Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1885 — GATH WRITES OF INDIANA. [ARTICLE]

GATH WRITES OF INDIANA.

The Influences Which Determined the Growth of the Hoosier State. Indianapolis in Macy Bespects a Peculiar City —The Old Town of Vincennes —The State’s Public Mon. [Letter in Cincinnat i Enquirer J It was the custom thirty years ago to allude to the State of Indiana as if it were something between Arkansas and North Carolina. The pride of Virginians and Kentuckians, of Ohioans and Illinoisans found consolation in reflecting upon these former three States as without the so.ial basis of their own—the poor white commonwealths of the Union. As late as 1885 a history of Kentucky went oatside of its scope and purpose to show that “a land company imported, in the seventeenth century, to the waters of Pimlico and Albemarle Sounds the worst, by far the worst, population of any brought to America, from whom have come the sand-hillers, crackers, dirt-eat-ers, red-necks, etc., of the South. The western march of this unhappy mongrel people,” says the author, “passed south of Kentucky, and thev then crossed the country from the Carolina coast to Central Arkansas and Soathern Missouri." Persons who have noted the social and political Improvement of what ware called the poor white States since the rebellion have also observed how necessary it has been for more pretentions States which have fallen back in the race to keep alive these ancient and vague illusions. The history of Indiana Illustrates the motto that “Honor and shame from no condition rise.” No State in the Union has come out stronger in biography, .n the contrasts of type and character and in real monuments of towns, architectures, and convenience ', than Indiana since the beginning of the civil war. Within her binders were large Ingredients from the slave States, and Sonthei n Indiana for manv years continued to import and export slaves. Into Indiana went a large Virg.nia and Kentucky element, but probably a larger Carolina element, with occasional notable arrivals from Tennessee. The.e was also in Indiana a small but well-marked French element, not only at Vincennes and other spots in the Houth, but in the northeast, toward Canada and Detroit. Pennsylvania gave the first important Northern element to this State, and afterward Ohio began to send forward her second growth of citizens, and within the past twenty years there has been a curious reflex wave of immigration to Indiana from the States to the west of her. An idea was long prevalent that mnch or most of the land of Indiana was inferior, and therefore the larger tides of emigration, taking the water routes by the lakes and the Ohio, went past Indiana. They or their descendants have but reoently discovered that in many cases they obtained worse land by going the further. Indiana has, therefore, grown beyond the expectations of her grandfathers. The census of 1880 portrayed her with about two millions of inhabitants . This was an increase of about one-third in twenty yoars, and of nearly a million of inhabitants added in thirty years. Indiana is the sixth State in the American Union, next below Missouri, andnext above Massachusetts. ThiH State had no general or spiritual incentive, like Ohio, Kansas, and some other Western Sta es. Being closed to slavery by the organic law creating the Northwestern Territory, It did not attract wealthy people from the South, and as it had navigation inferior to other Western States, with their longer line* of lake and more general river systems, it furnished no particular nucleus, such as Chicago, or Cleveland, or St. Louis for a great settlement. It was not colonized by Revolutionary soldiers, co-operating w ith their enterprising officers, as was the case with Ohio, in which it was originally contained. The growth of Indiana was almost secondary; the large towns beyond its exterior furnished the newspapers which were read bv the people of the country, and. therefore, it had but few advertising advantages, the habit being to comment upon it as if it were some inoffensive Egypt. The politics of Indiana was influenced bv the rise and succession of the school of Gen. .lackson, whose warlike nature and humble beginnings greatly recommended him to the plain people there. The State had its own hero, Harrison, who came forward some years afterward and triumphed over Gen. Jackson's successor; but the President dying the scepter again departed from theMoab of the West, and we heard but little of Indiana until the outbreak of the civil war. Two men then appeared of nearly equal force of character and fierce convictions— Jesse D. Bright and Oliver P. Morton. A financier was also developed from the State banking system of Indiana in Hugh McCulloch; a quick and capable Speaker of Congress and subsequent Vive President was Schuyler Colfax, a graceful, skillful and experienced advocate caine also to the front in Thomas A. Hendricks. Indianapolis rose to be one of the most interesting cities in the West, although it had been created by an act of legislative will, and was without any particular advantages, except its centrality. This city has been said to be the largest city in the world, wholly remote from natural lines of communication; it is upon no river that pertains to commerce, and it has grown to be larger than Washington was at the commencement of the civil war, and has probably a stable population