Ohio History Journal

THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY, JANUARY-JUNE 1884

Part III*

edited by HARVEY S. FORD

Head Librarian, Toledo Blade

 

Wednesday, March 26, 1884   The newspaper correspondents have

for the last month been urging me to give them an interview on the

political situation. What they mean by an interview is a carefully pre-

pared dialogue between the correspondent who asks the questions or is

represented as asking them, and the interviewed person, so called, who

writes both questions and answers himself, so that there may be no mis-

takes in the interview. This evening I have been putting in a little work

on one of these imaginary interviews and I quote part of it, simply

because I can not think of any other way to fill up this page.

"Sherman has recently taken a fresh hold of the southern business,

and is endeavoring to show the country what it has hitherto been un-

willing to see namely: that in violation of the Constitution the colored

men of the south are counted as a basis of representation in Congress,

and not counted at the polls as voters, and now that his hand is in, I

desire him to continue the work, and to be placed where he can prosecute

it the most effectively. The freedman must either be allowed to vote and

have his vote counted, or the South must be content with half its present

number of Congressmen. This has been my platform for ten years, and

as Senator Sherman stands squarely on it I am for him, just as I would

be for my bitterest personal enemy if I believed him to be sincere,

capable, and courageous enough to enforce the law in this regard."

Thursday, March 27, 1884 Called at the Neil this evening and while

talking with Colonel Fink an employe of the Post Office Department

whose duties take him through many of the southern states, about the

political and financial condition of the people of that section, ex-

Governor Foster entered the room from the elevator with a number of

politicians with whom he had evidently been in private consultation with

respect to the candidates likely to come before the next Republican state

 

* Parts I and II of General Beatty's diary appeared in the April and October

issues of the Quarterly, Vol. LVIII, pp. 119-151 and 390-427.

58

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The Diary of John Beatty                    59

convention. It had been a year or more since we met on friendly terms

and within that period I had said some very bitter things about him, and

he, through his son in law, Mussy, had retorted with equal bitterness,

but I nodded to him in a friendly way, we shook hands, and he took a

seat beside me. In the course of the conversation he spoke of the growth

of Fostoria, and how glad he was to get back there again, when I

assured him that I was glad to find that he was so contented with the

place, and hoped he would never leave it again and that if he had asked

me about it four years ago I should have advised him to remain there.

He replied that he was aware of that and probably would not have left

it if it had not been for an abusive circular which somebody-possibly

me, had circulated about him. I said if the circular he referred to was

a well written document and chock full of truth, I was probably the

author of it, but he said it was not that kind. We talked together about

an hour in a friendly and social way evidently to the surprise of most

folks who thought we were not on speaking terms.

Friday, March 28, 1884 In my record of yesterday I referred to

Colonel Fink of Mansfield whose official business required him to travel

more or less through the southern states. In speaking of the lack of

desire among the white people of that section to encourage or sustain

public schools for the education of the negro, he said that in one school

district of Virginia of which he had knowledge, the teacher selected by

the trustees could neither read nor write, and that he was appointed not

to teach, but to draw the money to which the district was entitled in

order that it might be used for political purposes. He says that the

white people entertain the opinion that education spoils the negro! that

so soon as he becomes educated he refuses to work for the whites, and

as the whites do no work and rely wholly upon the blacks for the labor

necessary to put in their corn, cotton, and tobacco, schools are regarded

as an evil which if tolerated would deprive the south of working people.

The whites now manage as in pro-slavery times to live off the negro.

They hire the negro either by promise of money or a share of the prod-

ucts, to put in what they call a "crop," and from this "crop" black and

white manage to eke out a miserable existence. On the best of tables

during the most of the year the food consists of hoe cake and salt pork.

Occasionally eggs and turnip top greens are added to the regular meal

and in spring and early summer chicken may be found on rare occasions.

No white man will work-like a nigger, at manual labor, and they are

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60     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

all opposed to schools because they think education unfits the negro for

the work they desire him to do.

Saturday, March 29, 1884 The theme of conversation on the streets

to day was the riot at Cincinnati growing out of the verdict of a jury in

the case of a man accused of murder.38 The murder was a most atrocious

 

38 Cincinnati had hardly recovered from the flood when it became the scene

of the worst civil insurrection in the history of the state. The riots grew out of a

profound dissatisfaction with the administration of criminal justice in Cincinnati

and "were the natural result of the refusal of the outraged public conscience to

abide any longer by open and notorious defiance of the law." The particular

incident which set off the disturbances was the Berner case. William Berner (a

German) and Joseph Palmer (a mulatto) murdered their employer, William Kirk,

for a small sum of money. Kirk, a stableman, was cold bloodedly beaten to death,

and Berner confessed that the murder was premeditated. Berner was tried first.

He was defended by T. C. Campbell, and, the evidence notwithstanding, the jury

only found Berner guilty of manslaughter. Not quite a year later a determined

attempt was made to disbar Campbell for his part in the Berner and other cases.

William Howard Taft, then a young attorney, had a major role in pressing the

charges against Campbell, but the prosecution was unsuccessful and Campbell was

acquitted. Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of William Howard Taft (2 vols.,

New York, 1939), I, 87-91.

There was a scene in the courtroom when the verdict was pronounced, and

the judge was indignant, but the jury had left him no alternative, and he was

forced to limit his sentence to twenty years imprisonment. On Friday night, March

28 (the day of Berner's sentencing), a protest meeting was held in the Music Hall

which was attended by eight thousand people. The meeting was conservative in tone

and adjourned early, at 9:30 P. M., leaving a large part of the crowd unsatisfied.

As the meeting was breaking up someone raised the cry "Hang Berner!" a mob

formed to march on the jail, and the trouble had started.

In so far as its primary objective was concerned, the mob had already been

frustrated, for the authorities had started Berner on his way to the state penitentiary

in Columbus (where, after escaping and being recaptured, ultimately he arrived).

The jail could easily have withstood a seige, but the sheriff refused to fire on the

mob, and the jail doors were broken in without difficulty. Palmer escaped lynching

by denying his identity and claiming to be a white man. Police reinforcements,

rushed into the jail by way of a tunnel, were unable to eject the mob. They were

joined by elements of the 1st Regiment of the Ohio National Guard (whose head-

quarters were in Cincinnati), who arrived by the same route. Firing broke out and

there were many casualties on both sides, but the soldiers cleared the jail.

The mob outside then proceeded to arm itself by looting a G. A. R. armory

and several gun shops. By about 3 A. M. the firing died down and the mob began

to disperse. During the day (Saturday, March 29) there was an uneasy truce, but

great apprehension existed in the city and Governor Hoadly mobilized the entire

military strength of the state and ordered it to Cincinnati.

With the coming of darkness the mob gathered again. The original cause of

the trouble had now been lost sight of, the worst elements of the city had taken

charge of the mob, and there was a state of affairs dangerously close to civil war.

There were still but few troops in the city, and the mob was able to storm and

burn the courthouse; the sheriff's red auction flag was captured by them and carried

as a standard. There was heavy fighting around the jail. Among the first troops

to arrive from out of town was the 4th Regiment from Dayton, but "the sight of

the mob, however, was too much for these carpet soldiers and they turned and fled

to the depot, from whence they came, making record time.". The 14th Regiment

then arrived from Columbus and performed much more satisfactorily. Fixing

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The Diary of John Beatty                        61

 

one, without any palliating circumstances and the evidence against the

criminal was not only conclusive but he had, himself, confessed that it

was a deliberately planned and executed homicide and yet the jury

found him guilty of simply manslaughter, when the verdict should have

been murder in the first degree. This verdict, the time consumed in the

trial, and the fact that there were over forty other men accused of

murder in the Cincinnati jail, and the further fact that crime had been

having free course in that city, so exasperated the people that they held

indignation meetings, then gathered in mobs to attack the city prison

with the avowed purpose of lynching the inadequately sentenced mur-

derer and others confined in it. The murderer-Berner, however, was

put on the train despite the vigilance of the mob, and started for the

penitentiary, but at Loveland the train was intercepted by an immense

number of people evidently intent upon lynching the prisoner, and in

the confusion he escaped. This afternoon the fire bells of this city rang

the riot alarm, and upon inquiring it was found to be a call for the

assembling of the 14th regiment of the National Guard, which had been

ordered to proceed to Cincinnati to aid the authorities there to quell

a riot now in progress, or so imminent as to threaten the public peace.

The regiment left the Depot at 6 P. M. However, the murderer was

recaptured and lodged in the penitentiary about 7 P. M. In the melee

of last night at Cincinnati some were killed and quite a number wounded,

and there are grave apprehensions of still more serious trouble to night.

Sunday, March 30, 1884 The people have been all day discussing

the situation at Cincinnati, and eager for any item of information re-

specting the proceedings of the mob and the militia in that unfortunate

city. Last night the court house was burned to the ground and all, or

most of the records usually kept at county seats destroyed. The mob

and the military came in collision, and there were many wounded and

some killed, on both sides, but principally I think on the part of the

 

bayonets, they attacked the mob and drove the rioters through the streets, though

not without heavy fighing.

On Sunday, March 30, the rest of the state militia arrived in Cincinnati. Street

barricades were thrown up, but the mob disregarded the large number of troops

present, and when night fell the rioters rallied once more. Again there was hard

fighting, and a Gatling gun was employed to break up a particularly determined

attack on a barricade. This broke the resistance of the mob, and the fighting was

not renewed after Sunday night. Charles Theodore Greve, Centennial History of

Cincinnati and Representative Citizens (2 vols., Chicago, 1904), I, 998-1004. Randall

and Ryan estimate the casualties "conservatively" at three hundred killed and

wounded. Emilius O. Randall and Daniel J. Ryan, History of Ohio (5 vols., New York,

1912), IV, 357.

