THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY, JANUARY-JUNE
1884
Part I
edited by HARVEY S. FORD
Head Librarian, Toledo Blade
John Beatty, the author of the diary
which follows, was the
grandson of a Scotch-Irish immigrant who
settled near Sandusky
in 1815.* His grandfather, also named
John Beatty, was born in
County Wexford, Ireland, on March 17,
1774. At the age of
eighteen he visited the United States,
and after some traveling
about the country determined to settle
in Norwich, Connecticut.
Before doing so, however, he found it
necessary to return to Ire-
land, both to gain parental permission
for the venture and also,
from the same source, to get the
wherewithal to finance it. In 1796
he returned to the United States to make
his home. A fellow pas-
senger on the ship was Mary Cooke, a
young lady of nineteen
and a native of County Fermanagh. In
October they were mar-
ried in Philadelphia, and thereafter
made their home in Norwich.
The elder John Beatty seems to have been
more energetic and
enterprising in business affairs than
skillful in their management.
In 1803 he moved to New London and took
an interest in the
shipping industry of that port. He had
also become a Methodist
preacher, though it is not known if he
was formally ordained.
Sometime thereafter he became attracted
by the Western Reserve,
and in 1810 he made an inspection trip
through northeastern Ohio.
The death of his father had brought to
him an estate of some
value, and with this Beatty invested
heavily in the Connecticut
Firelands to the extent that he
eventually came to own some forty
thousand acres. The War of 1812 delayed
his plans, but in 1815
* For the material for this biographical
sketch I am principally indebted to
General Beatty's daughter Mrs. Albert
Green Joyce of Columbus and to the general's
own writings and addresses. I have also
drawn on the files of the Firelands Pioneer
and the Congressional Globe; the
publications of the Ohio State Archaeological and
Histroical Society and of the Ohio
Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion;
Abraham J. Baughman and Robert F.
Bartlett, History of Morrow County, Ohio (2 vols.,
Chicago and New York, 1911); Herbert
Croly, Marcus Aionzo Hanna (New York,
1912); Whitelaw Reid, Ohio In the War
(2 vols., Cincinnati and New York, 1868);
and the files of the Toledo Blade and
the Toledo Bee.
119
120
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Beatty led a considerable party of
settlers to the West, and located
in what is now Perkins township, south
of the present Sandusky.
John Beatty senior had a wide reputation
for benevolence
which was sometimes rather curiously
manifested. In 1817 a post
office was established in Perkins
township and Beatty was made
postmaster. Postal inspectors were slow
in reaching the remote
settlements, but when one finally
arrived he found that Beatty had
no receipts to turn over. Beatty felt
that his fellow settlers were
hard pressed enough without having to
bear the additional burden
of postage-no small matter in those days
of scarce coin and high
rates-and so he had posted their mail
free of charge. Not un-
naturally the government discontinued
his post office shortly there-
after.
In 1829 Beatty moved into Sandusky where
he continued to
be a leader among the pioneers. He was
elected mayor of the
frontier town and served for the three
years, 1834-36. But his
own affairs had by now become so
involved that he could spare
little time for public business. His
great land holdings had not
proved to be the foundation of a stable
fortune as he had hoped.
Much of the land he had sold, and he had
been compelled to part
with some of it at prices less than he
had paid. Indifferent sur-
veying and, perhaps, haphazard business
methods had resulted in
a maze of title complexities, so that it
is said that for twenty
years he was never without a lawsuit.
More important than lawsuits, so far as
Beatty was con-
cerned, was a struggle which commenced
at this time in his church.
Beginning about 1834 the slavery
controversy became a cause of
serious division among the Methodists of
New England and in
the Western Reserve. In 1835 an
antislavery agitator appeared in
Sandusky and asked permission to preach
his sermons in the
Methodist church. A majority of the
congregation voted to deny
the request; but Beatty, who held strong
views on slavery, refused
to abide by the decision and promptly
seceded, taking the minority
with him to found a new church. This
church was known there-
after as the Beatty church, not only
because he was its most prom-
inent member but also because he was its
chief source of financial
support. John Beatty died on March 16,
1845, respected and ad-
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 121
mired by all who knew him. Of his nine
children the fifth was
James Beatty, born in New London on
October 29, 1803, and the
father of the John Beatty who is the
subject of this sketch.
On January 1, 1827, at Marion, Ohio,
James Beatty married
Elizabeth Williams. Soon thereafter he
brought his seventeen-year-
old bride to a log cabin south of
Sandusky on the Milan road in
Perkins township. Here was born their
first child, John Beatty, on
December 16, 1828. His boyhood was the
normal one of the children
of the pioneers, and, at least in so far
as he remembered it years
later, was wholly enjoyable. The tiny
settlements were still sur-
rounded by impenetrable forest; Beatty
recalled long afterwards
how all the settlers turned out and
searched through one endless
night for a child companion who had
strayed in play and become
lost. The passage of the stagecoach was
an event of great importance
in the lives of the settlers' children.
Beatty remembered his first
business venture as the trading of two
loads of hickory wood, cut
from a small lot turned over to him by
his grandfather, to the editor
of the Sandusky Clarion for a
two-volume edition of Oliver Twist.
All the formal education he ever
received was obtained at the local
schoolhouse.
A turning point in Beatty's life was the
death of his mother
in childbirth on January 29, 1841.
Though he was to outlive her by
nearly three-quarters of a century, her
memory remained with him
always, for his devotion to her was deep
and lasting. Consequently
when his father remarried the following
year, Beatty disapproved,
as elder sons are apt to do, and though
still a boy determined to
strike out for himself. He found a job
in Lower Sandusky (Fre-
mont) at the store of Sardis Birchard.
The choice was a good one.
Birchard was the bachelor uncle and
guardian of Rutherford Hayes,
and a kind-hearted man who boarded his
young employee at his
own home and gave him the free run of
his extensive library. When
Hayes returned from school to begin the
practice of law, he like-
wise took up residence in Birchard's
house, and a lifetime acquaint-
ance was begun between Beatty and Hayes.
After seven years in Fremont, John and
his younger brother,
William Beatty, established themselves
in 1849 as clerks in a dry-
goods store in Mt. Gilead, Morrow
County. Here they remained for
122
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
five years; during this period, in the
late summer of 1852, their
father and stepmother died within a few
days of each other, victims
of a cholera epidemic then ravaging
Sandusky. In 1854 John Beatty
married Lucy Tupper of Cleveland, and in
the same year the
brothers moved to Cardington and founded
the first bank in that
village. Beatty had not been inactive
politically and had taken part
in the growing crisis in conformity to
his background and traditions.
In 1852 he supported John P. Hale, the
Free Soil candidate, and
in 1856, John C. Fremont, the first
candidate of the new Republican
party. In 1860 Beatty was an elector for
Lincoln.
With the outbreak of war came Beatty's
opportunity to make a
career. His equipment for
self-advancement was larger than is evi-
dent from casual inspection. From his
grandfather he had inherited
a sturdy will to better himself and a
strong moral sense which
specifically manifested itself on the
question of slavery; his business
ability, which was marked, must clearly
be credited to some other
source. Though his formal education
might seem to be deficient on
some counts, he was shortly to
demonstrate that the lack was more
apparent than real. On the call for
volunteers in April 1861,
John Beatty was the first to enlist from
Morrow County. He raised
what became Company I of the 3d Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, and
was elected its captain. When a few days
later the regiment was
organized in a camp outside of Columbus,
Beatty was elected lieu-
tenant colonel.
Throughout his military service Beatty
kept a diary in which
he recorded his experiences. Published
in 1879 as The Citizen
Soldier and republished in 1946 as Memoirs of a Volunteer, it
is
one of the best personal narratives to
come out of the war. It will
suffice here to state that he served in
West Virginia and at Perry-
ville, Stone River, Tullahoma,
Chickamauga, and Chattanooga. He
was promoted to colonel on February 12,
1862, and to brigadier
general on November 29 of the same year.
He resigned from the
army on January 28, 1864, so that his
brother William might enter
the service.
The Beatty brothers' bank had, in 1863,
been incorporated as
a national bank and the business
demanded attention. The war had
brought Beatty great prominence at home,
and on the death of
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 123
Cornelius S. Hamilton, the incumbent in
congress from his district,
Beatty was asked to stand for the
vacancy. He was duly elected as a
Republican and twice reelected, serving
from February 5, 1868, to
March 3, 1873. In the house he served on
the committee on invalid
pensions and as chairman of the
committees on public buildings and
grounds and public printing. He was a
dutiful congressman, attend-
ing closely to his committee work and
voting regularly with his
party; his views on negro rights aligned
him with the Radicals. He
voted for the 15th amendment and for the
force bill directed at the
Ku Klux Klan; on other questions, he
supported Grant in his request
for a commission to investigate the
possibilities of annexing the
Dominican Republic, and, in the
resolutions which grew out of the
Credit Mobilier scandal, he voted for
the milder ones which merely
censured, rather than expelled, Oakes
Ames and James Brooks.
