Читать книгу The History of Peru - Henry S. Beebe - Страница 6

Table of Contents

Election in 1839—Financial Crash—Condition of the Town—Anecdote illustrative of the scarcity of money—Hog Story—Establishment of the Ninawa Gazette—Building of the first Church.

At an election held on the 19th December 1839 H. P. Woodworth, Simon Kinney, Z. Burnham, C. H. Charles, and Isaac Abraham were elected Trustees. Whole number of votes polled 40.

The Board elected Simon Kinney, President; M. Mott, Collector; T. D. Brewster, Treasurer; and Walter Meriman, Clerk. In the course of the year Kinney resigned as Trustee and Meriman as Clerk, and Cornelius Cahill and James Bradford were elected to fill their respective places. The places of Burnham and Charles became vacant by death, and Ezra McKinzie and Churchill Coffing were elected to fill them. In 1840 came the grand financial collapse. The foreign capitalists refused to lend us any more money. The later residents of Illinois can scarcely comprehend the condition of things which preceded and ensued. By the Internal Improvement Act, which puts all Congressional omnibus bills entirely into the shade, a system of Rail Roads was to be commenced simultaneously in all parts of the State, running in all manner of directions, through regions scarcely explored; and counties which were not fortunate enough to lie in the direction of any place, and thus not to be traversed by Rail Roads, were bribed into the support of the bill by distributions of money, all to be borrowed on the faith of the State. Other acts were passed authorizing loans for prisons, hospitals, asylums and State Houses. At the same time the Canal was being prosecuted on State credit. Counties followed the example of the State by borrowing money to build Court Houses, Jails &c. But at length the bottom fell out of the whole concern. Unknown Millions had been squandered and not one public undertaking was completed. Public and private credit were annihilated. Northern Illinois produced nothing for exportation, and every kind of business was dependent upon the disbursements on the public works. The State, Counties, Towns, Banks, corporations and individuals were alike bankrupt. No gleam of light shone in the future. Repudiation, public and private, appeared to be the only alternative. Even the vampires who had been gorged upon the treasury were overwhelmed in the general avalanche. The few who had hoarded and possessed the means, left the State; and emigration for years avoided it as though it had been one great hospital of lepers.

No place experienced the general prostration more sensibly than Peru. The writer of this with a family to support, did not possess in the year 1841 in the aggregate, a sum of money equal to five dollars. Letters lay in the Post Office from the inability of those to whom they were addressed to pay the postage. Nor was this embarrassment confined to individuals.—Gov. Ford once told the writer, that he had been compelled to allow letters, directed to him upon official business, to remain in the Federal Post Office, his own means or credit, or that of the Sovereign State of Illinois being insufficient to raise the embargo. Property of no kind had any apparent value whatever. The town gradually lost its inhabitants, until in 1842, probably not over two hundred souls remained. These were mainly the less fortunate portion who could not get away. One Store, a Drug Shop, the Post Office, and two Taverns were the only places that remained open to the public. Society existed upon a truly republican basis. No envy was excited in the breasts of the humble and poor by the brilliant equipages and establishments of the rich. The creditor who would have seriously asked payment of his debtor would have been saluted with one universal shout of derision.—As well might he have asked the sea to give up its dead. His money was gone to that bourne whence "nary red" would ever return. It was seriously proposed to enact a law making every man's note a tender for debts—always excepting the notes of the creditor himself. This condition of things produced a state of society never witnessed by the writer, before or since. The prevailing influence was so universal and complete as to reduce all to a common level. A sympathy and community of feeling pervaded all Illinois humanity. Thanks to a prolific soil and sparse population, nobody was in danger of starvation.

The following incident illustrates the scarcity and value of money about this time. The only merchants who pretended to keep their stores open for business, and were able to replenish their stock, were the brothers A. one of them at present an estimable and valued citizen, and the other a worthy farmer living in the neighborhood. Money was scarce wherewith to pay freights, and the only resource was to transport wheat, taken of the farmers for debts, to Chicago, a distance of one hundred miles, where it was worth about fifty cents per bushel. One of the persons employed in the transportation was a farmer named M.—One of the brothers and the writer accompanied the teams. After the wheat had been marketed and unloaded, M. with a very grave and serious face, desired a private conference with A. Taking him a little apart from the writer, and speaking in a voice loud enough to be distinctly overheard, he informed him that he was under the necessity of asking him for some money. A. started as if a snake had stung him. He expressed surprise at such a sudden call, under the circumstances, and reminded M. of the exertions and sacrifices which he had been compelled to make to raise money for charges, and that withal he had but barely enough for that purpose; and concluded by hoping that his demands would be extremely limited. M. replied that they would be no more extensive than his necessities absolutely required, and he thought about "two bits would do him." This announcement greatly relieved A. who immediately responded to the demand. When it is understood, that the almost universal practice in traveling, at that time, was to "camp out," the commissary department drawing its supplies from the domestic larder and corn crib, it will be perceived that "two bits" would go a good way in eking out the stores and supplying any deficiency.

Another incident occurred about this time which also illustrates, in some degree, the spirit of the times. Two citizens who shall be named B. and M. had been in the habit of bantering each other about their poverty. M. persisted in assuming that he was not as poor as B., and that it was all owing to his superior address and financial ability. This ridiculous assumption may be understood, when it is stated that neither party could, from every available resource, have raised a sum in money equal to the present price of a barrel of flour. M. complained to B. about his hogs running at large, and threatened that if they were permitted to annoy him he would shut them up and kill them. It so happened that B. did not own a hog in the world—a fact which he was careful not to disclose. M. commenced to put his threat in execution by building an enclosure in which he incarcerated all vagrant hogs, and proceeded to put them in a condition for slaughtering by a liberal appliance of corn and swill. These things did not escape the observation of B. who waited patiently until the hogs were in a nice condition, when he called upon M. and rather angrily remonstrated with him upon committing so unneighborly an act as to secrete his hogs, alleging that he had searched diligently for them, and that great apprehensions had existed, lest his family might seriously suffer for the want thereof. He reminded him of the cordiality and good feeling which had previously existed between them, of their good natured jokes and banters, and of the general felicity which they had enjoyed in each other's society; and read him a homily upon the advantages to be derived from the practice of honesty and integrity. He insisted, however, upon the unconditional liberation of four particularly promising specimens of the genus, porker. To this M. demurred.—While he admitted that what B. had taken so much pains to remind him of, was in the main true, he urged that the corn wherewith he had fed the hogs was difficult to be obtained, that he had spent much time in feeding and taking care of them, and that it was not right for one man to take advantage of another's wrong act for his own benefit. These arguments somewhat mollified B. who finally agreed to a compromise by which M. was to continue feeding the hogs for a specified time, and then kill and dress them, and bring the carcasses of the two best to the house of B. This compact was carried into effect in good faith. Shortly afterwards B. disclosed the history of this little operation which came to the ears of M. It is confidently believed that he never afterwards boasted of his peculiar gifts of finesse. It is but fair to say, that the real owner of the hogs who had no share in the spoils, pocketed his loss with admirable grace.

In the course of the year 1839 the first newspaper published in Peru, was established by Ford, now Editor and proprietor of the "Lacon Gazette" in connection with Geo. W. Holley who acted as editor, and was called the "Ninawa Gazette." Mr. Holley was a gentleman of considerable literary reputation and made a paper which was eagerly sought for. His writings were principally distinguished for their peculiar vein of humor and pleasantry. The paper was continued until 1841, when the press and materials were removed to Lacon.

The first Church built in the town, was erected by the Methodists in the fall of 1838.