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 THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 WlUJAl^^^NGUSI^ 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE for 
 
 VICE PRESIDENT OF 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 PvBiLicATioM Officb, 504 Walnvt St.^ P H I L A BKLPK I J 
 
 l^ 
 
 ■{ 
 
E^lg^ 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by 
 
 CHARLES S. KEYSER. 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 
 
 rCRQUSON BROS. & CO., 
 
 PRINTERS AND ILECTROTYPERS, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The real power of a nation is seldom either the King, Emperor or 
 President ; it is the prime-minister or the secretary of state ; such 
 men as Bismarck, Beaconsfield, Gladstone, Seward, Stanton and 
 Stevens were, or are, the real heads of their nations. In this election 
 it may be, for the first time, a Vice-President. Winfield Scott Han- 
 cock sympathizes with those wayward sisters who are sitting around 
 the steps of the Capitol soliciting charity; but Mr. English is a man 
 without sympathies, he means to make his party a power, and to 
 make that power felt by its Northern enemies. With him it is busi- 
 ness ; he has faced an outraged constituency before for his party ; 
 and he will face the whole North for that Democracy once more, 
 and the people will waken up to the fact after his election, as the peo- 
 ple of Marion county have long since done, that they have a live man 
 at their head once more. 
 
 It was a desperate emergency for the Democrats at Cincinnati — de- 
 feated once more they were defeated forever. Tilden, their last summer 
 rose, was too far gone to be available, and there seemed no hope. It 
 was then an Irishman sprang to the head of their divided and continu- 
 ally beaten forces — the late Southern slaveholders, and free-traders, 
 the fossil Germans of Berks county, the rag, tag and bobtail every- 
 where, and, with the voice of a clarion, rang out Hancock's name 
 and got the echo from the country. It was a wise stroke of policy ; 
 not since their nomination of a life-long Republican has anything 
 been done so well calculated to deceive the masses ; they had before 
 nominated a Union officer, McClellan, and failed ; they had nomi- 
 nated a solid Republican, Greeley, and failed ; they had nominated a 
 Reformer, Tilden, and failed ; now they nominated once more a 
 Union officer — it was their last opportunity ; they must not fail ; and 
 it did seem to them only requisite to keep the Southern Sailors 
 securely stowed beneath the hatches so that their gray clothes could 
 
 (3) 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 not be seen, and to run up the Union flag, and there was nothing to 
 obstruct their old iron-clad, which had been lying on the flats for 
 twenty years, from running up the Potomac to Washington ; but when 
 the hurrah was over, the convention began to look at this wild Irish- 
 man, and to consider the end. They were without money ; Hancock 
 was respectable, eminently respectable ; but he was poor ; they were 
 all poor; they had been outside so many days; they conferred 
 together and all said we must have money ; and then and there they 
 sold themselves and their party to William H. English—the man who was 
 hung in effigy by the free people of Indiana for his political baseness, 
 and will be hung in effigy again for his cruel money exactions — and 
 whose record has been such that, for his personal safety, he sleeps in an 
 iron-grated room. It was a stupid thing for them to do, although 
 driven to it by poverty. They got a Union officer for their figure- 
 head (not one of the Grant or Sherman kind), but still a Union 
 officer — a man for whom many would vote, for all his sympathies be- 
 cause he wears the bullion of the nation. Why must they then go the 
 way of the suicide in the seeming arms of victory ; for such a man as 
 English cannot and ought not to receive a vote in all this Northern 
 country. 
 
 It is said of the Democratic party that it would be successful if it 
 did not, while in the crisis of its success, make some fatal blunder. 
 That is true, but it always does and always will blunder. It is the 
 descendant of an illustrious line, but which run out years ago and left 
 instead of the high intelligence of Jefferson and the iron will of Jack- 
 son, such representatives as Pierce — the old Turveydrop Buchanan, 
 and then a crop of protoplasms — good enough in their way, but in 
 whom the people had little or no confidence, and who were all mis- 
 carriages and never came to the period of their birth as presidents. 
 There was the slow little Mac, who attained a local celebrity in Phila- 
 delphia, and the sandy bottoms of New Jersey, and the sympathy of 
 his side, whatever that was, of the country. Then there was Greeley, 
 who, when he reached his dotage, strove to be born again out of the 
 loins of that party, and failed — he was too great a man to pass 
 through the crevices of the Democratic platform. Then there was 
 Tilden, who failed after parturition, because he had neither soul nor 
 body, nor the party will enough, to go through the necessary surgery. 
 It must blunder. The continuance of its existence is a blunder. 
 
The Life of William H. English. 
 
 At the close of the war Indiana, in common with the whole 
 line of Northern "States, exhibited a record of patriotism, pros- 
 perity, and material progress worthy of the highest place in the 
 annals of nations. This State, the most commendable, because 
 among her free sister States, the high patriotic spirit of her 
 people struggled from first to last with bold and vindictive men 
 within its borders intent to destroy the nation, and, though few 
 in number, dangerous and destructive. Her contributions to the 
 military service were, under the first call of the President, 59,431 
 men ; and in infantry, cavalry, and artillery, down to September, 
 1863, 97,987 men ; and to the close of the war her contributions 
 to the volunteer service and to the regular army and navy were 
 195,147 men. For the families of the soldiers, and for bounties 
 in sixty-eight counties of the State, there was raised by volun- 
 tary contribution ^3,500,000; and to the Sanitary Commission 
 there was contributed in money and supplies, through the war, 
 ^469,446 ; the interest on her whole debt was paid regularly, 
 and all through that crisis of the nation's life the credit of the 
 State was fully preserved, and at no period in her whole history, 
 after all this expenditure of the money of her people, did the 
 credit of the State ever stand financially so high. There were, 
 however, some men who, though not of the open supporters, 
 the plotters to burn their towns and cities, had hung half-way 
 down on to the old dogmas of slavery to the last, and whose 
 souls were bound with one idea: to enrich themselves out of the 
 bounteous harvest of the laborers of the State. The subject of 
 this biography was one of these, and his course of life after 
 
 (5) 
 
 V, 
 
6 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 1863 — in this connection — constitutes one of the two dark 
 chapters which complete his Biography ; but before giving the 
 details of either it will be interesting to know something of his 
 personal appearance, locality and style of his residence, and 
 what seems to be in his case a matter of importance — his 
 ancestry. 
 
 HIS ANCESTRY. 
 
 A philosophic writer ' says, "As an element of character, and 
 one which all good persons recognize as essential to greatness, 
 no one can be named as well calculated to inspire respect, as a 
 profound veneration for ancestors." A sentiment which is most 
 touchingly illustrated by one of our greater fellow-citizens, at 
 the tomb of Adam, our common ancestor.^ If it indeed were 
 possible to breed men as we do horses, and if there was rather 
 more certainty about their real pedigree, we might very surely 
 illustrate our greatness by these profound venerations ; but as it 
 is with many great horses, many men have had no ascertainable, 
 or at least very uncertain pedigrees ; and as is true of those 
 horses, men, taken out of the cart, so to speak, often exhibit 
 qualities which quite distance those whose feed was " gilt oats," 
 or who spent much of their time contemplating the graves of 
 their ancestors. However, William H. English had a father and 
 a mother in the regular domestic way ; and they had fathers and 
 mothers who died and were buried. Mr. English erected grave- 
 stones over them. 
 
 This one element essential to greatness he therefore has, and 
 the sole question is, had he that " greatness " called for by the 
 theory. Theodore Parker divides greatness into two classes. 
 The one the greatness as of the Saviour which, like diverging 
 
 « Colonel J. W. Forney's Life of William H. English, an appendage to his Bio- 
 graphy of Winfield Scott Hancock. 
 
 'The tomb of Adam, how touching! It was here in the land of strangers, far 
 away from home and friends, and all who cared for me, thus to discover the grave 
 of a blood relative; the unerring instinct of nature thrilled its recognition; the foun- 
 tain of my filial affection was stirred to its profoundest depths, and I gave way to 
 tumultuous emotion. I leaned upon a pillar and burst into tears. I deemed it no 
 shame to have wept over the grave of my poor dead relative. Noble old man ; he 
 did not live to see me — he did not live to see his child. — Mark Twain. 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 7 
 
 lines, broadens forever through the centuries, a light at first 
 feebly beaming from a stable, and finally illuminating the whole 
 earth ; and the other the greatness which lies, as between paral- 
 lel lines, whose influence is confined and exhausts itself, within 
 the living generation. Mr. English's greatness, let us say, what- 
 ever it is, is of the latter sort, and is confined within the living 
 generation. His ancestors were the true Southern stock. His 
 grandfather and grandmother, on his father's side, were born in 
 the State of Delaware, where the whipping-post still survives, 
 and died in Kentucky, the dark and bloody ground. His grand- 
 father, on his mother's side, served in the 4th Virginia Regiment 
 of the Revolution ; and his grandmother, on his mother's side, 
 was born in Winchester, Va. He was of the Eustis family, which 
 was out of the first families of Virginia, connected with the Far- 
 quhars, and she with the Hite family — the Hites, the Eustis, 
 the Farquhars and the Lees, and indeed all the others in that 
 country, being connected with each other ; and his own mother, 
 whose name was Mahala, was born in Fayette county, in Ken- 
 tucky ; so that as far as pedigree is concerned, there were no 
 mudsills in his family. The family got to Indiana at last, and 
 down to the hard pan there ; and he started life on the 22d of 
 August, 1822, in that State. He said of himself, on the floor of 
 Congress, " My father and grandfather were Democrats : that 
 was the chief inheritance they left me." He was born, therefore, 
 a very poor boy, but such men do not remain poor. He started 
 out as a public character ; he had had a good education, three 
 years in the University of South Hanover, and got to the bar in 
 1840. 
 
 The careers of Mr. English as statesman and financier begin 
 together. He was brought to Washington, in 1847, by Jesse D. 
 Bright, of his State, the Gamaliel of the gospel of slavery, who 
 obtained him a clerkship in the Second Auditor's office, at a sal- 
 ary of $1,400 a year. These were the honest days when that 
 Democratic party was in power, and they had then a divide 
 among themselves. They had obtained a new State for slavery, 
 a principality in size, and, like most principalities, crushed down 
 with debt. The Texas stock was worth from ten to fifteen cents 
 
8 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 on the dollar. They formed a syndicate. The subject of this 
 biography was Jesse D. Bright's engineer, and he himself invested 
 in the operation his salary. 
 
 They got the money. The Northern States — for there was 
 where the money was mostly made — paid the debt dollar for 
 dollar to the holders of these claims. The poor boy was then 
 one step forward up the ladder's gilded rounds. 
 
 He lost no time. With the plunder he went on shaving his 
 fellow-clerks five, ten, and fifteen per cent, a month, which he 
 held for futures, and which they let drop in bagnios and in strug- 
 gles in the arena. He had gotten together a good pile for a 
 poor boy, when, Taylor coming in, he was let out of the office, 
 and went back home. 
 
 He now had money, and returned again as the representative 
 of his State on the floor of Congress, where he remained up to 
 and through the Thirty-sixth Congress, the slaveholder's ally, 
 leaving his old co-worker, Jesse D. Bright, to be expelled for 
 treason : all the others with whom he worked and voted having 
 gone before to engage in their desperate struggle to destroy the 
 Union. Then leaving the legislative halls, he sought a position 
 among the financiers of the country. His political record is 
 altogether with the Kansas and Nebraska legislation, 
 
 HOW HE LOOKS AND WHERE HE LIVES. 
 
 William H. English is about five feet nine inches in height. 
 His head would be bald but for an arrangement by which the 
 side hair is brought up to the front like the horns of the Moses 
 of Angelo, flattened down — unlike that Moses, however, his 
 head shelves upwards. He has clear, gray eyes and a full white 
 beard, dyed black. He wears a black broadcloth coat and 
 trousers, and a silk cravat, a felt hat, red stockings and low 
 shoes. He lives in a large mansion called the Governor's 
 House. It is a brick, double, two stories, with a high, square 
 tower; the room in which he sleeps is a kind of cage, and its 
 window presents the appearance from the street of the window 
 ot a jail. It is of heavy barred iron. He is building an opera 
 house and theatre, a fine structure, having his name in the 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 9 
 
 party-colored tiles of the roof. It is part of a frontage owned 
 by himself, in which Is the residence of his son, who is to be its 
 manager; it opens this fall with Mr. Barret, in the celebrated 
 play, the Merchant of Venice. 
 
 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 To the 23d day of January, 1854, there was a barrier set 
 against slavery which had remained undisturbed for thirty-four 
 years. It was the thirty-sixth parallel ; north of that line the 
 shackles of the slave fell. It was his place of refuge, and was 
 now to become the citadel of freedom for the whole North and 
 the nation. In the debates which began on the floor of Congress 
 in the whole legislation relating to Kansas, from the hour the sub- 
 ject came before the Thirty-third Congress, Mr. English was a 
 participator. He was more: he was a secret, silent worker for 
 the ruin of the nation. He was then a member of the Committee 
 on Territories. This committee was charged with the considera- 
 tion of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He was its firm supporter. 
 Whatever he said elsewhere he was a believer in its principles^ 
 and acted on them through his whole career and this whole 
 legislation. He not only gave it the support of his vote and 
 voice on the floor of the House of Representatives, but (and I 
 use his own language) labored for it many days and nights ia 
 the House as a member of the Advisory and Vigilance Com- 
 mittee which called into being that bill in caucus, whose pas- 
 sage inaugurated the struggle for our liberties throughout the 
 nation. He said, May 9th, 1850: "The citizens of my State 
 have no sickly sentiment about slavery. They believe negroes 
 are but little better off in a state of freedom in the North, than 
 in a state of slavery at the South. If a slave escapes into Indi- 
 ana we give him promptly up to his master. The great mass 
 of the North will stand firm by the side of their Southern 
 brethren in support of the principles of non-intervention and of 
 popular sovereignty " — meaning the right to drive slaves 
 there. 
 
lO WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 THE FINAL STRUGGLE ON THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS. 
 
 The bill for the organization of the Territories of Nebraska 
 and Kansas came up before the House of Representatives May 
 22d, 1854. The House met at twelve, and Mr. Milburn, the 
 blind preacher, appropriately made the prayer. He invoked "the 
 high and mighty Ruler of the universe to let his blessing rest 
 on the House, to keep the members calm, and to encourage 
 the weak to do their duty in this most arduous and memorable 
 struggle the country had ever known." It was no use. There 
 were desperate endeavors, there was the crack of the lash and 
 the crouchmg white slave; there was no hour, in all that des- 
 f>erate day, of calmness or reason. The political sale of the new 
 Territories was to be made there, and was made. 
 
 The work began quietly with a report from the Committee on 
 Post-Offices. Then Mr. Pratt, of Connecticut, got in his warn- 
 ing resolution from his State — the resolution from Connecticut — 
 that the public faith had been pledged to the Missouri Compro- 
 mise in perpetuity. That they protested against the repeal of 
 the prohibition of slavery, in the act of 1820, as a violation of 
 the national faith, as a destruction of confidence between the 
 States and the Union, as inconsistent with the fundamental 
 rules of national justice, and exposing the Union itself to immi- 
 nent peril. They declared that they would never consent to the 
 legal or actual admission of slavery into that Territory. Then 
 the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole. The 
 true battle now began. That other Vice-President's (Stephens) 
 rifle's crack was heard in the first skirmish line. There were 
 calls to order. Mr. Chandler, of Pennsylvania, came into the 
 fray early, saying : " If I could see the ramparts of order once 
 asserted — " and Mr. Orr struck him down with the answer of 
 the slaveholders, "This is order — strict conformity with the 
 rules." Then the din of battle began. There were calls for 
 order everywhere. Our representatives sought to kill the bill with 
 amendments. 
 
 Mr. Rogers : " I desire to add an amendment to the bill." 
 
 Mr. Sage, of New York: " I desire to offer an amendment to 
 the amendment." 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ,1 
 
 Mr. Dickinson, of New Hampshire: "I desire to offer an 
 amendment to the bill." 
 
 Mr. Dickinson, of New Hampshire: "I ask to have the bill 
 read." 
 
 So, one after another, obstructions were rushed forward to the 
 front and were laid away in the silences by the superior fire of 
 their adversaries. At last that other Vice-President (Stephens) 
 forced himself to the front with his amendment to strike out the 
 enacting words of the bill. It was now reaching the point of 
 violence. Mr. Dean, of New York, amid the confusion, shouted 
 out : " Let no man vote here. Oppose tyranny by revolution ! " 
 Mr. Richardson, for the slaveholders, moved that the committee 
 rise. The vote was taken; the committee rose. Then came, 
 amid great confusion, a motion to adjourn, men rising all over 
 the floor; questions of order, questions of privilege; motion 
 after motion to adjourn to Wednesday, to adjourn to Monday, 
 to adjourn — a desperate struggle to put off the evil day, once 
 more, that was to inaugurate a revolution. 
 
 There was a vote taken on one of the motions to adjourn — 
 1 36 to 68. There were motions for a call of the house — all de- 
 feated. The battle goes on. It is now a fight between the 
 house and the chair, with cries of " order " once more ; but clear 
 above the din a cry that grew stronger and stronger, " the ques- 
 tion." The whole Northern country was waiting the dread 
 result that must come. 
 
 And now, once more, motions for a call of the house, and to 
 adjourn, and once more a struggle with the chair — three appeals 
 pending at one time. The hours wore on. There were calls for 
 yeas and nays and motions to adjourn, and again appeals from 
 the decision of the chair, yeas and nays, and all the tactics of 
 that sort of battle ; and then once more, clear and high above 
 the din of the voices, like the voices of fate, the prolonged cries 
 of " the question," a lull of silence, a motion to adjourn. Once 
 more a vote is gained on Stephens' bill — they refuse to concur 
 in the report of the committee of the whole, striking out the 
 enacting clause of the bill. 
 
 Mr. Richardson, for the slaveholders, now forces in his motion 
 
12 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 to amend; it was read. The walls were narrowing steadily 
 around the free-State men. It would make that great open 
 ground, with its exhaustless earth and free clear skies, the Terri- 
 tory of Nebraska, slave territory; it was to break the barrier 
 down which had stood there for a generation, and by its provi- 
 sions the act for the recapture of fugitive slaves, as it was then 
 through our States everywhere, should be enforced there ; and 
 that other great tract whose boundaries were Missouri, New 
 Mexico — whose western lines ran west to Utah and along the 
 .summits of the Rocky Mountains, and which was to be, should 
 that motion prevail, the great battle-ground for human freedom 
 once more, by that motion was likewise decreed to slavery. The 
 slave-driver was to follow there, with his dogs, the fugitive slave. 
 Mr. Richardson demands the previous question. The inevitable 
 hour has come. It is seconded. Mr. Edgerton strives to get 
 it into the committee of the whole. The chair overrules his 
 point of order. The authority of the slaveholders reaches now 
 to its uttermost. " I object to all discussion," said Houston of 
 Texas. " I demand the yeas and nays." 
 
 The yeas and nays were ordered, and then the dividing coun- 
 try saw its representatives on either side, as the long line ran 
 down, severing the representatives of the slaveholders from the 
 representatives for the free States. William H, English was among 
 the former. " I move the house do now adjourn," said Mr. Mor- 
 gan. The yeas and nays were called. The solid South would not 
 adjourn. The question for the second time is on the amendment. 
 The closing walls are making there a ghastly atmosphere for our 
 representatives ; the yeas and nays are ordered ; it is decided 
 in the affirmative. The supreme moment has come. The ques- 
 tion is now on engrossing the bill, and reading for the third 
 time ; Mr. Wilson rises and moves to lay the bill on the table. 
 There is now even yet time for those, standing on the verge of 
 dishonor, to keep the record of their Northern names. The 
 ayes and noes are called for the last time. With them he sets 
 his name once more. The call for yeas and nays is repeated on 
 engrossing the bill. Again he sets down his name. The dial's 
 hand is now upon the closing hour of freedom's high decline. 
 