of nearly 100,000. Other legislative centers in the West, I ke Columbus, St. Paul, and Denver, have taken root and flourished, but Indianapolis, above all otber capitals is probably the undisputed mispress of Its State In cnmmunications, commerce, and social influence. Indianapolis is the social capital of the more modern history of this State; further back we must seek in cities and towns now partly forgotten for the rulink spirits of the State. Among these towns are Madison, New Harmony, Vin* cennes, Connersville, Brookville, Richmond, aud other places upon the Ohio, the White and the Wabash Rivers. An atlas of Indiana, published as late as 1822, shows next to nothing in threequarters of the whole State; there were only two counties in middle Indiana, nor,h of a point thirty m ies from the Ohio River, and from that point the settlements ran along the eastern and western boundary, and gave the State the appearance of a stocking hung up at Christmas, with all the “goodies" along the sole and ipstep, and nothing in the leg. Indianapolis stood at the highest forks of the White River, with a long name and no neighbors. Vincennes, with an origin anterior to the American possession, had propagated a lew wild counties, but most of the counties and villages of consideration were close to the Ohio River and Ohio line. The city of Cincinnati had an effective influence upon peopling Indiana, through her communications, which were early established, and by reason of the rich limestone valleys and plains about the Miami River, which constitutes the boundary point between Indiana and Ohio. Louisville, which became a place of wealth ana consideration later than Cincinnati, a'so had an influence in the settling of this State, but perhaps the greatest of all influences was the railroad extension through Indiana only a few weeks previous to the great rebellion. Until steam highways were put down in a Stato whose rivers ran the wrong way, or toward the West instead of the East, there was no general understanding or settlement of the Indian commonwealth. It was called Indiana because it was the great Indian land. The population in 1820 was less than 150,000 people, and Delaware County, which had Indianapolis for* its center, and comprised, probably, oneetghth of the whole Btate, had hardly 3,600 people. The Wabash River is to Indiana like a sash tied around a man's body from left to right, and though it is 6 m miles long, its part in the settlement of the Btate has been greater as a drain and fountain than : s a highway. Indiana had no such comprehensive railroad as the Illinois Central to act a* a great forked tree in the Btate, and fill it pith boughs and twigs of population. The National Road, which the Government built far into Ohio, was taken up and carried along subsequently, but not in time to be of mnch benefit to a new community. with the railroad spirit coming so swiftly onward in the rear. In 1826 the Governor said in hia message: “We must strike at the internal improvement of the Btate, or form our minds to remain poor and unacquainted with each other.” No toad was begun from Lake Michigan through Indiana) oils,to Madison on the Ohio until 1839. Two years later a canal was opened from the Wabash to Lake Erie. The panic of 1837 came when Indiana had just launched n comprehensive system of canals. Until about thirteen years before the great civil war the Btate was unable to pay the interest on her internal Improvement debt. The

first railroad in the State was from Madison t» Indianapolis, and It was opened In 18*7; this road was meant to be tue ih es inlet to the State from the region of Cincinnati and the Ohio River. In 1853 a railroad was opened from India! apolls to Louisville, 'ihe Fori Wayne and Chicago Railroad stopped in Ohio » good while, and was not opened throwrh t . Chtcigo until 18.48. The Ohio and Missis fp) i 1 ailioa i, passing through boutrorn. Indians, was not op nod until tno brink of the rebellion; by 1»67 it was running to Vincennes, cut was n t ready for traffic to St- I onis nntil 186 c. The Northern Indiana l!at'ro. d, connecting the Lake Shore with Chicago, Was only oi ened In 1852. indiaua ha i in last more ihan 4,300 miles of railroad, and sine • that time her mileage has inireass'. The con equenc > has been the springing up c f ue w ow n t in ovary i or.ioa of the State, and, pi rh i)>s, more than any State in th' Union. Indiana ha* been created and peopled by 1 er railroa is. Indianapolis itself was only laid out in 1821, and the public ofllie* w renotes.ablished there until 1825, and iho Btate House, rep ntiv oestioyed, was not opened until 1834, when it co<t $60,000. Th") pre ent countv Com t Hot so of Indiana!olis cos; $1,500,000, rts,s iLh'y-tne feet irom the ground. Is three stories hah, and i 5275 feet long, and its tow>.ris 200 feet high. The great Union Depot in that city, which Is about to be built upon a scale corres) on dug to its continental usee, will be one of the chief human centers in the West. To comprehend the origin of Indiana one must go to the old city of Vincennes, which is said to havo been founded as early as 1710, on the Wabash River, some seventy-five miles from its mouth. Until 1813 this post, tort, and town was the capital of Indiana. There can still be seen the Executive mansion of the first Governor, William Henry Harrison. It Is narrated that in the yard of ' this house, whieh stands