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62    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

mob, or possibly that of the spectators. A young man named Voglegesang

who went from this place simply to witness the affair was struck by a

stray shot and killed; a few young men of this city who were members

of the Ohio National Guard are reported to have been wounded in the

engagement of last night. The destruction of the court house and the

records contained therein will entail a loss on Hamilton County that

it will be both difficult and expensive to make good. The unjust decision

of a jury is now being made the pretext for all manner of lawlessness,

and for this unfortunate condition of the popular mind I think the

sensational newspapers of Cincinnati are in a large degree responsible.

These papers are no longer content to make a plain statement of an

occurrence, but they dwell upon all its harrowing details, and seek to

inflame the passions of their readers when they should address their

judgments only. It is true, I think, that juries have ceased to dispense

justice in our cities: under our present system of selecting jurymen,

cunning and unscrupulous lawyers are able to select creatures who have

neither the capacity to weigh evidence, and to follow an argument and

understand the law, nor the desire to deal honestly between man and

man. It is openly charged that in the courts of the county attornies are

sometimes permitted to prepare the list of names# from which the jury

is to be selected, and that at all times when defending a criminal, prefer-

ence is given to those who are the most likely to look favorably on crime.

It is almost impossible for a rich man, in the plainest case, to obtain

judgment when the defendant is a poor man. In fact justice in our cities

is not only blind, but deaf, and at heart thoroughly corrupt. The judges

are politicians: lawyers aspirants for office, and jury men little party

whips who control doubtful, indifferent or vicious voters, and who expect

to obtain more than the legal fee for their services. But all this of course

does not justify a resort to mob violence. It does, however, suggest the

necessity for deliberate organization with a view to the reformation of

our judiciary.

# F W Wood--suggestion of Booth.

Monday, March 31, 1884 The mob was reasonably quiet last night

and to day the city was comparatively peaceful. Troops on the way

thither have been ordered to return to their homes. There have been

some woundings, and, I think, a few deaths within the last twenty four

hours, but these accidental rather than intentional. Young Voglegesang

is still alive.

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The Diary of John Beatty                      63

Tuesday, April 1, 1884 Last evening when walking out from the

office with Judge Anderson the conversation turned on public speakers,

and Thomas Corwin³⁹ was mentioned as one of the readiest, most eloquent,

and wittiest of orators, Anderson said he heard Corwin say that he rarely

if ever undertook to make a speech without painstaking preparation. By

this, Anderson said, he did not perhaps mean that he wrote out his

speeches and consulted them, but that he thought them out beforehand,

and had all the points thoroughly fixed in his mind in their proper order

before he attempted to deliver them. In the conversation alluded to,

Corwin said that his fellow members of Congress, and the country gen-

erally gave him great credit for his speech in answer to General Crary⁴⁰

of Michigan, and thought as a matter of course that it was impromptu,

but in fact the whole subject was very familiar to him and fresh in his

mind for he had but recently written the life of General Harrison, and

it was therefore an exceedingly easy matter to imagine a corn stalk

Militia General occupying places which Harrison had filled, and ridicul-

ing his manner of managing a campaign in actual war.

All the bunting in the city was thrown out this afternoon in honor

of the Columbus battalion of the Ohio National Guard which was ex-

pected to arrive from Cincinnati at 5 oclk P M. but did not reach

the Depot until about 8.

 

Wednesday, April 2, 1884 What I have said of Corwin on the pre-

ceding page suggests a little incident which Gen. Joe Geiger told me of

him. In 1840 or thereabouts Corwin made a speech in the afternoon at

one village, and then was to be conveyed to another place to fill an

evening appointment. Joe was selected to drive him across the country

and when he drove up to the tavern and Corwin got in the carriage, the

first words said were "boy, do you know how to keep your mouth shut?"

"Yes" replied Joe "I think I do." "Well then keep it shut." For the

next two hours as the horses trotted along over the dirt roads, through

the woods, and the half cleared farms not a word was spoken and

 

39 Thomas Corwin was born in Kentucky and moved to Lebanon in 1798 as a

child. A Whig in politics, Corwin was a representative in congress from 1831 to

1840, governor of Ohio from 1840 to 1842, and a United States Senator from 1845

to 1850. He was secretary of the treasury from 1850 to 1853 and again a representative

in congress, as a Republican, from 1859 to 1861. He was minister to Mexico from

1861 to 1864.

40 Isaac Edwin Crary was born in Connecticut and graduated from Trinity

College at Hartford in 1827. He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice

in Marshall, Michigan, in 1833. He was a Democrat and the first representative in

congress from the state of Michigan, serving from 1837 to 1841.

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64    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

Corwin's thoughts were busy running over and arranging the matter for

the evening's discourse. It was a long silence for Joe but he proposed

to show Mr. Corwin that he had full control over his mouth, and that he

could keep it shut as long as Corwin could his anyhow, and so he did

and a very little longer, for some time before the journey ended Mr.

Corwin woke up as if from a sound sleep, and congratulated his driver

on his ability to keep quiet, and then by his funny stories kept him

bubbling over with laughter until they reached the village to which they

were going. The majority of the Committee in the Keifer-Boynton case

have decided that Keifer's charges against Boynton are not sustained by

the evidence. The minority decided that from the evidence the question

of veracity cannot be settled-that it is an even thing between them-

that one has lied but they can't tell which.

Thursday, April 3, 1884  The "interview" referred to under date

of March 26th appeared in to day's Commercial Gazette. Blaine, however,

seems to have the lead in Ohio and Pennsylvania and the indications are

that while he appears to be doing nothing to promote his own candidacy

his intimate friends, with his knowledge and consent, and possibly men

who have received their instructions directly from him and money also,

are secretly at work getting up a boom for him. Whether at this late

day the tide in his favor can be checked sufficiently to secure a delegation

from Ohio favorable to John Sherman is a matter of extreme doubt,

but his friends thought that a word from me might help to do it, and

hence the "interview."

This evening I delivered my lecture on "Getting a Start" at the

rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association. There was a good

audience present composed mainly of young and middle aged men. The

lecture seemed to be very acceptable to them, and some were even kind

enough to speak very highly of it. The impressible newspaper man was

on hand at the close to take possession of the manuscript, so that I

presume it will appear in cold type to morrow.

Called at the Neil House for a minute and met Judge Seeny,⁴¹

Member of Congress from the Tiffin District. My first acquaintance with

him occurred at Putinbay some years ago. He is a very genial and

capable man, but an ardent democrat.

 

41 George Ebbert Seney (not Seeny) was born in Pennsylvania and moved to

Tiffin as an infant. A Democrat, he was elected a judge of the court of common

pleas in 1857. He served for two years as quartermaster of the 101st Ohio Infantry

during the Civil War. Seney was a representative in congress from 1883 to 1891.

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The Diary of John Beatty                     65

Friday, April 4, 1884 My lecture on "Getting a Start" in the Dis-

patch of today, but there is a displacement of one sentence in it as

presented which knocks the sense out of a whole paragraph, and several

other blunders of the typos which will probably be charged upon the

author and not increase his credit-if he has any for good writing and

good sense.

Captain J. C. Donaldson is here from Washington looking after

Mr. Sherman's presidential interests. The Senator is evidently uneasy,

and some what chagrined over the popularity of Blaine in Ohio, and

feels that something must be done at once, if he secures for himself a

united delegation from the state. At my suggestion it is now proposed

to interview leading business men with a view to getting from them

expression to the effect that Sherman's nomination would be favorable

to the business interests of the country, and prove eminently satisfactory

to the merchants, farmers and manufacturers, and that in addition to

this he would bring back to the party the German vote of former years,

and so poll a larger vote than any other man who could be selected.

On the other hand Blaine, who has been paraded over the state as a

prohibitionist, by Neil Dow⁴² and others, would be especially distasteful

to the Germans, and hence would in all probability be defeated. There

is some truth in all this certainly and perhaps a great deal, for Blaine

is not popular with the Germans and Sherman is.

Saturday, April 5, 1884 Judge J. R. Swan, a gentleman of nearly

if not quite 80 years of age, called at the bank to day and inquired for

me. When I told him who I was he asked to see me a few minutes in

private and when I had seated him in the back room he said that he

had read my lecture with a great deal of pleasure, and thought perhaps

I had no idea of the great amount of good it was likely to do if properly

presented to young men, that it was in simple, forcible language which

any one could understand, and he had called to see if I would consent to

have it published in handsome form to be sold or distributed gratuitously.

I told him that I would feel very highly complimented if it was thought

worthy of publication, that all I asked was an opportunity to correct a

 

42 Neal (not Neil) Dow was born and lived his life in Blaine's home state of

Maine. He was twice mayor of Portland and was largely responsible for the adoption

of prohibition in Maine in 1851. His hatred of slavery was only equaled by his

loathing of alcoholic drink, and he was commissioned colonel of the 13th Maine

Infantry during the Civil War. He was promoted to brigadier general, twice wounded,

captured, and exchanged during the course of the conflict. In 1880 Dow was the

Prohibition party's candidate for president and received 10,305 votes.

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66     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

few blunders which had crept into it while in the hands of the printers.

The Judge has been a resident of Columbus for many years and is gen-

erally known throughout the state by a law book called, I think "Swan's

Treatise" a book which is indispensable to every Justice of the Peace.

He is a clear headed, well educated man who does not travel out of his

way to compliment people, simply for the sake of making himself agree-

able. I was much touched by his earnest eulogy of the lecture. Soon

after he left I received a letter from a publisher asking for the manu-

script, and stating that steps were being taken to print it in pamphlet

form.⁴³

Sunday, April 6, 1884 This morning I went down to the Broad

Street Congregational Church to hear Dr Gladden, but found the rev-

erend Colonel Anderson occupying the pulpit. The latter however gave

us a very fair discourse, but probably not as good a one as Dr Gladden

would have preached had he been there. Colonel Anderson is a fine

reader, and rather prides himself on being an elocutionist. His sermons,

however, are not so tersely written--full of thought and practical, as

those of Dr Gladden, who makes no pretentions to oratory, although he

reads his sermons fairly well.

The day has been clear and pleasant. This afternoon when Hobart

and Lucy returned from Sunday School I went with them over to Mr.

