0' ^^ .'2^^ V 4 O o o ^-. <& ^^^.^a:^ \ ^\ .A .-^ .0 > V ^ \^' sn^ .^"^ ,** ,::-^^ "-^ "^0^ :^ Jmc^i'^'Vo ^^'^ ^^ '^^^J^^TH^^/ ^^ .<* ^^' „.. ^-^_ ••' «.<^ ... ^-^ °-' „^^ ^o ^°-^. <^ '^^ ^l*'" •^•*-.,^^ y^%iA' THE HISTORY OF PERU, BY HENRY S. BEEBE. '■* '^~*-'^' PERIL ILLS. '-- 5 .1. F. Llntox, Pjmntku AXJ^ J^UHLISIIKR. 185.S. \'> 37(^ l^iS- KKKATA. On page 7, it is ineiitioiKHl. iiicidciUally to the Triain fact— that H. F. Woodworth received 528 votes for tlie l.egislatiire— tliat lie was elected. Tlii^isaiierrj>r. . He was defeated, notwithstand- ing the large and almost imaninions vote lie re- CL'ivcd in Pern. On mature reflection the writer concludes that lie will mitigate his statement concerning the. " breadth " of that cake of ice described on pagt^ .'59. For '• length and breadth" the reader will })lcase substitute '-extent" — this is positively all the abatement tliat can be made. On line 5, page 04, the word ''upon" and on line IT, page 77, the word ^'but" have intruded themselves very mysteriously. Please to consid- er them as omitted. \\"ith tliese emendations he commits his tirst- br)T'n to the waters of public approval or condem- nation, begging for it all the indulgence which conscious incapacity can justly claim. INTRODUCTORY. It can hardly be said that a town of a popula- tion of three thousand six hundred and fifty-two souls, dating back but about twenty years to its first rude tenement and solitary family, can have any history. The events of any public interest are so few, and their importance so small, that no reasonable hope can be entertained that their re- cital will be any thing but a matter of indiifer- ance to others than the present or former resi- dents, or those connected with them by ties ol consanguinity, or having an interest in its advance- ment and prosperity. It is true that at some future time, the record may be useful to the historian, if it should be so fortunate as to survive. The statistics have been collected with care and con- siderable labor, and are believed to be correct and reliable. Beyond this the writer claims no merit for the work. The anecdotes and events i*elated' aot strictly statistical, have all transj^red under his personal observation and knowledge, during a residence dating back to the embryo town. Most persons who have had the temerity to un- dertake the relation of cotemporary events^ and to speak of cotemporary actors, have received more kicks than coppers for their pains. How far the writer will escape their general fate remains to be seen. Knowing the dangerous ground whereon he was treading, he has endeavored to confine himself to the simple relation of undisputed facts, abstaining from all comments and speculation thereon. He has not set himself up as a imblic censor or a public eulogist. It is not to be sup- posed that he has been mthout partisan and pre- judiced views of public questions. These he has endeavored to suppress and to " render unto Cse- sar the things which are Caesars. " 'Nor has he undertaken to draw a rose colored picture for the benefit af Eastern Capitalists, or those seeking a home in the west — to throw bait to Gudgeons. — In fact, it, will be admitted, that his picture is of the soberest and duUest kind of grey. "Would that it could be here and there touched with lio<]it- er and more cheerful hues; but truth is iiiex- orable, and demands the strictest loyalty from those who worship at her shrine. The people of Peru may be a little curious to know why a person, whose pursuits in life have been hitherto very far removed from those of a writer for the public eye, should have undertaken a task for which pre^dous practice and experience have so little qualified him. He begs to assure them, that it was entirely an accident — no litera- ry ambition prompted him at all. To be sure he had heard that " 'Tis pleasant sure to see one's name in print, And a book's a book although there's nothing in't," but that was not it. Having a little leisure, he had undertaken to gather and condense some sta- tistics of the town for the publisher of a Directo- ry of La Salle County. Having commenced the task he became interested therein, and extended his researches and remarks to a length quite too formidable for their original purpose. But he re- solved not to hide his light under a bushel — hence the present infliction which he hopes will be borne with commendable fortitude. HISTORY OF PERU. CHAPTER I. Situation of the City — Its early Settlement and Settlers — Passage of the Internal Improve- ment Act and Commencement of work on the Central Rail Road — Election of H. P. Wood- Worth to the Legislature — Election for Organi- zation under the Borough Act — First Census — First Election of Trustees — First Religious Meeting. The City of Peru is situated in the Westerly part of La Salle County, Illinois, on the North- ern bank of the Illinois River, at the head of Navigation, and at the Junction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Distance from Chicago 100 miles, and from Saint Louis 230. The territory embraced within the corporated limits, is Sec. 16 and IT, and all those fractional parts of 20 and 21, which lie north of the river, Town 33, Range 1, THE HISTORY OF PERU. 5 East of the Tliird Principal Meridian, comprising an area of 1462 Acres. The settlement of the site occupied by this City was commenced in the Spring of 1 836, short- ly after the passage of the act incorporating the Illinois and Michigan Central, which was to terminate at or near the month of the Little Yer- million, on land owned by the State. It was probably the most eligible site on lands owned by individuals. The Southwest quarter of Sec. 16 was laid out and sold by the School Commis- sioners in 1834, and called Peru. Kinaw^a Addi tion, located on the South East quarter of Sec. 17, and the North East fract-ional part of 20, up- on which the most business part of Pei-u is at present situated, was owned originally by Lyman D. Brewster, who died in the fall of 1835. It was plated and recorded in 1836, by Theron D. Brewster, at present a leading and influential citizen. In 1835 the only residents of that portion of territory now occupied by th^ cities of Peru and La Salle were Lyman D. Brewster, his nephew T. D. Brewster, John Hays and fami- ly, Peltiah and Calvin Brewster, Samuel Lap_ 6 THE HISTORV OF PERU, SLEY and Burton Ayres. In the Spring of 1835, the first building — a store — was erected in Peru by Ulyses Spauldino and H. L. Kinney, late of Central American notoriety. On the 4th July 1836, the first shovel full of earth was excavated upon the Canal. No considerable population was at- tracted to the town until 1837. Among the peo- ple who made this place their home in that and the following years, were "VVm. Eichardson, J. P. JuDSON, S. Lisle Smith and his brother Doctor Smith, Fletcher Webster, Daniel Townsend, P. Hall, James Mulford, James '^ Myers, Wm. and Chas. Dresser, Harvey Wood, N. B. Bul- lock, Jesse Puosley, Ezra McKinzie, JSTathan- lEL and Isaac Abraham, J. P. Thompson, John Hoffman, C. H. Charles, Asa- Mann, Lucius RuMRiLL, Cornelius Cahill, Cornelius Cokeley, David D^vna, Zimri Lewis, Daniel McGin, |S. W. Raymond, Geo. B. Martin, Wm. H. Davis, Geo. W. Holley, Geo. Low, M. Mott, F. Le- BEAU, A. Hyatt, Ward B. Burnett, O. C. Motley, Wm. Pa-ul, H. P. Woodworth, H. S. Beebe, Harvey Leonard, &c. At the Session of the Legislature of 1836, the Internal Improvement act was passed, incorpor- THE lllSToiiY OF PERU. « atiiig the Central Rail Road, which was subse- quently located upon the same general route as is followed by the present Illinois Central Rail Road, crossing the river at Peru. Operations were commenced on both sides of the river in 1838. During this season very extensive im- provements were made, large accessions of pop- ulation took place, and the settlement began to assume the appearance of a town. In 1839 the whole country was on the top wave of prosperity. Large forces were employed upon both the Canal and Rail Road— numerous other works being con- templated, all terminating at Peru, of course— ^nd the disbursements were large. The town shared the general prosperity. In this year H. P. WooDWOTH was elected to the Legislature from La Salle Coimty, which then embraced the pres- ent territory of Kendall and Grundy, receiving in Peru 528 votes, being the largest vote ever polled in the precinct, before or since. On the 6th of December 1838 the inhabitants assembled at the tavern of Zimri Lewis, and or- ganised a meeting by the appointment of H. S. Beebe, Chairman, and J. B. Judson, Secretary, and voted to take the preliminary steps for orgai\ ^ THE HISTORY OF PERL*. izing the town as a borough under the general Incorporation Act. At a census taken the same month there were found to be within the hniits proposed to be embraced in the Borough, to-wit : The South half of Section 10, the South East quarter of Section IT, and all that part of Sec- tion 20 lying JS^orth of the river— about one square mile. Males over 21 years of age 175 Females and minors 251 Total 426 On the 15th of December an election was held to decide upon such organization with the following result. For organization 40 Against organization 1 On the same day an election was held for Trus- tees which resulted in the election of M. Mott F. Lebeau, C. H. Charles, Z. Lewis and O. c' Mottley. The Board elected Z. Lewis, President; T. D. Brewster, Clerk; Z. Lewis, jr. Constable; f nd James Myers, Assessor. On the 1st of April ^839, O. C. Motley resigned and IL P. Wood- Worth was elected in his place. D. J. Townsend THE HISTORY OF PERU. 9 was afterwards ai^pointed Street Commissioner. The first religious meeting assembled in the locality was held in the early part of this year, in a log shanty, in the western part of the town. This meeting was attended by about a dozen young reprobates who concerted, that if the preach- er should confine himself to what they should judge to be the " appropriate sphere of his du- ties, " should preach piety and righteousness in the abstract without making any particular ap- plication thereof, or rebuking any particular prac- tice cherished by these self constituted censors, and should abstain from all offensive personal or local allusions, the most decorous propriety was to be observed. But if, on the contrary, he should see fit to indulge in any reproof of evil practices which they were conscious the commu- nity had credit for, whether justly or not, the in- dignity was to be instantly resented. In pur- suance of this concert they repaired to the place of worship, each provided with a tobacco pipe well filled, and a match. During the preliminary exercises and a portion of the sermon the most respectful attention and devout bearing were manifested ; but when the preacher unfortunately 10 THE HISTORY OF PERU. indulged in illusions, believed by these cen- sors to be intended to have a direct local ap- plication, a rap on the beinch was made as a sig- nal by the leader, and instantly twelve matches were struck and twelve pipes lighted. No smile was seen and no word was spoken ; but twelve sedate and imperturbable smokers tugged \dgoro .is- ly at their pipes. The room was soon JS-lled with the smoke and aroma ; and after a few attempts at rebuke, ejaculated between stifled spasms of X30ughing, the preacher incontinently left; but not without making a stand at the door, where a few comparatively pure respirations were obtain- ed, and hurling back some rather unchristian anathemas upon the graceless and sacreligious scamps, whose scandalous conduct had so uncere- moniously put him to flight, and upon the peo- ple by whom they were tolerated. Of course, " the better part of community " set the seal of their disapprobation upon such disreputable and disorderly proceedings. CHAPTER II. Election in 1839 — Financial Crash — Condition of the Town — Anecdote illustrative of the scarci- ty ol money — Hog Story — Establishment of the Ninawa Gazette — Building of the first Chm'ch. At an election held on the 19th December 1839 H. P. Woodworth, Simon Kinney, Z. Burnham, C. H. Charles, and Isaac Abraham were elected Trustees. Whole nmnber of votes polled 40. The Board elected Simon Kinney, President; M. Mott, Collector; T. D. Brewster, Treasurer; and Walter Meriman Clerk. In the course of the year Kinney resigned as Trustee and Meriman as Clerk, and Cornelius Cahill and James Bradford were elected to fill their respective places. The places of Burnham and Charles became vacant by death, and Ezra McKinzie and Churchill Cofiing were elected to fill them. In 1840 came the grand financial collapse. The foreign capitalist's refused 12 THE HISTORY OF PERIT. to lend us any more money. The later residents of Illinois can scarcely comprehend the condition of things which preceded and ensned. By the Internal Improvement Act, which puts all Con- gressional omnibus bills entirely into the shade, a system of Kail Roads was to be commenced sim- nltaneously in all parts of the State, running in all manner of directions, through regions scarcely explored ; and counties which were not fortunate enough to lie in the direction of any place, and thus not to be traversed by Rail Roads, were bribed into the support of the bill by distributions of money, all to be borrowed on the faith of the State. Other acts were passed authorizing loans for prisons, hospitals, assylams and State Houses. At the same time the Canal was being prosecuted on State credit. Counties followed the example of the State by borrowing money to build Court Houses, Jails &c. But at length the bottom fell out of the whole concern. Unknown Millions had been squandered and not one public under- taking was completed. Pul)lic and private credit were annihilated. Northern Illinois produced nothing for exportation, and every kind of busi- ness was dependent upon the disbursements THE jriSTOEY OF VERV. 13 \:ni'tlio public works. Tlie Stato, Counties, Towns, Banks, corporations and individuals were alike bankrupt. No gleam of light slione in the future. Repudiation, public and private, appeared to be the only alternative. Even the vampires who had been gorged upon the ti*easury were over- whelmed in the general avalanche. The few who had hoarded and possessed the means, left the State ; and emigration for years avoided it as though it had been one great hospital of lepers. Xo place experienced the general prostration more sensibly than Peru. The writer of this w4th a family to support, did not possess in the year 1841 in the aggregate, a sum of money €qual to five dollars. Lettei^ lay in the Post Of- fice from the inability of those to whom they were addressed to pay the postage. Kor was | this embarrassment confined to individuals. — ■Gov. Ford once told the writer, that he had been compelled to allow letters, directed to Inm upon ofiicial business, to remain in the Federal Post Office, his own means or credit, or that of the Sovereign State of Illinois being insufficient to raise the embargo. Property of no kind had any apparent value whatever. The town gradually 1-i THE HISTORY 0¥ VERU. lost its inhabitants, until in 1842, probably not over two hundred souls remained. These were mainly the less fortunate portion who could not get away. One Store, a Drug Shop, the Post Office, and two Taverns were the only places that remained open to the public. Society existed upon a truly republican basis. Ko envy was- excited in the breasts of the humble and poor by the brilliant equipages and establishments of the rich. The creditor who would have seriously asked payment of his debtor would have been saluted with one universal shout of derision. — As well might he have asked the sea to give up its dead. His money was gone to that bourne whence '^ nary red" would ever return. It was se- liously proposed to enact a law making every man's note a tender for debts — always excepting the notes of the creditor himself. This condition of things produced a state of society never wit- nessed by the writer, before or since. The pre- vailing influence was so universal and complete as to reduce all to a common level. A sympathy and community of feeling per\'aded all Illinois humanity. Thanks to a prolific soil and sparse population, nobody was in danger of starvation„ . THE HISTORY OF FERJJ. 15 The following incident illustrates the scarcity and valne of money about this time. The only merchants who pretended to keep their stores open for business, and were able to replenish their stock, were the brothers A. one of them at present an estimable and valued citizen, and the other a worthy farmer li\dng in the neighborhood. Mon- ey was scarce wherewith to pay freights, and the only resoui^jce was to transport wheat, taken of the farmers for debts, to Chicago, a distance of one hundred miles, where it was worth about fifty cents per bushel. One of the persons employed in the transportation was a farmer named M. — One of the brothers and the writer accompanied the teams. After the wheat had been marketed and unloaded, M. with a very grave and serious face, desired a private conference with A. Ta- king him a little apai't fi-oni the writer, and speak- . iiig in a voice loud enough to be distinctly over- heard, he informed him that he was under the necessity of asking him for some money. A. started as if a snake had stung him. He express- ed surprise at such a sudden call, under the circum- stances, and reminded M. of the exertions and sacrifices which he had been compelled to make 16 THE HISTORY OP PERU. to raise moiioy for charges, and that withal he had but barely enough for that purpose ; and concluded by hoping that his demands would be extremely limited. M. replied that they would be no more extensive than his necessities abso- lutely required, and he thought about '' two bits would do him. " This announcement greatly re- lieved A. who immediately responded to the de- mand. When it is understood, that the almost universal practice in traveling, at that time, was to " camp out, " the commissary department drawing its supplies from the domestic larder and to further agitation. At an election held on the 25tli November, 1844, Churchill Coffing, H. Whitehead, David Dana, Wm. Paul and S. W. Raymond were elec- ted Trustees. Whole nmnber of votes 45. This Board elected H. Whitehead, President ; H. S. Beebe, Clerk ; J. B. Lovett, Fire Warden ; Isaac A])raham, Treasurer; O. C. Parmerly, Street Commissioner; Geo. Low, Collector and Asses- or ; and E. M. Moore, Constable. On the 25th February, 1845, an xlct passed the Legislature, extending the powers of the Trus- tees, and providing for their election in the fol THE HISTORY OF PERU. SS lowing April. At an election held on the Tth April, 1845, Churchill Coffing, David Dana, S. W. Raymond, "Wm. Panl and H. Whitehead were elected Trus- tees. Whole number of votes polled 39. This Board elected Herman Whitehead, Presi- dent; II. S. Beebe, Clerk; O. C. Parisierly, Street Commissioner ; IsxIAc D. Harmon, Trea- surer; George Low^, Assessor and Collector; E. M. Moore, Constable ; and J. B. Lovett, Fire Warden. By the death of Moore, the office of Constable soon became vacant, and Z. Lewis, jmiior, was elected to fill it. The revenue,arising from the tax on Real Estate, was this year $261,- 86 cents. A degree of prosperity had now been attained, little dreamed oi three years before. A large trade had gradually grown up and concentrated in Peru. It was no uncommon thing to see wagons loaded with produce, from a distance of sixty, eighty and an hundred miles, seeking a market at this point, and returning loaded with merchandise purchas- ed here. General health, contentment and pros- perity prevailed. Stores and dwellings continued to be built, and population to increase. 