MUSKINGUM COUNTY—Continued

Page 334

of pleasant resort for citizens.  The athenæum was commenced as a library company by a few individuals nearly twenty years ago and, soon becoming incorporated, put up a handsome two-story brick building as a wing to the court-house.  The lower rooms are rented for offices, while the upper are occupied by the company for their reading-room, library, etc.  Strangers have, by the charter, a right of admission, and during their stay in Zanesville can always find there access to many of the leading journals of the United States and to a library of between three and four thousand volumes, embracing very many choice and rare books in literature and science; while additions are annually made with the funds arising from rents and $5 per annum paid by each stockholder.  There is a commencement for a cabinet of minerals and curiosities, but that department has never flourished as its importance demands.

The water-works of Zanesville are very great.  The water is thrown by a powerful forcing pump from the river to a reservoir upon a hill, half a mile distant, one hundred and sixty feet above the level of the pump, and thence let down and distributed by larger and smaller pipes into every part of the town, furnishing an ample supply for public and private purposes, as well as providing a valuable safeguard against fire.  By attaching hose at once to the fire-plugs the

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

PUTNAM.

water may be thrown without the intervention of an engine by the pressure of the head, far above the roofs of the houses.  The public pipes are all of iron, and at present there are between six and seven miles of pipe owned by the town, besides that owned by individuals and used in conveying water from the streets and alleys to their own hydrants.  Much of this, however, is of lead.  The cost to the town has been about $42,000.  The reservoir is calculated to contain about 750,000 gallons.  The present population of Zanesville is probably something under 8,000, excluding Putnam, West Zanesville and South Zanesville.  [These villages are now (1890) included in Zanesville.]

Putnam is less dense in its construction than Zanesville and contains many beautiful gardens.  It being principally settled by New Englanders, is in appearance a New England village.  The town plat was owned and the town laid out by Increase MATTHEWS, Levi WHIPPLE and Edwin PUTNAM The latter two are dead; Dr. MATTHEWS still resides in Putnam.

Page 335

with Zanesville is seen on the right.  On the left is shown a church and the top of the seminary a little to the right of it.

The Putnam Female Seminary is an incorporated institution and has been in operation about ten years. The principal edifice stands in an area of three acres and cost, with its furniture, about $20,000.  Pupils under fourteen years of age are received into the preparatory department.  Those over fourteen enter the upper department, in which the regular course of study requires three years and,

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

THE PUTNAM FEMALE SEMINARY.

excepting the languages, is essentially like a college course.  It is proposed soon to extend the time to four years and make the course the same as in colleges, substituting the German for Greek.  The average number of pupils has been about one hundred.  “By reason of the endowments the term bills are very much less than any similar school in the country.  Exclusive of extra studies the cost per year will not exceed $100 per scholar.”  There are five teachers in this flourishing institution, of which Miss Mary Cone is the principal.  It is under the general direction of a board of trustees.—Old Edition.

ZANESVILLE, county-seat of Muskingum, at the junction of the Muskingum and Licking rivers, is about fifty-five miles east of Columbus, on the M. V. Division of the P. C. & St. L. and B. & O., and B. Z. & C. and C. & E. Railroads.  Is a manufacturing and commercial centre, noted for its clay and tile manufactures.

Page 336

editor and publisher; Ohio Farmers’ Journal, Agriculturalist, J. H. ABBOTT, editor and publisher; Shepherds’ National Journal and Rural Era, Agriculturalist, Rural Era Publishing Company, editors and publishers.  Churches:  one Evangelical, five Methodist Episcopal, one Congregation, one Lutheran, two Presbyterian, two Catholic, one Baptist, one Episcopal, one Evangelical Lutheran.  Banks:  Citizens’ National, H. C. Van VOORHIS, president, A. V. SMITH, cashier; First National, W. A. GRAHAM, president, Geo. H. STEWART, cashier; Union James HERDMAN, president, John J. INGALLS, cashier; Zanesville, John W. KING, president. A. H. STERN, cashier.

Manufactures and Employees (when numbering 25 and over).—Excelsior Planing Mill, doors, sash, etc., 30 hands; Kearns & Co., flint glass, etc., 98; Patterson, Burgess & Co., doors, sash, etc., 25; Zanesville Stoneware Company, 27; The Hatton Stove Company, 35; Muskingum Coffin Company, coffins and caskets, 43; Kearns-Gorsuch Glass Company, window glass, etc., 300; Sturtevant & Martin, hosiery, 120; Gray Brothers & Silvey, furniture, 45; Griffith & Wedge Company, engines, saw-mills, etc., 100; Jones & Abbott, stoves, etc., 50; Schultz & Company, soap, 75; Hoover & Allison, ropes, twine, etc., 120; Zanesville Woollen Manufacturing Company, blankets, flannels, etc., 72; W. B. Harris & Brothers, pressed brick, etc., 145; American Encaustic Tiling Company, decorative tile, etc., 172; T. B. Townsend & Co., pressed brick, etc., 118; A. Worstall, cigars, 25; B. Z. & C. R. R. Shops, railroad repairs, 25; Ohio Iron Company, pig-iron, etc., 400; Brown Manufacturing Company, agricultural implements, 230; Novelty Paper Mill, manilla and newspaper, 29; F. J. L. Blandy, engines, etc., 50; Petit & Strait, bread, cakes, etc., 28; Shennick, Woodside & Gibbons Manufacturing Company, stoves, 63; John W. Pinkerton & Co., cigars, tobacco, etc., 35; Herdman, Harris & Co., doors, sash, etc., 35; The Duval Engine Company, engines, boilers, etc., 28; R. A. Worstall, cigars, 28; C. Stalzenbach & Son, bread, crackers, etc., 89; ZANE Tobacco Company, plug tobacco, 49; J. B. Owens, decorated flower-pots, 68.—State Report, 1888.

Population, 1880, 18,113.  School census, 1888, 6,159; W. D. Lash, school superintendent.  Capital invested in industrial establishments, $2,211,770.  Value of annual product, $4,295,231.—Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.  Census, 1890, 21,009.