What perhaps was the high point of
Beatty's congressional
career-what he himself called "a
great personal triumph"-came
in his last days in the house. After
prolonged parliamentary man-
euvering, against determined opposition,
he succeeded in getting
through by a twenty-two-vote margin a
measure which put an end to
the private printing of the
congressional debates. For forty years the
records of congress had been published
in the Congressional Globe,
the property of the Rives family; in the
course of time they had
made a very good thing of it, charging,
as Beatty estimated, about
twice what the job was worth. As a
result, with the next congress
appeared the present Congressional
Record, printed in the govern-
ment printing office.
Beatty was strongly urged to stand for
reelection in 1872, but
other interests proved more attractive.
At the request of army
friends in Columbus, Beatty moved to
that city at the close of the
forty-second congress and launched
himself once more as a banker.
The Citizens Savings Bank of Columbus
was incorporated on May
12, 1873, with a capital stock of
$200,000, and on July 1 of that
year Beatty was elected president; he
held that office for thirty
years. The Mr. Hinman whose name often
appears in the diary which
follows was vice president of the bank
and partner in the venture;
but throughout their long and close
relationship they preserved the
124
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
formalities and remained "Mr.
Hinman" and "General Beatty"
to the end.
Politics, however, was by no means
wholly sidetracked by
banking. Beatty campaigned actively for
Garfield in 1880 and four
years later was an elector for Blaine
and Logan. As the diary shows,
Beatty was one of the older generation
who supported John Sherman
and resented the attempts of the younger
Foraker to shove aside the
elder statesman and take his place as
Ohio's favorite son; a similar
resentment harbored by Mark Hanna cost
Foraker whatever chances
he may have had for the presidency.
Beatty made his strongest bid in state
politics in 1885 as candi-
date for the Republican nomination for
governor. Foraker had been
the candidate in 1883 and had been
beaten by Hoadly; nevertheless,
Foraker was the overwhelming favorite to
recapture the nomination
in 1885. The Republican convention
convened at Springfield on June
12. Foraker arrived that morning
accompanied by a band and a host
of adherents; he put up at the Arcade
House and was immediately
summoned to the balcony for a speech.
Later there were calls for
Beatty, and he, too, greeted his
supporters from the balcony. In the
voting next day the decision was made
almost at the end of the first
ballot when Trumbull County was reached
and cast its 13 votes for
Foraker. This gave Foraker a total of
404 and a majority (there
were 799 delegates to the convention);
his nomination was then
made unanimous. At the time, Beatty was
in second place (there were
four candidates before the convention)
with 179 votes; his largest
single delegation had come from Franklin
County, which had given
him all its 22 votes. After Foraker had
made his acceptance speech,
Beatty assured the candidate and the
convention of his complete
support for the ticket. Some years
later, when Foraker had advanced
to the senate, the two men met in the
lobby of the Neil House.
"Well, General," genially
remarked the senator, "with whom are you
fighting these days?" "No one,
Senator," Beatty sadly replied.
"There has been no one worth
fighting since you left; life has been
very dull for me."
This, however, can hardly be considered
as a strictly accurate
accounting, for life was never dull to
General Beatty nor had he
forsaken political controversy. Indeed,
from dissatisfaction with a
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 125
wing of the Republican party he had come
to feel a growing annoy-
ance with the party itself. It seemed to
him, as to many of his
generation, that the Grand Old Party was
deserting many of the
principles for which they, the founders
of the party, had fought, and
was endorsing new doctrines which were
both false and dangerous.
In particular, the high tariff theories
which McKinley introduced
into Republican dogma aroused Beatty's
active opposition and
caused him finally to abandon his long
allegiance to the party and
call himself a nonpartisan. Early in
1894 Beatty published a 160-
page pamphlet entitled McKinleyism As
It Appears to A Non-
Partisan, in which he took issue with the new Republican thought.
"I have no quarrel,
therefore," wrote Beatty, "with Major McKinley
to this extent. I am a protectionist to
a certain degree, and have
been, and propose to continue to be. But
I fear he has leaped to a
dangerous extreme. It is the abuse of
the principle of protection by
the imposition of exorbitant duties for
the benefit of comparatively
few industries which have no exceptional
claim to public favor, to
which I object, and against which I
desire to record my emphatic
protest." As Beatty saw it, Ohio
was geographically located be-
tween the industrial East and the
agricultural West, the state where
the volume of both manufacturing and
farming was high, and,
consequently, the state which logically
should sponsor a comprom-
ise in the interests of both groups.
"We should say to the one you
shall not, if we can prevent it, be
needlessly injured by foreign
competition, and to the other, you shall
not be mercilessly oppressed
by the trusts and combines which develop
and multiply under high
protection. The Republicans of Ohio, as
will be seen from their
State platforms, have for many years
held tenaciously to this safe
middle ground. If they abandon it now
under the leadership of
Major McKinley they may expect hereafter
to lift up their voices
in lamentation oftener than in songs of
triumph."
Nevertheless, McKinley was twice elected
governor of Ohio,
and on the strength of this, at the end
of his second term in January
1896, had a strong claim on the
Republican nomination for the
presidency in the coming campaign.
Meanwhile, the silver heresy
had been spreading throughout the land,
recruiting adherents by the
thousands from the ranks of the victims
of the depression of 1893.
126
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
In 1894 W. H. "Coin" Harvey
published Coin's Financial School,
a glib presentation of the silver
viewpoint which had an enormous
circulation. The next year Beatty
published An Answer, a 128-
page refutation of the Harvey book which
methodically attacked its
reasoning chapter by chapter, and which
earned for Beatty the
high praise of the sound money men of
both parties. At the time
the question was not a party issue, for
while McKinley's record on
silver in the past had vacillated, he
intended to fight the campaign
on the tariff issue; and as to Cleveland
there could be no question.
But Hanna and his friends introduced the
gold plank into the St.
Louis platform, and the Democrats
repudiated Cleveland and nom-
inated Bryan. The issue thus became
silver instead of the tariff,
and for Beatty, the banker and
economist, the choice was clear.
Once more he found himself with the old
party, and his contribu-
tions to its campaign literature were a
material factor in Hanna's
campaign of education.
But Beatty's views on the tariff had not
changed, nor had his
distrust of the new Republican thought
been dissipated. The
Spanish War and the Philippine
insurrection which succeeded it
completed Beatty's break with the party.
At the outset of the state
campaign of 1899 the Republicans asked
for victory as a vote of
confidence in the policies of the
national administration in the
president's home state. Beatty's response
to this plea was vigorous:
"The defeat of the republican
ticket this fall would be a blessing to
the nation. It would be a proper rebuke
to McKinley, and an
end of the outrageous war in the
Philippines. It would be a
deserved verdict against imperialism and
reestablish the eternal
principles upon which the republic was
based." The candidates for
governor were: Nash, Republican; McLean,
Democrat; and Jones,
Non-Partisan. Nash was elected, but the
combined McLean-Jones
vote was larger than that cast for the
Republican and thus could
be interpreted as a rebuke to McKinley.
During the campaign
Jones had steadfastly refused to debate
any of the national issues,
and instead made his run on the
proposition of abolishing all politi-
cal parties; which proposition both Nash
and McLean in turn
largely ignored. After the election,
however, Jones showed a dis-
position to have his vote counted as a
rebuff for McKinley; but
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 127
with this view one of his principal
managers, W. J. Ghent, promptly
took issue and denounced the
anti-imperialist interpretation as
fallacious. The argument was not
finally resolved until the next
year.
In 1900 Beatty came out for Bryan
despite the latter's insistence
on reviving the silver issue: "I
am sorry the Kansas City convention
mentioned 16 to 1. That issue is dead
and buried. The ghost of
it, however, will now give so-called
republicans an opportunity to
frighten conservative men. If Bryan had
been as weak and insin-
cere as McKinley he would have
surrendered his convictions. But
as Bryan's notions on the money
question cannot be made operative
during the next decade sensible men
will ignore them and give
attention to the important issues on
which Bryan and his party are
wholly right. The time has come when
men who adhere to the
principles of Lincoln must abandon such
blind leaders as McKinley,
Hanna and Cox. The latter are
degenerates who retain no trace
of patriotic pride of the fathers of
the republican party."
In September a state meeting of the
Non-Partisan Anti-
Imperialist League was held in
Columbus. General Beatty was
elected president of the organization
and Levi W. Brown of
Wauseon, secretary; a principal speaker
at the meeting was Mayor
Samuel M. Jones of Toledo. It was a
good illustration of the
adage about politics making strange
bedfellows, for beyond the fact
that all three had once been
Republicans they had little in common.
Jones was a successful businessman and
manufacturer who had
voted for McKinley in 1896 and who
still could see no merit in the
silver thesis. But otherwise his views
had undergone a vast change:
he was now a socialist, and along with
many other opinions some-
what far afield from the question of
imperialism, he informed the
meeting that he was opposed to all wars
(including, presumably,
the Civil War) on principle, and
therefore, as a matter of course,
he could not support the suppression of
the Philippine insurrection;
and further, that his opposition to war
was general, including war
in business, commonly called
competition. Levi W. Brown was a
small-town politician who had risen to
prominence with Foraker
as chairman of the Republican state
central committee which had
directed Foraker's successful campaign
for the governorship. But
128
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
for Brown, silver had been and still was
the great attraction: he
had supported Bryan in 1896 and had
recently served as chairman
of the national Silver Republican
convention of 1900.