Hinman's and with him, his daughter Flora and her dog "Spot" we took

a long walk. The children and the dog were very lively, and did a good

deal of running. Spot was especially active, and after we got into the

open fields he amused the children and himself very much, by making

furious dashes after stray cows, and circling round them, and pretend-

ing that he was going to catch them by their tails, and when, by kicking

back they suggested to him that such proceedings might be carried too

far to be at all agreeable to his dogship, he would retire to a safe

distance, and express his contempt for them by vigorous speeches in

the dog language, which-as the cows did not seem to be worried at all,

I presume they did not understand.

43 Beatty's lecture was printed by A. H. Smythe of Columbus in pamphlet

form under the title Getting a Start, Facts and Figures Without Advice. It con-

tained a great deal of the homely wisdom of the type that is no longer fashionable,

concerning the merits of thrift, hard work, and the prompt payment of bills. It

was filled with examples all going to show that money deposited in a savings account

accumulating by compound interest, or loaned on "good mortgage notes," was put

to a more rewarding use than when invested in fancy clothes, billiards, dancing,

or the theater. The burden of Beatty's argument was that success or failure de-

pended upon the individual, and that the failures had no cause for complaint, as

they had only themselves to blame.

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The Diary of John Beatty                    67

Monday, April 7, 1884  This has been the day of the spring elec-

tions. The indications at 10 p m were that there had been a light vote,

and that the Republicans had carried the city. The only thing at stake

in the elections of any interest to the general public is the issue as to

whether Baseball and other games of amusement and profit should be

allowed on Sundays, and this issue I fear was not very clearly made,

as for instance in the 9th Ward the Republican Candidate for Council

was opposed by those favorable to having games on the Sabbath, and

at the same time those who favored his election claimed that if elected

he would not vote to prohibit them, so as the matter stands no one can

tell what his opinion is on the subject. In other wards of the city the

same uncertainty prevailed as to the views of candidates on this question.

I have long thought that it will be impossible to obtain good city

government until in our local election all party organizations are aban-

doned and good men unite, select a non partisan ticket-what might be

called a business man's ticket, and these seek to rally the better element

to its support. It matters but little now which party has control, either

is quite sure to give us a bad local government. On the Republican

ticket today were three notoriously intemperate men, one of whom is

notoriously dishonest. The Democratic candidates were worse, if possible.

Tuesday, April 8, 1884 I have this evening been reading Senator

James F. Wilsons44 speech on civil rights. The recent decision of the

Supreme Court is very justly objected to by him, as one at variance with

the constitution and common sense. The constitution says "No state

shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of

the laws" but the Court says in effect, the state may stand idle, indifferent,

and by its attitude encourage scourging, wounding and murder, and yet

make no denial of the equal protection of the law. It may reward political

murderers, scourgers, ballot box stuffers and ballot box destroyers, and

yet not deny the equal protection of the law. It may by law put corrupt

Judges in polling precincts for the express purpose of defrauding

citizens, and yet make no denial of the equal protection of the law. A

million voters who have been threatened and outraged, and defrauded

of every right dear to freedom may stand up and demand the states pro-

44 James Falconer Wilson was born in Newark, Ohio, and was admitted to

the bar there in 1851. In 1853 he moved to Iowa and was elected to both houses

of the state legislature as a Democrat. He was elected in 1861 to fill a vacancy

as a representative in congress, as a Democrat, and was three times reelected, as a

Republican, serving from 1861 to 1869. Wilson was a United States Senator from

Iowa from 1882 to 1895.

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68    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

tection, but if the state simply turns a deaf ear to their appeals according

to the decision it is no denial of protection. The state can protect you-

is in duty bound to protect you, but if by saying nothing and doing

nothing, it can accomplish your destruction there is no denial of pro-

tection-- This seems the sheerest folly. The people of a state constitute

the state. What the people do with the knowledge of the authorities and

without protest from them is as much the action of the state as if au-

thorized by written law. The law may indeed say you shall not murder,

but if the state never seeks to arrest the murderer, and never punishes

him, it denies protection to the citizen just as much as if by statute it

authorized murder.

Wednesday, April 9, 1884 On the invitation of Mr. Hinman I went

with him this evening to Comstocks Opera House to witness a play

adapted to the stage from Alexander Dumas' story entitled Count Monte

Christo, or Monte Christo. The story was not familiar to me and it was

sometime before I could catch the thread of it. The stage adaptation is

in the highest degree unnatural and improbable, and the actors choose

the most untimely times for the introduction of topics of conversation,

and of business. As for instance the Count of Monte Christo makes a

social call on a family of wealth and standing where he accidentally

meets a prominent banker, and thereupon in the presence of the others

present, he draws out a letter of credit, and astounds the banker with the

magnitude of his demands on him, and on the heels of this, they have a

quarrel, and the Count frightens the banker out of his wits by detailing

the bankers recent losses in stock speculation, and suggesting that he is

unable to pay his debts, and all this is made part of a social call, and

takes place in the presence of ladies. The acting however in certain

scenes was fairly good and some of the scenes were splendid, but on the

whole it was hardly worth the time spent in seeing it, and I was heartily

glad when the play ended. The author must not only have a very ex-

travagant imagination, but an utter absence of all sense of the propriety

of things.

Thursday, April 10, 1884 The preliminary steps were taken this

evening in the county for the campaign of 1884. The Republican pri-

maries selected delegates to the County Convention which will be held

on Saturday next for the purpose of selecting delegates to the State Con-

vention. At the State Convention delegates will be selected to represent

the State in the National Convention at Chicago. John, who attended

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The Diary of John Beatty                   69

 

the primary in this ward, tells me that I was selected as a delegate to

the County Convention. There are quite a number of persons in this

Congressional District who desire to go as delegates to Chicago, and we

have two or three men in the city anxious to be nominated at Cleveland

for Secretary of State. Of these I think that Ex-Auditor Oglevee is the

strongest; Captain Clark recently Department Commander of the Grand

Army of the Republic hopes to succeed through the influence of the

soldiers, but I think Captain Oglevee stands about as well with them as he.

Homer Goodwin of Sandusky called on me this morning. He was

one of the Administrators of my grandfather's estate, and has long been

a prominent lawyer in Erie County.

Viola--brother William's wife, and child have been visiting with us

since Tuesday.

This evening I have been preparing a little speech which I will

probably be called on to make at the convention of next Saturday.

Friday, April 11, 1884 The question of selecting delegates to the

Cleveland Convention has been the subject uppermost in the minds of

many politicians to day. State Senator Wolcott who is a candidate for

Secretary of State, stopped for a moment on the street not to electioneer

me directly but to make himself agreeable. He is said to be a shrewd

lawyer and a man of good capacity, but he never impressed me favorably,

possibly because I heard him denounce a bill pending in the Senate in

private conversation, as all wrong, and yet declare that he proposed to

vote for it on the ground that it would help the party. Captain Oglevee

saw me to day also. He is exceedingly anxious to be nominated for

Secretary of State, and is doing his utmost to get the Franklin County

delegation solid for himself. Captain Clark is also seeking to get it.

There seems to be a pretty general feeling in favor of selecting me as

delegate at large to Chicago but I am not giving the matter any atten-

tion. If it comes it will be all right and if not all right. There is no

profit in it and but little honor, and honors of this sort are soon forgotten,

by even a man's most intimate friends. They are certainly of no tangible

advantage to him.

Saturday, April 12, 1884 The county convention met to day at 10

o'clk in the City Hall. There was a full attendance. I was selected as

the presiding officer and on taking the chair made a ten or fifteen minute

speech which is published in full in the Dispatch of this evening with

the usual number of typographical errors. It is astonishing what a

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70    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

penchant the printer has for travelling out of his way to get just the word

the speaker did not use and would not have chosen if he had been ever

so destitute of words. The speech however seemed to be very acceptable

to the convention, and I was rewarded for it by being put at the head

of the delegation to Cleveland. A colored man came near creating a

very considerable ripple in the proceedings by offering a resolution to

instruct the delegates to vote for delegates at large who were favorable

to the nomination of James G. Blaine for President and Robt Lincoln45

for Vice President, but the danger was happily avoided by a motion to

refer all resolutions to a Committee and authorizing the chair to appoint

the Committee. The result was that this Committee reported in favor of

not instructing the delegates and this report was adopted by a large

majority although there was evidently a strong Blaine feeling represented

in the Convention. Just how the delegates may stand as between Sherman

and Blaine I do not know.

Sunday, April 13, 1884 On Tuesday evening I read Senator James

F. Wilson's speech on civil rights, and on Wednesday morning I wrote

thanking him for it, and speaking of it favorably, and asking him if the

Freedmen were protected in their right to vote and have their votes

counted he did not think all the other rights referred to in the civil rights

law would be conceded to them. Tonight I received a letter from him

under date of April 11th in which he says: "Our Supreme Court made

a great mistake in its decision on the question of Civil rights. If it had

fallen back upon the perfectly tenable ground that the right to protect

is inherent in Government, it would have planted itself upon a basis from

which it never could have been moved. I agree with you that if we could

but protect the colored people in their right to vote freely and without

question save the restraints that the law places, and then assure the

counting of their votes it would not be long until the great difficulty at-

tending the colored race in the southern states would be solved. Of

course we can do something by legislation in that direction, but when

we shall have done all that we can in that regard still there will be much

for time to work out and establish"-I think the main thing, however, is

to secure them in their right to vote. People who have votes generally-

invariably obtain all the rights and privileges they are entitled to. So

45 Robert Todd, the eldest son of Abraham Lincoln, graduated from Harvard

in 1864 and served on Grant's staff at the end of the war. He was secretary of war

from 1881 to 1885 and felt impelled to support Arthur for the nomination in 1884.

He was minister to England, 1889-93, and president of the Pullman Company,

1897-1911.

• 13
 

The Diary of John Beatty                       71

soon as the colored people of Ohio were allowed to vote, the white men

conceded to them all other rights and now all parties vie with each other

in professions of good will for the colored man. Before he was more

or less mistreated by all.

