General 140 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY Hardin, when that officer engaged "Little Turtle." And later he served as ensign under "Mad Anthony" Wayne, where he became acquainted with General Harrison, who was then on Wayne's staff, and the friendshiip there formed lasted for life. At the close of the war. General Beall returned to his home at New Lisbon ; was elected to Congress, where he served four years. and in 1840, was a presidential elector and had the pleasure of casting his vote for his old friend and comrade, General William Henry Harrison, for president of the United States. General Beall was afterward appointed register of the land office at Wouster, and died in that city, February 20, 1843. . GENERAL CROOKS' CAMPAIGN. While General Beall's army at Camp Coumcil. ten miles north of Mansfield, in the autumn of 1812, the governor of Pennsylvania sent a brigade of two thousand troops, under command of General Robert Crooks, to the assistance of General William Henry Harrison, in Ohio. From New Lisbon, General Crooks followed the Beall trail through Canton and Wooster to Jeromeville, where there was a block-house at that time. From Jeromeville the army crossed over from. the Jeromefork to the Blackfork of the Mohican at Greentown, where it encamped for the night. Nearly all the Indian huts had been burned prior to this and the village was deserted. From Greentown the brigade came over the route Colonel Crawford had taken thirty years before, up the Rockfork to Mansfield, where it went into camp on the east side of the village near the Big Spring. The date of General Crooks' arrival in Mansfield is not definitely known, but it was perhaps about the 18th or 20th of October, 1812. The army remained in Mansfield about six weeks awaiting the arrival of quartermaster and commissary stores, under Colonel Anderson. During the encampment here of General Crooks' army the troops assisted the settlers in clearing off about fifty acres of land. On account of the ground getting wet and muddy, the camp was changed from the east to the west part of the village. About the 10th of December. General Crooks was ordered to proceed to Upper Sandusky to assist in fortifying that place. Two days later Colonel Anderson reached Mansfield with his quartermaster, commissary and ordnance trains. Upon his arrival here, Colonel Anderson reported that "On the 12th (December) we reached the village of Mansfield, where we found two block-houses, a tavern and two stores." Colonel Anderson's outfit consisted of twenty-five cannon, mostly four and six-pounders. These were drawn by six horses, each. The cannon carriages, twenty-five in number, were drawn by four-horse teams. The ammunition was in large covered wagons. There were fifty covered road wagons the train, drawn by six horses each, and loaded with army stores. One of them carried money for paying the troops; the money was in coin and put up insmall iron-hooped kegs. The teamsters were each furn islAd with a gun, for use in case of an attack by the Indians. This army train was an imposing spectacle as it came up the Rockyfork valley to Mansfield. After remaining HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 141 here a few days for the horses to rest, the march to Upper Sandusky was resumed. The train was hardly out of sight of Mansfield, when it encountered a snowstorm, and the storm continued until the snow was two feet in depth. The groundl was unfrozen and the heavy wagons cut into the soft earth, making the journey a difficult one. At night the soldiers had to work several hours shoveling snowy to get a suitable place to pitch their tents and build fires to cook their food and to keep them from freezing. After being two weeks on the road, the brigade reached Upper Sandusky on New Years day, 1813. Previous to the war of 1812 the Indians, instigated by British emissaries, frequently attacked the frontier settlement's of the Northwest under the leadership of Tecumseh. These attacks caused General Harrison, to organize a force of militia to defend the frontier. A battle occurred between General Harrison's army and the Indians. on the 7th of November. 1811, and resulted in great loss to the Indians. It occurred on the banks of the Wabash river. and was called the battle of Tippecanoe. Though the Indians were defeated in the battle Tecumseh was not conquered, but continued hostilities against the settlers. Tecumseh's brother called the "Prophet " was an orator who could sway the feelings of the Indians, it has been stated, "as the gale tossed tree-tops beneath which they dwelt." On the 18th of June, 1812, war was declared against Great Britain by the United States. During that year General Harrison successfully met the British and the Indians in a number of battles. On the 5th of October, 1813, General Harrison attacked the British under Proctor and the Indians under Tecumseh and defeated them in the battle of the Thames. Tecumseh was killed and Proctor saved himself only by the speed of his horse. The triumph of American arms over those of Great Britian and her savage allies has been of far-reaching results. Had victory been on time other side, the destiny of the great West would have been marred forever. Jacob Newman, one of