(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) AKRON'S ONLY HOMICIDE - 575 JUDGE GREEN'S CHARGE.—Judge Green's charge was of considerable length, after complimenting the jury for the close attention which they had given to the evidence and the arguments of counsel, explaining in full the law and rules which should govern them in their deliberations and arriving at their verdict. The several degrees of murder and as to what constituted a reasonable doubt were clearly expounded; deliberation, premeditation were lucidly explained. The law fixes no definite length of time. A purpose maliciously to kill, deliberated upon before the act is committed, however short the time, constitutes murder in the first degree. Malice is any unlawful act done for the purpose of injuring another. The defendant, in his plea of not guilty, sets up the defense of drunkenness. His condition before and after the act, only so far as it throws light upon the question as to what was his condition at the time the act was committed that produced death, should have no weight in this case; only his condition at the time the act was committed, is to be of weight. You must be satisfied, by a fair preponderance of evidence, that he is not responsible; that is, the evidence, all considered, must fail to satisfy you, beyond a reasonable doubt, of his guilt by reason of his want of responsibility. It is not claimed, and it is not law, that drunkenness is an excuse for crime. Crime, when all the acts of hand and mind which constitute it actually exist, is not the less criminal, or the party the less guilty, because he was intoxicated when he committed it. If you find that the prisoner had the purpose in mind to kill his wife, prior to the act, and then got drunk, and while so drunk did what he before that time premeditated, and with deliberate malice had resolved to do, the fact that he was drunk at the time he did the deed would be no defense. I say to you that this defense of drunkenness, under the rules which I have given you, is a legitimate defense, and if established to your satisfaction by the proof, the debenefit of entitled to the benefit'of the doubt. VERDICT OF THE JURY.—The jury retired at 9:30 A. M. on Saturday, March 7, 1885. After deliberating until 3:30 P. M. they asked the court to re-charge them in regard to the two degrees of murder and manslaughter, which was accordingly done, and at 5:20 they announced their agreement and their verdict as follows: We, the jury empaneled and sworn to well and truly try, and true deliverance make, between the State of Ohio and the prisoner at bar, Walter Henry, do find the said Walter Henry not guilty of murder in the first degree, but we do find him guilty of murder in the second degree. SAMUEL FINDLEY, Foreman. THE POPULAR VERDICT.—The court room had been crowded throughout with the most intensely interested and excited spectators, so large a portion remaining in and about the building all day long, while the jury were out, that every available space was immediately occupied as soon as the agreement of the jury was announced. The great majority of the crowd who had heard'the harrowing tale, as disclosed by the evidence, felt that the verdict should have been for the higher degree, but those who had carefully studied the bearings of the law, held with the jury for the lesser degree, while the counsel and friends of the defendant, of course, felt that a verdict of manslaughter, with a limited term of imprisonment, would have been sufficient. 576 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. IMPRISONMENT FOR LIFE.--On Tuesday morning, March 10, 1885, Judge Green proceeded to sentence the prisoner as follows: " Walter Henry : You were indicted by the grand jury of this county, and by said indictment were charged with purposely, of deliberate and premeditated malice, murdering Bridget Henry, your wife. Upon this charge you were put upon your trial before a jury so well selected that against no one of the jurors comprising it had your counsel the least objection, and the result of this trial, conducted on your behalf by able counsel, satisfies me that you had a fair and impartial trial ; that said verdict of murder in the second degree was a verdict rendered by the jury in strict conformity to law and evidence as they heard it after they were sworn as jurors, and was in no jot or tittle influenced by outside opinion; and for this you certainly have great reason to be thankful, as you must know, what every unprejudiced mind, upon reading or hearing the witnesses detail the manner in which you assaulted your wife, and which assault caused her death, would at once say how you ought to be punished. And so would each of said jurors, as men, have said ; but as jurors they patiently listened to all the evidence, all that was urged in your favor, the charge of the Court, and then, under their oaths returned their verdict. With this verdict we are satisfied. It was the least you could have possibly anticipated ; and yet, from your standpoint, with all your knowledge of the facts, you might well say that the jury erred on the side of mercy, and in a manner exercised the pardoning power. The statute for the offense of which you have been convicted leaves no discretion for me, but prescribes the exact penalty, and there is nothing for me to do but to pronounce the judgment which the law has provided. The judgment of the law and the sentence of the Court is, that you be taken hence to the jail of the county and there safely kept, and that, within thirty, days, you be taken to the penitentiary of the State, and there confined and kept at hard labor during the period of your natural life, and that you pay the costs of this prosecution. It is no part of this sentence that you be kept any portion of said time in solitary confinement." IN THE PENITENTIARY—THE COSTS, ETC.—The prisoner was taken to the penitentiary by Sheriff William B. Gamble, on Wednesday, April 1, 1885, where, so far as the writer is advised, he is as docile and tractable as the average inmate of that institution. As the legal heir of his murdered wife, he inherited her property, the estate being administered by John H. Auble, Esq., from whom the prosecuting attorney received the amount of costs of prosecution, amounting to $363.50, it being one of the very few cases, in the history of the county, in which the State has ever been reimbursed in the amount of costs paid for the conviction of criminals sentenced to her model penal institution. CHAPTER XXI. THE “IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT"-THE INFAMOUS FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW - EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD A "BLOOD-HOUND"-DASTARDLY ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP AKRON'S WELL-KNOWN BARBER, " JIM " WORTHINGTON --MARSHAL J. J. WRIGHT FOR ONCE "TAKEN IN AND DONE FOR " - PROMINENT CITIZENS TO THE RESCUE- SLAVE-CATCHERS FOILED- INDIGNATION OF THE PEOPLE-" JIM'S " ESCAPE VIA THE " UNDERGROUND RAILROAD "-SAFE IN CANADA-OTHER FUGITIVES TAKE THE ALARM AND FLIT TO QUEEN VICTORIA'S DOMINIONS, ETC. PRELIMINARY. IT being now nearly a third of a century since, by its own suicidal act of treason and rebellion, human slavery ceased to exist within the limits of the United States, though much of the inhumanity and intolerance engendered thereby still linger, a large proportion of the present generation can have but a faint realization of the tyrannous, oppressive and barbarous practices of the slave power, on the one hand, and of the unselfish patriotism, the unbounded philanthropy, the untiring energy and the sleepless vigilance, of the friends of freedom, upon the other. For many years after slavery was abolished in the northern states, there was a tacit understanding that slaves escaping from those states where it still existed into any of the free states or territories, could not be legally reclaimed, while the voluntary taking of a• slave to a free state by the master, absolutely made such slave a free man; it being conceded, at the same time, that the slave states had the right, under the constitution, to enjoy the "luxury" of human bondage within their own bounds, without interference from without. Hence, in many of the northern states, especially those bordering upon the slave states, like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, etc., considerable numbers of escaped slaves had found lodgment, and settled down for life as permanent and industrious citizens. THE ORDINANCE OF 1787. In the adoption, by Congress, of what is known in history as the " Ordinance of 1787," all the unsettled territory, then owned by e United States, comprising the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and a part of Minnesota, was forever dedicated to freedom, and those states were subsequently organized on that basis. The purchase from France, for $15,000,000, in 1803, of what was designated "The Louisiana Purchase," embraced nearly all of the present states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, part of Colorado, most of Wyoming, the whole of Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. On all of this territory there was no restriction as to slavery. Up to the year 1820, as a matter of amity, there had been added to the original 13 states, an equal number of free and slave states, 37 578 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. viz: Vermont in 1791, Ohio in 1802, Indiana in 1816, and Illinois in 1818, on the part of freedom, and Kentucky in 1792, Tennessee in 1796, Louisiana in 1812 and Alabama in 1819, on the part of slavery.  