34 THE HISTORY OF PEKU. At an election lield on the 6th April, 18:1:6, Jacob S. Beach, Churchill Coffing, "William Chumasero, A. M. Thrall and James Cahill were elected Trustees. Whole number of votes 96. This Board elected Churchill Coffing, President ; H. S. Beebe, Clerk ; George Low, Assessor and Collector ; S. W. Raymond, Street Commission- er; I. D. Harmon, Treasm-er; David Perry, Constable ; and S. IST. Maze, Fire Warden. H. F. Killum was subsequently elected Street Com- missioner, in place of Raymond who resigned. In May, another weekly newspaper was estab- lished by ITash and Elliott, and called the " Bea- con Light." Mr. Nash is the present Clerk of the Circuit Court of La Salle county. The name of this paper was changed to that of " Junction Beacon." It continued about two years under the management of Mead, Higgins and Boyle, either together or successively, and went out. On the 5th December an ordinance was passed, authorizing the formation of a Hook and Ladder Company, which was the first, last and only at- tempt to form a Fire Department. The principle effect and probable design of this ordinance was to exempt the members enrolled, from the per- THB HISTORY OF PERU. 35 formance of jury duty. Thirty-five dollars were appropriated for implements ; but it is believed that none were ever capable of being brought in- to use, in cases of emergency, although the town has been devastated since, with many and serious fires. CHAPTEE YI. Election in 1817— Cemetery laid out — Election in ISiS — Completion of tlie Canal — Effect on Peru — Diversion of Trade to La Salle — Estab- lishment of the ''Peru Telegraj^h" — Erection of the fii'st Grain Ware House — Great Fresh- et. At an election held on the 5th April, 1847, Chui'chill Cbffing, Wm. Chumasero, Geo. "W. Gilson, Joseph P. Turner and Daniel O. SulUvan were elected Trustees. Whole number of votes 63. This Board elected Wm. Chumasero, Presi- dent ; S. W. Raymond, Clerk ; James Elliott, Street Commissioner ; H. S. Beebe, Treasm-er ; Qeo. Low, Assessor ; David Perry, Collector ; Joseph P. Turner, Fire Warden ; and H. W. Baker, Clerk. Soon after, Paymond resigned and E. S. Holbrook was elected in his place. The Cemetery, one mile north of the town, was purchased and laid out by this Board. At an election held in April, 1848, Erasmus THE HISTORY OF PERU. 37 Winslow, p. M. Kildnff, I. C. Day, John Morris and S. jN". Maze were elected Trustees. "Whole number of votes 128. This Board elected Eras- mus Winslow, President ; David Perry, Clerk ; James Elliott, Collector ; H. W. Baker, Street Commissioner; F. S. Day, Treasurer; J. P. Thompson, Constable ; and Dennis Dunnavan, Fire Warden. Thompson was subsequently elec- ted Street Commissioner, in place of Baker who failed to qualify, and Fire Warden in place of Dunnavan who was removed. The completion of the Canal, in the Spring of this year, forms an era in the history of the town, and indeed of the State. Its eifect upon the town, however, was not so marked and immediate as upon the sister town of La Salle, which then, for the first time, attracted general public attention, and became a formidable rival to her older sister. Upon the latter its favorable effects were more apparent in the course of the two or three following years, when the increased pros- perity of the country reacted upon it. The travel, which had always centered at Peru, was mainly diverted to La Salle. Although the waters of the Canal and River were united at Peru, it was soon 38 THB HISTORY OF PERtT. found, that in consequence of the Steamboat and Canal Boat Basin being at La Salle, the practical junction was there. The forwarding business, af- ter a long and ineffectual struggle on the part of Peru to retain it, finally settled at that point. In October Holbrook and Underbill established a weekly paper, called the " Peru Telegraph. " The first substantial Stone "Ware House built in the town was erected this year, directly upon the riv^er bank, by T. D. Brewster, Esq. The Spring of 1849 was remarkable for the greatest flood known since the settlement of the country. There had been heavy rains in the month of January which raised the river out of its banks, overflowing all the bottoms. The weather changed to cold suddenly and froze the waters, in many places from bluff to bluff, into a broad crystaline Lake. Such was the case on the bottom above the toT^n, which was covered with a sheet of ice for nearly six miles, to Utica. This mass of intercepted water, together with all the country drained by the head branches of the river, was afterwards covered with a heavy mass of snow. About the first of March the weather again suddenly became warm, and heavy rains taS HIStoUY Dt PERtJ. 39 set in, whicli soon loosened tlie accumulations of snow and ice. Every creek and run contributed a flood, and every ravine and slougli a torrent to the swelling river, which on the 9th of March was twenty-five ffeet, or more, above low water- Its sudden rise loosened the heavy masses of ice spread over the bottoms above, without breaking them up. One of these came down, miles in length and breadth, entirely filling the space be- sween the bluffs, and crushed everything in its course. Trees, indicating a growth of centuries, were as reeds in its path, producing no check to its resistless and majestic motion. The Ware House, heretofore mentioned as being built by Mr. Brewster, then occupied by Brewster and Beebe, was crushed like an ecrg shell. It was nearly filled with wheat, flour and merchandise, a por- tion of which had been hastily removed, and a portion w^as destroyed. The waters soon subsi- ded and the river became very low before the close of navigation in the fall. This was the greatest freshet which has taken place since the settlement of the country by the Whites, but the Indians related to the early settlers accounts of still higher waters. They have asserted that ^0 THB HISTORY OF PERU. the present site of Ottawa lias been submerged witliin the memory of those now living. Sha- bone, an Indian well known in j^orthern Illinois, is reported to have said that he has passed over it in a canoe. In 1841, the great freshet occurred in the Mississippi, raising the waters in the lower part of the 111. still higher than they afterwards were in 1819. This was not the case with the upper portion of the river. An idea is current in this part of the country, that great freshets recur, continuing throughout the greater portion of the summer, once in seven years. This notion is justified by the recurrence of protracted fresh- ets in 1830, 1837, 1811, 1851 and 1858. Mr. Meginness, in his '' Otzinachson " or '' History of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, " mentions that the same impression prevailed in that region concerning freshets, only that theirs recurred once in fourteen years. CHAPTEE yil. Election in 18dt9 — First appearance of Cliolera — Elections in 1850 — Project for a Hail Koad to Aurora — Burning of the E'ational Hotel — Es- tablishment of the " Peru Democrat " — The issue of $25,000 Bonds authorized on account of Peru and Rock Island Pail Poad — United States Census — Incorporation of the City — Territory embraced in City Limits — Elections under the Chai'ter in 1851 — Question of issuing Bonds on account of subscription to the Stock of Chicago and Pock Island Pail Poad decided unanimous- ly in the affirmative at an Election — Pesurvey of the City — Issue of $40,000 of Bonds — Organiza- tion of the Central Pail Poad Company — Pro- test of Peru against the place of crossing the Piver — Peru and Grandetom* Plank Poad. At an election held on the 2d April, 1849, P. JVI. Kildutif', Fredeiick Kaiser, S. N. Maze, Noah Sapp and^David Lininger were elected Trustees. Whole number of Yotes 159. This Board elec- 4:2 THE HISTORY OF PERtJ. ted P. M. Kilduif, President ; Erasmus "Winslow, Clerk ; Ezra McKinzie, Assessor ; James Caliill, Collector ; J. P. Thompson, Street Commissioner, Constable and Fire Warden ; and H. S. Beebe, Treasm*er. In consequence of tlie absence of Beebe, H. L. Tuller was elected Treasurer in his place. In the Spring of this yeatthe cholera first made its appearance in the "West. In the months of April and Maj several citizens fell ^actims to the disease. On the 20th of June it suddenly as- sumed a malignant and virulent character, and some hundreds were swept off in the course of three or four weeks. The citizens were general- ly panic stricken, and many fled. It suddenly ceased, and the season thenceforth was healthy. In the summer of this year the second perma- nent and substantial warehouse, directly upon the river, was erected by Churchill Coffing, Esq. At an election held on the 1st April, 1850, T. D. Brewster, I. D. Harmon, William Paul, Eras- mus Winslow and William Poush were elected Trustees. Whole number of votes 49 — This Board elected Wilham Paul, President ; P. M. Kilduif, Clerk; H. L. Tuller, Treasurer; Geo. Low, tHE HI8T0HY OF PEKU. 43 Assessor ; J. P. Tlionipson, Street Commission- er ; Michael Griffith, Constable ; Edmunrl Penn- ington, Fire Warden; James Cahill, Collector; and Erasmus Winslow, Health Commissioner ; During this year the subject of Railroads began to attract the attention of the people of Illinois. The inhabitants of the town were a good deal ex- cited about the location of one from Aurora, in Kane county, to Peru, via. Ottawa. Subscrip- tions were raised, and one hundred dollars were appropriated from the treasury to defray the ex- ^^enses of the survey. This road was never con- structed, but the interests of the town were after- wards satisfied by the construction of the Aurora Extension, and Chicago and Burlington, crossing the Illinois Central at Mendota. In August, the National Hotel, owned by Z. Lewis Esq., was destroyed by fire. This was the largest and best building in the town, and was the first serious loss by fire. In this year, Adam Lerch was appointed Street Commissioner, in place of Thompson who was re- moved. In October Hammond and "Welch established the " Peru Democrat " a weekly newspaper. It 4:4: THE HISTORY OF PEKU. soon took a high rank and became one of the leading and most influential papers in the interi- or of the State. Thomas W. Welch, the editor of this paper, gave promise of great usefulness in future years. He was a vigorous writer, energet- ic and industrious, and imparted a degree of vivacity and spirit to his sheet, rarely met with in country newspapers. He was born at Reading, England, and died at Princeton, Illinois, on the 26th September, 1852, aged twenty-nine years. On the 9th JNovember a resolution passed the Board, authorizing a subscription on the part of tli# town, of |25j000 towards the capital stock of the Kock Island and Peru Railroad, on condition that the road should make its eastern terminus on section 16. By the returns of the United States c ensus for 1850 there were 4,500 inhabitants in the town ! That this was an error is most manifest. A steady increase of population and dwellings took place from this period to the first of June, 1854, when by a census carefully taken, by one of the citizens, there were only 3,036 inhabitants. A similar in- crease has been going on mitil the present time, when there are found to be only 3,652. If such THE HISTORY OF PEEU. 45 a decrease has taken place where are the tene- ments vacated ? A similar error occnrs in the United States census returns of La Salle, the population of which is set down at 3,201. A cen- sus, taken by the authority of the town soon after, exhibited 1,100 ! It is probable that the census taker was contented with the answer of the first man he met, of whom he enquired the amount of population, and that this person happened to be a large lot holder. Generally, in such cases, if the amount stated be divided by two, an approximate result may be obtained. 'On the 15th March, 1851, the town of Peru was incorporated as a City. Tlie territory incor- porated embraced the South half of Section 10, the South East quarter of Section 17, the JSTorth East fractional quarter of Section 20 and all of Section 21 North of the river. The extent of territory embraced in the City, was forty-eight acres less than that in the borough, that part of Section 21 included containing forty-five acres, while the Korth West fractional quarter of Sec- tion 20 excluded contained ninety-three acres. — This territory was divided into two wards. The leading motive in petitioning for this Charter un-^ 4:6 THB HISTORY OF PERU. doubtedlj was to enable the City to issue Bonds on account of Rail Road subsciiptions. The first election held under this Charter was held in April, 1851, which resulted in the elec- tion of T. D. Brewster, Mayor ; Geo. W. Gilson and Jacob S. Miller, Aldermen for the First Ward, and Erasmus Winslow and John Morris, Aldermen for the Second Ward. Whole number of votes 196. — By the provisions of the Charter, the Alder, men were to be elected for two years — two out of the first four retiring at the end of the first year — to be determined by lot. Gilson and Winslow drew the long term. This Council elected Churchill Coffing, Clerk; P. M. Kilduff, Treasurer; F. 8. Day, Assessor ; A. Roberts, Marshall ; Z. Lewis, Street Commissioner ; and James Cahill Collec- tor. The question of issuing Bonds on account of subscription to the Stock of the Rock Island and La Salle Rail Road, (the Charter having been so amended as to continue the road to Chicago,) was submitted to a vote of the peoj)leon the 17th May. The vote in the afiirmative was unani- mous. Conflicting claims having arisen out of discrep- THE HISTORY OF PERU. 47 ancies between former surveys of the town, a new survey was ordered and establislied by or- dinance, and other measures taken to legalize the act. Onthe22d February, 1852, the Kail Road Charter having been again amended and the Company denominated the Chicago and Rock Island Rail Road Company, the question of an issue of Bonds on account of subscription to its Stock, to the extent of $40,000, including the $25,000 previously authorzied, w^as submitted to a vote of the people. Strenuous exertions had been made to defeat the subscription ; and this time there were found to be 16 votes in the negative to 280 in the affirmative. $40,000 of 10 per cent Bonds were issued, and the same amount was subscribed to the Stock of the Road, which du- ring the fall and winter was commenced and vigorously prosecuted. The certificates of stock thus subscribed for were, by virtue of section 5 of an ordinance passed 12th April, 1852, to remain with the Rock Island Raikoad Company in trust, pledged for the pay- ment of the bonds and interest, and convertable into stock at the option of the holder ; thus giving :1:^ THE HISTORY OF PEKIT. Ill in tlie advantage of any advance of the stock above par, while the City must pocket the loss of any depresi^ion below. The interest due on the 1st ^' oveniber was paid by means of a loan author- ized by the Council on the 18th October. Inter- est scrip of an equal amount was issued by the Company, convertable into stock on the com- pletion ot the Road. In the winter, the charter of the Illinois Cen- tral Railroad company was granted. The lands, formerly ceded by Congress, were donated to this company, upon the condition that they should build a road troni the mouth of the Ohio to the junction of the canal and Illinois river, with branches Szc. The same terms were prescribed by Congress in the act of cession. The people of Peru assumed, that by tins it was intended that it should terminate at the pier head, where the waters of the canal and river unite. The company pro- ceeded to build the bridge across the river at the mouth of the Little Yermillion, a mile and a-lialf abo^'^e. This drew forth a vigorous protest from the City Council which was duly forwarded to the officers of the company, and to the proper Depart- ment at Washinojton. I^othing however came of TllK JllSTuRY OF TEKU. 49 it, and the coiiipauy proceeded to complete their works accordinti' to tlieir ori<>'inal phm. This gave to the rival City of La Salle still further advan- tages, by way for facilities of trade, north and south. On the 5th February, 1S50, the Peru and Grandetour Plank Road company was organized, under a charter ])reviously obtained, by the elec- tion of T. I). Brewster, J. IT. McMillan, William Paul and J. L. McCormick of Peru, Tracy Reeve of Lamoile, F. R. Butcher of Shelburn, and Solon Cuiiimings of Grandetour, Directors. In Sej)- tember, 1851, so much of the road was completed as justilied, under the charter, the collection of tolls. It was afterwards completed . as far as Ar- lington, in Bureau county, and partially construct- ed to Lamoile. This enterprize was looked u])on a> promising great advantages, not only to the town, but also to the country through whicli it passed. The result demonstrated tliat these ex- pectations were reasonable. The large trafic which passed over it, for a few succeeding years, ould not by any possiljility have existed without it. It was originally contemplated to finish it t(y Grandetour, on Rock river, !)ut want of fuud.^ de- 5; I T]IE HISToKY OF I'lCRU. laved the work, until tlie construction of intersect- ing lines of Railroads, in a degree, superseded its necessity. The road has since been allowed to I'un down,, and the plank have been removed. The company at present do not pretend to exer- cise any control over it. For a great portion of the present season, it lias been in so bad a condi- tio]! as to be quite impassable for loaded teams, and nearly so for vehicles of any description. Thus cut off from the trade of the north by bad roads, and of the south by the difficulty in crossing the river and bottom, the only resource that remained to the trading portion of the community, was to trade with each other. In this it is to be hoped they have been as successful as the boys who traded jack-knives with each other all day. CHAPTER Yill. Election:^ in 1852— Reappoai-aiioe of tlie Cliol- ora— Operations on the Kail Road— Elections in 1858 — Resignation of tlie Mayor and new Election— Issue of $10,000 eight per cent. Market House Bonds— Opening of the Chicago and Rock Island Rail Road to Peru— Estalj- lishnient of the " Peru AYeeklj Chronicle " and "Daily Chronicle '^—E. Higgms & Co's and McMillan iSz Co's Stores burnt—Elections in 1854— Blue Ballot Question— Manner of Pay- ing Interest on Bonds— Opening of the Rail Road to Rock Island — Census — Conijjletion of the Market House and issue of §2,600 Bonds. At an election held on the 5th day of April, 1852, T. 1). Brewster was reelected Mayor, Jolin Morris elected Alderman for the Frst Ward, and C. R. Holmes for the Second. Whole number of votes, 220. The Council elected I. D. Taylor, Cloi'k ; P. M. Kilduff, Treasurer ; E. S. Holbrook, 52 THE HISTOKY OF rEItU. Assessor ; Richard Lonsbiiry, Collector and Street' commissioner ; and Fredrick Scluilte, Marslial. Dm'ing tlie Smnmer, t!ie Cholera again made its appearance, and with increased violence. — From the first settlement of the town to 1849, with the exception of the years 1838 and 1839, ' wlien ]>illious levers prevailed to some extent, the inhabitants had enjoyed immunity from dis- ease, seldom experienced in new western settle- ments, or indeed in any other. For the space of one year, no death occurred except from casnal- ity. Even the ague found few, if any subjects. Throughout the summers of 1850 and 1851, cholera continued its ravages in the surrounding towns and country, and visited Peru but slightly. In the early part of the summer of 1852, while La Salle and other contiguous places were scourg- ed, Peru remained healthy. At length it appear- ed to have spent its material and departed the en- tire country. Suddenly it reappeared ; and while the places previously aifiicted remained healthy, Peru was devastated to an extent not surpassed, if equaled, by any place in the United States. The estimated number of victims was from five to six hundred, being about 07ie-sixMi of the entire THE inSTOliY OF TEKU. oH population. It was observed that less panic and excitement were produced than upon its visitation in 18^9. But few cases occurred in the two fol- lowing years ; and from that time to the present — 1858 — the same freedom from disease has prevail- ed which distinguished its early settlement. Throughout this year operations on the Kailroad were pushed forward with great energy. At an election held on the 4:th. April, 1853, P. M. Kilduff and 11. S. Beebe each received 111 votes for Mayor. Churchill Coffiing was elected Alderman for the First Ward, and John L. Coates for the Second Ward. On counting the votes lor Mayor, a question arose concerning the validity of a ballot deposited for Boebe. By the statute it is provided that if, upon counting the votes given at any election, two ballots shall bo found folded together, attempt at fraud shall bo pre- sumed and both ballots thrown out. In this ease on< piece of paper was found with the name of Becb( printed on it twice. It was decided by the Coun cil that no evidence of attempt at fraud av a-; her( presented, that none could by any possibility b' thus perpetrated, and that the ballot should b' counted as one vote. By this decision a tie exisi .54 THE I1I.