The Fourth

 The Marietta Intelligencer, July 9, 1846

We believe almost everybody in Marietta in one way or another participated in the festivities of this Anniversary. We hear of picnic parties on Harmar Hill, on the Island, in Virginia, and on College Hill. 

The Sabbath School connected with the Methodist Episcopal Society celebrated the day in the Brick Church on Putnam Street. Mr. James F. Given delivered an oration, after which, and the exercises of the S. School children, refreshments were served in the basement.

The Sabbath School of the Universalist Society assembled in the morning at their church on Second Street, where addresses were made by some members of the school and an oration delivered by Rev. Eaton. A dinner was prepared in the orchard adjacent to the church.

The several Sabbath Schools in Harmar had a union celebration and were addressed by Rev. Messrs. Dana, Bing, and Bates and by several of the teachers in the respective schools. A dinner was furnished in the market house.

A large company assembled in Mr. Prentiss' orchard near the College, where a bountiful table was spread and where brief addresses were made by Prof. Kendrick, Mr. George M. Woodbridge, and other gentlemen whose names we have not learned.

In the evening, the concert at the Congregational Church "came off." It was numerously attended and the Library Hall, in which the Ladies of the Society spread their refreshment tables, was crowded - a part of the time almost to suffocation.

We hear of celebrations in various parts of the county - as at Newport, Beverly, and Fearing - but have received no accounts of the exercises.

Washington County Infirmary and Children's Home

The Marietta Register, June 10, 1869

W. C. Hood of the Marietta Times recently paid a visit to these institutions and discourses of them in his last paper in this wise:

Last Monday afternoon, at the invitation of F. A. Wheeler, one of the Directors, we paid a visit to the Washington County Infirmary. A ride of three miles brought us to the farm.

This consists of about 170 acres, the most of which was purchased thirty years ago, and it was then a worn-out farm. The soil was light originally and "washes" in a heavy rain. This would suggest careful tillage to anybody who knows aught about farming, but it seems not to have had that effect on some who had managed the place, for two years ago the ground had got to be almost sterile. Large quantities of manure are now hauled out from Marietta, and all that can be supplied by J. H. Dye's livery stable has been engaged. The object is to make the Infirmary a self-sustaining institution. 

There are about five acres of old orchard trees and sixteen acres of fruit trees more recently planted. The probabilities are that there will be an abundant, if not an excessive, supply this season.

Last year eight cows were kept. The product of the dairy was 1,000 lbs. of butter, of which 400 pounds were sold. The inmates regularly have the morning's milk for their supper.

Of hay, the farm for a few years prior to 1868 did not yield enough, but last year there was a surplus which was sold for $146, and there is still about a ton left.

Mr. Gill this year will have pork enough, he thinks, heretofore, there had not being half the needed quantity derived from the farm.

Of potatoes there was a deficiency in 1868. This year the Superintendent has planted six acres, all looking well, and thirty acres of corn.

The garden comprises an acre and a half. Mr. Gill has newly fenced and enlarged it. Last year he raised eight hundred head of cabbages, 50 bushels of sweet potatoes, a large bed of onions, plenty of peas, several kinds of beans, and of beets, more than a sufficiency. This year he has set out fifty grape vines. None had been planted before, old as the place happens to be. Not one of the paupers is a good gardener. An old German who was such, and who loved the employment, died about two years ago.

In the management of matters about the farm houses, Mr. Gill has no assistants other than his wife, his daughter, and Miss Julia Wheeler, a relative. There are sixty-one inmates, and of these thirty-five are "foolish," insane or demented. Forty-eight take their meals in the common dining room; to the others, food is carried. The victuals are wholesome and enough is furnished. We saw the paupers at their supper, and judging from appearances, we think that extreme poverty has the merit of giving its subjects a better appetite than all the tonics known to the medical profession and all the "bitters" ever advertised.