Beatty's defection did not pass
unnoticed by his former asso-
ciates. Former governor and secretary of
the treasury Charles
Foster's remark is a fair sample of
their replies: "A handful of
chronic kickers of the Atkinson-Schurz
and Beatty stripe, men who
are always against the party to which
they belong, pretend to see
that the policy of President McKinley
toward the Philippines is
tending to imperialism." But high
hopes were held: Jones, for
instance, felt that at least
three-quarters of his following (amount-
ing to more than 100,000 votes) in Ohio
would go to Bryan, which,
on the basis of the 1899 election, would
put the state in the Demo-
cratic column. The result, however, was
never in doubt: McKinley
carried the state by 20,000 more than he
had in 1896 and polled
fully 126,000 more votes than Nash had
received in 1899.
In so far as Beatty was concerned, his
difficulties with his party
had a deeper root than a difference of
opinion upon specific issues.
During these years the fundamentals of
both parties were under-
going a radical alteration, and the
elder generation could hardly
be expected to see the values they
cherished pass into disrepute with-
out protest. It is significant that in
1900 neither of the living ex-
presidents could find much to recommend
in their respective parties,
although old loyalties and traditions
kept them largely silent until
after the votes were counted. But the
election was no sooner over
than they made their feelings public.
Said Grover Cleveland:
"Conservatism has in a great degree
been jauntily cast aside, or
condemned as opposed to our country's
welfare and glory. A
strange voyage has been entered upon
without count of cost, and
without chart or compass. The tried and
sure foundations of our
liberty and national happiness have been
discredited. . .. The
restraints and limitations of our
constitution have become galling
and irksome under the temptations of
national greed and aggrandize-
ment. Our old love of peace, honor and
justice has been weakened.
. . . Our country will never be the same
again." Said Benjamin
Harrison: "Is it that we mean to be
a World Power, and must be
free from the restraints of a Bill of
Rights? . . . One who has
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 129
retired from the service, but not from
the love of his country, must
be pardoned if he finds himself unable
to rejoice in the acquisition
of lands and forests and mines and
commerce, at the cost of
abandonment of the old American idea
that a government of abso-
lute powers is an intolerable thing,
and, under the Constitution of
the United States, an impossible thing.
. . . God forbid that the
day should ever come when, in the
American mind, the thought of
man as a 'consumer' shall submerge the
old American thought of
man as a creature of God, endowed with
'unalienable rights.'" The
Civil War generation was passing.
Politics and banking by no means
occupied the whole of Gen-
eral Beatty's energies. He was often in
demand as a public speaker.
The Civil War and its history always had
a strong attraction for
him. He served as president of the Ohio
Chickamauga Battlefield
Commission from 1891 to 1895, when the
park was dedicated. His
interest in history was general and was
reflected in his writings,
which included two articles for the Ohio
State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly. He was the author of four romantic novels,
of which the first two were: The
Belle O' Becket's Lane (1883);
and The Acolhuans (1902), a story
of the mound builders in the
Ohio Valley. On July 1, 1903, Beatty
completed thirty years as
president of the Citizens' Savings Bank
and resigned. Two more
novels followed shortly: McLean (1904),
a Civil War story based
on the adventures of one of the
general's company officers in the 3d
Ohio; and Uncle Peter Sked (1907).
If these novels go unread
now, they at least demonstrate a wide
breadth of interest and
mentality on the part of their
banker-author.
General Beatty died in Columbus on
December 21, 1914, having
passed his eighty-sixth birthday. In his
long and active life he had
at various times and in varying degree
tried his hand at business,
soldiering, politics, banking, and
writing; and in none of them had
he failed. He was of the generation
whose great abilities and vast
energies were loosed by the Civil War;
we have not seen their kind
since. When he died most of his
contemporaries had already pre-
ceded him, and the world he knew had
disappeared. Indeed, a new
world was even then in the making in
Europe, a world which he
must surely have looked upon with small
favor. It is impossible to
130
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
believe that he had ever found life
dull, and he could take leave of
it without regret.
The diary which follows begins on
January 1, 1884; its last
entry was made on June 26, 1884.
INTRODUCTION
John Beatty's Journal
in which he hopes to be able to make
some sort of an entry each
day for one Year. It being the
Fifty Sixth of his life-that is to
say if he should be so fortunate as to
live the year out, he will
see the end of his Fifty Sixth year.
Tuesday, January 1, 1884 The
morning dark and moderately
cold. Snow and ice in the shadow of
walls and fences, and in
open places, also, where there had been
drifts. The sky a uniform
leaden color so heavy as to obscure the
sun. Later the snow began
to fall and by night the ground was
covered with it.
Entering upon a new year is like going
into battle, God only
knows whether we shall come out of it
safely or not. It will be
the luck of thousands to live, and the
fate of thousands to die. It
is the part of wisdom to hope for the
best, and be at all times pre-
pared for the worst. Mindful only that
whether we live or die we
should do so manfully.
At fifty five men take sober views of
life. They have ceased
to have any great expectations of the
future. They are quite sure
no great events are likely to occur in
which, by possibility, they
will be central figures. They are
disposed to be well content if the
days to come bring health, a moderate
degree of happiness, and fair
success in business.
At fifty five habit has us in its
clutches. We talk of turning
over a new leaf, but it is just as
impossible to do so as to change
our skin. Nothing short of a great
calamity can at this age work
any radical alteration in one's mode of
life, so that I have no hope
that the end of the year will find me
better, and can only hope that
it may not find me worse.
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 131
Wednesday, January 2, 1884 Dark. Small particles of snow
sifting through the air. Cold west wind,
ground covered with snow:
pavements icy. Later the clouds lifted;
broke up, and the sun
appeared, with here and there patches of
blue. Still later the clouds
thickened again, the sun disappeared,
and the weather grew colder.
Democratic politicians, interested in
the Senatorial contest,
gathering into the city. The struggle,
apparently between Pendleton,
of Cincinnati, and Payne of Cleveland,
with Durbin Ward and
several others as candidates having
possibilities in case the fight
between the two former should become
bitter. Thurman is spoken
of as a good third if he should consent
to allow his name to be
presented, but the morning papers say he
refuses absolutely, and
leaves today for Eureka Springs,
Arkansas. Possibly he could not
do a wiser thing if he desires the
place, for by his absence he avoids
the possibility of incurring the enmity
of any, and may therefore
become the one upon whom the conflicting
elements can compromise
the most readily. My own preference is
for Pendleton, but Thur-
man is by far the brainiest man of the
lot. Pendleton is a pleasant
gentleman of moderate ability, who has
been bitterly abused by his
party for doing a good act.1
1 The elevation of Henry B. Payne to the
United States Senate resulted from one
of the most sensational senatorial
elections ever conducted in Ohio. All four of the
candidates were Democrats of standing.
Payne was the eldest. After graduation from
Hamilton College in 1832 he had moved to
Cleveland and had been an active Ohio
Democrat for two generations. His long
career included but two previous successful
elections of importance: once to the
state senate before the Civil War (1849-51);
and once to the national house of
representatives (1875-77). Allen G. Thurman in
his youth had been private secretary to
Governor Robert Lucas. He served one
term in congress (1845-47), and as
associate justice (1851-54) and chief justice (1854-
56) of the supreme court of Ohio. Though
Hayes defeated him for the governorship
in 1867, a Democratic legislature was
elected which sent Thurman to the United
States Senate. In 1873 he succeeded in
electing his aged uncle, William Allen, as
governor, and with Allen a Democratic
legislature which reelected Thurman, who
served in the senate from 1869 to 1881.
In 1888 he was the unsuccessful Democratic
candidate for vice president on the
ticket with Cleveland. Durbin Ward began his
career as a Whig and a law partner of
Thomas Corwin. He served one term in the
state house of representatives (1852-54)
and then, in 1855, joined the Democratic
party. His next two attempts at the
polls were failures, and with the outbreak of the
war he enlisted in the army. Ward's
military career was notable: he was breveted
brigadier general, and at Chickamauga
was shot through the body and had his left
arm disabled for life. After the war he
was elected to one term in the state senate
(1870-72). George H. Pendleton came of a
distinguished family whose connections
he improved by his marriage to the
daughter of Francis Scott Key and niece of
Roger B. Taney. He served one term in
the state senate (1854-56) and three terms
in congress (1857-65); he was the
unsuccesssful Democratic candidate for vice pres-
ident in 1864 on the ticket with
McClellan. A sound money man during the war, he
became a Greenbacker afterwards and was
defeated by Hayes for the governorship in
1869. Pendleton had completed one term
in the United States Senate (1879-85)
and was a candidate for reelection.
Cleveland appointed him minister to Germany, and
he held this office from March 23 1885,
until his death.
Payne's campaign was handled by his son
Oliver H. Payne. Leaving the army
with the brevet of brigadier general,
young Payne had gone into the oil business. In
the 1870's he allied himself with Rockefeller and
amassed a fortune: it was said that
132
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Thursday, January 3, 1884 Appeared before John T. Gale,
Probate Judge of Franklin County, as a
witness in a case growing
out of the failure and assignment of the
Timbs Automatic Car
Wheel Company. Theodore Leonard, one of
the parties to the
controversy, is a Frenchman-possibly
born in Canada. He is a
large handsome man, now over sixty,
possessing far more than
ordinary force of character, cunning,
and business shrewdness. He
began life in this section as a common
laborer, and by economy and
judicious investments in landed property
near the city, has become
wealthy. He is reputed to be somewhat
unreliable as to the fulfill-
ment of his promises when he finds it
not to his pecuniary interest
to adhere to them strictly.