Monday, April 14, 1884 The Nation of April 10th charges that in

1869 Blaine, while speaker of the House, used his influence and position

in the interest of parties who sought to renew a land grant to the Little

Rock and Fort Smith R R, and subsequently called the attention of the

promoters of the scheme to his services in the matter and secured from

them a reward for it. That the evidence of this was contained in two

letters of his dated respectively June 29th and October 4, 1869. Second:

He asserted on the floor of the House that the bonds he received were

"bought by him at precisely the same rate as others paid," when the

evidence showed that the bonds came to him as commission on sales,

and he secured the opportunity to sell by lending himself to aid in secur-

ing the passage of the bill which gave the bonds value. Third: Blaine

as shown by his own letters offered to sell Warren Fisher 1/24th interest

in the Northern Pacific R. R. immediately after Jay Cooke's contract

"had been perfected and additional legislation had been obtained." He

having he said come into control of the interest by "a strange revolution

of circumstances." Fourth: He obtained possession of the Mulligan

letters which are believed to have contained matter compromising him,

by pledging his word of honor to restore them, then broke his pledge,

retained them by force, and subsequently read such of them as he pleased

to the House.46 Fifth: He has used such means to keep himself before

the people as are only resorted to by quacks and showmen. Lastly he is

a setter up of districts and a maker of conventions in his own interest.

His name has been prominently connected with swindling coal schemes

in the Hocking Valley, with railroad and mining schemes of not too

savory a character.

Tuesday, April 15, 1884 The reverend Mr. Poindexter, a colored

clergyman of the city, has virtually announced himself as a candidate

 

46 Warren Fisher, Jr., was the business partner of one of Mrs. Blaine's brothers

in Boston, and a friend of Blaine. About 1861 Blaine and Fisher first joined forces

in a commercial venture, and again eight years afterwards they were associated in

the unfortunate Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad. James Mulligan was at one

time a confidential clerk to another of Mrs. Blaine's brothers and later worked in

the same capacity for Fisher. Both Fisher and Mulligan ultimately had a falling

out with Blaine, and at the time of the investigation neither could be counted as

a friendly witness. For a defense of Blaine's conduct in this matter, see Edward

Stanwood, James Gillespie Blaine (Cambridge, 1906), 144-176.

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72     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

for delegate at large by a card in today's Journal in which he argues

that a colored man should be recognized by the Republican party for

the simple reason that he is a colored man. It would have been wiser if

brother Poindexter had based his argument in behalf of some one of his

race upon the simple fact that he was a man qualified for the position

and worthy of it for when he makes the color and previous condition a

basis for political promotion, he does something very near if not quite

like what the ex slaveholders do in the south. They say this or that person

should not have office because he is black. Mr. Poindexter says he should

have office because he is black. And so they both seek so far as is in

their power to establish and strengthen the color line. In politics as in

business a mans color or nationality should no more be thought of than

his height or weight. He should be regarded simply as an American,

and the only question considered when his name is mentioned in con-

nection with an office should be as to his fitness. The idea that this man

should have this place because he is a German, that man that because he

is an Irishman, and the other man another because he is colored is the

sheerest nonsense.47

 

Wednesday, April 16, 1884 Received a very pleasant letter from

John A. Shauck,⁴⁸ a lawyer of Dayton, assuring me that the delegation

from that county (Butler) would be favorable to me for delegate at

large, and that he would himself do all he could for me at Cleveland.

In answer I said that I was very much obliged to him, and that I had

become accumstomed to being under obligations to his family. It was

his grandfather who gave me my first boost in political life by presenting

my name to the Richland district convention as a candidate for nomina-

tion as Presidential Elector. Subsequently his father supported me for

Congress,49 and then the sons. So that the whole family has been excep-

tionally kind to me.

 

47 Poindexter was, however, elected an alternate delegate at large at the state

convention.

48 John A. Shauck was born in Richland County. He graduated from Otterbein

College in 1866, and after graduating from the law school of the University of

Michigan in the following year, began the practice of law in Dayton. He was

elected a circuit judge in 1884 and reelected in 1889. In 1894 he was elected a

judge of the supreme court of Ohio and served from February 1895 until December

1914.

49 General Beatty's first election to congress in 1868 attracted wide attention.

Cornelius S. Hamilton, the Republican incumbent from the eighth Ohio district,

was tragically murdered on December 22, 1867, by his son, who was insane. A

special election to fill the vacancy was held on January 28, 1868. The Democrats had

carried the state legislature in the fall elections of 1867 and had elected Allen G.

• 15
 

The Diary of John Beatty                           73

Received a letter from Private Dalzell of Caldwell50 asking me to

present his name to the Cleveland Convention as candidate for secretary

of state. I answered that I could not do it, that there were two candidates

 

Thurman to the senate, so that there was considerable apprehension among

Republicans as to the outcome. Beatty defeated his Democratic opponent, Barnabas

Burns, by a majority of only 385 votes. "The result caused great rejoicing among

Republicans, and a great jollification meeting was held in Columbus, which was

addressed by a number of distinguished speakers." The Ohio State Journal com-

mented: "It cannot be denied that a Republican defeat in the adjoining (Eighth)

district would have disheartened Republicans throughout the Union. It would

have been taken as an indication that the reaction that seemed to have set in in

favor of the 'Peace Democracy' on the return of peace, still continues. Our defeat

there, under the circumstances, would have cast doubt in the minds of some of our

ability to even carry the State against a Democratic nominee." Joseph P. Smith, ed.,

History of the Republican Party in Ohio (2 vols., Chicago, 1898), I, 244-245.

50 "Caldwell," wrote Henry Howe in 1888, "is the only spot in the Union that

possesses a Union soldier who never was an officer who has a national reputation,

for it is the home of one who has a higher name than that of a score of ordinary

brigadiers, and that is Private Dalzell." James Monroe Dalzell was born in Pitts-

burgh in 1838 to parents of north Irish nativity who took him to Ohio nine years

afterwards. By teaching school and working on a farm he managed to secure an

education, and at the time he enlisted in the army, in August 1862, he had just

commenced his junior year at what is now Washington and Jefferson College.

Sixty-one years later, in 1923, the college awarded him a B. A. degree. Dalzell was

discharged in May 1865 as a private, in which grade he passed most of his military

service, although from February to September, 1863, he held the non-commissioned

rating of sergeant major. The New York Times ironically remarked that he was

"apparently the sole private in the Civil War." Because of his education Dalzell

was at once made a company clerk, and clerical work, either with his regiment or

in garrison, seems to have been his principal duty during the war. It gave him

ample opportunity for correspondence, and he wrote as many as fifty letters a day

to newspapers, many of which were published. He also wrote extensively to every

prominent person in the United States-a habit he had begun at the age of

sixteen-and ultimately became known as "the most copious letter-writer in recorded

time." In 1866 he secured a clerkship in the Treasury Department. While holding

this position he studied law at night, and in 1868 he resigned and returned to

Caldwell to practice law. In 1869 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Noble

County, but was defeated for reelection because, as he said, he had aroused the

hostility of the liquor interests. Dalzell wore his hair long, like General Custer,

and he soon became a familiar figure in the courts of southern Ohio; and his letter

writing, which he kept up, gave him national notoriety. In 1873 he determined

to do something for "the rank and file, the poor, nameless private soldiers," of

whom he had been one, and in September of the following year he organized a

soldiers' reunion at Caldwell, which was attended by 25,000, including General

Sherman. The reunion was repeated for five successive years thereafter, and Dalzell

believed that it compelled "the public to respect the rights of the rank and file."

It also gave Dalzell a political boost, and he was twice elected as a Republican to

the lower house of the state legislature, serving from 1876 to 1880. In the latter

year he was a candidate for the congressional nomination in his district, but was

defeated in the convention, as he thought, by bribery and because "no private

soldier could ever be elected to Congress." He wrote that this rebuff taught him

that "no poor man had any business in politics," and so he "then and there ...

abandoned politics forever"; but, as the diary shows, in 1884 he still had political

hopes. As a politician, he modestly took credit for the elevation of Hayes and

Garfield to the presidency. After retiring from politics he occupied himself as a

pension claim agent and as fervent lobbyist for larger military pensions; he also

• 16
 

74     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

for that position in Franklin and that I could not therefore very well

advocate the nomination of an outsider. Dalzell would not make a

strong candidate, on the contrary he would be a very weak one. Very

many people consider him to be a bore, and still more look upon him

as a crank, and people generally regard him as both crank and bore.

 

Thursday, April 17, 1884 The newspapers are pretty well filled

with reports of district and state conventions, and with speculations as

to the chances of the candidates. Blaine evidently has the lead and it

seems as if Logan might stand second, Arthur third and Sherman or

Edmunds51 fourth. I am not at all sure that I will be chosen by the

state convention as a delegate at large. I find that an effort is being

made to put the Franklin County delegation against me. Dr. Aiken,

much to my surprise called to day to tell me that if I was a Sherman

man he could not vote for me as he was strongly opposed to Sherman

and as strongly in favor of Blaine. I told the Dr that I should vote for

Sherman if selected as a delegate, and that if he favored Blaine I should

not expect him to vote for me. I think that there are perhaps a number

of others in the county delegation who will follow Dr Aiken in this

matter. Still I care very little about it anyway, and shall give myself

no trouble about it. There is a very bitter article in the Commercial

Gazette entitled "Ohio's Disgrace" in which Keifer is denounced as

a perjurer and a man of small capacity who has been convicted of lying,

and of procuring criminals to bear false testimony for him. I am afraid

public sentiment is setting against him.

 

wrote poetry and love stories. His last years were passed in the United States

Soldiers' Home in Washington. In his autobiography he expressed the fear that

his military and public services had undermined his health and shortened his life,

but this fear would seem to have been groundless, since he was 85 when he died

in Washington in 1924. On the whole, General Beatty's comments on Dalzell

appear to do him no injustice. James McCormick Dalzell, Private Dalzell, His

Autobiography, Poems and Comic War Papers (Cincinnati, 1888), 8-48; Henry

Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio (3 vols., Columbus, 1889-91), II, 629, 631-634;

New York Times, March 30, April 2, 1923; January 31, February 1, 1924.

