(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) AUTOBIOGRAPHY SAMUEL ALANSON LANE, fourth son of Comfort and Betsey (Sikes) Lane, was born in Suffield, Hartford County, Conn., June 29, 1815. The father, a carriage maker by trade an extensive manufacturer of the old-time thorough-brace stage coach owing to a natural aptness in that direction, had designed the boy, Alanson, for a carriage and ornamental painter, and hence, during his childhood, he was permitted to dabble in colors to his heart's content, his own face, hands and clothing often presenting a more variegated and picturesque appearance than the majority of the lavishly bepraised subjects of his juvenile pencil. The father dying, when the lad was but thirteen years of age, and the business being discontinued, that plan had to be abandoned, and the next two and a half years were devoted to school and such agricultural labor, at home and among neighboring farmers, as such a boy was capable of performing an arrangement to enter the painting department of a large chair manufactory in an adjoining town, as an apprentice, having been foiled by the destruction of the establishment by fire. In addition to his repute, as a carriage maker, "Judge" Lane, as he was called by his neighbors, was quite an inventor, not only in the way of mechanical devices in the furtherance of his own business, but shortly before his death he constructed and patented the "Suffield Cotton Gin" a machine which it was confidently believed would supersede the celebrated Whitney Cotton Gin—the parchment letters patent, dated March 24, 1825, (now in possession PHOTO OF SAMUEL A. LANE. 2 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. of the writer) bearing the autograph signatures of John Quincy Adams, President; Henry Clay, Secretary of State; and William Wirt, Attorney General; a single clerk in the office of the Secretary of State then performing the entire clerical work of the Patent Department, while an average of 500 employes in that branch of the government are now scarcely adequate to its necessities. Death intervening, however, before its practical introduction, the device was of no pecuniary benefit to the heirs of the inventor. MERCHANT'S CLERK, BOOK-AGENT, ETC. May 1, 1831, then not quite 16 years of age, young Lane engaged as clerk in the store of Mr. Billings Brown, father of the present United States Judge, Henry Billings Brown, in the paper manufacturing village of South Lee, Berkshire Co., Mass., with whom he served a year and a half, when he entered the larger establishment of Mr. Austin Hayden, at Pittsfield, in the same county, with whom he remained six months. Returning home for a visit, in the Spring of 1833, an arrangement was made with a Hartford publishing house for the canvass of Merrimac County, New Hampshire, for the sale of the then popular History of the United States, by Chauncey A. Goodrich, which service was so satisfactorily performed that, in the Fall of the same year, he was assigned to similar duty in the States of South Carolina and Georgia, with headquarters at Augusta; the journey from New York to Charleston being made in the sailing vessel, "John C. Calhoun," there then being no ocean steamers, (not even coastwise); the journey from Charleston to Augusta being over the then just completed Charleston and Augusta. Railroad, at that Time the longest railroad in the World-130 miles. A CONTEMPORARY OF "BOB" TOOMBS. While awaiting the arrival of books, in the late Summer and early Autumn of 1834, during a very heated political campaign, a position, as mailing clerk and assistant editor, was accepted in the office of the "Southern Spy," at Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia, then, and until his death, the home of the afterwards notorious secession agitator and rebel general, Robert Toombs—the "Spy" being a strong Jackson, or Union, paper, with the talented young lawyer, Toombs, as one of its most vigorous writers against John C. Calhoun's nullification heresies, so prevalent in South Carolina and Georgia about those days. While thus employed, in addition to his mailing and editorial duties, the writer obtained something of an insight into the "Art Preservative of All Arts "—printing—which was to be such a potent factor in the shaping (or unshaping) of his future life. AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 3 A NIGHT IN AN INDIAN WIGWAM. On concluding his book-canvassing labors, in the late Fall of 1834, the writer, then nineteen years of age, concluded to resume mercantile life, and permanently settle in the South. Not succeeding in finding a clerkship in Augusta, and the several other cities and villages visited in Georgia and South Carolina, in company with a young northern printer, a few years his senior, he started, in his double-rig Yankee peddling wagon, overland, for Mobile, Alabama, having to pass through the territory of the Creek Indians, then in rather an unamiable mood, by reason of the agitation of the question of removing them beyond the Mississippi. It was about sixty miles through the territory, with one intervening white settlement and trading post about midway, at the ferry across the Wetumpka river. The road through the wilderness was blind and difficult, the Indian trails, from time to time diverging therefrom, being more distinct than the road itself. Darkness setting in, before reaching the ferry, we at length found ourselves wedged in among the trees, and on reconnaissance, in the darkness, for we had no means of striking a light (friction matches not being then in general use, as now), discovered that we had branched off on to a trail, but were wholly unable to discern the point of divergence. In this dilemma, our only resource, except to remain all night where we were, was to unhitch our horses and follow the trail whithersoever it might lead. A quarter of a mile, or so, brought us to a log but in which were two squaws—evidently mother and daughter. Endeavoring, by words and signs, to make them under, stand that we wanted to find our way to the ferry across the Wetumpka river, the elder squaw lighted a pine-knot torch, and motioning to us to follow, started diagonally to the left from the trail we were on, through the woods, ten minutes' walk bringing us to the bank of the river, running rapidly and darkly through the murky forest. We were now, of course, no better off than before, and could only follow our guide back to her hut, where we found a gayly dressed young Indian buck, to whom we also endeavored to explain the situation, in doing so, in addition to signs, saying in English that we had got lost, wanted some supper anti to stay all night. Borrowing a torch, he started in an opposite direction, we and our horses following. Our guide was in a very merry mood, indeed, gayly singing as he went, his music being interspersed with loud peals of laughter, frequent repetition of our phrases, "got loss! got loss! suppaw! suppaw! 'tay all night! 'tay all night! "etc., with an occasional blood-curdling and hair-lifting Indian yell, or whoop, that made the surrounding woods—the darkness being intensified by the flaming torch he was carrying—all ring again! 