WILL/AM H. ENGLISH. I^ 
 
 Will he hold by the slaveholders to the end ? He has never 
 swerved; he will never swerve from that proud blood that 
 blackens all his veins, and when the bell strikes, that summons 
 his soul to God for judgment — nor will he blanch there. 
 
 Mr. Hughes rose : " I ask now for the yeas and nays on the 
 final passage of the bill." The end has come. He knows he will 
 now face a State and nation's scorn, and see the burning fires 
 licking with their snaky tongues his &^%y and the black lines 
 round his name as a man dead to his State and country. He 
 SETS IT THERE ONCE MORE. The act is done that gives the land 
 to violence and death. 
 
 The bill was approved May 30th, 1854. The intelligence was 
 flashed over, and a ground-swell moved, the whole Northern 
 country. There was a struggle to possess the soil. The barrier 
 had been broken down for freedom and slavery, and the struggle 
 began for a majority possession. It ended with the soil in the 
 possession of the free majority, but the elections were carried by 
 the same mode in which they were carried in Alabama, Missis- 
 sippi, in Arkansas and other States this year. Open frauds, the 
 slave whip and the shot gun gave the returns to the government. 
 The free men of Kansas met at Topeka, November 2d, 1855, 
 and formed their constitution. It declared : " There shall be no 
 slavery in the State." " No religious tests shall be required for 
 qualification for office." " Every citizen may freely speak his 
 sentiments on all subjects." " The payment of a tax shall not 
 be required as a qualification for the right of suflrage." From 
 high to low, without religious, without political, without any 
 distinction whatever, all men were admitted there upon the 
 broad plane of a common humanity. The slaveholders met at 
 Lecompton, November 7th, 1857. Their constitution declared 
 " that the right of property is before and higher than any con- 
 stitutional sanction, and the right of the owner of a slave to such 
 slave and its increase is the same, and as inviolable as the right 
 of the owner of any property whatever," " Emigrants coming 
 hither may bring with them their slaves." " Free negroes shall 
 not be permitted to reside in this State under any circum- 
 stances." 
 
1^ WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 The first of these constitutions was ratified by the fi-ee peo- 
 ple of the State, December 15th, 1855, and the second by the 
 slaveholders of the State, December 31st, 1857. Kansas had 
 now become a vast camping-ground around this new fortress of 
 liberty in the North. The Thirty-fourth Congress was organized 
 for the first time with a freeman of the North for its Speaker. 
 The President sent in his message with no words for its free 
 spirit, no condemnation for the shot-gun policy there. A pro- 
 slavery governor was sent there. The work had begun in real 
 earnest. It was hard times there for Northern men, as it is in 
 the South to-day. There was a dead line in front of every poll. 
 
 October ist, 1855, there was an election for a delegate to 
 Congress. It was conducted like the election in Alabama this 
 year and with the same result — their man went there. Dead 
 men on the icy ground that winter, and in many homes ; life was 
 wholly insecure ; the declaration of sympathy for the slave was 
 the gage of death. John G. Whittier wrote obituaries for their 
 dead. Among them was one named Brown, who was brought 
 home one night about midnight ; three gashes were cut in the 
 side of his face with a hatchet ; he was exhausted, lingered an 
 houi; or two and died : 
 
 " Frozen earth and frozen breast. 
 Lay your slain one down to rest, 
 
 Lay him down in hope and faith; 
 And above the broken sod, 
 Once again, to freedom's God, 
 
 Pledge yourselves for life or death. 
 
 " Bear him up the icy hill 
 With the Kansas frozen soil. 
 
 As his noble heart below; 
 And the land he came to till, 
 With a freeman's thews and will. 
 
 And his poor hut roofed with snow. 
 
 " Lift your right hands up and vow — 
 That his work shall still be done." 
 
 While civil war was raging through the Territory the excite- 
 ment was rising higher and higher through the country. The 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ij 
 
 great speech of Mr. Sumner for the freedom of the coming State 
 was made, and the fight was transferred to the Senate House 
 itself. That representative of the North was struck bodily down 
 (May 22d, 1856), bleeding and senseless from his wound, by 
 a representative of the South. We were at the mercy of the 
 slave power. Mr. Wilson denounced the outrage. The Democ- 
 racy were silent. They stood there, North and South, as broth- 
 ers of the slaveholders, and the masters of slaves. To one 
 man's insidious power, amid the din of oratory and the violence 
 of the times, no justice has been given. He stood there, head 
 and front, before the rest, for the land of his ancestors and for 
 their property in their slaves. He broke the silence of the 
 Democrats. He went further: he rose (July 12th, 1856) and 
 offered the following amendment to the resolution for the ex- 
 pulsion of Preston S. Brooks : 
 
 *' Resolved, That this House hereby declares disapprobation of 
 the assault made by the Hon. Preston S. Brooks upon the Hon. 
 Charles D. Sumner in the Senate chamber, May 22d, 1856, and 
 the House deems this a fit occasion to express its disapprobation 
 of the use of language in debate, o{ ^ character personally offensive 
 to individuals, members of Congress, or to any of the States of 
 tJie nation.'' 
 
 He meant by this, denial of the right of free speech to the 
 Northern representatives upon the question of slavery altogether. 
 He failed ; but when the bill came before the House for Preston 
 S. Brooks' expulsion he did not fail. The resolution read : 
 
 ''Resolved, That Preston S. Brooks be and he is forthwith ex- 
 pelled from the House as a representative of South Carolina." 
 
 And he was one of the ninety-five whose votes were given 
 there, that murder in the interest of Democracy and slavery was 
 justifiable. 
 
 There were two counties in Indiana where there was still a 
 place for him in those days. They were on the slaveholder's 
 border, and he held them steadily there by his immense deter- 
 mination, and came back to his place with the slaveholders once 
 more. He could say on the floor (December 17th, 1856) : 
 
 " I am proud of the party. I feel like clinging to it with the 
 
l5 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 affection of Ruth to Naomi, and may I not repel the charges 
 brought against the consistency of her gallant Democracy ? It 
 was in the ranks of my colleague only that the lowest and most 
 God-forsaken, negro-stealing Abolitionists were found in this 
 State, doing battle side by side with my colleague, the leader 
 of the black Republican party." 
 
 But he was there only because the plausible doctrine of 
 squatter sovereignty had many advocates — although covertly a 
 doctrine for slavery. — It had the same blinding effect on many, 
 for a time, as the State-rights from which it had its origin. But 
 for no other meaning or purpose than the perpetuity of slavery, 
 was Mr. English again there like a successful conspirator, but 
 whose mask would soon be wholly torn away. 
 
 That winter he had but one purpose — the continued stifling 
 of all discussion. In the same debate he said: 
 
 " I always regret to hear the question of African slavery dis- 
 cussed in these halls. In my humble judgment it would be 
 wiser and better for Congress to consume less time in talking 
 about this dangerous and delicate subject, and attend more to 
 the legitimate business of legislation." 
 
 It was not, in his opinion, right to talk about that question in 
 which lay the future of both races for liberty or slavery, and in 
 which it lies to-day as much as it did when Sumner was struck 
 down. He said always, " the country demands peace," when, in 
 fact, the war had begun in their own body. 
 
 THE ENGLISH BILL. 
 
 And now came on his final trial. He had gone from the 
 House (two years ago with a host of followers — his craven col- 
 leagues from the free States) to face the people. By his desper- 
 ate determination he had come back once more, and he had 
 come back to serve his masters for the last time, it might be 
 forever. He stood there well nigh alone, but his cheek was un- 
 blanched, his determination the same — he was with his blood 
 and his inheritance then and now and forever. It was pathetic. 
 It was almost like Wolsey, to hear his words. It was as if he 
 were saying : " Had I served my God as I have served my king r 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. \*j 
 
 *' My brethren," he said, " I went home to encounter an opposi- 
 tion, of the fierce and vindictive character of which our Southern 
 brethren can scarcely have a conception. We were denounced 
 as dough-faces and traitors. Our names were paraded in large 
 type enclosed in black lines, headed, ' the roll of infamy ; ' we 
 were hung in effigy, and it should not be forgotten that when 
 we men of the North went forward to encounter this fearful 
 array of fanatics, this great army of Republicans and abolition- 
 ists combined, you, gentlemen of the South, were at home at 
 your ease. You went with the current, we against it. Sir, I 
 am one of the old guard, never gave an opposition vote, never 
 varied a shadow of a shade my Democratic principles ; but I 
 tell you there are some things at the North we cannot do even 
 if we had the disposition. Where are the men of the North who, 
 at the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, were in this House ? 
 I look around in vain : they are not here. The two gentlemen 
 from Pennsylvania and myself are the spared monuments of 
 mercy, being the only persons who voted for the bill who have 
 retained seats on this floor. In the Senate but one Northern 
 man is re-elected." 
 
 The constitution of Kansas got the endorsement of the 
 House the 29th of May. The Senate voted on it, and, with an 
 amendment, the bill was returned. William H. English moved 
 and carried (April 14th, 1858) a motion to agree to a committee 
 of conference. He, Alexander H. Stephens and Howard, were the 
 committee of the House. Their report came to the House as 
 the " English bill," and on that rests his miserable name and 
 fame in th^ legislation of the country. It followed the same 
 course which ran through the thread of his many and very 
 covert, submissive, and no less effective actions in the House. It 
 was the sequence of his vote on the admission of the Territories, 
 and on the expulsion of Brooks. It was his adhesion to his 
 inheritance, and to his ancestors' blood, and to his cruel charac- 
 ter. But he was sure of its results as he is always sure. On 
 the 23d of April, 1858, he came into the House with Alexander 
 H. Stephens, the future Vice-President of the confederacy ; and 
 he, who is to be the future Vice-President of the Nation, when. 
 2 
 
ig WILLIAM IL ENGLISH. 
 
 it comes once more under the rule of the same masters as it 
 had that 23d day of April, 1858, brought in this bill. It pro- 
 vided first, that sections sixteen and thirty-six shall be granted 
 to the State of Kansas for the use of the schools ; seventy-two 
 sections for the use of the free State ; ten entire sections to com- 
 plete the public buildings ; all the salt springs in the State, five 
 per cent, of all the sales of public lands for public roads — a 
 magnificent territory larger than many principalities of Europe 
 and worth, in its wealth of soil, still more than any of the Old 
 World, But for this she must take the Lecompton constitution 
 — SHE MUST DEVOTE THAT SOIL TO SLAVERY. She shall have the 
 privilege to accept the Lecompton constitution, whose corner- 
 stone is slavery. This was the final effort of the slaveholders. 
 This bill, known as " the English swindle " and the ".Lecompton, 
 Jr.," passed the House April 30th, by 112 to 103, and Senate 30 
 to 22, and was signed May 4th. 
 
 In that State to which this bribe w^as offered by the slave- 
 holders about that time twenty-five free State men were arrested 
 by the emissaries of the slaveholders. They were placed in a 
 line and shot down in cold blood — 
 
 ' How paled the May sunshine, 
 Green Marais du Cygne, 
 When the death-smoke blew over 
 Thy lonely ravine." 
 
 William H. English had said to his constituents ^nd to the 
 world, that he would rather sunder with his party than give the 
 Lecompton constitution his vote, but he came that day carrying 
 it in with all its enormities, and with a bribe to the people to 
 have them accept its provisions. He had that kind of a soul to 
 believe that they would accept the bribe. The shot-gun policy 
 had failed them. He tries at last what another such gentleman 
 did at Tarrytown in those other times that " tried men's souls." 
 Mr. Crittenden, who was pro-slavery, said, " This bill says to the 
 people of Kansas, ' if you will silence all complaint and denun- 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. I9 
 
 ciatlons, if you will humiliate yourselves as freemen by your 
 confession of as much baseness as that implies, then you may 
 come into the Union.' It says, ' first submit yourselves to be 
 slaves, and you will be made a part of the country.' " 
 
 General Bingham, of Ohio, denounced it as a wrong, a crime. 
 " It is a bribe to the people of this Territory. A lie cannot live 
 forever, but it must at last perish. God is in history." Mr. 
 Stewart said, " This creation of English's brain stands on noth- 
 ing, either human or divine." Mr. Seward said, " It had equivo- 
 cation in every line, and he warned the Democratic party that 
 they would fail before the country." But the man with nerve 
 prevailed. The House passed the bill. There was bribery then 
 everywhere, without, no less than within, its walls. It was 
 carried in the Senate the same day. So he completed the arti- 
 cles of his faith, the trinity, (in which whatever his religion, he be- 
 lieves,) of the slave power — the fugitive slave law, the suppres 
 sion of debate in Congress, the Lecompton constitution. But 
 Kansas refused the bribe. There was no traitor there among 
 her freemen — death and poverty, but not slavery. 
 
 June 29th, 1 86 1, Kansas comes into the Union with all the 
 territory which English would have given her, sections and salt 
 springs altogether, without a bribe, and without a slave. And 
 the lie did not last forever — it did perish. God was in history — 
 guarded with his embattled hosts that high outlook of liberty. 
 
 February 26th, 1868, at Topeka, these Democrats, let us call 
 them Democrats no more, resolved, " We are in favor of guaran- 
 teeing to each State in the Union a Republican form of govern- 
 ment under the free white race and with equal taxation." So 
 five years after slavery should have been gone forever, they 
 were still where they were — and yet, as inconsistent as ever, this 
 year those Democrats have set up in Cincinnati Mr. English — 
 his name for the Vice- Presidency — who pays no taxes at all, 
 
 AND IS A WHITE MAN IN NO SENSE WHATEVER. 
 
 " There are, however, some things at the North we cannot do, 
 even if we had the disposition." Let us hope one of these things 
 is, TO BUY ourselves the Vice- Presidency of this nation. 
 
90 
 
 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 The close of Mr. English's career in Congress was consistent 
 with its beginning. March 26, i860, Mr. Blake offered this 
 resolution : " Whereas the chattelizing of humanity and the 
 holding of persons as property, is contrary to natural, and the 
 fundamental principles of our political system, and is notoriously 
 a reproach to our country throughout the civilized world, and a 
 serious hindrance to republican liberty among the nations of the 
 earth : Therefore, Resolved, That the committee on the judiciary 
 be and the same are hereby instructed to inquire into the ex- 
 pediency of reporting a bill giving freedom to every human 
 being, and interdicting slavery wherever Congress has the con- 
 stitutional powers to legislate on the subject." Mr. English, on 
 the vote, said : " I was not inside the bar of the House when my 
 name was called out ; had I been present I should have voted 
 no." Mr. English so summarizes his political life, and pledges it 
 to the old Southern Confederacy; and (January 3, i860), he said, 
 in the course of his remarks on the floor of the House in 
 defence of his bill (the English bill), " Sir : it has been well said 
 of that party (Democratic party), that it was cradled in the storm 
 and reared in tribulation, and I rejoice that it is never deterred 
 from adopting a policy because it may run counter to popular 
 PREJUDICE or excite violent opposition." If those were his 
 views in i860, when the war was imminent, are they less his 
 views in 1880? He continued, "I am the only member save 
 two left on the floor of all who voted for the Kansas-Nebraska 
 bill;" but yet, in a passionate appeal to the slaveholders, he 
 continued : " It was not our property, our peculiar institutions, 
 that were endangered, but we regarded you as brothers, and we 
 are determined to stand by you in all your constitutional rights, 
 and to join you in a war of political extermination against 
 your foes. We have enlisted in its grand armies for the war. 
 We enter the campaign prepared to die, if need be, in defence 
 of the constitution and your rights; and we have stood like 
 loyal and true men in defence of the common cause to this hour. 
 But now a crisis approaches : we are on the eve of a great 
 battle, headed, it may be, by the great leader of the irre- 
 pressible conflict. If we have grown fewer in numbers, so 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISm 21 
 
 much the greater reason you should not desert us, but stay with 
 us in the Union, and fight with us side by side and shoulder to 
 shoulder in maintaining the constitution of the fathers until we 
 win the victory or perish in one common grave. Within the 
 Union we Northern men are ready to stand or fall with you in 
 such a cause — collectively as States it will be impossible for us 
 to go out of the Union with you, and as individuals inadmis- 
 sible, because it would involve immeasurable sacrifices, and a 
 severance of the sacred tie which binds every man to his im- 
 mediate country — it would tend to divide your own section, and 
 alienate from you millions, and would probably result in their 
 and your discomfiture, and would render powerless or gradually 
 weaken your efforts should that time of real danger from overt 
 acts ever come, when it would be your imperative duty to exer- 
 cise that right which is reserved to every people when faults 
 become too great to be longer tolerated — I say it in no spirit of 
 fanciful comparison, but we can muster more at the ballot-box 
 to vote down the sectional Republican party than you can at the 
 South ; and we can muster more men with the cartridge- 
 box, too, if it becomes necessary to resort to these to defend 
 your constitutional rights, or the constitutional rights of any 
 
 PORTION OF the CONFEDERACY." 
 
 They are now within the Union once more as he then 
 advised. 
 
 What will be his duty as a business man in the premises ? 
 Will he not certainly pay them for their destroyed property ? 
 Will he not resort to the cartridge-box, if it becomes necessary, 
 to protect the rights of the Confederacy ? 
 
 THE SOUTHERN WAR CLAIMS. 
 
 There is nothing in the South as a military power. Our 
 Northern country is what Prussia was after the Austrian war — it 
 was Prussia and all Germany besides. We are, like that country, 
 one nation, with all the force, energy and intelligence on the 
 Northern side ; with a single duty before us : to complete eman- 
 cipation there by civilization. 
 
 But we may lose all these advantages by the dishonesty, craft, 
 
22 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 or sympathies of our own representatives. It is a crisis of the 
 last importance to us. The South are determined to have their 
 war losses settled. There is not a county in the old slave terri- 
 toiy where the lists of emancipated slaves are not carefully made 
 out, supported by sworn testimony, and filed away with as scru- 
 pulous attention to preservation, as if they were United States 
 bonds. They are the Southern currency of the future, con- 
 vertible. Some of the State constitutions, as that of Virginia, 
 expressly provide that the State shall not pay these claims, but 
 that the payment may be accepted from the United States gov- 
 ernment. It is the secret substratum underlying all their hopes 
 for the future. This will be one of the earliest measures pro- 
 posed to the Democratic administration, and will not be without 
 specious arguments in its favor. They will say, that the pur- 
 pose of the Southern slaveholder was not to destroy the nation, 
 but to preserve his property in his slaves, and the whole record 
 of their statesmen and soldiers in the Revolution will go far to 
 sustain this assertion ; and they will also prove by their record 
 during the rebellion that it was actually waged — except only 
 through military necessity — on their own soil, and for the defence 
 of that property alone ; and that it is the veriest pretence to evade 
 compensation for their destroyed property to assert that it was 
 lost in their attempt to destroy a government which they clung 
 to until it had become a mere question : to remain, and have that 
 property run away from them by irresponsible individuals, and 
 legislated from them by strangling it with a cordon of free 
 States around it ; or to preserve it by a peaceable secession, 
 which was their right under the government and constitution, 
 and must be the right of all governments founded on the con- 
 sent of the governed. It will be further said that the right of 
 property in their slaves was a right under the constitution, and 
 stands upon the same basis, and is as valid, as the property of 
 our Northern bondholders themselves ; and that it could not be 
 impaired by a rebellion, by the express provisions of the consti- 
 tution under which we live. 
 
