Interesting Suit

The Marietta Register, July 12, 1866:

Mong Chaw Loo, who lectured in Marietta on the evenings of July 1st and 2d, has brought suit against the Muskingum river packet J. H. Best, because he was refused a seat at the first table on that boat last week, on which he was a passenger having paid full fare - refused for being a "colored person." He lays his damages at $5,000 for "mental and bodily anguish suffered." Ewart, Shaw & Sibley for the plaintiff; Knowles & Loomis for the defendant.

Mong Chaw Loo is a native of Burmah in Asia. He is about 25 years of age, and has been in this country eight years, obtaining an education. He is a graduate of the Baptist Literary and Theological Institution at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He has been studying medicine at Cleveland and expects to attend medical lectures at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, during the coming year, preparatory to returning to his native Burmah as a Missionary.

"Shaw Loo" 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaw_Loo

According to Washington County, Ohio, Common Pleas Court Journal, Volume 17, page 364, the case of "Mong Shaw Loo" was continued until February 2, 1869, when it was "settled and costs paid."  

Mong Chaw Loo is identified as "Shaw Loo" in a Wikipedia entry. He was born in 1839 in Moulmein, Myanmar, Burma. In 1857, he traveled to the United States and enrolled at Lewisburg University (now Bucknell), the first Burmese student to study in the U.S. Following graduation, he enrolled in the Cleveland Medical College (now Case Western Reserve School of Medicine), receiving an M.D. in 1867. Upon returning to Burma, he entered a lifelong career as a physician and author in Moulmein. Shaw Loo is called the "father of modern medicine" in Myanmar. He died in 1929, aged 90. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaw_Loo

Conditions Misrepresented - Editorial

The Marietta Daily Times, December 23, 1930

Everyone realizes that general conditions in Marietta are below normal, with more than the usual number of people needing some help in securing ordinary comforts, although observers find the situation much better here than in most cities. But it is doing harm, rather than good, for some of us to be circulating wild stories of suffering and hardship for which there is no foundation. This city has always taken care of its own people and we are confident that it will continue to do so as long as there is actual need.

For instance, there is the story of one family in such dire need of food that to dodge starvation it cooked and ate a dog. No one should be so credulous as to believe that, much less repeat it as fact. Then there is the more serious one, although there is no more truth in it, that fuel gas has been turned off at hundreds of homes because bills were not paid.

During November, the last month for which figures are available, gas was turned off at only six residences for non-payment of bills. Four of these were chronic delinquents, who do not pay until threatened in this way. Another was a case in which a relative guaranteeing the bill asked that the gas be turned off in an effort to force the head of the family to make an effort to take care of its needs, and the sixth was a case in which the family left town. The Red Cross and the Salvation Army have guaranteed gas bills for a few families.

Every effort is being made to help every individual in the city who needs and deserves help. Persons who know of families who are suffering should report them to the Associated Charities or the Salvation Army. That will do much more good than repeating senseless stories that have no foundation in fact.

Belpre's Martha Washington Tea Party

The Marietta Times, May 5, 1881

The Martha Washington Tea Party given by the Ladies' Temperance Union in the basement of the congregational Church last Thursday evening netted a handsome sum. The attendance was much larger than the most enthusiastic workers anticipated. Early in the afternoon a rain storm set in which made things look unfavorable for success, but long before night people commenced gathering, and by 8 o'clock the house was densely packed.

Two large tables were spread, one representing an old-fashioned entertainment with olden time dishes (some of which were 100 years old) with pork, baked beans, doughnuts, corn bread, &c., and presided over by Mrs. A. W. Glazier as Martha Washington, dressed in olden time costume. In fact, we are told that some thought she was the veritable Martha Washington. The hostess was assisted by six young ladies with short dresses and low shoes. 

The other table was gotten up in a more modern and fashionable style, being loaded down with all the delicacies that could be procured with Mrs. James Mitchell as Lucy Hayes at the head of the table, assisted by six young ladies in fancy costume. 

Beside the large tables there were side tables with ice cream, cakes, candies and flowers, which were for sale at reasonable prices. Everything was sold and ate up except a very large fine cake donated to the Society by Mr. and Mrs. James Daniels of the steamer Hudson. The cake was offered for sale, but not bringing a satisfactory price, was presented by the ladies to Mrs. Lucy Hay(s) Mitchell. The proceeds will be devoted to the furtherance of the temperance cause in this community.