Alfred Kelly [Kelley], the person who
instituted the suit, is a
well dressed, and fairly educated
gentleman, rather below the aver-
age in height, probably thirty five or
forty years old, the son of that
Alfred Kelly who was for many years a
member of the General
Assembly of Ohio, and who founded the
fortunes of his family by
building-as one of the contractors, I
presume, the rail road from
Columbus to Cleveland, and thence to
Buffalo. Young Alfred is a
man of little force, obstinate as a
mule, full of self conceit, and
thoroughly impractical. Not long ago he
boasted that he would
teach the men of Columbus a lesson in
business affairs, and now
he spent $100,000 to elect his father to
the senate. Despite widespread criticism at
the time, the Democratic 66th general
assembly not unnaturally refused to investigate its
own actions. However, the election of
1885 resulted in a Republican victory, and the
67th general assembly wasted no time in
getting to the work. The investigation was
set off by an article in the Cincinnati
Commercial-Gazette of January 12, 1886, which
made grave charges against four members
of the lower house of the legislature: David
Baker, Phanuel Hunt, William A. Schultz,
and George M. Zeigler. The results of the
investigation were forwarded to the
United States Senate and embodied the following
conclusions:
"Although we find that the charge
against the four members of this house named
in the resolution has not been
sustained, certain facts have been developed which we
believe to be of sufficient significance
to report to the house for disposition as herein-
after suggested.
"There is a general concurrence of
testimony upon the following points:
"1. That the candidacy of Henry B.
Payne for United States Senator was not
made known publicly until a considerable
time after the general election of 1883 at
which members of the general assembly
were chosen.
"2. That suspicion and charges of the
employment of illegal means to secure the
election of the successful candidate for
Senator were very prevalent near the time of,
and for weeks after, the Senatorial
election, and that in many instances the suspicion
amounted almost to conviction.
"3. That as to choice of Senatorial
candidates among members of the general
assembly, there were numerous remarkable
changes, difficult to account for without
assuming the use of unusual
inducements." Senate Miscellaneous Documents, 49 cong.,
1 sess. No. 106, p. 3.
The state legislature requested the
senate to make further investigation and to
vacate Payne's election. Notwithstanding
the plea of the president pro tempore,
Senator John Sherman of Ohio, the Senate
voted against further inquiry, 44 to 17.
John Sherman, Recollections of Forty
Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet (2 vols.,
New York, 1895), II, 948. Payne served
out his full term (1885-91) in peace.
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 133
he is seeking to escape the payment of
losses resulting from that
effort. Night clear, but bitterly cold.
The new moon looks down
cheerfully over the right shoulders of
the lucky ones.
Friday, January 4, 1884 Met Allen Miller a few days ago
with somebody's political economy under
his arm, and I said to
him "I'm afraid you'll get to be a
free trader." "No," he replied,
"I am a tariff man-a high
protectionist." "Well," I answered, "I
wouldn't get too high for I fear there
are a thousand swindles
covered up or promoted by the tariff
laws." "That can hardly be,"
he said, "protection increases
production, encourages competition,
reduces prices and thus benefits
all." "Don't be too sure of that,"
I replied, "for I fear it is not
true. Manufacturers by combining
often prevent competition and manage to
reap the bulk of the bene-
fits afforded by the tariff."
Subsequently he stopped to tell me that
Thatcher the coffin maker told him that
coffin makers were organized
to keep the prices of coffins up, and so
it is that a man cannot be
buried under our tariff laws without
paying a bonus to the coffin
maker. The tariff shuts out competition
from abroad, and com-
binations prevent it at home. If laws
are continued for the protec-
tion of the producer, laws to prevent
combination should be enacted
for the protection of the consumer.
The Neil is overflowing with democratic
politicians, and the
buzzing is continuous. Those interested
in the smaller offices are
the most active, but the noise of the
senatorial conflict never ceases,
and the predictions as to the result of
this contest are as various
as the interests of the candidates. One
will tell you the bottom has
dropped out of the Standard Oil Company,
which means, Payne
stands no chance. Another thinks Durbin
Ward is growing in
strength, another that Pendleton has a
majority of votes, another
that the latter is out of the question,
but that Payne will surely be
elected, while still others are
confident that a dark horse will carry
off the honors.
Saturday, January 5, 1884 Honor and religion are admirable
qualities in men, and of more value than
diamonds: but God, alone,
can tell certainly the genuine from the
spurious. It is unsafe there-
fore for a man to accept what purports
to be either as security for
a loan.
134
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Men who pledge their honor for the
fulfillment of a promise
do so, generally, because they regard it
as the least valuable of their
possessions.
Honor and religion in men, like virtue
in women, are boasted
of most by those who possess the least.
These truths are not original, perhaps,
but I record them be-
cause they occurred to me today.
Mr. Hinman in looking over the evening
paper discovered
that we import eggs in considerable
quantities. "This" he remarked
"is hardly fair to American
hens." "No" I said "it is a wonder
that American roosters have not made a
fuss about it. There should
be a tariff on eggs." The papers
state that eggs valued at $12,000,-
000 were imported last year.
Today has been the coldest of the
season. The Neil House is
still crowded with democrats. When I
left there at eleven o'clock
p. m. at least four men were sure to be
elected to the United States
Senate.
Sunday, January 6, 1884 The day has been terribly cold.
The night is still more bitter, but the
sky is clear, and the new moon
shines down brightly.
John J. Hane,2 Senator, from
the Marion District, called during
the afternoon and remained for lunch. I
walked down to the Neil
House with him about nine o'clock. The
crowd was not so large as
on yesterday. There were, however, a
good many people gathered
into groups discussing the Senatorial
candidates and making pre-
dictions as to the final result of the
contest. A burly fellow from
Butler County, considerably under the
influence of liquor, was
noisily denouncing Payne, and charging
him with being a monopo-
list, who had no sympathy with laboring
men. "Why" he exclaimed
as he sawed the air violently with his arms
"the democratic masses
of Ohio don't want any Payne, they won't
have Payne, d-n
Payne." It looks very much however,
as if they would have Payne
whether they want him or not. It is not
merely intimated, but
openly charged, that Colonel Payne, the
son of the candidate, is
using money very freely to promote the
interests of his father. It
2 Mrs. Hane was born in Sandusky, a first
cousin to General Beatty.
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 135
is said also that Pendleton is doing the
same thing: but this charge,
I think, has not been made against
Durbin Ward, probably for
the reason that he has no money. Poverty
has its advantages as
well as wealth.
Monday, January 7, 1884 At nine p. m. I went with Mr.
Hinman and Major Rodgers to the Neil to
look in upon the demo-
cratic gathering. The crowd larger than
at any time hitherto, and
much excitement prevailing. There is
evidently great bitterness of
feeling between the friends of the
candidates, and during the eve-
ning some lively discussions took place
in a conversational way. Mr.
Hinman feels very friendly to Pendleton,
and is somewhat anxious
to have him succeed. Before he had been
in the room many minutes
the friends of Pendleton put him to
work, and so I was separated
from him, and although I remained in the
lobby of the hotel until
12 o'clock, we did not meet again and I
walked home alone through
a heavy snowstorm.
About the most interesting character I
saw during the evening
was a tall long nosed young Englishman
leading a white English
thorough bred bull pup around by a
chain. He was so evidently
out of the general run of people that I
managed to get near him
and get into conversation with him. He
resides in New York
brought the pup with him for company,
has fourteen more at home,
and among them a yellow dog that knows
more than most men, a
statement which I am quite prepared to
believe.
Tuesday, January 8, 1884 I forgot to mention that I met
General F. Van Derveer3 of
Hamilton at the Neil last night and he
referred to an incident which occurred
during the war that had
escaped my memory. In 1863, I think it
was, we were going to
the front, and taking the train at
Nashville entered the only pas-
senger car there was attached to it.
There were other cars, indeed,
but they were either freight cars or
what are called caboose cars,
which offered the traveller but little
comfort. We found seats
enough in the car we entered, and took
one of them, but pretty
3 Ferdinand Van Derveer was born in
Middletown. He read law, was admitted to
the bar, and served as a captain in the
war with Mexico. Settling in Hamilton he
entered politics as a Democrat and was
elected sheriff and later prosecuting attorney.
Soon after the outbreak of the rebellion
he was appointed colonel of the 35th Ohio and
on October 4, 1864, was advanced to
brigadier general. He was appointed postmaster
of Hamilton in March 1885 and in 1886
was elected judge of the court of common
pleas; reelected in 1891, he served until his death.