4 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. RIGHT ROYALLY ENTERTAINED. Ten or fifteen minutes brought us to a somewhat more pretentious cabin, from which, warned by the noisy antics of our guide, there came forth to meet us a fine looking Indian, somewhat past middle life, his wife, another buck about 25 years of age and his wife, the latter bearing in her arms a six or eight months' old pappoose—our guide also being a member of the family. After a short palaver with the head of the family, active measures for our "entertainment" were inaugurated, the men helping us to unharness and properly secure and feed our horses, the feed consisting of corn in the ear, and corn-fodder cured in the same manner as among the planters of the South, generally, in those days. Our " suppaw" consisted of bread made from pounded corn, and baked before the fire, sweet potatoes roasted in the ashes, some bear's meat fried in a small iron kettle, and some sort of homemade but quite palatable coffee, the rude table being set with regular dishes—plates, cups and saucers, knives, forks, spoons, etc. Later in the evening, and just before retiring to rest, the family supper was partaken of. A large tub of mush and milk was placed in the middle of the bare earth floor, the members of the, family squatting themselves in a circle around it. It was provided with one large wooden spoon, or ladle. The elder Indian, picking up the spoon, takes a mouthful and returns the spoon to the tub. The elder squaw next takes a mouthful, and so on around, according to age, a running merry conversation being kept up during the repast, of which the "strangers within their gates" were apparently the principal subjects. Across one end of the cabin was a platform, about two feet from the floor and six feet in depth, devoted to sleeping purposes. Spreading a blanket on one end, and rolling up some of their surplus clothing for pillows, they motioned us to take our places thereon, my chum taking to the wall and myself turning in next to him, with a blanket for covering. The elder Indian then planted himself next to me, the old squaw next, and the younger squaw with her pappoose next, the two younger bucks stretching themselves out upon the floor. Our slumbers were reasonably tranquil, being occasionally interrupted by the distant howl of the festive wolf, and once or twice disturbed by the rushing forth of our hosts to drive away their own horses running loose in the woods, while trying to pick a quarrel with our animals in the snug pole-pen in which they had been corralled. AGAIN UPON OUR WINDING WAY. Rising with the earliest dawn, harnessing our horses, paying our hosts liberally in silver coin for our entertainment, and bidding AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 5 them all good-by, we started in the direction of our wagon. The three bucks, however, fell into our wake and helped to get our wagon up into the main road, only a few rods distant, it appearing that the trail ran for a considerable distance nearly parallel at the foot of the ridge along which the wagon road passed. The contents of our wagon were found to be intact, and producing from one of the trunks some slight presents of cheap jewelry, pictures, etc., for each of the three bucks, the two squaws and the pappoose, we again bid our tawny friends good-by and started for the ferry. The people at the ferry were very greatly astonished at our early call to be ferried over the river, it being deemed very unsafe for pale-face strangers to travel through the territory, especially at night, a number of murders having been committed during the previous Summer. From our account of our night's adventure, it was thought that we had staid at the house of one of their 'kings," who, as well as the other members of the household, could both understand and speak English, but that their natural cunning led them to affect ignorance with strangers, in order, as in our case, to learn what might be said about them; but that even had our criticisms been offensive to them, having sought their hospitality, they would have permited no harm to come to us or our belongings within the limits of their jurisdiction. TWENTY APPLICANTS TO ONE VACANCY. Disposing of my horses, wagon and other property, at Mobile, I renewed my efforts to obtain a clerkship, but without success, as was also the case at New Orleans, whither I went a couple of weeks later, there being scores of young men from the North watching for any vacancy that might possibly occur. I then " floated" up the river to Louisville and Cincinnati, where everything in that line was also found to be more than full. In the latter city I made an arrangement with a publishing house to canvass for a book in the northeastern portion of the State, but on going to the office the next morning, to procure my outfit, found the entire establishment in ashes. Thus, for the second time, had my plans been frustrated by fire. I now determined to visit " New Connecticut," as the Western Reserve was then called, where, at Aurora, Portage County, an old family friend, 'Squire Artemas W. Stocking, a former employe of my father, was located, an unmarried aunt of mine being also a member of the 'Squire's family. NARROW ESCAPE FROM ARREST. My journey from Cincinnati to Cleveland was by stage, via Columbus, Mount Vernon, Wooster, etc. Leaving Cleveland by 6 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY stage, before daylight, on the morning of Wednesday, March 4, "dragging our slow length along," through the unfathomable clay mud of the " turnpike," between Newburg and Twinsburg, we arrived at the " stage Mouse," in the latter village, between 9 and 10 o'clock in the forenoon. Taking breakfast with the rest of the passengers, while they resumed their journey I sought to secure a chance ride for myself and baggage, to Aurora, five miles to the eastward. No such chance presenting itself, I remained to dinner and finally, leaving my two hand trunks at the hotel, I started for Aurora on foot. During my stay at the hotel, at which, besides the landlord and his help, a number of village idlers dropped in during the afternoon, I had probably, like many another " traveled" young man not yet out of his teens, put on a good many airs, and perhaps in settling my bill made a somewhat reckless display of the rather showy, but exceedingly meager amount of wealth of which I was then possessed. My Aurora friends, whom I had not seen for five years, made me very welcome, and the next day the 'Squire loaned me his horse and wagon to go for my baggage, the 'Squire's younger brother, " Sam" (about my own age) accompanying me. Through the 'Squire and Sam I was pretty well acquainted with most of the villagers by the end of the week, some of whom were from the same town in Connecticut. On Sunday morning, about 10 o'clock, while the rest of the family were reading or resting in their rooms, I slipped out to the 'Squire's carriage shop .to sharpen my knife. The grindstone was under the staging in front of the shop, and while turning the crank with my right hand, and holding on with the left, I observed three men approaching from the direction of the hotel, while quite a crowd stood in front of the hotel, apparently watching for something extraordinary to "turn up." As the trio approached, I discovered one of them to be a young man with whom I had been quite familiar at the 'Twinsburg hotel. I greeted them pleasantly, and, in answer to the leader's inquiry for 'Squire Stocking, directed him to the house, the back way, through the shop. Entering the shop, I sat down on a saw-horse at one of the benches and began honing my knife, holding the whetstone in my left hand, the two remaining men following me in, apparently much interested in the work I was, performing. Presently the other stranger, with the 'Squire and Sam, put in appearance, the faces of the two latter bearing a distressed expression that I could not at the moment account for. After an embarrassing silence of a few seconds, the leader directed his attention to me by saying: "Your name is Lane, is it?" "Yes, sir," I replied. "Well, Mr. Lane, I desire to ask you a few, questions," said he. "All AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 7 right, go ahead," said I. "Mr. Lane, where did you come from to Aurora?" "From Twinsburg," I replied. " Where from to Twinsburg?" "Cleveland." "Where from to Cleveland?" "Wooster." " Where from to Wooster?" " Mount Vernon." " Where from to Mount Vernon?" " Colu mbus." "Where from to Columbus?" "Cincinnati." " Where from to Cincinnati?" "Louisville." " Where from to Louisville?" "New Orleans." "Mr. Lane, were you ever in Detroit?" " No, sir; but I should very 'much like to go there," said I, jestingly. " Well, sir," said he, sternly, "you may soon have your wish." He then asked: "Mr. Lane, did you ever go by the name of Charles Lewis ?" " No, sir!" " Or by the name of