THE "MISSOURI COMPROMISE.” It had been fondly thought, in an early day, that the South, as well as the North, was tending towards emancipation, but when the contrary was discovered, and that the tendency was towards extending the area of human bondage, a strong anti-slavery sent' ment began to obtain in the North, so that in 1820, when it wa proposed to admit Missouri as a slave state, with the prospect that the entire northwest would thereby be subjected to the same fate, the spirit of freedom in the North was fully aroused; immense remonstrances were sent in, and the northern senators and representatives, of both parties (Whigs and Democrats), arrayed themselves against the measure, whilst an equally non-partisan stand in its favor was taken by the several delegations from the southern states. The controversy waxed warm and warmer—red-hot, in fact–in Congress, southern members threatening to secede from the Union, on the one hand, and northern members hurling defiance in their teeth, and daring them to "try it on," as soon as they had a mind to, on the other hand. At this crisis came forward the "great pacificator," Henry Clay, senator from Kentucky, with what was afterwards known as the "Missouri Compromise,' in which it was solemnly ordained, that, in consideration of the admission of Missouri without restriction as to slavery, involuntary servitude, otherwise than in punishment of crime, should be forever prohibited in all other territory of the United States north of latitude 36̊ 30'. This quieted matters down, and for 30 years was treated as a finality by both sections of the country. THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. Under this arrangement new states were admitted from time to time—generally in pairs—as follows: 1820, '21, Missouri, slave, Maine free; 1836, Arkansas, slave, Michigan free; 1845, Florida, slave, Iowa, free; 1845, Texas (by annexation), slave. Up to this time, it will be observed, the slave and the free states exactly balanced each other, 15 each. When, therefore, in the session of 1849, '50, California suddenly sprang into the arena, in full panoply of free-statehood, with no eligible slave territory to match, something " had to be did," or the slave power would lose its grip. It wouldn't do, in this free country to let freedom get ahead of slavery! So, when California asked for admission, with a free constitution, the fillibustering began. Under semi-barbaric Mexico, slavery was impossible in all the territory which she had recently ceded to the United States—California, Utah, Mexico, Arizona, etc. But under the super-civilized sway of "Uncle Sam," it would never do to doom the whole of said territory to perpetual freedom! Oh, no! So, not only was the " Wilmot Proviso," pending the negotiations for the transfer, forever excluding slavery from the proposed acquisition, after prolonged and exciting discussion, voted down, but attached to the bill for the admission of California as a free THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD - 579 state, was a provision for the organization of New Mexico and Utah as territories, without any restrictions as to slavery, and also the enactment of the world-wide infamous Fugitive Slave Law. This iniquitous law not only authorized the slave owner to enter and traverse any state or territory into which his slave had theretofore fled, or might thereafter escape, but it attached heavy penalties to the harboring or aiding, by so much as a night's lodging, or a meal of victuals, a fugitive slave; compelled the marshals, deputy marshals, district attorneys, judges, commissioners and other officers of the United States, under heavy penalties and forfeitures, to aid the claimant in the pursuit and reclamation of his slave, and also compelled the citizens of said free states and territories, when called upon, to act as a posse comitatus, in making arrests and otherwise aiding the slave-catcher in his nefarious operations. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. For many years, many humane and philanthropic persons in the border states, had not only felt it a privilege, but a sacred duty to succor and speed the fugitive on his way to freedom in Canada, or in safe localities in the free States. As this assistance had to be secretly rendered, though these philanthropists, in different localities speedily became known to each other, the rapidity and the certainty, as well as the secrecy, with which a fugitive, and sometimes entire families, could be transported to places of safety, caused the system to be known as the "The Underground Railroad." Instead of being disheartened and subdued by the pains and penalties imposed by the Fugitive Slave Law, and the vigorous campaign of "pernicious activity," immediately inaugurated by the owners of escaped slaves, and their willing tools, in and out of office, in the North, the friends of freedom put on renewed zeal and diligence; the "lines" were increased, the "stations" rapidly multiplied and the "agents," "conductors," "engineers," etc., became aggressive and alert. THE SLAVE-CATCHERS IN AKRON.—During the three or four years immediately succeeding the passage of the law, many former slaves were of course returned to their masters, while many free colored men and women were also, through the cupidity and greed of professional spotters, and the iniquitous looseness of the law, consigned to life-long bondage in the extreme South. In fact, the attempted execution of the law became simply a system of kidnapping, with no pretense of a fair and open trial in the localities where the apprehensions were made, or otherwise. In many instances, too, where arrests came to the knowledge of the people before the kidnappers had had time to get off with their victims, rescues were made, sometimes resulting in serious and bloody riots, and protracted and exciting litigation, both in favor of the victim, and against those who opposed or refused to help execute the inhuman and very generally execrated law. Though there were in Akron, and Summit county, several well-known agents of the U. G. R. R., and plenty of others who had aided the "panting fugitive" in his flight towards Queen Victoria's Dominions—Canada—and though it was well understood that several former slaves were residing here, and hereabouts, the people of Akron were not brought to a full realization 580 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY of the cruel and devilish enormity of the system, and the law in question, until the Spring of 1854, the circumstances attending which were as follows: "JIM" WORTHINGTON.—Sometime in the early forties there had come into Akron a tall, athletic and very black young negro, who called himself James Worthington. " Jim," as he soon came to be known, was a barber by trade, and at once opened a shop for the practice of his profession, and being a good "artist," and of an enterprising turn of mind, soon became a general favorite, and did a lucrative business, soon fitting up his shop with fine mahogany and plush upholstered chairs, large and attractive mirrors and pictures upon the wall, with a striped pole in front about a foot in diameter and 25 or 30 feet in height, surmounted by a large gilt pine-apple, the artistical work upon which was executed by the writer, then exercising one section of his "versatile genius" as a "House, Sign and Ornamental Painter." " Jim" was not only popular, but seemingly very prosperous, so much so that in the early fifties he had purchased a lot and erected for himself a nice two-story house in what was then known as " Spicer Town," the same building now being known as number 534 East Buchtel avenue. In the meantime' "Jim" had married a very handsome and bright light-colored mulatto girl by the name of Maggie Bird, whose brother, William Bird, also soon afterwards opened a rival tonsorial establishment, with appointments, including the striped pole, fully as splendid as " Jim’s. BETRAYED BY HIS WIFE.—From some cause, not now apparent, but probably from the bitterness of the rivalry between her brother and her husband, or possibly because of "Jim's" jealousy of his handsome and much admired wife, soon after the completion of the new house, "Mag," as she was called, left him, and to her betrayal of his secret "Jim" attributed the attempt to relegate him to the condition of "involuntary servitude" from which it was claimed he had escaped some twelve or fifteen years before, which attempt occurred something in this wise: About the middle of May, 1854, a well-dressed, pleasant-appearing stranger called at " Jim's" shop for a shave, and in the course of his conversation, intimated that he wanted to buy a house and lot in Akron, for a widowed sister, who was desirous of settling here for the purpose of educating her children. Being then without a wife, and perhaps thinking to make a good "spec" on his investment, " Jim" took the stranger to his new house, with which he expressed himself well-pleased, and after a full discussion of of the terms, etc., and getting a week's option, took his departure. " Jim" little dreamed that it was himself, personally, instead of his house, that was being examined. MARSHAL J. J. WRIGHT VICTIMIZED.—One of the most efficient local rogue-catchers, and criminal detectives of that day, was our present fellow-citizen, Capt. J. J. Wright, then marshal of Akron. On returning home from the performance of his official labors, on the evening of May 17, 1854, he was informed that the "Sheriff from Chicago" wanted to see him on important business at the depot, at 7 o'clock the next morning. Ever alert in the performance of his duty, Wright was promptly on hand; in fact most too promptly, as the sequel proved, for the snccess of the ruse that THE SLAVE-CATCHERS FOILED - 581 was attempted to be played upon him, for he was there at six o’clock, fully an hour before the time designated. He found there two men, one of whom was said " Sheriff from Chicago," and the other was a deputy United States Marshal from Newark, Ohio. They informed Wright that they were after an extensive gang who were making and circulating counterfeit silver coin, one of whom was a barber by the name of Jim Worthington, who had sold a lot of spurious coin to a man who was already in jail in Chicago, and they wanted to make the arrest as quietly as possible so as not to alarm the rest of the gang in this vicinity, exhibiting at the same time what purported to be a warrant for " Jim's " arrest on that charge. Having himself suspected that a part of " Jim's" prosperity was due to crookedness of some sort, and indeed having heard rumors that he was handling the "queer," Wright readily went along to show them the way, and to aid in making the arrest, if his services should become necessary. WORTHINGTON'S ARREST.