-?T(>KY OF PEKT. ed. The election was then decided l)y lot, agree- aMe to the provisions of an ordinance for the case provided, in lavor of Beel^e. The Council elect- ed J. D. Taylor, Clerk; J. Y. 11. Judd and R. P. Wi'iglit, a board of Health ; J. L. Coatcs, Trea- surer; E. S. Holbrook, Assessor; James Cahill, Collector; J. P. Thompson, Marshal; T. E. G. Kansom,. Surveyor ; and A. F. Powers, Sexton. Tiie place of John Morris becoming vacant by means of his removal from the Ward, J. L. McCormick was elected Alderman in his place. The May intei-est on the Railroad bonds was pro- vuied for in the same manner as oji tlie prececlino- Xo\'ember. ^ On tlie 21st May Eeebe resigned as Mayor, I! id a new election was ordered which resulted in rlie election of Kilduff by 52 majority, Beebe being igain his opponeiit. VVliole number of votes 298 On the 20th August $5,000 of bonds, bearing LMi per cent, interest, were authorized to be issued '>rtlie puj-pose of building a City Hall and for Mil-rent expenses; and on the iTth September •aO,000 of bonds, bearing eiglit per cent, interest, vere authorized to be issued for the same purpose! ["he i-n5,000 bonds first authoi-ized were never :;sued. THE IlISTOKV OF I'EKl . i)') 111 A])ril of this year the Chicago and Ituck J.shiiid Kailroad was opoiiedfor tralhe aii]ished by J. F. aiidls^. Linton, on the 1st March, and its pnblication was continued until September, ISdC). For ten months during this perio/l, tlie Messrs. Linton also j^ublished a "Daily Clironicle" which Avas in all respects creditable to them and to the town. About the bemnnino' of this year a serious tire took place on Water street, which de- stroyed two large three-story stone stores, with most of their contents, one occupied by E. Hig- gins & Co. as a Hardware store, and the other by J. II. McMillan & Co. as a Dry Goods store. At an election held on the 26th April, 1854, T. D. Brew^ster was elected Mayor, Antoinc Birken- buel, Alderman for the First Ward, David Dana for the Second Ward, and John P. Thompson, Police Magistrate. The Council elected Henry Jones, Clerk ; Geo. W. Gilson, Treasurer ; James Cahill, Collector; Geo. Low, Assessor ; W. 11. Foot, Marshal ; William Lopstater, Street Com missioner ; and A. F. Powers, Sexton. A question arose concerning the validity of lhj> 56 THE HISTORY OK PERtr. election. By the Constitution it is provided, that at all elections voting shall be by ballot on white paper, hi this case ballots were found for Brewster for Mayor, printed or written on paper having a blue tinge — the ordinary blue tinged writing paper. Tc was contended that this was not wdiite paper within the meaning of the Constitution. The former Mayor refused to surrender the seals and books of the City, and Aldermen Coffing and Coates abstained from the meetings of the Coun- cil. The cpiestion was carried by mandamus to the Supreme Court and decided in favor of the validity of the election. No provision was made for the payment of the interest on the Eailroad bonds due on the 1st of Ma}^ until the 20th August, when a loan for that purpose was authorized. In this, as on former oc- casions of paying interest on these bonds, a loss of al)out $300 was sustained by the City which was made up fi'om the general fund. This arose from the depreciation of the interest scrip issued by the company, which did not bear interest, and Avhicli was not convertable until the completion of tlie iload, and from exchange. In April of this year, the Cliicago and Hock 59 THE ni8T()RY OF PERU. Island Kail road was opened to Hock Island, its entire lengtli. N^o particular iinprovemeiit in business took place in consequence. By a census taken on the 1st June, the number of inhabitants was found to he 3,036. In January, 1855, the new Market House and City Hall was completed. On the lOtli February $2,600 of eight per cent, bonds were issued to pay the balance due the contractors. 56 CHAPTER IX. Elections in 1855 — City indebtedness — Issue of ^ $5,000 eiglit per cent bonds — Resignation of the Mayor — Establisbnient of the "Peru Senti- nel'^ — Elections in lS56--Raih*oad Round House burnt — $20,000 bridge bonds authorized — Ap propriations for damages for flooded stores^Ex- tra Raih'oad dividend — Iloftnian House burnt — Chair Factory burnt — Geo. B. ^Yillis — Exten- sion of the City limits — Recorders Court — Elections in 1857 — J^on-payment of interest on City bonds — Financial revulsion — Fitzsim- mons & Beebe's Foundry and Machine Shop burnt — Elections in 1S58 — Issue of f'j>5,000 ten per cent, interest bonds authorized — Rainy weather and bad roads — Re\dval of business. At an Election held on the 2d April, 1855, Geo. W. Gilson was elected Mayor, R. H. Booth Al- derman for the First Ward, and A. L. Shepherd for the Second Ward. The Council elected Henry Jones, Clerk ; W. Johnson, Treasurer ; TllM UISToKY OF VVAIV. 59 J. B. White, Collector; Isaac AbraUain, Assess- or; Peter Fought and William Wilde, Street Commissioiiers ; G. K. Mckinzie, Marshall; Chas. Blanchard, Attorney ; T. E. G. Kansoiu, Surveyor; John Iligglns, Health Officer; A. F. Powers, Sexton; and Clias. Lonc and A. \j. Bull, Fire Wardens. On the 12tli April the City indebtedness was ascertained to be as follows : Bonds issued on account of Railroad $^1:0,000 " " " Market House, 12,600 Scrip outstanding, 1,950 Total City indebtedness, $51,550 On the 30th May a further issue of $5,000 eight per cent, bonds was authorized by the Council for current expenses, which were issued and sold for 4,500. On the 25th July, li. A. A\^inston was elected Alderman for the Second Ward, in place of Shepherd Avhose office became vacant by reason of his removal from that Ward. On the 8th December Gilson resigned as Mayor. On the 22nd Decemljer Ransom resiirned as do THE 1II8TOKY OF PERU. Surveyor, and H. II. Brown was elected in liis place. Tlie " Peru Sentinel, " a weekly newspaper, was establislied by J. L. McCorniick and Guy Hulett in August. It was always a Democratic organ, and now having passed under the management of J. F. Meginness Esq., is lighting valiantly for Douglas and against Lecompton. '- On the 7th April, 1856, J. L. McCormick ^vas elected Mayor, P. M. Kilduii* Alderman for the First Ward, and C. L. Iluntoon for the Second AVard. The Council elected M. C. Harmon, Clerk ; J. B. AYliite, Treasurer ; Chas. Blancli- ard. Attorney; Henry Jones, Collector; Geo. O. Banks, Assessor ; Peter Fought and J. P. Thomp- son, Street Commissioners ; II. H. Brown, Sur- veyor; "W. FI. Foot, Marshal. In the month of May the liound House, belong- ino* to the Chicao:o and Rock Island liailroad Company, was destroyed by lire. On the 17th June the cpiestion of issuing $20,000 bonds on account of subscription towards the stock of a Bridge Company, chartered for the ■•'^ On tlio 1 7th August, this oiflce was destroyed by tire. The building — a three-story brick — in which it was situated, was owned by J. L. McCormick, Esq., and was the first brick building erected in the town. It wa* built in 18S!). TIIE IIISTOKY Ol'" I'EKU. 61 purpose of building a bridge across the river at tlie foot of White street, was submitted to a vote of the people. It was decided in the affirmative by a large majority. The bonds have never l)een issued nor the subscrij)tion made — nor the bridge built. Among the appropriations for this year were §575 to IT. G. W. Cronise, and f^21S 50 to Joseph Kelly for damages sustained by the flood- ing of their stores with water, caused by defi- ciency in the culverts. The Railroad Company commenced paying semi-annual dividends on their stock on the 1st of Xovember, ISott, — first dividend four per cent; all after five; and continued doing so until the 1st IS'ovember, 1856, when an extra dividend of twelve and a-half per cent, payable in stock, was made. From this the City realized $4,825, a por- tion of which was used in paying off two judge- ments which had been obtained against the City, and upon which the City Hall had been sold, amounting together to $1,47-150. The balance was used for the payment of outstanding cou- pons on the various kinds of bonds, and other claims. On the 7th January another serious loss by fire 62 THE UrSTOTlY OV VVAIV. took place. The Hoffman House, ovrned by Jolm Hotfinan and occupied hy P. T. ^looi-e, was de- stroyed. The buikling was thoroughly and .sub- stantially built, although of wood, and occupied a beautiful site, and was one of the leading insti- tutions of the town. The loss to both owner and occupant was heavy. On the 2oth September, of the same 3'ear, an extensive chair, furniture, sash and blind factory, erected tlirough the iiulomitable energy and perseverance of Geo. B. Willis, was destroy- ed by lire. Loss about 820,000. The fate of Mr. Willis, Avho is now beyond the reacli of praise or censure, calls for a passing notice. He came to Peru, poor and blind. By his sagacity and energy he so improved his circumstances tluit he suc- ceeded in building and putting into operation a manufactory which gave employment to about fifty mechanics. The manner in which he con- ducted this business would have done credit to any person in the possession of all of his senses, but was very remarkable when done by one who suffered under the loss of so important an organ as that of sight. But the load was too heavy for him to cni'rv. He staii'ii'ered for a time and f{41. fllK inSTCiUY OV PERU. 08 Disappointment, mortilication, anxiety and des- dondency did their work. The grave liokU him. Wliose hand wa^^ stretched forth to lighten the burden under Avhich he hegau t<» reel : AVhose voice whispered words of sympathy and hope when discouragement and disaster crowded upon him ? Whose was the intelligent self interest that enquired whether a small amount of aid, in mon- ey or credit, would not sustain and foster an enterprise which, "m its turn, would in- vigorate every interest in the community ? — Whose was the practical sagacity that perceived, that fifty male operatives, with their families and dependants, were of more value in advancing the growth and prosperity of the town than the rows of stately and costly stores, which have for years stood idle and tenantless ? Where were the men — generally to be f<»imd on every corner — who proclaim that upon manufacturing industry alone must Peru depend for advancement? Ah! When it Avas perceived that Mr. Willis had under- taken an enterprise to which his energies and means were inaderpiate, liow hands which, had been sti-etched forth to catch the copious streams of disbursHKMTt. ^hmk into the fathomless deptlis 64 THE IlISTOKY OF PERU. of pockets ! How importunate and inexorable were those cormorants of every petty western community, called by courtesy, "Banks," which had moused into every nook and cornier for paper upon Avhich it was ho23ed would Y)rove a profita- ble investment. In February, 1857, by act of the Legislature, the limits of the City were extended over the whole of Section 16 and IT. This made the su- perficial area 1462 acres.. -In tlie same month an act passed, creating a Recorders Court for the Cities of Peru andLa Salle, with jurisdiction over the territory of the Townships of Salisbury and La Salle — six srpiare miles. Churchill Coffing was appointed Judge, and Daniel Evans, Clerk, who entered upon the discharge of their duties. — One term of the Court was held at La Salle. A question arose concerning the constitutionality, of this Court which was taken, by an agreed case, to the Supreme Court, where it was held that it was an Inferior Court ; tliat the l^egislature possessed the power only to grant jurisdiction to such Courts over the territory of a single City; that by no implicaiijn could the Constitution hi co istraed ■^0 as to grant the power to extend it over territo- THE HISTORY OF PERU. 65 ry not embraced witliin city liirnts ; that tlic wliole net must be considered togetker ; that the powers therein granted coukl not be separated, and if one part was found to be con stitutionaly ob- jectionable, the whole must fall together ; and that therefore the rict was unconstitutional and void. At an election held in April, 18 57, Jolm L. McCormick was reelected Mayor and Y.W. Sehulte was elected Alderman for the First Ward. Ko election was made in the Second Ward, Erasmus Winslow and I. C. Day eacli receiving 63 votes. On the 2d May, a new election was called wliich resulted in each again receiving 63 votes. Tlie question was then decided by lot in favor of Wins- low. Tlie Council elected Jno. J.Dowling, Clerk ; David Lininger, Assessor; D. O. Sullivan, Col- lector; H. G. W. Cronise, Treasurer; W. H. Foot, Marshall; William Hackman and Owen Judge, Street Commissioners ; G. D. Ladd, At- torne}' ; Geo. Seebach and J. T. Milling, Health Officers ; William Lambach, Surveyor ; and A. F. Powers, Sexton. On the 2Ttli May, Ladd re- signed as Attorney, and Thoma^^ Ilalligan was elected in his place. ^Q THE HISTORY OF PERU. The Rail Road Company passed the payment of their J^ovember di^ddend and the city also passed the payment of interest on her bonds. During the latter part of this year a fi- nancial hnrricane, commencing in the TJni. ted States, swept over the world. Money van- ished from sight as if by the wand of a magician. General health, bonnteons crops, and great activ- ity in every branch of industry had prevailed. — Suddenly everything was arrested as though some Titan held his hand upon a brake lever. Peru did not escape the general disaster. Prices of produce became so low that farmers declined to market it, preferring to allow tlieir creditors to wait and suffer the consequences of shattered credit. But few failures, however, took place. — The Banks did not suspend. IsTobody failed — nobody ever does fail in Illinois until the Sheriff sells them ont or shuts them np. On the 11th October, the Foundry and Machine Shop of Fitzsimmons and Beebe was destroyed by fire Loss 116,500— insurance $5,500. This estab- lishment had given employment to some thirty or forty men. Thus another of the industrial es- tablishments of Peru went out. It is a gloomy THE HISTOKY OF PERU. C)7 fact, and bj no means promising sign, tliat with the exception of the stores of E. Higgins & Co., and McMillan & Co., no important estaljlishment, destroyed by lire, has been rebnilt. The black- ened walls and foundations of tlie Xational Hotel, Hoffman House, Lauber's Cabinet Shop, the Chair Factory and the Foundry and Machine Shop betray the lack of recuperative energies. At an election held on the 5th of April, 185S, John L. McCormick was again reelected Mayor, and iST. Young was elected Alderman for the First Ward, James Cahill for the Second Ward, and P. M. Kilduif, Police Magistrate. The Coun- cil elected John J. Dowling, Clerk ; H. G. W. Cronise, Treasurer ; T. P. Ilalligan, Attorney ; D. O. Sullivan, Collector ; Henry Jones, Asses- sor ; P. W. Milander and Owen Judge, Street Commissioners ; W. F. Lambach, Surveyor ; G. W. Lininger and Bartlett Denny, Fire Wardens ; G. W. Lininger Inspector of weights and meas- ures ; A. L. Bull, inspector of lumber and wood ; W. H. Foot, Marshal ; John Scott and Michael Xoon, Assistant Marshals; and A. F. Powers Sexton. On the 7th day of June, tlie question of issu- THE HISTORY OF PERU. iiig $5,000 of ten ])er cent, bonds, for tlie purpose of paying the interest over due on tlie bonds be- fore issued, was submitted to a vote of tlie peo- ple and decided affirmatively by 21 majority. The Spring of this year was remarkable for heavy and protracted rains. The roads from the Isjt May to the 1st July were nearly imj^assable, and the ground was so saturated as to make culti- vation impossible. About the middle of June it ceased raining, and crops wliich were thought to be ruined came forward with remarkable promise. At this present writing (10th July) every indica- tion exists of a full average crop. The grain and other produce, which had been kept back on account of low prices in the fall, could not be brought to market in the spring on account of the bad condition of the roads. At this time, however, the streets are crowded with teams, fair prices are i^aid for produce, debts are being liquidated, the merchants and mechanics are busy and satisfied, and every interest is revi- ving. ClIAPTEE X. Census — Occupations — Scliools, (Jhurclies 6zc. — Business Houses — Grain Trade — Ice Trade — Coal Field — Peru Coal Shaft — Ad vantages for Manufticturing — City Debt — Review of tlie Census — Bridge — The Future — Moral and In- tellectual view — List of Early Families — Char- acter of the Inhabitants — Unenviable Beputa- tions. We Avill now examine the jDresent condition and resources of Peru. The following is a table ofacensuKS taken 20th August, 1858. Whole number of inhabitants, 3,G52 Under ten years of age, 1,175 Under twenty-one years and over ten years, 5G1 Over twenty-one years, 1,010 Males, ' ' 1,8T(> Females, 1,77H Born in the United States, 1,81:1 Born in Germany, 1,118 THE HISTOKY OF TEEU " " Ireland, 189 " " England, 87 " " Scotland, 24 " " France, 27 " " Russian Poland, 27 '' " Sweden, 17 " " British Provinces, 19 Negroes, 3 Born of foreign pareni :s counted as Americans, 869 Kuniber of deaths in 1857, 48 OCCrPATIONS. Blacksmiths, 30 Farmers, 18 Laborers, 326 Brakemen, 8 Carpenters, 71 Shoemakers, 26 Livery keepers, 4 Constables, 2 Teamsters, 4-1 Merchants, 44 Machinists, 20 Millers, 6 Monlder 1 Justices of the Peace, 3 Pattern Makers, 2 Lawyers, 7 Clerks, 35 Porters, 5 Ice Merchants, 5 Barbers, 4 Printers, 9 Tobacconists, 2 Millwrights, 2 Tinners, 13 Masons, 36 Saloon Keepers, 41 Draymen, 5 Tailors, 9 THE HISTOEY OF PERU. 71 Caulkers, 4 Physicians, 7 Butchers, 13 Lmnber Merchants, 5 Grocers, 11 General Business, 15 Saddlers, 7 Civil Engineers, 2 Teachers, 3 Bakers, 4 Gardeners, 5 Jewelers, 3 Pamters, 9 Clergymen, 4 Ticket Agent, 1 Coopers, 6 Brewers, 11 Peddlers, 2 Cap Maker, 1 Conductors, 5 Book Keepers, 4 Miners, 32 Lectui'er, 1 Tavern Keepers, 7 Wheelwrights, 13 Ship Carpenters, 16 Cigar Makers, 6 Bankers, 2 Cabinet Makers, , 6 Brick Makers, 6 Carpet Weaver, 1 Ferrymen, 2 Basket Maker, 1 Pilot, 1 Gun Smith, 1 Musicians, 3 Match Makers 2 Editors, 3 Boatmen, 8 Druggists, 4 Daguerreian, 1 Kope Maker, 1 Land Agents, 3 There are seven public schools, four of which are organized under the Union School system. There are six Churches — one Catholic, one Dutch Re- 72 THB HISTOKY OF PERU. formed, one Methodist, one G-erman Methodist, one Gongregationalist, and one Episcopal. There are one Lodge of Good Templars, one of Odd Fellows, and one of Masons. The City possesses a commodious Public Hall, erected in a substan- tial manner of Milwaukie brick, at an expense of over $12,000. It is divided into a Council Chamber, a Public Hall for meetings, lectures, concerts, &c., a room for market stalls, and a cala- boose or jail. The ware-houses, stores, hotels, and dwellings of the citizens, for solidity of structure and architectm*e, taste and adornment, are, as a whole, superior to most places of its size, east or west. There are of houses and places of busi- ness and industrial occupations as follows : 703 Dwellings and tenements occupied. 15 do. and do. unoccupied. 4 Dry Goods Stores. 7 Family Groceries and Provision Stores. 2 Wholesale, '' do. do. (one selling $200,000 per year.) 4 General Merchandise, Stores. 3 Stove and Tin, do. 2 Hardw^are, do. 2 Furniture, dc). TiiE IIISTOKY OF VEliC. 1 Leather and Finding, do. 1 Flour arid Feed, do. 4 Drug and Book, do. 2 Tobacco, do. Y3 7 Taverns, (one a large and commodioiis Ho- tel.) 1 Gun Shop. 4: Bakeries. 3 Harness and Saddle Shops. 6 Shoe Maker Shops. 5 Tailor Shops. 5 Blacksmith and Wagon Maker Shops. 2 Cooper Shops. 4 Milliner Shops. 2 Banks. 3 Private Land Offices. 2 Livery Stables. 40 Lager Beer and Drinking Saloons. 1 Daguerreian. 5 Law Offices. 7 Physicians. 3 Grain and Merchandis'e Ware Houses, with a united capacity of about 200,000 bushels, besides room for general merchandise. 1 Plow Factory, (employing some 40 hands.) 74 THE HISTORY OF PERU. 1 Match Factory. 1 Fanning Mill Factory. 3 Breweries, 1 Flouring Mill. 5 Lnniber Yards. 