This is said to be the most social gathering ever had in Belpre. Old and young, rich and poor, high and low, were gathered seemingly not only to have good old-fashioned social time, but to make this a new starting point from which to push the temperance cause with renewed vigor in this community.

Woman Full Citizen Now, So of Course She'll Hunt With a Gun

 Marietta Daily Times, November 11, 1920

Women vote. Why shouldn't they hunt?

Feminine applicants for hunting licenses though are rare at the office of Clerk of Courts. And so when Mrs. Mary McNutt of near Westview appeared shortly before noon on Thursday, there was a mild sensation back of the counter.

"I didn't want to get it," Mrs. McNutt commented, after confessing to 43 years, 130 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes and a height of five feet, two inches.

"It was all his fault," referring doubtless to Mr. McNutt. "That's something I don't care anything about, but he argued all the time for me to go. And I didn't want to go without a license. They're so strict any more, anybody don't dare to even go along without a permit."

"Are you going to take a gun," Deputy Metcalf wanted to know.

"Well, I'll say I am," the huntress replied with spirit. "Think I'm going to run the rabbits down for him?"

"That's a dollar and a quarter thrown away," she declared after asking and being informed as to the fee. "But he's argued with me now for the last week."

"Over the Hill to the Poor House"

The Marietta Times, Thursday, January 20, 1881

A  Day Among the Inmates.

Dilapidated condition of the Buildings, &c.

"Rattle his bones, over the stones,

Only a pauper, whom nobody owns."

Last Thursday morning, on invitation of Director John Strecker, Jr., the writer, in company with J. W. Fitch, Esq., of the Register, passed the day among the paupers at our county Infirmary. The journey to and from the institution was made in Mr. Strecker's sleigh, to which was harnessed his fast nag, which skimmed over the crisp snow and landed us at the institution in short order. 

It would be difficult to describe one's feelings as he enters the wooden archway which spans the main entrance. Only those who have experienced that pleasant grave-yard feeling on entering institutions of this kind can appreciate it. We found everything pertaining to the management of the Infirmary in apple-pie order. Mr. and Mrs. Willis, the Superintendent and Matron, having had years of experience in conducting institutions like this, everything necessarily moved with clock-like precision.

After thawing out before the large fire in the sitting room, which was very comfortable after our ride, and would have been much more enjoyable had we known just when the loose plastering overhead was going to fall, we started on a tour of inspection headed by Mr. Strecker, with the following result.

The Main Building,

which is used as living rooms by the superintendent and employees, was built some fifty years ago. It is a frame structure two stories high and far advanced in rottenness and decay. The roof is leaky, while the ceilings in every room are literally falling to the floor, and a vault-like smell prevailed throughout that strongly reminded one of subterranean abodes. The floors are rotten and rickety and the greatest care was necessary as we picked our way through the rooms to avoid an accident. 

In the parlor, the fire-place had secured a divorce from the balance of the building and was slowly but surely leaving it; a fire in the grate we were told was impossible on account of the smoke which crawled through from the thousand and one cracks and crevices. How a family raised and nurtured in the midst of home comforts could stay for any length of time in this old death trap was a mystery which I could not understand.

A visit to the cellar disclosed the fact that the building was kept perpendicular by a series of props placed so close together as to render navigation extremely dangerous in the dark. Light shone through here and there from innumerable cracks and gaps made by the settling of the building. During the cold weather a few days back, everything in the cellar and house was frozen through, even a bucket of water before the fire in the Superintendent's sleeping room being frozen to the depth of several inches. 

The sash in the building are rendered useless by age, and even putty refuses to associate with the decayed old frame, hence the greatest of care must be exercised in placing the glass in position or left out altogether. How in the name of humanity the officers of the institution are expected to survive in this mildewed, rotten old hulk is more than our philosophy could explain. 

In a little 8x10 room adjoining the main building we found three old ladies whose combined ages reached 260 years, all helpless, huddled together in this illy-ventilated pen with scarcely room to move about. In the next room, without fire of any kind, was two beds, but only one was occupied by an old lady; still farther along in the same building we find a larger room occupied by five old men whose combined ages are 407 years, among them John Springer, who is now in his 111th year. These folks were comfortably fixed, having a stove in the room and plenty of space for exercise, but the lack of ventilation was evident and the same old peppery smell noticeable elsewhere was found here. Leaving the main building we enter a

Low, Squatty Brick Building,

which contains six little rooms or cells, all of which are heated by a stove in the hall. The inmates of this building are quite a study. An old negro, 82 years old, crazy as a loon, sits by a stove and preaches while another, a born idiot, with unmeaning eyes, stares at the floor.