—" Jim" was found in his yard and the "Sheriff from Chicago," without resistance, took hold of one arm and the Newark Marshall seized him by the other, at the same time announcing the cause of his arrest, as it had been stated to Wright. Jim declared hinself innocent of any such crime, and charged that it was a different scheme altogether, instigated by his wife, and demanded to see General Bierce, and be tried in Akron. He was told that he would have a hearing at Hudson, where some of his accomplices were already in custody. He declared that he had no accomplices,and had done nothing wrong, and insisted on seeing counsel which they promised he should have, but took him direct to the depot, and refused to go further. THE KIDNAPPERS FOILED.—By this time Marshal Wright began to surmise that he had been -imposed upon, and started upon the double-quick to find Gen. Bierce. In the meantime Mr. Eleazer C. Sackett, a wide awake, old time Abolitionist, had come to the depot to take the train to Cleveland. Immediately divining the situation, he started post-haste for the house of Christopher P. Wolcott, Esq., then living on Broadway, near Market, and from there to the residence of William H. Upson, Esq., near by, also giving the alarm to others as he went along, so that in an incredibly short space of time a large crowd of excited people, had gathered in and about the station. Messrs. Upson and Wolcott demanded to see the papers on which the arrest was made and the pretended warrant was' exhibited, which purported to have been issued by direction of U. S. Judge Leavitt at Steubenville, to which place they alleged they were going to take the prisoner for examination. But the paper lacked every legal feature, having no apparent genuine signature, and no recitation of the proper filing of an affidavit, and the gentlemen were told that they could play no such game as that in Akron, and must release Jim at once. This they refused to do and threatened to shoot any one who should attempt a rescue. AN INFURIATED CROWD.—The threat of the kidnappers to shoot, infuriated the crowd. Uncle Fred. Wadsworth (father-in-law of the late J. A. Beebe) shook his cane in their faces and dared them to try it on. Mr. E. C. Sackett declared that an exhibition of arms would result in their being torn to pieces; Rev. N. P. Bailey (now 582 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. of Massillon) used some very emphatic language, doing full justice to the "Queen's English," though in a recent letter to the writer on the subject he says: "I didn't take off my coat, nor knock anybody down, nor do any ministerial swearing." GLAD TO ESCAPE WITH WHOLE HEADS.—Alarmed at the menacing attitude of the crowd, who closed around them, the kidnappers released their hold of Jim, and edged backwards towards the cars, which they were permitted to board, and to depart without molestation, though the indignation of the crowd was so intense that a single word from some of the more prudent present would have brought summary vengeance upon the heads of the perpetrators of the dastardly outrage. It transpired that the pretended "Sheriff from Chicago" was an officer from Louisville, Ky.; that "Jim's" former master, (then holding the office of Sheriff, at Louisville,) was in Cleveland, engineering the matter, and that though they had genuine papers, under the Fugitive Slave Law, the counterfeit dodge was played to avoid the popular clamor that an open arrest of a fugitive from slavery would naturally create in so Abolition-tainted a locality as the Western Reserve; the discomfited master remarking, as he paid the hotel bills for himself and his minions, in Cleveland, that the Fugitive Slave Law didn't "amount to much in Ohio, anyhow." MARSHAL WRIGHT EXONERATED.—Certain jealous-minded meddlers being disposed to charge Marshal Wright with having knowingly participated in the arrest of " Jim" as a fugitive slave, that officer addressed a note to United States Deputy Marshal Dennis, at Newark, to which he received the following reply: U. S. DEPUTY MARSHAL'S OFFICE, NEWARK, O., June 12, 1854. J. J. Wright, SIR :—Yours of the 9th inst. came to hand by last evening's mail, and in answer I will state in writing, what I said at the depot after the negro was set at liberty, that no blame should be attached to you, as everything, so far as you were concerned, was done in good faith, and, as you had every reason to believe, in the discharge of your duty as any officer who might be called upon. I did not know there was a Deputy U. S. Marshal in your place. No person ever directed me to you. Your being the Marshal of Akron, is the only excuse I have to offer on that point. In haste, P. H. DENNIS. And yet, Captain Wright, who fought so gallantly, and suffered so much, in the great struggle that knocked the shackles off from the very last slave upon the American Continent, says that a streak of meanness comes over him every time he thinks of the part he unwittingly played in the capture of poor "Jim." But he has no occasion, whatever, for feeling thus; for his very promptness, in obeying what he believed to be a call to official duty, was the very means of thwarting the designs of the kidnappers; for had he not reached the depot an hour earlier than the time mentioned by the "Sheriff from Chicago," they would have arrived at the station with their victim just as the train was ready to leave, and would thus have got safely off with him. Singular, wasn't it, that though deceived into aiding in the perpetration of a wrongful act, Mr Wright did precisely the right thing to prevent its successful consummation. " JIM" SAFE IN CANADA - 583 JUDGE VORIS RESPONSIBLE.—Section 7 of the Fugitive Slave Law, among other things provides, that "Whoever shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, shall be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months; and shall, moreover, forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages, to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars, for each fugitive So lost," etc. Now, Judge A. C. Voris, then the law-partner of the late Gen. Bierce, not having the fear of the minions of slavery, or of the slave-hunting minions of Uncle Sam before his eyes, did both "harbor" and "conceal" the said "fugitive," in the back attic of the story and a-half house he then occupied on South Broadway, for several days, until his business matters could be properly arranged for a protracted absence, after which said Voris clandestinely turned said fugitive over to an agent of the U. G. R. R., to be shipped Canada-ward, where, at last accounts, he was living the life of an industrious and respectable citizen. Judge Voris also confesses to having, eight years later, " stolen a nigger" from the plantation of Ex-President John Tyler, on the James river. Quere? As this was before the taking effect of Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, haven't the heirs of the Ex-President a valid claim against lie Judge for the market value of the article thus stolen by him. OTHER FUGITIVES ALARMED.—In 1836, there came to Akron, rout Columbus, one of the brightest and finest looking, middle-aged colored men that the writer ever knew; a light mulatto, with high forehead, intelligent countenance and in every sense of the word a perfect gentleman, by the name of Edward Smith. He was a barber by trade, and lived in Columbus some eighteen or twenty years, and had, by his industry and frugality, become the owner of a valuable lot upon which were two very comfortable two-story brick dwelling houses. As Columbus was then somewhat overstocked with barbers, having heard of the new and enterprising town of Akron, he came here and opened a shop, bearing with him the not inappropriate sobriquet of "The Emperor of the West," by which he had been known in Columbus. His wife, Mrs. Sarah Smith, was also a portly, fine-looking mulatto woman, and both soon came to be very greatly respected by all the people of Akron. They were very prosperous, and with their earnings here, and the rents from their Columbus property, bought the lot now covered by the grocery store of Bittman & Son, on East Market street, building for themselves a comfortable frame house on the rear of the lot, fronting on the alley, and afterwards a small frame building fronting on Market street, which they rented for business purposes. Along in the middle forties "Uncle Ned," as he was familiarly called, was stricken with apoplexy, and, after lingering a few months, died. Mrs. Smith thoroughly alarmed at " Jim's' narrow escape, hastily placed her property matters in the hands of a reliable agent, and joined the Canadian colony. Many other local colored people also quietly flitted thither, either because they were escaped slaves, or because, having been born free, but with colored skins, they were fearful of being kidnaped into slavery, as had, in several well authenticated instances, already been done. CHAPTER XXII. OUR OWN JOHN BROWN—" OLD OSSAWATOMIE "—FREEDOM'S HERD AND MARTYR— BIRTH, BOYHOOD AND EARLY MANHOOD—THE PATRIARCHAL. FATHER OF 20 CHILDREN—EMBRYO PREACHER, FARMER, TANNER AND REAL ESTATE SPECULATOR—SHEEP GROWER AND WOOL FACTOR— DISASTROUS EUROPEAN ENTERPRISE—LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS—REPEAL OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE—" SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY "—" BORDER RUFFIANISM" IN "BLEEDING KANSAS"– SYMPATHETIC SUMMITONIANS— FREE DOM AT LENGTH VICTORIOUS— GUERRILLA WARFARE ON THE "PECULIAR INSTITUTION"— STUPENDOUS