Having passed over these pleasant and exciting histories of personal adventure, the reader now returns to the soberer chronicles of general history. In the spring of 1783 it became known in Kentucky that peace had been declared, and this joyous news could not have arrived at a more opportune time. The people had been harrassed by war until they were sick and disheartened, and although the news of peace did not drive off all fear of attack from the Indians, yet the consciousness that the posts formerly held by the British, which had been the chief depot of supplies for the Indians, would now fall into the possession of their countrymen, and consequently, that, although not yet arrived, the time would come when even the Indian hostility would cease; all this put a new life into the settlements of Kentucky.
Peace with Great Britain having been declared, the necessity for an army on the borders of Virginia no longer existed; and as that State was pressed for means, this army was disbanded, and the commission of Gen. Clark withdrawn, with many thanks to this gentleman “for his very great and singular services.” This was soon followed by a much more substantial testimony of the favor in which he was held by his native State, for during the same year he and his soldiers received a grant of one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land lyingnorth of the Ohio, to be located where they chose. They selected the region opposite to the falls, and thus was founded the town of Clarksville, which still remains in a state scarcely more improved than it then was.
Something like security and confidence was now established, and consequently the immigration here was constant and large. Factories for supplying the necessities of the household were established, schools were opened, the products of the soil were carefully attended to, and abundant crops were collected; several fields of wheat were gathered near Louisville, and the whole country changed its character from that of a series of military outposts to the more peaceful and more attractive one of a newly settled, but rich and fruitful territory, where industry met its reward, and where every one could live who was not too proud or too indolent to work. It was during this year that a new era was opened to the citizens of Louisville. A lot of merchandise, all the way from Philadelphia, arrived at the falls, and Daniel Brodhead opened there a retail store. The young ladies could now throw aside all the homely products of their own looms, take the wooden skewers from their ill-bound tresses, and, on festive occasions, shine in all the glories of flowered calico and real horn combs. It is not known whether it was this worthy Mr. Brodhead who was the first to introduce the luxury of glass window-lights, but it is certain that previous to this time such an extravagance was unknown; and there is an incident connected with the first window pane which deserves a place here, and which is recorded in the words of an author who is not more celebrated for his many publicvirtues, than for his unceasing and incurable exercise of the private vice of punning. After referring to the introduction of this innovation, this gentleman says: “A young urchin who had seen glass spectacles on the noses of his elders, saw this spectacle with astonishment, and running home to his mother exclaimed, ‘O, Ma! there’s a house down here with specs on!” “This,” he adds, “may be considered a very precocious manifestation of the power of generalization in the young Kentuckian.”
Another curious incident of the times will close the record of this year. The notorious Tom Paine had written a book ridiculing the right of Virginia to this State, and urging Congress to take possession of the whole territory. Among the disciples of this absurd production were two Pennsylvanians, named Galloway and Pomeroy. The latter of these came to the falls and produced considerable annoyance to some of the landholders there by the dissemination of his doctrines, which induced others to pay no respect to the titles of their neighbors. This was an exigency which the laws had never contemplated, and although it was everywhere admitted that the man deserved punishment, it was difficult to find a law bearing upon his case. Legal investigation, however, soon drew to light an old law of Virginia which enforced a penalty in tobacco upon “the propagation of false news, to the disturbance of the good people of the colony.” Under this law, in May of the next year, Pomeroy was tried and sentenced to pay 2,000 pounds of tobacco, and had also to give security for his good behavior in the sum of £3,000, pay costs, &c. Asimilar fate awaited Galloway, who had gone to Lexington and had there advocated these same doctrines. It was impossible for either of these men to procure the amount of tobacco required; and accordingly, when it was hinted to them that they would not be pursued if they left the country, they gladly embraced the offer and departed. And thus perished the effects of Mr. Paine’s wonderful book.
The next year, 1784, does not present in its annals anything of much importance in relation to Louisville. It was at this time that the first convention was held at Danville, where the subject of the separation of Kentucky and its erection into an independent State was first broached. It was not, however, thought advisable by this convention to make any serious movement in this matter until the following year, inasmuch as the people generally had not heard of the proposed separation, or had had no time to debate upon its feasibility. As yet no press had been established in the territory, and oral news was not readily or speedily disseminated through the State. On these accounts no action was had by the convention at this time, but a new convention was appointed for the following May, at which this subject was to be seriously considered.
We find by the report of a traveler in this year, that Louisville contained “63 houses finished, 37 partly finished, 22 raised but not covered, and more than 100 cabins.”
In the year 1785 the convention again met, first on the 23d of May, and afterwards on the 8th of August, to take action in relation to the formation of the new State. An address to Virginia and another toKentucky, together with resolutions in favor of the proposed separation, were unanimously passed in the earlier of these meetings. These addresses, however, were not deemed strong enough by the third or August convention, and that meeting accordingly changed them to a new and still stronger form of petition or remonstrance, and sent them forward for the action of the parent State. Accordingly in January of 1786, Virginia passed a law allowing independence to Kentucky, on this, among other conditions, that the separation should not take place until Congress should assent thereto, which assent of Congress was not gained until 1791.
In January of this year the county of Nelson was erected out of all that part of Jefferson county south of Salt river.
In the early part of 1785 Gen. Clark, together with Messrs. Lee and Butler, had held a treaty with the Western Indians at Fort McIntosh; but later in the year an Indian council of a hostile character had also been held on the Wabash, and the Indians had annoyed the settlers greatly during the latter part of the year. It was therefore thought advisable to enter into another treaty with the Indians on the Wabash, and accordingly Gen. Clark and Messrs. Butler and Parsons met those tribes at the mouth of the Great Miami in January of 1786. It was with great difficulty that the various tribes could be brought to treat at all, and, but for Gen. Clark’s knowledge of their character, and for the high estimation in which he was held by them, these commissioners would have been murdered outright. Judge Hall, of Cincinnati, has given a glowing and vivid descriptionof this meeting, which is here inserted. After noticing their abrupt and scornful manner of entering the council, he says: “The commissioners, without noticing the disorderly conduct of the other party, or appearing to have discovered their meditated treachery, opened the council in due form. They lighted the peace-pipe, and after drawing a few whiffs, passed it to the chiefs, who received it. Col. Clark then rose to explain the purpose for which the treaty was ordered. With an unembarrassed air, with the tone of one accustomed to command, and an easy assurance of perfect security and self-possession, he stated that the Commissioners had been sent to offer peace to the Shawnees; that the President had no wish to continue the war; he had no resentment to gratify; and, if the red men desired peace, they could have it on reasonable terms. ‘If such be the will of the Shawnees,’ he concluded, ‘let some of their wise men speak.’