upon the sloping river bank, Tecumseb, the oolebrated Indian organizer, had resolved to kill Harrison by assassination, in the midst of a council which was held there. The city occupies a healthful plain, adapted to fruit, and many of the houses retain the old F rench appearance; many of the people not only look like Frenchmen of either pure or mixed blood, but they speak the F'rench language, and l*rench immigrants have settled at Vincennes within our own time. The old oathedral in the place, with its graveyard aud conventual surroundings, Is worth a visit. It is said that M. de Vincennes, who gave name to this place, was killed by the Chickasaw Indiana Ills wife could only make her mark, though she was a daughter of the wealthiest o.tlzen of Kaskaskla, which was the French emporium of the Upper Mississippi. Vincennes is older than Savannah, and of the age of Trenton, N. J„ and, if Its date be correctly stated, It Is eight years older than New Orleans. It had been in the English occupation about sixteen years when the Kentuckians occupied it, In 1779, under Gen. George Bogers Clark, whom many consider the true founder of Kentucky. Nearly five years afterward the Northwestern Territory was presented by Virginia to the United States, and Gen. Harmar and Gen. Bt. Clair both visited Vlnoennes, wh'oh was visited by distinguished foreigners. Volney, the traveler, wrote an account of it, and in Its vicinity was established a notable English settlement in Illinois by Bnrbeck and Flower, both authors and men of intrepid moral courage. Gen. Harrison, though historically assigned to the State oi Ohio, began his more public life in Indiana. In Ohio he had been the territorial subordinate of Gov. St. Clair. In Indiana he was himself the Governor at the early age of twenty-seven; the youngest son of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; he fought against the Indians in th» West under Schuyler and Wayne, and won a captaincy; and he commanded Cincinnati when It was a frontier fort. Identifying himself with the new West by marriage and property interests, he was sent to Congress as a delegate. His father-in-law, Mr. Symmes, of New Jersey, controlled a million acres of land at one time on the little Miami River, and finally had patented to him near 312,000 sores, npon which stands Cincinnati and the most populous portions of Ohio and Indiana. Harrison lived at Vincennes about twelve years, and when we became a second time engaged; in war with England, he was made a Brigadier General; and at the close of that war was returned to Congress from Ohio. The remainder of his life, about twenty-seven years, was Spent In Ohio, but very close to the Indiana line. Harrison was not only the first Governor of Indiana, but he was the chief warrior of the State, and the battle of Tippecanoe, which he fought at Tecuraaeh's own settlement, beoame a political battle cry, which carried him into the Presidency. Indiana cast her electoral vote twice for Harrison for President—in 1836 and in 1840. Of the Indiana electors in 1840 one. Caleb B. Smith, lived to be In the Cabinet of Abraham Lincoln, and another; Richard W. Thompson, waa In the Oabnet of President Hayes. State Items., —John J. Johnson, Deputy Recorder of Muncie, committed suicide with a revolver. —Frederick Groteguth, who killed his wife at Vincennes June 4, has confessed. He quarreled with his wife and cat her throat with a razor. —Professor Borden is arranging for the dedication of Borden Institute, at New Providence, on July 4. Hon. Will Camback will deliver the address.

William Doliver was declared not guilty by a jury at Winnamac. He was tried for the murder of Zack Letterman, committed at Medaryville, last February. —lt is said that $2,000 will place the Floyd County Jail in perfectly safe and first-class condition, and make separate apartments for male and female prisoners. —The directors of the Northern Indiana penitentiary have made a contract for a large stone workshop, in which 300 convicts will be worked by the Amazon Hosiery Company of Chicago. —Eloping couples from Kentucky are unusually numerous for the season, and justices of Jeffersonville and New Albany are kept busy marrying the fugitives, from whom they receive liberal fees. —A SIO,OOO suit at Muncie turns on the legality of a mortgage, it being alleged that the seal used by the notary who took the acknowledgment was not his own seal, but one borrowed from another notary. —The colored population of Plainfield expect a rare treat in a short time. Henry Dunbar, a colored man at that place, avers that on several occasions he has eaten four dozen hens’ eggs at a meal, and proposes to beat this record at a public exhibition to take place at Guilford Hall or the base-ball park. —Stucker Rogers and Edward Rogers, aged respectively twelve and thirteen years, are in jail at Bloomington, charged with placing obstructions on the track of the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway. It is alleged that the boys got some old ties and stones and placed them on the track at a curve between Gosport and Stinesville. A freight train, drawn by engine No. 23, collided with the obstruction* and the engine was thrown from the track and blow out a cylinder head. The boys are grandsons of the proprietor of the Rogers House at Gosport, and have been caught in many scrapes. Some time ago, it is charged, they set fire to two barns at Gosport.