 They will go further : they will deny the fact of a rebellion. 
 They will say, in the invasion of 1861, for that is what it will be 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 23 
 
 denominated hereafter, the object of the North was not to pre- 
 serve the Union, but to enfranchise their slaves; that the very- 
 men — one of whom is now sitting in the cabinet at Washington 
 — were, for years prior to the war, undermining the very struc- 
 ture of the government, and declaring the sentences of the great 
 Declaration, written by one of their statesmen, " a string of glitter- 
 ing generalities;" that even in our pulpits, which had become 
 platforms of political parties, it was declared, over and over 
 again, there could be no property in slaves, and that the eulogy 
 of the man who had invaded one of their States with the intent 
 to free their slaves without compensation, was the central and 
 continual battle-song of the whole Northern army, from the 
 outset to the close of the war, and that the very State where 
 the struggle began, has ordered his statue to be placed in the 
 capital of the nation. And they will prove this by the assertion 
 of "the great commoner," one of the great leaders of the 
 country, Mr. Stevens, who said on the floor of Congress, that 
 the whole war was carried on outside of the constitution. Nor 
 will it be necessary to refer to the records of the war in proof 
 of their assertion of its spirit and intention. In the late debate in 
 Indiana, September 4th, 1880, the Hon. Franklin Landers, the 
 Democratic candidate for Governor, said : " He (Mr. Porter, the 
 Republican candidate for Governor) has said * this war was for 
 the liberation of slaves.' Do you suppose that any man would 
 have survived during the war who said so? (Cries of 'Yes! 
 yes! and here is the man who said it!') I understand that the 
 war was to maintain the constitution and the Union of the States ; 
 and now, for a man to say that it was for the emancipation of 
 slaves ! (cries of ' That was right! ') now, I say just this to-night, 
 that if the war was a war against slavery, it was a war against the 
 constitution of the country." 
 
 If you say they cannot pay these claims because of the 
 amendments to the constitution,' they will do what was done to 
 
 'It is the opinion of Senator Edmunds that the Fourteenth Amendment does not 
 interpose a harrier to the payment of claims founded on destruction of property by 
 the United States forces, nor to pensions for Confederate soldiers — pensions do not 
 stand on legal obligation, but are discretionary with Congress. 
 
24 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 get a favorable decision on the Legal Tender Act, they will pack 
 the court, and their judges will declare that such an amendment 
 is in contravention of law, and impairs the obligation of the 
 most sacred contract between the individual and his government. 
 ' The very preparations for this result have gone thus far : a 
 proposition is now before Congress to increase the number of 
 Supreme Court judges from nine to twenty-one, the additional 
 twelve of which are to come from the Southern States, and 
 House Bill No. 3 1 3 1 , introduced by Mr. Hill, Democrat, of Ohio, 
 provides for the abolition of the Court of Claims, and the enlarge- 
 ment of the powers of the Circuit Court of the United States : 
 this gives a right to any one having sustained a loss from the 
 Union army, to come in and sue for the amount of his loss. 
 
 HIS PROBABLE PROGRAMME FOR THE PACIFICATION 
 OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 But our fears are not from them, but from our own camp; it 
 is such cold-blooded, voracious, and unscrupulous men as 
 William H. English, we have reason to fear, who would not 
 hesitate to carry out a programme for those former slaveholders, 
 more ruinous in the end for us and our civilization than their 
 bondage was for our black brothers in labor. 
 
 Men like Winfield Scott Hancock would go to Washington to 
 do their duty to the country — they are simple soldiers, to kill or 
 keep alive as they are ordered — they obey orders. The 
 Southern leaders are born to give orders ; they have the habit 
 of command : it is their inheritance. William H. English 
 inherits that domineering slaveholder's blood. 
 
 ' Mr. Reagan, ex-Confederate Postmaster, and now chairman of the committee 
 on commerce of our government, at the close of the war, held these views : that in 
 the final adjustment the South should secure provision for the auditing of the debts 
 of the Confederacy, and for its payment in common with the war debt of the United 
 States, and this on the ground that they did not seek this war, but only sought a 
 peaceful separation to secure their people and State from the effects of the unconsti- 
 tutional encroachment of the other States. (Letter of John H. Reagan to Jefferson 
 Davis. On file in the Department of State, Washington.) It is believed that this 
 expresses the opinion of at least twenly-four chairmen of the several committees of 
 the last Congress, all of whom were Confederate officers. 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 2$ 
 
 He reveres the memory of his ancestors as his most precious 
 inheritance, and with these principles he has also the craft and 
 shrewdness of a baser stock, and craves money and power ; and 
 this would be his programme : he would say these claims (there 
 is a frightful list of them) are just, and the necessity to settle 
 them a common one for the whole country, for the business inter- 
 ests of the country ; that the government should issue bonds ; 
 and temporarily interest-bearing treasury notes for them, and on 
 the basis of those bonds extend our banking system over the 
 whole country. And such a measure he would argue would bring 
 to its support the whole business interests of the country. He 
 would say to the former slaveholders, " Establish banks largely 
 everywhere through your States, get out your money from your 
 banks among the people as rapidly as possible, and take col- 
 laterals on the land held by our Eastern adventurers and your 
 former slaves. You will thus create a tremendous boom in not 
 only your, but the business of the whole country, as the result 
 of this measure. This will last some years ; it will then be your 
 policy to contract your money, it makes it scarcer and dearer, 
 and in that way their obligations cannot be met. You then, 
 to save yourselves and Institutions, will necessarily close in on 
 them. This will be readily done, especially with the more sub- 
 ject population, you have ; the blacks and the poor whites of 
 your States; and in this way you re- obtain the land which was 
 your own, and the question of freedom and slavery reduces 
 itself to nothing ; they will be your tenantry, dispossessible, at 
 will, and in this way you will regain your lost power. I am 
 here to serve you, and complete the work of the pacification of 
 the country; as in 1858, we will stand together where our 
 ancestors were, I have tested the working of the whole, and it 
 is practicable," 
 
 And how would he write the President's messages; he would 
 invoke in them humanity for that suffering and heart-broken 
 people, " Give them," he would say, " a start once more in the 
 career of a new and equal existence with ourselves. If we send 
 food to Ireland, shall we ignore our own suffering ' brethren ? ' " 
 That is the word he always used in his speeches before the war. 
 
26 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 " With charity for all, with malice toward none — let us," he 
 would say, " build up the nation in justice." " It cannot," he 
 would say, " be done in any other way." " Doling out money for 
 yellow fever and other sufferers, does not meet this emergency." 
 " There is but one way, and that is to give them the value of 
 their ruined ancj lost property; lift them up from their desolate 
 homes into the life and business of the age, in a business manner. 
 Let them understand, at last, that we are brothers, in fact, as 
 well as name. What would that debt be for our nation to 
 carry ? " he would say ; " and how long would it be before those 
 bonds would be at a premium, with a live instead of a dead 
 brother hanging to our body ? They would then understand 
 us, work with us, make instead of a country bound together by 
 force and a remembrance of wars and ruin, one bound together 
 by a common interest, a business interest — the business pros- 
 perity of the country and of the whole country." 
 
 He would say this is a business country and our work must 
 be done in a business manner. We have tried subjugation 
 and failed. War settles nothing. We have sent down thieves 
 among them backed by soldiers to destroy their substance, and 
 that failed. We have tried the policy of peace and conciliation 
 for four years, and that failed. The South is more solid, and 
 more hostile than ever. Why ? Because we have failed to 
 do them justice. We remove their disabilities, but we do not 
 repair their fortunes. It is as if we released a felon from a jail, 
 without friends or home or money ; he must steal or starve. 
 The Southern man will not steal, he will rather die. He should 
 not die. Let us try then, last, what should have been tried first, 
 and command the admiration of the world. We have the crown 
 of praise for power ; let us gain the greater crown for magnan- 
 imity. Make this one country, in fact as well as name; we 
 want peace, we want rest, we want unity. Our country is a 
 giant, but with a palsied arm ; let it not be stretched out to us 
 forever in vain. By this one majestic act we will give ourselves 
 and our age an immortality of fame. " Do this," he would say; 
 " or utterly exterminate the old slaveholders at once and forever. 
 There are but these two avenues for a lasting peace in the 
 country." 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ^j 
 
 CAN THIS BE DONE? 
 
 It can be done in one session of Congress; the resolution, com- 
 ing before a powerful Democratic majority with the Republican 
 minority thoroughly disheartened and broken down, would have 
 but little opposition. The claims are now on file in the several 
 States ; they are regular, excessive it may be, but for damages 
 admitted to be done ; the bonds can be issued at first, or treasury 
 notes, convertible, as at the close of the war ; which would most 
 directly aid the business of the country. New banks could be 
 established, or the capital of those we have, increased, and a great 
 business boom would follow at once, to which the then astound- 
 ing development of business through the war would be as noth- 
 ing ; whose benefits would reach every farm in the country ; 
 every business house ; the ships on the sea and the engines on 
 the land ; the mines and manufactories ; everything would be in 
 a ceaseless activity, and we would stand for the time, at the very 
 summit of the world's luxury'. In the meanwhile the Supreme 
 Court would be sitting with twenty-one judges, twelve of whom 
 would be the chancellors of the old slaveholders; and they 
 would decide the war unconstitutional, reaffirm the past financial 
 with this legislation as just and irrevocable. So the work 
 could be done. 
 
 ITS EFFECT ON THE PARTY IN POWER. 
 
 The result, after the first fury of the shock was exhausted, and 
 it would exhaust itself, would be to preserve that party for a 
 very long while in power, and for very pressing business reasons. 
 The British debt has been, and is to-day, the strongest bulwark 
 of the British government, because every man knows that if you 
 touch the national credit there, in any one particular, the whole 
 fabric of the government would totter to its fall, and men are 
 more disposed to submit to evils while evils are sufferable, than 
 to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are 
 accustomed. The whole financial interests of the country, the 
 controlling interests as they are of all countries, would keep that 
 party in power until all fear of the repudiation of that, or any 
 
2g WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 portion of the public debt had passed away, for they would 
 understand that the destruction of any portion would result in 
 universal repudiation. 
 
 THE SOLDIER WILL CARRY OUT THE PROGRAMME. 
 
 Such a programme, affecting so directly and favorably the 
 whole business of the country, would be as attractive as insidi- 
 ous ; it would settle from Southern merchants to Northern mer- 
 chants debts long since outlawed or secured by barren judg- 
 ments — debts which should be paid and which could, in that 
 legislation, be fully secured — which amount to many million 
 dollars, and are as binding on the conscience of the nation as any 
 other debts of the Rebellion, and it would be the sure way to 
 perpetuate the bond and banking interest of this country. Of 
 what avail would Hancock be, placed there by the votes of that 
 politically strong and aggressive party in the South, backed by 
 the votes of their Northern allies, aided by this powerful finan- 
 cial interest ? He is not the man to give, but to obey orders. 
 No other soldier the country knows, has carried out the servi- 
 tude of his own soul as a soldier, as this man, called, in common 
 slang, superb, by his followers ; he did not hesitate even to exe- 
 cute an order to hang a woman for an offence which, however 
 revolting to humanity, was still political, and upon evidence, 
 gathered together by any means and at a time when calm judg- 
 ment was impossible. He did not hesitate to execute the order, 
 although he said to do so cost him more than all the horrors of 
 all the battle-fields through which he had passed, and whose 
 memory would follow him to the grave. What could he do, 
 when in a time of peace he is called on to execute an act of 
 Congress to do justice under the Constitution as it was, and at 
 the command of the party which, by the majority of the people, 
 will, in such case, represent and be for the time the nation ? 
 
 IT WILL NOT BE REPUDIATED BY SUBSEQUENT 
 LEGISLATION. 
 
 And would this part of the debt be repudiated should the Re- 
 publican party ever thereafter come into power ? 
 
Py/LL/AM H. ENGLISH. 29 
 
 Let me say, not until the last measure of taxation that the 
 people can bear is exhausted, and that will be long after we are 
 dead. 
 
 Whenever the English kings found that their taxation was 
 bearing too heavily on their subjects — that is, when they had got 
 everything out of them — they used to slit the noses of the usurers 
 and draw out their teeth, and subject them to other inconven- 
 iences and indignities as our " English" master has slit the noses 
 and drawn the teeth of the unfortunate hoosiers of his State. 
 They did this for a long time, getting always more blood and 
 less money; but it was the last thing they did to attack the 
 monasteries, the great respect in which the priors of these mon- 
 asteries were held by the people, and the danger there would 
 be from the large herd of vicious people it would let loose on 
 the community, if they did not keep up the public credit of reli- 
 gion — meaning the monasteries — were always the prevailing 
 considerations which moved their kings ; so like considerations 
 will move our legislators to deal very easy with those Southern 
 bondholders' bonds, and we may, as they did, have to wait for 
 many years and until the teeth are all drawn from the subsidiary 
 population, before some libidinous Henry, who will care more 
 for the private convenience of the people than the public credit 
 of the nation, will raid on that section of the bonds which were 
 issued to pay for the slaves. 
 
 BUT THE FINAL RESULT. 
 What would be the end of this legislation ? We would have the 
 business boom, for the time ; the country would be filled with 
 shouts of exultation over its wealth, power, unity, true brother- 
 hood and glory ; and then it would be as it was in Marion 
 county, the usurer's grip will be on every throat ; we would 
 have on us that curse of all human curses, a permanent national 
 debt, under which no nation can long survive with its liberties. 
 The name of English would be cursed throughout the whole 
 nation ; as it was in the whole North when he came back to 
 Indiana after having cast his vote to perpetuate human slavery ; 
 his name will be set up high on the roll of infamy; as it was be- 
 
JO WILLIAM IL ENGLISH. 
 
 fore, lined with the black lines of death and degradation ; his effigy 
 will hang amid high, leaping fires, with the licking flames of hell 
 through it, but the work will have been done ; and, like the citi- 
 zens of Marion county, the nation will look up silently and 
 hopelessly from the ashes of the ruined homes of a once free 
 people, 
 
 SOUTHERN CLAIMS BEFORE CONGRESS. 
 From tJie list of Southern claims now before Congress. 
 
 Claim 3,107 presented before the Committee on War Claims, Marie P. Evans, 
 Orleans Parish, La., January l8th, 1875. 
 
 Claim as originally presented ^272,590 
 
 As amended the following year 495>355 
 
 Among the items are 3,000 cords of wood $5 per cord 15,000 
 
 Sixty-two mules ^200 1 2,400 
 
 Three " ;^ioo 300 
 
 374 tons of fodder, corn blades, $25 9>35o 
 
 Five barrels of brandy, ;?400 .' 2,000 
 
 145,000 fence-rails 
 
 In the first claim, 500 hogsheads of sugar are included ; in the 
 second this amount is raised to 1,109 hogsheads, and the price 
 is raised from ;^2CK) a hogshead to ;^325, and this, too, when the 
 real estate of Indiana had sunk ;^57,(X)0,ooo, 
 
 " Claim 14,103. Charles G. Kerr, Fitzhugh Lee et al., executors, Alexandria 
 county, Va. Filed May 20th, 1872 ; value of 125,000 cords of oak and pine timber 
 cut from the estate of Ravensworth, Fairfax county, Va., by the order of various 
 quartermasters in 1861-62-63-64-65, at ^3 a cord, $375,000." 
 
 The whole property from which this wood was alleged 
 to have been, or was cut, was assessed before and since those 
 years at ^78,260. 
 
 "Claim 8,276. Claim of Annie Whitmore, of Whitfield county. [Mr. English 
 has no interest in this claim ; it was presented by the Hon. Benoni S. Fuller, of 
 Indiana] — $840,000. This includes one horse, $2,300; thirty-five more horses, 
 $5,100 altogether ; twelve mules, $175, $2,100; 262 bales of cotton taken for hospital 
 purposes, 500 pounds to the bale, $1 per pound, $131,000." 
 
 I wonder if that Northern soldier thought that his children 
 would have to pay for that piece of cotton he put in his ugly 
 wound when his life-blood was ebbing and he turned his dying 
 eyes to the sky above him for the last time forever ; or that the 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ^j 
 
 bill for it would be presented by one of the representatives of 
 his own State. The items go on : 
 
 " Four parlor sets, one garnet velvet, one satin, one silk, one stripes, (all made, 
 except the last, by Northern men,) ^300, $1,200; one parlor set, mohair, $200; 
 one parlor set, green silk velvet, $400; one parlor set, plaid stripe, blue, red and 
 green, empress, $350 ; one piano, Chickering (carried away by Butler, on his back, 
 and filled with spoons), $600; one piano, Steinway, grand, which could play Dixie 
 by itself, $800." 
 
 Mr. Fuller was re-elected on the merits of this claim by his 
 constituents, the strongest Democratic district of Southern 
 Indiana. 
 
 "Presbyterian Church, Murfreesboro, Tenn., $10,000, staining the floor and seats 
 with blood and the general use of the same as a hospital for sick and wounded sol- 
 diers." 
 
 It must be said to the credit of the old monasteries, that they 
 did not deny hospice to the sick and sore travellers, or the 
 wounded crusaders coming back frotji the wars, and yet I have 
 no doubt that those Presbyterians think that they are doing 
 something very much better in the way of religion than was 
 done by those monasteries. The church cost $5,000 when new, 
 and if the payment is made in government bonds it will be 
 turned into a National Bank, with the trustees for the board 
 of directors and the pastor for Anglican of the whole. 
 
 Mr. Bright, Democrat, of Tennessee, had this bill in charge. 
 
 " Thomas Hoard $58,995 for damages to his farm used as a battle-ground. (The 
 battle-ground of Stone river.) 
 
 This claim ought to be paid half only in government bonds, 
 the rest should be paid in Confederate notes for the other side 
 of the damage. 
 
 This is the style of claims which are before Congress and the 
 Court of Claims, to be disposed of when Mr. English, taking 
 General Hancock's arm, will walk up the white steps of the 
 capitol. 
 
 He who does not believe that these Southern claims, in the 
 event of the ascendency of the Democratic party, will be pressed, 
 would not believe it possible for William H. English to foreclose 
 a mortgage. 
 
22 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 The whole amount of Southern claims now on file is as 
 follows : 
 
 House Bills, War Claims $208,730 
 
 Cotton Tax 68,022,000 
 
 Internal Improvement 7.9i3.500 
 
 State Claims 890,700 
 
 Private Relief 742>43i 
 
 Senate Bills, War Claims 255,508 
 
 Internal Improvement 720,500 
 
 Private Relief 138,977 
 
 Total, 196 Bills $78,892,346 
 
 Estimate of 61 Bills Based on the Average 24,553,232 
 
 $103,445,578 
 Add Amount Filed Previous to October, 1879 1,287,524,735 
 
 Whole Amount of Claims $1,390,970,313 
 
 These losses do not embrace losses from the emancipation of 
 slaves, depredation of the troops or casualties of the march and 
 the battle-field. Slave losses in one State — South Carolina: 
 the number of slaves 400,000, value ;^ 200,000 ,000. 
 
 HOW HE GOT HIS MONEY. 
 