Two old women had attained an advanced age. Mrs. Grant is 94. She claims that her father was a relative of Lewis Cass. Mrs. Cole, another old woman, is 95. In the nursery were three babies - two white, one colored - born there. Illegitimate, of course. One was but three weeks old. Its mother was walking about, completely recovered and quite at her ease.

In what is called the jail, several raving lunatics are confined. One of them, a burly German with the neck of a bull, was very noisy. A poor woman, whose reason had been overthrown by abuse from her husband, was afflicted in addition to other maladies, with the voracity ascribed to the shark. If she could but get enough, she would eat till death choked her. She lay on the floor with her face pressed against the grated door of the cell and stretched her hand through the bars as if piteously pleading. Her whole demeanor was that of a caged animal, such as one may see in a menagerie.

To conclude with the Infirmary: Mr. Gill, as Superintendent, devotes his time to the strict performance of what he has to do, and he is plainly an improvement upon some of his predecessors. Perhaps the farm, such as it is, may never be completely self-sustaining, but he is making it as nearly so as he can. In this he has the cooperation of the board of directors, and without it little, perhaps, could be effected.

It was after six o'clock when we left the Infirmary and at the request of Esquire Wheeler, we went up the Muskingum River road to the Children's Home. This is now in charge of Dr. S. D. Hart and his excellent wife. They are assisted by three nurses, a cook, a dining room girl under the direction of the cook, and one seamstress, who is employed through the year, except when work presses, and then two are required. The Doctor himself goes out to work in the fields, and he has one man hired to help him. Eight boys big enough to be of some use are set at whatever they can do.

There are fifty-four children in the Home at present. The oldest is 14 years of age; the youngest, an infant of seven weeks. There are two other babes, each about a year old. The ages of most of the children range between 2 and 6 years. Nearly half are illegitimate. Their mothers are not really able to take care of them, or else they are too shiftless and indolent.

We were shown through all the rooms and found everything comfortable and in order. It was growing dark. The children were collected in what is called a school room. A hymn was sung, prayer was offered by Dr. Hart, and then they began to prepare for bed. Our little party, at the same time, set about returning to Marietta. We had spent a thoughtful afternoon, first with old people whose lives were destined to end under the clouds, and then with young folks whose lives had begun under a cloud. And yet, neither the aged nor the youthful unfortunates were exactly the most miserable folks we had seen on the earth.

  

Bootleggers Soaked With Heavy Fines

 Marietta Daily Journal, June 4, 1917

What appears to have been a general system for furnishing liquor to thirsty throats on Sunday is thought to have been broken up this morning by the arrest of six men, all charged with having sold and furnished liquor on the Sabbath day without a license. The men arrested were Ananias Archer, Charles Cutshaw, Ben Wiley, Harry Armstrong, Fred Audibert, and Ed Coulter.

The "system" was uncovered by agents of the state liquor license board who have been working on the case for some time. The agents are said to have visited the vicinity in which the operations were thought to be carried on Sunday afternoon and had no trouble in securing a pint of whiskey.

From appearances it looks as though Audibert was "the man behind the throne." When approached by the license agents, the men arrested are said to have readily consented to secure the whiskey and were but a short time in doing so. The store house in which the supply was kept appears to have been the cellar of the Audibert home on Fourth Street.

The hearing of arrested men is being held this afternoon. Ananias Archer was the first one arraigned, he pleading guilty to both the charge of selling on Sunday and selling without a license. He was given a fine, the minimum in both cases, of $225 and costs, with commitment to the county jail until paid.

Ben Wiley [Benjamin Wylie] was next arraigned. He was still under the influence of liquor and in his testimony to the court used some very strong and rather effective language. He at first refused to tell where he secured the liquor he had obtained for the agent and claimed that he did not sell the liquor to him. He later admitted, however, that he had been given a dollar and had returned with a pint of whiskey, which they took up an alley and "both had a drink." He was given the same fine as Archer and taken to the county jail to serve it out.