51 George Franklin Edmunds was born in Vermont and admitted to the bar

in 1849. After serving in both houses of the Vermont legislature he was appointed

to the United States Senate. He was reelected and sat in the senate from April 3,

1866, until his resignation on November 1, 1891. From 1883 to 1885 he was

president pro tempore of the senate. In 1884 the reform element in the Republican

party, including such men as Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, supported

Edmunds for the presidency, but he never received more than ninety-three votes

in the convention. Edmunds refused to campaign for Blaine, and the defection of a

number of Edmunds' supporters is thought to have contributed to Blaine's defeat.

After his retirement from the senate Edmunds continued the practice of law, in

which he had an outstanding reputation, and died in 1919 at the age of 91.

• 17
 

The Diary of John Beatty                       75

Friday, April 18, 1884 Received a long letter from John S. Brasee52

of Lancaster. He is very anxious to be nominated for Supreme Judge,

and thinks that Judge Johnson⁵³ is treating him unfairly in seeking a

nomination at this time. Brasee says that the Judge agreed to retire at

the end of his present term and use his influence for him. Brasee was

a member of the commission to codify the laws of Ohio, and has the

reputation at home of being a good lawyer, but he always seemed to me

to be a foppish superficial man, and a conscienceless trimmer in politics.

He was cheek by jowl with Foster and allowed himself to be used very

freely in the furtherance of the ex-Governor's political schemes, but I

think Brasee used Foster also, as I am quite certain that a number of

appointments were controlled by him notably that of Enos F. Hall as

Executive clerk and Charles Martin of Lancaster as a member of the

Supreme Court Commission.

Judge Johnson the present member of the Supreme Court is a sedate,

modest, sensible man, who has now been on the bench I think two terms

and a candidate for three terms. His strong, anti liquor proclivities, and

his dissenting opinion on the Pond law54 in which he held the law to be

constitutional, would possibly not make him a strong candidate, but he

is a good man and a good judge and deserves success.

Saturday, April 19, 1884 Had a conversation to day with a colored

man named Holland who has a position in one of the Departments in

Washington. He has evidently been sent to Ohio by Mr. Sherman to do

what he can to aid in the Senator's candidacy. Holland told me that he

was present at an interview between Sherman and a prominent colored

man by the name of Lewis who seemed disposed to support Mr. Blaine

now, and who had supported Blaine four years ago: in which Mr.

Sherman by way of argument in behalf of himself referred to the fact

that Beatty had opposed him four years ago but was for him now.

52 John Schofield Brasee was born in Gallipolis, the son of a lawyer of some

renown. He was educated at Kenyon College and admitted to the bar in 1854. He

served on the codifying commission from 1876 to 1879.

53 William Wartenbee Johnson was born in Muskingum County and was ad-

mitted to the bar in 1852. In 1858 he was elected a judge of the court of common

pleas and served until 1866; in 1868 he was again elected, and served until 1872,

when he resigned because of ill health. As a Republican he was elected a judge of

the supreme court in 1879 and reelected in 1884. Johnson resigned, again for

reasons of health, in November 1886 and died the following March.

54 The Pond law was passed on April 5, 1882, and established a graduated tax

rate for saloons. The state supreme court decided that it was unconstitutional. It

had been passed at the instigation of Governor Foster and had its result in the

defeat of the Republican party in the state election of 1883.

• 18
 

76     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

Holland says I am well known among the more intelligent colored men

of the entire South, and that they call me the old stalwart, and look upon

me as one who has been most consistent and persistent in calling public

attention to the injustice which they have suffered at the hands of their

political enemies. In these days of many newspapers it seems that if

one obtains notoriety in his own state for views of a peculiar political

character, or for anything else in fact he becomes known outside the

state and to people in all the states just about as well as in his own,

and often he is much more popular elsewhere than at home. Mr. Holland

may have been giving me a little of what is popularly called "taffy" but

I have heard something like that from others. In fact in the anti-Hayes

war I used to get communications quite often from the far south, and

from Packard and Chamberlin themselves.

Sunday, April 20, 1884 The primary meetings and county conven-

tions for the selection of delegates to Cleveland and Chicago were held

in many of the counties yesterday, and although it would seem from the

newspaper accounts that Mr. Sherman had perhaps secured a majority

of the delegates yet it is quite apparent that in almost every section of

the state Mr. Blaine has a strong and enthusiastic following, and that

he will come much nearer having a majority in the Cleveland Conven-

tion than he did in the Columbus Convention four years ago. The candi-

dates for delegates at large are becoming quite numerous, but the one I

have most to fear is Judge William H. West55 of Bellefontaine. He is

nearest in point of locality, will have the Hayes and Foster influence to

back him, and as the champion of the Scott law56 before the Superior

55 William H. West was born in Pennsylvania and, in 1830 at the age of six,

moved with his parents to Knox County, Ohio. He graduated from Jefferson College

in Pennsylvania in 1846 and was admitted to the bar in Ohio in 1851. As a

Republican he served two terms in the lower house of the general assembly (1858-60

and 1862-64) and one in the senate (1864-66). He was attorney general of the

state from 1866 to 1870. He was elected a judge of the supreme court in 1871 but

was compelled to resign after a year because of the failure of his eyesight. He was

a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1873. Four years later he was nomi-

nated by the Republicans for governor but was defeated in the election by Richard

M. Bishop. "The loss of his sight and his powerful oratory gave him the name of

'The Blind Man Eloquent.' Tall, gaunt, blind and impressive, he had swayed

audiences in Ohio in every campaign since the beginning of the Republican party."

Daniel J. Ryan, Masters of Men, A Retrospect in Presidential Politics (Columbus,

1915), 25.

56 The Scott law, the successor to the Pond law, was passed on April 17, 1883,

and was also a saloon tax. The act was upheld by the supreme court in its first

test; but in a second case it was ruled unconstitutional. The result of these two

saloon tax laws was that in January 1884, for the first time since January 1855,

every elected official in the state--except two judges of the supreme court and one

member of the board of public works--was a Democrat.

• 19
 

The Diary of John Beatty                   77

Court he is likely to have a strong following among men who regard

hat law with special favor. It has been suggested to me--and I think

here is probably much truth in it-that Judge West has been prompted

to offer himself as a candidate by the Foster faction for the express

purpose of defeating me. The Judge attributes his defeat when a candi-

date for Governor either in whole or in part to my refusal to support a

ticket which stood upon a platform endorsing Hayes' administration, and

to the organization which I was instrumental in making against it, and

he and his friends probably look upon this as a good time to pay me off

and to head me off from anything which might, if I succeded now, open

up for me in the future.

Monday, April 21, 1884 A delegation of colored men on the way to

the Cleveland Convention called on me to day to assure me that I might

rely upon their votes for delegate at large, but as there was one candi-

date among them I am not by any means sure that their professions of

good will were entirely disinterested and unselfish.

Quite a number of delegates went to Cleveland on the morning train

and I was urged to go at once, as it was represented that Mr. Blaine's

friends were on the ground, and proposed to make a vigorous fight for

the control of the convention, and it was thought that I was about the

only one who could influence Blaine's followers to be a little more mod-

erate in their demands and conciliatory in their action. I think however

our friends are somewhat panicky, at any rate it will be just as well to

appear on the ground after the Blaine men have exhausted their first

wind, and so go at them when they are weakest. I expect to go up to

morrow. It is not by any means sure that Blaine's friends will not have

a majority in the convention, and if so they will probably use it to secure

delegates pledged to their chief. The state seems to have gone crazy over

Blaine, and he at this time is certainly the weakest man who could be

nominated for Ohio and if nominated I think it will be difficult for him

to carry the state.

Tuesday, April 22, 1884 At half past four in the afternoon I started

for Cleveland. The cars were well filled with delegates: at Delaware

we changed to the Cincinnati train on which were delegations from

Hamilton and a number of other counties: from Delaware on we picked

up delegates at every stopping place. It was ten o'clock when we reached

Cleveland. Going to the Kennard House we found it packed with politi-

cians: everybody was interested in the presidential candidates, and

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78    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

caring for little else: Blaine's friends were out in full force and exceed-

ingly noisy, and apparently very confident that they would be able to

control the convention. On the other hand the Sherman men were less

demonstrative, but not less confident and evidently better informed with

respect to the work in hand. I gave to a reporter of the Leader an

interview in which I advised harmony, and argued that it would be good

policy to send delegates to Chicago who were on friendly terms with

each other, and with all the candidates, and who would stand by Mr.

Sherman so long as there was a reasonable chance of his nomination,

and then go in a body to Mr. Blaine--that unless this was agreed upon

and carried out, the delegation would split in to factions bitterly hostile

to each other, and then wrangle over candidates and so accomplish

nothing.

Wednesday, April 23, 1884 The Franklin County delegation met

in a parlor of the Kennard House and organized by selecting me as chair-

man. Subsequently the delegations from Pickaway, Fairfield and Hock

ing--the other counties of the 13th Congressional district met in the

same room, and proceeded to elect C. D. Funstom of Franklin, and

Charles Groce⁵⁷ of Pickaway delegates to Chicago, and .......... Wheeler

of Hocking, elector. H. C. Drinkle of Fairfield was anxious to be chosen

as a delegate but was defeated, and felt somewhat chagrined over his

failure. He had in fact good grounds for his feeling of disappointment,

as Pickaway county and the Groce family have had this same office for

three successive terms, but we consoled him some little by putting him

on the Committee on Resolutions. Moses H. Neil of Franklin was

nominated for elector in opposition to Mr. Wheeler and although our

delegation probably had the power to elect, I advised that in justice the

place should be given to Hocking and so it was. At three oclk the con-

vention met in the Tabernacle, as it is called, when Converse of Geauga

the chairman of the Repn state central committee made a speech and

then introduced Grosvenor of Athens as temporary chairman of the

convention. Grosvenor's speech struck me as being a small effort for

a large occasion--was read from printed slips and evicted no enthusiasm.