 In 1863 he became associated with Hugh McCullough, 
 Lanier of New York, and Riggs, in the banking business, and 
 started the First National Bank of Indianapolis. And he 
 has done more to injure the credit of the whole system of 
 banking, and to excite the masses of the people of Indiana 
 against its working, than all its open enemies. Through it and 
 through his other operations he made the period of his connec- 
 tion with it to many, very many women and men and children 
 of the county where it stands, a period of intense misery; so 
 that it seemed to them that God, for their work for our common 
 humanity, had averted his face and turned loose upon them the 
 very devils out of hell to exhaust their patience, and make them 
 curse his face and die. 
 
 HIS BANK STARTED WITH A CAPITAL OF $500,000. 
 No country before had ever come out of a war of such, or any 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ^3 
 
 proportion, under as favorable conditions as the Northern tier 
 of our States. In Indiana they had escaped very largely, though 
 not altogether its ravages. Every industry had been stimulated, 
 and, for the fifteen consecutive years to follow its close, it was 
 about to produce such harvests as have never before succeeded 
 each other in all its history. With many factories, and fruitful 
 fields, and with abundance of money, it seemed to be entering 
 upon a career of unexampled prosperity. The State government 
 and the people of Indiana, with enthusiasm and thankfulness for 
 the great result, set about to improve their farms and homes, and 
 not forgetting their defenders, to establish homes for the disabled 
 soldiers and seamen ; they formed bureaus of emigration, estab- 
 lished schools for their children, and gave full rights in law for 
 the new freed race, who lived, or might come among them. 
 
 MR. ENGLISH SETS DOWN HIS BANK VERY QUIETLY 
 AMID THIS SCENE OF EXULTATION. 
 
 The fields grew on, there were the same mouths to feed, the 
 same hands to toil, the same sunshine and the same rain ; and 
 the people of Marion county worked on and worked on. Mr. 
 English and his bank seemed a great blessing, for they got their 
 money there ; it was burthened with usury from the hands of 
 this new lord of the Southern ancestry, but they got their money 
 there. 
 
 Through 1866 the people of the county continued working 
 on, upholding their State, and gaining for themselves the com- 
 forts and luxuries of life, educating their children, and improving 
 their homes ; with the oth^r citizens of their State they expended 
 that year for the blind and deaf, for the schools, for the soldiers 
 and other expenditures, ,$4,591,856.33. 
 
 Both are yet prosperous, but how do they stand in 1866, and 
 what will be the end ? Mr. English, this brother of the slave- 
 holders, has bonds and money, and they have hands, and farms, 
 and houses ; under an arrangement with the government he will 
 receive, whatever happens to any other individuals in the county, 
 regularly the interest on his bonds ; and will contribute nothing 
 from them for the support of his county, State or country ; noth- 
 3 
 
34 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 ing for the colleges, the officers of the State ; for the sick, or the 
 bhnd, or the dumb, or the poor, or the soldiers lying in the hos- 
 pitals. And he will receive such interest for the use of his 
 money as he requires ; the rest of the people of Marion county 
 are to take all the risks and chances of business, of losses by 
 fire, by water, by the failure of crops, by everything ; to pay all 
 the taxes, and, in addition to that, by the law of their State, sus- 
 tained by the Supreme Court of their State, if any one defaults 
 or falls behind for a day in the payment of his taxes, he shall 
 pay fifteen per cent, more, and ten per cent, for the remainder 
 of the year, and fifteen per cent, for the second year, and then 
 he shall pay twenty-five per cent, for five years, when he can 
 pay no more. What will be the end ? William H. English will 
 grow rich faster than the people, that is undeniable. What 
 further ? Well, some of the people will go down, some will hold 
 on longer; those who have a little more nerve will hold on 
 longer, they will eat less bread, wear poorer clothes awhile, then 
 they will go under, and their end will be seen in the list of 
 bankruptcies and sheriff sales. What will finally remain ? A 
 vast pile of money in Mr. English's hands, splendid houses, 
 carriages, luxurious living, and the shadow of the bank covering 
 the whole county as with a pall. Let us now get at this inevi- 
 table result in figures, and trace the ruin of Marion county and 
 the rise of Mr. English in actual figures, year after year, to this 
 hour. Then, looking up from the figures into the face of the 
 man, we will see also these results on his soul and on the souls 
 of the men and women he has ruined. 
 
 It will have made of this brother of the slaveholders, a thing 
 without a sentiment for, or confidence in, humanity, and it will 
 leave on the women and the men traces of long suffering ; some 
 will be patient, looking to God, or for rest in their graves ; some 
 sullen, brooding over their wrongs. But it was still all well in 
 1866 with the masses of the people, only here and there one 
 gets into the shadow of his bank and passes into the silence 
 away. They were all still looking forward to the grander future 
 of their State. The Governor had assured them that by the 
 first of May, 1866, enough money would be accumulated to sink 
 
WILLIAM //. ENGLISH. - 
 
 the debt of their State to ^3,886,080 ; and they with the rest are 
 projecting grand improvements, and for their harbor ^300,000 
 has been collected by private hands. To October, 1866, the 
 people of the State have paid into their State treasury nearly 
 four million dollars, and expended ^426,000 on public institu- 
 tions. So they reach onward into 1 867 ; they felt the bank 
 grasping a little more, that year its hands felt harder for all their 
 velvet covering, but the coming year the pressure really began ; 
 fewer depositors came in than before ; there was some suffering. 
 The people got discontented ; they did not like Mr. English's 
 bank, and it was necessary for their leaders to say something. 
 Mr. English was one of their leaders— Chairman of the Demo- 
 cratic State Central Committee— the one that gave the money 
 to keep them going along, and he says, swing the resolution out 
 strong so that the people will be satisfied. 
 
 The Democratic Convention was therefore held there on the 
 8th day of January, 1868, and they resolved that the national 
 banking system, organized in the .interest of the bondholders, 
 ought to be abolished and United States notes substituted in lieu 
 of the national bank currency, thus saving to the people in inter- 
 est alone, more than ^^ 18,000,000 annually. And until this sys- 
 tem of banks be abolished we demand that the banks of Indiana 
 shall be subject to the same taxation, State and municipal, as 
 other property of the State; that we are in favor of the payment 
 of the government bonds in treasury notes, commonly called 
 greenbacks, except expressly made payable in gold by law, at 
 the earliest period, and then they adjourned. 
 
 Then came 1869. The whole nation was now developing with 
 enormous increase. Railroads had increased since the war 
 13,000 miles, covering 390,000 square miles of the country; 
 70,000 miles of telegraph were erected during that year. We 
 raised corn, 1865, 642,724,247 bushels; in 1869, 874,120,000; 
 wheat, 1865, 148,522,829 bushels; 1869, 264,146,900 bushels; 
 hay, 1865, 23,538,740 tons; 1869, 26,420,000 tons; tobacco' 
 1865, 183,316,953, in 1869, 225,000,000 lbs.; oats, 1865,235,- 
 252,245 bushels, the largest ever raised to that year, and- in 
 1869, 298,284,000 bushels; cotton, 1865-66, 2,228,987 bales, in 
 
^5 WILLIAM IL ENGLISH. 
 
 1869-70, 3,154,946 bales. And this crop by the foi-nier slaves 
 ■working in the cotton-fields with free-labor. And that the Demo- 
 cratic party also had spoken in thunder tones on the 8th day 
 of January, against the banks and the bondholders, and yet the 
 ])eople of Marion county were not happy. 
 
 They could not very well be, for that year, 1869, carried sixty- 
 eight of their State down with ;^ 1,0 17,000 to bankruptcy. They 
 worked on through 1 870. It is a large enterprise to carry on a 
 State ; the poor people of that State that year had to raise by 
 taxes and expend for charity, for education, and for all other ex- 
 penses of the State, 1^3,5 32,406.79 ; and eighty-six more of them, 
 with $960,000, went down to bankruptcy, but that year again 
 that Democratic party came up in convention and said, " That 
 the national bank system ought to be abolished, and greenbacks 
 used in lieu of other bank paper, thus saving millions annually 
 to the people and giving to the whole United States, instead of 
 to the few, the benefits of issuing a paper currency ; that the 
 business interests of the country demanded an increased and 
 maintained volume of currency; that shares of stock in the 
 national banks ought to be subjected to school and municipal 
 taxation, on the same conditions as other property; and that 
 they DEMANDED from their State Legislature that the shares of 
 the national banks be subjected to equal taxation with other 
 property in the State." Mr. English, the Chairman of their 
 Committee said, now the people ought to be satisfied. Nothing, 
 except a resolution to tear down the bank, could be stronger. 
 
 But their business in Marion county was dropping away. 
 Sixty men, sinking $860,000, went down into bankruptcy in 
 1872; the Legislature itself began to get anxious, poverty was 
 increasing ; tramps were on the highway ; it was necessary they, 
 as well as the Democratic Convention, should do something ; so 
 they turned their attcnti )a to the drunkenness prevailing in the 
 State, and made anoliur of those many mild efforts, which 
 have been made since the flood to sober their people. Eighty 
 went down that year with $991,000. The capital of his 
 BANK had increased FROM $500,000 TO $1,000,000. Thcy 
 still worked on as before, they sustained their State; they con- 
 
WTLLIAM //. ENGLISH. ,7 
 
 tributed the following year, 1873, ;^4,i 15,457, for reformatory 
 institutions, for educational institutions, and for the mili- 
 tary ; and they projected new railroads ; but a heavier crash came 
 with the close of that year, carrying down 134 bankrupts, and 
 with them ;^2, 260,000. 
 
 In 1874, to keep up the amount of taxation, the State made a 
 higher valuation of the property, and the farmers got on their 
 feet and came together in front of English's bank in conven- 
 tion, and struck boldly at the evil threatening their homes ; they 
 said that banking and moneyed institutions were monopolies by 
 which, through a ruinous rate of interest, the products of human 
 labor are concentrated in the hands of non-producers. Mr. 
 English smiled once more, and said "the farmers will go back to 
 their homes." 
 
 That year one hundred and sixty-seven went down to bank- 
 ruptcy with ^2,397,000; then it was a pretty thing to see that 
 Democratic party come together again, and say (very loud this 
 time), "We are in favor of the substitution of the greenbacks for 
 the national bank currency and the abolition of the banks alto- 
 gether." Mr. English paid their expenses out of his bank's 
 money : they were eating the dirt swept from his banking-house 
 floor. 
 
 In 1875, the taxable property of the State sunk ;^57,i 17,692 ;' 
 and three hundred and thirty-two bankrupts went down, sinking 
 ;g4, 804,000 ; and the Legislature again applied itself to keeping the 
 people sober, very much as after the long and terrible slaughter of 
 the war, a good sort of people among us established societies for 
 the prevention of cruelty to animals. Having aided this destruc- 
 tion of the values of their properties, by ruinous rates of interest 
 and exactions by \vhich such men as English lived, and con- 
 signed thousands of their people to bankruptcy, they passed a 
 
 ' The assessments are now still lower in 1875; lands on the outer edge of the 
 township sold at $2,000 per acre. They can be bought to-d.iy (1880) for $100 an 
 acre. The lots, firty-six in number, in King's Arsenal Heights, v.ilued at $19,000 
 in the table which follows in this volume, the appraisement of 1880 fixes at ;gl,820. 
 The Sugar Grove addition, three hundred lots appraised at $400 in 1875, was 
 appraised in 1880 at $70. 
 
og WILLIAM II. ENGLISH. 
 
 law to keep them sober. In 1876 three hundred and sixty-two, 
 with $4,787,401, went to bankruptcy: his bank went on stronger 
 and stronger. 
 
 The year 1877 sunk three hundred and fifty-two, with $5,718- 
 800, and got up the workingman he had nearly ruined — a danger- 
 ous element. August 13th, 1877, they said, in a long series of 
 resolutions, " That the suffering and destitution of the labor 
 element of the country were terrible beyond description, that all 
 the laws instead of representing labor were merely to enrich and 
 support in luxury idle drones, and are antagonistic to the prin- 
 ciples of justice." 
 
 MR. ENGLISH NOW LEAVES THE BANK. 
 
 There is a fable of yEsop which wise men remember: "The 
 Larks and the Farmer." Mr. English sat down with his stock- 
 holders for the last time, July 23d, 1877. It was solemn — it was 
 ludicrous ; it was, in its relation to the outside world, terrible. 
 There was a frightful account to be settled on the Day of Judg- 
 ment, should that ever come, to make those figures he gave there 
 balance with the outside misery ; but it was all serene within, and 
 it seemed just like the play of AH Baba and the Forty Thieves, to 
 see them there together. He seldom affects emotion and he 
 gave his farewell in figures : 
 
 " I congratulate the officers and stockholders of our enter- 
 prise. 
 
 " The bank has been in operation fourteen years under my 
 control, with a capital stock of $500,000. 
 
 " In the meantime, it has voluntarily returned $500,000 of 
 capital stock back to its stockholders, besides paying them in 
 dividends $1,496,250, part of which was in gol'd. 
 
 " I now turn it over to you with a capital unimpaired and 
 $327,000 of the undivided earnings on hand. 
 
 " To this may be added the premiums on United States bonds 
 at the present prices, amounting to $36,000, besides quite a large 
 amount for lost, or destroyed bills." 
 
 The items of profit are as follows : 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 39 
 
 Returned to stockholders, capital $500,000 
 
 Dividend to stockholders 1,496,250 
 
 Undivided earnings 327>ooo 
 
 Premiums on bonds • • • ■ 36.000 
 
 Lost or destroyed bills 24,000 
 
 ' Total ^2,383,250 
 
 On his retiring from the bank, the stockholders and directors 
 passed the following resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That the directors and stockholders of this bank 
 sincerely regret the causes which impelled the resignation of 
 the Hon. William H. English, so long president of this institu- 
 tion, and that in accepting the same they desire to express their 
 thanks to him for the very great financial ability, constant 
 watchfulness and perfect fidelity with which he has managed it 
 from its organization to the present time. 
 
 1 There is an indirect but no less certain profit which Mr. English fails to men- 
 tion. He tells us that his bank, besides returning the entire capital of ;?500,ooo to 
 the stockholders, paid them dividends aggregating, in fourteen years, ;? 1,496,250. 
 Divide this by fourteen and we have $ 106,857 as the annual dividend. This amount 
 was turned over to the stockholders regularly. It is presumable that they invested 
 it. We will suppose they loaned it at ten per cent., the interest on the first year's 
 dividend for thirteen years is ;g 138,990. On the second twelve years is $128,390. 
 On the third eleven years, $1 18,390. Those who figure it up will find that the sim- 
 ple interest on these dividends amounts to $973,710— almost a million. To com- 
 pound it would swell it to $1,500,000. Add this to the figures of Mr. English, and 
 his statement would read as follows : 
 
 Returned to stockholders, entire capital $500,000 
 
 Dividends to stockholders 1,496,250 
 
 Undivided earnings 327,000 
 
 Premiums on bonds 36,000 
 
 Lost or destroyed bills 24,000 
 
 $2,383,250 
 
 Interest on dividends 973-710 
 
 Retained by officers for salaries and rent 196,000 
 
 Total $3,552,960 
 
 During these fourteen years Mr. English got an annual salary of $5,000 as presi- 
 dent of this bank. Another stockholder, John C. New, got $4,000 a year as cashier. 
 Still another stockholder got $5,000 a year for the use of the rooms in which the 
 bank was located, and one of the cashiers went through the bank. 
 
40 
 
 WILLIAM //. ENGLISH. 
 
 Resolved, That the executive committee of the board be 
 directed to have prepared and presented to him a suitable testi- 
 monial as a memento of our regard and esteem, and that he 
 carry with him our most sincere wishes for a long life of useful- 
 ness and happiness. 
 
 In pursuance of the last resolution, a magnificent gold medal, 
 bearing the words, " Fortitude, strength and fidelity," and on 
 the reverse, " Presented to Hon. William H. English, founder, 
 and over fourteen years Pi-esident of the First National Bank of 
 Indianapolis, as a memento of the personal esteem of the stock- 
 holders and directors and their high appreciation of his very 
 great financial ability, constant watchfulness and perfect fidelity, 
 July 23d, 1877," and with the medal ^465,000 cash. 
 
 THE REIGN OF RUIN CLOSES. 
 
 The property of the State sank five millions in 1878, and crime 
 greatly increased. Their prison had but half enough cells. 
 Three hundred and seventy-four more went down, sinking 
 ;^5,233,549 with them into bankruptcy; the sheriff's fees 
 amounted to ^150 a day in Marion county ; Mr. English was his 
 largest customer.' Indianapolis, where his bank was, had a 
 million and a half of indebtedness, and many a time, says the pre- 
 sent candidate for governor of the Republican party, have I seen 
 laboring men walking home through the streets of Indianapolis, 
 carrying their little dinner baskets in their hands. They said to 
 me, " Mr. Porter, we are not getting along. We could get along 
 very well, and make repairs from time to time, which are neces- 
 sary, were it not for the burden of taxes and assessments that 
 keeps us behind all the time." It may not seem worthy of a 
 place here, yet it is nevertheless true, that the very hogs got 
 thinner all over the State. They raised more hogs and fed less 
 corn; they eat less themselves; they raised 55,000,000 bushels 
 of wheat in the State; exported 43,000.000 and kept only 
 12,000,000 for themselves. The more they worked the less they 
 made in that county. It was becoming a struggle for existence. 
 
 'Total value of taxable property, 1877, $855,190,125; in 1878, $850,616,987. 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 41 
 
 Tt was once a bleeding Kansas ; it was now a bleeding Marion 
 county ; but its citizens, with their fellow-citizens of the State, 
 kept a grand record of energy through the whole ; they estab- 
 lished a department of geology ; there must be something below, 
 they reasoned, when what is on the earth will not sustain us. 
 
 They got up an amendment to their constitution to keep 
 their property from being taxed out of existence ; they established 
 an asylum for feeble-minded children. But the struggle was 
 too great for human nature to endure ; defalcation in the State ; 
 and even among the bank officers. Attorney-General Buskirk's' 
 affairs were examined. It turned on the construction of the law ; 
 these things always do, but the reason he took the money was, 
 the same reason why the hogs grew thinner, and the people 
 eat less wheat than before, and why the mob of laborers 
 howled around the State house. The money had got into 
 Mr. English's hands, all of it, and it could *not be anywhere 
 else, for it is not one of the functions of money to be in two 
 places at the same time. It took about 400 years for the 
 English kings to discover that by an inevitable law the money 
 of the realm always got into the monasteries, so that the govern- 
 ment could go on no longer until the king himself got into 
 the monasteries, and in fact until they were torn down and carted 
 away. Poor Buskirk and the long list of bankrupts, and the 
 thousands who had nothing to bankrupt upon, whose names 
 never reached to the dignity of newspaper disgrace, and the 
 tramps and the poor children, whose fathers committed suicide 
 or ran away, everj^'thing was going " to hell and gone," more 
 and more. English was sending them there one after another. 
 Buskirk, poor fellow, says, " I have mortgaged all I have to my 
 surety. I have nothing else, having come back here poorer by 
 about ^4,000 than when I went to Indianapolis four years ago. 
 I had to borrow money to pay the freight on my furniture to get 
 back here." And Buskirk was the Attorney-General of the State 
 of Indiana. Jackson Landers' made an error which brought 
 him in debt to the county treasury, ^14,304.48. He was the 
 
 ' E. C. Buskirk, Vice-President of the Hendricks club. 
 
 » Brother of the Democratic candidate for Governor of Indiana. 
 