Charles Cutshaw was arraigned on the charge of furnishing liquor. He pleaded guilty, but on the advice of C. C. Middleswart, local member of the county liquor license board, he was treated leniently by the court, because of the fact that he has an aged mother dependent on him for support. His fine of $200 was suspended during good behavior.

The fine of $225 of Harry Armstrong, colored, arraigned on two charges, was also suspended during good behavior, but he was made to pay the costs of the case. It is understood that Armstrong had been disposing of the liquor at the hotel where he is employed.

Audibert, when arraigned, pleaded not guilty to both charges placed against him. His hearing was held before Mayor Hovey. Audibert claimed that the whisky found in his home Sunday, some 12 pints of it being found in the cellar, was given to him Saturday night by a bartender, whose identity he refused to disclose, to be kept over Sunday.

Audibert has been suspected of bootlegging for some time and his tale did not ring true. His steadfast refusal to tell the name of the one giving him the whiskey made the case strong against him and he was found guilty, being fined $225 and costs, with commitment until paid.

Ed Coulter was the last of the six to be arraigned. He also pleaded not guilty, but little trouble was had in proving the charge against him. He was given $225 and costs with commitment until paid.

Watertown, Palmer, Wesley, and Barlow

The Marietta Intelligencer, June 2, 1858

In a flying trip a few days since through the townships of Watertown, Palmer and Wesley and Barlow, we found grass and wheat everywhere to be doing finely; no complaints were made except occasionally that a field was found to be slightly affected with the fly. 

But murmurs, loud and deep, were heard constantly about the long-continued rains and their effect on the corn land. Comparatively little corn has been planted. None but high and sandy land would do to plant with any prospect of the corn's coming up. Many farmers had not planted a hill. The five days we were out fortunately proved pleasant and without rain, and almost every farmer we called on was found either planting or preparing to plant corn. There has been very little drying weather within the last week, and the heavy rains of yesterday have made planting impossible for at least another week. The present prospect is certainly not the most flattering to the farmers, with the low prices for produce on hand and so poor a show for another crop.

Of peaches and cherries there seemed to be a fair prospect of an average crop. We observed now and then an orchard of apple trees that gave earnest of a respectable yield, but most of the trees were without fruit. What few apples there are, are of the more ordinary kinds, the grafted fruit being most easily killed by the frost.

One very noticeable feature of the farms through the townships above mentioned is the uniformly good barns with which they are provided. More regard seems to be had for the comfort and welfare of the quadrupeds than for themselves, for in numerous instances we saw good framed barns for the cattle and rather inferior log houses for the family.

With few exceptions, the farms are in good order and well improved - fences strong and trim, implements ready for use and housed, the brush cut down in the fence corners and other out of the way places, gates and bars in good order, &c. 

There is only one fault, a very general one by the way, which we wish to complain of. It is that the front yard is too often enclosed with a rail fence and made into a pasture, a vegetable garden, or a pig pen, instead of being surrounded by a neat board or picket fence and adorned with shrubbery and flowers. There is very little, too little, attention paid to the surroundings of dwelling houses. We believe that every farmer's wife would thank her husband for a little spot in the front yard which she might have the control of, and that should be held sacred against the incursions of calves, pigs, or the plow, where the taste for flowers, so proverbial to the sex, might be cultivated, and where some relief might be obtained from the toil and drudgery of everyday life. That it would contribute immeasurably to the happiness of the wife there can be no doubt.

Every means for the development and cultivation of purity of taste, refinement of feeling, and nice perception of the beautiful ought to be improved, and none are so easily obtained at so cheap an expenditure as in the arrangement and care of shrubbery and flowers.

  

Township Trustees and Orphan Children

The Marietta Intelligencer, June 3, 1847

As the excitement growing out of a recent case involving the rights of a certain orphan child in Marietta has subsided, it will be profitable to examine the principles involved in that case. Not only every orphan child - but every person in the community who may have the orphan children of his poor friends or relations cast upon him - is deeply interested in them. I will avoid allusion as far as possible to the unpleasant circumstances attending the case and state only such facts as are necessary to a correct understanding of it.