the first settlers in Richland county, acted as guide for General Crooks from Mansfield to Upper Sandusky. Mr. Newman contracted a severe cold on tins trip, from the effects of which he died the June following. During General Crooks' encampment in Mansfield, there was a severe wind storm winch blew down several trees in the public square. killing; two soldiers. General Crooks' campaign materiallv aided General Harrison in his warfare against the red skins, thus fulfilling the mission for which it was sent. Richland county has had many bloody tragedies within its borders. making its history one of much importance not only to this generation, but to those of the future. COLONEL CRAWFORD'S CAMPAIGN AND AWFUL DEATH. The Rev. Joshua Crawford, a kinsman of Colonel William Crawford, furnishes the following sketch of the colonel': campaign and awful death: "Some friend kindly sent me a copy of your excellent paper, in which I found a marked article from the Upper Sandusky Chief concerning the 142 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY exact spot where stood the stake at which Colonel William Crawford was burned by the Indians in 1782. I can throw no new light on the subject, and only know it wa by the Big Tymochtee, near a grove. I have never visited the tile place, but presume the grove has long since disappeared, and ever other mark save the lay of the land and the stream. It is reasonable, however, that those who from long residence nearby have kept a tab on the spot should make a much better giess than those unfamiliar with it. I am not in descendant of Colonel Crawford, but belong to his kindred, the family lines coming together in his grandfather five generations back of myself. His tragic death has been much talked of in the numerous Crawford circle. There are a few legendary tales of the battle which are somewhat different from written history, especially from 'Dodridge's Notes' as transcribed in Howe's historical Collections of Ohio. There were several members of the Dye and Leet families among the troops who intermarried with the McIntire and Bradens, ancestors of my mother, and some of whose descendants yet live southeast of Galion and also with the Hiskeys, who once resided south of Lexington, in Richland county. It is said that Major Leet differed with the other officers of the council of war held the night the retreat commenced. He proposed that instead of returning over the same route they had come they should cut through the enemy's lines, go southward to a point somewhere in the present Marion county. then turn eastward. and strike the Owl Creek trail, and take that to the forks of the Muskingum, now Coshocton, and thence over tile route of Bouquets army to Mingo Bottom. The council decided against him. Leet was self-willed unto stubbornness, and when the retreat was ordered, his cmmand being a part of the rear. he with ninety men broke away from the main body, carried out his project and reached the place of rendezvous before the others. Young John Crawford the spmn for whom the Colonel went back to search, was with this ninety and got home safely. "If this be true it solves the mystery of how Crawford and Knight were so soon lost from the army, for he kept on expecting to meet other troops and thus went too far. It is not known where Crawford was captured but. it was not, as some conjecture, near the place where the battle of the Olentangy was fought. It would have been sure death for them to have followed in the wake of the army, hence after proceeding northward for a few hours they turned, going eastward in a straight line as nearly as possible. They may have been captured somewhere in Vernon township, Crawford county. It is probable one more day of travel would have brought them to tine track of the returning troops. They would have struck the old trail leading from Mohican Johnstown to Mohican John Lake (Lake Odell), near which the main body encamped on the night of the 7th of June. "For many years public opinion has done Crawford and his army great injustice, seeming to regard the expedition as a wild and reckless raid without other motive than revenge and bloodshedding. To say that these brave men `hoped to murder the Moravian Indians before their belligerent friends could take up arms in their defense, is false. To say that it was rash and undertaken and conducted without sufficient force to encounter with any HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 143 prospect of success the Indians of the plains,", is a reflection on the wisdom of those who planned the campaign. "It never should he forgotten by true Americans that British officers who had the management of the war against our Revolutionary Fathers saw fit to hire savages to annoy our frontier and even condescended to pay a stipulated price for .American scalps. They made Detroit a center to supply the Indians with arms and all other munitions of war, and kept there a body of troops under Major De Peyster whose only purpose was to aid their savage allies. Under this inhuman stimulus the Indians made the whole frontier from Oswego, N. Y., to the mouth of the great Kanawha of Virginia red with the blaze of burning cabins and the blood of innocent and peaceable settlers. There was scarcely