“A chief arose, drew up his tall person to its full height, and assuming a haughty attitude, threw his eye contemptuously over the commissioners and their small retinue, as if to measure their insignificance in comparison with his own numerous train, and then stalking to the table, threw upon it two belts of wampum, of different colors—the war and the peace belt.
“‘We come here,’ he exclaimed, ‘to offer you two pieces of wampum; they are of different colors; you know what they mean; you can take which you like!’ and turning upon his heel, he resumed his seat.
“The chiefs drew themselves up, in consciousness of having hurled defiance in the teeth of the white men.They had offered an insult to the renowned leader of the Long Knives, to which they knew it would be hard for him to submit, while they did not suppose he dared resent it. The council-pipe was laid aside. Those fierce wild men gazed intently at Clark. The Americans saw that the crisis had arrived; they could no longer doubt that the Indians understood the advantage they possessed, and were disposed to use it; and a common sense of danger caused each eve to be turned on the leading commissioner. He sat undisturbed and apparently careless until the chief who had thrown the belts upon the table had taken his seat; then with a small cane which he held in his hand, he reached, as if playfully, toward the war belt, entangled the end of the stick in it, drew it towards him, and then with a switch of the cane threw the belt into the midst of the chiefs. The effect was electric. Every man in the council of each party sprang to his feet, the savage with a loud exclamation of astonishment, “Hugh!” the Americans in expectation of a hopeless conflict against overwhelming numbers. Every hand grasped a weapon.
“Clark alone was unawed. The expression of his countenance changed to a ferocious sternness and his eye flashed, but otherwise he was unmoved. A bitter smile was perceptible upon his compressed lips as he gazed upon that savage band, whose hundred eyes were bent fiercely and in horrid exultation upon him as they stood like a pack of wolves at bay thirsting for blood, and ready to rush upon him whenever one bolder than the rest should commence the attack. It was one of those moments of indecision when the slightest weight throwninto either scale will make it preponderate; a moment in which a bold man conversant with the secret springs of human action, may seize upon the minds of all around him and sway them at his will.
“Such a man was the intrepid Virginian. He spoke, and there was no man bold enough to gainsay him; none that could return the fierce glance of his eye. Raising his arm and waving his hand toward the door, he exclaimed, “Dogs, Begone!” The Indians hesitated for a moment, and then rushed tumultuously out of the council-room.” To this a writer of the Encyclopædia Americana adds that the Indians were heard all that night debating in the bushes near the fort; a part of them for war and a part of them for peace. The latter prevailed, and the next morning they came back and sued for peace. All this, however, did not remove the annoyances experienced from the attacks of the more distant Indians. These annoyances were of such a character as to induce the general government to send two companies of military to the Falls, to authorize the raising of militia in Kentucky and the invasion of the hostile territory. In pursuance of the spirit of this authority, if not in direct consonance with it, a body of a thousand men had rendezvous at Louisville, and marched thence in September toward Vincennes. At this point the little army waited, contrary to the advice of Gen. Clark, their commanding officer, for nine days, expecting provisions and ammunition. This delay was fatal. The soldiers became weary, and seeing the frequent inebriety of their general, lost their confidence in him, and refused their obedience. A body of aboutthree hundred, dissatisfied that their wishes in regard to their officers were not attended to, actually returned homeward, regardless of the earnest pleadings and almost the tears of their general; and the rest soon followed them. This expedition was a sad blow to Clark, for it put into the hands of his enemies a powerful weapon against him; and one which they remorselessly used. Had his advice been heeded before the delay was determined upon, he would never have become inebriated or exposed himself in an undignified light to his soldiery, and the expedition might have been successful. Palliated as may be his fault, it cannot be denied that, in this sortie, he was not what he had been. The sun of his military glory had not sunk below the horizon, but it was obscured by clouds whose thick shadows promised long to hide its beams.
The troubles in relation to the navigation of the Mississippi river were now the topics of all absorbing interest in every part of the West. We have not before alluded to these troubles, preferring to connect them entirely with the period of which we are now writing. A brief retrospect of the question will enable the reader readily to understand the subject in dispute and its bearing on the residents on the western waters. In 1781, Spain, having previously declared herself mistress of the Great Mississippi, took possession of the North-West in the name of her king. Mr. Jay, then in Madrid, had received instructions not to insist upon the American claim to this river, if he could not effect a treaty without yielding it. The Spanish Government, during the whole of 1782, was laboring to induce theUnited States not only to yield the Mississippi, but also to give up a part of her actual possessions in the West; and her pretensions to these asserted rights were upheld by France. In this condition matters rested till 1785, when a representative of the Spanish Government appeared before Congress. Mr. Jay was at once authorized to negociate with him, and these negociations came again before Congress in May 1786; Mr. Jay having asked the guidance of that body in the matter. He showed them the importance of a treaty in commerce with a people so intimately connected with them as was Spain, and explained the difficulty in forming this treaty, owing to the unwillingness of Spain either to yield the river or to decrease her boundary claims. He could see no safer plan than, as a sort of compromise, to yield for a term of twenty-five or thirty years, the navigation of the river below the boundaries of the United States. This plan was vehemently opposed by Southern Congressmen and an attempt was made to take the negociations out of the hands of Mr. Jay altogether. In this attempt they were defeated, and Mr. Jay was not only retained in office, but was authorized to continue his negociations without being bound to insist on the immediate use of the river. The rumor of these movements at the capitol soon reached the West, but in the distorted form which rumor ever employs. Mr. Jay’s position was represented as positive and as having been assumed without reference to Congress. This news created great indignation in the West and led to the first dream of secession. The people felt that if the navigation of the Mississippi was denied them on the one hand, and incase of a quarrel with Spain, the protection of the General Government on the other, secession was inevitable. Either they must conquer Spain or unite with her. And as if to show that they were in earnest in the matter, “a board of field-officers at Vincennes determined to garrison that point, to raise supplies by impressment, and to enlist new troops. Under this determination Spanish property was seized, soldiers were enrolled, and steps were taken to hold a peace-council with the natives; all under the direction of Gen. Clark. Soon after this, Thomas Green wrote from Louisville to the Governor and Legislature of Georgia, which State was involved in the boundary quarrel with Spain, that Spanish property had been seized in the North-West as a hostile measure, and not merely to procure necessaries for the troops, which Clark afterward declared was the case, and added that the General was ready to go down the river with ‘troops sufficient’ to take possession of the lands in dispute, if Georgia would countenance him.” The following extract from another letter written from Louisville, professedly to some one in New England, and probably also written by Green, will serve as additional evidence to prove that the people were seriously deliberating upon their position. It reads thus:
“‘Our situation is as bad as it possibly can be, therefore every exertion to retrieve our circumstances must be manly, eligible and just.