PROJECT IN BEHALF OF FREEDOM—CAM HE OF HARPER'S FERRY— DESPERATE RESISTANCE TO STATE AND GOVERNMENT TROOPS— OVERPOWERED AT LAST--TRIAL FOR TREASON, INSURRECTION AND MURDER—MOCKERY OF JUSTICE— CONVICTION, SENTENCE, EXECUTION— HEROIC TO THE VERY LAST—VERY LATEST WRITTEN COMMUNICATION— GENERAL AND GENUINE MOURNING IN THE NORTH—"BOUT MOULDERING IN THE GROUND," BUT "SOUL STILL MARCHING ALONG!" OUR OWN JOHN BROWN. THOUGH born in Connecticut, on May 9, in the first year of the century, John Brown may be fairly claimed as a native of Summit county, having emigrated to the township of Hudson, with his father's Family, as early as 1805. Here, possessing in a marked degree, the strong characteristics of his energetic and enterprising father, the late Owen Brown, of direct Mayflower Puritanic descent, John grew to manhood, inured to frontier hardships and pioneer privations and toil, but under the advanced educational and thoroughly orthodox influences of the enlightened and Go d-fearing inhabitants of that town, in those early days. Possessing a sternly religious bent of mind, it was early designed that he should become a minister of the gospel, but that project was finally abandoned on account of an affection of the eyes which interfered with the pursuit of his theological studies ; whereupon he devoted himself to the dual calling of his father, farming and tanning, at the same time thoroughly qualifying himself in the art of surveying. June 21, 1820, then just twenty years of age, he was married to Miss Dianthe Lusk, of Hudson, by whom, during the twelve years of their married life, he had seven children, six sons and one daughter, Mrs. Brown dying on the 10th day of August, 1832. JOHN BROWN'S BUSINESS LIFE - 585 About one year later, he was married to Miss Mary A. Day, of Crawford county, Pa., by whom he had thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters; thus being the progenitor of a grand total of twenty children, eight only of whom survived the tragic death of the father, as hereinafter alluded to, December 2, 1859. FARMER, TANNER,. ETC.—In addition to tanning and general farming and casual surveying, Brown became a great lover of cattle and sheep, and, like his brother Frederick, became an expert in the growing and handling of fine stock. Indeed, he was accounted to be the best judge of wool in the United States, if not in the world, being able to tell from the feel, the country, or section of country, where given samples of wool were grown; an anecdote being related of him that, while in England, as hereinafter related, thinking to puzzle him, among other samples submitted for his inspection, a soft tuft clipped from a snow-white poodle was handed him, when he instantly responded, "gentlemen, if you have, any machinery that will work up dog's hair I would advise you to use it upon this." Continuing the farming and tanning business in connection with his father, in Hudson, until about 1826, he removed to Richmond, Crawford county, Pa., where he was engaged in the same business, quite successfully, for about nine years. REAL ESTATE SPECULATOR.—About the year 1835, Mr. Brown returned to Ohio, and in 1836, in connection with a Mr. Thompson, of Pennsylvania, bought what was known as as the Haymaker farm, of between one and two hundred acres, in the western portion of what is now the village of Kent, for the consideration of $7,000. Early in the Slimmer of 1838, this farm was surveyed and platted by ex-County Clerk, Capt. John A. Means (now living in Tallmadge), as the deputy county surveyor of Portage county, and put to record October 22, of that year, as "Brown and Thompson's addition to Franklin village." It was the expectation of the proprietors that a large manufacturing village would rapidly materialize at that point. Similar operations further up the river, by the Franklin Manufacturing Company, afterwards the Franklin Silk Company, together with the disastrous monetary and commercial revulsion of 1837-40, compelled the abandonment of the scheme, and an alienation of the lands in question, which were soon thereafter relegated to agricultural purposes, though in later years largely covered by the A. & G. W. R. R. shops, and quite a suburban population, of the now prosperous and enterprising village of Kent; the only relic of its projector now remaining being quite a large two-story frame building, on the southeast side of the river, opposite the lower mill, erected for a boarding house, and now pointed out with pride, to the visiting stranger, as the "John Brown House." SHEEP HUSBANDMAN.—On the collapse of his village annexation scheme, Mr. Brown, in 1839, took a drove of cattle over-land to New England, bringing back with him a small flock of choice sheep, as the nucleus of the immense business in that line, in which he afterwards embarked. In 1840, in connection with Capt. Heman Oviatt, a large land owner of Hudson and Richfield, he went quite extensively into the sheep and wool business, removing his family to Richfield in 1842, where he also established a tannery. Subsequently, about 1844, he became associated with the late Col. Simon Perkins, stocking his large farm, overlooking Akron, 586 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. on the west, with several thousand head of the very best fine-wooled sheep that could be obtained, Mr. Brown, with his family, residing in the same house now occupied by county surveyor, Charles E. Perkins, immediately south of the old Perkins homestead. It being difficult to always make favorable contracts for theft yearly clips, so far from manufacturing centers, in 1846, Perkins Brown established an extensive wool depot in Springfield, Mass., not only for the sale of their own product, but also for the storage and sale, on commission, of the product of most of the other fine-wool growers in Ohio and other states, with the object of thereby securing greater uniformity in prices, and consequently Bette profits, than could be realized from individual hap-hazard contracts with itinerant wool-buyers. Brown was placed in charge of this enterprise, removing his family to Springfield, and the firm of Perkins & Brown soon became one of the best-known and most reliable fine-wool concerns in the United States. A DISASTROUS PROJECT.—But at length differences began to arise between Brown and the manufacturers in regard to prices. Having practically a monopoly of the very finest grades of the product, Brown placed his figures higher than the manufacturers were willing to pay, and after holding his accumulations for a year or two without bringing the recalcitrant manufacturers to terms, Brown chartered a vessel at Boston, transported his wool (about 200,000 pounds), thither by rail, and shipped it to England. Here he found there was no especial demand for the extra-fine grades of wool of which his cargo was composed, and after paying storage on it for a considerable length of time, it was finally sold to the agents of the New England manufacturers, at prices which enabled them to re-ship and place it in their mills, at several cents per pound less than they had offered for it before shipment. This misadventure involved a loss to the firm of from $30,000 to $40,000, falling principally, if not wholly, upon Col. Perkin and the Springfield establishment was closed out and the fir dissolved. REPEAL OF THE "MISSOURI COMPROMISE." By this time the slave extension propaganda began to promulgate the dogma that the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law authorizing the reclamation of fugitive slaves from the territories of the United States, had virtually repealed the Missouri Compromise, so that slaves could not only be legally taken to, and held in, the territory north of 36̊ 30' but that such territory could be erected into slave states, should a majority of the inhabitants so declare, on presenting themselves to Congress for admission, This view was not only held by all the senators and representatives of the slave states, both Whigs and Democrats, but also by some from the northern states. In January, 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois—with inordinate presidential aspirations -introduced a bill for opening to settlement all the territory north of Texas and west of Missouri, under the general name of Nebraska, to which, on the suggestion of Senator Dixon, of Kentucky, was attached a provision for the formal repeal of the Missouri Compromise. RESISTANCE TO "BORDER RUFFIANISM." - 587 IN THE ADIRONDACKS.—In 1849 Brown retired from business and speculative life, to a tract of wild land presented to him by Gerritt Smith, in Essex county, in the northern part of the state of New York, a portion of which is now known as the "North Woods," or "Adirondacks," so popular as a cool retreat from the mid-Summer heats of the Eastern and Southern States. Here, at North Elba, "the world forgetting and by the world forgot," for four or five years he quietly, but with characteristic energy, grubbed out from his rugged acres a comfortable living for his still rapidly increasing family--his older children by first wife, being already in active business for themselves. "SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY."—In advocating his bill, Mr. Douglas invented the phrase "Popular Sovereignty," the theory being that the majority of the squatters upon the lands in question—whether pros or antis—should be allowed to settle the question for themselves, thus stimulating rapid settlement from both sections, the section coming in ahead to be the best " fellow." The phrase "Popular Sovereignty" was soon changed to "Squatter Sovereignty," in the fiery and exciting discussion which followed, the infamy finally being accomplished, an amendment having, meantime, been adopted, designating the southern portion of the territory in question as Kansas, and the northern portion as Nebraska. THE RACE FOR LIFE.