1 Boat Yard. The central engine house of the Chicago and Kock Island Kail Koad is located here. As the engines, with their engineers and firemen, are changed here, many of the employees are domes- ticated. The quantity of grain purchased direct from the producers, and shipped — exclusive of that purchased by the mill — was 582,641 bushels in 1857, against about 900,000 bushels in 1856. The falling off is attributable to the reluctance of the farmers to market their grain in the fall of the former year, as before mentioned. A very important branch of business pursued here is the ice trade. About 13,000 tons are an- nually packed for the southern market, giving em- ployment to about three hundred men, during the Winter and Spring in packing and shipping, and sixty men in Summer and Fall, in building boats and other preparations for the next winter's busi- ness. Two steamboats are ow^ned and employed exclusively in the trade. THE HISTOKY OF PEKU. 75 For some years, attention has been attracted to the Great Central Coal Field of Illinois, the north eastern rim of which underlies the cities of Peru and La Salle. From the earliest settle- ment of the country the outcrops have been re- sorted to for fuel. More and more extensive ex- plorations and excavations have, from time to time, been made, excited by the foresight, sagaci- ty and scientific deductions of the pioneer of that interest, Dixwell Lathrop, Esq. In 1855, a thorough examination was made by J. G. Nor- wood, State Geologist, which demonstrated the existence of three veins or strata, underlying an area of about 500 square miles. These veins vary in thickness, from three and a half to seven feet, the central being the thickest, but the value of the coal increasing with the descent. The existence of another strata, still lower and still better, is presumed, as the alluvial formation, or coal meaS' ures, has not yet been passed by boring. A com- parison of the analysis of these coals with those of the best Pennsylvania and Ohio bituminous, de- monstrated that an open market could be success- fully entered in competition. Immediately after- wards, operations in mining were commenced on 76 TJIK HISTORY OF PEKL'. a more extensive scale and more scientilic princi- ples. Several shafts were sunk and powerful and im- proved machinery employed. These shafts were sunk in and near La Salle, with one exception, which was in the westerly part of Peru, imme diately on the river bank, and on the track of the Chicago and Rock Island Rail Road. The struc- tures, excavations, machinery and outfits of the company oj)erating this shaft are of the most perfect and approved kind. Their facilities for raising are equal to three hundred tons per day. They are working the lower, or best vein — four and a-lialf feet thick — exclusiA^ely, which they have reached at probably its greatest dej)ression, three hundred and forty-six feet below the surface. Analysis and tests, made at many gas works and manufactories, are conclusive in establishing the fact, that NO coal has yet been eaised, west of Ohio and north of the Ohio river, which is equal to the coal from this shaft, sou the amount of steam it w^ill generate, and for its freedom from sulphur and tendency to clink- er. What is true of this shaft is true, in a de- gree, of the coal from the same vein from the THE HISTORY OF PERU. 77 shafts at La Salle, the difference being due no doubt to its greater depression. The imjDortance of this coal field to the interests of Peru and La Salle can scarcely be over estima- ted. "When it is recollected that this is the ex- treme northern edge of the Illinois coal fields ; that the countr}^ all north, to the forrests of north- ern Wisconsin, is but sparscely supplied with tim- ber, and that growing "small by degrees and beautifully less ; " that this country is already in- terlaced with Railroads, all haying a connexion with the Illinois Central, upon which the coal can be " dumped " directly from the mines ; that the iron mines of northern Wisconsin are within easy and accessable distance ; and that the locality itself possesses extraordinary adyantages for man- ufacturing; its importance can be but partially comprehended. One word as to the adyantages for manufactur- ing. One of the most considerable ot" these is the cheapness, excellency and unlimited suj^ply of fuel. To this must be added the acknowledged healthiness of the locality and salubrity of cli- mate ; and the facilities for drawing supplies and distributing manufactures, by riyer, canal and 78 THE HISTORY OF PEEU. rail road, which diverge in every direction, and penetrate a country which, for hundreds of miles, has a greater capacity for production, and conse- quently for sustaining population, than any other country of the same extent on the surface of the Globe. Laborers, mechanics and artizans can pur- chase the same degree of comfort here as in Chi- cago or other commercial and crowded centers, where of necessity rents and provisions must be high, for one third less price. This, it will be per- ceived, is a very important element to be taken into account. It would seem as if these advan- tages, combined with other and important ones not enumerated, would soon become so convinc- ing, as to make resistance to the establishment of manufactories much longer impossible. The present debt of the City of Peru is as fol- lows : Chicago and Eock Island Eail Road bonds, 40,000 Market House, do. 12,600 Current expense bonds of 1855, 5,000 Interest bonds v^oted for in June, 5,000 Outstanding Scrip (about,) 1,000 Total, - $63,600 THE HISTORY OF PERr. 79 There is enough Tincollected, (or in the officers hands) revenue of the year 1857, which is reliable, to pay all out standing scrip. The revenue of last year, from all sources, was ^8,5S2,3-i. Tlie whole amount of taxable property, real and per- sonal, as appears, by the assessment roll, was $1,752,300. It will be seen that the financial con- dition of the city is by no means desperate. When the rail road shall pay its dividends regularly, if the issue of no more bonds be authorized, and prudence and economy are observed in expendi- tures, no difliculty will be experienced in meeting all engagements, and gradually reducing the debt. On reviewing the census and other statistics, connected with the growth and j^resent and pros- pective condition of the city, there will be foimd no cause for despondency and discouragement, but much for congratulation and hope. It is true that no such rapid increase of population has taken place as was anticipated, or as has been the case in some other western towns. But there has been no decrease, even temporary. On the contrary, there has been a steady and gradual increase in population, business and wealth, from the recom- 80 THE IIISTOKY OF PEEU. mencemcnt of the work of building the canal in 1843, to the present time. That this increase has been no more rapid, may be accounted for, partial- ly 1)Y the inilnence which the sudden and nearly simultaneous construction of such a net work of rail roads as covers Illinois, exerts upon all inte- rior towns. There are here no mountain barriers to obstruct the construction of a rail road in any direction. With the exception of the Central, they all cross the State from east to west, connecting the Lakes with the Mississippi, and run without much reference to the location of existing towns. The consequence has been, that nearly all the towns upon the river have had their trade tem- 2:>oraily diverted, to a greater or lesser extent ; and " prairie towns " have started up, to compete for the trade, at almost every station. These have enjoyed an ephemeral advantage, from their supposed superior healthiness. That this is a mistake, the mortality of Peru, as exhibited by the census table, for one year, 1857, — which is a fair average of every year except those when the chol- era prevailed — abundantly shows. That these towns, while they ha^'e in no instance wholly stop- ed the increase of those on the river, but only divi- THE insTORT or rERF. 81 clecl tlieir natural accessions, will shortly react up- on tlieir older sisters, and, in tlieir turn, contribu- ted to tlieii* advancement and prosperity, is inevi- table. This is already manifest in the relation which Peru now occupies in reference to Amboy, Sublette, Mendota, Aiiington, Tonica, Wenona, and other towns on the Central, Chicago and Burlington, and Hock Island Kail lioads, none of which had an existence before the roads were projected. That this is, and must continue to be the case, is obvious from the fact, that while she has all the advantages of rail roads which any of them possess, she has in addition the superior facilities which the river and canal afford. That considerable accessions to her poj^ulation have taken place the present season is proved by the fact, that only fifteen tenements, little and big, are vacant, while over fifty have been erected. — The foreign element in the population, it will bo perceived, is quite large. This is the case with all western towns. If, from the number set down in the census tables as "born in the United States, " be subtracted the number " born of foreign parents and counted as Americans, " there will ])e left onlv nine hundred and seventv two 82 THE HISTORY OF PERU. Avlio arc Americans by birth and ancestry. Bnt the anialo^amation of interest and feehno- is so complete, that society moves harmoniously, and the subject of nationality is but little thought of. It is believed that the mortality, as exhibited by the census table, is imparalleled. It is about one and one third per cent, of the population. This result has been obtained by enquiry in every famil}' and can be relied on as nearly correct. It includes infants and adults, and those who have died by casualty, as well as by disease. It is true that we have not as large a proportion of old persons, whose lives are terminating m their na- tural order, as in older communities, but it is also true that we have a larger proportion of newly arrived emigrants, whose health is influenced by the fiitigue and exposure of protracted voyages and journeys, and by a change of climate and habits. By a comparison with other towns and cities, and with the entire country, it will be per- ceived that the aggregate mortality is remarkably low. In Boston, according to the report of the Sanitary Commission, for a period of nine years, tlie average annual mortality was 2,53 per cent; in Xew York, accordino- to the annual report <>f TllE IIISTOKY OF PERU. B3 tlie City Inspector in 1853, it was 4,4 per cent ; in Philadelphia, according to the report of the Board of Health in 1850, it was 2,29 per cent ; in Baltimore, according to the report of the Board of Health in 1850, it was 2,7 per cent ; in Charles- ton, according to the report of the Board of Health in 1850, it was 1,99 per cent ; and in the United States in 1850, according to the census tables, it was 1,39. So it will be seen, that the mortality is less, if the year selected be an aver- age one, than it is in either of the above cities, or in the entire country. This comparison, it is hon- estly believed, presents a fair index to the sanita- ry condition of the city. Prominent among the objects which challenge the early and prompt attention of the citizens of Peru, is the subject of a bridge across the river, and a road across the bottom to the bluif, upon which passing shall at all times be practicable. The trade from the north and west which former- ly centered here, has been cut off, to a great ex- tent, by the Central, and Chicago and Burlington roads. The most valuable trade which remains is that from the south side of the nver. This is sometimes interrupted for months together, as b-± THE IIISTOKY OF TEEU. ]ias been the case tlie present season, leaving merchants to look despondingly npon their crowd- ed shelves, and mechanics to stand idle in their shops. (Most likely they console themselves at Kaiser's — but this is not to be printed.) "What means shall be adopted for the accomplishment of this object, is not the present purpose of the writer to enquire. But that some plan should be devised forthwith — always excepting running into debt — is too apparent to admit of argument. There is every reason to hope that the energy, perseverance and financial skill of the present Mayor, John L. McCormick, Esq., who is the de- voted and zealous champion of the work, will tri- umph over all difficulties. We have now looked at the past and present. "What of the future ? Will the magnificent pre- tensions of the " Head of I^avigation " dwindle into thin air ? "Will the metropolitan airs which she assumed and flaunted before the eyes of envi- ous rivals degenerate into the abject cringing of the vanquished and crest fallen braggart? Will the notes of arrogance and defiance which rung out upon the tympanum of an admiring world subside into tlio moaninscs and mutterinivs of im- THE IIISTUKY UF rEliU. 85 becility and dotage ? Will the liiim of trade and industry be hnslied in lier streets, and be super- ceded by tbe fluttering of bats and the hootings of owls ? Or will she decline into a quiet subur- ban appendage of her more fortunate and energet- ic rival ? Or will both x^laces languish in prema- ture decay, while neighboring towns stride on- wards in their march to greatness? Will the manufacture of inordinate quantities of gas con- tinue to be necessary to remind the world of their existence ? These are questions that must be an- swered by their own citizens. Certain it is, that if they properly appreciate and energetically grasp the advantao-es which nature, and a rare combi- nation of external circumstances have placed within their reach, it will be a long time before the antiquarian w^ill have to grope through super- incumbent accmnulations for evidence of their previous existence. ISTot merely by the exchange and transhipment of merchandise ; not merely by hotels, lager beer saloons, banking and exchange offices, and houses and places of refreshment and amusement, although they may be all prefixed with the word " city, " can the destiny which is tlieir inheritance and birthright be obtained. An 8(3 TlfE niSTOEY OF VEllU. intelligent and productive aggregation of bones, sinews and brains must be domesticated npon tlie spot, wliose presence and influence will re-act, with beneficent results, upon eacli and every lauda- ble interest and enterprise. ]^o folly or madness can be more extreme, than that of those wdio think they can sit down with folded arms, and realize dreams of fortunes to be made through enhanc- ed corner lot,s. "VYehave glanced" at the material and political comm^encement, progress and prosjoects of Peru. Let us look at the moral and intellectual phases of her existance. Among her early settlers were many families of high culture, refinement, social condition and moral standino^. Of these were the families of George B. Martin,' II. L. Kinney, S. Lisle Smith, D. J. Townsend, ^Ym. 11. Davis, Fletcher Web- ster, George W.Holley, Lucius Pearl, II. P. Wood- v/orth, W. B. Burnett, Gen. Ransom &c. Sel- dom has a new, obscure, western settlement, whose inhabitants w^ere thrown together by chance, gathered so brilliant specimens of eastern intelligence and civilization. There was an un- der strata, however, which by no means tends to THE IIISTOKY OF PEKlf. ^< briglitcn the reminiscence. The idlers, adventur- ers'and vagabonds, who follow public works in uew countries, and who congregate at the termi- nation of navigation, made a rendezvous here. Peru, as ought to have been mentioned before, is broken by a i^recipitous bluff nearly an hundred and fifty feet high. On a narrow strip between this and the river is a single street, upon which most of the stores, warehouses and shops are situ- ated,. in= the rear of which runs the rail road.— Most of the dwellings are on the bluif, upon a plane inclining towards the river and somewliat broken with ravines. Formerly, as now, the street under the bluff was generally avoided as a resi- dence by the more orderly and quiet citizens. This l)ecame the rendezvous of all the congregated rowdies and ruffians. In the night it was ahnost entirely given up to them. Orgies and revelry were always in order. As this part of the town was, and has continued to be the most visited by strangers, the steamboats landing in front then, and the rail road running through the rear now, the fame of its doings soon spread throughout all the land. The reputation, thus acquired, clung to it ; and while no place has had a larger pro- S8 THE IIISTOKY OF VERV. portion of quiet, orderly, intelligent and reHned citizens, no place has had a more unenviable rep- utation, unless it be the sister town of La Salle. So true is it that the fame of bad [deeds travels further and faster than good ones, the writer, wdien abroad, on informing a stranger that he was from Peru, has observed that stranger involunta- rily button up his pockets and move out of the neighborhood. What reason exists for this feeling may be seen from the fact, that during the whole period of the town's history, no riots ; no fights, resulting in death or severe bodily injury with one exception, and that among a party none of which ever lived in the town ; no robbery ; and but few cases of burglary or larceny have occurred. 'No night police has ever been found necessary except at brief and distant periods. — Schools and churches have received constant at- tention and liberal encouragement. If the order and external sanctity of an interior New Eng- land town do not prevail, the difference in our circumstances, situation and history must be re- collected ; and that these are not the tests of mor- al ity all over the Avorld. Few among the citizens have yet found leisure THE HISTORY OF PEEU. 89 to devote tliemselves to intellectual pursuits, yet it is believed that the clergymen, lawyers, doctors, merchants &c., have exhibited ability and attain- ments equal to those of their class in other local ities. CHAPTEE XI. 'Western Towns — Surrounding Country — Scene as viewed from tlie Cliamber's House — Salu- brity of the Climate — "Water — Soil — Markets Roads — Hogs and Cattle — Dairies — Sheep — Grass fatted meat — Horses — Choice of Markets ■ — Scarcity of Timber — Morals and Society — Former difficulties of the Emigrant^Present Condition. What ambitious communities these w^estern towns are, to be sure ! How they do chirp when they once get their bills through the shell, and w^hile the greater portion yet adheres to their backs ! "What laughable contortions they make in their efforts to crow, strut and clap their wings ! Eastern people must understand that there are no villages in the West. Every aggregation of a half dozen houses, a blacksmith sho]) and tavern is a city, and their name is Legion. A meeting house and school house — so necessary in the East to constitute a village — are not necessary aj^pen- THE I1I6T0KY OF VKRV. 9T clages of a city in the AYest. Clapboard shells, with their gables to the street, embellished with square battlements to the ridge, are emblazoned with "City Drug Store, " City Saloon, "" City Hard Ware Store, " &c. There are " first class hotels, " too, between which and the rail road depot, gorgeous omnibusses run. When the cars stop, what a din the runners set up of '' Metropo- litan Hotel, " " St. Mcholas, " " Eeviere House, " " St. Charles, " &c. ^Yo, to the unlucky travel- er who Mis into their clutches. He will find when he comes to settle his bill, that in respect to charges, they are determined to do no discredit to the'ir sea board prototypes. Here and there, one of these clapboards " cities " emerge into one of brick and stone. Then three, four and five story structures rise like an exhala- tion. Enormous turrets, bay windows, lofty ceil- ings, gold and vermillion, marble, iron and gew- gaws, without end, without order, without taste, and without regard to adaptability, business or convenience meet the eye on every side. Plate glass windows disclose a profusion of costly and variasrated wares and merchandise, and enormous mirrors entice unsophisticated rustics down end- 92 THE lIlSTOliY OF rEKU. less avenues. Turning your eye upwards along tliese aspiring structures, you behold broken win- dows and otlier evidences of dilapidation, deno- ting the utter uselessness of these lofty creations; and your amazement is no way lessened when you learn, that from twelve to twenty per cent, interest is paid for the money to erect them, se- cured by trust deeds upon the building itself, up- on " out lots, " and upon broad acres of "wild lands. " Then what j)alatial residences are rear- ed in the suburbs ! Palaces, cottages, temples, pavilions, pagodas and mosques adorn valley and hill top. Domes, steeples, sj>ires, turrets and mina- rets, gleam in the sun light, peer out of clumps of foliage, and struggle upwards at every unexpected point. PorticoSjVerandas, observatories pillars, are here, there, everywhere, in endless profusion. — Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite, Gothic and Yankee architecture are everywhere attempted, sometimes several of them on the same building, and sometimes all jumbled together. — Around them are close shaven lawns, graveled walks, arbors, climbing vines, summer houses, green houses, and flower plats, all imdcr the care of one, two, three or more Patricks. Within, fres- THE IIISTOEY OF TERU. 93 COS and gilding, paint and npliolsteiy, marble and porcelain, rose wood and maliogony vie, in their power to please, with magnificent toil- ets and langnid ladies. Carriages, drawn by thousand dollar bays, groomed by blue coat- ed Hibernians, flash upon the vision like the gleam of a meteor. . But alas, for the inevitable revulsion ! Down on the " business street, " in front of premises where deposits are received and ten or fifteen per cent, interest allowed