“‘We can raise 20,000 troops this side of the Alleghany and Apalachian Mountains, and the annual increase of them by emigration from other parts is from two to four thousand.
“‘We have taken all the goods belonging to the Spanish merchants at post Vincennes and the Illinois; and are determined they shall not trade up the river, provided they will not let us trade down it. Preparations are now making here (if necessary) to drive the Spaniards from their settlements, at the mouth of the Mississippi. In case we are not countenanced or succored by the United States, (if we need it,) our allegiance will be thrown off and some other power applied to. Great Britain stands ready with open arms to receive and support us. They have already offered to open their resources for our supplies. When once re-united to them, ‘farewell, a long farewell to all your boasted greatness.’ The province of Canada and the inhabitants of these waters, of themselves, in time, will be able to conquer you. You are as ignorant of this country as Great Britain was of America. These are hints which if rightly improved may be of some service; if not, blame yourselves for the neglect.’
“This letter was shown by the bearer of it to several persons at Danville, who caused copies to be taken of it, and enclosed these to the Executive of Virginia. Early in 1787, the Council of this State had action on this subject, condemned Gen. Clark’s conduct, disavowed the powers assumed by him, ordered the prosecution of the persons concerned in the seizure of property, and laid the matter before Congress. It was presented in detail to that body upon the 13th of April, and upon the 24th of that month, it was resolved that the troops of the United States be employed to dispossess the unauthorized intruders who had taken possession of St. Vincents.”[7]
The full details of the Mississippi troubles belong rather to a history of the State or of the United States than to that of a single city. What has already been stated in regard to them has been written to show the feeling that existed on the subject among the earlier residents of the city and of the State, as well as to display the part which was had in these difficulties by the prominent men of Louisville years ago. It would be foreign to the purposes of the present volume to go further into all these details, wherein the celebrated names of Wilkinson, Sebastian, Brown, Innis and Burr, are so involved, wherein so many splendid intellects were led astray from the paths pointed out by honor and patriotism, and sacrificed at the sordid shrine, of love of self and love of gain. Not to leave the unhistorical reader without any knowledge as to the issue of these troubles, it will however be necessary to point out as briefly as may be, the ultimate results of all the scheming, plotting and unlawful machinations against established government which for so long disturbed and disgraced Kentucky.
Passing over, then, all the intermediate space, we come to the fact that in 1795, a treaty was concluded with Spain by which not only the right to navigate the Mississippi was conceded to the United States, but a right to deposit at New Orleans was also yielded them. This, in effect, was all that Kentucky needed. This grant of a right to deposit, however, was only guaranteed by the treaty for three years; but with the proviso that, should the grant be withdrawn at the end of the three years, some other place than New Orleans should be afforded for the same purpose, near the mouth of the river. In1802 this right was withdrawn by the Spanish Intendant and no other place of deposit allowed. Spain had evidently violated her treaty, and the whole West was again thrown into a state of fearful excitement and commotion. Nor was this at all lessened when it became known that Louisiana had been ceded to France, and that it was now in possession of the dreaded Napoleon. Mr. Monroe was immediately dispatched to France to have an interview with the First Consul on this subject. Napoleon, then upon the eve of a rupture with England, plainly foresaw that it would be impossible for him to retain possession of so distant and isolated a colony as Louisiana while Great Britain was mistress of the seas. His sagacity had therefore determined him to get rid of so unprofitable a place as this. And much to the surprise of Mr. Monroe, “when he expected simply to negotiate for a place of deposite at the mouth of the river, he was informed that for the trifling sum of fifteen millions, he could purchase a magnificent empire. No time was lost in closing this extraordinary sale, as Bonaparte evidently apprehended that Louisiana would be taken by the British fleet within six months after hostilities commenced. And thus the first great annexation of territory to the United States was accomplished.”[8]And thus ended a long series of difficulties which had, in their course, blotted the escutcheon of Kentucky and tempted so many of her noblest intellects to forget their greatness in vain attempts at personal aggrandizement.
The following extracts from the records of the courtduring this year will not give a very favorable idea of the high degree of enlightenment among our ancestors in 1786. On the 21st day of October in this year, it is recorded that “negro Tom, a slave, the property of Robert Daniel,” was condemned to death for stealing “two and three-fourth yards of cambric, and some ribbon and thread, the property of Jas. Patten.” This theft, small as it now appears, if estimated in the currency of the times would produce an astonishing sum, as will appear by the following inventory rendered to the court of the property of a deceased person:
These were the times when the price of whisky was fixed by law at $30 the pint, and hotel-keepers were allowed and expected to charge $12 for a breakfast and $6 for a bed. Payment however was always expected in the depreciated continental money, then almost the only currency.
In the latter part of this year, the legislature of Virginia again passed an act giving three years more time to the purchasers of lots in Louisville to complete their titles by building houses in consonance with the terms of the original purchase. The act offers as a reason for this extension, “the frequent incursions of the Indians and the difficulty of procuring materials for building.”
In the next year—1787—a new feature was exhibited to the people of Kentucky. Mr. John Bradford established at Lexington a weekly newspaper, printed at firston a demy sheet and called the Kentucky Gazette. The politicians of the State had now an opportunity to address themselves to the people in a new and easy way, and they fully availed themselves of it. But the establishment of a newspaper was not the only proof of advancement among the Kentuckians, though it seemed the herald of progress; for, in one year after the first issue of the Gazette, a grammar school was opened, an almanac published, and a dancing school established, all in Lexington; while still a year later (1789) the first brick house was built in Louisville. This structure was erected by Mr. Kaye, an ancestor of our well known citizen and former Mayor, on Market street, between Fifth and Sixth streets; the second brick building in Louisville was erected by Mr. Eastin, on the North side of Main, below the corner of Fifth street; and the third by Mr. Reed at the North Western corner of Main and Sixth streets. It was about this time that the present city of Cincinnati was laid out. It was first called Losantiville, a name which is thus fancifully derived.Ville—the town—anti—opposite—os—the mouth—L—of Licking. This name was invented by a Mr. Filson, whose philological acuteness deserves immortality.