George Davis?" "No, sir!" During this colloquy I had continued sharpening my knife, and at this stage my interrogator said: "Mr. Lane will you oblige me by straightening out the fingers of your left hand?" " Suppose I can't do it, what then?" I smilingly enquired. "It will be all the better foryou, if you can," he rather savagely replied. After a few seconds' aggravating delay, I suddenly extended my open hand towards him for inspection. "You are not the man I'm after," he stammeringly responded and then it was my turn to ask questions. His explanation was this: That he was a Deputy Sheriff from Detroit; that a young man named Charles Lewis, but who sometimes called himself George Davis, about 25 years old, and answering to my general description, but with the fingers upon his left hand seriously crippled, had committed several forgeries in Detroit, and was also believed to be connected with an extensive gang of counterfeiters. The officer (who had never seen him) had traced him to Cleveland, and from thence on board the Pittsburg stage, on Thursday morning (it will be remembered that I came to Twinsburg on Wednesday morning); that on reaching Twinsburg, on the Saturday morning stage, he, the officer, was assured by landlord Grant and his bar-keeper, that the party he was after had stopped off there and had gone to Aurora to visit one of the most respectable men of that township, 'Squire Stocking, their statement being verified by the dining room girl, who had particularly observed that in handling my fork and food, I didn't straighten out the fingers of my left hand; while the clerk was sure I had quite a quantity of counterfeit money with me. Thus assured, he had remained at Twinsburg over night, as the man he was in pursuit of was a desperate character, always went armed to the teeth, and a dangerous customer to encounter in the dark. On Sunday morning, calling to his assistance a Twinsburg constable, and taking along a young man who had seen me at the hotel, to point me out, the Detroiter and his posse had duly arrived at the Aurora hotel as stated. 8 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. Making known his mission to landlord Woodruff, and others at the hotel, he was assured that there must be some mistake about the matter, but he knew better; he was after the right man, and though he expected to meet with a desperate resistance (exhibiting a number of weapons) he intended to secure him either dead or alive, even if he had to take him out of church, to which it was suggested that I might have accompanied the family. At this juncture the spy of the party had observed me passing from the house to the shop, and entering upon the knife sharpening operation alluded to, and they had approached as stated. On making known his errand to the 'Squire, he also assured the officer that there certainly must be some mistake about it, as his young friend was the son of his old boss, Judge Lane, of Suffield, Conn., and although he had not known much about him for five or six years, it could not be possible he was the desperado intimated. The officer, however, was positive, and called upon the 'Squire as a magistrate, notwithstanding his friendship for the family, to aid him in bringing the offender to justice. The rest has already been told. By the time the denouement had been reached, a number of the villagers had ventured into the shop. To say that the 'Squire and Sam were indignant, and the by-standers excited, would be a mild statement. Sam was for booting the Detroiter and his Twinsburg aids out of the shop, and several other young men manifested an ardent desire to help him do it; but the 'Squire and myself interceded and they were permitted to depart in peace. Whether the real Charles Lewis, alias George Davis, was ever apprehended, this deponent knoweth not; but one thing is certain, the writer, for over half a century, has retained a very vivid recollection of his first visit to Twinsburg, though his intercourse with many of her good people during the intervening 56 years has been both intimate and pleasant. ARTISTICAL, THEATRICAL, ETC. Remaining with my friends nearly two months, about the first of May, 1835, I again started out to "seek my fortune." At this time the art of making sun pictures had not been discovered, and aside from painted portraits and miniatures, about the only mode of securing a semblance of the "human face divine," was by the silhouette process drawing, with tracing rod and universal joint, a sideview outline of the features on white paper, deftly cutting out the same and placing a piece of black silk back of the opening, the whole being mounted with frame and glass. On this crude device I essayed an improvement, in that, instead of cutting out the center and producing a simple black profile, I finished it up with pencil, india ink and water colors, AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 9 tracing in the hair, eyebrows, eye, nostril, lips, ear, chin, wrinkles, drapery, etc., my apparatus being adjustable from miniature up to quarter size. After some gratuitous experiments in Aurora, my first objective "business" point was Ravenna and the contiguous townships of Shalersville and Streetsboro. Though infinitely superior to the plain black profile, owing to the enhanced. cost of their production, and the general scarcity of money in the country, the business did not prove to be remarkably remunerative, besides footing it from house to house with my pretty heavy outfit, was found to be decidedly hard work. At this time an amateur dramatic company—The Thespian Society—was being organized by the young people of Ravenna, and I was invited to assist in painting the scenery, also taking prominent parts in both the tragedy of "Barbarossa" and the comedy of "Fortune's Frolic," during "Court Week" of the June term, 1835. HOTEL CLERK, BAR-TENDER, ETC. My Aurora friends advised me, whatever I did, by all means to steer clear of Akron. But during my brief stay in Ravenna I met a number of Akron gentlemen, lawyers and others, at the hotel where I boarded, and after closing my theatrical "engagement," I concluded to run over and take a look at it. Accordingly, on Wednesday, June 10, 1835 - by stage, via Franklin Mills, (Kent) Stow Corners, Cuyahoga Falls, Old Forge and Middlebury - I wended my way thither, sleeping the first night in the southwest corner, second story, of the frame building now standing on the northeast corner of South Main and Exchange streets, then kept by Mr. Lewis Humiston, and designated as the "Stage House," and later as the "Railroad House," and kept by Mr. Charles P. McDonald, father of the veteran livery man, Mr. Yenning McDonald. The next day, visiting North Akron, or "Cascade," as it was. then called, I made an arrangement with Mr. Charles B. Cobb, proprietor of the "Pavilion House," northwest corner of Howard and Market streets, to keep his books, tend bar, wait upon guests and make myself generally useful for my board, until some other suitable employment could be found. Clerkships were as scarce then in Akron as in the other Western and Southern towns which I had visited, and by this time I was beginning to think that "counter-jumping" wasn't very good business, anyhow. (The grapes were getting very sour, you see.) ANOTHER NARROW ESCAPE. At this juncture, the late Gen. Lucius V. Bierce, then the Prosecuting Attorney for Portage County, being about to establish 10 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. an office in Akron, made me a proposition to enter his office as a law student, offering to furnish me with gratuitous instruction, and to help me through with my board during my studies. I interposed the objection that my education was inadequate, having no knowledge whatever of Latin or the other dead languages. But the General held that all that was needed to make a successful lawyer was a fair common school education, a reasonable familiarity with Shakespeare and the Bible, and ordinary commonsense. Distrusting my own inquisitorial and forensic abilities, however, I