thereon, and exchange is sold on all eastern and European cities, a motley crowd of anxious and excited people — merchants, farmers, mechanics, seam- streses, laundresses, draymen, and laborers — are assembled What brings thom there? Why, Mess- rs. Dash & Splurge have " suspended ' — that's all. What weasen-faced, moustachioued abortion is that who declares upon '' his honaw, the place is almost equal to Isew Yawk. " Why, that's Mr. Hound, junior partner in the eminent firm of De Laine, Brocade & Co., of E"ew York. He is the same individual whose acquaintance we made six or eight months ago, when he visited this lo- cality and was introduced to us as Mr. Drum- mer. What a capital fellow ho was ! How bland ! ^1 THE IIISTOKY OF PEEU. How civil ! How x^olite ! How^ lie amused us with stories of the splendor and grandeur of the metropolis ! How delightfully he sang ! What a superb game of billards he played ! How he insisted upon paying for all the Hiedsieck! Who would have expected to see him transformed into the morose, sinister, vindictive looking personage which he now appears ? Who would have ex- pected to see his jocund, rounded physiognomy, where a bland and perpetual smile sat enthroned, distorted into a shape as angular as a problem in Euclid ? We find, on enquiry, that his present business here is to look after a little matter be- tween his house and one of our leading firms wdio have also " susj^ended. " He made the acquain- tance of this firm on his late visit, took tea at the house of one ot them, sang an accompaniment to the piano with the daughters, bade them adieu with his hand on his heart, took a lunch and a ^' smash " with the "old man" at the ^-saloon," and left with a long order for silks, calicos, &c. Mr. De Laine, the head of the house, being a little more Cautious, consulted the Commercial Agency and found them set down as " reliable — rather extravagant in living, indulge a little in horse rac- THE HISTORY OF PERU. 95 ing, hut generally attentiveto business, " and con- eluded that it was " all right. " Hound finds it " aint all right. " Mother-in-law owns the house, furniture, horses and carriage ; brothers are pre- ferred creditors ; clerks and servants are charged with the collection of debts, from the proceeds of which they are to retain arrerages due them for wages ; and the landlord has sued out a distress, and home creditors an attachment, which will sure- ly cover every thing, should there be any little flaws in the assignment. Hound comes to the conclu- sion, that he is taken in — sold — done — and that it will not pay even to employ a lawyer in the premises. In fact, his settled conviction is that there is a collusion between all the residents of this portion of the Earth, and that he will not trust an V of them asrain — never. The writer hopes that he will not be understood as attempting to ridicule western towns, as a whole, or to throw discredit upon western mer- cliants and bankers, as a class. Thriving villages are springing up all over the country, and many towns and cities are great centers of trade, justly depending for their future advancement upon tlioir o-reat advantaires for interior communica- 96 THE HISTOEY OF TEKX^ tion, upon the matchless wealth of the soil, and upon the enlightened enterprise of their citizens. The merchants, bankers and real estate owners, are, as a class, shrcAvd and intelligent men, hold- ing their credit and characters sacred and inviol able, and many families live in elegant luxury, fully justified by a permanent and reliable in- come. Many, here as elsewhere, have been over- taken by the recent monetary calamities, and are suffering from causes which ordinary foresight could not have foreseen. But whatever may be thought of the advanta- ges offered by the towns of Peru and La Salle — for their destiny is one — for settlement and the investment of capital, there can be no doubt about the inducements presented to farmers and others by the surrounding country. The climate is gen- ial and salubrious, the atmosphere invigorating and free from miasma, and the scenery delightful — alternating from green and billowy swells of prairie, varied by cultivation and improvement, to wild and romantic dells and ravines. Looking eastward up the valley of the Illinois from the observatory on the Chamber's House, no lovelier scene can be presented. The lair and beautiful THE HISTORY OF PERU. 97 city of La Salle, joined to her westerly neighbor by continuous streets and structures ; the graceful spire of her cathedral rising clear and sharp against the sky ; the wooded outline of the Little Yermillion, indicating its sinuous course north- ward until lost in the blue haze of the distance ; the cultivated fields, yellow w^ith waving wheat and oats, or dark with luxuriant corn ; the quiet farm houses nestling in their bowers of foliage — homes of those whose "lines have fallen in pleasant places " — the verdant and undulating stretch of prairie bounding the \dsion as the waters do upon the ocean ; the delicate tracery of the Central Kail Road bridge, spanning the broad chasm of the Illinois from bluff to bluff, nearly a mile in length ; the silvery thread of the river, now hid by majestic elms and cotton woods, now di- vided by islands, and now gleaming in sun light, in the far distance ; the jagged sand stone ram- parts of the southern shore, in some places rear- ing their perpendicular sides more than an hun- dred feet above the waters that lave their base ; the rounded and cone like tower of Buffalo Rock, rising abrupt and isolated from the valley below — all present a panorama of exceeding beauty i>b THE HISTORY OT PERU, and loveliness. Unlike some other landscap'es, fair and pleasing to tlie eye, no deadly or unwhole- some exhalations arise from the dank and luxu- riant vegetation. The breezes which fan this scene come laden with health and exhilaration, pure as the icy breath of the Arctic Sea. Xo portion of the United States is more favorable to health than the counties of La Salle, Bureau and Putnam. Ko means are at hand to enable a pos- itive statement concerninsc the mortalitv of these counties to be made, but observation from almost their earliest settlement, and a residence in many other different localities, justify the assertion that it will fall short of most portions of IN'ew York, Pennsylvania or New England. It is true that in the early settlement, bilious fevers, of a mild form, rarely resulting in death, prevailed to some extent, as they have in the early settlement ol all parts of the country. These have almost entire- ly disappeared, and have not been succeeded by the more acute forms of disease, as has been the case in other localities. The climate is particu- larly favorable to recovery from all complaints of a pulmonary character. Consumption — the Bcourge of New England— -hardly exists here.— THE HISTORY OF PERU m No doubt but that in a few generations, it will be eradicated from families where it is hereditary. JSTo nepenthe can reconstruct the consumed, vital, human organ ; but it is believed that where no considerable inroads have been made, a residence here, with proper precautions, will do much to- wards staying, if it does not completely baffle the destroyer. It is also true that the country did not escape the ravages of the cholera. What coun- try did? A few elevated, mountainous regions may have enjoyed immunity from that slow, nev- er wearied, implacable traveller, who comes as the wind comes and " bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sounds thereof, and canst not tell whither it cometh, and where it go- eth. " Water, pure, clear and cold, is everywhere found trickling through the subformation of grav- el, at a depth of from twenty to forty feet. It is generally slightly impregnated with lime, but otherwise holds but little mineral in solution. — Many of the early cases of fever and ague were no doubt to be attributed to the necessity which compelled the settlers to content themselves with the surface water, putrid with decaying vegetable 100 THE HISTORY OF PERU. matter, to be found at a short distance below the surface in sloughs and other depressions Run- ning streams are not infrequent, though not so common, as in hilly and mountainous regions. The soil. What shall be said of it 'i The Del- ta of the ]!^ile, in its original opulence, was not more fertile. It consists of a rich, black, vegetable mould, from one to six feet in depth, resting upon a sub-soil of stiff clay. Its surface has as yet been only scratched. When this shall be expen- ded, the wealth below can be brought to light by the sub-soil plow, an instrument as unfamiliar here as the Koo-i-noor. An intelligent farmer in La Salle County — an old resident — has been ex- perimenting upon a piece of land of a few acres, by planting and harvesting a succession of corn crops, without fertilizers, for a series of years. — As yet he has fonnd no diminution of yield. All the cerials, fruits and esculent roots, adapted to the climate, produce in perfection and abundance. — Winter blight and rust are incident to wheat cul- ture every where, here as well as in other sections; but insects — the grasshopper, army worm, midge and weavel — have never yet made their appear- ance. The corn crop never fails. In two seaisons THE HISTORY OF VERV. 101 out of the last twenty, a slight diminution of yield occurred — in one year by protracted rains preserving the esculency of the plant until the season of frost, and in another by drought. — With these exceptions, it has grown and ripened in all its perfection. Of course, crops are "short" with some people always. The Hibernian said that he believed that " if the steamboat never sailed somebody would be left ;" so if the frost never comes, somebody's corn will be caught. So, too, the disposition among farmers to complain of short crops is chronic, here as elsewhere. If the statistics, gathered by means of agricultural fairs or otherwise, do not exhibit so large yields per acre, as in places where land is dearer, it must be recollected that cultivation is as yet conducted only in a very rude manner. 'No application to the soil of materials whereof it is deficient, for the production of certain crops, was ever dreamed of. J^Tone of the high cultivation, adopted where that practice is a necessity, is ever resorted to. 1^0 portions of the three counties named are more than ten miles distant from some rail road station, or river, or canal landing, at all of which a cash market is found for every kind of farm i02 THE HISTORY OF PEEL'. produce, and a supply of all kinds of '' store goods " is for sale. Leading to these are roads whereon the low places have been turnpiked, and the sloughs and streams bridged, and which, if not so solid and smooth, in wet weather, as those over the flinty or gravelly soil of some portions of the eastern States, are infinitely superior to those corduro}^ aflkirs, running through the timbered re- gions of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. In dr}^ weather, no McAdam, no pavement, no Imperial causeway is so smooth, so even, so easy, so noise- less as the slightly elastic prairie road bed. Talk of two-forty on the Avenue ! A natural prairie road is the paradise of Jehus. Horses, cattle, hogs — those whales of the prai- ries — sheep and fowls thrive and are profitable. The high price and great average yield of grain have, of late years, induced farmers, to a great degree, to neglect the dairy. The ruling price of cheese, in the towns, for several years pasthas been from ten to fifteen cents, and of butter from fifteen to twenty-five cents per pound. Think of that, you dairymen and dairy women of the Wes- tern Keserve, JSTew York and ]S"ew England ! — Cows, grazing through the long summer upon TUB IIISTOIIT OF PEBU'. lOS common prairie ]3asture, and requiring to be fed only tlirougli the short winter, and the product of their udders bringing those prices at your doors ! Wool growing, too, for the same reason has been neglected. No country offers greater induce- ments to raise sheep, w^ere it not for the gangs of worthless dogs which most farmers persist in'keep- ing. The carcases were formerly of but little value. J^ow the cost of getting them to the great eastern markets is so small, that for that pur- pose alone their production would be profitable. ^Yhat delicious lamb, mutton and beef grace our market stalls ! How hidden and buried are the kidneys beneath the white, thick, oleaginous cov- ering ! How the layers of fat and lean alternate through rib and sirloin ! How the rich juices fol- low the carving knife as it slides, almost of its own weight, through the roasted haunch ! Oh, you benighted Yegitarians ! Have you no music in your souls ? Do no involuntary drops ooze from the caverns of your mouths, as you contem- plate the gastronomic treasure, and inhale the rich fragrance which rises like a halo ? Oh, you unfortunate denizens of inland eastern towns, who are compelled to essay mastication upon the 104 THE IIIgTuKT OF PERff. blue, stringj, tenacious substance which you call butchers meat ! What wonder that the dental art flourishes in your vicinity ! IIow would you like to luxuriate ujoon these grass-fed fatlings of the prairie ? The average estimate of a large number of in- telligent farmers is that it costs about tliirty-five dollars to raise a colt to the ao^e of four years. For years past the price of a good work colt, at that age, has been one hundred and fifty dollars. The choice of markets, enjoyed by agricultur- ists here, is of great advantage. It often happens that the eastern markets are depressed while the southern markets are buoyant, and vice versa. — The location upon the navigable waters of a trib- utary of the Mississippi, and upon the canal con- necting with the Lakes, gives a valuable option to farmers. One great bug bear of the prairies was former- ly the scarcity of timber. The early settlers skirted with their farms and homesteads the bor- ders of timber, and deemed the central parts of the prairie as valueless as an African desert. Ex- perience has shown that these are the most valu- able lands, and that no serious inconvenience is rilE IlISTOKY OF TERU. 105 felt on account of remoteness from timber. Lum- ber from Miclngan, transported by canal or rail road, is cheaper for fencing than rails, though the timber were at liand. Wire is also used to con- siderable extent. The abundance, cheapness, contiguity, and excellent quality of the bitumin- ous coal, underlying portions of all three of these counties, obviate all necessity of wood for fuel. Society is already established and settled, as in older communities. The present race of farmers is as intelligent and enterprising, as a class, as those of the eastern States. The tone of morals and integrity is as high as elsewhere. Schools are everywhere sustained and fostered, and are no where so remote as to render their advantages imavailable. Churches, of all the several Chris- tian denominations, are in reasonable proximity. The price of land varies from five to fifty dollars per acre. What a difference in the condition of the emi- grant farmer now and twenty years ago ! Then, liaving bade good bye to the home and scenes of his childhood, having sold a portion and pack- ed- a portion of his hoiisehold goods, and having 106 THE HISTOKY OF PERU. exchanged the last sad and faltering salutations with kindred and early and life long friends — each believing that never more on earth should they meet — with wife and children who tare themselves reluctantly from each cherished face and object, he set his face towards the setting sun. A long and tedious journey by land, through pri- meval forests ; over gullied and precipitous roads and paths ; across bog, and morass, and fen, aiid unbridged torrents, and dreary wastes of sand, and scarcely less desolate prairie ; with wearied and jaded animals, and lagging and loitering gait; camping out by night and pacing through its long watches, by turns, as sentries ; or by canal boat, steamboat, stage and wagon, at length termina- ted in a bleak and lonely prairie. Miles across an ocean of verdure or a charred and blackened waste, as the season was summer or late autumn, glistened the roof of a settlers cabin ; or if this were hidden by the swells of prairie or the con- vexity of the earth, rose a small, faint column of smoke against the sky. Away on the furtherest verge of vision stretched a blue and indistinct thread, like the first glimpse of coastline, as caught from the deck of a vessel at sea. This was the tim- THE HISTORY OF PERU. 107 ber whicli skirted some distant water course. No other object relieved the eye, as it wandered around the circle. The loneliness of ocean — the wearisome expanse of sea and sky — had here its counterpart. The few articles of furniture and clothing, of prime necessity, were hastily un- packed ; a rude and uncomfortable domicil was extemj)orized ; a stable, covered with long grass, to shelter a horse and cow, was erected ; and a hole was dug in the nearest slough, whence was obtained a limited supply of dirty and impure w^ater. These were the comforts and accessories which welcomed the earlv emi£i:rant. JS^o run- ning brooks, no trees, no shade, no merry chil- dren frolicking to school, no music of Church bells, no decorous and well dressed people, wend- ing their way to the edifice, where the organ's di- apason and the solemn chant, in memory, rose with their stately swell, no cheerful faces of neighbors and friends, no kind voices to con- gratulate in good fortune and console in bad, sur- rounded and cheered the saddened pilgrims. Soon, fatigue, exposure, privations, bad water, un- wholesome diet, repining and discontent brought on the inevitable " ager. " Doctors, calomel, qui- 108 tliTE HISTUKY OF PERt. iiihe, yellow and jaundiced faces, emaciated forms, broken spirits and general misery followed. Twenty years ! Presto, wliat a change ! Rip Van "Winkle lias awoke ! "Where stood the lone- ly hovel, now stands the commodious and com- fortable farm house. Orchards, barns, granaries, flowers, luxuriant foliage, pure water, broad fields of grain and grass, lowing herds, good roads, schools, churches, neighbors, friends, cheerful and smiling faces, happiness and contentment have replaced the former surroundings. The j)oor and dejected emigrant is now the independent pos- sessor of a domain a prince might envy. The disconsolate and almost broken hearted mother who, during long and weary days and nights, in solitude and loneliness, watched and nursed her puny and sickly brood, is now the happy, come- ly and dignified matron, whose children and grand-children are clustered around her. The friends and kindred with whom she parted so sorrowfully twenty years ago — those of them who are yet spared to earth — are again her neighbors. With them she frequently exchanges visits — from fifty to sixty hours only, at most, being necessar y to bring them together. If Old Rip had actu- THE HISTORY OF PERU. 109 ally gone to sleep, twenty years ago upon the prai- ries, ujDon awaking now, it is opined, his amaze- ment would far exceed that inspired by the neigh- borhood of the Catskills. Who will now com- plain of the hardships incident to a removal from the most favored regions to a country, already so far advanced in all that contributes to the comfort, enjoyment and embellishment of life ? On the 6th August the world was astounded by the announcement that the Atlantic Cable was successfully laid. Previous failures had left no hope in the minds of any, even the most sanguine, of such a res nit. The short, laconic, simj)le dis- patch of Mr. Field — the world renowned projec- tor and master spirit of the work — flew with light- ning wings throughout America and fell upon minds, where skepticism for a long time repelled and resisted conviction. Slowly the possibility of its truth gained the ascendency over disbelief and doubt, till at length, the amazing reality of the 110 THE HISTORY OF PERU. achievement began to be compreliended. The dispatch to his family of Capt. Hndson, of the United States' Steam Frigate Niagara, from which the cable was laid, was telegraphed over the conntry and dispelled all doubt. That dis- patch, beautiful in its epigrammatic terseness, and sublime in its devout thankfulness and gratitude, will be carried down the coming centuries, as long as the remembrance of the great feat shall sur- vive. '' God has been with us ! The telegraph cable is laid, without accident, and to Him be all the Glory. We are all well. " In its first efforts at comprehension, the mind utterly fails to grasp and measure the terrible sublimity of Niagara, the awfid majesty of Mont Blanc, or the