—Now, immediately commenced what may literally be termed "a race for life" between slavery and freedom, Kansas being the arena. The border slave state of Missouri at once threw into the new territory an immense horde of what were very properly designated as "Border Ruffians," while all the other slave states contiguous to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and some of the more remote, shipped in thousands upon thousands of their "chivalrous sons," all armed to the teeth, and several regular military organizations—notably that of Major Buford, of South Carolina, inscribed upon his red flag, "South Carolina and State Rights"--for the purpose of intimidating free settlers and outvoting them, when conventions and elections were to be held, and of forcibly ejecting the free state men from the territory. But the friends of freedem were by no means inactive, and thousands from the adjacent states of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, wended their way thither for peaceable and permanent settlement. In the Eastern States also, for the double purpose of aiding their surplus population to obtain independent homes, and to secure to the new territory the boon of freedom, Emigrant Aid Societies were organized and thousands of hardy, industrious and intelligent men were sent forward, supplied with the means to establish for themselves comfortable homes, and the endowment of schools, churches and adequate local government. These peaceable immigrants met with the most determined and malignant opposition from the " border ruffians "—harrassed and murdered while passing through Missouri; their houses and villages destroyed, and themselves killed or subjected to the most fearful indignities and outrages, accompanied by the most flagrant and brutal usurpations and frauds whenever and wherever elections, either local or general, were to be held. 588 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. These outrages soon taught the free-State men to meet force by force—in short to fight the pro-slavery devil with fire—and many very sanguinary battles ensued in various parts of the territory, so that the dark and bloody ground came to be appropriately known as "Bleeding Kansas. OLD OSSAWATOMIE. Among others who had sought to better their physical and pecuniary condition, and at the same time aid the cause of freedom, were several of the sons and sons-in-law of John Brown. They were not only stalwart and energetic in the improvement of the lands upon which they had " squatted," but also vigilant and determined in the exercise of their civil and political rights as "Squatter Sovereigns." This subjected the Brown family to the most malignant hatred of the border ruffian element, their crops being destroyed, their buildings burned, and one of their number being most ruthlessly murdered, and another driven into insanity by cruel treatment while held as a prisoner. These outrages upon the members of his own family, and the danger which menaced the cause of freedom itself, determined our whilom fellow-citizen, John Brown, to leave the seclusion of his Essex county home and fly to the rescue. By his coolness and bravery, he was soon accorded the leadership in repulsing the various attacks of the pro-slavery forces, and in making raids upon the camps and settlements of his blood-thirsty enemies, as well. The remarkable skill with which, he, with a mere handful of men, routed a large force of "border ruffians" at the settlement of Ossawatomie, gave to him the sobriquet of "Old Ossawatomie," by which name he is to this day better known than by any any other. FREEDOM VICTORIOUS! The struggle continued for some three or four years. The free-state settlers out-numbered the slave-state men at least two to one, but by incursions of armed bodies from Missouri at elections, and by the connivance of pro-slavery federal and territorial officers, the will of the majority was thwarted until 1859, when a delegate convention held at Wyandotte, adopted a free-state constitution, which was ratified by a vote of 10,421 to 5,530, though, by filibustering tactics in Congress. it was not admitted to the Union until the withdrawal of the Southern senators to engage in the Slave-holders' Rebellion, in January, 1861. In the height of the bloody conflict, John Brown visited Boston, Mass., where he had a conference with the prominent friends of freedom and m embers of the Emigrant Aid Society, from whom he received contributions of about $4,000 in money, and nearly twice that amount of arms and other warlike supplies. On his way back, in the Summer of 1856, he spent a few days among his old friends in Summit county for a similar purpose. At a small but enthusiastic meeting, to whom he gave a graphic account of the bloody struggle, a committee was appointed to canvass the village in behalf of the good cause, of which committee it was the privilege, and the pleasure, of the writer to be a member. THE HARPER'S FERRY EPISODE- 589 Rifles, shot-guns, revolvers, pistols, swords, butcher-knives, powder, lead, etc., with considerable contributions of money, were thus gathered in, while it was more than hinted that two cases of arms of a former independent military company, stored in a barn in Tallmadge, and several similar packages of State arms, which had been gathered in from other parts of the county, and stored in the uppers part of the jail, mysteriously disappeared about the same time. Middlebury, Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Tallmadge and perhaps other towns in Summit County, also made liberal contributions to the good work, all of which aided in freeing Kansas, Nebraska and contiguous territory from the curse of slavery, and, possibly, in precipitating that infinitely more bloody conflict which resulted in the overthrow of the accursed institution throughout the land. HARPER'S FERRY—CAPTURING THE ARMORY. By this time our old friend—always an ardent and conscientious anti-slavery man—had become so intensely embittered against the inhuman system, and the iniquities and atrocities of its supporters, that he determined to devote the balance of his life and energies for its extinction. Thus, for a time, he devoted himself to the project of providing the human chattels of the border states—especially "Border Ruffian" Missouri—with the facilities of escape and safe transportation to the true land of freedom—Canada. In this way, for a year or two, much was done towards paying off the large indebtedness of himself and his family for the great indignities and wrongs that had been inflicted upon them, as above set forth. But, to the prolific mind of John Brown, it soon became apparent that this mode of warfare against America's most gigantic curse, was puny in the extreme; that while it might annoy and inconvenience an occasional individual slaveholder, and secure limited freedom to an occasional captive, it would do very little towards accomplishing the great desire of his heart—univer1 emancipation. In his humane, philanthropic and patriotic zeal, he truly believed that the enslaved race needed but the advent of a bold and determined leader, to instantly rally en masse, and gallantly tight their own way to freedom. Imbued with this thought, sometime in 1858, he gathered around him a few "True Friends of Freedom" at Chatham, in Canada, to whom he unfolded his plans, at which secret gathering a Provisional Constitution was drawn up and adopted, under which .Brown was designated as Commander-in-Chief, Richard Realf, Secretary of State, and J. H. Kagi, Secretary of War. Retaining a portion of the Kansas contributions of arms and other munitions of war, and having had fabricated a large number of long-handled double-edged pikes, for the use of those negroes unskilled in the use of fire-arms, in the Summer of 1859 Brown established his headquarters at what was known as the Kennedy farm, in Maryland, and within five miles of Harper's Ferry, Va., where one of the Arsenals of the United States was located. Here• had been quietly gathered the "sinews of war" alluded to. On the night of Sunday, October 16, 1859, about 10 o'clock, with an "army" of seventeen white men and five negroes, Brown 590 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. took possession of the Government buildings, at Harper's Ferry, within 50 miles of the National Capitol; stopped railroad trains, captured a number of citizens, liberated several slaves and held the town nearly 36 hours. Though there were no symptoms of any uprising among the slaves, or any evidence that they had been advised of the contemplated raid for their deliverance, the whole Southern country was immediately thrown into the utmost excitement and alarm. The citizens of Harper's Ferry, during Monday afternoon, so far recovered from their panic as to rally for their defense and the expulsion of the invaders, and quite a number of sharp skirmishes ensued, with several serious casualities on both sides, one of Brown's men being shot down, while conveying, under a flag of truce, a message from the Provisional Commander-in-Chief to the mayor of the town. A company of militia, 100 strong, arrived from Charlestown early in the afternoon, but were kept at bay by the intrenched invaders. Other troops arrived from near-by towns, both in Virginia and Maryland, during the afternoon, and by night there were fifteen hundred armed soldiers surrounding the engine house, but kept at bay by the handful of brave-hearted then therein entrenched. CAPTURED BY COL. ROBERT E. LEE. Monday night, the Government at Washington sent a body of U. S. troops, under the command of Col. Robert E. Lee (two years later the commander-in-chief of the greatest insurrection known to history), to subdue the insurgents. Refusing to comply with Col. Lee's command to surrender, fire was opened upon the engine house, and hotly returned by the intrenched party. The "citadel" was at length stormed, Brown and his men fighting to the last like tigers. Thirteen of the band, including two of Brown's sons, being either killed outright or mortally wounded; Brown