a mile in that long stretch that had not witnessed some horrid deed of massacre. The fagot and scalping knife were spreading terror everywhere. Something had to be done to relieve this dreadful situation. An unauthorized foray had gone to Gnadenhutten and wreaked a bloody revenge on those Christian Indians. It was wrong. and I blush at the shameful cruelty of the affair, and yet I assert that these Indians were not half as innocent and lamblike as some prejudiced writers try to make them appear. The village was full of treacherous spies and even bloodstained garments of massacred people were hidden there, and some of them died defiantly singing war songs instead of Christian hymns. The stronghold of Indians (paid allies of Great Britain) was the region of Upper Sandusky it was a, strategetical point, because it was at the head of canoe navigation of both the Ohio river and the Great Lake regions. Supplies could be transported from Detroit through the lakes and up the Sandusky to a point when the portage was only two mile; from thence over the Sciota to all the waters of the Ohio. The Crawford campaign was planned by General Irvine and submitted to General George Washington and received his approval. The design was to surprise and destroy or force a treaty from the Indians of this region before England help could reach them and thus put a cheek upon their cruel forays. That Gnadenhutten might not be repeated Colonel Crawford was chosen leader, with the understanding that the troops be permitted to vote for a leader, but if their vote had given it to Williamson the militia, would have been sent home and the expedition temporarily abandoned. It was planned in secret, and here was the fatal mistake. There were Tory sympathizers on the frontier and oven before the troops gathered at Mingo Bottom British spies had carried time news to Indian runners posted along the border who hurried to every Indian village of the Northwest and to Detroit. General Irvine had not calculated on the swiftness of these Indian runners nor the promptness of England to send aid to her savage allies. When Crawford reached the Upper Sandusky country there were not less than 500 Indians and 150 British troops ready to meet him and others pouring in every hour. Simon Girty an ingrate white man, but an Indian commander of no mean ability, and Captain Caldwell of the British army were on hand to plan the battle. A wooded knoll, since called battle Island, was the key to the situation, which was captured by Crawford's 144 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY men after a sharp conflict. The enemy made several strenuous attempts to retake it, but were sorely repulsed. "I shall not describe the battle for your readers are familiar with the details. Its Crawford's legends of which I wish to write. There are many tales of the losses on each side. Captain Caldwell, reporting to Major De Peyster, says: “My losses were very inconsiderable, one ranger killed and myself and two others wounded and four Indians killed and eight wounded. He estimated the American losses in killed and wounded at two hundred, and fifty. Let me say right here that Crawford's army consisted of 480 men, the finest marksmen in America. Being militiamen they may have lacked in military consistency, but they were not wanting in cool-headed bravery knowledge of Indian warfare and perfect marksmanship. They were not defeated nor demoralized. The only time of confusion was during the first few hours after the retreat commenced. when Indians and British opened a rapid fire in both front and rear. The fact that they fell back in two bodies, one of ninety and the other of three hundred men, is evidence that they were not panic stricken and the enemy did not capture any except isolated parties and these isolations were probably due to Lea's alisoliedieiiee of orders. The total loss of the Americans did not exceed seventy men and members of the troops even contended that they inflicted a heavier lose on the enemy than their own. Leet, a scout (not the major), who afterward married a Dye, told his children many times that when Battle Island was first taken fifteen dead Indians were found: and he further said the next day he saw Girty riding back and forth among the Indians greatly excited while they were carrying away the dead and wounded. He also said that during the retreat when Butler's rangers and some mounted Indians were making dashes to cat out stragglers he saw three white men fail from their saddle; who did not rise again. When the last dash was male near the Olentangy when Lieutentint Rose and Gunsaulus had placed a body of Americans in ambush and had sent out a few men to act as stragglers and decoy the foe, when the enemy came dashing up, he said, in all his war experience he had never seen so many saddles emptied in so short a time. This last little light so severely punished the enemy that they did not fire another shot at the main body, but contented themselves with picking up stray parties. "I do not know what per cent of the Dye, Leet and Braden tales are exaggeration, but 1 am sure that when the British and Indians undertook to retake the position they had lost that the unerring; marksmen at the frontier did not send them back