The superior clays in the vicinity have made Zanesville an important point in the manufacture of clay products, and in one branch of this manufacture, that of ENCAUSTIC TILE, she is the pioneer and leader of the only three places in the United States where these goods are made.  The industry was inaugurated by the American Encaustic Tiling Company, George STANDBERRY, superintendent.  The stock of this company is principally owned in New York, and nearly all the products of the works are sold there in the face of foreign competition, the American goods being fully equal to the English or French.

Page 337

The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Building, which was thrown open to the public July 4, 1889, is a fine example of this class of buildings, which are vastly more honorable to the memory of our dead heroes than mere shafts of stone.

It is a handsome stone structure devoted to the uses of the Grand Army of the Republic veterans and the militia.

The third floor contains one of the largest and finest public halls in the State.  The building is an honor to Muskingum county.

BIOGRAPHY.

THOMAS ANDREW HENDRICKS was born on a farm in Newton township, near Zanesville, September 7, 1819.  The sketch given of his birthplace was drawn by Charles A. KAPPES, who visited the spot and drew it from a description from memory by the venerable George M. CROOKS, who has lived near the spot ever since the infancy of Mr. HENDRICKS.  His parents removed to Indiana when he was six months old.  He graduated at South Hanover College, Madison, Indiana, was educated for the law at Chambersburg, Pa., and entered upon its practice at Shelbyville, Indiana.  At 27 years of age he was elected to the State Legislature.  In 1851, at the age of 30, he was elected to Congress from the central district of Indiana.  In 1855 he was appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office by President Pierce, and was continued in office by Buchanan, but resigned in 1859.  In 1860 he removed to Indianapolis.  From 1863 to 1869 he was United States Senator, and in 1872 was elected Governor of Indiana.

On July 11, 1884, he was nominated for the Vice-Presidency by the Democratic party, and elected the following November.  He was also the vice-presidential candidate of the Democratic party in 1876.  He died suddenly at his home in Indianapolis, Nov. 25, 1885.  He was affable and refined in social life, and in public life strongly partisan, but honest and incorruptible.  President HARRISON said of him at the time of his death:

“I have known Mr. HENDRICKS ever since I came to this city to live.  I have practised law with him, tried many cases with him and against him, and our professional relations have always been pleasant.  He was a very forceful and persuasive advocate.  His public career has been a very conspicuous one.  He had succeeded in acquiring and retaining the confidence of his party friends in a very high degree.  His personal character was always regarded as exalted and blameless.”

HUGH J. JEWETT was born in Deer Creek, Harford county, Md.  He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1838.  Two years later he began the practice of his profession at St. Clairsville, Ohio, and in 1848 removed to Zanesville, where his skill in cases involving financial questions was soon recognized.  He was elected president of the Muskingum branch of the Ohio State Bank in 1852.  In 1853 he was State senator, presidential elector, and appointed United States district attorney.

His experience in railroad financiering began in 1855 with the Central Ohio Railroad, of which he became president in 1857.  He was the Democratic candidate for governor in 1861, and for United States senator in 1863, but was defeated in both contests.  He was elected to the State senate in 1867, and to Congress in 1872.

His success as a railroad manager led to his election as president of the Little Miami, the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley, and vice-president of the P. C. & St. L. Railroads.

Page 338

the embarrassments of its corrupt management, are alike creditable to his firm courage, sterling honesty and marked ability.

In 1880 Mr. JEWETT’S name was mentioned as a candidate for the presidential nomination by the Democratic party.

In 1884 he resigned the presidency of the Erie road, and retired from active business life with impaired health.

SAMUEL SULLIVAN COX was born in Zanesville, O., September 30, 1824.  He was named for his grandfather, Judge Samuel Sullivan, a man of strong moral character and fine presence, who served as State treasurer from 1820 to 1823.

After graduation from Brown’s University in 1846, S. S. COX studied law and began practice in Zanesville, but later turned his attention to literature and politics, and in 1853 became editor of the Ohio Statesman.  It was while editing this paper that he published a gorgeous description of a sunset that gave him the sobriquet of “Sunset” COX.

In 1855 he accepted an appointment as secretary of legation at Lima, Peru.  In 1857, having returned to Ohio, he was elected to Congress, and re-elected three times, serving continuously until 1865.  In 1866 he removed to New York city, and in 1868 was again elected to Congress, and re-elected three times.  Mr. COX was in 1877 a candidate for the speakership, and although defeated, frequently served as speaker pro tem.  He was for many years one of the regents of the Smithsonian Institute.  In his long congressional service he was a practical worker for many of the most important branches of the public service, such as the census and the life-saving service.  He was the especial champion of the letter-carriers, securing for them increased pay and vacations without loss of salary.  After 1882 Mr. COX travelled extensively in Europe and northern Africa.  In 1886 he was appointed minister to Turkey, but returned after a year and was re-elected to Congress.

He was largely known as a wit and humorist, a very valuable public servant, and a writer and lecturer of great ability.  He died in New York, September 10, 1889.  His principal published works are “The Buckeye Abroad,” “Eight Years in Congress,” “Free Land and Free Trade,” “Three Decades of Federal Legislation ”and“ Why We laugh.”

LEWIS CASS commenced his public career as the first prosecuting attorney of Zanesville.  He first attracted the attention of President Jefferson when, as a member of the Ohio Legislature, he drew up an able official document on Ohio’s position in the Burr conspiracy.

Gen. ISAAC VAN HORN, one of the heroes of the Revolution, removed to Zanesville in 1805 as receiver of public money for the Land Office.  He was adjutant-general of Ohio during the war of 1812.  He died in 1837.  Many of his descendants are now prominent people of Zanesville.

Gen. CHARLES BACKUS GODDARD, who died in Zanesville in 1864, was an able lawyer of the old-school, an associate of CORWIN, CHASE, STANBERRY, VINTON and the elder EWING, Mr. F. B. LOOMIS relates in the Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette an interesting anecdote of a case to be tried in Marietta, in which EWING and GODDARD were opposing counsel.  As was common in these days, they agreed to meet at a certain place and travel together to Marietta.  EWING arrived first at the meeting place, and when GODDARD approached unperceived by EWING, he found the latter rehearsing his argument before a large tree, which he addressed as "Your Honor.”  Taking a position behind another tree GODDARD listened until EWING had gone through the entire case to be tried the next day, and not seeing anything of his friend, had mounted his horse and proceeded on his journey.