^2 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 county treasurer of Marion county, and James C. Denny, Ex- 
 Attorney-General of the State, went under investigation. God 
 knows how many more ; even the State Auditor, Henderson, 
 fell back ;^ 13,000; at least they tried to construe the law that 
 way against him, although some of his friends on the com- 
 mittee did not think he was bound to turn over anything into 
 the treasury ; he was poor, and they were all poor ; the whole 
 county was with English and the monastery system. It was, 
 on the one side of the gold medal, " fortitude, strength and 
 fidelity," and on the reverse, " feeble-minded children " — a sad 
 thing, really, such a ruin effected in a county with a great sub- 
 stratum of inexhaustible wealth, and golden fields, cattle, schools 
 and churches ; but the saddest thing of all was to see its last 
 Legislature meet ; they had been meeting,for the whole fourteen 
 years in which the black English pile had been builded, whose 
 shadow in those years shut out the sunshine of the State. They 
 had not had force enough, or " fidelity " enough, or strength 
 enough to beat that man ; last winter they met together and 
 voted ; it was the last meeting of the Legislature, the winter of 
 last year (1879). -^"^ they said that the Chinese cheap labor 
 of Mr. English had ruined them, and sent Mr. Voorhees to Con- 
 gress to say the same thing there. 
 
 They voted to reduce the wages of government officials by a 
 vote of ninety to two ; to repeal the act to resume, fifty to forty ; 
 to tax the bonds of the United States government, fifty-seven to 
 thirty-four; for the abolition of all bank issues, fifty-nine to 
 thirty-two ; for a free coinage of gold and silver, eighty-five to 
 five ; for the issue by the government of a loan of her own paper 
 for the people, enough for all the wants of trade, at least $^0 
 for every man, woman and child, fifty to forty ; to pay off the 
 bonded debt altogether, eighty-four to four. And English looked 
 out through the barred window of his residence and smiled. 
 " This sort of language is getting a little monotonous," he said. 
 The next spring — this year 1880 — that Democracy was in Cin- 
 cinnati to sell themselves and the former slaves of the South 
 once more to be his slaves, and he bought the whole party for 
 ^100,000, and took a mortgage in Hancock's name on the country. 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 43 
 
 THE MORTGAGE FORECLOSURES OF WILLIAM H. 
 ENGLISH. 
 
 {^From the Records of Marion County.) 
 
 We are now coming to the details of this reign of ruin. The 
 statements are given over the affidavits of Ben. Rau, Township 
 Assessor, and Daniel M. Ransdell, Clerk of the Superior Court 
 of Marion County, August 21, 1880. 
 
 The list begins in October, 1872, and with a woman. 
 
 Plaintiff. 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 Wm. H. English, 
 
 Defendant. No. Entry Docket. 
 
 Elizabeth Fiscus, et al 4 
 
 Charles N. Tuleweiler, et al 6 
 
 Aaron Brown, et al 6 
 
 Wm. H. Brown, et al 7 
 
 John L. Adkinson, et al 7 
 
 John Batty, et al 7 
 
 Julius A. Kelley, et al 7 
 
 Clark M. Randall, et. al 7 
 
 Wm. D. Seaton, et al 7 
 
 Wm. D. Seaton, et al 7 
 
 Wm. D. Seaton, et al 7 
 
 N. R. Ruckle, et al 7 
 
 N. R. Ruckle, et al 7 
 
 Andrew W. Bronson, et al 7 
 
 Alfred C. Morse, et al 7 
 
 Caroline P. De Wolf, et al 9 
 
 Jacob C. Dick, et al 8 
 
 Weitkins Lacy, et al 10 
 
 John W. Coyner, et al 10 
 
 James O. Woodruff, et al 10 
 
 Samuel R. Lippincott et al 10 
 
 Mary S. Sheets, et al 10 
 
 Elam Fischer, et al 1 1 
 
 Hanna N. Newlin, et al 1 1 
 
 Mary S. Sheets, et al u 
 
 Jackson L. Jessup, et al 1 1 
 
 Margaretta C. C. Goe, et al II 
 
 Mary S. Sheets, et al 1 1 
 
 William D. Seaton, et al 8 
 
 Robert Connolly, et al 12 
 
 James W. Bugbee, et al 12 
 
 Eliza B. Howe, et al. 12 
 
 Harry S. Sheets, et al 12 
 
 Arthur S. C. Vance, et al 13 
 
 Lawrence G. Hay, et al 13 
 
 William Smith, et al 13 
 
 W. C. Van Arden, et al 13 
 
 William Preignitz, et al 14 
 
 William H. Henchen, et al 14 
 
 Thomas E. Phillips, et al 14 
 
 Edward W. Pierson, et al 14 
 
 John Sears, et al '4 
 
 1873 
 1873 
 1873 
 1875 
 '873 
 
 Date of filing Compt 
 October 25, 1872. 
 September 26, 1873 
 October 10, 1873. 
 December 13, 1873 
 December 13, 1873 
 December 13, 
 December 13, 
 December 26, 
 December 26, 
 December 26, 
 December 26, 1873 
 December 26, 1873 
 December 26, 1873 
 February 20, 1874. 
 February 20, 1874. 
 August 4, 1874. 
 April 20, 1874. 
 October 3, 1874. 
 October 23, 1874. 
 October 23, 1874. 
 
 October 23, 1874. 
 
 October 23, 1874. 
 
 November 5, 1S74. 
 
 November 24, 1874. 
 
 November 24, 1874, 
 
 November 24, 1874. 
 
 December 9, 1874. 
 
 December 23, 1874 
 
 January 6, 1875. 
 
 February 18, 1875. 
 
 February 17, 1875. 
 
 February 16, 1875. 
 
 February 13, 1875. 
 
 May II, 1875. 
 
 May 12, 1875. 
 
 May 20, 1875. 
 
 June 14, 1875. 
 
 June 24, 1875. 
 
 June 24. 1875. 
 
 August 23, 1875. 
 
 August 23, 1875. 
 
 August 19, 1875. 
 
44 WILLI A AI II. ENGLISH. 
 
 Plaintiff. Defendant. No Entry Docket. Date of filing Compt. 
 
 Wni. n. English, John R. Elder, trustee 15 September 23, 1.S75. 
 
 Wni. H. English, John R. Elder, trustee 15 September 23, 1875. 
 
 \Vm. H. English, Benjamin Crane, et al 15 SejUember 23, 1875. 
 
 Wm. H. English, William Smith, et al 15 October 22, 1875. 
 
 Wm. n. English, Katherine Schlegel, et al 15 October 22, 1875. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Jackson L. Jessup, et al 15 Octoi)er 20, 1875. 
 
 Wm. H. English, William Madison, et al 15 October 18, 1875. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Theresa Goebler, et al 15 October 18, 1875. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Conrad Kron, et al 15 October 18, 1875. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Henry M. Sheets, et al 15 October 18, 1875. 
 
 Wm. H. English, L. B. Manchester, et al 16 November 26, 1875.. 
 
 W:n. H. English, N. R. Ruckle, et al 16 November 26, 1875. 
 
 Wm. H. English, John T. Macaulay, et al 16 November 26, 1875. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Bettie C. Huston, et al 16 November 26. 1875. 
 
 These were the first three years of his foreclosures — and brings 
 it to the Centennial year. 
 
 In this year we might suppose that he would rest. It was the 
 year which beheld the fall of the British throne. He has only 
 .started out on his Lietrim work ; but he will surely take a rest 
 here. The Bell of Independence is ringing in the year of 
 jubilee," in which the usurers of old restored to every man his 
 possessions — he who is to ascend the white steps of the capitol, 
 will surely now obey God's command for this most joyous hour 
 — he at least lives in a Christian country. Will he not bring 
 together the families he is breaking asunder? There's Elizabeth 
 Fiscus et al. And if he does not believe in God or thinks 
 these commands were for the usurers of the olden times, let 
 him bring Elizabeth Fiscus back with her little family, and have 
 a good time once more : God or no God, this is simple humanity 
 for such a year. He will not do so — he has other purposes — he 
 will not go to the capitol as Jefferson and Adams went there — first 
 in the hearts of their countrymen — he will buy his way there — 
 and he must have money. There is one man in all this mighty 
 nation — in all the world, whose heart beats not with the spirit of 
 this holiest year of all the years, of all the centuries — let the 
 funeral go on. 
 
 • Leviticus, lolh verse, chap. xxv. : Proclaim liberty throughout all the land 
 unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you : and ye shall return 
 every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. 17th 
 verse : Ye .shall not therefore oppress one another, but thou shall fear thy God : for I 
 am the Lord your God. 
 
WILLIAM //. ENGLISH. .5 
 
 Plaintiff. Defendant. No. Entry Docket. Date 0/ filing Compt 
 
 Wm. II. English, Joseph W. Hammond, et al. . .. 16 January 19, 1876. 
 
 Wm. li. English, Charles O. Gilchrist, et al 17 January 27, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, James W. King, et al 17 January 26, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Sarah Dunbar, et al 17 January 25, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Robert Connelly, et al 17 February 17, 1876. 
 
 And now you will observe how he celebrates the birthday of 
 his first predecessor : they generally elsewhere have a military 
 parade — people close their stores, the courts adjourn ; but he 
 takes his customary walk with that inevitable foreclosure — justice 
 delays not for him for holy years or holy days — wait not, he 
 says, till to-morrow's sun : another woman, and her children it 
 may be, must go. So the record reads : 
 
 Wm. H. English, Rebecca P. Sinker, et al 17 February 22, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, John O. Hardesty, et al 17 February 25, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, John H. Batty, et al 17 February 25, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Matthew Logan, et al 18 April 21, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Sadie E. McClelland, el al 18 April 18, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Francis E. Woodling, et al 18 April 18, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Elihu P. Iladley, et al 18 April 18, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Choah Rinker, et al 18 April 17, 1876. 
 
 Wm. II. English, V. K. Stanley, et al 18 April 17, 1S76. 
 
 Wm. II. English, Mary Hatch, et al 18 May 18. 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, E. J. Foster, et al 18 May i8, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Benjamin Mason, et al 19 May 24, 1S76. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Otway Allen, et al 19 August 10, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Caroline E. Butterfield, et al.. .. 19 August 10, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Eliza Lippincott, et al 19 August 10, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Benjamin F". Jones, et al 20 August 20, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Joseph Poole, et al 20 August 22, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, George B. Engle, Jr., et al 20 August 20, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Olivicay Allen, et al 9 
 
 Wm. H. English, M. D. Losey, et al 20 August 21, 1876. 
 
 Wm. II. English, Julius C. Wagner, et al 21 October 27, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, John C. Shoemaker, et al 21 October 26, 1876. 
 
 Wm. II. English, Wm. E. Tilurray, et al 21 October 25, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Charles W. Moody, et al 21 October 4, 1S76. 
 
 It is difficult to believe that these names that read down like 
 a dictionary — a sort of dictionary of the " English " language 
 — represent blighted lives and ruined homes — that this man was 
 making " a new forest " in Indiana — a place, as the poet writes, 
 in the " Deserted Village," " where wealth accumulates and men 
 decay;" but so it was; a reporter who saw many of these names 
 in their flesh and blood, and hatred of the man, says of this 
 last name, Mr. Charles W. Moody : " He was a druggist ; in 
 1873 he was in business at the intersection of Indiana avenue 
 
.5 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 and Tennessee street, and owned the building. Was doing 
 well, and concluded to add to his building, and, as he had a 
 little extra money, and there was a large amount of building 
 going on, he thought he would buy some ground and start a 
 brick-yard, and that, thereby, he could make the brick for his 
 house free of cost. He bought ten acres south of town, from 
 B. F. Heffgen, for ^650 per acre, and paid on the property 
 ^4,500, leaving two first-mortgage notes of ;^ 1,000. These 
 Heffgen sold to English, and on them he paid until he owed 
 him $698.45. He also paid the taxes, and this was the only 
 encumbrance on the ground. In the meantime there was no 
 sale for the brick, and though he worked night and day, he was 
 unable to meet the interest. English then foreclosed. He met 
 him at the Court House, and on the steps asked him to be len- 
 ient, that he was doing all mortal man could do, and that he 
 would pay him as soon as possible. English said, and these are 
 his exact words : ' If you don't hurry up and pay me faster, I 
 WILL DRIVE YOU TO HELL AND GONE ! ' But this is not all: 
 he bought in the property, and closed his drug-store on a per- 
 sonal judgment of ;^2,500. How English got that he could not 
 discover, until he found that the notes were ' gold bearin',' and 
 that he had exacted the premium. When he closed his store, 
 other creditors, of course, came and he was ruined. At that 
 time he considered himself, and was, worth, clear of everything,. 
 ;^25,ooo, and Bill English ruined him." 
 
 Plaintiff. Defendant. No Entry Docket. Date of filing Cotnpt 
 
 Wm. H. English, John H. Vagen, et al 21 November 22, 1876. 
 
 Wni. H. English, Nancy Nichols, et al 21 November 22, 1876- 
 
 Wm. H. English, Wilson Lockhart, el al 21 November 22, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, John L. Hanna, et al 21 November 22, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Theresa Neather, et al 22 December 22, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, George Lowe, et al 22 December 22, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, John A. Kierling, et al 22 December 22, 1876. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Jacob Bieler, et al 22 December 22, 1876. 
 
 This is Captain Jacob Bieler, an employe in the mail-bag ser- 
 vice at the post-office. Some six years since he purchased, for 
 $2,200, two lots from James Frank, who had laid out an addi- 
 tion on land bought from William H. English. He knew Frank 
 intimately, and had so much confidence in him that he was care- 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. .- 
 
 less about looking at the abstract of title, as he said all was 
 right. He paid part down, and altogether paid ^i,6oo, and then 
 had the chance to sell the property to good advantage, but the 
 would-be purchaser found that English held a first mortgage 
 over the whole addition. He then went to him and asked him to 
 release it, offering to pay extra his pro rata of the mortgage, when 
 he said he would not do it, as the mortgage was not due until 
 1880, and he would see about it then. This was in ''j^ or 
 ^yj. In the meantime Frank had turned over to him his last 
 two notes, and he told English that unless he released the mort- 
 gage he would not pay another cent, as he might come on him 
 for any amount he saw fit in 1880. He said he could do as he 
 liked, and subsequently foreclosed on the lots, bid them in him- 
 self, and secured an additional personal judgment against him of 
 ^1,000.^ When he learned this he went to his office and asked 
 what he owed a thousand dollars for; that he had paid him 
 ;^i,6oo, and that he had the lots back, and what more could he 
 ask ? English said, what he asked was his money, and he pro- 
 posed to have it, and that right away. He then told English 
 what he thought of his robbery, and English ordered him out of 
 his office. He had a small harness shop on Delaware street, and 
 was compelled to go into bankruptcy. 
 
 Plaintiff. Defendant. No. Entry Docket. Date of filing Compt. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Isaac Klines, et al 22 December 22, 1876. 
 
 Win. H. English, Louise Metzner, et al 22 December 22, 1S76. 
 
 ' Mr. English, when buying under the hammer, did not bid the full amount of 
 his mortgage, thus leaving an individual judgment against his unfortunate creditors. 
 The appended is taken from the list of sheriff's sales, and tells its own story : 
 
 Amount of Personal 
 
 Property sold. Amount bid. Mortgage. jTudgntent. 
 
 October 7, 1879 — Lot 23, Outlot io8, Frank's addition $400 I541 89 I141 89 
 
 October 29, 1879 — Lots 17 and 18, Frank's addition 800 1,263 80 463 80 
 
 November 5, 1879 — Lots i, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 in Moore's sub- 
 division 600 1,86732 1,26732 
 
 March 2, 1880 — Part of Lot 2, square 19 6,500 7,18060 68060 
 
 April 27, 1880— Lot 14, Outlot 13, Terry's subdivision 1,600 1,62540 2540 
 
 February 20, 1877— Part of Lot 317, Outlets 98,91, 96, 97, Stone's 
 
 subdivision 1,600 1,717 79 117 79 
 
 April 28, 1877— Part of Lot 317, Stone's addition 910 1,92330 1,01330 
 
 May 3, 1879 — Lots 8, 9, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 39, 40, 41, 42, 
 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 58, 59, 207, 208, 209, 250, 251, 291, 292, 293, 
 294, 295, 48, 49, 106, 107, loS, ICQ, no. III, 112, 113, 114, 115, 
 
 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, Allen's Woodlawn 1,000 1,70340 70340 
 
 July 8, 1879 — Lots 12 and 13, Moore's subdivision 200 303 54 103 54 
 
 July 8, 1879 — Lot 4, Moore's subdivision 100 151 77 51 77 
 
 July 8, 1879 — Lot 36, Outlot 130, Yandes' addition 600 76822 16822 
 
 July 22, 1879 — Lot 32, . Allen's new addition 400 65000 25000 
 
48 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 Plaintiff. Defendant. No. Entry Docket. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Louise Metzner, et al 22 
 
 Will. H. English, Louis Miller, et al 22 
 
 Wni. n. English, Isaac W. Stratford, et al 22 
 
 Wni. H. English, Emily D. Snyder, et al 22 
 
 Date of filing Cotnpt. 
 December 22, 1876. 
 December 22, 1876. 
 December 15, 1876. 
 December 14, 1876. 
 
 So closed the Centennial year; but there was yet more work 
 to be done. The list begins again with — 
 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 
 Wm. 
 Wm, 
 Wm. 
 Wm. 
 Wm. 
 Wm. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. II. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. H. 
 Wm. II. 
 
 Wm. 
 Wm. 
 Will. 
 Wm. 
 Wm. 
 Wm. 
 Wm. 
 Wm. 
 Wm. 
 
 Wm. H. 
 
 Wm. H 
 Wm. H 
 Wm. H 
 Wm. II 
 Wm. H 
 Wm. H 
 
 Wm. ri 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Eng! 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 English 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Engl 
 
 Enrrl 
 
 Wm. H. Webb, etal 22 
 
 Mary Deerfield, et al 22 
 
 Michael Hoffman, et al 22 
 
 Chris. H. Stein, et al 22 
 
 Hemy Hagedorn, et al 22 
 
 Kalhei ine Schlegal, et al 22 
 
 James W. Perkiason, et al 22 
 
 Robert Breckenridge, et al 22 
 
 John II. Scriter, et al 23 
 
 Joseph Scliii ck, et al 23 
 
 Frederick W. Wmter, et al 23 
 
 William W. Blake, et al 23 
 
 Robert Connelly, et al 23 
 
 Harry H. Sheets, et al 23 
 
 Julius N. Iloetgen, et al 23 
 
 Frank Buettner, et al 23 
 
 Jennie S. Norwood, et al 23 
 
 Julius Wagner, et al 23 
 
 James Bennett, et al 23 
 
 Samuel Kennedy, et al 23 
 
 Jas. G. Marshall, et al 24 
 
 Samuel L. Campbell, et al 24 
 
 James R. Baker, et al 24 
 
 James W. King, et al 24 
 
 Charles Brakmyer, et al 25 
 
 Isaac W. Stialford, et al 25 
 
 Johanna C. Poi^e, et al 25 
 
 James W. Sewell, et al ....... . 25 
 
 Fred. W. Winter, et al 25 
 
 James Frank, et al 25 
 
 Catherine Brill, et al 25 
 
 Wm. G. Sweeney, et al 25 
 
 John C. Ballard, et al 25 
 
 George L. Schriter, et al 25 
 
 August Stuckmeyer, et al 25 
 
 Henry W. Searles, et al 25 
 
 Jennie M. Hays, et al 25 
 
 Henry Coburn, et al 25 
 
 J. Peter Franz, et al 25 
 
 Wm. H. Kramer, et al 25 
 
 Mary A. Broominstock, et al. . . 25 
 
 Lorinda M. Mehaffey, et al 25 
 
 Stephen H. Greer, et al 26 
 
 Katherina Riley, et al 26 
 
 George W. House, et al 26 
 
 Kate W. Patterson, et al 26 
 
 Myron Dickson, et al 26 
 
 1877. 
 