respectfully declined the General's kind proposition, and the legal world will probably never realize the full magnitude of its loss, by reason of such declination, though the "generality of mankind in general" may well congratulate itself upon its narrow escape from so calamitous an infliction. HOUSE AND SIGN PAINTER, SCHOOL-TEACHER, ETC. About two months later, as half apprentice and half journeyman, I entered the service of a house and sign painter, my first job being a piece of ornamental work that the boss himself was incapable of performing. With the slowing up of work in the late Fall, I again returned to the " Pavilion," but a few days later engaged to teach the, school in district number seven, Portage township, (opposite the northeast corner of the present Infirmary farm), as detailed in another part of this volume. EMBARKS IN BUSINESS FOR HIMSELF. After the close of my school, in the Spring of 1836, I opened shop as a full-fledged "House, Sign and Ornamental Painter," and though not making "rich" come very fast, I may, with all due modesty, claim that I was fully as expert on general work as any of my "regularly bred" contemporaries, while on sign-writing and ornamental work I was ahead of all competitors, with considerable skill as a wood and copper-plate engraver, stencil-plate and brand-pattern maker for marking flour barrels, etc. PUBLISHER OF THE "AKRON BUZZARD." As detailed in Chapter XI of this work, under the editorial non/ de plume of " Jedediah Brown bread, Esq.," while still carrying on my painting business, on the 7th day of September, 1837, I started a small semi-monthly paper under the above title, utilizing my knowledge of the printing business acquired in the office of the "Southern Spy," by setting up and striking off the first number with my own hands, with the type and press of Judge Bryan's suspended Akron Journal, elsewhere alluded to, afterwards hiring it printed in the office of the American Balance. AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 11 The object of the paper was to combat and expose the blacklegism, and other crookedness and wrong doing then so prevalent in Akron and neighboring villages along the line of the canal. The editorials were constructed on the Yankee dialect plan, these' excerpts from its salutatory being an example: "You see, I cum from Varmount about tew munths ago. Uncle Jed was monstrous glad tu see me, now I tell you. Says he, Jedediah,'(you see I was named arter Uncle Jed, and he thinks a monstrous site of me), I'm mity glad you've cum and I've bin 'spectin you this tew or three years, for I new that a chap of your genus and enterprise wood'nt be contented tu stay in Varmount all your lifetime, an' then die poor, when you cood make a fortin here in six munths.' * * * You see, I was raised to the occupashun of teechin the young idee how to shute, but seein as how as that's ruther poor bizness in this secshun, I've concluded to try my hand at editerin awhile. Uncle Jed says that a real-jolly-nothin-tu-du-with-polyticks-anti-blackleg-respectable paper will du well here, an that's jist what I'm goin tu print. * * * Sum folks may think, perhaps, that I've got a curious name for my paper, so I'll jist explain it tu em. You see, a buzzard is a kind of hawk, an my "Buzzard" is near of kin tu the turkey-buzzard that I've hern tell on way down south, where it's a fine tu kill 'em, cause, you see, they remove all the filth an carin from the streets. Now, you see, I calkulate to make my paper prodigous handy in this way. If there 's enny thing wrong goin on, I calkulate to tell on't, an expose an endevor to remove newsances and so forth from the city." THREATENINGS DIRE, ASSAULTS, ETC. As may well be imagined, the plain-speaking of the BUZZARD was well calculated to arouse the ire of the wrong-doers inveighed against, and many threats to destroy the office where it was printed, whip, and even shoot, the editor, were indulged in, and innumerable schemes for revenge were attempted, a few, only, of which can be noticed here. One evening, just at dusk, after the appearance of a pretty pointed article on counterfeiting and counterfeiters, a boy entered the office saying that there was a gentleman at a neighboring hotel who wished to see me. Learning, on inquiry, that a well-known blackleg, by the name of George Miller, had sent the message, I at once suspected that mischief was brewing, but not wishing to exhibit the white-feather, in company with a friend, I promptly responded to the message. As I entered the bar-room, in which were a number of well-known sporting gentlemen who made the hotel their headquarters, I found the head-center of the counterfeiting fraternity, "Jim" Brown, in confidential conversation with the said George Miller, and noticed the significant glances and grimaces indulged in by the crowd. 12 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. Approaching the bar I said to the mixer of whisky toddies: "Your boy told me there was a gentleman here who wanted to see me. Who is he?" "I don't know," replied the bar-keeper, "he's a stranger; you'll find him in the sitting room." Thinking it possible that some Eastern acquaintance might have come to town, but still keeping my wits about me, I stepped across the hall and opened the sitting-room door. The first glimpse revealed the fact that, though not yet lighting up time, the window curtains were closely drawn and the room duly lighted. Keeping my hand still upon the latch of the door, I swung myself far enough into the room to discover that its only occupant, standing with his back to the grate, was a well-known local bruiser by the name of "Jim" Blane, who a few years later, while drunk, fell from the West Market street bridge to the canal towing-path below and broke his neck. " Good evening, Mr. Blane," I said pleasantly. " G'n'ev'ning," he surlily responded. "I was told there was a gentleman here who wanted to see me, but I don't see any," I said, and swinging myself back into the hall, closed the door, and re-entered the barroom, into which, by this time, had come quite a number of mechanics, merchants and others, regular boarders in the house. It afterwards transpired that " Jim" Brown had hired the other " Jim" to give me a drubbing, not only the blackleg habitues of the house, but the rascally bar-keeper also, entering into the conspiracy, the plan being to inveigle me into the room with the bruiser, who, while his confederates were to hold and guard the door upon the outside, was to "decorate" my countenance and other portions of my corporeal economy. A NEARLY FATAL RENCOUNTER. Up to this time I had never gone armed, but after the occurrence narrated, my young friend, the late Henry J. Frost, of Wooster, then clerking for Mr. P. D. Hall, handed me an old-fashioned single-barreled brass pistol (ready loaded) with which to defend myself, should another attempt be made to inflict personal injury upon me. This weapon I carried in the right hand skirt pocket of my overcoat, while upon the street, and deposited it upon a shelf, above the editorial table, while in the office. A few days later, having an item of business with the brother of the landlord of the hotel in question, as I started to leave the bar-room I was confronted by a six-foot, double-fisted habitue of the house, by the name of Dwight Spooner, who, seizing me by the collar with his huge left hand, began making hostile demonstrations towards my physiognomy with his right. Instinctively I thrust my right hand into my overcoat pocket, at which one of the half dozen black-legs present, who were hissing my assailant on, AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 13 seized my elbow and threatened to put an end to me if I attempted to draw a pistol. Quietly withdrawing my hand, I appealed to the landlord for protection. Instead of compelling the ruffian to release his hold, the landlord, opening the door, said: " If you are going to fight, gentlemen, you must go out of doors," and as my assailant backed out through the hall and front