After a while GODDARD followed him, but did not arrive at Marietta until some hours after EWING.

The next day the trial came on.  EWING was badly defeated by GODDARD, who knew just what his argument would be, and therefore took all the wind from his sails by jocosely repeating it.  The next day, when they had arrived at the place for rest and refreshment, and in the inner man was supplied, GODDARD arose from the log upon which they were seated, and taking some books and papers from the saddle-bags, proceeded in a similar address to the big tree.  This was too much for EWING.  He at once saw the error he had made, and congratulating GODDARD upon his good fortune in the case, he asked him never to tell the circumstances to any one.

Page 339

triumphant.  He had a keen sense of the proprieties, and had rather lose a case than “stoop to conquer.”  Judge M. M. GRANGER states this instance in point:

“A client of CULBERTSON had sued a client of Gen. GODDARD for rendering impure the water of a well by changing a drain.  Witnesses differed as to the effect of the drain upon the water in the well, and Gen. GODDARD exhibited to the jury some of the water in the glass, and descanted upon its clearness and purity, and seemed about to carry the jury with him.  CULBERTSON, in reply, boldly picked up the glass, reminded the jury of the general’s argument, and then, placing the glass upon the table, took a dollar from his pocket, and, clapping it down by the side of the glass, cried out, ‘Gentlemen of the jury, I’ll give Gen. GODDARD that dollar if he will drink that glass of water.’  He knew that his opponent was too dignified to accept such a banter, and he won a verdict.”

Calvin C. GIBSON, the humorous landlord of the Clifton House, relates another and an amusing incident of GODDARD, showing also where his sense of the proprieties interfered somewhat with the convenience of himself and another.  When I was a young man, said GIBSON, I was acting as county sheriff, and having an execution to serve down in the country, about fifteen miles, I met GODDARD, who was the prosecuting lawyer, on the street, and inquired, “What shall I do if some one else claims the property?”  “I can’t answer you,” he replied, “I don’t do business on the street—you’ll have to see me in my office.”  I called and a day or two later met GODDARD at the post-office, and he asked me the result of my business.  “I can’t talk to you,” I replied, “I don’t do business on the street—you’ll have to see me at my office.”  He accordingly called, and I replied, “Why, I went down, levied the execution, and took the property.”

Mr. GODDARD, from 1817 to 1864 (when he died) practised at the Zanesville bar.  His father was Calvin GODDARD, Judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and the son was born at Plainfield, in that State.  The latter was a man of unusual dignity and pride of character, and one of the first men of Ohio in his time.

EBENEZER BUCKINGHAM, his brother, ALVAH, and SOLOMON STURGES, established, in 1816, the firm of E. BUCKINGHAM & Co., for a quarter of a century one of the most widely known firms in the West.  They were men of great enterprise.  The BUCKINGHAMS were from the State of New York, and STURGES was a native of Fairfield, Conn., where he was born in 1796, and early in life was associated with W. W. CORCORAN, the Washington banker.

The GRANGER family was early identified with Zanesville.  There were three brothers, sons of Oliver GRANGER, born in Suffield, Conn., in the latter part of the last century, viz., Ebenezer, James and Henry.  Ebenezer came to Zanesville about the beginning of the war of 1812, and entered upon the practice of the law.  A few years later James and Henry came here and established the “Granger Milling Company,” which had for years the principal mill of the county; it was on the east side of the Muskingum, just above the present dam at Zanesville.  James was the father of Hon. M. M. GRANGER.  Ebenezer was the father of General Robert S. GRANGER, born in 1816, educated at West Point and now living on the retired list.

This county supplied ten general officers to the Union army.  They were—major-general officers by brevet, Robert S. GRANGER, Chas. C. GILBERT, Mortimer D. LEGGETT, Catherinus P. BUCKINGHAM, Willard WARNER; brigadier-generals by brevet, M. M. GRANGER, Greenbury F. WILES, John Q. LANE and William D. HAMILTON, the latter in Scotland born, in Ohio bred, and in war commander of the Ninth O. V. cavalry.

TRAVELLING NOTES.

The most peculiar structure in the way of a bridge in Ohio is the Y bridge, at the foot of Main street, in Zanesville.  The Licking river enters the Muskingum opposite that point.  The bridge in the middle of the stream parts in two divisions, the one striking the west bank of the Muskingum, just above the mouth of the Licking, at the locality called West Zanesville; and the other just below that mouth, at the locality called Natchez.  Still farther down the Muskingum begins Putnam.  All of these places are now included in Zanesville.  On each of these streams, Muskingum and Licking, just before their junction, are falls of eight or ten feet, and long noted as mill sites.  One always here hears the roar of the waters.

Page 340

June, 1865, at the close of the war, Sherman’s army wagons passed on their way from Washington to distribution to the frontier posts.  They occupied several weeks in going through Zanesville.

They tell this anecdote of a young man of the town who had taken a stranger friend through Putnam, and on coming to the Y bridge said, “We’ll now cross this bridge, and when we get over, we will be on the same side of the river as we are now.”  When they had crossed he reminded his stranger friend of what he had said.  The latter looked around a moment, and then with an astonished face exclaimed, “Golly!—so we are; how did we do it?”  He had crossed below the mouth of the Licking and came ashore above.

THE Y BRIDGE

The valley of the Muskingum a mile or more above the business part of the town is very broad.  On the west side lies what is called the McIntyre Terrace, a beautiful region of level ground.  There are the new residences of the more wealthy, in the midst of spacious grounds and broad prospects.  There, too, is situated the famed McIntyre Children’s Home, an imposing structure on a commanding eminence.  The farm attached has over one hundred acres and produces all that is needed for the Home.