 1877. 
 1877. 
 1877. 
 1877. 
 1877. 
 1877. 
 1877. 
 1877. 
 
 January 23, 
 January 23, 
 January 23, 
 January 23, 
 January 23, 
 January 23, 
 January 19, 
 January 24, 
 J.inuary 25, 
 February 23, 1877. 
 February 23, 1877. 
 February 22, 1S77. 
 February 23, 1877. 
 February 16, 1877. 
 March 22, 1S77. 
 March 23, 1877. 
 March 23, 1S77, 
 March 23, 1877. 
 March 23, 1877. 
 March 23, 1877. 
 May 24, 1877. 
 May 23, 1877. 
 April 26, 1S77. 
 March 22, 1S77. 
 May 25, 1877. 
 May 25, 1875, 
 May 25, 1877. 
 May 25, 1877. 
 May 25, 1877. 
 May 24, 1877. 
 May 24, 1877. 
 May 24, 1877. 
 May 24, 1877. 
 July 12, 1S77. 
 August 21, 1877. 
 August 21, 1877. 
 August 21, 1S77. 
 August 18, 1877. 
 August 18, 1877. 
 August 18, 1877. 
 August 15, 1877. 
 August 15, 1877. 
 October 23, i88j. 
 October 23, 1877. 
 November 13, 1877, 
 November 12, 1877. 
 November 21, 1877. 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 Plaintiff. Defendant. No. Entry Docket. 
 
 Wm. H. English, James M. Robin, et al 26 
 
 Wm. H. English, Wm. F. Bird, et al 27 
 
 Wm. H. English, Daniel McCIure, et al 27 
 
 Wm. H. English, Jacob C. Dick, et al 29 
 
 Wm. H. English, Mary E. Adams, et al 28 
 
 Wm. H. English, George H. Kirkpatrick, et al 28 
 
 Wm. H. English, George Heid, et al 28 
 
 Wm. H. English, Robert Breckenridge, et al 28 
 
 Wm. H. English, James H. Miller, et al 28 
 
 Wm. H. English, James A. Moore, et al 28 
 
 Wm. H. English, Mary A. Fiscus, et al 28 
 
 Wm. H. English, James W. King, et al 29 
 
 Wm. H. English, John Stuckmeyer, et al 29 
 
 Wm. H. English, Herman Reuitti, et al 29 
 
 Wm. H. English, Jens Peter Peterson, et al 29 
 
 Wm. H. English, Peter Peterson, et al 29 
 
 Wm. H. English, Edgar J. Foster, et al 29 
 
 Wm. \\. English, .Samuel Johnson, et al 30 
 
 Wm. H. English, Mary A. Dickson, et al 30 
 
 Wm. H. English, Barbara E. Okey, et al 30 
 
 Wm. H. English, George Schriter, et al 30 
 
 49 
 
 Date 0/ filing Compt. 
 November 21, 1877. 
 December 24, 1877. 
 February 22, 1878. 
 April 23, 1878. 
 May 14, 1878. 
 May 7, 1878. 
 March 19, 1878. 
 March 19, 1878. 
 March 15, 1878. 
 November 15, 1878. 
 March 6, 1878. 
 August 21, 1878. 
 August 19, 1878. 
 July 29, 1878. 
 June 18, 1878. 
 June 17, 1878. 
 June 17, 1878. 
 January 17, 1879. 
 January 21, 1879. 
 January 22, 1879. 
 January 23, 1879. 
 
 The old German, George Schriter, writes the interviewer, had 
 felt the grip of the iron hand. He was formerly in the saloon 
 business, and owned a three-story brick building on Washing- 
 ton street, opposite the Court House, and is an honest, hard- 
 working man. He traded his property with the Octopus for 
 four houses and six lots in English's addition, and subsequently 
 mortgaged the property — which was valued by English in the 
 trade at $10,000 — to him for $1,300 to pay a security debt The 
 inevitable foreclosure followed, and when friends helped to 
 redeem the property, on the last day there was an item of $100 
 for attorney's fees for his son who attended to the case. He 
 also exacted the full penalty on the tax certificate, which. 
 Schriter was unable to take up on account of sickness. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Charles Neighbors, et al 30 January 23, 1879^ 
 
 Wm. H. English, Lemuel McLaughlin, et al 31 March 13, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Barbara E. Okey, et al 31 April 9, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Samuel B. Hoefgen, et al 31 April 12, 18791 
 
 Wm. H. English, Brice M. Carter, et al 31 April 12, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Kate M. Patterson, et al 31 April 12, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, James W. Morris, et al 29 April 23, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Jane Greenfield, et al 32 August 18, 1879* 
 
 Wm. H. English, Robert H. Patterson, et al 32 August 18. 1879* 
 
 Wm. H. English, Nellie Winings, et al 32 August 18, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Caroline Holzwart, et al 32 August 18, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Mary E. Minthoral, et al 32 August 18, 1879. 
 
50 
 
 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 Plaintiff. Defendant. No. Docket Entry. ^ Date of filing Compt 
 
 Wm. H. English, Henry S. Keeley, et al 32 August 18, 1S79. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Arthur L. Wright, et al 32 August 18, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, John B. Renard, et al 32 August 21, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Milton M. Landis, et al 32 August 21, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Jordan S. Mott, et al 32 August 21, 1879. 
 
 Wm. H. English, Jacob M. Wolf, et al 2,t^ December 6, 1879. 
 
 And so ends the first lesson. After the suits for foreclosure 
 comes the Sheriff's sales. There is perhaps nothing so great a trial 
 to a man's fortitude who has worked long and hard, has gained 
 his little home, and has his family around him, as to break the 
 truth to his wife that they are ruined — that their home is gone ; 
 and then to walk the streets conscious of no wrong, with head hung 
 down — a ruined, outcast, houseless, homeless man. For such an 
 one, there is the easy way that leaves everything, the way of the 
 coward, and there is the hard way, the way of the slave, but it 
 was in Indiana harder, because it was for many of them a life 
 without a future ! If in that State, they said, which was in past 
 years a Paradise to broken fortunes, and in these years when the 
 good God fills all the earth with harvests, and gives health and 
 strength to the laborer — if then and there the laborer has done 
 his work, and the Sheriff's sale comes once more, what remains? 
 But that was the condition Marion county was brought to and 
 the whole State all those years ; and men labored and thought 
 and planned and economized as never before ; but yet it was the 
 .same road for all — one after the other, women and men, young 
 and old, to one common ruin. 
 
 DEEDS FROM SHERIFF OF MARION COUNTY TO 
 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 No. o/Book No ef 
 
 Date of Deed Description of Property. of Record. Page. 
 
 ■October 7, 1876 Lots 19, 20, 21, Oiitlot 17, Cully and Goodwin's addition loi 52 
 
 December 5, 1876. ..Lot 233, Allen's Woodlawn addition ...loi 518 
 
 December 5, 1876. ..Lots 221 and 222, Allen's Woodlawn addition loi 521 
 
 February 20, 1877. .Lots pt, 317, Outlots 91, 98,96, 97, A. Stone, Jr.'s, subdivision. .. .105 199 
 
 April 28, 1877 Lots pt. 317, Outlots 96, 97,98, 99, A. Stone, Jr.'s, subdivision 105 612 
 
 May 16, 1877 Lot 4, Square 35 107 81 
 
 June 14, 1877 Lot 32, Woodruff Place 107 171 
 
 lily 7, 1877 Lot 4, Square 5 107 248 
 
 August 10, 1877 Lot 176, Woodruff Place 107 424 
 
 October g, 1877 . .. .Lot 13, Outlot 2, Master's subdivision, Drake's second addition .. .111 17 
 
 •October 5, 1877 . .. .Lots 1 and 2, Outlot 63 iii 20 
 
 October 9, 1877 Lots 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, Frank's subdivision 11 1 24 
 
 Decemtrer 10, 1877. Half of Lot 30, Outlots 10, 31, 184, Wiley's subdivision... 11 1 326 
 
 December 18, 1877. Lot 12, Square 36 iii 338 
 
 D«cember 26, 1877 Lots i and 2, Square 51 111 380 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 51 
 
 Ne. of Book No. of 
 Date 0/ Deed. Description 0/ Property. of Record. Page. 
 
 January 11, 1878 ..Lot 18, WoodruflTs subdivision, Morris' addition iii 499 
 
 January 11, 1878... Lot 85, Woodruff's Place 11 1 5<» 
 
 February 20, 1878. .Lots 14 and 15, Square i, Wright's first north side addition 113 245 
 
 Febniary 26, 1878.. Lots 19, 20, 21, 22, Square i, Wright's north side addition 113 248 
 
 February 20, 1878.. Lot 7, Frank's S. Meridian street addition 113 251 
 
 February 25, 1878.. Lot 175, Allen's north addition 113 254 
 
 March 6, 1878 Lot 10, Square 87 "3 3°* 
 
 March 5, 1878 Lots 10 and 11, Outlot J03, Downie's addition J13 307 
 
 April 10, 1878 Lot 48, Outlot 108, Frank & Ryan's subdivision 115 122 
 
 April 10, 1878 Lots 87 and 88, Allen & Root's north addition 115 125. 
 
 May 3, 1878 Lot 26, Pattersons addition 115 ='58' 
 
 May 22, 1878 Lot 25, Kappes & N aimer's addition 115 447 
 
 May 14, 1878 Lot 29, Kappes & Naltner's addition 115 449 
 
 May 21, 1878 Lot 322, K.tppes & Naltner's addition 115 45^ 
 
 May 22, 1878 Lots 27 and 28, Outlot 108, Frank & Ryan's subdivision 115 455 
 
 May 14, 1878 Pt. Outlot 122 "5 458 
 
 May 21, 1878 Lots i, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 16, Pool's subdivision, Johnson's addition.. .115 461 
 
 May J4, 1878 Lots 2 and 24, Allen, Root & English's north Woodlawn addition. .115 464 
 
 June II, 1878 Lot 1, Woodruff & Morris' addition 115 601 
 
 June II, 1878 Lot 30, Outlot 159, Ray Trustee's subdivision 115 604 
 
 June 4, 1878 Lot 6, Kappes & Naltner's addition "5 507 
 
 June 16, 1878 Lots 41 and 42, Outlot 168, Spaun & Co.'s addition 116 192 
 
 July 23, 1873 Lot 10, Kappes' addition "6 329 
 
 July 50, 1878 Lot 14, Square 56 "6 33= 
 
 August 13, 1873 Lots 43, 51, 55, 80, 81, 85, Outlots 166 and 167, Blake's subdivision.ii6 454 
 
 August 13, 1878 Lot 3, Outlot 150, Ray's subdivision 116 457 
 
 June 7, 1878 Lots 92, 93, 94, 95, Lewis's subdivision of Bryan's addition. Lot 10, 
 
 Square 14, Star's addition: Lots 2, 3 and 4, in Terry's subdivi- 
 sion, and a part of Lot 6, Square 36 116 516 
 
 April 2S, 1S70 Lot 16, Deutsch's subdivision, Morris's addition: Lots 4 and 71, 
 
 Brown's subdivision; Lot 6, Kappes' addition; 23^ and 22, 
 Rosep's subdivision; 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, Car Company's 
 addition 
 
 RECORD OF DEEDS TO MR. ENGLISH UNDER DECREE 
 OF FORECLOSURE. 
 
 September 10, 1878X01 4, Outlot 99, Hendricks' subdivision ti8 7 
 
 September 10, 1878 Lot 3, Outlot loi, Stern's subdivision 118 9 
 
 October 23, 1878. . .Lot 237, Kappes' addition "8 304 
 
 October 24, i87S....Lots 13, 14, 15, Lozier s Highland addition 118 307 
 
 October 22, i87S....Lot 19, Vagen's addition "8 3" 
 
 October 22, 1878... Lots 25 and 26, Square 13, Hubbard s addition ii» SM 
 
 October 23, 1878... Lot 44, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision "8 317 
 
 October 24, 1878... Lot 2, Woodruff's subdivision, Morris' addition 118 341 
 
 Novembers, 1878.. Lots 58, 59. 6°. Hanna's heirs addition. "8 408 
 
 November 19, 1S78 Lot 5 and half-lot 4, Lots 91, 92 in Blake s division 120 46 
 
 January 14, 1870 .. .Lot 63, Outlot 150, McChesney's subdivision - 120 401 
 
 January 15, 1879.. .Lot 130, Allen & Root's north addition 120 489 
 
 January 15, 1879... Lots 26 and 36, in WoodrufTs subdivision 120 492 
 
 January 21, 187J . . .Lot 81, Outlot 89 120 494 
 
 February 3 1879... Lot 2, Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad Co. s additions 120 617 
 
 March 3, 1879 Lots 8, 9, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 39, 40, 41, 42. 43. 44, 45. 46, 
 
 47, 58, 59, 207, 208, 209, 250, 251, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 48, 49, 
 106, 107, J08, 109. 110, III, 112, 113, 114. 115, "6, 117, 118, 119, 
 
 120, Allen's Woodlawn addition 121 44a 
 
 March 17, 1879 Lot 4, Square 60, Martindale's addition 121 575 
 
 April 22 1879 Lots 15 and 16, Allen's subdivision 121 507 
 
 May 26 '1879 Lots 4, 5 and 6, Charles St. John's addition 125 215 
 
 May 26' 1879 Lot 3, Elliott's subdivision, Henderson's addition 125 218 
 
 May 29' 1S79 Lot 4, Elliott's subdivision, Henderson's addition 125 221 
 
 May 29 1879 Lot 5, Elliott's subdivision, Henderson's addition 125 224 
 
 M'av 24' 1879 Lot 18, Square 22, Sangster, Harrison's addition 125 334 
 
 lulv 8 1879 . Lots 12 and 13, Moore's and Fletcher's addition 126 55 
 
 Tuly s' 1879 ".'.'.!.. Lot 4, Moore's and Fletcher's addition 126 J28 
 
 luly s' 1879 Lot 16, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 126 , 31 
 
 lulv S' 1879 Lot 36, Outlot 130, Yande's subdivision 126 34 
 
 1ulv2i 1879 . ...Lot 232, Allen's North Woodlawn addition 126 J37 
 
 July 22! 1879 Lots 35, 36. 33, 34, 88, 86, 87, 85, 66, 74, 63, 27, 30, 64, 76, 81, 84, 
 
 •• ' 25, 29, 26, 32, 77, 72,85, 72, 73, 80, 67, 31, -9.,i8, .9. .20, 21,22, 
 
 23, 17, 16, 37, 38, 39, King's subdivision, Bryan s addition 126 132 
 
 October 7 1879 Lot 23, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 128 J59 
 
52 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 No. of Book No. of 
 
 Date of Deed. Description of Property. of Record. Fa^e. 
 
 October 21, 1879 . . .Lots 22 and 25, Square 25, Seaton's subdivision 128 192 
 
 October 29, 1879 . . .Lots 17 and 18, Ouilot 108, Frank's subdivision 128 354 
 
 November 5, 1079. .Lots i, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Moore's subdivision 128 114 
 
 March 2, 1880 Lot 2, Square 19. . ..131 469 
 
 February 6, 1880. . .Lots (assignment) from 13 to 384, inclusive, 371 pieces, Davis' 
 Sugar Grove addition 
 
 DEEDS ISSUED NOT YET RECORDED. 
 
 May 24, 1880 Lot 230 and north half 229, Allen's addition. 
 
 July 2, 1880 Lots 55 and 56, Outlet 100. 
 
 August 2, 1880 Lots I to 12, 39 to 62, 89 to 100, King's Arsenal Heights. 
 
 August 3, 1880 Lots 21, 22 and 23, Coburn's subdivision, Outlot 182. 
 
 But not satisfied with sheriffs' deeds, he was also investing 
 in tax titles. The law in Indiana in regard to these titles is 
 somewhat peculiar. You may buy certificates for unpaid taxes 
 and sell out and buy in the property — with the allowance of 
 enormous usury — and the law provides that the purchaser can 
 exact fifteen per cent, for the first six months, even if the redemp- 
 tion money is tendered the next day, ten per cent, additional for 
 the remainder of the year, and fifteen per cent, for the second 
 year. Thereafter, according to a decision of the Supreme Court, 
 twenty-five per cent, per annum can be charged for a period of 
 twenty years, if the parties are not dead or bankrupt by that 
 time, otherwise the tax title becomes absolute. 
 
 TAX DEEDS FROM CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS TO WILLIAM 
 
 
 
 Amt Tax 
 
 Date of D 
 
 eed. 
 
 Paid. 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 ..$27 6j... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 .. 49 o4-.- 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 .. 50 61... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 .. 25 74... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 .880. 
 
 •• 13 74-- 
 
 March 22, 
 
 iRSo. 
 
 .. 22 00... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 18S0. 
 
 .. 6 70... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 .. 19 s6... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880 
 
 .. 53 12... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 r8«o. 
 
 .. 51 19 .. 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 ..262 8^ .. 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 .. 4086... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 i88o. 
 
 . . 70 02 . . . 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 .. 23 16... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 .. 12 37... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880 
 
 .. 22 00... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 i88o. 
 
 .. 12 38... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 ..185 04... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 .. 81 62.. 
 
 March 22, 
 
 
 .. 76 79-- 
 
 March 22, 
 
 J 880. 
 
 .. 21 78... 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 
 March 22, 
 
 1880. 
 
 .. 42 76... 
 
 H. ENGLISH. 
 
 No. of Book 
 Description of Property. of Record. 
 
 .Lot 3, Outlot 150, Ray's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lots 39 and 40, Ray's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lots 87 and 88, Allen's addition 133 
 
 .Lots 58, 59 and 6o, Hanna heirs' addition 133 
 
 .Lot 2, Woodruff's subdivision, Morris addition 133 
 
 .Lots 23 and 36, WoodrufF subdivision, Morris addition. 133 
 
 .Lots 25 and 232, K.ippt:s' Meridian addition 133 
 
 .Lot 26, Outlot 130, Yande's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lot 233, Allen's Woodlawn addition 133 
 
 .Lot 54, Outlot 108, Ryan's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lots 6, 7, 9, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 39, 40, 41, 42, 
 43. 44, 45. 46. 47. 58. ^9, 207, 208, 209, 251, 291, 292, 293, 
 
 294 and 29, Allen's Woodlawn addition 133 
 
 .Lots 253 and 254, Allen's Woodlawn 133 
 
 .Lots 230 and north half of 229, Allen's Woodlawn 133 
 
 .Lot 22, Square 25, Seaton's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lot 56, Outlook 108, Frank's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lots 27 and 28, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lots 45 and 49, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lots 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, II, 14, 15, 16, Moore's subdivision 
 
 of Fletcher's addition 133 
 
 .Lot 59, Kappes' addition 133 
 
 .Lots 92, 93, 94, 95, Lewis's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lot 63, (Jutlot 150, McChesney's subdivision. . 133 
 
 .Lot I, Outlot 83, McQuatt's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lot 30, Outlot 159, Ray's subdivision 133 
 
 No. of 
 Page. 
 
 360 
 
 363 
 
 36s 
 
 368 
 
 373 
 
 370 
 
 375 
 
 380 
 383 
 
 38s 
 388 
 391 
 
 396 
 399 
 
Atnt. Tax 
 Date of Deed. Paid. 
 