136
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
soon we were notified rather brusquely
by a gentleman in major's
uniform that it was a special car,
engaged for the accomodation
of the paymasters who were in it, and
they desired that we should
find seats elsewhere. We told them that
we had paid first class fare,
and as this was the only first class
carriage on the train, we pro-
posed to continue in it. Therefore there
was a consultation among
the paymasters, and they concluded that
if we remained they would
make it as uncomfortable for us as
possible, and so commenced
to criticize our conduct in obtruding
ourselves upon a party of
gentlemen, but they finally discovered
that they had run against two
very obstinate men, who could not be
bullied, and who were just as
quick and bitter with their tongues as
they could be. So the quarrel
was at last abandoned by them, and by
the time we reached the
front, we were all on tolerably good
terms.
Henry B. Payne of Cleveland was
nominated tonight for U. S.
Senate by the democratic caucus,
receiving 48 votes, to 17 for Ward,
and 15 for Pendleton. The ballot was a
secret one, and most of
the votes for Payne were evidently
bought and paid for in ready
money. The Thurman, Pendleton, and Ward
men are exceedingly
angry and do not hesitate to affirm that
it is the most corrupt and
disgraceful nomination that has ever
been made in Ohio by any
party.
Wednesday, January 9, 1884 The
topic of conversation on
the streets today was the caucus
nomination of Payne last night.
There are a great many angry democrats
who do not hesitate to
denounce the proceeding as most
dangerous and disgraceful. Mem-
bers who had pledged themselves in
writing to support Pendleton,
and to whom he had given money during
the campaign for political
purposes, deserted him, without ever
giving him an opportunity to
inquire why they did so. The member-or
rather the senator from
the Putnam district is one of these.
Layering of Morrow was pledged
to P. but voted for Payne, and the names
of others are mentioned
who were equally unfaithful to their
promises.
Thursday, January 10, 1884 Colonel James Watson was in
the bank today, he is a democrat, but
one of the more moderate
and reasonable kind. The conversation
turned on the caucus nom-
ination of Payne, and he referred to a
time in the history of the
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 137
Roman Empire, when the soldiers had
become so habituated to
receiving bribes for their votes that
they finally offered the Dictator-
ship at public auction, and actually
knocked it down to the highest
bidder. He thinks American fortunes are
becoming so large, and
the American people getting so
accustomed to the idea of selling
their votes and influence for either the
promise of favor, or money
in hand, that the time may come when all
places of honor will fall
into the hands of the rich.
The number of rich men in the United
States Senate is growing
steadily. Gubernatorial and
Congressional nominations in Ohio,
the Eastern states, and the Pacific
Slope are now almost invariably
controlled by the use of patronage and
money. In the Middle and
possibly in the Southern States, poor
men still stand some chance
for the more important offices. In the
latter states, however, public
favors go to the old families, to
distinguished Confederate soldiers,
and statesmen, but rarely if ever to new
men, or to those of
Northern birth.
Friday, January 11, 1884 The weather has become consider-
ably milder within the last two days.
The snow, however, still
covers the ground, and the sleighing is
good. The earlier part of
the week gave us a fair sample of a
fierce New England winter.
Today I received a postal card from
Colonel Watson, and as
it has reference to a conversation we
had yesterday on the growing
tendency of wealth to control political
action, I shall copy it.
Dear General.
In Volume 1 Chapter 5 (page 138 of the
edition I
have) of Gibbon you will find an account
of how the
praetorian Guards put up at auction the
Empire of the
World. Didius Julianus was the highest
bidder, and en-
joyed his purchase sixty six days.
your & C
James Watson
The news papers say that the Republican
members of the
General Assembly of Ohio agreed in
caucus to cast blank ballots
when the election for U. S. Senator
takes place. In the informal
ballot which preceded this decision
Foster received 19 votes, Foraker
138
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
17, 4 blank. McKinley, Keifer, and a few
others from one to two
each. This shows that Foster, with all
his efforts, failed to obtain a
majority.
Saturday, January 12, 1884 Judge
Niblack4 of Indiana for-
merly a member of Congress from that
state but now one of its
Supreme Judges called on me today. I
have not seen him since we
separated at the close of the Forty
Second Congress and failed to
recognize him at once. He is an intelligent
and agreeable gentle-
man of democratic proclivities. During
the conversation he refer-
red to W. S. Holman's5 father
as a politician of miscellaneous ante-
cedents, who was appointed to a
judgeship by Andrew Jackson,
with the understanding that he would
declare the old National Bank
law unconstitutional. This he did as per
agreement. In regard to
W. S., the son, Niblack told an anecdote
illustrative of his cunning
as an electioneerer. In one of the
townships of his Congressional
district an old man had died leaving his
widow so destitute that
she was obliged to sell her only cow to
pay the funeral expenses.
When Holman came to fill his appointment
in the neighborhood he
found perhaps thirty persons in the
little school house to hear his
speech, about half of whom were
Republicans, and after discussing
all the subjects usually presented on
such occasions he closed by
calling attention to the death of his
old and venerable friend, and
to the impoverished condition of the
widow, and said he could not
leave without making an effort to raise
money to buy for her a cow
to replace the one she had been
compelled to sell. He thereupon
laid 10$ on the table and called on his
little audience to contribute.
In a few minutes $60 were raised, and
when the election came off
Holman got the votes of every Republican
present at the meeting.
His enemies say they cost him just 75??
a piece.
4 William Ellis Niblack, a congressional
friend of General Beatty, was born in
Indiana and educated at the state university. A
Democrat in politics, he was elected
to terms in both houses of the state
legislature (1849-53) and then to the national
house of representatives (1857-61).
After serving again in the state house of representa-
tives (1862-63), he once more elected to
congress and served from 1865 to 1875. He
was a judge of the supreme court of
Indiana from 1877 to 1889.
5 William Steele Holman was another
Indiana Democrat who had been in congress
with General Beatty. Holman had been a
judge of the probate court (1843-46); a
member of the Indiana state constitutional convention
of 1850; a member of the state
house of representatives (1851-52); and a judge of the
court of common pleas (1852-
56). In 1858 he was elected to congress
and was reelected fifteen times, serving 1859-65;
1867-77; 1881-95; and from March 4,
1897, until his death. His father, Jesse Lynch
Holman, was born in Kentucky and moved
to Aurora, Indiana, in 1810. He was a
member of the Indiana territorial legislature and a
judge. In 1834 Jackson appointed
him judge of the United States District Court of
Indiana, and he held this office until
his death.
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 139
Sunday, January 13, 1884 I have only been out of the house
once today-or rather, I have only been
outside the gate once and
that was when I went to church this
evening. Mr. Crook, pastor
of the Washington Avenue church, had a
small audience and made
a fair sermon on the text "Lord
what wouldst thou have me do."
The weather is very mild, and I think
the snow thawed some-
what during the day. The pavements,
however, are very slippery.
I busied myself most of the day in
trying to think out a speech,
which I have agreed to make to the
Soldiers and Sailors early in
next month. The difficulty is to find
something new-something
that has not been worn threadbare by men
who talk on the war,
and to soldiers. The thing most
agreeable to the soldiers, is com-
mendation of his courage and devotion to
country, enumeration of
his sacrifices, and suggestions that his
services have neither been
half appreciated nor half rewarded, but
much of this is false and
all of it is old.
Monday, January 14, 1884 A good many people are in the
city to attend the inauguration of
Governor Hoadly. The Duck-
worth and Jefferson clubs of Cincinnati
are present in force, and
with music and banners escorted the
Governor elect from the Park
Hotel to the State House. The rotunda
was packed with people,
and from the stage erected on the East
side of this, the Governor
read his inaugural address, and took the
oath of office. On his right
was the United States flag and the
banner of the Duckworth Club,
and on his left the banner of the
Jefferson Club. The Governor's
voice is somewhat harsh and not very
strong, and from where I
stood it was impossible to hear him
distinctly. The crowd before
his was noisy, and as the address was
lengthy it manifested con-
siderable impatience, so much that the
Governor stopped reading
for a moment while Thorp of Ashtabula
requested that order be
preserved, and the Governor himself said
that he trusted his hearers
would bear with him to the end as they
and not he were to blame
for his being where he was. Tonight
there are many drunken men in
the city. Mr. Joseph Puckrin
representative from Erie & his wife,
William De Witt & wife and Baker
& wife all of Perkins in Erie
county dined with us.
Tuesday, January 15, 1884 The day has been cold: in the
140 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
early part of it, some snow fell, but
before noon the storm cleared,
and a disagreeable wind sprang up and
continued until nightfall.
Was in the House of Representatives for
a few minutes this
afternoon, that body was not then in
session. The vote had just
been taken for Senator, Mr. Payne
receiving the entire democratic
vote! All but two of the Republican
votes were cast blank, two
votes being cast for Mr. Foster by
republicans who claimed they
were not present at the caucus, and were
therefore not bound by
its action.
Dropped into the Neil House for a moment
this morning. The
lobby of it is still thronged with
politicians.