door, his brawny fist still glued to the collar of my coat, it may be taken for a fact, without substantiation by affidavit, that I didn't hang back any! The blackleg fraternity followed us out and continued to hiss the drunken bully on, but the commotion also attracted the attention of respectable people upon the street, who immediately gathered around us. Drawing back his right fist, and pulling me towards him with his left, he would maudlinly exclaim: " Shall I strike you! Shall I mash your face for you! " etc. Meantime I had quietly slipped my hand into my pocket, cocked my pistol, and, as near as I could calculate, aimed it in the direction of the fellow's abdomen, with full determination to pull the trigger the instant his fist came in contact with my face, saying in response to his questions, as to whether he should strike me, "You can do as you please about it, Dwight, but I advise you not to, as you may feel had about it afterwards." Happily, however, for both Spooner and myself, such bystanders as Col. Justus Gale, Mr. Lyman Cobb, Mr. James B. Taplin, Alfred R. Townsend and others, compelled him to release his hold, before bringing his drunken courage up to the striking point. His blackleg coadjutors, however, plying him still further with liquor, urged him to visit my office, and finish up the job. Half an hour later, I heard some one blunder up the stairs and open the door. Looking around, there stood my late assailant, hanging on to the door casing, incoherently inquiring if I was going to "Buthard" him again. Seizing the pistol from the shelf, I started towards him, telling him to get out of my office, or I would Buzzard him so that he would stay Buzzarded, and he "got," falling heels over head down the stairs, and vomiting all over the landing and the platform upon the outside. Subsequent examination revealed the fact that in addition to a large charge of powder, that pistol contained four buck-shot and three slugs of lead about one-fourth of an inch square. It makes me shudder, even to this day, to contemplate the consequences to my assailant, and possibly to myself and the by-standers, that would have followed the discharge of that pistol. ANOTHER SHARP GAME THAT DIDN'T WIN. In those days the village of Franklin Mills (now Kent), like many another western village (and eastern, too, for that matter), boasted of a number of very fast young men, who, though admitted 14 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. to the very best society, were from time to time guilty of the most immoral practices. Among this class was a young and enterprising business man, who, later in life, having abandoned his evil courses, not only became the head of a highly respectable family, but one of the political, commercial and financial magnates of Northern Ohio. The BUZZARD'S Franklin Mills correspondent having laid bare some of the more flagrant violations of the moral code, by this gay and festive Lothario and his associates, it immediately came to my ears that he was threatening to come to Akron and_" whip me within an inch of my life." A day or two later, however, I received a very polite letter from the gentleman, enclosing a one dollar note, with the request that I should send him my "very valuable paper" for one year. This I supposed was the mode of "vengeance" that he had finally concluded upon, instead of inflicting the threatened personal chastisement. But this proved to be an erroneous conclusion, for a short time afterwards, one afternoon, a boy brought me a note of about the following purport : " OHIO EXCHANGE, AKRON, March 7, 1838. "Compliments of Mr. Blank, of Franklin Mills, to Mr. S. A. Lane, and would be pleased to see Mr. Lane at room 24, Ohio Exchange." Knowing that room 24 was in the rear end of the third story of the hotel, and surmising the true intent of the "call," I dispatched as polite a reply, by the boy, saying that it was inconvenient for Mr. Lane to visit the Ohio Exchange, but that Mr. Lane would be happy to see Mr. Blank at his office. Up to this time I had never met Mr. Blank, and not knowing exactly what kind of an adversary I had to deal with, I invited in three or four friends from adjoining offices to witness the interview. Presently Mr. Blank, a medium sized but robust young man, presented himself, accompanied by a six-foot-two stalwart friend, whom he introduced as Captain Pierce. After mutual introductions, and a little desultory conversation, Mr. Blank expressed a desire to speak with me in private. Leading the way to a back room I invited him to a seat and to state his wishes. Thereupon, in stentorian tones that could be heard all over the neighborhood, he exclaimed: "Mr. Lane, I have come down here to ascertain who wrote that blankety blank scurrilous article signed Jerry,' in your last BUZZARD." "Well, Mr. Blank," I replied, "I am not authorized to give you the name of the writer of that article without his consent. But if there was anything unjust or untrue in the article, of course I stand ready to make the amen de honorable." AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 15 "It don't make a blankety blank's difference whether the article was true or false, I'm not going to be held up to public contempt, through the press, without having satisfaction, and if you don't give me the name of the writer of that article you will have to take the consequences." "Very well, Mr. Blank, I'm prepared to take the consequences. But see here, 'Dan,"' said I, adopting the familiar sobriquet by which I had often heard him called, "you may as well understand at the outset that I don't 'scare worth a cent.' I was too sharp to fall into your trap. After attempting to allay suspicion by sending me a sop in the shape of a dollar for the paper, you sought to inveigle me into a back room in the third story Of the Exchange, where, through the 'influence' of your herculean friend, you expected to squeeze me into the disclosure of the name of my correspondent. Though you might there have inflicted upon me the personal chastisement you had so fiercely threatened, you would have failed to learn the name of the correspondent in question. Now, however, I am upon my own dunghill' and do not propose to be either whipped or frightened." "See here, Lane," he rejoined, "I admire your pluck and have no desire to injure you or your correspondent. It was a mighty sharp article, anyway, and I have a curiosity to know who wrote it, and if you will just tell me, I pledge you my word and honor that no harm shall come to either you or him." "It's of no use, Dan," said I. "That would be a breach of confidence and good faith between publisher and correspondent that would be entirely unjustifiable." "One thing more," said Dan, "will you show me the manuscript?" "0, certainly," I replied, and handed him the copy from which the article had been put in type. After scrutinizing it awhile, saying that the handwriting was very familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place it, he handed it back to me, and with his stalwart friend cordially took his leave. Afterwards, becoming very well acquainted with Dan, in talking over the episode in a friendly chat, I disclosed to him the fact that having a printer from Franklin Mills at work in the office who would be likely to recognize his chirography, I went to the trouble of copying all of " Jerry's" communications, and it was my copy of the article that I had shown to him. "That was the cutest part of the whole transaction," said Dan, with a hearty laugh. "Shake!" COWHIDED BY A WOMAN. Among the minor subjects treated by the BUZZARD was an indolent, whisky-guzzling, wife-beater by the name of Chandler. 