McINTYRE, who died in 1815, was originally buried in the old graveyard at the head of Main street.  Over his remains was a small tablet bearing this inscription, by his friend and counsel, Ebenezer GRANGER, which ran as follows:

“Sacred to the memory of John McINTYRE, who departed this life July 29, 1815, aged 56 years.  He was born at Alexandria, Virginia; laid out the town of Zanesville in 1800—of which he was the Patron and Father.  He was a member of the Convention which formed the Constitution of Ohio.  A kind husband, an obliging neighbor, punctual to his engagements, of liberal mind and benevolent disposition, his death was sincerely lamented.”

                        On December 24, 1889, his remains were removed and placed in a vault at the McINTYRE Children’s Home.

The noble hills of the Muskingum are the great charm of Zanesville.  From these one has fine views of the river and its many bridges.  The river here is as broad as its entrance into the Ohio, say some eight hundred feet.  It drains about one-third of the State. Sojourners from the prairie States farther west are delighted with the beautiful scenery.

Page 341

gether on some blocks of stone at the entrance to a lane.

As I looked at those girls I thought of two mighty continents, Africa and America; the first as apart and then the two as united.  Three of the six were full black; the other three were neither black nor white; an artist would have called them half tints.

The entire six were chatting and laughing, and I said:  “Girls, you seem to be having a good time.  This is a very pleasant country around here,” at the same time casting my eyes down the green lane to its entering spot in a forest and beyond its tops to the sweetly-wooded hills that rose from the farther side of the river.

“Yes,” the girls replied, “it is pretty here; and over there,” pointing, “is the cemetery.”  That graveyard had evidently touched their esthetic sensibilities, and so they commended it to my attention and admiration.  I left them still seated on the stones in their childish innocence and glee, feeling gratified that they had arrived in these dominions of our common Uncle Sam in this his now smiling period for their future.

A few minutes later I had passed under a noble arch of elms and was at the entrance of the cemetery, where stood the vine-covered cottage of the sexton, a green house and around a wealth of flowers.  The site is a huge rounding hill, its slope and summit covered with trees, many of them immense in size and very aged patriarchs of the woods.  The cemetery has miles of winding walks and drives and everywhere the leaves flit their lights and shadows over the award, flowers and monuments.  A marked feature is the tall, slender forms of the junipers standing over the graves like so many sentinels.  On the summit, where they had been exposed to continuous wintry winds from the north, the heads of many of them had assumed a leaning position as though they had life and were mourning over the dead.

One of the most imposing monuments is that of Solomon STURGES who was born in Fairfield, Conn., in 1796.  It is of Scotch granite and twenty-five feet in height.  From a monument by it I copied inscriptions, memorializing three Revolutionary patriots whose graves are by the sea-shore of Connecticut.  This tribute of filial piety to them here on the banks of the Muskingum is the most interesting thing in the entire cemetery.

“SOLOMON STURGES, killed by the British at the burning of Fairfield, Conn., July 7, 1779, aged 86.  He was an ardent patriot.”

“HEZEKIAH STURGES, son of Solomon STURGES, a son of the Revolution, died at Fairfield, Conn., April, 1794, aged 67 years.”

“DIMON, son of Hezekiah STURGES, a soldier of the Revolution, died at Fairfield, Conn., January 16, 1829, aged 74 years.”

Wherever I went there appeared over my head a great chattering of birds.  They seemed somehow to have taken me in charge seeing I was a stranger and alone, accompanying me wherever I went.  I passed two hours copying inscriptions and taking notes.  Seated on the grass near the summit I was finishing my observations when as a last thing a big bumblebee came along and whizzed by me with a heavy boom, as much as to say,  “Mr. HOWE, aren’t I worth noticing?  Please count me in.”  And I did.

A moment later, casting my eye down at my side there I saw for the gratification, spread out on the grass, a butterfly black as ebony, his wings fringed in gold.

If any living thing has a supreme right to dwell in a graveyard it is the butterfly, the living emblem of immortality.

Ever silent as the tomb, the little innocent could not speak his desire to be noticed.  He could only hint it, which some good angel prompted him to do by causing him to alight and rest with outstretched wings right under my eyes by the side of a forget-me-not.  I took the hint and noted him, too, as among the tombs.  I could not help it, he was so modestly clad in his sable garment of sorrow with its golden fringe of brightness.

And the green sward largely over this resting-place for the dead was brightened by the presence of this little flower, as a sort of continuous appeal to the living to remember those who had gone before.

THE BLUE ROCK MINE DISASTER.

Coal Formation in Harrison Township.—In April, 1856, there occurred in this county one of the most remarkable mine disasters in the history of coal-mining.  The Blue Rock mines are in Harrison township in the angle formed by the stream known as Blue Rock run and the Muskingum river.  The stratum of coal at this point is about four feet in thickness, the quality excellent and the formation that which miners denominate “curly.”  The stratum of rock which overlays this vein of coal is a slaty soap-stone, light blue in color and subject to rapid disintegration when exposed to atmospheric influences, but forming a safe roof for the miner when properly protected.

Page 342

were nearly forty feet square, while the pillars were small and comparatively few in number.  The hill above the mine has an altitude of about two hundred and twenty feet and the pressure from such an immense weight of earth should have dictated more than ordinary caution.

Falling in of the Mine.—The falling in of the mine occurred about 11 A.M., on Friday, April 25, 1856.  At the time there were some twenty persons, many of them boys, employed in the mine.  Several were standing on the platform at the mouth of the entrance, others on the inside saved themselves by precipitate flight.  Upon investigation it was found that sixteen were safe, but that four persons were either imprisoned in the mine or crushed to death by the falling mountain.  Hope preponderated strongly in favor of the former conjecture, inasmuch as it was known that these persons were at work in a part of the mine from which no large amount of coal had been taken and which in consequence was supposed to be comparatively safe.  The persons who escaped were: James (Duck) MENEAR, John HOPPER, James LARRISON, George ROSS, George ROBINSON, William EDGELL, Sr., Uriah McGEE, William GHEEN Timothy LYONS, G. W. SIMMONS, and the following boys: Patrick SAVAGE, Hiram LARRISON, Franklin ROSS, William MILLER, James SAVAGE, Thomas EDGELL.