Here in one room is an old Lutheran minister, scrupulously clean and neat, unable to speak a word of English - a pauper - we thought as we looked at the dejected and care-worn countenance of the old man that there must be a screw loose in the religious society that would allow a man to spend the best years of his life in their service and when old and helpless turn him over to the tender mercies of a county infirmary among idiots and half-wits. Another building adjoining this contained several old men and women, most of them in their dotage. Everything was clean and tidy, but all complained of the cold; their bed rooms were heated by a stove in the hall. 

From this building we follow a plank walk and come to what is called the new jail building which is two-story high, and the only decent building on the grounds. The lower story is occupied by idiots, one particular sad case being a little girl who is confined by a leather strap around her waist. Upstairs we found ten old men, most of them in bed; all of them complained of the cold. The same sickening smell was noticeable here as elsewhere. From this building we cross the yard, pass the kitchens, and reach the 

Old Jail Building,

a 2-1/2 story brick, which is fast crumbling away. The corners have dropped out, and the yawning gaps are filled with rags to keep out the biting cold. This building is the most wretched and squalid of any we have yet examined. The inmates pay no attention as we enter; they are mostly idiots, and long imprisonment in this loathsome place, crawling with vermin, has in a manner blunted what little sensibility they had left.

Of the 78 inmates now provided for, nearly two-thirds are too old and feeble to help themselves or leave their rooms.

We thought as we looked upon the misery huddled together in this putrid atmosphere, can it be possible that in a civilized community where plenty is found in almost every household, and want is comparatively unknown, that this is what we call charity? Can it be possible that you, the tax-payers of Washington County, that while you enjoy the peace and comfort of your cozy firesides, you are aware that out in the Infirmary are scores of helpless men, women, and children suffering and dying for want of proper accommodations, living in buildings in which no tender-hearted tax-payer would quarter his dumb animals? Shame on the economy that tramples the life out of our worthy poor. Shame on the economy that places human beings on a level with brutes.

Think of it my friend while you sit in ease and comfort in the midst of your family. The day may not be far distant when adversity and sickness may overtake you and yours, and as a last refuge you may have to enter the Washington County Poor House - poor in more than name. Think of these things and then enter your vigorous protest against such monstrous inhumanity now and forever more. Give the pauper at least a decent shelter in which to eke out the few remaining days of his life.

Pen fails to describe the utter helplessness of  these poor people. But for the vigilant care of Mr. and Mrs. Willis during the late cold snap, the news would have gone out to the world "that quite a number of paupers had perished from the cold in the Washington County Poor House" and yet at one time in their lives these people were just as much respected as any of today.

We learned that it required about 200 cords of wood and 3600 bushels of coal to keep the institution comfortable. The barns, pig-pens, cattle sheds and outhouses generally are in splendid condition, the dumb brutes receiving far better shelter than the poor humans. The buildings as they stand today are a disgrace to every tax-payer in the county, and efforts should be made at once to secure new ones.

The Directors and Officers

do all in their power to make the inmates comfortable, but comfort in such houses is nearly impossible. We watched the poor creatures eat their dinner, after which, sick at heart, and sorry that we had made the trip, we returned home, thankful that Providence had given us health and strength, and that we were not an inmate of the Washington County Poor House.

  

Murder of William A. Dutton

 The Marietta Register, June 17, 1864

On Friday, 10th inst., about noon, William A. Dutton, a little son of John B. Dutton, nine years old last February, was shot through the heart and instantly killed at the upper end of the "Capitolium" square on Fifth Street, above Washington.

It appears that an abandoned family named Steed, two or three weeks ago, moved from the top of the hill north of town, into a small barn in the locality of the murder. Rude boys often threw stones at the barn in which they were staying and probably used impudent language to the inmates. Mrs. Steed became enraged and, it is said, threatened to shoot the boys.