Wednesday, January 16, 1884 This afternoon General Wil-
liam Sooy Smith6 called on me. I think
we have not met before
since the war. The last time I recollect
to have seen him previous
to this was just before the battle of
Chattanooga when Sherman
came with the Army of Tennessee to take
part in the battle which
drove Bragg from Lookout Mountain and
Mission Ridge. Smith
was then at the head of a brigade, I
think, although possibly at
that time he commanded a division. He is
a graduate of the West
Point Military Academy, but I think at
the breaking out of the war
he was in private life, and that when
the war ended he left the
army to follow the profession of a Civil
Engineer. For some reason,
I think, he failed to make much
reputation as an officer, although he
seems to be a cultured and agreeable
gentleman, and certainly in
point of education had great advantages
over most, if not all Vol-
unteer Officers. He does not like
General W. T. Sherman, and says
that he was supported more liberally by
the Government than
almost any other commander, made more
blunders, and accom-
6 William Sooy Smith was born in Ohio
and graduated from West Point in
1853. He resigned from the army the next
year to take up the practice of civil engi-
neering. He was commissioned colonel of the 13th Ohio,
June 26, 1861, and promoted
to brigadier general, April 15, 1862; he
resigned from the army on July 15, 1864. His
dislike of Sherman was not hard to
trace. In February 1864 he was entrusted by
Sherman with an important cavalry
expedition aimed at Meridian, Mississippi. In the
words of one of Smith's brigade
commanders, "the expedition filled every man con-
nected with it with burning shame."
R. U. Johnson and C. C. Buel, Battles and Leaders
of the Civil War (4 vols., New York, [1887-88]). IV, 418. The expedition
failed even
to reach its objective and was driven
back by Forrest whose command was far out-
numbered by the Union troops under
Smith. Sherman was much disappointed: "Gen-
eral Smith never regained my confidence as a soldier.
though I still regard him as a
most accomplished gentleman and a skillful engineer.
Since the close of the war he has
appealed to me to relieve him of that
censure, but I could not do it because it would
falsify history." Memoirs of General William T.
Sherman, by Himself (2 vols., New
York, 1875), I, 395. After the Civil
War, Smith became one of the outstanding civil
engineers in the United States.
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY
141
plished less than any other-that he
never won a battle and yet
does not hesitate to criticise and
condemn men like Thomas who
never lost one.
Brother William is here tonight.
Thursday, January 17, 1884 William [son]7 and I attended
what was called an oratorical contest
between students of the Ohio
State University at the Grand Opera
House tonight. Seven young
gentlemen declaimed original pieces and
did it as young gentlemen
usually do, with not much force or
naturalness: big words were
preferred by them to little ones, and
clearness and strength were
often sacrified for sentences that
sounded well to their young ears,
but meant little, their object being to
make pretty speeches, rather
than forcible ones. Rev. Washington
Gladden and Judges Mc-
Ilvaine and Follett8 were
selected as the judges to decide between
the contestants, and in making up their
decisions they were required
to take into consideration the matter of
the orations as well as the
manner of delivery. And so it turned out
that the young gentle-
man who delivered his speech rather
poorly was given the first
honor, and the gentleman whose
production had least merit but
whose action was tolerably fair,
obtained the second. And the
young man whose composition was less
monotonous but whose de-
livery was by all odds the best-and at
times bordered on the
eloquent-got nothing at all.
Friday, January 18, 1884 The morning was bright with cold
bracing air, but toward noon the weather
became warmer, and late
in the evening snow began to fall, and
at this hour, 10 p. m. is
still falling.
Senator Payne's speech at the
legislative banquet last night has
been the leading topic of conversation
on the streets today. It is
regarded as rather an ingenious bid for
the democratic nomination
for the presidency, and few doubt that
he regards himself as a
candidate with many chances in his
favor. His family certainly has
the money to enable it to make a liberal
contribution to the cam-
7 General Beatty's children were: Ellen,
called Nellie; Caroline Tupper, called
Carrie; Jane Stockman, called Jennie;
John, Jr.; William Gurley; Hobart; and Lucy
Tupper.
8 In 1884 George W. McIlvaine and Martin
D. Follett were judges of the supreme
court of Ohio.
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
paign fund. And I have no doubt would
very cheerfully give two
or three millions to see the head of it
in the Executive chair of the
Nation. Mr. Payne in his speech cuts
between the free traders of
his own party, and the high
protectionists of its opponent, his
position on the subject therefore is
likely to be satisfactory to a ma-
jority of voters. His record on the war,
and the questions arising
therefrom does not differ materially
from that of most republicans.
On civil service he holds, however, that
in the event of success the
democrats should have possession of the
officers-but he softens the
statement somewhat by saying that no one
should be appointed to
places who is not honest and capable. He
prides himself on having
always voted the democratic ticket.
Saturday, January 19, 1884 The heaviest snow fall of the
season occurred between 11 o'clock last
night and daylight this
morning. There being no wind and the
snow damp, it rested when
it fell on the branches of trees, the
tops of fences, the roofs and
projections of buildings. The scene
presented is one seldom wit-
nessed in this latitude but common
enough in New England.
In a conversation with Judge Anderson
respecting the Wyan-
dotte Indians, I was somewhat surprised
to find that they had a
reputation for being strictly honest in
all business transactions. In
illustration of their scrupulous regard
for their commercial engage-
ments, J. T. Rappee, of Upper Sandusky,
who lived among them for
many years as a trader, says that when
the tribe left Ohio for the
West, individual members of it were
indebted to him in numerous
small sums aggregating about $5,000, and
that in time, as the
Indians were able to save money from
their annuities, and the sale
of furs and skins, every dollar due to
him was paid, so that he lost
nothing at all by reason of the
confidence reposed in them. In
respect to the honorable fulfillment of
contracts of this kind, Mr.
Rappee considers them much superior to
the average white man.
Among the notable Indians of the
Wyandotte Nation were the
Armstrongs, Walkers and Garretts. Some
of these were educated at
Kenyon and one of the Armstrongs married
a daughter of Hosea
Bigelow, a pioneer Methodist Minister.
Sunday, January 20, 1884 (This
entry, referring to family
matters, has been omitted. H. S. F.)
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 143
Monday, January 21, 1884 The Revd. Mr. Anderson lectured
tonight at Comstock's Opera House under
the auspices of the McCoy
Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.
He is a Congregational
minister, was an officer-I think a
Colonel of a cavalry regiment
during the war. He is an egotistical
fellow and a very fluent speaker,
in fact he is in my opinion entirely too
wordy to be clear and forc-
ible. His topic was "Merit"
but it might have been "Character-
istics" or "A Medley" or
a good many other things just as well.
He dragged himself into the lecture
quite often, his descriptions of
collateral things were prolix, his
illustrations undignified and far
fetched, his delivery too stagey, his
points-if he had any, not
definitely made, and his lecture
entirely too long. His manner gave
the hearer an impression that his
attempts at earnestness were affec-
tations, and that his eloquence was
simply fustian. Some of his
amusing anecdotes were applauded, as
such things usually are, and
a reference which he made to Lincoln as
a humble worker on a
backwoods farm, and then as the signer
of the Proclamation of
Emancipation, seemed to touch the hearts
of the people, but upon
the whole I think that his hearers were
neither much amused nor
instructed. He occupied nearly two
hours, when everything worth
saying, and much more, could have been
condensed into an hour,
and delivered with much more effect.
Tuesday, January 22, 1884 This day has been very discour-
aging to one who is undertaking to keep
a journal. There has been
no event important enough to be
remembered. I might talk about
the weather, but this just now is too
undecided to be worthy of
notice, it being neither cold nor hot.
In this respect however it
resembles a good many of my
acquaintances, who, so far as one
can ascertain, are never quite sure
whether they think this or that.
As a rule, these indecisive gentlemen
have as many friends as other
people-more, certainly than those of
dogmatic tendencies. The
politician-the popular man-the hale
fellow well met, agrees with
everybody. His principles are so elastic
that he can adapt them to
any person's notions of religion,
politics or business. He speaks in
general terms, and in language which may
be construed to suit the
predilections of his hearer. He never
descends to details except
when making communications in strict
confidence. Politicians when
144
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
casting about for a candidate refer to
men of this character as
"available." This is to say
they have no opinions, simply because
they have no convictions, and are
therefore, in a popular election,
quite sure to poll the full vote of the
party with which they affiliate,
and likely also to win some support from
the other side.
Wednesday, January 23, 1884 Major Hopkins was in the
Bank. He and Mr. Hinman were old
neighbors and intimate friends
in their boyhood and early manhood. I
think at one time they were
perhaps associated in business. At any
rate the Major knows all
about the Hinmans and their connections,
and he told me that after
the death of Mr. Hinman's father, his
mother came into possession
of $4,000 which in that day was a pretty
large sum. Young Hinman
borrowed this money to enable him to go
into business, but after a
time the other members of the family
became fearful that he might
never pay it back, and worked upon the
mother until she became
somewhat alarmed also. And so, growing
out of this matter there
was considerable uneasiness and trouble.
Among Mr. Hinman's
acquaintances was a distant relative
whom he called Uncle George
Smith, and who had been a friend of
Hinman's father, and always
especially kind to the son. One day
while visiting Uncle George,
Hinman accidentally mentioned the
uneasiness which existed in his
own home on account of this money, and
the necessity there was of
paying it back, and how it would cripple
him to do so. Uncle
George said nothing at the time, but
before the young man left he
said "Leroy, would they be
satisfied to let you keep it if I were to
put my name on the note?" The
result was that the old gentleman
did put his name on the note, and
thereupon all uneasiness in
respect to its payment disappeared, and
good feeling was restored
to the family.