Thursday, April 24, 1884 The convention assembled at 9 a. m.

McKinley the permanent chairman, made an eloquent but somewhat

threadbare speech, which pleased his hearers very much because it was

 

57 Charles C. Groce was a Circleville meat packer who served as a member

of the state board of public works from 1892 until 1898.

• 21
 

The Diary of John Beatty                          79

 

delivered with force. The balloting for Secretary of State resulted in

the selection of Robinson⁵⁸ of Hardin, that for Supreme Judge in the

selection of Johnson, and that for Board of Public works in the choice

of Flickinger, but the interest of the convention was centered in the

selection of delegates, and the line here was, so far as possible, drawn on

Blaine and Sherman. Foraker was elected by acclamation, because the

party thought it due to a defeated candidate who had made a good fight.

McKinley is evidently a great favorite in Eastern Ohio, not only be-

cause of his brightness, readiness and tact but because he is thought to

be the champion of the policy of protection to American industry, so

called. At any rate the convention was greatly pleased with him and

elected him as delegate at large by acclamation. Refusing to accept

in this way, however, the convention subsequently ballotted for him

and so elected him a second time. The next ballot resulted in the choice

of Hanna of Cuyahoga, the third and last ballot resulted in the election

of Judge West of Logan and my defeat.⁵⁹      Subsequently and during my

absence from the hall the convention elected me Elector at Large by ac-

clamation and finally after some delay and some contest and a partial

ballot Comly⁶⁰ of Lucas was given the second place on the electoral

ticket.

 

58 James Sidney Robinson was born near Mansfield. Before the Civil War he

edited and published the Kenton Republican, but with the outbreak of hostilities

he enlisted in the army as a private. Four years later, after a most distinguished

military career, he left the army with the brevet of major general. He was chairman

of the Republican state executive committee (1877-79), twice elected to congress

(1881-85), and twice elected secretary of state (1885-89).

59 After attempts to nominate both General Beatty and Judge West by acclama-

tion had failed, a ballot was taken with the following result: West 390, and Beatty

257.

60 James M. Comly was born in New Lexington and admitted to the bar in

1859. He entered the army in June 1861, and was soon appointed lieutenant colonel

of the 43rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He resigned this commission and accepted

the lower rank of major in the celebrated 23rd Regiment in order to see more active

service. Since his superior officers were often absent leading brigades, Comly was

in actual command of the regiment during much of its service and in 1864 became

its colonel. He left the army with the brevet of brigadier general and became the

editor of the Ohio State Journal. Among Comly's brother officers in the 23rd was

another distinguished newspaperman: Harrison Gray Otis, who became the editor

of the Los Angeles Times and returned to the army as a brigadier general in the

war with Spain. Still another was Robert Patterson Kennedy, who edited the

Bellefontaine Index, served in congress, and was lieutenant governor of the state

(1886-87). A third was William Coller Lyon, who followed Kennedy as lieutenant

governor (1888-90) and edited the Newark American. Comly remained with the

Ohio State Journal until 1877, when his former regimental commander, Rutherford

B. Hayes, appointed him minister to Hawaii. Comly returned to the United States

in 1882, and in the spring of the following year he took over the Toledo Commercial,

the only morning paper in that city. He used his newspaper to support the presi-

dential aspirations of Senator Sherman and was generally opposed by the Blade,

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80     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

Friday, April 25, 1884 Returned home to day. Keifer and Ben

Butterworth61 and Congressman Morey62 were at the Convention but

they attracted no attention. The former gentleman has evidently fallen

very much in the estimation of the people of Ohio. As an ex-speaker of

the House of Representatives he should have been selected as the

Chairman of the Convention, but he was I think, not mentioned in that

connection. Butterworth was shown but little if any more consideration,

and but few took time to think that there was such a man as Morey.

McKinley was the idol of the hour, more, I think, because a day or two

ago he had delivered what the papers called a masterly speech on the

tariff, which I apprehend, was simply a compilation of old ideas, read

to the House with considerable force.

A singular feature of the contest between Judge West and myself,

lay in the fact that my warmest personal friends, and the men who know,

and like me best voted against me, and those who voted for me were

almost wholly persons unknown to me. The former could not forgive

me because I thought it bad policy at this time to humiliate Sherman-

they were determined that delegates should be committed to Blaine, and

stick to him first last and all the time, and when I tried to convince

them that courteous treatment of Sherman would probably bring to

Blaine, finally, the solid Ohio delegation, and so ensure his election

they would not hear me. They were determined to make the country

understand that the people of Ohio would not have Sherman as a

candidate and would have Blaine. I referred to the fact that four years

ago we had tried this policy and it had led not only to the defeat of

Sherman but to the failure to nominate Blaine--that Mr. Blaine should

put himself on good terms with men who had smaller followings than

 

the Toledo evening Republican paper. Comly died on July 26, 1887, just as the

Republican state convention of that year was convening in Toledo. Two days after

he died the convention did his bidding by committing the state organization to the

support of Sherman for the presidency in 1888.

61 Benjamin Butterworth was born in Warren County, near Lebanon. He

studied law in the office of Durbin Ward and was admitted to the bar in 1861. A

Republican, he served in the state senate, 1874-76, and in the lower house of

congress, 1879-83 and 1885-91. In 1888 Butterworth was one of the "Big 4": he,

Foraker, Foster, and McKinley were the delegates at large from  Ohio to the

Republican national convention.

62 Henry Lee Morey was born in Butler County and served as a captain in the

Civil War. He was admitted to the bar in 1867 and was a Republican in politics.

He was elected to the lower house of congress in 1880 and reelected, as he thought,

in 1882; but the latter election was contested by James E. Campbell, later to be

governor of Ohio, and on June 20, 1884, Morey lost his seat. Morey served another

term in congress from 1889 to 1891.

• 23
 

The Diary of John Beatty                    81

himself so that when delegations broke or abandoned their first choice

they would come to him--that it was unwise to antagonize and humiliate

a candidate who according to their own statements had not a ghost of

a chance-that the thing to do was to conciliate and compliment such

men and thus secure their following, not drive it off by harsh usage. But

they were simply crazy, and in order to gain two votes have probably

lost thirty, and possibly thirty five, for I am quite sure Sherman's friends

will make no concessions to those who refuse to even consider his wishes

or his feelings. Nor will the loss to Mr. Blaine, resulting from the in-

discreet action of his too zealous friends be confined to Ohio. Sherman

is not without influence in other states, both south and north. Is this in-

fluence likely to be wielded for one whose followers do not hesitate to

make war upon him in his own home? My point 4 years ago was to

beat Sherman, and I used Blaine to do it. If the policy of the men who

nominated West is to kill Blaine by using Sherman to do it, they will

probably be entirely successful. At least if they fail it will not be for

want of going about the thing in the right way to succeed.

Saturday, April 26, 1884 Hon. Mr. Doan and Lee Weltz⁶³ of

Wilmington Ohio called on me to day. They were on their way home

from the Cleveland Convention. I do not know exactly which side they

took at Cleveland-whether they were for Sherman or Blaine but they

expressed regret at my defeat for delegate at large, and were of the

opinion that it was a mistake on the part of the Blaine men to embitter

Sherman's friends by attempting to humiliate the Ohio Senator in his

own home. There was one time during the convention when I had one

of those rare opportunities which only occur a few times in one's life,

and although I had anticipated something of the kind and was thoroughly

prepared for it, yet I was slow to apprehend that the occasion for

which I had made preparation was before me. Just before the taking of

a vote there was a long and continuous call for me. Beatty Beatty Beatty

seemed to be shouted by a thousand voices, and the noise and confusion

stopped for a time all proceedings, but it did not occur to me that a

speech would be in order at that stage of the buiness, and when Chair-

man McKinley finally rose and said there was a call for General Beatty,

I was still slow to understand that an opportunity was offered me to

 

63 Leo Weltz was born in Prussia and was educated in agricultural science

at German universities. He came to the United States in 1851 and settled in Ohio.

He was appointed to the state board of agriculture in 1875 and to the board of

public works in 1883. He was defeated for election to the latter body later in the

same year.

• 24
 

82    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

address the convention and so simply rose and bowed to the chairman

indicating, if the call was intended as a compliment, that I recognized it.

It was only after I dropped back in my seat that it occurred to me that

the opportunity I so much desired had been presented, and had slipped

by unimproved. It did not come as I expected it would and so I failed to

recognize it on the instant. Great opportunities often come at odd times

and in unusual ways, and men who would seize them and profit by them

must have their wits well in hand and be prompt to use them. In a five

minute speech I could have made that audience lift the roof with shouts,

and would have demonstrated my power as a speaker to representatives

from every section of the state, as I shall probably never have an oppor-

tunity to do again.

Sunday, April 27, 1884 Went in the morning with Viola and

Jennie to hear Dr. Gladden, and in the afternoon with Hobart, Lucy and

brother William's little boy to Goodale Park to see the bear and the

eagle.

Monday, April 28, 1884 Hobart has dug up a little patch of ground

in the back yard with a hatchet--chopped it up, and says he intends

to have a garden this summer. There is one currant bush in it now, and

he proposes to add a gooseberry bush, and this he thinks will be a better

garden than any his mother can make. At the supper table his brothers

suggested that it would be well to plant beans and tomatos, and this

he will probably do.

Lucy went with Viola to Delaware on the morning train and returned

in the evening. Captain Myers tells me that Senator Sherman is in Ohio,

and that he may come to Columbus before he returns to Washington.

Tuesday, April 29, 1884 Hobart is ten years old today, and in

honor of the event he had a party, consisting of about twenty young

masters and misses of nearly his own age. They made a great deal of

noise and I infer from this that they enjoyed themselves tolerably well.