The three years given to the owners of lots in Louisville by the Act of ’86, being now expired, the legislature again passed an act granting yet other three years for the same purpose; and at the same time appointed eleven new trustees for the town. The number of trustees was now so large that it was neither agreeable to the citizens, nor did it facilitate the business of the town. Accordingly the very next meeting of the Assembly (in1790) passed a new act with the following preamble:—“Whereas, It is represented to this present General Assembly that inconveniences have arisen on account of the powers given to the Trustees and Commissioners of the Town of Louisville, in the County of Jefferson, not being sufficiently defined, for remedy whereof, &c.”—This Act deposed from office all the former Trustees of the town, and in lieu of them, appointed the following persons: “J. F. Moore, Abraham Hite, Abner M. Donne, Basil Prather and David Standiford, gentlemen;” as sole Trustees, with power to sell and convey lots, levy taxes, improve the town by means of taxes so levied, and fill vacancies in their own body by election. Under their regime the records of the council show quite an improvement in the prosperity of the embryo city.
Early in April of the year now spoken of, Louisville received an accession to the number of her citizens in the person of the renowned Major Quirey. This man’s immense muscular power; his daring and activity have made him a scarcely less remarkable personage than was the celebrated Peter Francisco, of Virginia. Arriving here at a period when physical power was far more appreciated, and held in far higher reverence than mental capacity, Quirey soon gained a strong hold on the affections of the people around him. He was a native of Pennsylvania, but married at nineteen years of age, and soon thereafter removed to Kentucky. He was six feet and two inches in height, and weighed 250 pounds; he had no inclination to embonpoint but was muscular and robust. The palm of his enormous hand would easily have served a modern fine lady for awriting-desk.—Physiologists may feel inclined to doubt the truth of the assertion, but it is nevertheless confidently believed that his breast was a solid plate of bone, no appearance of the usual separation of the ribs being discernable, even after his death. Like all the men of his day, Quirey was a good hater alike of Indians and of cowards. A proof of this latter aversion occurred as he was descending the Ohio to Louisville. The Indians had recently been very successful in their battles with the emigrant boats, and were emboldened to attack all within their reach. Accordingly, Quirey’s boat, containing beside himself and his family, only a single individual, whose name is not remembered, came in for its share of the hostility. A large party of Indians made an attack upon them somewhere above the present site of Maysville. Quirey fought bravely, but the other man became dreadfully alarmed, and running into the boat, concealed himself among the cargo. Quirey, still standing upon his boat, received the guns as they were loaded by his wife, and handed to him, and fired on either not missing his comrade or supposing him dead. After the engagement, in which, despite the fearful odds, Quirey was victorious, they found their trembling and cowardly companion who was slowly sneaking from his place of concealment. With an impulse quick as thought, Quirey seized him with one hand around the waist, and bearing him above his head, would in another moment have dashed him into the waves, but the tears and entreaties of Mrs. Quirey saved him for the time. With so cowardly a disposition, however, it might have spared the poor wretch much agony had he perished then; for Quirey set himashore in the forest near Limestone, pointing him the way to the fort and there left him, surrounded on every side by objects to him of terror, there to “do or die.” History is silent as to his fate.
After reaching Louisville, Quirey soon established his reputation for strength in a way that none dared gainsay it. One Peter Smith, who had long held undisputed sway as the most expert fighter and the strongest man in Louisville, and who was withal what is more pertinently than politely called abully, the terror of his whole neighborhood, having heard that a very large and strong man had arrived from Pennsylvania, determined, as he said, “either to whip Quirey, or if Quirey proved too much for him to leave the country.” He accordingly found his man, and proposed a trial at a fisty-cuff. This Quirey declined, urging that it would be better for them to turn their strength against the common enemy, and professing that he was willing to admit Smith to be his superior. Finding that this only made his antagonist the more determined, Quirey proposed a trial of skill in lifting or in some athletic game. Smith, however, was not to be thus appeased, but stripping the upper part of his body to the skin and tightening his belt, he advanced urging Quirey to get ready for the fight. Quirey replied that if he would have a fight, he was already prepared for it—and as Smith continued to advance upon him, Quirey, without moving from his steps, dealt him a single blow with open hand upon the ear. Smith fell several paces off with the blood gushing from eyes, nose and ears. But the trial did not end here, for on Smith’s recovering from the blow, he protested that it was anunlucky and accidental hit, and demanded a new trial. Quirey again tried to avoid the quarrel, but seeing that a fight was inevitable, he told Smith that if he made a new attack upon him, he would be severely punished. Smith continued to advance toward him, and as he came within reach Quirey dealt him at the same instant two terrible blows, one with the hand and the other with the foot. Smith fell as if dead, was taken up and carried to Patton’s Tavern where he lay six weeks. At the end of that time, being sufficiently recovered, he kept his promise, leaving the State never to return.
Major Quirey was a valuable officer and a prompt and efficient soldier. During the war, he enlisted about 6000 men. Soon after his appointment as Captain in the 17th Regiment, U. S. A., an incident occurred which came near consigning him to an inglorious death. He had as pets a pair of large bears, and having occasion one day to pass near them he was suddenly seized from behind by the male bear and drawn under him, the animal sinking his nails into the cavity of the body. In the scuffle, however, he managed to get hold of the tongue of the bear, and drawing it across its teeth, forced the animal to bite off its own tongue. This feat he performed with one hand, while with the other he relieved the bear of one of his eyes. The pain he thus occasioned enabled him to extricate himself from his formidable foe, not, however, without detriment to himself. The Surgeon who dressed his wounds estimated his loss of flesh from off the left hip atnearly 12 pounds![9]On recovering from his wounds, Quirey returned to serviceand continued in office till the disbanding of his Regiment in 1815. In two years afterward he died. His widow whose life is full of romantic incident, survived him many years, having died only two or three years ago. She is still remembered with regret by many who have so lately listened to her well-told recollections of early days in Louisville.
In July of this year, still 1790, the ninth and last Kentucky Convention met. It will be recollected that the first Convention had been held in 1784, and since that time, each returning year had seemed only to add to the difficulties experienced by Kentucky in attaining an honorable and independent position in the confederacy. This last Convention, however, saw an end to all the troubles experienced by its predecessors. The terms offered by Virginia were agreed to, and the 1st June 1792, was determined as the date of Independence. During the month of December succeeding the action of this Convention, Gen. Washington brought before Congress the subject of the admission of Kentucky as a State, and on the 14th of February in the next year, 1791, the long sought and anxiously hoped-for boon was granted. The ensuing December was chosen as the date of election for the framers of a Constitution for the New State, and in April 1792, that instrument was prepared, and Kentucky took her position among her sister States. Nor was this the only good which time had wrought for the new State. For the next year, 1793, brought with it the last incursions of the Indians into their once loved hunting-ground. Their twenty years’ struggle was over. Their best and bravest blood had been poured in vain;the force of an irresistible destiny was against them; stern experience had taught them that right was not might, and, the contest ended, they quietly yielded to the all-conquering hand of the white man the soil that his axe, his plow, and his gun had redeemed from them forever.