himself being very seriously wounded by both sword and bayonet. TRIAL—CONVICTION—SENTENCE-- EXECUTION. Brown and his six surviving followers were taken to the Jefferson County jail, at Charlestown, ten miles southwest of Harper's Ferry. Here they were indicted for inciting insurrection, and for treason and murder. Conviction followed, as a matter of course, the large array of evidence forwarded from Summit county, and elsewhere, as to tendency to insanity in his family, and of belief in the actual insanity of Brown himself, upon the slavery question, not proving of any avail. Brown was so weak from his wounds, that he was obliged to lie upon a cot during the trial. He exhibited the utmost heroism and fortitude throughout, boldly proclaiming his hatred of the slave-system, the righteousness of the act he had sought to perform, with the prediction that the accursed institution was doomed to speedy overthrow. The execution occurred at 11:15 A. M., on Friday, December 2, 1859. The martyr-convict was firm and cheerful to the last, pleasantly conversing with the sheriff and guard who bore him from the jail to the scaffold, treating all concerned in the executio HIS TRIUMPHANT DEATH—THE PUBLIC SORROW - 591 with the utmost courtesy. His death was easy, the body being lowered from the scaffold 35 minutes after the drop fell and delivered to his wife, at Harper's Ferry, who started with it the same evening, for North Elba, where it was quietly interred, in the presence of his surviving family, and a few sympathizing friends, with appropriate funeral services, on Thursday, December 8, 1859, Wendell Phillips pronouncing a fitting eulogy over his remains. HIS LAST LETTER. His life-long friend, Mr. Lora Case, still living hale and hearty, in Hudson, at the age of nearly 80 years, wrote him a friendly and sympathetic letter, after his conviction and sentence, to which he made the following characteristic reply, but a few moments before his execution: CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON CO., VA., December 2, 1859. Lora Case, Esq., MY DEAR SIR:—Your most kind and cheering letter of the 28th of November, is received. Such an out-burst of warm-hearted sympathy, not only for in myself, but also for those who have no helper, compels me to steal a moment from those allowed me in which to prepare for my last great change, to send you a few words. Such a feeling as you manifest makes you shine (in my estimation) in the midst of this wicked and perverse generation, as a light in the world, and may you ever prove yourself equal to the high estimate I have placed upon you. Pure and undefiled religion before God, and the Father, is, as I understand it, an active (not a dormant) principle. I do not undertake to direct any more in regard to my children. I leave that more entirely to their excellent mother, from whom I have just parted. I send you my salutation with my own hand. Remember me to all your and my dear friends. Your friend, JOHN BROWN. THE PUBLIC SORROW. Though many deprecated the insane scheme, as they regarded it of attempting the overthrow of so gigantic, and at that time so thoroughly intrenched, an iniquity—backed as it then was by the entire civil and military power of the government—with such frail weapons, and such meager resources, yet having an unwavering belief in the honesty of his motives, and his entire conscientiousness, coupled with his unflinching bravery, the public mind, everywhere in the North, was filled with sincere sorrow at his ignominious end; and with the most intense indignation at the relentless vindictiveness with which, while so severely suffering from the bayonet wounds inflicted by United States soldiers in effecting his capture, he was hurried through the merest mockery of a trial to his death. Memorial services were held in nearly all the principal cities and towns in the Northern States. In Akron, on the day of execution, flags were displayed at half mast; stores and other business places were closed, the Court of Common Pleas adjourned—bells were tolled, and in the evening a very large meeting was held in Empire Hall, in which feeling and appropriate speeches were made by Judge James S. Carpenter, Attorney General Christopher P. Wolcott, Gen. Lucius V. Bierce, Dr. Thomas Earl, Dr. Joseph Cole, Wilbur F. Sanders, Esq., Nathaniel W. Goodhue, Esq,. Newell D. Tibbals, Esq., and others, with an appropriate poem from the pen of the late James Mathews, read by the writer of 592 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. this sketch, the exercises being exceedingly earnest and solemn throughout; similar and equally solemn and impressive services being held at Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson and other villages in Summit county. WAS JOHN BROWN ACTUALLY INSANE? Many anecdotes and traditions of his boyhood and early manhood, are still rife among the people of Hudson, that, properly written out, would make interesting reading, but the scope of this chapter will not admit of their publication here. Many of his most intimate acquaintances, while maintaining unbounded faith in his honesty of purpose, and his religious conscientiousness, entertained the belief that, from hereditary taint, he was in reality insane. After his conviction and sentence, in Virginia, Prof. Matthew C. Read, of Hudson, procured many affidavits to that effect, from people who had known him intimately from his earliest boyhood, which were laid before the Virginia authorities, in the hope of securing a commutation of his sentence. The affidavits were presented, and an eloquent appeal made to Governor Wise, in their support, by Akron's well-remembered talented attorney, Hon. Christopher P. Wolcott, then attorney general of Ohio, and afterwards assistant secretary of war, but without avail. Slavery was inexorable, and unimbued with the attribute of mercy. The system which could ruthlessly imprison a delicate and sympathetic woman for teaching a slave to read the Holy Bible, or giving a panting fugitive a crust of bread while fleeing from bondage, had no commiseration or clemency to bestow upon the man, who almost single-handed, had insanely attempted the overthrow of the iniqquitous system itself. But the posthumous influence of Jo Brown, the martyr, was far more potent for the downfall of t system, than was the influence, while living, of John Brown, t emancipator, and the patriotic refrain, so enthusiastically sung our Union soldiers, both in camp and on the march: John Brown's body lies mouldering in the ground, John Brown's body lies mouldering in the ground, John Brown's body lies mouldering in the ground, But his soul goes marching along. Glory ! glory ! hallelujah ! Glory ! glory! hallelujah! Glory ! glory ! hallelujah ! We'll conquer as we go! did more to inspirit the .Union soldier, upon one hand, and superstitiously dispirit the cohorts of treason, upon the other, th any other on moral instrumentality, and in less than half decade from the date of his ignominious death, the end he th " madly" sought to accomplish, was most effectually consummated through the " madness" of the very men who so merciles clamored for his execution. CHAPTER XXIII. THE PATRIOT WAR--" HUNTERS" LODGES-CAMPAIGN OF 1837, '38—PATRIOTS DEFEATED-EXECUTION OF GENERAL VON SCHULTZ-BANISHMENT TO VAN DIEMAN'S LAND-BURNING OF THE STEAMER " CAROLINE "-PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT VAN BUREN-GENERAL SCOTT AND 13. S. TROOPS INTERFERE– PATRIOT LEADER WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE CAPTURED-TRIAL AND SENTENCE UNDER LAWS OF NEW YORK-GENERAL LUCIUS V. BIERCE APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF-CAMPAIGN OF 1838, '39-INVASION OF CANADA OPPOSITE DETROIT-BATTLE OF WINDSOR-BARRACKS CAPTURED AND BURNED-BRITISH SURGEON KILLED AND HIS SWORD SECURED AS A TROPHY-BURNING OF CANADIAN STEAMER " THAMES "-PATRIOTS DEFEATED BY BRITISH REGULARS-FLIGHT OF COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF BIERCE, WITH THE REMNANT OF HIS ARMY-IGNOMINIOUS COLLAPSE -ARREST AND TRIAL OF ALLEGED BURNER OF THE "CAROLINE," ALEXANDER MCLEOD-RUPTURE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES IMMINENT. AKRON IN CANADIAN REBELLION. THE prominent part played by citizens of Akron in the Canada Patriot war of 1837-39, calls for a pretty full history of that stirring episode in the international affairs of England and the United States. As early as 1836, it began to be whispered all along the line, from Lake Ontario, on the East, to Lake Michigan on the West, that the good people of Canada were getting very restive under British rule, and, with a little encouragement and aid from patriotic Americans, were ready to make an effort to throw off the galling yoke, and establish an independent government of their own. This movement was inaugurated by one William Lyon Mackenzie, of Scotch descent, and editor of the Colonial Advocate, a journal published at Niagara, in opposition to the then governing party in Canada. In 1828, Mackenzie had been elected to the provincial parliament, but was refused his seat on account of his disloyalty to the Crown. He was four times successively re-elected to this position, with a like result, the government finally refusing to issue another writ or order of election. In 1832, he visited England, bearing a numerously signed petition of the Canadian reform party, praying for redress of grievances, but without success. RESORT TO REVOLUTION.—Returning to Canada, Mackenzie continued the agitation of his reform measures, with such marked success, that in 1836 he was elected Mayor of Toronto. 