An Attempt to Rescue.—It was immediately determined that an attempt should be made for the rescue of the imprisoned men.  The labor and danger involved in this made it necessary to combine the greatest possible speed with the utmost caution.  A single false step would have brought a terrible destruction upon the excavators; for during their labors the crumbling hill hung with tens of thousands of tons of pressure imminent and threatening above their heads.

Three men only could work at a time.  Indeed, it may be said that every foot gained was the work of a single individual, for there was room for but one workman in the front; others behind received the fragments as he passed them back.  The material encountered was principally rock.

Gathered Multitudes in Suspense.—The work was carried forward night and day with varying success for fourteen days.  An immense concourse of people from the surrounding country and towns gathered at the mouth of the mine.  Miners from all the mines within a radius of many miles hastened to offer their services.  Merchants and farmers clad in miner’s costume joined in the common labor.  Women worked tireless providing food and refreshments for the excavators and in ministering hope, comfort and courage to the despairing relatives of the unfortunates.  The suspense was terrible, alternating hope and despair, as the workmen progressed rapidly or met with obstructions, spread through the assembled multitude and subdued all demonstrations by the very intensity of their emotions.  One, who as a boy was present, said to us: “It seemed like Sunday; everything was hushed and solemn, and when one person spoke to another it was in suppressed tones as when face to face with death.  Religious services and prayers for the salvation of the bodies and souls of the imprisoned men were frequently held.”

As day after day passed with no evidence that the men were still alive many gave up all hope, but there was no cessation of work and no scarcity of workers.

The Miners Rescued.—At 11 P.M. on Friday, May 9, after having been entombed for fourteen days and thirteen hours the men were reached and were soon breathing the air of freedom.  They were placed under good medical care and soon recovered their accustomed health and strength.  The point at which they were rescued was about 700 feet from the entrance of the mine, and it had been necessary to burrow through about 400 feet of earth and rock before they were reached.

Within six hours after the men were rescued more than fifty feet of the mine fell in.  If the operations had been delayed that length of time the workmen would have been inevitably killed and the imprisoned miners have perished by a lingering death in their terrible prison.

This account of this remarkable entombment and rescue has been extracted from a pamphlet written by Robert H. GILLMORE at the time the incidents occurred; he also published the personal narratives of the imprisoned miners and the escape of Wm. EDGELL, Sr., from which the following is abridged:

Escape of William Eegell, Sr.—I noticed nothing wrong about the bank that morning.  At half-past ten o’clock went in with my car as quickly as I could and loaded up with coal.  The miners were racing and I was not disposed to be behind.  Returning with a load of coal, pushing my car before me, I encountered another resting on the track.  A lad was standing beside it, whom we all regard as rather weak in the upper story.  He was crying, and when I asked him what was the matter, replied that the bank was falling in.  Pausing to listen I heard a roaring off to the left in the old diggings, which are situated in the northern part of the mine.  I hesitated a moment what to do.  I thought I would go back to where PEARSON, GATWOOD, SAVAGE, my son William and others were at work and inform them of their danger.  In the meantime I observed that the pillars of coal were crawling outwards at the bottom.  Chunks of coal began to fly from one side of the entry against the other.  They went with such force that I think they would have cut a man in two if they had hit him.  All this occurred in less time than it takes me to tell it.

Page 343

Top Picture

WHERE GARFIELD TAUGHT SCHOOL.

Bottom Picture

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

THE SCENE OF THE BLUE MINE DISASTER.

This was drawn by me for from the deck of a steamer while it was ascending the Muskingum, and redrawn for the engraving my J. N. Bradford, O. S. University.  The mine was in the nearest hill on the left.  The caving-in of the mine was in April, 1856.

Page 344

have been madness to venture.  The way was already impassable.  I turned towards the mouth; it was falling in that direction too.  I called to the boys, “Hurry out, hurry out.”  As I turned something struck my light and knocked it out; there were lights behind me but I stumbled on in perfect darkness.  In the race I struck a pile of earth which had fallen in the entry and pitched clear over it.

When I rose I was on a fair ground again and went on rapidly, calling for the boys to follow.  I came to a place where a light shone in from the mouth.  I was safer now, but there was danger yet.  At once a sudden faintness came over me.  I grew blind and dizzy; my knees became weak and it seemed impossible to move one before another; they were as heavy as lead.  But somehow I struggled and found myself upon the platform.

Experiences of the Imprisoned Miners.—The four persons imprisoned were William EDGELL, Jr., aged 20 years, single; James PEARSON, aged 31 years, married, with two children; James GATWOOD, aged 22 years, married; Edward SAVAGE, aged 16 years.

At the time of the accident they had their cars loaded ready to come out, but were not aware of what was happening.  EDGELL gives their experience as follows:

Myself, PEARSON and SAVAGE started out at the same time.  My car was in front, PEARSON next and SAVAGE behind.  We had gone about two hundred feet, or a little more, when I observed that my car ran over some slate which had fallen in the entry and then in a moment it ran against another car which was standing on the track.  I stopped, supposing that it belonged to some one who was digging in some of the side entries, and called out, “Whose in the h---l car is this standing on the track?”  I listened for an answer, but in a minute or less I heard the bank breaking with a sound like that of distant thunder.  I turned around and said to PEARSON, “Jim, the bank is falling in.”  He replied, “It can’t be, Bill.”  One of us, I forget which, said: “Let us hurry and get out.”  We ran around our cars and had advanced about twenty feet when I suddenly struck a pile of slate which had fallen down, blocking the entry entirely up.  In doing so I knocked my light out.  Finding I could not get ahead I called out to PEARSON, whose light was still burning, and said to him, “Run back, Jim, there is a bluff place and we can’t get out.”  We started back at once; the slate was falling in chunks from the roof between us and our cars; we hurried back beyond them and met Ned SAVAGE.  I said to him, “Ned, for God’s sake, the bank has all fallen in.”  He replied, “No, it can’t be, Bill.”  PEARSON then suggested that we go back and get into the old diggings in the north part of the mine as that might not have fallen in.  We were about starting when Ned SAVAGE said, “Let’s get all the oil we can find.”  We started back to hunt for oil when we met GATWOOD coming with his car loaded.  I said to him, “Jim, the bank has all fallen in.”  He replied in a frightened way, “Oh, no, I reckon not.”  PEARSON told him to come with us; he thought we could get out through the old diggings at the air-hole.  “If we can’t,” says he, “we’re gone.”  We all started together as fast as we could to and got about two hundred feet to an old blind entry.  We found the mine falling faster than it had been at the place where we left the cars.