The succeeding years, till 1800, however rich they may be in material for the historian of Kentucky, afford little that bears directly upon the subject before us. The Indians having ceased to be an aggressive foe, it was thought necessary that the Whites should, in their turn, provoke hostility, and accordingly, several expeditions were made against them. The Indian fights of Scott, St. Clair, Wayne, and others, belong to this period.
In 1796 the first paper-mill was built in Kentucky. It was situated near Georgetown, and is said to have been a very productive investment. It is here alluded to as a promising mark of social progress.
With the next year, 1797, we get the first clearly established estimate of the town of Louisville. In the records of the Trustees, the first list of taxes occurs. These were assessed on the 3d day of July, “on all who reside within the limits of the half-acre lots,” and one Dr. Hall, was appointed to fill the double office of assessor and collector. The following is his list of assessments:
And even this sum Hall found it very difficult to collect, for, nearly two years afterward he reports a list of delinquents amounting to £12. That the progress of the town was rapid and healthy from the first year of Kentucky Independence, is everywhere demonstrated. And no greater proof of this is needed than the fact that while the assessment of 1797 amounted to scarcely more than $150, that of 1809, 12 years later, reached the sum of $991. The town was now clearly and firmly established, it had within itself the elements of prosperity and it was seen that it must one day become great. Its history is less identified with that of the State, and it comes now to claim consideration on its own merit.
It was during this year that the office of Falls Pilot was created by law, in consonance with the following preamble to the act: “Whereas great inconveniences have been experienced and many boats lost in attempting to pass the rapids of the Ohio for want of a Pilot, and from persons offering their services to strangers to act as Pilots, by no means qualified for this business,” &c. The office was appointed by the Jefferson County Court, and the rate of pilotage fixed by the act was two dollars for each boat, while all other persons were forbidden to attempt to perform this service under a penalty of ten dollars.
During the next year—1798—the Assembly passed an act allowing the formation of fire companies by any number of persons exceeding forty, who should record their names and subscriptions in the County Court. These companies were allowed to form their own regulations, impose fines to the amount of £5, and collectthe same by suit before a single magistrate, which fines were to be applied to the purposes of their institution.
Previous to this time there had existed no impediment to the clandestine importation of goods by the way of Louisville; New Orleans being in possession of a foreign nation. In 1799, therefore, Congress passed an act by which Louisville was declared to be a port of entry, and a collector was established at this point.
The history of Louisville has thus been brought up to a period when it occupied a deservedly prominent position among western towns. Nature had fitted it to take the first rank, and its rapid improvement demonstrated its power and capacity to assume that position. Thirty years before the time of which we are now writing, the compass of the white man for the first time broke the soil of Kentucky; the spot whereon this great city now rests was a trackless wilderness. The smooth waters of the broad Ohio mirrored in their bosom only the dark branches of the waving forest. The axe of the woodman had not yet awakened the echoes of the grove. The deer, the bear and the buffalo by day, and the wolf and the panther by night were the only inhabitants of the spot. Less than thirty years elapsed and the wand of the magician had changed the scene. The forest had been felled, the trowel of the builder had been wielded, the streets and alleys of a civilized town occupied the spot where the deer had sported in frolic play, and hundreds of merry voices shouted where only the howl of the wolf had been heard. That a civilized town with a population of eight hundred souls, governed by wise laws, possessing the usages of society, enjoyingthe luxuries of life and moving onward in its daily walk with the calm stability of its fellows, the growth of a century; that such a town should exist where less than thirty years before the beast and the savage had held undisputed sway, is surely an evidence of progress to which no other country in the world can find a parallel. It is a fact before which the wild romance of the Slave of Lamp almost ceases to be fiction.
Louisville having now arrived at an importance of its own, separate and apart from the State, the remainder of this history will be more strictly confined to matters of a purely local character. And beginning a new chapter with a new century, the rest of these annals will be as rapidly and strictly detailed as justice to the claims of each event will allow.
The opening of a new century found Louisville with a population of 800 souls, with power to elect her own Trustees, with a revenue arising from her own taxes, and in the enjoyment of all the social and political privileges which were possessed by any of the towns within the Western country. Early in the next year the Legislature of the State, after granting power to the Trustees of Louisville to make deeds and conveyances of the town lots and providing abundantly for the levying and collecting of taxes, proceeded to exempt the citizens from working on roads out of the town, except the road leading from Louisville to the lower landing, and ordered the appointment of a street Surveyor whose duty it should be from time to time to call upon the inhabitants of the town “to meet together on a certain day at a certain place for the purpose of working upon the streets.” And every person failing to obey such call was liable to a fine of six shillings for every such failure. The same Act also set aside the sum of twenty-five pounds (being part of the annual tax) to be appropriated toward the building of a market house on the public ground in said town, under the superintendence of the board of Trustees; and as if still further to show its confidence in the capacity of the town to manage its own growing interests, it also placed the harbor at the mouth of Beargrass entirely under the direction of the Trustees.
Reference to the old books of the town show the prices of half acre lots on the principal streets at this time to have ranged from seven to fourteen hundred dollars.
The original plan and survey of the town having been lost or destroyed, and property being rapidly increasing in value, the Legislature found it necessary during the second year of the new century to order a new survey and plat to be made out. It also changed the term of office of the Trustees from one to two years, and gave them the power to fill vacancies in their body by an election among themselves. It also repealed an act which, although it had been the subject of repeated legislation, had proved a dead letter. This was the act in reference to the forfeiture of lots for want of improvements, which has been before quoted. The Legislature of this year, seeing the futility of further action in regard to this matter very properly ordered the act to be altogether repealed in all the towns under their jurisdiction, and ordered the Trustees of the several towns to make deeds to all purchasers of lots who could produce them receipts for the purchase money of their several properties.