'While occupying this position he headed an armed force and demanded of Gov. Head that he should call a convention to discuss Canadian grievances and reform, which demand was not acceded to. He then determined to resort to open revolution, by seizing arms, arresting the governor and his cabinet, and declaring Canada a Republic. But his f force was not strong enough, and the government troops, under Sir Allan Macnab, as colonel of militia, drove him from his position on Montgomery Hill, December 7, 1837, and, after considerable severe skirmishing, and the capture of quite a 38 594 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. number of his men, forced him to retire to Navy Island, in the Niagara river, a short distance above the falls, and within the jurisdiction of the United States. From this safe retreat Mackenzie issued a proclamation calling for volunteers, and offering, as bounties, Canadian lands, in value from $100 to $300, when the revolution should be successful. This appeal, and the then munificent offer accompanying it, served to very largely enthuse the patriotism of " Yankee Doodle "—both native and adopted—and rally to his standard some six or seven hundred recruits, with quite liberal contributions of money, arms, ammunition and other army stores. Here, in comparative security, Mackenzie directed his warlike operations, in the furtherance of which he employed a small Buffalo steamer, called the "Caroline," for the transportation of his men and supplies from the American shore to the Island, and from the Island to the Canada shore, as circumstances might require. BURNING OF THE STEAMER " CAROLINE."—Through this instrumentality a number of raids, of greater or less magnitude, were made from time to time, resulting in the loss of several lives on both sides, and the destruction of considerable property on Canadian soil. To put an end to this annoyance, though the steamer was owned by private parties, and when not in use, was generally moored at her own dock in the harbor of Buffalo, Sir Allan Macnab determined upon her summary destruction. Accordingly, on the night of December 27, 1837, an expedition was sent out, in command of Captain Drew, who, with a picked squad of volunteers, and militia, crossed over to Schlosser, where the boat was temporarily moored, overpowered the unarmed watch, several of whom were killed, cut the moorings of the steamer, towed her into Canadian waters, set her on fire and cast her adrift, to float (low the river and over the Falls of Niagara. One of the alleged active participants in this affair was on Alexander McLeod, who, a year or so later, being found on the American side, was arrested by the authorities of the State of New York, and held to answer for both murder and arson. The events caused the utmost excitement, both in the United Stat and Canada, as well as in Great Britain. Macnab was Knighte and Capt. Drew was promoted by the British authorities, and the United States government applied to Great Britain for redress, upon the one hand, while the British government demanded the release of McLeod on the other. Voluminous correspondence between Secretary of State. Forsyth, and British Minister Fox, took place, and long and earnest discussions, in both Congress and Parliament, were had, the danger of a serious conflict between the two governments at one time appearing imminent. This was happily averted, however, by the acquittal of McLeod on the final trial, the almost positive testimony of his guilt being met with such strong evidence, tending to prove an alibi, as to throw a slight doubt into the jury box, a thus save him from the fate which had previously been promptly, not to say ruthlessly, meted out to the brave Polander, Von Schultz, as hereinafter detailed. PUBLIC MEETING IN AKRON.—As showing the interest taken by the people of Akron in these stirring events, we find in the American Balance, of January 11, 1838, the proceedings of a public AKRON HIGHLY. " HONORED." - 595 meeting held January 6, 1838, at the Methodist Church, presided over by Justice Jacob Brown, and of which Arad Kent and Horace K. Smith were secretaries; the meeting being opened with prayer by Rev. Henry Carr, of the Baptist Church. Alva Hand, Esq., one of Akron's leading lawyers at that time, offered, with a spirited preamble, the following patriotic resolution: Resolved, That as true friends of the great cause of liberty, as good and worthy citizens of the United States, and as patriots, we cannot remain silent when oppression stretches forth her hand to smite her victim ; stand unconcerned when we see our shores invaded by the armed bands of the hostile slaves of despots whose tender mercies are cruelty and death; nor will we remain idle and senseless when our country calls us to her defense. This preamble and resolution, after spirited discussion, were unanimously adopted, whereupon Col. Justus Gale offered the following, which was enthusiastically concurred in: Resolved, That the attack, massacre, and destruction of the steamboat Caroline, by British troops, when lying in an American port, is an insult upon the American flag, and an outrage too flagrant to be brooked by a free and independent people. Mayor John C. Singletary, Jr., then offered a series of resolutions of so fiery a nature as to call out a somewhat animated debate, whereupon Constant Bryan, Esq., offered the following as a substitute, which was accepted by the Mayor, and unanimously adopted by the meeting: Resolved, That the seizure of the steamboat Caroline, in American waters, and the cold-blooded butchery of twenty-two of our fellow citizens, s a high handed outrage, an atrocity unparalleled in the annals of civilized warfare, demanding the most prompt interference of the National executive. David K. Cartter (late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia) offered the following: Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the chairman and secretaries, and published in the American Balance and other papers of this county. GEN. BIERCE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF —" HUNTERS" LODGES, ETC. Early in 1838, at a meeting of representative patriots, in Buffalo, Gen. L. V. Bierce, of Akron, Ohio, was chosen commander-in-chief of all the patriot forces, and plans devised for a vigorous campaign all along the line. To better facilitate their operations, and secure the sympathy and co-operation of the people of the States, a secret order was instituted under the name of "Hunters," with lodges in all the principal cities and villages of the several counties contiguous to Lake Erie, from Ogdensburg Detroit. The emblem of the order was the snow-shoe, and, on being initiated, its members took the most solemn and blood-curdling oath, never to speak, write, indite or delineate, or by any sign, gesture or device whatsoever, to disclose to any outsider the character of the emblem itself, or the existence, aims and intentions of the order it represented. Of course there were pass-words, signs, counter-signs, signals, grips, etc , by which members could gain access to lodges, recognize a fellow-Hunter on sight, secure succor when in danger and prompt relief when in distress; the 596 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. newly initiated being especially enjoined to render every possible aid towards liberating their oppressed Canadian brethren from the galling bondage in which they were held. It may well be imagined that, among a people so universally patriotic as were the early settlers of the western states, these lodges would very naturally gather in and bring together, face to face, the most diverse and incongruous elements of the community in which they were instituted. For instance, while engaged in the publication of a paper specially devoted to the exposure of crime, and the purification of the moral atmosphere, the writer, on being initiated into the order, at the instance of one of the most highly respected and enterprising merchants of Akron, found himself in the presence of, and "cheek-by-jowl" with, the most notorious counterfeiter of his time and several well-known gamblers, together with village councilmen, justices of the peace, lawyers, doctors, merchants, manufacturers, etc. But, while a large proportion of the criminal and dissolute classes identified themselves with the Patriot movement, the great majority of the members of these lodges were from the more reputable classes of society, who, heartily sympathizing with their believed to be oppressed and suffering neighbors, were willing to aid them to the extent of their pecuniary ability, and some of them with their good right arms, and military prowess, if necessary, to accomplish their object. UNCLE SAM TAKES A HAND IN THE GAME. The Winter of 1837, '38 and the ensuing Spring and Summer were attended by such war-like preparations and demonstrations, operated and directed from the American side of the line, that sometime in October or November of that year, President Van Buren issued his proclamation of neutrality, warning all citizens or residents of the United States against committing any acts of hostility against the people or the government of Canada, assuring them that he will not interfere in their behalf, if they are taken prisoners "but that they will be left reproached by every virtuous citizen, to be dealt with according to the policy of the government whose dominion they have, in defiance of the known wishes of their own government, and without the shadow of justification or excuse, invaded." Lieutenant General Winfield Scott had also previously been Ordered to the Niagara frontier, with an adequate force of U. S. troops to enforce the neutrality laws between the two governments. In the meantime, however, some very stirring scenes were being enacted in the vicinity of Prescott, opposite Ogdensburg, on the St. Lawrence river. BATTLE OF WIND MILL POINT. On November 14, 1838, the patriot forces, under the command of Gen. Von Schultz, intended to have attacked Prescott, but, by the mismanagement of the steamer on which they had embarked, they were compelled to land at Wind Mill Point, a mile and a half below the town. Here, in the stone wind mill and other stone buildings, the command of Gen. Von Schultz, from 200 to 300 in number, remained over night. Early the next morning they were attacked by the British troops, which