unpunished. Neither would they allow themselves to be hectored from daylight until 2 or 3 p. m. by an exulting foe and not occasionally empty a saddle. Crawford's men never admitted that they were defeated in battle and boasted that they would have made short work of the thousand Indians, but it was the certainty of 400 English bayonets and thy boom of coming artillery that convinced then of the necessity of retreat. “Another story I have heard is that in 1806 when the surveyors were busy laying off the lands of Wayne and Richland counties, Mrs. Hannah Grawford, widow of the colonel visited the spot where her husband was burned and HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 145 at that time there was no grass growing upon it. Her guide was Billy Crawford, said to be a nephew of her husband. My informant says she stayed over night with his grandmother, Mrs. AIlison in Harrison county. and a man by the name of McBride her escort from there home. "Another legend claims that relatives and friends of Colonel Crawford swore uncompromising revenge against every Indian who helped handle the fagots that tortured him, and that they carried out this oath to the letter. That they were with Harmer, St. Clair and Wayne marking these Indians and shootin them at every opportunity, and even made a hunt on the banks of the Sandusky for this bloody purpose. It is said the last: one was shot in Holmes county in time of peace. Here is the story: "'An Indian once came to a tavern in Killbuck where under the influence of liquor he boasted that he was present at the burning of Colonel Crawford and said after the Big White Chief had fallen that he and several other Indians jumped on him and cut his heart out and he had eaten a piece of the raw heart and smacking his lips, said it tasted good. Billy Crawford heard this boast and when the Indian left he followed him. Billy afterward admitted that he killed him near Holmesville and buried the body and gun in a pile of stone. Years afterward the body was found, but such was the sympathy of the people for those who suffered from Indian outrages that nothing was ever done about it. "Society in those days had been worked up to a fearful spirit of revenge. Men had suffered under Indiam outrages until their natures became fierce and drove out that high semse of human love taught by the Savior and they went forth with guns in their hands to hunt and shoot, Indians as though they were wolves or bears.'” CAPTURE OF INDIAN ASSASSINS. To understand the condition of affairs prior to the Copus battle, we must consider the state of affairs and the menacing; attitude of Great Britain which led up to and culminated in the war of 1812. For years previous to this, Great Britain had been impressing our seaman and trying to deprive American vessels of the rights of commerce upon the high seas, and British ships of war had even been stationed before the principal harbors of the American coat, to board and search our merchant ships departing from or returning to the United States, and a number of American vessels had been captured and sent as prizes to the British ports, From, 1805 to 1811 over nine hundred American vessels ladened with rich and valuable cargoes, had been captured by British cruisers and hundreds of American citizens had been impressed into their service. The contempt in which tile British officers held the American navy led to an action prior to the year of 1812, The frigate "President.," commanded by Commodore Rogers, met a vessel one evening off the Virginia roast, which he hailed, but for all answer a shot was fired, which struck the main mast of the "President.'' The fire was instantly returned and was continued until Commodore Rogers ascertained his antagonist was disabled, where- 140 - HISTOIRY OF RICHLAND COUNTY upon he desisted. The vessel proved to be the British sloop-of-war "Littlebelt" carrying eighteen guns. There was no loss on the American side, but thirtythree were killed or wounded on the British sloop. Early in November, 1811, President Madison convened Congress and his message age to that body indicated apprehension of hostities with Great Britain, and Congress passed nets to increase the efficiency of both the army and navy. Although continuing to prepare, for war the administration still cherished the hope that a change of policy on the part of Great Britain would make an appeal to arms unnecessary, but in May, 1812, the "Hornet'' brought still more unfavorable news from across the waters, and on the 1st of June the President sent a message to Congress, recounting, the wrongs received from Great Britain and submitting the question whether the United States should continue to endure them, or resort to war. The message was considered by Congress with closed doors, and on the 4th of June a bill declaring war to exist between the United States, and Great Britain, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of seventy-nine to forty-nine, and on the 7th it passed the Senate by a vote of nineteen to thirteen, and on the soon day it received the signature of the president, who two days later issued his war manifesto. For a while the American army met with reverses, debeat being added to defeat and surrender following surrender, General