The next year brought with it a new act of assembly ordering a repeal of the act of 1800 in relation to the building of a Market house on the public grounds in Louisville. The reason of this repeal consisted in the fact that public grounds were nowhere to be found, these valuable adjuncts to the town having been already disposed of by the sagacious governors of the place. Their unwise and illegal action in this matter has heretofore occupied the attention of the reader. Their “worshipful wisdoms” thinking only of to-day and careless of afuture, were guilty of frequent excessions of their duty, which are still felt and still regretted. A striking instance of this is exemplified in the single fact that a half acre lot on Main street, near Fourth, was disposed of by their order at public auction for a horse valued at twenty dollars. This, however, may cease to be thought so flagrant a breach of trust when it is compared with another sale which occurred at or about the same time, whereto neither of the parties occupied an official capacity and wherein the article sold, though not generally classed as real estate, is supposed to possess great value to the owner. A worthy citizen of Louisville about this period was in the habit of entertaining a great deal of company; and among others there came to his hospitable roof one who professed to be a Methodist preacher, but who proved to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing; for, after enjoying all the comforts his host’s kindness could afford him for several weeks, he started off one fine summer’s morning, taking with him, probably through mistake or inadvertence, hisfriend’s wife! The host missing this article of domestic furniture upon his return home, and suspecting whither it might have gone, put boot in stirrup and dashed off in pursuit. He soon overtook the soi-disant Reverend Gentleman and demanded his property. His right to take his own was not denied, but his Reverend friend proposed that as he fancied the subject matter of dispute, if his worthy host would withdraw his claim and leave him in peaceable possession, he would give him right, title and interest to and in the mare on which he rode. To this, after some slight hesitation, the husband consented, on condition that the bridle and saddleof the mare were added to his friend’s offer. This trifling difference was readily yielded by the opposite party, and for many years after this good old man was seen pacing through the streets, mounted upon his mare, the two ambling along far more quietly than he and his former partner had ever done.
Returning, however to the requisitions of the act, we find that, repealing so much of the ordinance as related to the location of the market house, it enjoins upon the Trustees “to fix upon some proper place, such as shall seem most convenient to the inhabitants of the town, and there to erect a suitable market house.”
It was also during this year that the first of a series of smaller towns, attracted by the growing position of Louisville and hoping soon to rival it, began to spring up. Jeffersonville, situated nearly opposite Louisville, on a high bank of the Ohio, and in the State of Indiana, was laid out in November of this year. Its progress until recently has not been rapid, but it has gradually gained ground until within the last seven or eight years, during which it has come to be a very useful and valuable suburb to the city. More will be said of its history in a proper place.
Within the next year we come to the earliest organization of the town of Shippingport. This place, now so utterly decayed, once promised not only to rival but to surpass Louisville. The site occupied by it belonged to Campbell’s division of the two thousand acres mentioned in the earlier pages of this history, and was by him sold during this year to a Mr. Berthoud. Upon coming into the possession of this latter gentleman itwas surveyed, a plan of the town drawn and the lots advertised for sale. Its progress however was not rapid until 1806, when the Messrs. Terascons purchased the greater part of the lots embraced in the survey, and to their enterprizing endeavors did the town owe its rise. Its present importance is so trifling compared with its past greatness, and the probabilities of its future eminence among towns are so small that we shall probably not have occasion again to refer to it; and as its brief history belongs rather to this than to a later era it will be as well to close this account of it in the words of one who wrote when it was at the apex of its fame.
“Thisimportantplace,” says Dr. McMurtrie in his sketches of Louisville published in 1819; “is situated two miles below Louisville, immediately at the foot of the rapids, and is built upon the beautiful plain or bottom which commences at the mouth of Beargrass creek, through which, under the brow of the second bank, the contemplated canal will in all probability be cut.”[10]The town originally consisted of forty-five acres, but it has since received considerable additions. The lots are 75 by 144 feet, the average price of which at present (1819) is from forty to fifty dollars per foot, according to the advantages of its situation. The streets are all laid out at right angles, those that run parallel to the river, or nearly so, are eight in number and vary from 30 to 90 feet in width. These are all intersected by twelve feet allies, running parallel to them, and by fifteen cross streets at right angles, each sixty feet wide.
The population of Shippingport may be estimated at600 souls, including strangers. Some taste is already perceptible in the construction of their houses, many of which are neatly built and ornamented with galleries, in which, of a Sunday, are displayed all the beauty of the place. It is, in fact, theBois de Boulogneof Louisville, it being the resort of all classes on high days and holydays.
“At these times, it exhibits a spectacle at once novel and interesting. The number of steamboats in the port, each bearing one or two flags, the throng of horses, carriages, and gigs, and the contented appearance of a crowd of pedestrians, all arrayed in their “Sunday’s best” produce an effect it would be impossible to describe.”
The reason of the sudden decay of this once flourishing place is found in the fact that its utility as a point of embarkation and debarkation for goods, ceased with the building of the Canal. Previous to this time it had been, during three parts of the year, the head of the navigation of the lower Ohio. Even as early as this, however, the necessity for overcoming the impediment to navigation occasioned by the falls was recognized and acted upon; and in the year 1804, a Canal Company was chartered; but nothing was done beyond surveys until long after this time. The subject of the Canal, however, was one of absorbing interest with the citizens of Louisville from this time forward, and various plans were proposed, adopted, rejected and discussed, until the incorporation of the present Canal Company in 1825. The movement toward removing the obstruction in the river in any form had its opponents, who urged that the sole commercial advantage to be possessed by the city consisted in thenecessity for numerous commission and forwarding houses to receive and reship the vast quantities of merchandise which were to pass up and down this great artery. Among the many plans suggested for overcoming the break in the navigation of the river, one of the earliest and most strongly urged was one which has yet its warm and earnest adherents,—this is the construction of a Canal on the Indiana shore,—a plan which the citizens of Louisville have long since ceased to look upon except with aversion, but which the residents in a sister city are still urging with a violence which proves, contemptuously as they may speak of Louisville, that their fears of her as a rival city are strong enough to induce them to wish to cripple, if not to destroy her. Former surveys have all long since proved the Kentucky shore to be best suited to the purposes of a Canal, and the inadequacy of the present construction to the growing trade of the river does not seem to demonstrate the necessity for still further obstructing its course, even during high water, by an additional ditch on the other bank.
Another of the plans suggested at this time, proposed the blasting of a channel which would unite all the water into one stream at low stages. The bed of the river was also surveyed to ascertain the expediency of making a slack water navigation by means of one or more dams or locks. All of these and various others were however merged in the construction of the present Canal, which will be noticed at the appropriate period of this history.