colos- sal proportions of a vast cathedral, which " Def}^ at first our nature's littleness. Till, growing with their growth, we thus dilate Our spirits to the size of that they contemplate." So with the Atlantic Telegraph. The mind is bewildered and bafiied when it undertakes to contemplate either the consequences which are to flow from it, or the simple extent of the cable, and the mysterious regions which it traverses. Far down along the groined and vaulted cav- THE HISTORY OF PERU. ill enis of the Oeean's bed ; along the slimy path- way, strewed with the wrecks of sunken argosies, their treasures darkling in oozy dungeons, and the forms of their once living, breathing, human freight, stark and ghastly in eternal sleep ; along rayless and gloomy depths, where silence and solitude, profound and supreme, unending and eternal, encompass, pervade and encircle as with an atmosphere ; along submarine alpine peaks, vainly struggling upwards towards the regions of light and warmth; beneath where the storm Fiend rides on the billow's crest, where the tempest howls the hoarse refrain of its anthem, and where sweeps the ice berg, congealed, perhaps, when the morning stars first sang together ; stretches a metallic thread no bigger than your finger, uni- ting lands two thousand miles asunder in bonds of harmony and brotherly love ; along which glides a subtle fluid, conveying thought and in- telligence — those mysterious emanations of the human brain — and writes them in distant lands as rapidly as they are engendered. A thought is born, and instantly it is stamped upon a human mind two thousand miles away, across the path- less waste of ocean ! A human heart beats, and 112 THE HISTORY OF TERU. its throb is felt before the blood returns for anoth- er circiiit. A word is spoken, and it is re-uttered before the sound has died upon the ear of the first speaker ! A question is asked, and its an- swer comes back as the shuttle returns with the w^oof ! A boon is craved, and the heart leaps in exultation as it is granted, or sinks in despair as it is denied, almost as soon as the lips have closed upon its utterance! Stupendous achieve- ment ! Is there no limit to the conquests of man over the forces of nature, tangible or invisible ? Shall he yet find means, by the clerity of his messengers and the invinci- bility of his power, to overtake and reclaim the lost and wandering Pleiad, and restore the fugitive to its celestial comjDanions ? Shall he go on, step by step, ' into the shadowy realms of the Impossible, until he shall claim aflinity with Supreme Intelligence? Shall he advance, in the order of progressive creation, untill he shall be developed in a being more nearly allied to Ultimate Destiny ? Shall the curtains which con- ceal the arcana of hidden knowledge be gradual- ly drawn aside, and his eye rest, with unflinching gaze, upon the secrets of the Infinite ? Thoughts THE HISTORY OF PERU. 113 like these crowd upon the brain, stupiiied and amazed by the announcement of an event, more wonderful, as a triumph over Natm'e's obstacles, than was ever proclaimed since the world began . CHAPTER XII. Early Settlers in Yicinitj — Early French Settle- ments — Bufialo Rock — Chronological glance at Illinois — Black Hawk War — Indian Creek Massacre — Cork War — Murder of Story — John Myers — ISTinawa Titles — Col. Kinney — A. H. Miller— Starved Rock — Deer Park — Sulphur Springs. The writer indulges in the hope that he will be pardoned for the follo'sving digression, which, though forming no part of the " History of Pe- ru, " is so connected with it as to induce the be- lief that it will be not altogether uninteresting to its citizens, or to the general reader into whose hands this little book may fall. The present residents, as they turn their eyes over the beau- tiful State they inhabit, and behold it dotted with towns, cities, and cultivated farms, where the presence of its original inhabitants is as rare as in Europe, where churches, schools and libraries THE HISTORY OF PERF. 115 are Btrewn broadcast over the land, where the arts, embellishments and accessories of high civ- ilization are everywhere present and pervading, and where rail road and telegraph lines intersect in every direction, may find it pleasant, for a few moments, to drop the present and turn their thoughts to the remote past, and briefly follow np the chain of events, in chronological order, to the period which immediately preceded the settle- ment of the town. A brief notice of events which occurred in the neighborhood, of the sur- rounding localities, and of the individuals who inhabited them, whose characters were marked with strong and original x^ecularities, may also not be uninteresting. Looking backwards three years before the com- mencement of this History — twenty-five years ago — we behold the site of Peru occupied as an Indian village. The very spot where is now the residence of tlie writer is said to have been an In- dian bnrying gronnd. IS'orthward, the nearest residence of the white man was at Dixon's Ferry, and westward, at Princeton, excepting, perhaps, the Hoskins family near the Bureau. South of the river were some settlements. Along the 116 TUE UI STORY OF PERU. timber towards Hennepin lived George Isli and Henry Belong ; at Cedar Point, Nathaniel Rich- ie ; on the bluff, near the old Fort, John Myers ; at Bailey's Point, Lewis Bailey, AYilliam Seeley, William Groom, Joel Alvord, Asa Holdridge, William Haws, and perhaps a few others ; at or near Hennepin, the Willises, Stwarts, Thompsons, Durleys, Donlevys, Shepperds, Zenors and Dents; at Utica, Simon Crosiar ; at Ottawa, the Walk- ers, Browns, Covills, &c.; at Dayton, John Green and William L. Dunnavan ; at Indian Creek, the Halls, Davises and Petegrus ; and further east- ward, the Hollenbecks and Holdermans. At Bloominficton, seventy miles distant, was the near- est mill, and thither all the people went to get their corn and wheat ground, nntil Green bnilt one at Dayton, in 1833 or 1831. As late as 1837, as re- lated by Mrs. Lock wood who then lived with her father, Isaac Manville, at Manville Hollow, in Ce- dar Creek bottom, two miles south of Pern, when a new mill was erected and it was announced that bolted Hour could be obtained on a certain day, the people flocked around it in crowds ; and so eager were they to enjoy that luxury, that they employed Mr. Manville' s family to bake cakes for THE HISTORY OF PERU. 117 tliem, keeping tliem tlius engaged nearly the whole night, and standing around the kitchen fire — it is not to be supposed that the other apart- ments were very spacious or numerous — with watering months and excited palates, ready to appropriate the delicious pasty, as it came smok- ing from the pans. Mrs. Lockwood says she was nearly exhausted, and thought the people never would get enough. The frame of this mill was afterwards removed to Peru where it was set up, and is now occupied by Capt. Lewis Goodell as a livery stable, We will now turn our atten- tion nearly two centuries backwards. The word, Illinois, is a French corruption of Leno. The Indians told the early French set- tlers tliat they were Leno-Lenapes— we are men — meaning, we are brave or masculine men, in con- tradistinction to cowardly or effeminate men. To an imperfect pronunciation of the first word, the French added the termination peculiar to their own lano;uao;e — hence Lenois, and ultimatelv, by a further corruption, Illinois. It has been often remarked that the topography and climate of Illinois bear a strong analogy to those of some portions of France. In its prime- IIS THE HISTORY OF PERr. val condition, there was, in its landscape and at- mosphere, the spirit of gay and joyous life, and of soft and Inxurions repose which distinguish the Gallic Empire. The broad plains were free from the enervating influence of the Tropics, on the one hand, or the stern and rugged landscape features which nurse the restless IN^orseman. on the other. These may have been among the reasons which tempted the Frenchman, after their existance had been made known by the ex- plorations of his countrymen, to take up his abode along the streams and groves which diversify them. At any rate, French settlements were made immediately in the footsteps of Marquette, La Salle, La Hontag and other explorers, who carried the Holy Cross of the Church and the Fleurs le Lis of France into these wilds, as early as the reign of the Grande Monarque, Louis XIY. in the latter part of the seventeenth century. — Settlements were made at Peoria, Kaskaskia and Cohokia, to which were transferred the arts, cus- toms, manners, faith and costumes of France, at the period, and where they flourished and were conserved, ^vitli very little innovation, until the approach of the American Goth — the rude and THE HISTOliY OF PERU. 119 semi barbaric pioneer. Little jealousy and few fends appear to liave existed between these intru- ders and tlie tawny children of the forest and prairie, by whom they were surrounded, and up- on whose hunting grounds they were trespassing. The imposing ceremonies of the Catholic faith, and the simple, frank and conciliatory manners of the strangers charmed the senses and soothed the passions of these children of nature. The French rule in America was, in the main, marked by the absence of those terrible and prolonged conflicts which almost always accompanied Anglo Saxon settlement, in which the amenities of civilized, or even barbaric warfare, were entirely ignored, and each party strove to out do the other in acts of revolting atrocity. The stern, cold hauteur, the rude, coarse insolence, and the grasping, insatia- ble cupidity of the latter inevitably aroused every demon in the Indian breast. The English colo- nists knew no arts of Indian concihation. Their tactics were limited to fire water in advance, and the sword in reserve to avenge the acts of madness excited thereby. The race has not de- generated at all, in these respects, since the maui-auding Saxon scourged the Baltic shores of 120 THE HISTORY OF PERU. Briton. In support of tins, witness the efforts of England to force an interdicted and demoralizing commerce upon tlie passive Chinese; witness her success in saddling the spawn of her aristo- cracy upon the necks of the sujugated Hindoo and Sepoy, compelling the worshippers of both Vishnu, and Mahomet to bow before crosiar and mitre ; witness the long and cruel oppression of her Celtic neighbors; witness how we, shoots from the same scion, have carried the bible in our hand and the whisky bottle in the other, while in the rear came the rifle of the backwoodsman to enforce all arguments with the untutored savages; witness how volunteers have rallied around the stars and stripes, and pushed the original posses- sors of the soil backwards, ever backwards, until a new wave conies rolling from the Pacific coast upon his rear ; witness the cruel and inglorious wars — if by that name they may be dignified — in Florida and Oregon, excited by mercenary and unscrupulous jobbers for the sake of a chance of plunder from the National treasury ; witness the bullying of and final conflict with the mongrel races of poor, decrepit, imbecile Mexico, where- by the auriferous valleys of California and the ster- THE HISTORY OF tERIJ. 121 ile wastes of JSTew Mexico were wrested from her nerveless grasp ; witness the fillibustering forays in Central America ; and witness the midisguis- ed lusting after the Gem of the Antilles, und the nnblushing announcement made at Ostend, by dignified statesmen, claiming, in the nineteenth century, to be Christians, and representing, not cannibal savages or outlawed pirates, but a people who profess to acknowledge the divine injunc- tion, " do unto others as you would that they should do unto you, " and to believe that the command, " thou shalt not steal, " is as imperi- tive now as it was in the days of the great Jew- ish law giver. But to return to the Acadian settlements of the French in Illinois. The manners and customs of the seventeenth century, as before mentioned, were cherished and conserved by these communi- ties, isolated as they were in the heart of a wil- derness continent, until the beginning of the nine- teenth century. Passing from French to Eng- lish rule by the treaty of 1763, they finally came under the jurisciction of the American Confeder- ation by the treaty of 1783. After the treaty of Ghent in 1814: the restless American pioneer be- 122 THE HISTORY OF TEKU. p-aii to make eiicroaclimeiits. The contrast be- tween these two representatives of then- respec- tive races, thus meeting face to face in the A\dlder- ness, was even more marked and decided than between the same races, separated by the English ChanneL The Frenchman represented a by-gone age, softened and subdued by the influences of more than a century's sojourn, in aggregated communities, among the quiet, sylvan glades of le belle terre. The American, originally imbued with the heartless and licentious voluptuousness of the Cavaliers of the times of Charles II. or the morose, ascetic manners of the Commonwealth, was in either case, transformed and remoulded, but with many of his original characteristics yet clinging to him, by more than a century's resi- dence upon a wilderness frontier, where " no pent up Utica confined his powers, " where the most unbounded freedom of thought and action were enjoyed, where the wants of nature and the re- quirements of taste were gratified in the rudest^ simplest and most primeval manner, and where, surrounded by the stern and gloomy grandeur of forest life, continual conflict with savages and wild beasts had produced characteristics which, trans- THE IIISTUKY OF PERU. 1:^3 mitted irom one generation to another, had cul- minated in a character original, unique and in- teresting. The salient points which distinguish- ed him were unhesitating self reliance ; reckless and chivalrous daring ; imperious and resistless w411 ; cool and impurturable self possession ; spas- modic and startling energy, contrasted with in- termittent, if not habitual indolence ; strong, mas- culine sense, undiluted with any poetry, senti- ment or superstition ; scorning wilds and strategy, but always prepared to circumvent and bailie them ; hospitable to friend or stranger, and ever ready to share his wolf or bear skin, his hog and hominy, his tobacco and whisky with all comers; to his enemies bold and defiant, but generous and forgiving ; to his friends faithful and true, deem- ing desertion of their fortunes, in trouble or dan- ger, the most aggravated of delinquences ; pos- sessed of physical powers of endurance which mocked privation and fatigue ; eye, nerve and brain steady and true in all emergencies; migra- tory in his habits as a Bedouin Arab ; ready, at all times, to drink or fight, run or wrestle ; unlet- tered and untutored as the savage who had been his companion or his foe ; and uncouth and re- 124 THE HISTORY OF PERU. pulsive in action, manners and habits as the bear with which he had coped in a hand to paw and knife to fangs conflict. Thus were the offshoots of the two greatest and most cultivated and refined of modern nations, vis-a-vis, in the heart of the American continent. Soon the song of the voyageur, " Such as at home, in the olden time, his fathers before him- Sang in their l^orman orchards and bright Bur- gundian vineyards, " as he floated with the stream, or propelled his batteaux against the current, with pole, and line, and oar, and sail, was hushed forever. Soon the panting of the steamer awoke the long silent echos of the bluff's and startled the aquatic fowl from lagoon and bayou. Soon the swelling tide of a more advanced civilization rolled westward over the prairies, and the '' common " of the rus- tic village, upon whose verdant sward and be- neath w^hose branching elms, enamoured swains and blushing maidens, " Wearing their i^orman caps, and their kirtles of blue, and the ear rings THE HISTORY OF PERU. 125 Brought in the olden tnne from France, and since, as an heir loom, Handed down from mother to child, through long generations, " had been wont to " trip the light fantastic toe " to rude and simple music, was illumined with the camp tires and whitened with the wagon covers of the Saxon emigrant. Soon the alloted arpents which, in the exercise of " sqnatter sov- reignty, " had been appropriated by each family as a home lot, were surveyed, divided, staked and sold, and an embryo city was rising theron. Soon the quaint and moss covered church, where Yesper, Matin and Mass had erst been said, chanted and smig, gave place to the " meeting house " of another creed and faith. The early French explorers established a post at Buifalo Rock which, it is believed, was the first attempt at settlement by Europeans, in the valley of the Mississippi. This presumption is supported by the following faets. De Soto, after his two years wandering among the ever- glades of Florida and the swamps and mount- ains of what is now Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, arrived on the bank of the " Great 126 TJIK HISTORY f)F PERtJ. river" in 1541, "but founded no settlement, left no traces, and produced no eifects, milees to ex- cite the hostility of the red against the white man. " One hundred and thirty two years later — 1673 — Marquette passed up the Fox of Wiscon- sin, across the portage, and down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi, and returned by way of the Ill- inois. But he, too, according to Joliet, who was his comjianion, "founded no settlement, and left no traces. " These two expeditions contained the only Europeans that ever set foot in the Great Yalley until La Salle, five years later, passed down the Illinois. His route was up the St. Jo- seph in Michigan, across the portage by the Kan- kakee, and down that stream to the Illinois, upon the banks of which he made his first halt and built Rock Fort, where he established a Mission and settlement, but which was afterwards aban- doned, the inhabitants taking themselves to Fort Crevecour. That Buftalo Eock was the site of Rock Fort is probable from the name, as well as from its superior advantages for such an estab- lishment over any other place in tlie valley, from the confluence of the Kankakee to Peoria. This supposition is sustained by Perkins, Sparks and THE HISTORY OF PERU. 12^" Bancroft. A year or two ago, a brass keetle was found in this locality, imbeclc ed in a strata of coal which runs through this singular eminence. It was reported to have been overlaid by a regular seriated, unbroken coal formation ; but as this statement is opposed to received geological theo- ries, it is reasonable to suppose that it was depos- ited by design or accident, in an excavation made by these settlers. On the 4tli of July, 1778, two years after the declaration of Independence, Col. Clark, between whom and Boone the honor of founding Ken- tucky is divided, with a small band of frontier sol- diers, surprised Kaskaskia, then garrisoned by the British, and shortly afterwards made himself master of Cohohia, without bloodshed. He first brought to the inhabitants intelligence of the al- liance between the Americans and their former liege, the King of the French, which was receiv- ed with rapturous enthusiasm, so galling and un- welcome had been the British yoke. Les long Conteaux, as the Kentuckians were called, and les Bostonias, as the Yankees were called were thenceforth welcome. The attachment which the Indians always 128 THE HISTORY OF PERU. manifested towards their great Father of France, in oppposition to the British rule, was quickly transferred to the Americans. In October, the House of Burgesses of Virginia erected the country- north of the Ohio into the county of Illinois, over- which they placed John Todd, of Kentucky, Gover nor. Two companies, raised in the French set- tlements, accompanied Clark in his famous ex- pedition against Yincennes. In 1783, the treaty of peace was concluded, by which the western boundary of the enfranchised Colonies was de- clared to be the Mississippi. In 1784, the North West Territory w^as ceeded by Yirginia to the Confederation Congress. In 1787,it was organized by Congress, but no government was established in Illinois until 1790. This consisted of a Governor three Judges and a Council, who combined exec- utive, judicial and legislative authority. In this year, the county of St. Clair was organized. — From 1783, when the country passed from under British rule, to 1790 — a period of seven years — no government of any kind existed in Illinois. In 1809, lUinois, then including what is now Wiscon- sin was organized as a first class Territorial Govern- ment, the people electing a House of Representa- TUB IIISTOKT OF PERU. 121) tives, and