I read to day William Walter Phelps'⁶⁴ reply to the charge made

64 William Walter Phelps, a wealthy friend of James G. Blaine, was born in

Pennsylvania. He graduated from Yale University in 1860 and from the Columbia

University law school in 1863. He was a Republican representative in congress

from New Jersey from 1873 to 1875 and from 1883 to 1889. Phelps was minister

to Austria-Hungary, 1881-82, and to Germany, 1889-93, and was one of the com-

missioners of the United States to the conference on the Samoan question at

Berlin in 1889. As a delegate to the Republican national conventions of 1880 and

1884, Phelps worked in Blaine's interest, and in 1888 Blaine supported Phelps,

unsuccessfully, for the vice presidential nomination.

• 25
 

The Diary of John Beatty                   83

against Mr. Blaine by the New York Post. The charges are substantially

the same as appeared previously in the New York Nation. The defense

is ingenious, but such an one as any able lawyer, with the aid of his

client might have gotten up. It does not go so far as to prove Blaine to

be innocent, but does go far enough to create some doubt as to his guilt.

If innocent he has been exceedingly unfortunate, and not a little indis-

creet. The fact that other statesmen were as bad and possibly worse

than he does not relieve him, and the other fact that his intimate friend

thought it necessary to come to his defense in a two column article, is

evidence that it would not be well to nominate him for the presidency.

We do not want a candidate whose record will have to be defended. The

election will be a close one and the party should carry no unnecessary

burdens. It should put itself in shape to wage an agressive campaign, and

not a defensive one, and this it will not do if it nominates Mr. Blaine.

Wednesday, April 30, 1884 Phelps claims that Mr. Blaine's friends

were not interested in the Fort Smith and Little Rock road when the

bill passed in April 1869, but on the 29th of June, nearly 80 days after

Congress had adjourned, Blaine's friends called his attention to the

matter, but he in fact never obtained an interest in it. He did however

get an interest in the securities of the Company by buying them on the

same terms as they were sold on the Boston market to all applicants,

and like others he lost on the investment--The bill to renew the land

grant to the Ft. S. & L. R. R. R., out of which the controversy arose

(which grant had been made long before the war and for some reason

became forfeited) had passed the Senate without opposition, and either

the enemies of the bill, or the friends of the Memphis El Paso and Pacific

Railway scheme in the House sought to attach the bill of the latter road

as an amendment to the bill of the former. Blaine requested Logan to

make the point that the amendment was not germaine stating that he

would rule that the point of order was well taken. The first Logan did,

and the latter Blaine didn't so the two schemes were severed and the one

passed without objection. At the time Blaine had no interest in the

scheme, as before stated, but as stated above 80 days subsequently he

asked to be let in as a partner and in the correspondence called attention

to the great service he had rendered the road, and as suggested above he

was sold a block of the securities and lost on them. The charge that

Blaine made false statements respecting this transaction Phelps claims

is not sustained by evidence. The charge that Blaine was interested in

the Northern Pacific he also asserts is not proven. The charge that he

• 26
 

84    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

withheld the Mulligan letters Phelps claims is untrue, he having read

all of them to the House, but I think it is charged that while he gave

the dates of all he did not read all the contents of all, withholding such

portions as could not be readily explained.

Thursday, May 1, 1884 Kurtz and Captain L. D. Myers have just

returned from Mansfield where they went to visit Mr. Sherman. They

found him taking a rather gloomy view of the political situation so far

as it concerns him personally. His impression as to the result in Ohio

was obtained from the newspaper reports, and these gave Blaine a

majority in the state convention which was true enough, but they also

gave him 27 or 30 of the delegates to Chicago which was far from

correct. According to the best estimates Sherman will get from 34 to 36

votes from Ohio, and Blaine from 10 to 12 probably, and possibly not

more than half this number. When Sherman came to understand the

situation in Ohio he felt more encouraged, and he will now work for a

solid delegation. He thinks that if Ohio will stand by him he can get the

nomination. The policy of his managers has hitherto been a mistaken

one. They have been afraid to antagonize the Blaine feeling, thinking

it better to let things drift, and pick up delegates here and there quietly,

and while they have succeeded reasonably well in securing delegates,

the drift has been all for Blaine, and the impression has gone abroad

that Blaine has full control of the state, and this not only strengthens

him in other states but it weakens Sherman everywhere. Now, I think,

a quiet but vigorous attack will be made in Ohio on the Maine statesman,

with a view to loosening his hold on the few delegates who have pro-

nounced for him.

Friday, May 2, 1884 Received the following letter from Mr.

Sherman.

Mansfield Ohio May 1, 1884

My Dear Sir

I avail myself of a leisure moment to thank you heartily for your

friendly course in respect to the recent convention, and you will place

me under greater obligations if you will advise me what course I ought to

pursue in respect to the National Convention. Thus far I have been a

silent and neutral spectator of the contest, but I can see great danger or

great opportunity depending upon the action of the Chicago Con.

vention, and hope you will lend your aid in giving it a wise direction.

• 27
 

The Diary of John Beatty                      85

 

I have talked fully with Captain Myers and suggested to him to

see you as to a quiet organization to initiate and direct events in Ohio

and as to the best mode of securing union among the Delegates. I trust

your business will allow you to take a directing part in this matter

Very Truly Yours

John Sherman

Gen John Beatty

Called on Dr. I. W. Hamilton this evening to obtain his signature to a

recommendation of Dr. C. E. Tupper of Ottowa for the position of

superintendent of the Dayton Asylum for the Insane. The Doctor is a

large man physically and intellectualy and stands at the head of his

profession in central Ohio. He thought Dr. Tupper was unwise to seek

the place, and reviewed briefly the short and unsatisfactory careers of

the various superintendents of the Central Asylum, referring to Drs

Grundry, Firestone,⁶⁵ Rutter, Potter, and the present incumbent.

Saturday, May 3, 1884 There is a case now pending in the Supreme

Court of the state to test the constitutionality of the law under

which our Bank is doing business. If the decision should be against

the law, the result could not be otherwise than damaging to us.

The present constitution was adopted in 1852, and it provides that

no law granting banking powers to a corporation shall be valid until

it has been ratified by the people. The law under which our bank is in-

corporated was never submitted to the people, and the claim is there-

fore made that it is unconstitutional. But on the other hand we claim

that the words "banking powers" in the intention of the framers of the

constitution, meant simply the power to create a bill or note, and circulate

it as money-a thing of value. The word Bank always at that day in

Ohio suggested to the mind a corporation having the power to emit

bills, and put them in circulation. If the lending of money is a banking

power as the language was understood by the framers of the constitution,

then every Insurance Company and endowed college uses it without

authority to do so. If the borrowing of money is an exercise of it then

every manufacturing corporation uses it without authority. If the giving

65 Leander Firestone was born in Wooster. He attended the Jefferson Medical

College in Philadelphia and graduated from the Cleveland Medical College. He

taught anatomy at the latter institution until 1853, when he resigned to become

superintendent of the Northern Ohio Insane Asylum at Newbury. After three

years of this work he returned to medical practice and teaching, but in 1878 he

was appointed to another institution for the mentally deranged and became super-

intendent of the Central Lunatic Asylum at Columbus.

• 28
 

86    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

of checks or drafts on this place or that is an exercise of the power

then all corporations use it without a legal right to do so. The struggle

in the constitutional Convention was between those who favored hard

money, and those who favored banks of issue and the contestants finally

compromised by agreeing in effect that no banks of issue should be

created without the consent of the people.

 

Sunday, May 4, 1884 The rain of last night and showers of to day

have given vegetation a rapid start, in fact I think I have never seen the

trees spring into leaf so suddenly, and the grass too has changed within

a few hours from a dull and sickly green to a bright healthy color.

Have not been feeling very well and so remained in the house most

of the day occupying myself in the preparation of an address to be

delivered at Delaware on the 30th inst.

This evening my wife and I attended the Broad Street Methodist

Church and heard Mr. Crook make a short, and very fair sermon. The

audience, owing to the indications of rain was exceedingly small. Mr.

Crook does not compare favorably in point of ability with Mr. Jackson

the pastor who preceded him. Nor is he nearly equal in point of orig-

inality and interest to Mr. Manly who once occupied the pulpit but who

has since died. He is however a good average Methodist preacher, and

I think much more popular with the congregation than Mr. Jackson, who

was found deficient socially. Dr. Gladden of the Broad Street Congre-

gational Church is by far the ablest minister in the city. His sermons

are full of strong common sense, clearly and briefly expressed. Next to

him is Dr. Anderson who although more oratorical is considerably

less vigorous.

Monday, May 5, 1884 Preparations are being made to begin a

vigorous attack on Mr. Blaine in Ohio, with a view to detaching from

him the Delegates committed to him, or instructed for him. The attack

is set on foot rather late but if pushed with reasonable energy it may

unsettle the minds of Mr. Blaine's enthusiastic admirers as to his chances

for success in the event of his nomination, and so lead to his defeat at

Chicago.

The plan proposed is to mail editorial clippings from newspapers

adverse to Blaine's nomination to the people of the Districts from which

Blaine Delegates have been selected, and it is hoped in this way to create

a sentiment against him, which will influence the delegates and suggest to

• 29
 

The Diary of John Beatty                  87

them that it would be well to seek a more available and less assailable

candidate.

The rough draft of a circular to accompany these clippings was

written by me today, and forwarded to Washington by to nights mail.

The matter will be mailed in New York, so as to divert suspicion from

Mr. Sherman's friends in Ohio.

The fact is Sherman has been lagging in this race and his more ener-

getic, and cunning rivals have got neck and heels the start of him, and

unless something is done at once they are likely to keep it. I wrote his

friends to day that in a fight, it was better to strike awkwardly and

promptly than by delay to lose the opportunity to strike at all.

Tuesday, May 6, 1884 Met Judge Dickey formerly of Mansfield but

now of Cleveland and a Mr. Estep also of the latter place this afternoon.