With the next year comes another enactment of Assembly with the following amusing preamble:—“Whereasit is represented to the present General Assembly that a number of persons residing in the town of Louisville, are in the habit of raising, and are now possessed of largenumbers of Swine, to the great injury of the citizens generally; and that there are a number of ponds of water in said town, which are nuisances, and injurious to the health of the city and the prosperity of the town: Be it therefore enacted—That the present Trustees of the said town, and their successors, or a majority of them, shall have full power and authority to remove the same &c.” The latter of these nuisances has disappeared under the efforts of the “said successors,” but even the distinguished Mr. Dickens will bear us witness that the law against the former remains to this day a dead letter.
Another of the provisions of this same act invests the Trustees with power to levy a sum not exceeding eight hundred dollars for the purpose of repairing the streets, and in consideration thereof exempts those citizens from working on the streets, who shall pay an equivalent of 75 cents in money. It also gives the Trustees power to make regulations and by-laws for the proper preservation of order, to appoint a tax collector &c., and extends the privilege of voting for Trustees to the residents of the ten and twenty acre lots, thereby increasing the purlieus of the town to the present site of Chestnut street.
In speaking of the navigation and commerce of this period, Dr. McMurtrie tells us that in 1806 “six keel boats and two barges; the one of thirty tons, belonging to Reed, of Cincinnati; the other of forty, owned by Instone, of Frankfort; sufficed for the carrying trade ofLouisville and Shippingport.” The rapid and almost magical increase of trade in less than fifty years after this will at once suggest itself to every reader.
Mr. T. Cumming, the first European traveler who passed through Louisville, of whose record we have any knowledge, thus states his impressions of the town during this year. He says:—“I had thought Cincinnati one of the most beautiful towns I had seen in America, but Louisville, which is almost as large, equals it in beauty, and in the opinion of many exceeds it. It was considered as unhealthy, which impeded its progress until three or four years ago, when, probably in consequence of the country being more opened, bilious complaints ceased to be so frequent, and it is now considered by the inhabitants as healthy as any town on the river. There is a Market House, where is a good market every Wednesday and Saturday. Great retail business is done here, and much produce shipped to New Orleans.”
In the year 1807, we get the first mention of a newspaper published in Louisville. We are not able however to give any account of its origin, ownership or history. It is known only from an enactment of Assembly requiring certain laws to be published in its columns. It was called the “Farmer’s Library.” Similar mention is also made during the next year of a paper called “The Louisville Gazette.” Whether it succeeded the “Farmer’s Library,” as the acts of Assembly would seem to show, or was cotemporary with it is not known; a bare mention of its name is all that is left to posterity. In America, the presence of the newspaper is ever themark of peace, and quiet, and comfort. What to those of other nations is the luxury of affluent ease is to the American the earliest of necessities. The moment the rifle is laid aside, the newspaper is taken up. It is incident upon his every conquest, whether of man or of nature. The click of his rifle is succeeded by that of his types, and the roar of his cannon has hardly ceased till we hear the roll of his press.
Ten years having now elapsed since a statistical table of the town has been examined it may not be uninteresting to furnish another list of the taxable property within its limits. It will be recollected that the entire list of 1797 amounted to £31 15s 6d. Let us now turn to the list for the present year as shown by the assessor’s books, and mark the rapid increase of these ten years.
Without pausing to remark further on this comparative statement, we pass on to the next event worthy of a place in this brief chronicle. This was the erection of a Theater in Louisville, which occurred early in 1808. We have no means of ascertaining who were the original projectors of this enterprise, but we have the authority of Dr. McMurtrie for stating that until 1818, it was“but little better than a barn.” At that time, however, it fell into the hands of the celebrated Mr. Drake, under whose auspices was established the golden era of the Drama in the West. Not only did this gentleman please the taste and gratify the judgment of his audience, but he absolutely created a high standard of taste and judgment among them, the effects of which are still perceptible here. It is chiefly to the education received under his management that the critical talent of our Theatrical audiences of to-day, so well known and so generally acknowledged by the profession, is owing. Many whose names are now prominent in histrionic art took the initiatory steps in their career under Mr. Drake’s regime here. This Theater stood upon the North side of Jefferson street, between Third and Fourth, and was destroyed by fire in 1843. For a long time previous to its destruction, however, it had ceased to be the resort of any but the most profligate members of society. Even before the destruction of the City Theater, Mr. Coleman undertook the erection of a new dramatic temple at the South-east corner of Green and Fourth streets, but from some cause did not proceed further than the erection of the outer walls. This unfinished building was afterwards purchased by Mr. Bates of Cincinnati, and was by him opened for the first time early in the year 1846, since when it has been regularly opened during a part of every year, and performances creditable alike to the judgement of its manager, and the taste of its audiences have been regularly given.
The series of details, mostly of an uninteresting and dry nature, which were so hastily passed over in the last chapter seem to have been but the precursors to events of a character far more important to the interests of the city and far more agreeable to the reader. Before we approach, however, the one great event which opened a new theater of action to the city, and developed resources before undreamed of—the steam navigation of the Ohio. It will be necessary, to preserve the order in which this history has been written, to stop to notice two or three lesser matters.
Louisville, having become, from her peculiar position as a half-way house between the North and the South, the resort of numbers of strangers, it became necessary establish a police for the security of persons and property. This was done in 1810 by the appointment of two Watchmen, John Ferguson and Edward Dowler, at a salary of $250 per annum; and the records of the time do not show that these persons held their office as a sinecure.
The rogues having been thus placed under supervision, it became necessary to have a proper place for the administration of justice to them. In pursuance of this idea a Court House was erected in the centre of a large square now bounded by Fifth, Seventh, Market and Jefferson Streets. This building was made of brickafter a plan drawn by John Gwathmey and was finished in 1811. The precise site of the house is now occupied by a part of the present Jail. It fronted on Sixth Street, and consisted of a main building with two wings attached. In front of the main building was a lofty Ionic portico, supported by four columns. Long before this building was removed, these columns, which were built of wood, gave convincing and thoroughly American proof that they had been consigned to other uses than those intended by their projectors. Notwithstanding their great size, the attacks made upon them by thepen-knivesof the attacheés of the court had actually severed one of them, and the wood within convenient reach of a man’s hand which remained in the other three, would hardly have served for one day’s goodwhittling. This edifice was, in its earlier days, the handsomest of its kind in the western country. It was pulled down in 1836, in order to make room for the new structure undertaken, but never completed, in 1837.