 March 22, 1880 fit 00 
 
 March 22, 1880. ... 4 72 
 
 Aprl 18, 1879 73 42 
 
 April 18, 1879 '-3 42 
 
 April 18, 1879 .. .118 55 
 
 Dec. 5, 1876 328 15 
 
 Nov. 20, 1877 91 42 
 
 Nov. 20, 1877 91 42 
 
 Jan. 19, 1878 123 42 
 
 April 18, 1879 65 28 
 
 3, 1879 300 59 
 
 8, 1879 160 17 
 
 April 
 
 April 
 
 Apnl 
 
 April 
 
 April 18, 1S79 
 
 April 18, 1879 
 
 Aprl 18, 1879 
 
 April 18, 1879 
 
 April 18, 1879 
 
 April 18, 1879 
 
 April 18, 1879 
 
 April 18, 1879 24 9 
 
 April 18, 1879. ... 80 63 
 
 April 18, 1879 16 91 
 
 April 18, 1879.... 'S ^3 
 April 18,1879 119 78 
 
 879 
 
 8, 1879 35 42 
 
 9 36 
 37 2o- 
 69 75. 
 74 88 
 36 12. 
 36 89 
 37 
 
 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 No. o/Book 
 Description 0/ Property. 0/ Record. 
 
 .Lots 2 and 74, Allen'.s Woodlawn 133 
 
 .Lot 6, Kappe's addition 133 
 
 .Lot^ 4 and 5, Outlot 9, Blaki's subdivision 125 
 
 .Lots 92, 91, 85, 81, 8j, Outlot 157, Blake's subdivision. ..125 
 .Lots I, 5, 6, 14, 16, Sq. 18, Johnson's heirs' add4tion ...125 
 
 .Lot i.Sq. 5 101 
 
 .Lot2,Sq.5i Ill 
 
 .Lot I, Sq. 51 Ill 
 
 .Lot 2, Sq. 5 HI 
 
 .Lots 43, 51, 55, Outlot 167, Blake's subdivision 125 
 
 .W. y^ ;md E. \<i Lot 2, Sq. 51 . 125 
 
 .Lot 4, Sq 35 125 
 
 .Lot 48, Outlot 108, Bryan's subdivision 125 
 
 .Lot II, Outlot 99, Hjndricks' subdivision 125 
 
 .Lot I, Sq 46, Frank's subdivision of Morris' addition. . .125 
 
 .Lot 2, Outlot 99, Dougherty's subdivision 125 
 
 .Lot 3, Outlot 181 , Stevens' subdivision 125 
 
 .Part lot in Outlot 102 125 
 
 .Lot 81, Outlot 89, Bates' subdivision 125 
 
 .Lot in Allen ct al. subdivision 125 
 
 .Lot 20, Outlot 169, Wiley's subdivision 125 
 
 .Lot 175, Allen's subdivision 125 
 
 .Lot 12, Sq. 36 125 
 
 .Lot 44, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 125 
 
 .Lot 26, Patterson's addition 125 
 
 -Lot in City Council and City Com. addition 125 
 
 53 
 
 No.ef 
 Page. 
 419 
 
 6.3 
 255 
 253 
 260 
 263 
 263 
 263 
 
 27-> 
 
 273 
 275 
 278 
 280 
 283 
 28s 
 288 
 290 
 293 
 318 
 
 TAX DEEDS FROM COUNTY AUDITOR OF MARION 
 COUNTY TO WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 April 8, 1879 %2\ 72, 
 
 April 8, 1879 46 00 
 
 April 8, 1879 35 49 
 
 April 8, 1879 39 9D 
 
 April 8, 1879 14 46 
 
 April 8, 1879 II 22 
 
 April 8, 1879 18 32 
 
 April 8, 1879 52 06 
 
 April 8, 1879 21 28 
 
 April 8, 1879 37 58 
 
 Jan. 19, 1878 141 33 
 
 Feb. 26, 1878 82 78 
 
 March 4, 1878. . . . 15 35 
 
 March 4, 1878 57 36 
 
 March 4, 1878 34 93 
 
 Feb. 22, 1878 265 85 
 
 Nov 6, 1878 136 95 
 
 Nov. 6. 1878 iio 61 
 
 Feb. 18, 1879 16 08 
 
 Aug. 11,1879 32 45 
 
 March 8, 1880 25 06 
 
 March 8, 1880 12 29 
 
 March 8, 1880 46 46 
 
 March 8, 1880 32 11 
 
 March 8, i88o 39 50 
 
 March 8, 1880 22 27 
 
 March 8, 1880 20 80 
 
 March 8, 1880 13 85 
 
 March 8, 1880 151 79 
 
 .Lots 253 and 254, Allen's Woodlawn addition 125 
 
 .Lots 81, 8-,, 89. 91, 92, Outlot 167. Blake's subdivision.. .125 
 
 .Lot 85, Wo:idnilT-place 125 
 
 .Lots 41 and 42. Frank's subdivision 125 
 
 .Lot 2, Woodruffs subdivision, Morris' addition 125 
 
 .Lot 18, Woodruff's subdivision, Morris' addition 125 
 
 .Lot 26, Patterson's addition 125 
 
 .Lots I, 5, 6, 14, 16, Poole's sub , Johnson's add 125 
 
 .Lot 30. O.itlot 159. Ray's addition 125 
 
 .Lot 133, Allen, et al's addition... 125 
 
 .Loti,Sq.5i Ill 
 
 .Part lot 4, Sq. 38 113 
 
 .Lot 48, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 113 
 
 .Lots 15 and 16, Allen's subdivision, Hendricks' addition. 113 
 
 .Lot 93, Woodruff- place 113 
 
 .Lot 10, Sq. 87 113 
 
 -Lot 2, Sq. 51 118 
 
 .Lot I, Sq. 51 118 
 
 .Lot 16, Outlot loS, Frank's subdivision 128 
 
 .Lots 51 and 52, King's subdivision, Brj'an's addition. .. .128 
 
 .Lots 34 and 35, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lot 57, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lot 23 and north half of 259, Allen's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lots 43, 51 , 55, Outlot 157, Blake's addition 133 
 
 .Lots 87 and 88, Allen's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lots 4 and 12, Sq. 18, Poole's subdivision, Johnson heirs. 133 
 
 .Lot 63, Outlot 150, McCarthy's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lots 27 and 28, Outlot 108, Frank's subdivision 133 
 
 .Lots 8, 9, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 
 47. 58, 59, 207. 208, 209, 251, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 
 Allen's Woodlawn addition 133 
 
 "3 
 50* 
 274 
 292 
 296 
 300 
 30s 
 404 
 406 
 4'3 
 4'7 
 340 
 342 
 344 
 347 
 349 
 351 
 353 
 355 
 
 358 
 
 HIS LIETRIM EVICTIONS. 
 The following ejectment writs werg issued by two Justices of 
 the Peace during the last two years : there are fourteen Justices 
 of the Peace. 
 
54 
 
 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 BEFORE LUKE WALPOLE, J. P. 
 
 1. Wm. H. English vs. A. M. Sherman Cor. Meridian and Circle sts March 3, 1878. 
 
 2. Wm. H. English vs. Nicholas Simpson 346 East Washington street September 24, 1878. 
 
 3. Wm. H. English vs. John Marden ..^ Willard street February 14, 1878. 
 
 4. Wm. H. Engl.sh vs. Cordelius Selden Room 3 English Block January 15, 1878. 
 
 5. Wm. H. English vs. Mary Young 42 Cora street February 15, 1878. 
 
 6. Wm. H. English vs. Fred. Oilman 42 North Noble street February 17, 1878. 
 
 7. Wm. H. English vs. Henry Springstein. . .10 Arch street April 6, 1878. 
 
 8. Wm. H. English vs. Andrew Cook 13 English Block June 13, 1878. 
 
 9. Wm. H. English vs. 'I'om O'SuUivan 11 Engl.sh Block June 13, 1878. 
 
 10. Win. H. English vs. John Emerson 10 English Block June 13, 1878. 
 
 11. Wm. H. English vs. \V. Hatfield 14 English Block June 13, 1878. 
 
 12. Wm. H. English vs. Conrad Hciser 4 English Block June 13, 1878. 
 
 13. Wm. H. English vs. J. C. Keller 16 English Block July 6, 1S78. 
 
 14. Wm. H. English vs. Conrad Heiser 4 English Block July 4, 1878. 
 
 15. Wm. H. English vs. Wm. Fullenay 202 English avenue July 9, 1878. 
 
 16. Wm. H. English vs. Henry Coins 117 South Illinois street September 7, 1878, 
 
 17. Wm. H. English vs. Daniel Morgan 236 English avenue September 12, 1878. 
 
 18. Wm. H. English vs. Edith Pair. 112 Deloss street November 9, 1878. 
 
 19. Wm. H. English vs. Ella Taylor 20 North Noble street November 10, 1878. 
 
 20. Wm. H. English vs. Charles HoUins 117 South Illinois street November lo, 1878. 
 
 21. Wm. H. English vs. J. Kelley 247 South Mississippi street January 26, 1878. 
 
 22. Wm. H. English vs. Nathan Thorpe 57 Maxwell street January 30, 1878. 
 
 23. Wm. H. English vs. Theo. Pelton 192 English avenue January 30, 1878. 
 
 24. Wm. H. English vs. Joshua Oale 7 English Block September 2, 1878. 
 
 25. Wm. H. English vs. George W. Birttine . .15 and 16 Circle Hall September 30, i87r 
 
 26. Wm. H. English vs. Samuel Kennedy ... .36 Dougherty street September 21, 187I 
 
 27. Wm. H. English vs. Adam Hartie 218 Blake street September 21, 187! 
 
 28. Wm. H. English vs. Frederick Vincent .. .232 English avenue September 25, 187I 
 
 29. Wm. H. English vs. Wm. Mathaur 16S East Market street September 25, 187I 
 
 30. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. A. Moore 262 English avenue September 25, 187! 
 
 31. Wm. H. English vs. Aaron R Crimes 13 and 14 Circle Hall November 12, 187I 
 
 32. Wm. H. English vs. Aaron Kopp 22 North Noble street November 22, 187I 
 
 33. Wm. H. English vs. Jas. D. Anderson. . . .158 English avenue February 18, 1879. 
 
 34. Wm. H. English vs. John F. Stewart 42 Cora street March 26, 1879. 
 
 35. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. Annie Barbour. .734 East Washington street.. .. ..February 21, 1879. 
 
 36. Wm. H. English vs. W. J. Flaherty 48 Deloss street March 26, 1879. 
 
 37. Wm. H. English vs. Robt. R. Parnell 276 English avenue April 28, 1879. 
 
 38. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. Catherine Hollcr.5 English Block May 8, 1879. 
 
 39. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. Allen 7 English Block May 12, 1879. 
 
 40. Wm. H. English vs. James Lamb 202 English avenue May 13, 1879. 
 
 41. Wm. H. English vs. Job McDonald 25 Willow street June 7, 1879. 
 
 43. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. A. Oarrett 59 Elm street July 17, 1879. 
 
 43. Wm. H. English vs. Jacob Osborn 51 Maxwtll street July 17, 1879. 
 
 44. Wm. H. English vs. Miles R. Kelly 51 Maxwell street July 17, 1879. 
 
 45. Wm. H. English vs. Jeremiah Sullivan... .15 D>.los street July 28, 1879. 
 
 46. Wm. H. English vs. George Herd 37 Ross street July 27, 1879. 
 
 47. Wm. H. English vs. Jane Hamilton 23 Coburn street August 2, 1879. 
 
 48. Wm. H. English vs. A. O'Conner 117 West McCarty street Augast 5, 1879. 
 
 Andrew O'Conner was evicted because he owed three dollars rent. He was out of employ- 
 ment, and is a sober, industrious man. He had three children, and is now working on the 
 Belt Road. 
 
 49. Wm. H. English vs. W. H. Carlisle 214 Dorman street August 5, 1879. 
 
 50. Wm. H. English vs. Thomas McSheehey.io and Press Building August 18, 1879. 
 
 51. Wm. H. English vs. Jerry Colvin 162 East Morris street August 21, 1879. 
 
 52. Wm. H. English vs. Lewis Bailey Lot iq Vagen's subdivision September 9, 1879. 
 
 53. Wm. H. English vs. Michael Hogarty. .. .311 East Court September 24, 1879. 
 
 Michael Hogarty, the " Stone-cutter," is a valued contributor to the Journal. 
 
 54. Wm. H. English vs. Joseph W. Hiers. .. .Pogue's Run and Mississippi st... September 25, 1879, 
 
 Joseph W. Hiers, at the corner of Pogue's Run and Mississippi street. He is living there yet, 
 his last sacrifice being a stove, which he sold in order to keep the roof over his head. 
 
 55. Wm. H. English vs. W. H. Bryant 2r4 Dorman street October 15, 1879. 
 
 56. Wm. H. English vs. Mrs. Ellen English. .50 Circle street October 15, 1879. 
 
 Mrs. Ellen English, the widow of Wm. H. English — a namesake and relative — was ejected 
 summarily from No. 50 Circle Hall, directly adjoining the barred window, and this was done 
 without the intervention of an agent. 
 
 57. Wm. H. English vs. J. B. Freeland 17 Deloss street October 17, 1879. 
 
 58. Wm. H. English vs. George McNeeley.. .55 Elm street October 21, 1879. 
 
 59. Wm. H. English vs. Wm. Badgett .182 Blackford street October 28, 1879. 
 
 60. Wm. H. English vs. George Dorsey 123 Columbia street October 28, 1879. 
 
 BEFORE MARGINS L. JOHNSON, J. P., IN 1880. 
 
 1. Wm. H. English vs. George Harrymyer. .4 Dillon street January 8, 1880 
 
 2. Wm. H. English vs. R. F. Jacks 309 East Court street January 11, 1880. 
 
 3. Wm. H. English vs. Charles Heil 87 Nebraska street March 23, 1880. 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 55 
 
 \' wH!" S' ^"gfl'^I^^^C. F.Thompson.... 3 Diston street April i, 1880. 
 
 I' w S t"^ "t "' fe "t.; ^"'>'"g---52 Deles street April i^, i88o. 
 
 , w'"S t"S'"^"P^''P'-,^"=^=""-- -57 Maxwell street April 19. 1880. 
 
 I yL tJ tng'sh vs. Charles Adams 2,2 Bright street April 26, 1880. 
 
 o' w"" H v"' "k "'• t"'" n- ^c '? "^y "® ^^"'='^'* •''^^«' April 26 ,880. 
 
 '■ w u • ^"^ "u ^'- 4^u- \ Sullivan 23 Coburn street April 27, .880. 
 
 10. YVm. H. tiiglish vs. John Arnold '.Greenwood street May 5, i88o. 
 
 John Arnold, on Greenwood street. He had four children, who were motherless, and the 
 house from which he was evicted did not have a pane of glass from foundation to roof. 
 
 11. Wm. H. English vs. C. H. Minshall English Block June 8, 1880. 
 
 This is the partial list of those he evicted. The struggles of 
 those who held their homes is best indicated by the following 
 affidavit: 
 
 My name is Mary Vansickle. I came from Missouri in 1858. Have lived in 
 this house, iio Deloss street, two years; have five children, and I make my living 
 by washing. I was paralyzed one year ago last March 30 ; I had to kneel upon a 
 chair to wash for a living. Mr. English told me while in that condition not to be 
 afraid, as I would not need to pay the rent ; he told me this on Satunlay, and on the 
 next Thursday I was served with a notice to quit the house. I had three children 
 sick at that time, as well as myself; I was only owing three dollars then, as I had to 
 pay in advance always, and the ladies of the Flower Mission Church made up one 
 month's rent to me and paid it to Mr. English. Miss Mary Love, a daughter of 
 General Love, and Mrs. Eaton, were the ladies who went among the neighbors and 
 raised the sum in amounts of ten cents and upwards. Dr. Wishard, the present cor- 
 oner of Marion county, went to see Mr. English and his agent at that time, to gain 
 some time for me, and they both said they would put me out. 
 
 We have had very scanty living, in order to keep up the rent; but I would rather 
 miss a meal, or several, than to be without a shelter. They came with a ten days' 
 notice to quit, and further he told me individually, that he would wait no longer. 
 There were only three dollars due at that time, and, as I said before, I was com- 
 pelled to pay in advance. My oldest son, fourteen years, was too sick to be out of 
 bed at the time, and he was the only one of my children old enough to work. 
 
 Mary A. Vansickle. 
 
 Before me, the undersigned, a Notary Public, personally appeared the above- 
 named Mary A. Vansickle, and made oath to the foregoing statement, this 23d day 
 of August, 1880. Will. H. Martz. 
 
 [Seal] 
 
 THE DAMNING RECORD'S END. 
 
 The following is a list of the properties which he bought at 
 the sheriff's sale under his mortgages/ together with the prices 
 
 » A mortgage to secure several promissory notes conditioned with that if there is 
 a failure to meet the first or any subsequent note, the notes shall all become imme- 
 diately due, and foreclosure with interest and attorney's fees on each note. 
 
56 
 
 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 he paid for them, and the appraised value of each property at 
 the time of the sale. 
 
 The assessment is the lowest for fifteen years ; at least ten 
 per cent, should be added to it to get an approximative value 
 of the property. 
 
 The ami. he fiaid 
 
 to Sheriff. Description of Property. 
 
 (Lot 19, Oiitlot 17 Ji, 
 
 ^1,134 o9-< Lot 20, Oiiilot 17 1, 
 
 (.Part lot 21, Outlet 17 
 
 800 00... Lot 233, Allen et al. Woodlawn addition 
 
 0^ ( Lot 221, do do do 
 
 \ Lot 222, do do do 
 
 2,600 00. ..Lot 317, Outlets 97 and 98 
 
 5,543 96... Part lot 4, Sq. 35 
 
 635 91. ..Lot 32, Woodrutl-place 
 
 633 97... Lot 176, Woodruff-place 
 
 72 61. ..Lot 13, Master's sub., Drake et al. 2d add. 
 
 632 41. 
 
 Part lots 1 and 2, Sq 
 Lot J I, Frank's subd 
 
 63. 
 
 Lot 12, 
 Lot 13, 
 Lot 14, 
 Lot 15, 
 Lot 16, 
 Lot 17, 
 Lot 18, 
 Lot 19, 
 Lot 20, 
 
 858 52. ..South half lot 30, Wiley's sub., Outlot 10, etc . 
 
 1,795 02... Part lot 12, Sq. 36 
 
 5,300 CO.. .Lots I and 2, Sq. 51 
 
 300 00. ..Lot 18, Woodruff's sub., Morris" add 
 
 250 
 250 
 250 
 250— 
 
 1,750 00... Lot 85, Woodruff-place. 
 
 . ^^\ Lot 14, Sq. I, Wright's Northside addition. 
 5°°°tLoti5, do do do 
 
 360 00... Lot 7, Frank's So. Meridian ^t add 
 
 363 01. ..Lot 175, Allen and Root's addition 
 
 «4,i85 92. ..Part lot 10, Sq. 87 
 
 l,2»» 51 \ Lot „_ o L. 103 
 
 976 14... Lot 48, O. L. 103, Frank and Root's subdivi 
 , ,;,„ J Lot 87, Allen and Root's addition 
 
 I.DOO 00 ■< t . 00 J J 
 
 ' ( Lot 88, do do 
 
 395 20... Lot 26, Patterson's addition 
 
 3,026 00 
 
 .Lot 25, Kappe's and N. So. 
 I... Lot 59, do do 
 
 ...Lot 232, do do 
 
 /Lot 27,0. L. 108 
 
 't Lot 28, O. L. 108 
 
 >...PartO. L. 102 
 
 Lot I, Tool's sub., Johnson's heirs add. 
 