They were both here in attendance upon the Supreme Court. This is the

day of the week on which decisions are rendered, and Mr. Estep evidently

came for the purpose of hearing the ruling of the court in the case be-

fore it to test the constitutionality of the banking law. He was somewhat

out of humor because the case had not been disposed of, and seemed to

be apprehensive that the decision would be against the banks, and that

the consequences would be very disastrous not only to them but to busi-

ness men and people of the state generally. I found he was interested

in a Cleveland bank organized under the building and loan association

law, and it may be his fear of personal loss gave emphasis to his

speech. He regretted that his bank had not years ago been converted

into a National Bank, and so obtained solid footing. It would seem to

me a great perversion of justice to decide the law invalid, and one which

could only be accounted for on the supposition that the court had

wholly misapprehended the intentions of the framers of the constitution,

that intention it seems to me is clear beyond a peradventure. The object

being simply to prohibit the General Assembly from granting to cor-

porations the power to emit bills until the consent of the people was first

obtained.

Wednesday, May 7, 1884 I have information to night from confi-

dential sources that the Supreme Court are likely to hold the banking

law constitutional, although the matter is not yet settled beyond a

doubt. There is however I think no longer any question as to their hold-

ing that banks can in any event sue and collect the money loaned by

them, 1st on the ground that if not a corporation they are partnerships,

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88    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

 

or 2d upon the ground that a person who deals with a corporation can

not set up that it was not a corporation in order to escape the payment

of his just debt to it. If it was a corporation good enough to borrow

from, it is good enough to be entitled to honest payment. I should be

sorry however if the court were to decide the law unconstitutional for it

would compel us to reorganize under the National Banking Law, and

this at the present high price of low interest bonds is not desireable.

The suspension of the Marine National Bank and Grant & Ward in

Wall Street yesterday has been the topic of conversation to day. It is

a little strange that Genl Grant after retiring from the Presidency with

all the honors that could be showered upon him and all the wealth that

could be required by him in dignified retirement, should have gone to

New York and engaged in so annoying a business as that of a broker,

and so hazardous a one.⁶⁶

Thursday, May 8, 1884 The weather for the past day or two has

been cold and winter seems loth to let go its hold upon us. The few

days of warm showers with which we have been favored, however,

has given vegetation a fair start, and while we still cling to our winter

under clothing and over coats the trees are full of half grown foliage

and the grass is fresh and green.

The day has been void of incident. The failures in New York alluded

to yesterday have not so far as is known occasioned others, and it is

hoped that they will not. The business in Wall Street is largely fictitious.

Millions seem to pass from hand to hand, when in fact there has been

no exchange of values. Men sell stocks or bonds and agree to deliver

them in one ten or thirty days time when they do not own a dollars

worth, never expect to buy any or deliver any, and the purchasers never

expect to have the property delivered to them. The transaction is simply

a wager on the part of the seller that the stocks or bonds will decline

in price, and on the part of the buyer that they will go higher, and when

the settlement is made if they have gone down the buyer pays the dif-

ference between what they were and what they are, and if they go up

the seller loses and pays the buyer the difference between the quotations

on day of sale and those on day of settlement. That is to say he loses, and

66 The failure of Grant & Ward on May 6, 1884, was the culminating tragedy

of the ex-president's life. Although his name and property were used in the

brokerage company's business, Grant paid little attention to the management of

the firm's affairs. As a result he was exploited and defrauded by his partners,

and the failure left him bankrupt just at the time he was attacked by the disease

which ended his life in the following year.

• 31
 

The Diary of John Beatty                          89

pays his bet. The whole transaction appearently involving millions, but

all based on property they never owned nor expected to own or ever see

and handle. So men fail for thousands just as the gambler fails who

bets and loses and is unable to pay the loss.

Friday, May 9, 1884     Hesekiah Bundy⁶⁷ of Jackson county called

on me to day: he is the father in law of Judge Foraker and was a mem-

ber of the Forty first or Forty second Congress and possibly of both. He

owns 10,000 acres of iron and coal land, and controls one or two iron

furnaces, but is heavily in debt and tells me that he will be compelled

to sell his large property in order to square up with the world. He thinks

his coal and iron lands are worth over one million, and that he will not

be able to get over three hundred and fifty thousand for them. Bundy is

a delegate to the Chicago convention and although set down in the news-

papers as being for Blaine is in fact for Sherman, and so is his colleague

Mr. Gould of Scioto County. In the conversation he incidentally men-

tioned that he was a Presidential Elector in 1860, when Lincoln was first

a candidate. I remarked that I was also. "Why that is so," said he, "how

do you do?" At the same time, reaching for my hand and shaking it as

if he had found an old friend. In the canvass of 1860 I think David

K. Cartter now one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the District

of Columbia, held precisely the same place on the ticket now assigned

to me--that is to say he was the first of the electors at large and

headed the ticket. Fred Hassaurek of Cincinnati was an Elector but I

forget whether he was the other elector at large or not. I must see who

the other electors were and ascertain what became of them.⁶⁸

 

67 Hezekiah Sanford Bundy was born in Marietta. He was admitted to the

bar in 1850 and about ten years later went into business as a manufacturer of pig

iron. Between 1848 and 1858 Bundy was a representative and senator in three general

assemblies. In 1860 he was an elector for Lincoln. At the age of 17, in 1834, he

took a pledge to abstain from using alcohol, which he kept for the rest of his life;

likewise, he did not use coffee, tea, or tobacco. As a Republican he was elected

as a representative in congress and served from 1865 to 1867 and from 1873 to

1875. His iron businss failed in 1887 and he resumed the practice of law. Following

the death of the incumbent from his district, Bundy was again returned to congress

in a special election and sat from December 4, 1893, until March 1895; his death

occurred in December of the same year. His only son died of wounds received in

the Civil War, and his daughter Julia married Joseph Benson Foraker in 1870. Of

this period Julia Foraker wrote: "They were bad years, 1884 and 1885. I don't

recall that since then the rough element has ever got the upper hand in elections."

Julia B. Foraker, I Would Live It Again (New York, 1932), 83.

68 General Beatty's memory was slightly at fault on this point. In 1860 the

Republicans in Ohio held two state conventions. The first was held in Columbus

on March 1, and at that time the delegates to the national convention in Chicago

were elected. David Kellogg Cartter of Cleveland was elected a delegate at large,

• 32
 

90     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

Saturday, May 10, 1884 Bundy and Dr. Byers-better known as

Chaplain Byers, were in the Bank to day. They are both Methodists but

not very serious ones and as the conversation turned on pioneer preachers

and their experiences, a number of amusing stories were told, among them

one of Granville Moody, an excentric divine who has I think but

recently died. Moody was holding a revival meeting in a frontier

village and in his discourses was particularly severe on the rum sellers

and whisky shops, and was so bitter in his denunciation of men engaged

in this traffic that they became very angry, and one of them, a man who

prided himself on his physical strength and fighting qualities said that

he would whip Moody at the first opportunity. A few days later as

Moody was walking down the street of the village the beligerent rum-

seller called to him and invited him into his place of business. The

preacher without hesitation accepted the invitation, and when he entered

the house the rum seller closed the door behind him and locked it. "Now,"

 

and subsequently, at a meeting of the delegates, was chosen chairman of the Ohio

delegation. The second Republican state convention was convened after the national

convention at Chicago had finished its work, and it, too, met in Columbus on

June 13. At this meeting the Republicans chose their two electors at large. They

were Friedrich Hassaurek of Cincinnati and Joseph M. Root of Erie County; and

Hassaurek had the first place on the ticket (as Beatty did in 1884). Cartter was

not an elector in 1860. The complete list of the presidential electors from Ohio

in 1860 is as follows:

At large: Friedrich Hassaurek and Joseph M. Root

By congressional district:

1. Benjamin Eggleston                             8. Abraham Thomson                                15. Joseph Ankeny

2. William M. Dickson                             9. John F. Hinkle                                        16. Edward Ball

3. Frank McWhinery                                 10. Hezekiah S. Bundy                             17. John A. Davenport

4. John Riley Knox                                    11. Daniel B. Stewart                                18. William H. Upham

5. Dresham W. H. Howard                      12. Richard P. L. Baber                            19. Samuel B. Philbrick

6. John M. Kellum                                      13. John Beatty                                           20. George W. Brooke

7. Nelson Rush                                           14. Willard Slocum                                   21. Norman K. Mackenzie

Hassaurek was born in Vienna, Austria. He was a student at the outbreak

of the revolution of 1848 and joined the rebel forces. He was slightly wounded in

street fighting with imperial troops and came to the United States after the revolt

was put down. He settled in Cincinnati and found work on a German language

newspaper. He soon became a publisher in his own right, but he sold his paper in

1857, after he was admitted to the bar, and turned to the practice of law. He

helped to organize the Republican party in Cincinnati and was appointed minister

to Ecuador by Lincoln in 1861. After four years at this post he returned to Cin-

cinnati and again became the editor of a German language newspaper. In early

life Hassaurek was a socialist, but in his later years he rejected all forms of gov-

ernment paternalism, and consequently he quarreled with the Republican party; in

1872 he supported Greeley, and in 1876, Tilden. Hassaurek died in Paris in 1885.

Cartter was born in New York state and was admitted to the bar at Rochester in

1832. He settled in Massillon in 1845 and three years later was elected a representa-

tive in congress as a Democrat. He served two terms (1849-53) but left the party

on the issue of the Kansas-Nebraska bill and joined the Republicans. He was

minister to Bolivia from 1861 to 1862 and chief justice of the supreme court of the

District of Columbia from 1863 until his death in 1887.

• 33
 

The Diary of John Beatty                  91

 

said he, "you are Moody?" "Yes," replied the preacher, "that is my

name." "You have been abusing me for selling liquor and lying about

me," said the man squaring himself for battle. "No," replied Moody

quietly, "I have simply been telling the truth about you." "Well," said the

man, "I am going to whip you, I have said I would and I will." "My

friend," said Moody, "the Church I belong to holds that a man may fall

from grace, and if you were to undertake to whip me and I should

happen to fall from grace I'd give you the d--dest thrashing a man

ever got." The rum seller concluded that he would not take the chance

on Moody's falling from grace and so unlocked the door and let him

out.

[To be continued]

• 34