Just before the shooting, some boys stoned the barn; who they were, we are not advised. The little Dutton boy and two or three others of his age were playing upon the commons near the barn. Perhaps some of them had thrown stones, influenced by larger boys, and perhaps not. At any rate, a gun was fired from the barn, killing the little Dutton boy.

Mrs. Mary Steed, her son William J. Steed, some 15 years of age, and two daughters were arrested and had an examination before John Test, Esq. The daughters were discharged. Mrs. Steed and her son were committed to jail on the charge of murder. Four of Mrs. Steed's younger children, one about a year old, have been sent to the County Infirmary.

The Contest Off

The Marietta Times, February 14, 1894

The Colored Girl the Bone of Contention

The oratorical contest between the pupils of the Marietta and Parkersburg High Schools is off.

When it was announced last week that a colored girl had been selected as the essayist to represent Marietta there was a kick among the Parkersburg contestants. Feeling was so high that Prof. Ames wrote to Prof. Smith of Marietta, explained the situation and requested that either the colored girl's name be dropped from the program or else drop the essay altogether. We are informed that Mr. Smith has replied and refuses to drop either the colored girl or the essay.

That settles the contest as far as Parkersburg is concerned as the pupils absolutely refuse to take part on account of the colored girl being on the program. The most vigorous kick comes from some of the pupils who have Republican parents. - Parkersburg Sentinel.

The above tells the story. Parkersburg wanted a contest with Marietta. The arrangements were all made and the contestants all selected. But Parkersburg discovers "a fly in the ointment," and the contest all at once becomes offensive to those of our sister city.

And why their disquietude? Because, forsooth, a colored girl, one who through her life, and because of no fault of her own, must be marked with a dark skin, which is harder to be borne than would be the brand of Cain, has been announced as one of the Marietta selections.

Because this girl, by the use and improvement of the talent and advantages that God has given her, and in the exercise of the rights guaranteed to her by the fundamental law of the land, has, after competition with those who have fairer skins, been fairly awarded the place of honor, then does our sister city heap insult and indignity upon her by refusing to engage in the contest because she is to be in it.

We have heard of the chivalry of the South. We have read of it in prose and in rhyme. We have gloried in it, and if we could have successfully invoked the aid of the Muse, would before this have sung of it in words that would have been immortal; but those of whom we have heard and read and would have sung, would not decline a combat for the reasons given in this case. They, in their greatness, would say, "let the best one win," and would be satisfied with the result of whatever color might be the one who gained the day.

It is strange that Prof. Ames, a Belpre boy, should be the medium through which this decision is made known, for if our memory does not play us false as to the traditions of the past, there were several stations of the Underground Railroad close to the spot where Frank was born and raised.

As our contest for the selection of the Marietta scholars to compete with those from Parkersburg was public, it may be the latter place had some of its emissaries in attendance, and that the displays of oratory, eloquence and ability were so great that they were dismayed and reported to those who sent them that literary giants dwelt in the land and that it would not be safe for them to attempt to possess it.

Fear of failure, fear that this daughter of Ham might be the victor and not race prejudice may be the underlying reason for their withdrawal.

If this be the case we admire their discretion but deplore their lack of chivalrous behavior.

Klan Members Stage Parade

 The Marietta Register, October 20, 1924

[The following article contains information regarding discriminatory practices of the past.]

More than 800 Knights of the Ku Klux Klan garbed in the white robes of the order participated in the parade and open air meeting held in Marietta Saturday night.

The parade formed at Camp Tupper and headed by a local band marched down Third Street to Putnam, down Putnam to Second, down Second to Greene, turned right to Front and proceeded up Front Street to the Muskingum Park where the evening program was held.

Rev. F. E. Wilson, northern Ohio minister, in the main address of the evening, outlined the principles of the Klan organization while a fiery cross erected on the river bank at the foot of Lancaster Street blazed forth, casting its reddish hue over the large crowd that stood at the speaker's platform.

Mayor Makes Proclamation

 Marietta Daily Times, November 16, 1918

At this morning's session of court, Mayor Crawford issued the following statements:

My experience as police judge of this city has fully convinced me that by far the greater portion of juvenile delinquency and criminality is attributable, directly or indirectly, to mothers and fathers who have the insane idea that the sooner they get their children from "under foot" the better, and that is is the duty of the juvenile judge, the police officer, or perchance the mayor, to train up their families for them. The parent animal does better than this for it not only raises and trains its own young, but stoutly resists outside interference.