the President and Senate appointing tlie Governor and Conncil. JS^inian Edwards was the first Governor and l^athaniel Pope, both of Kentucky, the first Secretar}^ In 1812, war was declared between the United States and England. Soon followed the surrender of De- troit, by Hull, and the Chicago massacre. At this time no settlement existed in Illinois, north of Alton, except the small French settlement of Peoria. An expedition, in which the present Buchanan candidate for Superintendent of public instruction, John Reynolds, the " Old Ranger, " participated, attacked and destroyed an Indian village on the bluff, at the head of Peoria Lake. On the 24:th of Dec. 1814, the treaty of Ghent was signed. In July, 1815, a treaty was made at Portage des Sioux, a short distance above the mouth of the Missouri, between the American Commissioners, - consisting of Gov. Clark of Missouri, Gov. Edwards of Illinois, and Au- guste Chouteau of St. Louis, and the various Indian tribes of the N"orth West, except the Sacks and Foxes, under Keokuk and Black Hawk, who refused to come to the treaty ground. Two years afterwards, at St. Louis, a 130 THE HISTORY OF PERU. treaty was made with these tribes, an alledged violation of which led to the Black Hawk war in 1831 and '32. From this time to 1820, emigration ponred into Illinois. It was almost entirely from the Southern States, and stopped south of the Sangamon. The population of Illinois was in 1790, about 2000 ; in ISOO, about 3000 ; in 1810, 12,281: ; in 1820, 45,000 ; in 1830, 157,117 ; in 1840, 478,929; in 1850, 853,317; and in 1855, 1,300,000. The first Legislature convened at Kaskaskia in 1812. ISTot a lawyer or attorney is found on the roll of names. Pierre Menard, of the French settlements at Peoria, presided in the Council. — The Legislature of 1817 — '18 incorporated the ^Illinois Bank of Shawneetown,' the " Bank of Cairo " and the " Bank of Edwardsville. " — They all became depositories of United States money. The latter failed soon afterwards, by which the Government lost $54,000. The two former failed, but were galvanized into life during the Internal Improvement mania of 1835 — '36, and by their subsequent failure contributed to the distress of the people in 1841 and 1842. In 1818 Illinois became a State. Her constitution was not THE IIISTOKY OF PERU. 131 submitted to a vote of tlie people. Sliadrick Bond, of Kaskaskia, was the first Governor and Pierre Menard first Lieutenant Governor. Gov. Bond, at the first session of the State Legislature, re- commended the construction ofthe canal. In 18- 20 — '21 the " State Bank " was incorporated. — The faith of the State was pledged for its issues. It failed and the State made up a deficiency of one hundred thousand dollars which she bor- rowed of or through a gentleman named Wig- gins. This was the famous Wiggins loan and the foundation of the State debt. The suggestion of the canal was made as early as 1814, in Xiles Register. The extract is as fol- lows : '^ By the Illinois, it is probable that J^ulfalo, in New York, may be united ^dth Xew Orleans by inland naviga ion, through lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, and the Illinois, and down that river to the Mississippi. What a route ! How stu- pendous the idea ! How dwindles the impor- tance of the artificial canals of Europe!" Many Acts were passed for forwarding this work — one in 1824, one in 1825, one in 1827, one in 1829, but the law, under which the work ^vas actually 132 THE HISTORY OF PERU. commenced, was not passed mitil 1835. In 1824:, the Sangamon river was the northern boundary of settlements. North of the Illinois, the country was occupied by the Sacks and Fox- es. As before mentioned, these tribes were not represented at the treaty of Portage des Sioux, but afterwards entered into a treaty at St. Louis. — Another treaty was made with them at Itock Is- land in 1822, another at Washington in 1821:, another at Prairie du Chien in 1825, and another in 1830, by all of which they agreed to move across the Mississippi. Black Hawk, a brave but not a chief, refused to be bound by these treaties, and in 1831, commenced a series of depredations and murders on the scattering settlements on Kock River, but on the ajDpearance of the troops retreated across the Mississippi. In 1832, he re- crossed the river with most of the warriors of the tribes, and defeated Maj. Stillman with 175 men at a place about 20 miles above Dixon's Ferry. — Soon 3000 militia were rendezvoused at Fort Sci- ence, which stood near where the river sweeps northward from the foot of the bluffs above Peru. These were joined by a detachment from Fort Armstrong, on Rock Island, when the whole pro- THE HISTORY OF PERU. 133 ceeded imcler the command of Gen. Atkinson, on the trail of the Savao^es. Gen. Scott, with six hundred mounted men and nine companies of artillery, was ordered from the seaboard, but be- fore his arrival the western troops had put a ter- mination to the war. These moved northward, and by a series of actions — one by a detachment under the command of Col. John Dement be- tween Dixon and Galena, one by Gen. Henry near the Blue Mounds in Wisconsin, and one near the mouth of the Wisconsin — dispersed the sava- ges and put an end to Blackhawk's power. Keo- kuk, the regular chief of the Sacks, had endeav- ored to dissuade them from the war, but the coun- cils of Black Hawk, his rival, prevailed. The few settlers in La Salle county at this time — ■supposed to be about one hundred in number — suffered much from the atrocity of the Indians. After the rout of Stillman, the latter separated into small squads for the purpose of murder, pillage and the destruction of property. A party made an incur- sion upon Indian Creek, a few miles north of Ot- tawa, where they killed fifteen of the families of Hall, Davis and Petegru, who were all living in one house. The attack was made in the dav time 131 THE HISTOKT OF PERL^. bj about sixty Indians, who watched the men leave the house to go to their work npon a mill dam close by, when they rushed froin their co- verts, one portion firing upon the men, while the other entered the house and slaughtered all the women and children, with the exception of two daughters of Mr. Hall. The men, five in num- ber, had time to return the fire of the enemy sev- eral times, with probable effect, before they fell. Two of them threw themselves into the creek, but, on reaching the further bank, they were shot. Willian Davis and John W. Hall, sons of the elder Davis and Hall who were killed, swam down the stream, and baffled the search of their pursuers. Mr. Hall is now living in the vicinity* of Peru. John Green, at Dayton, William L. DLmnavan, the Hollenbecks, Holdermans, and all tlie other settlers in the region of Fox Hiver, were more or less sufterers, and all had to seek refuge in the fort at Ottawa. One man was kill- ed on the Bureau, six or eight miles from Prince- ton. Some of the present citizens of La Salle county, remember with gratitude the kindly ser- vices of Shabanna, a friendly Indian, at present living at Shabanna's Grove, to whose triendly THE I1I8T0KT OF PERU. 135 warnings and active interference they owe their own Hves and those of their families. The two Miss Halls — Rachael about seventeen and Silvia about fourteen years of age — were car- ried captive to the Blue Mounds thence to the Desmoine, where they were purchased by the Winebagoes for three thousand dollars in trin- kets, of whom the Government purchased them for five tliousand dollars. They were taken down the Desmoine to Keokuk where their un- cle, Reason B. Hall, had rej5aired to receive them. They were in captivity only fifteen days and were, upon the whole, treated with very lit- tle rudeness. Their faces were painted upon one side black and upon the other side red. and their hair, upon one side, was clipped close to their heads, while upon the other it was suffered to re- main long. One day they were ordered to lay themselves down, with their faces to the ground, while above them the warriors brandished their weapons and debated about killing them, their language being partially understood by the cajjtives. It is probable that the circumstances were very favorable to the acqiusition of the lan- guage. One day, on their march, an Indian's 136 THE HISTORY OF TEEU, pony stumbled on the brow of a steep hill, when horse and rider went tumbling, one over the oth- er, to the bottom. The younger Miss Hall has since declared that, notwithstanding all the hor- rors of her situation, she could not help indulging in a ringing shout of laughter. This, so far tVom prejudicing her with her captors, gained her their favor. Subsequently, a young brave became en- amoured with her and, as a consequence, two thousand dollars ransom were insisted upon for her, while only one thousand dollars were de- manded for her sister. While on their march, they were allowed only one hours' intercourse with each other during the day, and a squaw took her place between them as they slept at night.— One of them was afterwards married to wtlliam Horn and now resides in Missouri, and the other was married to William Mnnson and resides on Indian Ceeek, near the place of the massacre.— This account has been frequently given to the writer by different members of the family, and lately by Mrs. Scott, an aunt of the ladies, who at present lives in the town. During the years 1837 and 1838, large forces of Irish laborers were employed upon the canal. THE HISTORY OF PERU. 137 Some time in tlie winter of these years, one of their characteristic fends broke ont betAveen the Corkonians or Mnnster men and '' Far Downs " or Lienster men at the Sagg, on the n^^per portion of the work. This gradually spread itself down- w^ards, nntil in May, a united effort was made on the part of the Corkonians, w^ho were the strong- er party, to drive the " bloody Far Downs" from all jobs. A skirmish took place near Marseilles where the latter were worsted. The triumphant party, excited by victory and bad whisky, defy- ing the civil authorities, destroying property, and abusing and maltreating every luckless county Longfort man who came in their way, continued dowm the line below Ottawa, to tlie job of Ed- ward Sweeney, who was a Corkonian. Here they were reinforced by his entire force — about two hundred men — and marched, under his lead- ership, to the extreme western end of the line, at Peru, wlence tliey countermarched, having swei^t the line from end to end, of all obnoxious fellow laborers, and destroyed many of their shanties. The Sheriff, Alson Woodruff, sum- moned a posse to quell the disturbance. "Word was sent to the Deputy at Peru, Zimri Lewis, 138 THE HISTORY OF PERU. late ill the afternoon, to raise a party and form a junction with another from OttaAva on the next day. Lewis gathered what forces and arms could be raised in the town and neighborhood during the night, and was ready to march early in the morning. The rioters, some 'Q.ye hundred strong, bivouaced near the " Carey Patch, or " Split Rock'' just above the Pecumsogin. In the morning they moved up the line, renewing the excessess of the previous day. All were armed with guns, knifes, scythes, picks, and whatever other weapons could be siezed. Lewis' forces were joined at La Salle, which then was a mere cluster of laborers shanties, by a reinforce- ment of Americans and "Far Downs" under the leadership of that veteran contractor, Wil- liam Byrne, Esq., who was himself a Lienster man, and whose employees were driven from their work. On the way, the Irish portion ' of the forces were with difficulty restrained from de- stroying the property and insulting the families of their enemies who were in the mob ahead. — Upon the ridge of table land, near Buffalo Rock, Woodruff, with his posse, met the tumultous rab- ble. The former, tolerably well armed, were THE HISTORY OF VEKt . 130 drawn up to prevent their further advance. — Woodruff ordered them to lay down their arms and submit to the civil authority, warrants having been issued for the arrest of the leaders. Tliis order was answered by a charge from the mob which immediately produced a retreat of the posse. The forces of Lewis and Byrne were at first j^laced under the command of Capt. Ward B. Burnett, the present Surveyor General of Kansas, but who soon relinquished the command to Lewis. They moved on rapidly to the place where the ]3arty w^as held, a short distance from which they overtook the enemy. Lewis repeat- ed the demand before made by his superior, and was answered by defiance and their hostile demon- strations, upon which a well directed volley was poured into them, which was immediately follow- ed by a cavalry charge of such of the forces as were mounted. The mob dispersed in every di- rection. Some threw themselves into the river whither they were pursued, and several were shot in the water. A large number were arrested and marched to Ottawa. Seven were killed, as known at the time, and three others were afterwards found in the grass and buried. Of the posse, 140 THE HISTORY OF PEEU. now were killed, but Cornelius Lamb, a black- smith, and John Bracken, a laborer, were severe- ly wounded. This account of the matter can be substantiated by the testimony of many yet living in the vicinity who participated in the affray, and particularly that by Lewis and Byrne, to whom the writer contidently appeals for the general truth of the statement. On arriving at Ottawa, the prisoners were placed under guard, while their followers and as- sociates hung in groups about the outskirts of the town. Under the Constitution and laws at that time, every Irishman, though he might not have been but six months from the bogs, was a voter. Here, then, was a rich field opened for the dema- gogues, and the reader may be sure they did not neglect it. Here was democratic raw material which could not be permitted to run to waste. — S3^mpathizers were " Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallambrosa " Gen. Fry and other aspiring gentlemen commen- ced harrangues, but were speedily cut short by the " boys " who insisted that this was not the entertainment to which thev were invited. THE HISTORY OF PERU. 14:1 The number of Irish, living along the lines of the canal and rail road, for many years, far out- numbered all other residents ; but this was the only demonstration against the quiet of the com- munity which, by concerted action, has taken place from that time to the present, if the riots on the Central Eail Road work, on the south bank of the river, be excepted. The excess and vio- lence, in either case, must not be attributed to the Irish residents, as a class. To the conservative influence of the more intelligent portion, rather than to any exhibition of physical power, is the community indebted for the general good order which has prevailed. The learned professions, merchants, formers and mechanics are largely composed of their class ; and many, who came here as poor laborers, are now wealthy men, ap- preciating, in a degree equal to that of other citi- zens, the blessings of a government of laws. The writer is fully satisfied, by close observation, that the influence of the Catholic clergy has ever been on the side of order and submission to the laws. Of the riots on the Central Rail Road the fol- lowing account is presented. In December, 1853, a force of about four hun- 14:2 THB HISTORY OF PERU. dred and tifty men was employed on tlie embank- ment and excavations on tlie south end of the Central Kail Koad bridge at La Salle. A misun- derstanding existed between the contractor, Al- bert Story, and the men about wages. The latter had been employed at one dollar and a quarter per day, but the contractor, being unwilling any longer to pay more than one dollar per day, so in- formed the men and appointed a day — the 15th — when he would pay such as chose to quit work. The men, on their part, alledged that they had been allured from the East by handbills circula- ted by Storv and his associates, announcino^ that one dollar and a quarter per day would be paid on the job ; and that after they had expended all their means to reach the work, the promise was violated, and they were thrown out of employ- ment, except at reduced wages, with families to pro'S'ide for, at the commencement of winter. On the day aj)pointed the clerk commenced paying. Soon an error was found in the accounts which was announced to the men, and the busi- ness of paying was suspended. This incensed the men, who rushed into the office and declared they would help themselves to their pay. One of THE HISTORY OF PERL'. 14:3 them strnck^Story in the face. During the Bcuf- ille, Col. Maynarcl,'a Superintendent of the work anda resident of Chicago/left by the^back ^way to iind and take care of Mrs. Story and her chil- dren, r While he was^ ai-one the assailants were forced from the room and tlie door refastened, when the crowd commenced with axes, picks and shovels to break down the door. One succeeded in entering, wlien Story, who was armed, asked his clerks whether it was bestj to [shoot. They said, " no, we had better be quiet. " Mr. Story, not knowing that Maynard had gone to take care of his wife and ^children, went by the back way to the house. Findiug his wife gone, he started for the stable for a horse on which to leave the place. The men, seeing him, rushed towards the stable, shouting "kill him! kill him! kill him !" and with picks, shovels and stones brutally and almost instantly murdered him, one man striking him with a stone on the head after he was dead. It has been asserted that Story did lire upon the crowd, wounding one man, but this did not clear- ly appear on the subsequent trials. The news of the^murder soonreached La Salle, and a telegraphic dispatch was sent to Ottawa for 'I 14:4: THE HISTORY OF PERU. Sheriff Thorn, who arrived with a military force about 7 o'clock in the evening. These, ^\dth May- or Campbell, of La Salle, and about one hundred citizens, started for the scene of the murder. — On arriving at the spot a number of individuals were discovered, scattered over the hills, some of whom were armed, though only a few assumed a threatening attitude. Being fired upon they stop- ped, and one returned the fire, and received, in return, two balls in his arm, and was then ares- ted. Tlie Sheriff then visited the different shan- ties and arrested all, or nearly all, the men he could find, amounting to sixty or seventy, of which some thirty or forty vrere recognized as participators in the row, though none were of the supposed ringleaders, but these were subsequent- ly arrested. The Sheriff" left a portion of his force as a permanent guard ; and the work being prosecuted by other parties, the vicinity, through out the winter, bore resemblance to a regular military encampment. Twelve were indicted as ringleaders in the af- fray, four of whom, Kren Brennan, James Terry, Michael Terry and Martin Ryan took a change of venue to Kane county, where they were con- TBB HISTORY OF PERU. 1^5 Yicted of murder, wlien a new trial was granted wliich resulted in a second conviction. By the clemency of Gov. Matteson their punishment was commuted to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life ; and among the last of his official acts, a full pardon was granted. The executive interfer- ence caused great dissatisfaction, and upon the occasion of the Governor visiting La Salle, he was burnt in effigy. Six were con\dcted of man- slaughter and sentenced to the penitentiary for one year and served out the term. The other two were not found. On the bluff, near the old fort, and afterwards at Manville Hollow, for many years, there lived an individual whose peculiarities were so strongly marked as to demand a notice in this work. — His name was John Myers, but more familiarly known, among the early settlers, as the " stalHon painter. " He was a fair specimen of the frontier man— a type of wliich is attempted to be de- scribed in this chapter. In fact, he served as a model for that descriptri£>n. But justice was not done to his moral qualities. His rough garb and uncouth manners concealed a noble and true heart. He was bravo, impulsive and generous, 146 THB HISTORY OF PERtT. and scorned and loathed subterfuge, evasion, and ciiicanerv as only a noble and true heart can. He liked whisky, as all frontier men do, but he seldom lost his bodily or mental equilibrium. — He was never in a condition when all his native coolness and resources would not have been at command in an instant, had he been assailed by any of his old familiar foes, whether man or beast. He was never quarrelsome, even in his cups, but the wronged or weaker party in any conflict, was sure to find in him a champion as chivalrous as ever raised a shield or poised a lance. His exhilaration was generally manifest- ed in yells, such as no human throat ever uttered before. The most ambitious steam whistle might have been envious of his screams. These he called his blessings. He sometimes indulged in Bongs. Such unearthly notes were never heard out of Pandemonium. He would have made the fortune of Spalding & Rogers by singing an accompaniment to the calliope. Many of the present citizens of Peru will recollect his vocal performances as he pm*- suedhis way homewards across the botto.n above the town. On the occasion of the first opening THE HISTOKT OF I'ERU. 147 of ca court at Ottawa, he went up to witness that novel performance. Having imbibed a tew draughts ol whisky, and being rather unfamiliar with the etiquette and decorum of courts, he in- dulged in exercises not very gratifying to judicial dignity or favorable to the progress of business. — Being frequently reprimanded he became some- what incensed, whereupon he gave vent to his in- dignation in one of the most remarkable efforts of the lungs that even electrified a court of Jus- tice. Judges, lawyers and spectators recoiled in dismay ,^ and it is beheved that the pins and tenons which confined the roof were seriously strained. When first known to the wi'iter, he was nearly eighty years of age, yet his step was firm and elastic, his eye bright and lustrous, in the corner of which there lurked an expression of humor and fun, his mind clear and vigorous, and his voice — well, we won't say anything more about that. Born upon the outskirts of civilization in Georgia, he had wandered along the streams and valleys of Tennessee, Kentucky and So'ithern Illinois, rest- ing from time to time, until advancing settlements crowded him still further into the wilderness.