were several times repulsed, PATRIOTS DEFEATED-LEADERS EXECUTED - 597 Gen. Von Schultz, during the engagement, making a sortie, with some fifty men, in the face of the whole loyalist force, and capturing a cannon which was firing upon the mill. The battle lasted about two hours, several casualties occurring on either side, the British loss being much the greater. On the 16th, having received reinforcements, the British forces, to the number of about 300, completely surrounded the wind mill, and with their heavy ordnance opened fire upon the mill and other stone buildings occupied by the insurgents, who were at length obliged to abandon their position and seek safety in flight. On emerging from the buildings, they made a desperate rush to break through the British lines, but being completely surrounded they were all, with but a single exception, taken prisoners. The one exception was a countryman of the commanding general, a Pole, who escaped the vigilance of the captors by donning the uniform of a British officer who had been slain. This defeat was a serious blow to the Patriots, but by means the end of the contest. GEN. VON SCHULTZ HUNG. Notwithstanding a large deputation of the most influential citizens of Ogdensburg visited Canada, in behalf of the prisoners, the Canadian authorities made short work of the matter by hang-lag Gen. Von Schultz and several minor officers and transporting he majority of his followers to the then supposed to be entirely out of-the-world English penal station, Van Dieman's Land, now known as Tasmania, in the South Pacific Ocean, and one of the most fertile and prosperous of great Britain's colonial possessions. While these stirring events were taking place upon Canadian soil, Gen. Scott was by no means inactive upon the American side of the line. Not only were inflocking recruits intercepted and prevented from joining the insurgents, and not only were arms and munitions of war, large contributions of which were made by the "Hunters," and other sympathizers in the movement, seized and confiscated, but the U. S. troops broke up their Navy Island rendezvous, and also placed the instigator of the movement, Mackenzie, under arrest. The Canadian Government had already outlawed the leader of the rebellion, Mackenzie, and placed a heavy price upon his head; but there being no extradition regulations, by which that government could demand his surrender, he was handed over to the United States civil authorities, and, after considerable delay, was tried for violation of American laws, by making war on Canada, in the circuit court for the western district of New York, convicted and sentenced to twelve months imprisonment in the Rochester jail. On the expiration of his sentence, Mackenzie went to New York City, where he became a contributor for the Tribune, his writings being always interesting, and generally instructive. In 1849 the Canadian government published a general amnesty, whereupon Mackenzie returned to Toronto, where he was soon afterwards elected to the colonial parliament, of which body he became a useful and influential member, and on his retirement from that position, he published a weekly journal entitled Mackenzie's Message, until his death, August 26, 1861, the Message attaining a very large circulation for those early days. 598 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. GENERAL BIERCE'S CAMPAIGN. Notwithstanding the disaster to the eastern wing of the Patriot army, the capture of Mackenzie, the summary execution of Von Schultz and a large number of his subordinate officers, and the expatriation of their followers, General-in-Chief Bierce decided to strike a blow in the west, which, it was fondly hoped, would turn defeat into victory, and result in the speedy disenthrallment of the oppressed Canadians. Hitherto nearly all the efforts of the patriots had been made in the vicinity of the Niagara and St. Lawrence rivers, and it was supposed that not only less vigilance on the part of the Canadian and United States authorities prevailed in the west, but that, a footing once obtained upon Canadian soil, the entire populace would not only welcome them with open arms, but would rise, en masse, and march with their patriotic deliverers to the rescue of their less fortunate brethren in the east. Accordingly, through the machinery of the Hunters' organization, several hundred recruits were mustered in, and secretly drilled in military tactics, and ordered to quietly rendezvous in Detroit, the latter part of November, 1838. In this way some 400 men, chiefly from Ohio and Michigan, had been, under the guidance of faithful subordinate officers, quartered, as travelers and individual citizens, in the smaller hotels, boarding houses and private residences of Detroit, without attracting the attention of the authorities, or of the general public. THE BATTLE OF WINDSOR.-At length, everything being in readiness, on the night of the 3rd day of December, 1838, the men were ordered to quietly assemble at a designated wharf on the river, at the hour of midnight. In the meantime a small but "daring" squad of "Hunters" had "seized" the steamer Champlain, a Lake Erie passenger boat lying at a neighboring wharf, the captain and crew of which, not being belligerently inclined, were, on promise to remain silent in regard to the seizure until daylight, permitted to go on shore. Among those who accompanied Gen. Bierce upon this expedition, and acting as his aide-de-camp, was a young printer by the name of John H. Harmon, son of the veteran editor of the Western Courier, the late John Harmon, of Ravenna, and an old personal aid political friend of General Bierce. THE EMBARKATION.---Of the 400 brave men who had been armed, drilled, transported and subsisted from the Patriot fund, 137, only, reported on board the Champlain for duty, which number, including officers and those detailed to run the steamer, constituted the entire force of the invading army. The steamer was quietly landed on the Canada side, about four miles above Windsor, at which latter place was a military barracks, which was supposed to contain a quantity of military stores, and to he guarded by about fifty British soldiers. Gen. Bierce's design was to quietly surround and capture this barracks, without arousing the garrison or the town. Approaching the barracks, just at day-break, a man was seen running from the river towards the barracks, who it was surmised had rowed across the river to give the alarm. He was brought down by a shot from a patriot musket, and proved to be a Detroit saloon-keeper, on the errand surmised. That shot, however, GENERAL BIERCE IN CANADA - 599 aroused both the guards in the barracks and the sleeping town, and the project of surrounding the barracks was thus foiled. THE BURNING BARRACKS.—The British soldiers immediately opened fire from the loop-holes of the braracks, which was kept up until the patriots got so near the building as to be out of range of their bullets. Gen. Bierce then ordered Harmon to set the barracks on fire, which was accordingly done. The guards, finding their barracks on fire, came tumbling out in a hurry, several being killed, a number taken prisoners and others making their escape. Their arms were taken away from those captured, who, after a short detention, were liberated, the patriots by this time thinking it important to be looking out for themselves. STEAMER THAMES BURNED—RETALIATION.—There was, at the time, lying at the little wharf in front of Windsor, a small steamer called the Thames. Though personal property, the boat was in the employ of the Canadian government, and to avenge the burning of the Caroline, at Schlosser, by order of Col. Macnab, as heretofore detailed, Gen. Bierce ordered the Thames to be incinerated also, which was accordingly done by Mr. Harmon and three others, bearing with them, for that purpose, brands from the still burning barracks. In a recent conversation with our venerable citizen-farmer, Webster B. Storer, an extensive boat builder in Akron, during the palmy days of the Ohio Canal, I learn that the interior finishing of the Thames was done by him previous to his coming to Akron, in 1836, her hull having been built on the river Thames, in Canada, and towed to Cleveland for finish and the placing of her machinery.] Anticipating that by this time the main body of British troops, stationed at Sandwich, would be on the way to Windsor, Gen. Bierce ordered Colonels Putnam and Harvell (the former a grandson of old Israel Putnam, of revolutionary fame), to station themselves, with about 100 men, in an orchard, back of Windsor, then a small hamlet of a dozen houses or so, only, to hold the bold Britishers in check, while the General himself, with his aid, and the remainder of his men, about 30 all told, moved into Windsor to hold the town itself, BRITISH SURGEON KILLED.—After this disposition of the patriot forces, and soon after the return of Mr. Harmon and his comrades from firing the Thames, doctor Hume, a fine looking man, and a surgeon in the British regular army, with the rank of major, rode up to the town on a splendid and gayly caparisoned horse, evidently without knowing who the invaders were. On approaching the line, he was ordered to surrender by Capt. Scott. The doctor, apparently not realizing what was up, asked, "to whom shall I surrender?" "To the Patriots," answered Capt. Scott. The doctor, quickly dismounting, started to walk away, with an emphatic expression against surrendering to rebels. Capt. Scott immediately gave the order to fire, and the loyal non-combatant doctor instantly fell dead, pierced by a dozen bullets—an act that at the time was considered not only very inhuman, but nearly akin to wilful and deliberate murder; an opinion, I doubt not, shared in by both Gen. Bierce and his aid, Harmon, who, in noticing this feature of the affair says: " Only part of our force fired—the rest, among whom I was one—thinking it unnecessary to go to the extremes with so brave a man."