Hull, the governor of the territory of Michigan, commanded the American troops at Detroit. then considered the most important point on the lakes. With a flourish of trumpets he crossed the river on the 12th of July to attack Malden. with Monreal as an ulterior point. But receiving information that Fort Mackinaw had surrendered to the British and that a large force of Red Coats and Red Skins were coming down to overwhelm the American troops, General Hull hastened to leave the Canadian shore, re-crossed the river and retund to Detroit. General Brock, the commandant at Malden, pursued General Hull and placed batteries opposite Detroit bearing on the town. The next day meeting with no oppositionm, General Brock marched directly forward as if to assault the fort. The American troops being confident of victory looked with complacency upon the approach of the enemy and calmly awaited the order to "fire.'' But to the dismay of the soldiers. Hull ran up the while flag and surrendered, the most disgraceful act in American history. Hull's surrender was made on the 16th of August (1812) . By that cowardly and treasonable act the whole Michigan frontier was placed in the hands of the British. Hull, who was then governor of Michigan, had been an officer in the War of the Revolution, in which service he had acquitted himself with credit. William Hull was born in Derby, Conn., June 24. 1753. He died at Newton, Mass., in disgrace and dishonor, November 29, 1825. Sometime after the surrender of Hull. General Van Rensselaer, with headquarter at Lewistown, led his troop, across the Niagara river to attack a fort at Queenstown, but after a long and hard fought engagement, was forced to surrender. In that action General Brock was killed. While these reverses prolonged the war and enboldened the Indians to commit greater HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 149 atrocities, the Americans neverlost confidence in the final result. Although the armies suffered defeat for a time, the navy gained victory after victory, which were particularly gratifying to American pride, for the victories were won by that class whose rights had been violated. Those victories were gained. too, over a nation whose navy was the mistress of the seas. Our naval victories were estended from the ocean to the great lakes, where Commodore Perry, on the 10th of September (1813), on Lake Erie, won imperishable fame. Perry's dispatch at the close of the engagement, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours," is still resounding down the aisles of time. The army finally achieved syccesses, as the navy had previously done, and these led up to the final defeat of the British by General Jackson at New Orleans, January 8, 1815. Ln this battle, General Jackson in command of about 6,000 militia, concentrated his forces four miles below the city within a line of entrenchments a mile long extending from the river far into the swamp. He was attacked in this position by 12,000 British troops, under command of General Packenham. As the British approached, a terrible cannonade was opened from the American batteries, yet the British continued to advance to within rifle range, when vollev after voiley of bullets poured into their ranks. The British column soon wavered. General Packenham fell and the entire British army fled in dismay, leaving seven hundred dead and more than one thousand wounded on the field. The American loss was bult small—seven killed and six wounded. This victory led to peace, which was proclaimed February 18, 1815, just two years and eight months from the day that war had been declared in this war the Indians acted as the allies of the British. History states that Lord Dorchester, then Governor-General of Canada, industriously instigated the lndians to hostilities against the American settlers and that he had agents throughout Ohio and elsewhere, distributing blankets, food, ammunition and arms among the Indians and that at Maiden a reward was paid for every white mans scalp brought in by the Indians. And not only elsewhere, but in our own county the British got in their work successfully with the Indians, especially at Greentown and Jeromeville, where the savages had received supplies and munitions of war from the Bristish. This fact coupled with their suspicious actions, and at times war-like demonstrations, gave the white settlers reasonable cause to believe that the savages contemplated a murderous assault upon them. At the time of which I write, Colonel Kratzer, who was in command of the few troop, stationed at Mansfield, received orders to remove the Indians from both Greento and Jeromeville, as a precautionary measure against an outtbreak,and for that purpose. Colonel Kritzer sent Captain Douglas of his command to enforce the order. There were about eight Indians at Greentown and more at Jeromeville, and it has been doubted whether Captain Douglas could have successfully coped with them. But such questions are only discussed in "piping times of peace," for in times of war, American soldiers whip the enemy first and discuss the situation afterwards. Captain Armstrong, who was the Greentown chief at that time, at first. refused to consent to be removed. Captain Douglas then sought the aid of