— 14:8 THS HISTORY OF PEEtT. He was entirely unlettered, though he man- aged to sign his name, and, as is reported, some- times to his disadvantage. JSTotwithstanding this he noticed all the fasts and holy days of the Epis- copal Church, a circumstance which indicated his southern origin. His usual dress was a buckskin hunting shirt, breeches and moccasins. In this costume he appeared, by special in\T[tation, at tlie first ball given in Peru. This was largely com- posed of ladies and gentlemen, fresh from the saloons and drawing rooms of the eastern cities. As may be supposed, the etiquette and toilets of the assembly produced no little astonishment in the mind of the roui>h old pioneer. The ladies eagerly sought his hand in the dance, but shrunk back in agony from its vice-like grasp. Being once more cramped and annoyed by the influx of strangers he left this part of the country in 1839 or 18^0, and took up his residence in Southern Missouri, near the Arkansas line. Years and infirmities soon pressed upon him, when he returned to the banks of the Illinois to die. He was buried in the burying ground at Cedar point. The writer has refrained from a notice of his most distinguished exploits, as he finds it prepared to THE HISTORY OF PEKU. 149 his hand, in a much better manner than he conld hope to accomplish, in the September nnmber of Putnam's Magazijie. He would say that, in the main, It corresponds with the accounts he has re- ceived from the mouth of Mr. Myers himself, and from those who knew him at the time of the events related. A party of eight or ten Indians, accompanied by Myers, had been out two or three days on a hunting excursion, and were returning, laden with the spoils of the chase, consisting of various kiuds of wild fowls, squirrels, raccoons, and bnftalo skins. They had used np all their ammunition except a single charge, which was reserved in the rifle of the chief for any emergency or choice game which might present itself on the vray home. A river lay in the way, which could be crossed only at one point, without subjecting them to an extra journey of some ten miles round. When they arrived at this point, they suddenly came to a huge panther, which had taken possession of the pass, and like a skilful general, confldent of his strong position, seemed determined to hold it. The party retreated a little and stood at bay for a while, and con>iilted what should be done. Various methods vrere attempted to decoy or frighten the creature from his position, but in vaui. He growled defiance whenever they came in sight, as mnch as to say, " If yon want this 150 THE HISTORY OF PERC Stronghold come and take it." The animal ap- peared to he very powerful and fierce. The tremhling Indians hardly dared to come in sight ef him, and all the reconnoitering had to be done by JMyei'S. The majority were for I'etreating as fast as possible, and taking the long journey ten miles round for home, but Myers resolutely re- sisted. He urged the chief whose rilie was load- ed, to march up to the panther, take good aim and shoot him down ; promising that the rest of the party would back him up closely with their knives and tomahawks, in case ef a mis-fire. But the chief refused ; he knew too well the nature and power of the animal. The crea- ture, he contended, was exceedingly hard to kill. Xot one shot in twenty, hoAvever well aim- ed, would dispatch him; and if one shot failed, it was a sure death to the shooter, for the infuriated animal would spring upon him in an instant, and tear him to pieces. For similar reasons every Indian in the party declined to hazard a battle with the enemy in any shape. At last Myers, in a burst of anger and impa- tience, called them alia set of cowards, and snatching the loaded rifle from the hands of the chief, to the amazement of the whole party, marched deliberately towards the panther. The Indians kept at a cautious distance to watch the result of the fearful battle. Myers walked stead- ily up to within about two rods of the panther. THB HISTORT OF PERD. ^^^ keepino- his eye fixed upon him, while the eyes of tlicp^wther flashed fire, and his heavy growl be- tolened at once the power and firmness ot the animal. At ahout two rods distance, Myers lev- eled his rifie, took deliberate ann, and fii'ed.— Tbe shot inflicted a heavy wound, but not a latai ont; and the furious animal, maddened witn the pai:i, made but two leaps before he reached his Assailant. Myers met him with the but end of his lifle, and'staggered him a little with two or thret heavy blows, but the rifle broke, and the animal aTappled him, apparently with his lull power. ^The Indians at once gave Myers up tor dead and only thought of making a lively i-etreat for tlx^mselves. Fearful was the struggle between Myeis and the panther, but the animal had the best ot it at first, for they soon came to the o-rounch and Myers underneath, sufiermg under the ioiiit operation of sharp claws and teeth ap- phecl by the most powerful muscles, m tailing, however, Myers, whose right hand was at liberty, had drawl a long knife. As soon as they came to the o;romid,his right arm being tree, he made a desperate plunge at the vitals of the animal, and, as good luck would have it, reached his heart — The loud shrieks of the panther showed that it was his death Avound. He quivered con^^oilsively, shook his vicvim with a spasmodic leap and plun2:e, then loosened his hold, and tell powerless by his side. Myers, whose wounds were severe 152 THB HISTORY OF PERU. but not mortal, rose to his feet, bleeding and mnci exhausted, but ^ith life and strength to give a grand whoop, which conveyed the news of hit victory, to his trembling Indian friends. They now came up to him with shouting anl joy, and so full of admiration that they were a- most ready to worship him. They dressed ard bound up his wounds, and were Jiow ready to pursue their way home without the least impedi- ment. Before crossing the river, Myers cut off the head of the panther, which he took home vith him, and fastened it up by the side of his cabin door, where it remained for years, a memoriae of a deed that excited the admiration of the Ind.ans in all that region. From that time forth ^hey gave Myers that name, and always called him the Panther. (The vrriter has betore givc^ the name by which all the old settlers will "recognize him.) Tim-e rolled on, and the Panther conrinued to occupy his hut in the wilderness, on the banks of the Illinois Eiver, a general favorite among the savages and exercising a great influence over them. At last the tide of white population again overtook him, and he found himself once more surrounded by white neighbors. Still, however, he seemed loth to forsake the nolle IlUnois, on whose banks he had been so long a fixture, and he held on, forming a sort of connecting line be- TUB HISTORY OF PERU. 153 tween the white settlers and tlie Indians. At length hostilities broke out, which resulted in the memorable Black Hawk war, that spread desolation through that part of the country. — Parties of Indians committed the most wanton and cruel depredations, often murdering old friends and companions, with whom they had long held conversation. The white settlers, for some distance round, flocked to the cabin of the Pantlier for protection. His cabin was trans- formed into a sort of garrison, and was filled with more than an hundred men, women and children, who rested almost their only hope of safety on the prowess of the Panther, and his influence over the savages. At this time a part}^ of about nine hundred of the Iroquois were on the banks of the Illinois, about a mile from the garrison of Myers, and nearly opposite the present town of La Salle. — One day news was brought to the camp of Myers, that his brother-in-law and wife, and their three children, had been cruelly murdered by some of the Indians. The Panther heard the sad news in silence. The eyes of the people were upon him, to see what he would do. Presently they beheld him with a deliberate and determined air, putting himself in battle array. He girdled on his tomahawk and scalping knife, and shouldered liis loaded rifle, and, at open mid-day, silently nd alone, bent his steps towards the Indian en- 154 THE HISTORT OF PEEU. campraent. With a fearless and firm tread, he inarched quietly into the midst of the assembly, elevated his rifle at the head of the principal Chief present, and shot him dead on the spot. — He then deliberately se\ered the head from the trunk, and holding it up by the hair before the awe-struck multitude, he exclaimed, "You have murdered my brother-in-law, his wife and little ones ; and now J have murdered your Chief, I am now even with you. Bat now mind, every one of you that is found here to-morrow morning at sun- rise, is a dead Indian !" ^ All this was accomplished without the least mo- lestation from the Indians. These people are ac- customed to regard any remarkable deed of dar- ing as the result of some supernatural agency ; and doubtless so considered the present incident. Believing their Chief had fallen a victim to some unseen power, they were stupified with terror, and looked on without, a thought of resistance. My- ers bore off the head in triumph to his cabin, where he was welcomed by anxious friends, almost as one returning from the dead. The next morn- ing not an Indian was to be found anywhere in the vicinity. It is probable that the above may be taken with some allowance. There is certainly a mis- take about the Indians being Iroquois, and about their being an hundred people garrisoned at My- THR HISTOIir OF PEKU. 155 ers' cabin, and probably about their being [any there at all. Tliere probably were some people gathered in the fort, close by. The title to that porti on of Peru, called Nina- wa, rests upon the following basis. Lyman D. Brewster, as mentioned in the first chapter of this History, held under the Government of the Uni- ted States. At his demise he bequeathed it to the American Colonization Societ3^ This body, being a mere voluntary association of individuals, having no corporate existence, was incapable of becoming a devisee of real estate. It followed, then, tliat the property reverted to the heirs-at- law as of an Intestate. From these Theron D. Brewster obtained releases. Some of them, by reason of their minority being incompetent to ex- ecute conveyances at the time, have, since arri- ving at their majority, conveyed .their several in- terests. Mr. Brewster conveyed an undivided two-tenths in section seventeen, and an undivi- ded four-tenths in section twenty to Col. H. L. Kinne}^, by whom various undivided interests were sold — one to Col. Ward B. Burnett, one to Capt. Eichard Philips, of the St. Louis Demo- crat, one to Hon. Henry Hubbard, of New 156 THE HISTORY OF PERU. Hampshire, and one to Hon. Daniel Webster, of the United States of America, Mr. Brews- ter sold another undivided interest to ?Penn & Holmes of Montreal, by whom it was conveyed to E. D. Whitney, of Philadelphia. Through some, or all of these parties, the title to all projDerty in Mnawa Additionjis derived. Col. Kinney occupied a very conspicuous posi- tion in the incipient stages of the existence of Peru. He emigrated from Bradford county, Penn., in 1838, and commenced making a new farm on the west bank of Spring Creek, working assidu- ously during the following winter at splitting rails. In 1835, in connection with °Capt. Ulys- ses Spaulding, he built a store wliere Peru now stands and filled it with goods. Upon the letting of work on the canal, he became a contractor for all that portion below the Little Vermillion, in- cluding locks, basin and channel, amounting to nearly a million of dollars. He soon embarked in other speculations and business, and became tlie most influential and noted man in this i^art of the State. In 1837 and the early part of 1838, everybody's movements appeared to be regulated by those of Col. Kinney. He wi3S the central THE HISTORY OF PERU. 157 Suu from whom all lesser orbs borrowed their light. Ill 1837, Kinney became disconnected from Spaiilding, and was joined by Daniel J. Townsend. A portion of the business was then conducted in the name of Townsend & Kinney. In 1838, their affairs fell into confusion and Kin- ney left. It was wonderful how many j)eople, in the town and vicinity, were ruined by his failure. Many, who had been brought here from Penn- sylvania at his expense, and had lived upon his bounty wdiile here, were suddenly ruined by the treachery and perfidy of their friend, and, as a consequence, were entirely unable to meet their own -little engagements. Col. Kinney, as is well known, was and is a man of indominitable energy, and possessed of a brain fertile with vast schemes and gigantic en- terprises. He is said to have rode once to Chica- go, a distance of one hundred miles, without leaving his saddle. Gen. Taylor reported him as having moved a command of mounted men, in the Mexican War, one hundred miles in twenty- four hours — a feat, it is believed, without a paral- lel. His address and manners were captivating ill the extreme, and he possessed a sort of magnetic 168 TJIE HISTORY OF VERV. power to bind all who came witliin the sphere of his influence, to his interests and fortunes. His hospitality and liberality were circumscribed only by the means at his command at the moment, and, as a consequence, parasites clung to him with a tenacity known only to that interesting class. — Two ot his sisters still reside in the town, and his venerable father, Simon Kinney, Esq., at Tis- kilwa. Col. Kinney soon afterwards turned up at Cor- pus Christi, Texas. His career thenceforth has become a portion of the history of that State, of the Mexican War, and of Central America. Among the motley crowd who were gathered at Peru in 1S38 was a man named A. II. Miller. His nsual cognomen was "Old Kentuck. '' lie dressed in the full splendor of a iive-year-gone-by fashion, wore high top boots of brilliant colors, drawn over liis pantaloons, with tassels pendant nearly to the scrupulously polished bottoms, and ruffle shirts which the drippings of frequent pota- tions soon soiled, and was generally superbly mounted, the trappings of his liorse being gaudy as those of a Field Marshal. He was of Hercu- lean frame — over six feet in height — and always THE UISTORT OF PERU. 159 went armed with a brace of revolvers, one on each side, their hilts protruding ostentatiously in sight, a ponderous Bowie knite down his hack, a dagger in his belt, and a pocket pistol in his right breeches-pocket which he christened "little Bet- sey, " and upon which was inscribed, "hark from the tombs " — in short he was a complete moving arsenal. Upon the slightest provocation, he would assume the most belligerent attitude and diabolical frow^n, set his teeth in manacing rigidity, and fumble among his tools, which sent forth certain ominous little clicks. Many was the eye ihat quailed and cheek that blanched before this per- sonification of rage and power. • At length some of the " boys" bethought themselves of the old adage about barking dogs, and concluded to try his mettle. The result was that he displayed the white feather and turned tails to, as the saying is, amid the jeers and taunts of the by-standers. From that moment his prestige was gone, and ever afterwards he "roared as gently as a sucking dove. " Those who had quailed before his wrath took ample revenge by bidlying him upon every occasion. The most nouceabie places in the neighborhood 160 THB HISTORY OF PERU. are Starved Rock, Deer Park and the Siilj)hiir Springs. The folio Aving account of the first of these is froin Perkin's Annals . 'Starved Pock, near the foot of the rapids of the Illinois, is a perpendicular mass of lime and sand stone washed by the current at its base and elevated one hundred and fifty feet. The diam- eter of its surface is about one hundred feet, with a slojDC extending to the adjoining bluff from which alone it is accessible. Tradition says that after the Illinois Indians had killed Pontiac, the great Indian Chief of the northern Indians made war npon them. A band of the Illinois, in attempting to escape, took shel- ter on this rock, which they soon made inaccessa- ble to their enemies, and where they were closely besieged. They had secured provisions, but their only resource for water was by letting down ves- sels with bark ropes to the river. The wily be- siegers contrived to come in canoes under the rock and cut off their buckets, by which means the unfortunate Illinois were starved to death. Many years after, their bones were whitening on this summit. Deer Park is a gorge or ravine, woi'n by the action of water through the sandstone superstruc- ture, about thirty or forty feet in width, seventy or eighty in depth, and about a quarter of ft mile TUE niSTOEY OF TTAlV. 161 in longtli. It is entered on a level witli tlie bot- tom of the Big Yermillion, about four miles from Peru, and can be explored with carriages its entire lengih. The upper end is enlarged into an a:n- phitheatre, about one hmidred feet in diametc r and over arched with projecting sand stone clilTs. in the center of this enlargement bubbles a foun- lahi of cool and refreshing water, v/lience trickles a crystal rill down the entire length of the gorge. During the sultry days of summer it is a deliglit- ful place of resort, and, to use a popular term, is extensively " improved. " Its name is suppo- eed to be derived from the practice of the Indians, in driving herds of deer into its m.outh, when, having no aperture of escape, they became an ea- sy prey. The Sulphur Springs are several streams of water, issuing from the crevises of the sand stone rock, on an elevated plateau, rising from the riv- er bottom, not far from midv^ay between Ottawa and Peru. ^N'ear them is a fine, commodious Ho- tel, for the accomodation of visitors. The vv^aters are highlj^ charged with sulphur and olbcr miner- al, arc quite offensive to the taste of the novice, and are sail to possess valuable curative proper- ^^y THE mSTOtcr OV PKRU. 4 tie^. I'or a more particubr analysis of thc^AO wa-. tcr^^, tlie reader is referred to tlie geutlertva.n yet- living in onr midst, wlio enjoyed tlie a<1 vantage oil li^tenincrtoDoetor ITarrif^ons leanuMl disquisi-. tmn, ar^ wlio Lac^ doubtless treasured nuich ol; t.lio lore dragged to light on the memorahlo occa- sion referred to In the preceding page;s. »■■• b6 - 1% 5 O M O ,0 ^'/'X °^yi^' /\ V .^ ^ o .V • .-r5:>,;;<^ , , . " ^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: IBBRKEEPER ^5.\>^ PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES, LP. 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724)779-2111 <•? -* .V/5,,^ A°^ ^-^ -' ^^, \^P<* .K o .f' ^^0^ .^^x. W>BB$ BROS - ^ii^^'^^^^'Fif • 4 MAR 79V ''"^*\^'^ -- ""^ 9^ i'^ « ^ ' y <> v> » • • ^ o 0^ "-S^- >->*. ^^32084 J ; c^^ ^%^c^^o^/ A:^'"^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 009 433 200 A