The parents of the orphan died nearly at the same time in Cincinnati about five years ago. They were both members of a Presbyterian church in that city and on their death-beds committed their children to the care of two or three benevolent ladies, who were members of the same church - and requested that they might be placed in families where they would be instructed in the religious principles and faith of their parents.

One of these children was sent to a family in Marietta. As it was supposed there would probably be some property left for the children on the settlement of their father's estate, the person to whom the child was sent took guardianship of her. Afterwards ascertaining there would be no property for her, the letter of guardianship was not renewed when she became 12 years old. Her only surviving grandparent, her uncles, and elder married sister, earnestly requested the friend in whose care she was placed to keep her in their family till she became 18. Both they and the child objected to her being bound to service. She has remained in this family to her own entire satisfaction and that of her relations and friends till the present time.

About the last of April, in consequence of some unpleasant reports which had been put in circulation, the Township Trustees interfered, and without allowing a hearing to her friends, without communicating with the relations, and against the strongly expressed wishes of the child herself (now supposed to be nearly 16 years old), bound her in service as a domestic in a respectable Methodist family in Marietta. 

The child refused to go with her new master, and as her friend and protector did not compel her to leave him, she was brought before one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas on a write of Habeas Corpus. The return on the writ stated the principal facts above mentioned and also that the child was and had been furnished with everything necessary and proper for her. On these facts, the plaintiffs claimed that the child was a destitute orphan and that the Trustees were authorized to take her from her friend and bind her to service, and so the Court decided.

The orphan still refused to leave her old friends, and her master finding he could not take her with him without violence, told her to return to them and remain there till he called for her, and there she still is, contented and happy.

In reviewing this case, it appears to be the law of Ohio:

1st. That an orphan child without property or some responsible person liable for its support is a destitute orphan, no matter how well treated and provided for it may be, nor how able and willing its friends may be to continue to provide for it.

2nd. That the Township Trustees may take such child from its friends without notice and without assigning any reason for their conduct and bind it to the most menial service allowed by the laws of Ohio, contrary to the wishes of the child and of all its relations and friends, and while they keep within the letter of the law, there is no redress. The court must ask it, if of the proper age, to choose its own guardian, but the Trustees may give it to whom they please as its master.

3rd. It follows also that the guardian of such child (he not being responsible for its support, where it has no property) can have no such control over it, except by binding it out himself, as to prevent it from being taken from his custody and bound out by the Trustees against his will.

4th. That the want of property, according to the laws of Ohio, creates distinctions and disabilities to which the poor must submit, but which cannot affect the children of the rich. it is not the probability that the child may become chargeable that justifies the interference of the Trustees, but the fact that it is poor.

I have no complaint to make of the decision of the court or of the law in this case. I have no doubt, not only that the Judge decided it according to his honest convictions of duty, but that he would have gladly allowed the injured parties a hearing if he had believed it to be in his power. If the fathers and mothers of Ohio who have nothing to give their children but education, industry, and virtue, are content to leave them, when they died, to the operations of such laws, it is not for me to complain. There is a strong, and it is a natural and proper repugnance in a parent to binding his child in service to another, but no poor man can safely leave his children without thus providing for them.

There is also an unwillingness on the part of many excellent persons, who would gladly receive and bring up poor orphans, to take them as indented servants, but they can have no assurance of being able to keep them without it.

The poor orphans adopted and educated as their own children by rich relatives and friends must be bound as servants or the Township Trustees may take them away at their pleasure.

The pious orphan young men and women who are pursuing their studies in our colleges and seminaries, under the patronage of education societies and benevolent individuals, may be taken at any time by the same authority and bound out till of age to any service the laws allow.

And the large number of the orphan children of the poor, who are earning an honest living in the families of their brothers and friends, or gaining an education by their own unaided efforts and talents, are not safe a moment from this same degrading control. But it is not necessary to multiply cases of the iniquitous operation of such laws, or of the danger of trusting such power in the hands of even the best men. They will readily occur to everyone.