Thursday, January 24, 1884 There was a heavy snowfall last
night, and the day has been more or less
stormy and disagreeable.
It is said the winter is the severest we
have had since '55-'56. The
democrats of the General Assembly hold
weekly or semi-monthly
caucuses, in which they decide upon what
measures they will sup-
port in the House and Senate. From all
we can ascertain of the
proceedings of these secret meetings,
the sole purpose of the men
who take part in them is to help the
democratic party. Measures
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 145
are not considered on their merits, nor
with a view to doing what
is best for the whole people, but all
discussion is directed to the
question, "Will this or that win us
votes?" If so: the measure
must be adopted, good or bad. If not so:
it must be defeated, good
or bad. This method of making laws can
hardly be reconciled
with the official oaths of members. But
oaths have now very little
force in legislative bodies. In fact I
think the more oaths politicians
take the less binding they are on their
consciences. Partisanship
has usurped the domain properly
belonging to patriotism, and
instead of striving for the good of the
country, men bend all their
energies to the work of achieving party
success. The democratic
party is not alone responsible for this
condition of affairs, repub-
licans have not been blameless, but I
think the latter have not gone
about the work of appropriating the
spoils of office so openly as the
former, and in all matters of
legislation the Republicans have been
the more conscientious.
Friday, January 25, 1884 It
was intensely cold last night,
William tells me that at the State
University the mercury was 28??
below zero this morning, and that the
day is reckoned the coldest
of the season. When I left the house to
go to the bank at 9 A. M.
the sun was shining from a clear sky,
but when I reached 7th
st. I entered a thick cloud of coal
smoke which overhung the
business part of the city, in such
density, that the sun was ob-
scured and the atmosphere rendered
perceptibly colder. The,
snow is deeper and more compact than at
any time before since I
came to the city 10 years ago. In
conversation with Mr. Hinman I
ascertained that Mr. William Moneypeny
[Monypeny] was becom-
ing so depressed mentally that his
physician had advised him to go
abroad with a view to getting his
thoughts off of his business affairs.
Mr. M. is one of the richest men in the
city, and has within the last
twenty years risen from a condition of
moderate competency to one
of large wealth, but his business cares
of late, and possibly some
losses or the fear of them, have so
affected his mind that he has
become somewhat morose, and unable to
sleep, and hence the neces-
sity for change of scene and rest of
body and mind. This is simply
another illustration of the fact that
great riches become a burden
and prove to be a curse rather than a
blessing to the possessor. He
146
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
was a wise man who prayed 'Give me
neither poverty nor riches,'
for midway between the two men are most
likely to find happiness.
Saturday, January 26, 1884 Tonight
as Mr. Hinman, Major
Rodgers, and I walked from the city to
our homes, the conversation
turned on Mr. Moneypeny. They were of
the opinion that he was
in an extremely bad way. His wife says
that he will sit in silence
looking into the fire for hours. This is
all the more remarkable
from the fact that when in his usual
health he likes to talk, and is
full of amusing jokes and pleasant
stories. She also says that he
does not sleep more than two hours
during the whole night. She
is of the opinion however that his
depression does not arise from
pecuniary losses, for upon inquiry of
Mr. Gordon, the cashier of
the First National Bank-of which
Moneypeny is president, she
has ascertained that there is nothing in
a business way which can
account for his lowness of spirits, or
which should occasion in him
the least uneasiness. His physician has
advised him to go abroad
indefinitely, but it is said that he
positively refuses to do so. Men
with whom he is accustomed to transact
business have also observed
a great change in him, and find him
moody, sullen and reticent.
Formerly he was just the reverse. In
fact hitherto he has been the
picture of health, strong physically and
mentally, a vigorous talker,
full of pithy sentences and quaint
humor. He was born in Ireland
and has still just enough of the brogue
to distinguish him from a
native born American.
Sunday, January 27, 1884 Have not been outside the gate to-
day. I usually attend service at least
once on Sunday, but this
evening Mrs. Beatty and John went to
hear Dr. Washington Gladden,
pastor of the Broad Street
Congregational Church. Jennie and
William have also gone, and Carrie,
Hobart, Lucy and myself are
at home. We are living now and have been
for nearly eight years
in a modest house of eleven rooms on
Lexington Avenue. It does
not compare favorably either in size or
in elegance with those of
our neighbors, but it is fully as good
as we can afford, and I shall
be well satisfied if we are never
compelled to occupy a worse one.
Nellie, our oldest daughter, lives just
across the street from us so
that our family is still well together.
Hobart just at this time is
reading the life and adventures of Robin
Hood and his Merry Men.
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 147
He has quite a number of books but the
one named is, I think, his
favorite. It is written in simple
English, and if it serves no other
purpose, it will I trust teach him to
use those short strong Saxon
words which are so necessary to clear
and vigorous expression.
Lucy cannot read yet, but before going
to bed she turned over the
pages of a child's book, and repeated
from memory the rhymes
which the pictures suggested. Her memory
seems to be very good.
She commenced going to the public school
this month, and often
surprises us by using some long word
which has struck her fancy.
Monday, January 28, 1884 No
one need be at any loss for
something to write in his diary so long
as there is weather, as this
always comes up in some shape. He can,
if there is a dearth of other
matter, fall back upon the weather, and
for the purpose of filling up
the page bad weather is just as good as
better weather. In fact I
have sometimes thought that some kinds
of weather were useless,
but since I commenced this journal I
have changed my mind, and am
disposed to welcome any change in the
weather which may occur,
for in case nothing of more importance
presents itself, it gives me an
opportunity to record the fact that
there has been a change. And
so thanks to the weather, I am able
tonight to say that the weather
has become quite mild, and that the snow
is disappearing rapidly,
and that sleighs are less numerous than
they were. In short, I think
the winter has overdone itself during
the last two weeks and has
broken itself down in an effort to be
unusually severe and is now
in such a condition of general
prostration that it is not likely
during the present season to be able to assume
again any of its
extraordinary and more terrifying
rigors. This may be a matter
of regret to the plumbers, but not to
those who employ them.
Tuesday, January 29, 1884 Called on Governor Hoadly9 today.
9 George Hoadly was born in New Haven,
Connecticut. His father was a Yale
graduate and former mayor of New Haven
who moved his family to Cleveland in
1830. Hoadly graduated from Western
Reserve College at eighteen, studied law at
Harvard, and completed his legal
preparation in the office of Salmon P. Chase. For
several years he was a judge of the
superior court of Cincinnati. The influence of
Chase inclined him towards the
Republican party, and after the Civil War he took
part in the Liberal Republican movement,
although he preferred Grant to Greeley in
1872. He served as counsel for Tilden in
the election contest of 1877 and in 1883
was nominated and elected governor of
Ohio on the Democratic ticket. The previous
administration of Governor Foster had
passed the Scott law taxing and regulating the
saloons; this measure put the German vote in the
Democratic column and defeated
Foraker, the Republican candidate.
Hoadly's administration was beset by many
troubles; Payne's election to the
senate, the Cincinnati riots, and the Hocking Valley
mining disturbances-in the last two of
which Hoadly was compelled to use the
148
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
He is evidently in bad health, looks
thin, weak, and hollow across the
chest. He is unable to sleep as much as
a strong man should: the
excitement, worry and perplexity of the
campaign told heavily on
him: he is however bright and genial.
When I introduced myself he
extended his hand and said,
"General Beatty?" I said "yes." He
continued, "I have known you by
reputation for a long time."
"My reputation has not been very
good for some years,
Governor."
"Well," he said good
humoredly, "that I suppose depends a
little on who judges of it."
While I sat in the Executive Office
there was a steady stream
of callers flowing into it. Some
probably, like me, to pay their
respects, and others, doubtless, on
business. Mr. Hinman was with
me, and while we sat talking to the
Governor, General Chas. H.
Grosvenor10 came into the
room and took a seat until the Governor
should be disengaged. Grosvenor wears a
full beard and his head
and face are snow white.
Called on the Auditor of State; found
Mr. Custer, father of
General Custer there: when introduced, I
said to him that his name
was a very familiar one to the people of
Ohio, and to the whole
country as well. He said his son had
made it so, and in the conver-
sation which followed he told me that he
lost three sons, one grand-
son, and one son-in-law in the Indian
massacre of [Little Big Horn].
The General went directly from West
Point, when he graduated, to
the front, and reached there just in
time to take part in one of the
battles of Bull Run. In writing home
after the battle he told how
shocked he was when he looked upon the
first dead.
My mother died just forty three years
ago, on a day very much
like this has been. I recollect that the
snow was so soft you could
militia-all counted against the
governor. In 1885 the Republicans renominated Foraker
who made campaign capital of the loss of
state revenue due to the Democratic failure to
tax the saloons. Foraker was elected.
Hoadly refused Cleveland's offer of a cabinet
post, and in 1887 he closed up his
Cincinnati law practice and moved to New York
where he passed the remainder of his
life as a corporation lawyer.
10 Charles Henry Grosvenor was born in
Pomfret, Connecticut, and moved to
Athens County, Ohio, as a boy of five.