Preparing for a Lingering Death.—The falling was still accompanied by a rumbling noise; the pillars of coal along the entry were bursting out at the sides and bottom and the whole mine was jarring and trembling.  We found the passage we aimed for entirely stopped up; then we turned back into the main entry where our cards were, thinking we might possibly find a way out there, but we saw it falling worse than ever.  We found we were completely shut in.  We at once saw there was no escape.  We gave up all hope.  PEARSON spoke first and said, “Boys, let us go back and make up our bed whereon to die.”

Having fully realized that there was no avenue of escape they went back to one of the small rooms at the head of the entry (8 on diagram) and shoveled together a quantity of loose dirt for a bed on which to lie and wait for death.  The room they had chosen for their tomb was a small compartment, like other parts of the mine, but four feet high and hardly large enough for the four to lie abreast.  Having prepared their bed a search was made for what could be found to prolong life.  Two dinners left by escaped miners were found.  They consisted of four pieces of bread, two of which were buttered; four small pieces of fried bacon, two boiled eggs and two pickles split in two.  Three jugs were found containing about five quarts of water and about a quart of oil for miner’s lamps.  Having carried these supplies to their room they felt that it was useless to prolong life when death seemed so certain and decided to eat all they wanted, so each partook freely of the provisions, but they were not hungry and but half of the food was consumed.  They then laid down on their bed and tried to imagine every place where there might be a possibility of escape, but could think of none.

Suffering from Cold.—While the mine was falling the air became very cold, so much so that EDGELL said, “it seemed like pouring cold water down our backs and that he never suffered so much the bitterest winter he ever knew.”  Do what they would they were always cold and the only way they could get any warmth was to lie down on the bed and take turns lying in the middle; sometimes they would lie on top of each other.

An Ante-mortem Bargain.—While lying on their bed PEARSON said: “Boys, let us make a bargain that whoever of us dies first let the others lay him down on one side of the room, but on no account take him out of it, so that when we are all dead we’ll lie here together.”  The agreement was made and each expressed the wish that he might be the first to die.

Page 345

(they had no watch) they ate what food was left and drank freely from their water-jugs.

Horrors of Darkness.—For a time after their first imprisonment they kept a light burning and when they went to examine the entries, which they did at short intervals, would light two or three lamps.  But after ten or twelve hours the lamps burned dimly and gradually went out, refusing to burn in the damp air of the mine.  This was a terrible deprivation to them.  The perfect darkness seemed the most terrible part of their situation.

No difficulty was experienced for want of air, as there was evidently some crevice through which the outside air had access to the mine and they imagined they could tell day from night by the difference in the temperature of the air which poured into their room in a cold stream.

Drinking Copperas Water.—After the water in the jugs had been exhausted they found water in a depression of the floor in a room about fifty feet distant.  This water was strongly impregnated with copperas and at first very disagreeable to drink, but PEARSON thought there was something in it which helped to sustain life.  Shortly after they began using it the pangs of hunger became less severe and frequent and the knawings at the stomach less painful.

Illusions of Delirium.—For some time after they were first confined the paroxysms of hunger were frequent and terrible.  It seemed as though they must have food or die.  Then as the hours wore on these paroxysms became less and less common.  “After a time,” says PEARSON, “I became delirious; strange dreams were running through my head.  Every good dinner I ever ate seemed in turn to be standing before me again.  I did not merely dream that I saw them thus, but they were as plain before my eyes as you are now, sir.  Tables loaded with noble baked hams and delicious pies were just within my reach, but my delirium never extended so far as to make me believe I was eating them.  Notwithstanding they were so temptingly near me, I never enjoyed more than the sight of them, and then I would wake up from my delusion to the full horror of my situation.  Whether we had any hope left I do not know; I can hardly tell.  We would often talk over the chances of being rescued.  They seemed very dark; and yet we frequently went toward the entries.  It was the way out to the world, though we knew it was blocked up and impassable to us.”  GATWOOD says: “I had the same strange delirium of which PEARSON speaks.  I also saw splendid dinners standing beside me.  I seemed to recollect all the good meals I had ever eaten.”

Topics of Conversation.—Their principal Conversation was concerning things good to eat.  First one and then another would mention something which would be particularly nice, but as this conversation deemed to aggravate their sufferings they found it would not do to permit it.

SAVAGE seemed to keep in better spirits than the others.  He was less in the habit of lamenting about his friends.  His principal cause of trouble was concerning his want of sleep.  He frequently became quite spunky because he was not allowed to sleep in the middle by his companions, and when his request was not granted he would threaten to tell his uncle “Duck” MENEAR and get them all a thrashing after he got out.  Frequent contention arose as to who should occupy the middle of the bed.  They did not sleep much nor long at a time.  They were too cold to do so.  Sometimes one of them would be able to sleep a little by getting in the middle and having another lie on top for a coverlet.  They sometimes used the heads of each other for pillows, but the pillow generally grumbled considerably before it had been occupied very long.