 Lot 4, do 
 
 Lot 5, do 
 
 Lot 6, do 
 
 Lot 12, do 
 
 Lot 14, do 
 
 Lot 16, do 
 
 cridian st. add... 
 do 
 do 
 
 do 
 
 do do 
 
 do do 
 
 do do 
 
 do do 
 
 ^ , — do do 
 
 J Lot 2, Allen's et al. Woodlawn 
 
 (Lot 24, do do do 
 
 400 00... Lot I, Woodruff's sub., Morris' add 
 
 965 48... Lot 30, O. L. 159 
 
 150 00... Lot 6, Kappe's and N. So. Meridian st. add. 
 1,500 00... Part lot 41 and 42 Spann & Co.'s subdivisi( 
 
 ouiloti68 
 
 500 00... Part lot 10, Kappe's et al. addition 
 
 •7,000 00... Part lot 10, Sq. 56 
 
 600 
 
 600 
 
 600 
 
 600 
 
 600 
 
 600— 
 
 400 
 
 $2,300 00 
 850 00 
 
 1,500 00 
 1,800 00 
 6,500 00 
 2,000 00 
 1,500 00 
 100 00 
 15,000 00 
 
 Bal. in favor 
 0/ Ensliih. 
 
 $1,165 9' 
 50 00 
 
 700 00 
 
 500 00 
 2,250 00 
 i2,6oo 00 
 
 600 00 
 2,400 00 
 
 160 00 
 
 360 00 
 
 2,400 00 
 
 550 00 
 
 200 00 
 no 00 
 100 00 
 
 800 00 
 
 400 eo 
 
 1,000 90 
 
 1,500 00 
 
 620 00 
 
 28,500 00 
 
 956 04 
 
 1,364 09 
 
 866 03 
 
 27 39 
 
 14,368 59 
 
 454 98 
 
 7,300 00 
 
 300 00 
 
 650 00 
 
 800 00 
 154 80 
 25 00 
 85 00 
 50 00 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 The amt. he paid 
 to Sheriff. 
 
 Description of Property. 
 Lot 43, Blake's subdivision, Outlots 166 and 167.. i.-X'ja 
 Lot 51, do do 
 
 Lot 55, do do 
 
 Lot 80, do do 
 
 Lot 81, do do 
 
 Lot 85, do do 
 
 Appraised 
 Value. 
 
 689 26... Lot 3, outlet, Ray'i 
 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 350— 
 
 subdivision qcq 
 
 Lot 92, Lewis & Co.'s sub., Bryant's add. 
 
 Lot 93, do do do \qo 
 
 Lot 94, do do do 300 
 
 lx)t JO, Sq. 14, Star addition 75 
 
 Lot 2, Terry et al. sub., Outlots 140 and 141 17,350 
 
 Lot 3, do do 20,050 
 
 do 
 
 Part lot 4, do 
 
 Part lot 6, Sq. 36. 
 
 Lot 76, Dunlap et al. sub., Morris' add 
 
 Lot 4, Outlots 107 and 108, Brown et al. sub.. 
 Lot 71, do 107 and 108 do 
 
 Lot 6, Kappe's et al. south addition 320 
 
 Lot 23, Roset's subdivision, Outlot 107 600 
 
 Part lot 24, do do 150 
 
 Lot 8, Indianapolis Car Co., first add 300 
 
 9.475 
 
 31,000- 
 
 360 
 
 400 
 
 Lot 9, 
 
 do 
 
 Lot 10, 
 
 do 
 
 Lot 11, 
 
 do 
 
 Lot 12. 
 
 do 
 
 Lot 13, 
 
 do 
 
 Lot .4, 
 
 do 
 
 800 00... Lot II, Outlot 99 
 
 1,650 00... Lot 3, Steven's subdivision, Outlot 181 
 
 200 00... Lot 237, Kappe's and N. So. Meridian st. add 
 
 f Lot 13, Losier & S. Highland Park add 250 
 
 529 60 •! Lot 14, do do 250 
 
 [Lot 15, do do 250 — 
 
 957 09... Part lot 19, Vayons' add 
 
 „, ^ f Lot 25, H. M. & Mc. S. E. addition 500 
 
 7*^°° (Lot 26, do do 500- 
 
 700 00... Part lot 44, Outlot 108 
 
 500 00. ..Lot 2, Woodruff's subdivision, Morris' add 
 
 f Part lot 58, Hanna's heirs addition 
 
 1,200 00-1 Part lot 59, do do 
 
 (.Part lot 60, do do — 
 
 ' Lot 5, Outlot 9 700 
 
 Lot 5j^ and 4, Outlot 9 350 
 
 Lot 91, Blake's sub., Outlots 166 and 167 300 
 
 Lot 92, do do 400— 
 
 .Lot 63, McChesney's sub., Outlot 150 
 
 700 00... Lot 130, Allen & Root's addition 
 
 jc,.^ ,„ J Lot 26, Woodruff and Morris' add 600 
 
 '^^°tLot36, do do 600- 
 
 469 93... Lot 81, Outlot 89 
 
 3,435 01. ..Part lot 2, I. & C. R. R. Co.'s add 
 
 1,000 00... lot 8, Allen, Root & English's Woodlawn... 
 
 addition 400 
 
 Do 9, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 19, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 20, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 21, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 22, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 23, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 26. 
 
 do 
 
 Do 27, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 28, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 39, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 40, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 41, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 42, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 43. 
 
 do 
 
 Do 44. 
 
 do 
 
 Do 45, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 46. 
 
 do 
 
 Do 47. 
 
 do 
 
 Do 58, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 59, 
 
 do 
 
 Do 207, 
 
 do 
 
 400 
 400 
 400 
 400 
 400 
 400 
 400 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 350 
 450 
 
 ^2,100 00 
 950 00 
 
 78,850 ( 
 
 57 
 
 Bal. in/avor 
 0/ English. 
 
 $270 74 
 
 78,845 
 
 258 
 
 X,200 00 
 1,300 00 
 8,100 00 
 
 509 80 
 
 830 67 
 
 4,664 99 
 
5B 
 
 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 ITie antt . he paid Appraised Bal. in favor 
 to Sheriff. Description of Property. Value. of Engiish. 
 Lot 208, Allen, Root & English's Wood- 
 lawn addition ^50 
 
 do 209, do 450 
 
 do 250, do i>450 
 
 do 251, do 450 
 
 do 291, do 400 
 
 do 292, do 400 
 
 do 293, do 400 
 
 do 294, do 400 
 
 do 295, do 400 
 
 Int. in Lot 48, do 750 
 
 do 49, do 400 
 
 do 106, do 1,100 ^ 
 
 do 107, do 250 
 
 do 108, do 250 
 
 do 109, do 250 
 
 do no, do 250 
 
 do III, do 250 
 
 do 112, do 250 
 
 do 113, do 250 
 
 do 114, do 250 
 
 do 115, do 250 
 
 do 117, do 250 
 
 do 118, do 250 
 
 do 119, do 250 
 
 do 120, do 300 $18,65000 Jl 17,650 00 
 
 ^,248 79. ..Part of Lot 4, Square 60 4,30000 2,051 21 
 
 900 00... Lot 15, Allen's sub. Henderson's add 600) ,__ 
 
 ^ do 16, do 6oo| ''^°°°° 30000 
 
 674 44... do 4, West's heirs' addition « 900 1 o 
 
 do 5, do 900/ '•'*°° °° 
 
 do 6, do 2,700 00 3,825 56 
 
 959 65... do 3, Elliott sub. Henderson's add 1,400 00 440 35 
 
 1,299 87... Lot 5, Elliott's sub'n Henderson' ad'n 1,400 00 100 13 
 
 400 00... Lot 18, Sq. 22, Sangster et al.. Oak Hill _ 35 00 
 
 aoo 00... Lot 12, Moore's sub'n, H. E. F., third add'n 200 
 
 Lot 13, do do do do 200 400 00 200 00 
 
 100 00. ..Lot 4, do do do do 200 200 00 100 00 
 
 2,622 69... Pt. Lot 16, F. & R. subd'n, Outlot 108 900 00 
 
 600 00. ..Lot 36, Ouilot 130, Yande's subdivision 600 00 
 
 400 00... Lot 232, A. R. & E., Woodlawn addition 800 00 400 00 
 
 2,630 00... Lot 16, King's subd'n, Bryan's addition 400 
 
 Lot 17, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 18, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 19, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 20, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 21, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 22, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 23, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 26, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 27, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 29, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 30, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 31, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 32, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 33, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 34, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 35, do do do do 400 „. 
 
 Lot 36, do do do do 400 „. 
 
 Lot 37, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 25, do do do do 450 „. 
 
 Lot 63, do do do do 500 
 
 Lot 64, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 65, do do do do 600 
 
 Lot 66, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 67, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 69, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 72, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 73, do do do do 400 - 
 
 Lot 74, do do do do 400 - 
 
 Lot 76, do do do do 500 
 
 Lot 77, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 78, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 79, do do Jo do 400 
 
 Lot 80, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 81, do do do do 400 - 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 59 
 
 Th^ amt . he paid Apfirahed Bal. in favor 
 
 to Sheriff. Description 0/ Property. ^alue. 0/ English. 
 
 Lot 84, King's subd'n, Bryan's addition J400 
 
 Lot 85, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 86, do do do do 400 
 
 Lot 88, do do do do 500 ^10,150 00 $13,520 00 
 
 ^00 00. ..Lot 23, Frank & R.'s subdivision, Outlet 108 » 400 00 
 
 500 00... Lot 22, Sq. 25, Seaton's suixl'n, Johns' heirs add'n 
 
 800 00... Lot 17, Frank iic R.'s subd'n, Outlots 107-8 550) 
 
 Lot 18, do do do do 400/ 
 
 6,500 00... Pt. Lot 2, Square 19 
 
 406 67... Lot 229, Allen et al., Woodlawn 9°o) 
 
 Lot 230, do do 900 j 
 
 2,638 51. ..Pt. Lots 55 and 56. Outlot 100 
 
 600 00. ..Lot I, Moore's Sub. A. E. F.'s addition 200 
 
 do 2, do 200 
 
 do 5, do 200 
 
 do 6, do 200 
 
 do 8, do 200 
 
 do 9, do 200 
 
 do 10, do 200 
 
 do ti, do 2eo 
 
 3,268 83. ..Lot I, King's Arsenal Heighu addition 600 
 
 do 2, do 400 
 
 600 00 
 
 100 00 
 
 950 00 
 
 150 00 
 
 10,400 00 
 
 3,900 00 
 
 1,80000 
 
 1,393 33 
 
 3,300 00 
 
 66. 49 
 
 63 
 
 do 3, do 400 
 
 do 4, do 400 
 
 do 5, * do 400 
 
 do 6, do 400 
 
 do 7, do 400 
 
 do 8, do 40a 
 
 do 9, do 400 
 
 do 12, do 500 
 
 do 39, do 500 
 
 do 40, do 400 
 
 do 41, do 400 
 
 do 42, do 400 
 
 do 43, do 400 
 
 do 44, do 40a 
 
 do 45, do 400 
 
 do 46, do 400 
 
 do 47, do 400 
 
 do 48, do 400 
 
 do 49, do 40a 
 
 do 30, do 400 
 
 do 51, do 400 
 
 do 52, do 400 
 
 do 53, do 400 
 
 do 54, do 400 
 
 do 55, do 400 
 
 do 56, do 400 
 
 do 57, do 40a 
 
 do 58, do 400 
 
 do 59, do 400 
 
 do 60, do 400 
 
 do 61, do 500 
 
 do 62, do 500 
 
 do 89, do 400 
 
 do 90, do 400 
 
 do 91, do 400 
 
 do 92, do 400 
 
 do 93, do 400 
 
 do 94, do 400 
 
 do 95, do 400 
 
 do 96, do 400 
 
 do 97, do 400 
 
 do 98, do 400 
 
 do 99, do 400 
 
 do 100, do 400 19,000 00 
 
 ...Lots 38 to 60 in've, Davis' Sugar Grove adn 60 1,32000 
 
 ... do 85, do do 60") 
 
 ... do 91, do do 60 I 
 
 ... do 92, do do 60 I 
 
 ... do 93, do do 60 j- 420 00 
 
 i.^^ ... do 94, do do 60 
 
 .5?* ... do 95, do do 60 
 
 «i ^ ... do 96, do do 6o j 
 
 ^■Ji ... do 100 to 108 in've, do do 60 4800a 
 
 ... do 133 to 156 in've, do do 60 1,380 00 
 
6o WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 The aint 
 to Slu 
 
 1 
 
 1,600 
 
 he paid 
 
 riff. Description 0/ Property. 
 ...Lots 181 to 192 in've, Davis" Sugar Grove adn.. 
 ... do zoo to 204 in've, do do 
 ... do 229 do do 
 ... do 236 to 245 in've, do do 
 ... do 277 to 283 inVe, do do 
 ... do 289 to 300 in%e, do do 
 ... do 325 to 348 in've, do do 
 ... do 373 to 378 in've, do do 
 ... do 301 to 384 in've, do do 
 oo—Lot 14, outlot 13, Terry etal.,sub 
 
 19 
 
 essed value of the property 
 
 lount paid by English to the Sheriff 
 
 ....60 
 60 
 60 
 60 
 60 
 60 
 60 
 60 
 60 
 
 Appraised 
 Value. 
 
 660 00 
 240 00 
 6o 00 
 540 00 
 
 1,380 00 
 30000 
 
 240 00 
 3,000 00 
 
 $324,800 00 
 
 Bal 
 o/L 
 
 iii/:iTor 
 n^lish. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8,040 00 
 1,400 00 
 
 $129,293 
 
 The ass 
 Less an 
 
 $324,800 00 
 $129,293 19 
 
 $195,506 81 
 
 Say ;^200,ooo, out of the desolate homes, and lives, and labors 
 of his fellow-human beings, of Marion county, in the State of 
 Indiana. 
 
 And this man is, on the fourth day of March next, to walk 
 up the white steps of the capitol in the face of the world, arm 
 in arm with General Winfield Scott Hancock, in all his military 
 glory as a representative man of fifty millions of freemen, and 
 of the free institutions of the United States. 
 
 But this is not the whole result. The judgments with costs, 
 attorney's fees, gold premium, etc., held by him against these 
 wretched people, amount to, in exact figures, $343,867.91, so 
 that after getting these properties — their homes, places of 
 business, earnings, etc., he still held against them as follows: 
 
 Whole amount of debt $343,867 91 
 
 Less amount paid for the properties ...... $129,293 19 
 
 Balance . . . • $214,574 72 
 
 to be gotten out of their properties, or hang over them for the 
 remainder of their lives. 
 
 But let us go one step further to the end. There are but few 
 men who have no redeeming qualities. The Vanderbilt, the 
 Stewart, the Goulds, however close business men, have left from 
 time to time in their lives, and in their deaths, records of benev- 
 olence. . This man is incapable of benevolence. Human 
 
WILL/AM H. ENGLISH. 5; 
 
 suffering cries against his heart as you speak into an echoless 
 depth : it is less responsive than a stone. I will prove this 
 assertion. Of all the great calamities which have struck our 
 common humanity from time to time with a sudden sympathy 
 and sorrow, the Chicago fire has no parallel. It was universal 
 in every hut, and house, and palace in the world. In the West 
 everything measures itself by the vastness of its plains, its 
 mountain ranges, its continent dividing rivers, Man reaches there 
 the highest eminence. It has given the world Lincoln's name 
 — the synonym of a god-like human sympathy. It might seem 
 that human meanness could not exist there. In that city where 
 English lived a committee was at once formed — supplies, goods 
 and money to the amount of thousands of dollars, raised. The 
 committee went to him— the lord of that city. He was the 
 wealthiest name — the most prominent name. He subscribed — he 
 gave to the cause that made a single heart beat for humanity. 
 He gave One Dollar, The committee reported this subscrip- 
 tion. The fact became known to many. The indignation was so 
 great that the interests of the bank were being endangered. 
 The report was made to him. He sent for the committee and 
 made the subscription ;^ioo, Victor Hugo gives us, in Cram- 
 bonne's language, the final word for this ignoble history of a 
 human life. It is untranslatable into our language. 
 
62 .. WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. 
 
 HANCOCK AND THE HERALD. 
 
 The New York Herald, which has traversed Africa and the 
 Modoc country, and is getting up toward the pole, failed to 
 break his impenetrable silence on the business of the Sheriff's 
 sales. 
 
 " Silent Mr. English," the reporter says, " having dismissed 
 his visitor vouchsafed his attention to the Herald. It was evi- 
 dent that he knew not only how to keep his mouth shut, but he 
 intended to utilize his knowledge. In vain he was requested to 
 speak to the public concerning the so-called loans and mort- 
 gages of which so much had been printed and spoken. 
 
 " I will not open my mouth on the subject — I will not digriify 
 the matter by a denial. The whole thing is a tissue of lies con- 
 cocted by a man who is a land-forger, and is out of jail to-day 
 because he is said to be out of his head." — New York Herald, 
 September ii, 1880. 
 
 "The subject " referred to is the list of properties certified toby 
 the township Assessor and the Clerk of the Superior Court of 
 Marion County, on the 21st day of August, as given in this vol- 
 ume. It was then represented to Mr. English that while he might 
 not care personally to take the trouble to deny the allegation 
 and confute the allegator, the publication and reiteration of 
 the charges of the cruel foreclosures were hurting the Demo- 
 cratic party, and the colum^is of the Herald were open to him 
 for anything he cared to say or write ; but it was useless, he 
 absolutely refused. Mr. English was very vehement in his 
 refusal to be interviewed on the subject. He facetiously asked 
 " What do the people in the East do with mortgages when they 
 are due — Burn them ? " He said, " I am a business man and do 
 business on business principles. I would not alter a hair's 
 breadth in my line of life for five hundred political offices. I 
 refuse the Herald respectfully but firmly." He showed me his 
 house and the iron-barred window. Again I referred to the desira- 
 bility of Mr. English saying something which could be used by 
 the Eastern papers and speakers, but one might just as well have 
 tried to move the Egyptian obelisk on a bob-tailed street car; 
 
WILLIAM H. ENGLISH. ^^ 
 
 he was absolutely immovable. "No, sir; I have been hand- 
 ling money, millions of it, in the past twenty years. In fact I 
 have been a business machine." — New York Herald, September 
 II, 1880. 
 
 A Word in Conclusion. — General Hancock has, after a long 
 silence, said, in his letter to Theodore Cook (September 23, 
 1880): "So far as it touches me" {i.e., the payment of the 
 Southern War Claims), " I denounce it. Nor could I be induced 
 to approve or encourage the payment of such debt, pension or 
 reward." This is said in the soldier's spirit — less than that he 
 could not say — but that is not the question — let him answer this 
 question : he will, if elected, be the executive officer of the 
 country, not the legislative; will he, if such legislation be effected, 
 refuse to carry out that legislation ? Will he not, as he has 
 done before, sink the personal sentiment for the obligation of 
 the office as his position would then demand ? It is not neces- 
 sary to wait his answer: his past record has given that 
 
 ANSWER TO THE COUNTRY. 
 
 THE END. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 013 787 661 9