This sublime monument of the city’s folly, was begun on a scale of unexampled magnificence, and had it been possible to complete it, would have been one of the most beautiful buildings in the West. It still stands an almost mouldering ruin, its half-finished grandeur constantly recalling the parable of the foolish man who “began to build and was not able to finish.”
We come now to notice an event of vital importance, not only to Louisville, but to the whole West. This was the commencement of Steam Navigation on the western rivers. In October of 1811, Fulton’s steamboat called the “New Orleans,” intended to run from theport of that name to Natchez, left Pittsburg for its point of destination. At this time there were but two steamboats on this continent; these were the North River and The Clermont, and they were occupied on the Hudson River. The New Orleans on her first trip took neither freight nor passengers. Her inmates “were Mr. Roosevelt, an associate of Fulton, with his wife and family, Mr. Baker, the engineer, Andrew Jack, the pilot, and six hands with a few domestics.” Her landing at Louisville is thus described in Latrobe’s Rambler in America.
“Late at night on the fourth day after quitting Pittsburg, they arrived in safety at Louisville, having been but seventy hours descending upwards of seven hundred miles. The novel appearance of the vessel, and the fearful rapidity with which it made its passage over the broad reaches of the river, excited a mixture of terror and surprise among many of the settlers on the banks, whom the rumor of such an invention had never reached; and it is related that on the unexpected arrival of the boat before Louisville, in the course of a fine still moonlight night, the extraordinary sound which filled the air as the pent-up steam was suffered to escape from the valves on rounding to, produced a general alarm, and multitudes in the town rose from their beds to ascertain the cause. I have heard that the general impression among the Kentuckians was, that the comet had fallen into the Ohio; but this does not rest upon the same foundation as the other facts which I lay before you, and which, I may at once say, I had directly from the lips of the parties themselves.”
The water on the falls did not allow the Orleans to pass on to Natchez and she consequently made use of her time of detention by making several trips to and from Cincinnati. Toward the last of November she was enabled to pass the rapids, and after having weathered out the earthquakes, reached Natchez about the 1st of January, 1812. This boat was finally wrecked near Baton Rouge, where she struck on her upward passage from New Orleans.
From this event we may date the prosperity of Louisville as a fixed fact. At the head of ascending and the foot of descending navigation, all the wealth of the western country must pass through her hands. Such advantages as were here presented could not go unheeded. It became only necessary for the people to be convinced of the efficacy of steamboat navigation, and the opportunities held out to the capitalist by Louisville must be seen and embraced.
But as if to counterbalance the dawning of this great good, there came with it a great evil; for it was in December of this year that the first of a series of terrible and violent earthquakes was felt at Louisville; these carried consternation to the hearts of all her citizens; and during the four months of their almost constant recurrance there was little either of leisure or inclination for political progress. The first of the shocks was felt on the 16th of December at 2 h. 15 m. in the morning. Mr. Jared Brookes says of it: “It seems as if the surface of the earth was afloat and set in motion by a slight application of immense power, but when this regularity is broken by a sudden cross shove, all order is destroyed,and a boiling action is produced, during the continuance of which the degree of violence is greatest, and the scene most dreadful; houses and other objects oscillate largely, irregularly and in different directions. A great noise is produced by the agitation of all the loose matter in town, but no other sound is heard; the general consternation is great, and the damage done considerable; gable ends, parapets, and chimneys of many houses are thrown down.” The whole duration of this shock from the earliest tremor to the last oscillation was about four minutes. This shock was succeeded during the same day by two others of almost equal power. It is related that when it was felt, several gentlemen were amusing themselves with cards when some one rushed in crying, “Gentlemen, how can you be engaged in this way when the world is so near its end?” The card-table was immediately deserted for the street, where from the vibratory motion the very stars seemed toppling to a fall. “What a pity,” philosophized one of the party, “that so beautiful a world should be thus destroyed!” “Almost every one of them,” says a historian of the incident, “believed that mother Earth, as she heaved and struggled, was in her last agony.”
During the prevalence of the earthquakes, it was customary to suspend some object so as to act as a pendulum in all the rooms and by the degree of its motion to determine the probable amount of danger. If the pendulum began to vibrate freely, the house was instantly deserted. Those who inhabited the loftier and statelier mansions were, at least for the time being, free from the envy of their humble neighbors, with whom they wouldthen have freely exchanged tenements. The possession of a princely edifice would then have been a source of regret rather than of pride or of congratulation. It is said, that unlike the great calamities of other times, this one had a good effect upon the public morals. The reason of this may probably be found in the fact that while this was a source of constant terror and alarm, it was yet not of a character to produce that despair which leads men to seek to drown all thoughts of a future in the reckless pursuit of pleasure or of forgetfulness.
Mr. Jared Brooks who preserved a faithful scientific account of these earthquakes refers to that of the 7th of February, 1812, as the most violent endured at any period during their continuance. It occurred at 3 h. 15 m. in the morning and, as this gentleman’s account says, “was preceded by frequent slight motions for several minutes; duration of great violence at least 4 minutes, then gradually moderated by exertions of lessening strength, but continued a constant motion more than two hours; then followed a succession of distinct tremors or jarrings at short intervals until 10 h. A. M., when, for a few seconds, a shock of some degree of severity, after which frequent jarrings and slight tremors during the day, once, at least in ten minutes. At 8 h. 10 m. P. M. a shock of second-rate violence, and during some minutes two others at equal periods, connected by continual tremor of considerable severity; the last shock was violent in the first degree, but of too short duration to do much injury. At 10 h. 10 m. P. M, after frequent considerable motions, the shock comes on violent in the second degree, strengthens to tremendous, holds at thatabout seven seconds, then trembles away, severe about five minutes; frequent tremors follow, and a shock of third-rate violence. The action then ceases for a time.” With one more extract from Mr. Brooks, we shall conclude this account of the celebrated earthquakes of 1811. This is a table showing the number and relative value of all the earthquakes experienced here. It is preceded by a lucid explanation of the degrees of violence referred to in the table, and shows at a glance the number and intensity of the shocks.
“First-Rate.—Most tremendous, so as to threaten the destruction of the town, and which would soon effect it, should the action continue with the same degree of violence; buildings oscillate largely and irregularly, and grind against each other; the walls split and begin to yield; chimneys, parapets and gable ends break in various directions and topple to the ground.
“Second-Rate.—Less violent, but very severe.
“Third-Rate.—Moderate, but alarming to people generally.
“Fourth-Rate.—Perceptible to the feeling of those who are still and not subject to other motion or sort of jarring, that may resemble this.