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
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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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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,
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.
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,
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.
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]