The Rescuers Heard.—One day SAVAGE and EDGELL were in one of the mine entries when they heard the dull sound of a pick.  The sound seemed to be communicated by the wooden rail or run which occupied the middle of the entry.  “Then,” says EDGELL, “I commenced pounding upon the run with a piece of sulphur stone or ‘nigger-head,’ in the hope that I might be able to make myself heard.  I also hallooed two or three times, but was not able to get any reply.  I went back to the room and said, ‘Boys, I hear them digging.’  They would not believe me.  After this I made my visits frequently, intending to go down every hour; but I suppose that the intervals were longer than this.  Two days, I presume, must have elapsed before I was able to make them hear me.  When this occurred GATWOOD was with me.  I had called out, as usual, and this time heard an answer.  What it was I could not understand, but I knew it to be the voice of a man.  We then went back to the room and told PEARSON, but could not convince him that we were not mistaken.  In about half an hour, as we thought, I went back again, taking Ned SAVAGE with me.  This time I heard them at work plainly, and when I called to them, some one replied, ‘Is that you, Bill, for God’s sake?’  ‘It is I,’ I said, ‘Who is it that speaks to me?’  ‘You don’t know me,’ the voice replied.  I then asked him if all the miners had got out alive.  He said they had, and told me to go back and keep out of danger; that they would have us out before long.  I made inquiry as to what day it was, and was told that it was Thursday.  I supposed from this that we had been in only to the Thursday following the accident, making six days, instead of thirteen, as I discovered after we were rescued.  We were all of the same opinion, and were rather surprised to find that it had been that long.”

Page 346

“When we went in there was not a bud upon the trees.  The morning after we were rescued we looked from our windows and beheld the forest clothed in green.  We never before knew what a beautiful earth it was.”

President Garfield Taught School for three months, in 1851, near Duncan’s Falls, in this county.  “In the spring of 1851 James A. GARFIELD and his mother visited Mrs. GARFIELD’S brother, Henry BALLOU, in the Harrison township.  A teacher being needed in the district, GARFIELD taught a three-months’ term in the school-house on Back Run.  To show the young the building which a President of the United States occupied while teaching a district school in a rural neighborhood, a sketch was taken of the building as it appeared when occupied by the general in 1851.

“Some of the boys are yet living in the township who were Gen. GARFIELD’S scholars at the Back Run school.  An old-fashioned tin-plate stove was used for warming the room, which would take a long stick of wood.  GARFIELD assisted the larger boys in cutting wood, and the boys claim he was one of the best hands with the axe they ever saw.  The sketch, taken before the change in the building, is pronounced by his old scholars a correct one, as it appeared in 1851.  It is one mile west of Marriem station, on the Z. & O. Railroad, and fourteen miles southwest of Zanesville, Ohio.”

A Disastrous Hoax.—In January, 1820, in boring for salt in the neighborhood of Chandlersville, about ten miles south of Zanesville, some pieces of silver were dropped into the hole by some evil-disposed person, and being brought up among the borings, reduced to a fine state, quite a sensation was produced.  The parts were submitted to chemical analysis, and decided by a competent chemist to be very rich.  A company was immediately formed to work the mine, under the name of the “Muskingum Mining Company,” which was incorporated by the Legislature.  This company purchased of Mr. Samuel CHANDLER the privilege of sinking a shaft near his well, from which the silver had been extracted.  As this shaft was sunk near the well, it did so much injury that Mr. CHANDLER afterwards recovered heavy damages of the company.  The company expended about $10,000 in search of the expected treasure ere they abandoned their ill-fated project.—Old Edition.

THE LEGEND OF DUNCAN’S FALLS.

Duncan’s Falls are nine miles below Zanesville.  It is one of the most interesting places on the Muskingum.  A writer (C. F. ), under date of August 4, 1887, gave to the Ohio State Journal these interesting items:

Years before this fine valley was known to the white man a branch of the once great Shawnee nation built Old Town, an Indian village, on the site of Duncan’s Falls.  For years WHITE EYES, the chief, was on friendly terms with the white people, and rendered them assistance in his Indian way.  At the head of the falls or rapids a dam was built in 1836 to improve the navigation of the river.  A large flouring mill, four stories high, containing eight pairs of buhrs, was erected in 1838 at a cost of $75,000.  A covered bridge, 798 feet long, connects the villages of Duncan’s Falls and Taylorsville, crossing the river below the dam.

Page 347

all Indians who meddled with his rights.  He found it necessary to keep himself concealed from them.

They were not the friendly Indians of Old Town, but a hostile band who roved on the west side of the river.  They were enraged and sought an opportunity to capture him.  DUNCAN’S place of abode was unknown to them, and when, sometimes, they saw him on one side of the river and again on the other side, they watched to see how he crossed, and could find neither skiff nor boat.  This was a great mystery, and he baffled them for a long time.  Finally they discovered he crossed the river on rocks with a stout long pole, and his manner of crossing was to skip from rock to rock with the aid of the pole, or lay it down from one rock to another, where the water was deep, and walk over; then move the pole and so get across.  This he did generally in the night.  On the fatal night two parties of the bravest Indian warriors, lying in ambush watching, saw him, equipped with his gun and pole, leap lightly from rock to rock, till he approached the main channel.  Here he placed his pole, one end on each side of the channel, and had passed halfway over when a volley from the Indians struck him and he fell dead in the middle of the river.  Next day his body was found one-half mile below on a gravelly ripple.  This point was given the name of “Dead Man’s Ripple,” from the fact that the dead body of DUNCAN was found on it, and the falls at that place were called Duncan’s Falls, because it was there that DUNCAN fell.

After the death of DUNCAN, his habitation was found up a small stream on the east side a short distance below “Dead Man’s Ripple.”  The rock cave has ever since been known as Duncan’s Cave.  On the island, between the river and the canal, years ago, a gun was found.  The gun was purchased by Mr. B RELSFORD, of Zanesville, a gunsmith, who shortened the barrel and put on a new stock, as the old one was worthless, and took from it a load of powder that had probably been put in by DUNCAN.  The gun is at present owned by Col. Z. M. CHANDLER, of the Seventy-eighth regiment, O. V. V. I., of the Ninth ward, Zanesville, who highly prizes it for its great antiquity, and being the gun, as it is supposed, that was carried by the daring DUNCAN.

Much of this account of DUNCAN is gathered from the “Indian Wars,” a small book published in Virginia the beginning of this century.