He served very creditably during the Civil War,
leaving the army with the brevet of
brigadier general. He was elected to two terms
in the Ohio house of representatives
(1874-78), during the second of which he was
speaker. For many years he was a power
in the Republican party in Ohio, and he was
ten times elected to congress: 1885-91
and 1893-1907. His head of snow-white hair,
and whiskers which reached to his waist,
were famous throughout the state; and to
newspapermen he was known as "Old
Figgers" because of his fondness for arithmetically
predicting election results. From 1910
until his death Grosvenor was chairman of the
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National
Military Park Commission.
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 149
roll it into great balls, and that James
and I were doing this when
told that she was dead.
Wednesday, January 30, 1884 The topic of conversation on the
street today was Congressman Keifer's
controversy with correspond-
ent Boynton. The former's letter and
speech of yesterday lacked both
grace and dignity. His original mistake
was the removal of a stenog-
rapher who had worked during the session
when there was much
to do, and appointing his nephew to hold
the place during the vaca-
tion when there was nothing to do. In
undertaking to justify him-
self, he plead the voluntary resignation
of the former, when in fact
the resignation was forced from the man
by Keifer himself. The best
way out of the difficulty would have
been, "yes, I did this thing-I
had the power to help a friend, and I
helped him." This difficulty
about the stenographer is now being
overshadowed by a greater one.
Keifer charges that Boynton is abusing
him, because he could not
use him, and gives the particulars of a
corrupt proposition which
Boynton made to him in Keifer's room.
Boynton affirms that Keifer's
statement is wholly false and bases upon
it a demand for an investi-
gation. This the House had granted
apparently against Keifer's
wish. Boynton is a vindictive man, and
never lets up on an enemy,
but I always thought him truthful. I
have also believed Keifer to be
strictly honest and certainly never
thought him capable of telling
a falsehood. But Colfax, Garfield and
some others were not able to
stand up before the country and confess
a fault, and possibly
Keifer is not.
Thursday, January 31, 1884 Furay says that he was at Keifer's
house last summer, I think, and that
Keifer then told him about
Boynton coming to his room, and making
to him the corrupt prop-
osition alluded to above. So that it
would seem that Keifer's story
could not have been concocted on the
spur of the moment or even
recently. Furay says that Boynton's first
denial was so comprehensive
as to create the presumption that there
had been no meeting and no
conversation between Keifer and himself
at the time, but that his
later statement was not nearly so
positive on this point, and sug-
gested that he perhaps intended to admit
that the meeting did occur,
and deny simply that any corrupt
proposals had been made.
150
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Friday, February 1, 1884 Ex-Auditor of State Olgevee was in
the Bank today. He has just returned
from Washington: he thinks
that Keifer is more than holding his own
in his controversy with
Boynton, and that that is the impression
among the Republican
members of the House. Keifer, he says,
will be able to prove that
Boynton has deliberately lied about him;
first in stating that Keifer
was responsible for admitting the wives
of members into the re-
porters gallery on the last night of the
[47th] Congress, second in
stating that Keifer had solicited
someone to ask that he be per-
mitted to choose a seat at the opening
of the present Congress. Third
in publishing a forged letter,
purporting to have been written by
Keifer and affirming that it was on file
in the Treasury Department.
When in fact no such letter had been
written by Keifer, and no such
letter had ever been on file in the
Treasury Department. A man who
has lied so readily in these instances
may lie with equal volubility
in respect to other things, and Oglevee
thinks his testimony will not
have much weight when opposed by
Keifer's, but there is this fact
from which Keiter's friends apprehend
difficulty. The investigation
will be in the hands of Keifer's
enemies, and they may so pervert
the testimony, and the fact, as to make
them the foundation of an
unfavorable report. It would have been
well, I think, if Keifer had
kept out of the trouble, for the newspapers
are not generally in-
clined to give him fair consideration,
and the committee will cer-
tainly injure him if it can.11
[To be continued]
11 Joseph Warren Keifer was born in
Clark County, Ohio. In 1861-62 he was a
field officer with General Beatty in the
3d Ohio. He was wounded four times and
left the army at the end of the war with
the brevet of major general. During the war
with Spain he again saw military service
as a major general of volunteers. A Republican
in politics, he was elected to one term
in the Ohio senate (1868-70), and to seven
terms in the national house of
representatives (1877-85 and 1905-11); he was
speaker of the house, 1881-83. His opponent in the
controversy, Henry Van Ness Boyn-
ton, was born in Massachusetts and moved
to Cincinnati in 1846. In July of 1861 he was
commissioned major in the 35th Ohio and
subsequently succeeded General Van
Derveer in the command of the regiment. He led the 35th
at Chickamauga and
Chattanooga, and at the storming of
Missionary Ridge, in the latter engagement, he
was severely wounded; for his gallantry
on this occasion he was awarded the Medal
of Honor. He retired from the army with
the brevet of brigadier general. Boynton
was a moving spirit behind the formation
of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga
National Military Park Commission, a
member of that body, and ultimately its chair-
man. In 1898 he returned to the army as
a brigadier general of volunteers. By
profession Boynton was a newspaperman. On Whitelaw
Reid's recommendation he
was appointed to succeed Reid in 1865 as
chief Washington correspondent of the
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. He held this post for many years, and it was his
position as a leader of the Washington correspondents
which finally brought him into
conflict with General Keifer.
The quarrel dated from the previous 47th
congress, of which General Keifer had
been speaker. At its final meeting on
March 3 1883, the visitors' gallery was filled
with wives, relatives, and friends of
the members of the house, and there was a
THE DIARY OF JOHN BEATTY 151
considerable overflow; at the same time
there were many seats vacant in the press
gallery. A member on the floor
moved that the overflow be allowed to find
seats in the press gallery, and Speaker
Keifer agreed; but the newspapermen, jealous
of their privileges, resented it an sent
a representative to lodge a protest. According
to a subsequent investigation Speaker
Keifer dismissed this protest "profanely," and
the press responded next day with a
series of unfavorable articles. The president of
the Washington correspondents
association was General Boynton and he called a
meeting of over fifty writers at which a
series of resolutions attacking Speaker Keifer
were passed. The quarrel was now well
out in the open; Speaker Keifer published a
statement defending himself, and Boynton
published another in reply. Keifer and
Boynton had been quite intimate and
friendly for the past six years; this ended their
friendship.
Meanwhile, in November 1882 the mid-term
elections had been held, and the
Democrats had carried the house of
representatives. Thus, when the 48th congress
met early in December 1883, a Democrat
(John G. Carlisle of Kentucky) was
elected speaker. As is usual after an
election overturn, a number of investigations
into the previous regime were
undertaken, and among those investigated was General
Keifer. It seems that General Keifer, as
speaker, had used his patronage privileges in
a somewhat high-handed manner. In
particular, he had asked for the resignation of
the clerk of the house, one S. W. Tyson,
and appointed his nephew Benjamin Gaines
to the place. He had also obtained a
clerkship for another nephew and made his son
his private secretary. The press, already annoyed with General
Keifer from the
previous congress, seized upon these
revelations with glee and roasted him unmercifully.
General Keifer seems to have been goaded
to desperation. At any rate, on January
29, 1884, he rose on the floor of the
house and made the most serious charges against
the president of the correspondents
association, General Boynton. Boiled down, they
came to this: Just before the end of the
last session, about March 1, 1883 (General
Keifer was vague about the exact date
throughout, which seriously hampered his
attempts to prove his case) Boynton had
met privately with him in the speaker's
office and urged that he push the
passage of the McGarrahan bill, for by so doing he
(Keifer) could make himself a great deal
of money.
The McGarrahan claim was one of long
standing in congress. In 1844 one
Vincente P. Gomez had obtained a huge
land grant in California from the Mexican
authorities. The war with Mexico
transferred California to the United States; in
1853 Gomez filed suit to have his grant
recognized by the new government, but the
courts ruled against him and held that
the land was in the public domain. In 1857
Gomez sold his claim to William
McGarrahan for $1,100. The grant included some
of the richest mineral land in
California, and McGarrahan had been appealing to
congress for years for redress. The bill
in McGarrahan's behalf provided that he be
given all the unsold portion of the
California grant and be compensated for the
remainder in public lands elsewhere, in
value equal to the present cash value of
the appropriated part of the original
tract. Boynton testified
that he believed
McGarrahan to be the dupe of a wealthy
corporation. The house committee on the
judiciary of the 48th congress reported
against the McGarrahan bill, and it was tabled.
House Reports, 48 cong., 1 sess., No. 992.
Boynton at once demanded an
investigation of General Keifer's charges; the
house agreed, inasmuch as Boynton was
enjoying congressional privilege in the press
gallery, and a committee was appointed.
On April 1, 1884, the committee reported
that the charges against General Boynton
were not sustained by the evidence.
A
minority report of the committee added that outside
witnesses had been of little use and
that the only pertinent testimony had
been that of Generals Keifer and Boynton.
Since their meeting had been in private,
it was one man's word against the other's,
leaving no way for the committee to
decide the issue. But of course General Boynton
had won, for General Keifer had been
unable to prove his case. Moreover, the attend-
ant publicity resulted in a further
victory for Boynton: General Keifer was defeated
for renomination in 1884 and was retired
from congress for twenty years. House
Reports, 48 cong., 1 sess., No. 1112.