I have issued orders that the Curfew ordinance of this city be enforced to the letter, and further that all boys under eighteen years of age who make a practice of loafing and hanging around public pool and billiard halls with a cigarette in their mouth are to be summarily arrested and brought before me.

The workings of the recent health order has shown me that nearly all of our "gutter snipe" drunkenness comes from "bar drinking" and "treating," so that I have also given orders that the anti-treating ordinance is the only remedy just now available and will be strictly enforced.

I feel that the laws and ordinances upon which the above orders are based are just and wholesome, and I believe that every law-abiding and self-respecting man and woman in Marietta will rally to the support of our police force in carrying them into execution.

The Children's Home

The Marietta Register, August 19, 1864

It being necessary to appeal to the public for aid in behalf of the "Children's Home," under Miss Fay, the following statement of facts is submitted, showing its history and condition.

The institution was founded in the spring of 1858 and has been in successful operation for six years.  The plan was conceived and carried into execution by the wisdom, energy, faith and means of a woman, to stand to her lasting honor.  She purchased a farm of 32 acres, and erected the buildings by her own resources, at a cost of $2272, receiving some small assistance from personal friends who sympathized in her unusual undertaking.  Her faith had conceived the enterprise of rescuing the children of poverty, in this county, from their degradation, and she consecrated her life and property sublimely to the task.  The first offering was all her pecuniary resources, made by her own labor in teaching, and the portion received of her father's estate, amounting, as already stated, to $2272.

The more difficult task was then the carrying out of her plans in the erection of buildings, the management of the farm, and the conduct of the institution, commencing at once in an old log house with the care of four children, increased during the year to 13; all of which she superintended and carried forward by her own indomitable energy and courage.

The improvements since made, and the stocking of the farm, have cost the additional sum of $1311, making a total of $3583; while the expenses for the six years of conducting the institution have been $5451, being an average of $908 per year.  The appropriations from the county for the same period have been $4528, being an average of about $755 per year.

Miss Fay makes no account of the interest on her capital invested, nor of her own services.  Both these are gratuitously thrown in, beside the income of her farm.  This is the noble offering she makes for the support and education of these children of want.

The total number of these children in six years is 66, of which 18 have found good homes, 12 have died, and 10 been removed by their parents.  The number at the close of last year was 27, of whom three only were over nine years of age, and eight were under four years of age.  This fact will serve to show what the care and labor must be, connected with such an enterprise.

Miss Fay employs a teacher six months of the year, and during three other months the children attend the common school of the district, so that they have schooling during nine months of the year.

She also provides half the necessary medical attendance, and the labors of a nurse; and these cannot be small, when the children with but few exceptions are subject to disease or some physical defect, when first brought under her care.  Their health, however, has in nearly every instance improved, while their moral condition more deplorable at the beginning than their physical, has been marked by the most wonderful improvement.  From almost utter ignorance of God and the Bible, and all laws of truth and honesty, they have been made to know the blessedness of religious instruction, and rendered happy under the same, becoming uniformly attached to the "Home."

The county has heretofore allowed $1 per week to a child.  During the present year they appropriate $1.25.  But owing to the increased expenses of living, this falls short of meeting the necessary expenditures from $4 to $5 per week, for which no means are provided - or, say, from $200 to $250 per year.

An effort was begun, last year, to secure legislative action, which would enable the County Commissioners to make ample provision for such an institution, and it is hoped that the next winter will see this effort consummated.  In the meantime it is necessary for the people of the county to come to the aid of this noble philanthropic enterprise.  It is an honor to old Washington County that one should have been found among her daughters, who had the genius to conceive, and the benevolence and courage to execute such a scheme as now stands a monument to her praise.  She has believed that the work was of God.  In all her straits she has gone to him for help, and her testimony is, that she has never failed to receive the assistance which she needed.  She believes that He will now provide for her, and not suffer her charge to fail; but will put it into the hearts of those who care for the suffering and poor to supply that which is lacking.

After consultation had with some friends of this cause, it is proposed and requested that this statement of facts be read on the next Sabbath in the churches of the county, with a view to obtaining donations.  And it is hoped that the towns through the county will interest themselves in this object.  Donations may be made in money, produce, clothing, or whatever else may be found useful in such an institution.

Donations may be sent to William F. Curtis or Buell & Bro., Marietta.

Thomas Wickes