16 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. Following a pretty severe castigation for some of his many acts of brutality towards his long-suffering wife, being too cowardly to attempt it himself, he, by threats of additional violence, compelled her to undertake the task of giving me a whipping. They lived in the garret of a building in the second story of which was located the Balance office where the BUZZARD was printed, both reached by a common stairway. One day as I started up I observed the lady coming down. As we reached the central platform, she suddenly drew a rawhide from under her apron and made a pass at me. Catching the blow upon my left arm, I took the weapon from her with my right hand, and hastily opening a side door she ingloriously retreated into an adjoining room. AN EGGS-TRAORDINARY DEMONST RATION. Exasperated at the failure of his cowhiding scheme, and claiming that in the scrimmage on the stairs I had choked his wife, "Old Hod" as he was called, determined to take the matter of inflicting adequate punishment upon me into his own hands. Among others who had fallen under the ban of the BUZZARD was " Mother Mason," of questionable repute, whose husband was the keeper of a grocery, located directly under the BUZZARD office on the present site of the Arlington Hotel on West Market Street. Just before noon, one day, a friend informed me that "Old Hod" was on the street below, with a pocket full of addled eggs, with which "Mother Mason" had supplied him, watching for me to go to dinner, with a view of treating me to an odoriferous shower-bath. Raising a window I inquired what he was doing there. Drawing an egg from his pantaloons pocket, he made several motions as if to throw, which I dared him to do. Finally I took the old brass pistol from the shelf and asked him how he liked the looks of that. This seemed to inspire him with the idea that rotten eggs would fail to do the subject justice, and thrusting the egg into his pocket, he stooped down to pick up a stone, in doing which he broke all of the eggs in his pocket! "Hod" withdrew for repairs and I went to dinner without molestation. Having again "charged his batteries," he watched for my return, and, starting towards me on the run, again broke his eggs in his pocket. "Hod" then changed his tactics, and expressed a determination to whip me on sight, and whenever I would pass him on the street he would strike or kick at me with all vengeance, though always very careful not to hit me. This annoyance continued for several months, when one day while he was following me and going through his "monkey shines" on West Mill Street, I turned upon him and said: "Now, Chandler, I've stood this tom-foolery long enough. You are a consummate old coward, and wouldn't dare to strike or kick me, but I'll not be AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 17 annoyed by you any longer, and if you ever make a motion towards me again, or even speak to me, I'll shoot you on the spot—and (drawing from my vest pockets a pair of small-sized pistols which a friend had in the meantime presented to me) I've a good mind to do it now!" "Oh, for God's sake, Lane, don't shoot; I didn't mean to hurt you!" Then ordering him to "about face! march!" he left me, and that was my last personal rencounter with old "Hod." A "BUTTONED-UP" EYE AND A BLOODY NOSE. Somewhat later, a notorious pugilist and negro-dancer, by the name of John Kelley, whose action in fraudulently and forcibly obtaining possession of a hall occupied by a religious society, in which to give a disreputable exhibition, had been severely criticised in the BUZZARD, confronted me on the northeast corner of Howard and Market streets. His first salutation was a swinging blow with his right fist upon the left side of my head, slightly staggering me, but not knocking me down. As I regained my equilibrium, a similar blow from his left hand grazed my right eye and the bridge of my "rather prominent" nose, almost instantly closing up the former and causing a copious flow of "claret" from the latter. 'Well-knowing my inability to cope with the burly athlete, I dodged under his up-raised arm and started at a two-forty gait for the stone-block corner, with my irate antagonist close at my heels. Catching me by the collar of my vest, (I was in my shirt-sleeves) he gave me a whirl which threw me to the ground, I instinctively seizing the skirt of his fine broadcloth frock coat, to ease my fall, and tearing it entirely up the back. Here the ferocious gymnast endeavored to kick and jump upon my body and face with his heels, but by making pivotal gyrations on my back, I kept him at bay with my feet until by-standers interfered and drove him off. This being the first actual personal injury that had been inflicted upon me, a warrant was issued for my assailant, but, in the meantime, his friends spirited him away, and thenceforward Akron was relieved of his pestiferous presence. In the next issue of the BUZZARD, in alluding to the affair, I said editorially: "It makes us feel more sensibly the high responsibility that devolves upon us. Go it, blacklegs, rummies and sympathizers—we would quietly submit to a good sound thrashing every day, for a month to come, if for each one we could rid the community of the baneful influence of twenty or thirty individuals whom we could mention." SUSTAINED BY PUBLIC OPINION. In view of these hostile demonstrations, and other disreputable operations, a very large meeting of the more reputable citizens of Akron, such as Col. Justus Gale, Gibbons J. Ackley, Seth Iredell, Horace K. Smith, Alvin Austin, Erastus Torrey, Ithiel Mills, 2 18 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. Jonathan Myers, Ansel Miller and others, was held on the evening of February 28, 1838, among the spirited resolutions unanimously adopted, /being the following: "Resolved, That S. A. Lane, publisher of the BUZZARD, is entitled to the thanks of this community for his exertions in holding up to public odium the gamblers and counterfeiters who have hitherto infested this village. "Resolved, That we will protect and sustain the public papers of our village, in holding up to merited contempt the gamblers and counterfeiters." A FABRICATOR OF "LOCO-FOCO " MATCHES. In Chapter XIII, of this volume, is given a detailed history of the rise and progress of the match-making business, now one of the leading industries of our goodly city and of the world. The pioneer establishment of this character, in Akron, was founded by the writer and the late Dr. James R. Miltimore, in the Spring of 1838, the mode of manufacture being fully described in the chapter referred to. The business not proving remarkably remunerative, and both the writer and the Doctor forming other business connections, the works were transferred to other parties, and the business soon afterwards discontinued, Dr. and Mrs. Miltimore both being drowned on the occasion of the burning of the steamer Erie, off Silver Creek, Lake Erie, on the afternoon of August 9, 1841. MARRIAGE, BUSINESS CHANGES, ETC. On the 11th day of November, 1838, I was united in marriage to Miss Paulina Potter, the foster sister of the late Paris Tallman, a week or ten days later being joined by my elder brother, Henry L. Lane, a carriage maker by trade, who had concluded to establish himself in business here. In the Spring of 1839, owing to fears of personal violence to myself naturally indulged by my young wife, and the desire of my brother that I should join him in business, the BUZZARD was discontinued and a carriage shop erected on the present site of Paige Brothers' magnificent block On Main street, there being then, also, an open space on the West to Howard street. Here quite an extensive carriage making, painting and blacksmithing business was entered into under the firm name of H. L. & S. A. Lane. My brother dying July 20, 1841, I soon afterwards associated with myself Mr. Jonathan Remington, a former employe of my father in Connecticut, and the father of Mr. Orson H. Remington, our present well-known Howard street jeweler, the business being disposed of to other parties in the Fall of 1843. TEMPERANCE LECTURER, EDITOR, ETC. Entering heartily into the Washingtonian Temperance movement, which struck Akron in the Winter of 1841-2, and my health having become somewhat impaired by too close application to the painting business, in the Spring of 1844, in connection with the AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 19 late William T. Coggeshall, (afterwards State Librarian for several years, and later Minister to Ecuador, South America, where he died in 1867), I revived the BUZZARD as a temperance paper, its name being afterwards changed to the CASCADE ROARER, as elsewhere stated. To promote the cause of temperance, as well as to secure a circulation for the paper, I devoted the most of my time to lecturing, a portion of the time traveling in connection with another lecturer, and " discussing" the question—I taking the side of the liquor drinker and saloon keeper, using their customary arguments, but by a series of ludicrous arguments and illustrations often producing a more salutary effect upon the minds of both drinkers and venders, than the most eloquent straightforward lecturing could possibly do—that mode of procedure, notwithstanding the burlesque nature of the defense, securing a full attendance of saloon-keepers and their customers, as well as out-and-out temperance people, besides securing immunity from disturbance and violence so often visited upon Temperance and Abolition speakers in those early days; attempts being made to "egg" the writer while talking straight temperance, on two different occasions, once in the Summer of 1846, at the small village of McCutchensville, Wyandot County, while lecturing in the village school house, and later, the same year, while speaking from the Judge's bench in the Court House of Holmes County, at Millersburg, more harm coming to the audience, however, than to myself. ACROSS THE CONTINENT IN SEARCH OF GOLD. Retiring from the ROARER, in the Fall of 1846, I again took up the brush, continuing the painting business until the Spring of 1850, when, my health again becoming precarious, I went overland to California, the details of the journey being fully set forth elsewhere in this volume. Notwithstanding its almost incredible hardships, I found, on reaching the first town in California, Placerville, on Sunday morning, August 4, 1850, that I had gained 32 pounds in weight—six pounds more than I had ever weighed at home, which condition of corpulency I more than maintained during my entire residence upon the Pacific Coast, over two years. Looking about among the mines for a day or two, I immediately proceeded to San Francisco, spending but a single day among the Summit County boys in Sacramento City. With health fully restored, then 35 years of age, I again embarked in the painting business, earning, over and above my expenses, about $200 per month. About the first of December, 1850, in company with Mr. Charles G. Caldwell, of Akron, a "Forty-niner," then located at Sacramento, I embarked in the auction business on the corner of Jackson and Montgomery Streets, San Francisco, with a cash capital of $$,000---- 20 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. $600 of which was contributed by myself, $1,400 by Caldwell and $1,000 borrowed, Mr. James G. Dow, also of Akron, having accumulated quite a handsome fortune in that business • during the preceding six or eight months. AN IGNOMINIOUS FAILURE. The firm of Caldwell & Co. got a good start, with a fair prospect of doing as well as the firm of Dow & Co. had previously done. Before we had got fairly under way, however, owing to the over stocking of the market with all kinds of merchandise, and the appearance and fearful ravages of the cholera at Sacramento and other portions of the upper country, a commercial panic ensued, by which the same class of goods we had upon our shelves, could he bought at one-half, or less, than we had paid for ours, while retai sales could hardly be made at any figures. With our heavy expenses—one item of which was $600 per month for rent of store—the reader will not be surprised to learn that though we managed to refund our borrowed money, besides giving several months' valuable time to the "enterprise," we sunk every dollar of our capital, and were nearly $1,500 in debt to our landlord, Mr. Dow, who, on his return to California, a few months later, generously abated one-half the amount of his claim. AGAIN AMONG HIS POTS AND BRUSHES. On winding up our disastrous venture, Mr. Caldwell returned to his cows and chickens, at Sacramento, which in the meantime had been in charge of. Mr. William H. White, the present head miller at the Allen Mills, and I returned to my pots and brushes, in the upper portion of the building spoken of. On the first day of March, 1851, though still in possession of my painter's kit and sundry household goods, furniture, stove, bedding, etc., I hadn't a dollar in money with which to buy a meal of victuals. On the first day of April I sent my wife a draft for $150, had paid out a hundred dollars for stock, clothing, etc.; had paid a month's board in advance by work on Morton & Hanscom's Eastern Exchange Hotel, elsewhere alluded to, and had about $50 of finished work still in the shop. On the first day of May I transmitted another $150 to my wife, with about that amount of my earnings for the month still in hand. A FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLAR FIRE. Early on Sunday morning, May 4, 1851, commencing in the upper part of the city, eighteen squares, comprising the principal business houses, banks, hotels, etc., of the city, were destroyed by fire, involving a total loss of fully $15,000,000. As it became evident that the building I occupied would be reached by the fire, I removed such of my personal effects as I could carry by hand, two AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 21 or three blocks away, only to be obliged to remove them still further up the hill, a half hour later, the operation having to be repeated several times before a safe place was found for them. My individual loss, in stove, table, benches, heavy sign boards, etc., and my proportion of the store fixtures burned, amounted to perhaps $200, while a hundred dollars or so of work delivered and not yet paid for was afterwards found to be non-collectable. SINGULAR EARTHQUAKE EXPERIENCE. The course of the fire had left intact a number of small buildings on a lot considerably below grade nearly opposite our old stand, mostly occupied by a company of Chilians, who coined money by bringing drinking water and stove-wood from over the high range of hills west of the city, on the backs of donkeys. One of these buildings, just 10x20 feet in size, planted on blocks about a foot in height, I secured for a shop, at a rental of $30 per month, also securing, at the same figure, a lodging room on Telegraph Hill, nearly a mile away. Painting on cloth, and fastening to the end of my shop, a suitable sign, I also nailed upon the charred lamp-post at my old corner, a guide-board, pointing in the proper direction, bearing the legend: "S. A. Lane, Sign and Ornamental Painter, just over yonder)." A few days after the fire, while seated on a stool at my improvised table, writing an account of the great calamity for the BEACON, I felt the entire building swaying violently back and forth, in an easterly and westerly direction, for several seconds, which phenomenon I instinctively thought was caused by the rubbing of one of the aforesaid donkeys against the corner of my frail building, and was greatly puzzled on going to the door and finding none of said animals in the vicinity. On going to the plaza to mail my letter, a short time afterwards, I found the people of the city in a high state of excitement over an earthquake which had toppled down chimneys, cracked walls, broken windows, thrown bottles and other articles from shelves, and driven the occupants of hotels, private dwellings, stores, etc., in the utmost consternation into the streets. The scratching of a donkey, indeed ! AGAIN IN THE AUCTION BUSINESS. In the rebuilding of the burned district, which proceeded at a rapid rate, there was, of course, a great demand for signs, and my business was quite prosperous for several months. In the meantime Mr. James G. Dow, with Mr. Charles W. Tappan, also of Akron, as a partner, had again