The course of the river above the falls for a few miles is east, and one-half mile from the head of the falls it runs south, the rapids being one and one-fourth miles.  The dam put across the river to improve the navigation was built in 1835.  The canal is one mile long, but the bend in the river makes the river channel on the falls longer than by the canal.

The first settler known came from South Carolina, and for a short time lived here in 1798.  His name was Jacob AYERS.  His son Moses settled on the fine farm now owned by John MILLER.  The other son, Nathaniel, lived until he died upon the farm now owned by Charles PATTERSON, five miles down the river.  The Ayers bored the first salt well on the river in 1816.  Capt. Monroe AYERS, for years one of the most successful steamboat-men, is a grandson of Jacob AYERS.  He is now retired and lives in Zanesville.

In 1799 John BRIGGS came to Duncan’s Falls from Lancaster county, Pa.  Many of his grandchildren live in this county and two of them reside at Duncan’s Falls, Mrs. Jacob RUTLEDGE and Mrs. John WILHELM.  The village is beautifully situated on high ground in sight of the river, the railroad on the opposite side.  The river, dam and rocky side of the river, is one of the grandest views on the Muskingum river.

Taylorsville, a village opposite Duncan’s Falls, is on a high bluff, and is one of the best locations for a town on this river.  A bridge 898 feet long crosses the river, connecting Taylorsville and Duncan’s Falls.

NEW CONCORD is sixteen miles east of Zanesville, on the B. & O. R. R. and old National road.  It is the seat of Muskingum College, John D. IRONS, D.D., president.  Newspapers:  Enterprise, Independent, Jas. H. AIKEN, editor and publisher; Muskingum Review, Students of Muskingum College, editors and publishers.  Churches:  1 Baptist, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Reformed Presbyterian and 1 United Presbyterian.

Manufactures and Employees.—Robert Speer, flour and lumber, 3 hands; H. O. Wylie, flour and feed, 3; Given & Co., cigars, 8.—State Report, 1888.  Population, 1880, 514.  School census, 1888, 224; A. H. McCULLOCH, school superintendent.  Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $15,000.  Value of annual product, $16,000.—Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.

Page 348

by the Legislature of Ohio, to be known by the name of Muskingum College.  It is a strictly literary institution and the first class graduated in 1839.  Although pecuniary embarrassments have impeded its progress, it has continued uninterruptedly its operations as a college.  These difficulties having been recently removed, its prospects are brightening.”—Old Edition.

The old building shown was destroyed by fire to be succeeded by a larger and better structure.  In the now fifty-three years of the existence of this institution, its students have numbered several thousands and its graduates about three hundred young men and women.  About one hundred of these have entered the Christian ministry and are now laboring in this county and in foreign lands, and her alumni are well represented in other professions.

Dresden in 1846.—Dresden is situated on the Muskingum side-cut of the Ohio canal, at the head of steamboat navigation on the Muskingum, fifteen miles above Zanesville.  It is the market of a large and fertile country by which it is surrounded, and does a heavy business.  It possesses superior manufacturing advantages, there being a fall of twenty-nine feet from the main canal to low water mark on the river.  The adjacent hills abound with coal and iron ore.  It contains 1 Presbyterian and 1 Methodist church, about 15 stores, a market-house and 1,000 or 1,2000 inhabitants.—Old Edition.

DRESDEN is twelve miles north of Zanesville, on the Muskingum river and C. & M. V. R. R.  Coal, limestone and iron-ore abound in the vicinity.  City officers, 1888: J. L. ADAMS, Mayor; R. M. HORNUNG, Clerk; F. H. F. EGBERT, Treasurer; Frank COMER, Marshal.  Newspaper: Doings, Independent, W. M. MILLER, editor and publisher.  Churches:  1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Christian, 1 Lutheran and 1 German Methodist.  Bank:  L. J. LEMERT & Sons.  Population, 1880, 1,204.  School census, 1888, 376; Corwin F. Palmer, school superintendent.

Dresden is in Cass township; it is an interesting historic point from the fact that Major Jonathan CASS, of the Revolutionary army, the father of Gov. Lewis CASS, located hereabouts forty military land warrants, including 4,000 acres, and in 1801 brought his family here.  Another of his sons, Charles L., served with such distinction in the war of 1812, particularly at the battle of Lake Erie, that the citizens of Zanesville presented him with a sword.  A magnificent monument erected by the CASS family stands in the Dresden cemetery.

ROSEVILLE, is in Clay township, ten miles south of Zanesville, on the C. & M. V. R. R.  Newspaper: Independent, Independent, G. H. STULL, editor and publisher.  Churches:  1 Christian, 1 Lutheran, 1 Methodist, 1 Protestant Methodist, and 1 Presbyterian.

Manufactures and Employees.—Henry Combs, flour and lumber, 2 hands; Brough Brown, flour and feed, 4; J. B. Owens, flower-pots, etc., 23; W. B. Lowery, stew-pots, etc., 6; W. B. Brown, flour, etc., 3; G. W. Walker, fruit jars, etc., 4; H. Sowers, jugs, jars, etc., 3; Jas. L. Weaver, stoneware, 3; John Burton, jugs, jars, etc., 2; Kildow, Dugan & Co., stew-pans, 10; W. A. Hurl, wagons, buggies, etc., 4; Dollison & Parrott, wagons, buggies, etc., 5.—State Report, 1888.

Population, 1880, 531.  School census, 1888, 208.  Capital invested in manufacturing establishments, $80,000.  Value of annual product, $86,000.—Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.

Page 349

southeast of Zanesville, on the Muskingum river at Duncan’s Falls, and Z. & O. R. R.  It has 1 Methodist, 1 Catholic, 1 Lutheran and 1 United Presbyterian church.  Population, 1880, 501.  School census, 1888, 202.

FRAZEYSBURG is thirteen miles northwest of Zanesville, on the P. C. & St. L. R. R.  It has churches—1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian and 1 Disciples.  Population, 1880, 484.  School census, 1888, 190.

UNIONTOWN, P. O. Fultonham, is ten miles southwest of Zanesville, on the C. & E. R. R.  1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist and 1 Lutheran church.  Population, 1880, 223.  School census, 1888, 104.