embarked in the auction business, with phenomenal success, and about the middle of September, 1851, 1 entered their employ as a salesman, at a salary of $275 per month. Two months later a branch store was established in which I took 22 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. a one-fourth interest, with Mr. Hallet Kilbourn, now of Washington City, as a member of the firm, finally becoming a half owner, with Mr. Humphrey Sawyer, of Massachusetts, as partner, the venture being reasonably remunerative. THE HOMEWARD FLITTING—CHOLERA RAVAGES, ETC. Mr. Sawyer desiring to go to the mines, we closed up our business and dissolved our partnership on the first of May, 1852. Doing an occasional job of sign-writing for an old established firm, ad interim, to defray my expenses, on the first day of September, 1852, I sailed for home via Panama, on the Steamer "Winfield Seott"—its distinguished namesake then running for the Presidency as the candidate of the Whig party. The steamer was densely packed with passengers, and the passage to Panama stormy and long (19 days) not only causing a great amount of seasickness on the first part of the journey, but producing considerable havoc from cholera, on the latter part, from 30 to 50 persons having probably been consigned to a watery grave during the last six or eight days. The transit across the Isthmus was then largely of the primitive order, the first 22 miles, from Panama to Cruces, on the backs of mules, at a cost of only $25 per mule (hire, not purchase,) from Cruces to Barracoa, 12 miles, by open boat rowed by nearly naked natives, at $2.00 per passenger, and from Barracoa to Aspinwall, 20 miles, by railroad, at the moderate charge of $8.00, two full days being consumed in making the transit, 54 miles. The trip from Aspinwall to New York, via Kingston, on the Island of Jamaica, was also tempestuous, and fraught with much discomfort to all, and especially to this particular individual, who lost, from seasickness, nearly one-half the surplus flesh gained upon the overland journey as above stated, but a small portion of which has ever come back to him. The many interesting (and some thrilling) incidents of the homeward journey cannot be here given for want of space. CLOTHING MERCHANT—AGAIN BURNED OUT, ETC. Returning to Akron with my " pile "—something "less" than a million—but with what was far better than gold, thoroughly restored health, after "pottering around" through the winter of 1852-3, (among other things, paying my own hall rent and delivering to crowded houses a series of lectures on the "Overland Journey to California," the substance of which is reproduced in another chapter of this volume), I invested my savings in a clothing and merchant tailoring establishment, where the New York Clothing House now stands, on the south side of East Market Street. AUTOBIOGRAPHY - 23 With Mr. Arthur Malcolm, as senior partner and chief cutter, the firm of A. Malcolm & Co. were doing a reasonably prosperous business, when, on the morning of April 30,1855, in the fire which destroyed the large brick hotel on the present site of Woods' block, every dollar of my investment was greedily licked up by the devouring flames. UNSUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE FOR OFFICE. In the Fall of 1853, while selling "rags" as aforesaid, the Temperance Reform Party of Summit County placed me in nomination as a candidate for Representative in competition with the regular nominees of the Whig, Democratic and Free Soil parties, but afterward an arrangement was made between the Temperance Reformers and the Whigs and Free Soilers, by which all three candidates should submit their claims to a, union mass convention, in which Dr. Porter G. Somers, of Cuyahoga Falls, carried off the prize. After being thrown out of business by the fire, as stated, on the affiliation of the Whigs, Free-Soilers and Temperance Reformers, under the banner of Republicanism, in the Summer of 1855;1 announced myself as a candidate for Representative, subject to the decision of the county nominating convention, the late Dr. Mendal Jewett, then living in Mogadore, being my successful competitor. On the accession of Salmon P. Chase to the Governorship of Ohio, in the Winter of 1855-6, I applied, with a strong backing from the citizens of Akron and contiguous canal towns, for the position of Collector of _Tolls upon the Ohio Canal, but my genial friend, the late Nathaniel W. Goodhue, carried too many political guns for me, and won the prize for himself. OFFICIAL HONORS AND SUCCESSES. My official "deserts," however, had not been altogether overlooked by my fellow-citizens, for, on the appointment of Councilman Richard S. Elkins to the Recordership, made vacant by the death of Recorder Horace Canfield, in December, 1853, in January, 1854, I was appointed by the Town Council to fill the vacancy in the Board of Trustees, holding the position until the ensuing municipal election. On the resignation of the late James Mathews, as a member of the Board of Education, December 20,1854, the Council also elected me to the vacancy, which position I continued to hold by appointment and re-election until April, 1857, also serving as Treasurer of the Board from November, 1855, until the expiration of my term of service, in the Spring of 1857. SHERIFF, EDITOR, PROBATE JUDGE, ETC. In the first National campaign of the Republican party, in the Summer of 1856, I endeavored to make myself generally useful, in 24 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. painting banners and mottoes, writing, speaking, etc., but with no special design of asking for an office for myself. Leading Republicans, however, in different portions of the county, seemed to spontaneously fix upon me as their candidate for Sheriff, and though there were some six or seven other aspirants working like beavers for the position, I was nominated on the first ballot by a majority of 17 over all competitors. Though bitterly opposed, on account of my well-known radical temperance proclivities, I was triumphantly elected, renominated by 'acclamation, and re-elected by a largely increased majority in 1858, holding the office four years and two months, the time of taking possession of the office having in the meantime been changed from the first Monday of November to the first Monday of January. In January, 1861, on retiring from the Sheriff's office, I accepted a position with Messrs. Beebe and Elkins, as editor-in-chief of the SUMMIT COUNTY BEACON, a few years later acquiring a one-third interest in the paper. Some six months after assuming my editorial duties, Governor William Dennison, without solicitation from either myself or my friends, appointed me Probate Judge of Summit County, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge William M. Dodge, the commission, now in my possession, bearing date July 24, 1861, being accompanied by the following note from the Governor's Private Secretary: THE STATE OF OHIO, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Samuel A. Lane, Esq. COLUMBUS, July 24, 1861. DEAR SIR :—The Governor has heard of the death of William M. Dodge, your Probate Judge. He has appointed you to fill the vacancy occasioned by his death till the Fall election shall decide upon a successor. Herewith please find commission. Trusting it will be satisfactory to yourself and beneficial to your people, I remain very truly, Yours, etc. W. T. BASCOM, Private Secretary. While this voluntary action of Governor Dennison, with whom I had had a pleasant personal acquaintance for several years, was exceedingly gratifying, I immediately notified him by telegraph that I could not accept the position, not only being under obligations to Messrs. Beebe & Elkins, but the brief period that I could hold the office would be no object, as even my cheek was not then sufficiently colossal to warrant me in asking the people of Summit County to elect me to so important an office so soon after vacating the one which I had so recently, for over four years, enjoyed at their hands.