Tuesday, February 25, 2025

The 88's that Fairfield almost won


April 1910, the Brookville Democrat came up with an idea to see which church or lodge in Franklin County was the most popular. So, they managed to buy two Krell-French pianos that became the prizes to pursue.

Eventually, they added a third piano. Early on, Fairfield Methodist was holding its own against the stronger St. Michael's Catholic Church. 

Maynard Irwin, publisher of the paper, said that of the 20,000 people who lived in the county, most of them belonged to a church or civic club. "In presenting this contest, we believe we have selected a meritorious feature that will not only meet the approval of all concerned but will assist two worthy organizations in securing, absolutely free, a beautiful piano to  enhance the interior of their place of meeting and give to the members that spirit which refined music produces."

An "editor" named R.M. Gibson was put in charge of the contest. I can't find out who he was otherwise. The Democrat stood to gain financially as well, both by promoting the contest and inspiring readers to patronize advertisers.

"We want to increase the welfare of the county to the highest possible degree -- that is what we are here for, and we realize that the best way to do it is by liberally and giving the people an efficient and newsy paper all the time, a paper reasonable in price and one that everybody can read and say, 'I saw it in the Democrat.' "

So the readers clipped the ballots from the paper and cast their votes. All of April and all of May -- the winners would be announced on the 12th of June, 1910.

After the first week, Keokuk Red Men of Fairfield was in 2nd place, behind Brookville High School. The Methodists hadn't organized their campaign yet.

Bath Methodists were lookin' good.

This was a $1,000 contest. Two pianos, OK.

After the next round of votes, Fairfield Methodist, beginning to creep up the list, with Keokuk still hangin' tough. Oak Forest Catholic took the lead. 

"Laurel Red Men need a new piano for the Opera House and are going to put up their best licks," the paper reveals.

Fairfield Red Men are a strong active lodge who are in the habit of accomplishing whatever they set out to do." 

By the end of April, the K of P Lodge of Brookville was nip and tuck ahead of St. Michael Church. Fairfield was gaining -- and gaining fast. This was a serious attempt to get that piano for the Sunday School. Blooming Grove Methodist was treading water.

By the first week of May, Fairfield was in fourth place, as the third piano was added to the contest. Keokuk Red Men, having set out to accomplish whatever they wanted, were losing ground. The paper urged the timid to get out the vote. This was a big deal.

By the middle of May, the contest had been defined by the Brookville vote and the rural vote. Fairfield was in good shape, ahead of Peppertown and Bath churches --and in third place overall behind Brookville High School. R.M. Gibson was doing the reporting. "If a fine piano is worth having, it is worth striving for. There is no excuse for any contestant waiting to start actively to work for the prize pianos."

The third piano boosted the voting and Fairfield Methodist clung to third place as May came to an end. Scipio Odd Fellows soared into the lead somehow, though it's not clear how they did that. Oak Forest Catholic held steady in 2nd place. Mixerville Odd Fellows found 625 votes.

By the time June rolled around, the Democrat was offering 1,000 free votes for every 5 new subscriptions attributed to a club. Fairfield Methodist had nudged its way into second place, but that was an omen. They'd probably run out of steam. Scipio Lodge was right behind. 

Odds began to lean in favor of Fairfield as the June tally began to soar. Only Scipio Odd Fellows were ahead of the Hotshots, but something strange was about to happen.

On the 9th of June, the Democrat said the heat of the election was at a fever pitch. "Bulletins will tell the wait crowd the result," the paper said. "No more information available."

K of P Brookville, Scipio and Fairfield were all 1-2-3 in the contest. Tuning up for a piano ... "Young people, staid married folks, prominent men -- scores of the best people of Brookville and Franklin County are working night an day for the sake of their organization."

On the 16th, St. Michael dumped all its tallies onto the table and blew everyone off the floor, with 350,000 votes, well more than the K of P Brookville, Scipio and Fairfield, which finished fourth with 111,415 votes. Nobody else was even close.

"Misses Ida Logan and Hazel Personette bore the brunt of the battle for Fairfield. It is their ambition to secure a piano for the Sunday school and we hope that this ambition will be realized shortly."

As it was, the contest allowed the church to collect $195 that it intended to "seed" the fund for a piano.

It's likely the piano we heard in church in the last days of Fairfield was that one.

KRELL-FRENCH PIANOS

The Krell-French Piano Company moved to New Castle from Tennessee in the early 1900s and would become one of the four largest in the United States. The plant itself contained over 5 acres of floor space and employed more than 400 skilled workers. Thousands of pianos were kept moving through the factory at all times in various stages of construction. An average weekly payroll of $4,500 was realized here, translating to an annual payroll of $250,000.  (Dollars from 1910).

This is also known as Jesse French & Sons, after Albert Krell left the firm in 1905. French also made the Lagonda piano, which was the third prize in the 1910 contest. Lagonda was already building pianos in New Castle when Krell-French came to town.

 

Sunday, February 23, 2025

The canal -- always an adventure


Brookville American, October 1845

WHITE WATER CANAL -- "We have heard it whispered that the Canal Company have agreed to give to Lawrenceburgh that portion of the White Water Canal between Harrison and Lawrenceburgh, if they agree to take it and keep it in repair. It is also said that Lawrenceburgh will accept it on condition that the Company will keep up the dam at Harrison."

HINT -- Most likely a rotten bargain.

WHAT RASCALITY NEXT! -- The Brookville Democrat says that the White Water Canal Company have refused, or soon will refuse, to receive their own scrip in payment of tolls and water rents.

If they do venture such a reckless effort to pilfer from the public, they will have done nothing more than most other companies of the kind, that wee suffered to put out for circulation their own promises to fill the place of money; but we doubt if the Legislature of that state will tolerate them in the villainy of the act.

HINT -- The scrip was worthless anyway. 

Cincinnati Gazette, November 1847

WHITEWATER VALLEY -- The damage done in this valley by the recent flood has been very extensive-- the injuries sustained well nigh equaling those of January last. In addition to the damage done at Harrison, which has already been mentioned, we learn from the papers of that region that the dams at Case's,  Brookville and Laurel have been torn away besides immense losses in the destruction of flour, salt, corn, wood, coal, lumber, etc. 

At Aurora, likewise there was considerable loss -- the creek ran out with such violence that 12 to 15 flatboats, mostly laden, were broken loose and drifted off with the current of the Ohio. two coal boats were also lost.

Very many mills along the line are much injured -- some of them to such an extent that the owners most either sell their grain or supply themselves with steam engines; and many other heavy individual losses are recorded.

The points along the route at which injuries have resulted are so numerous, and the damage is so very great, that the papers along the line, express the belief that repairs can scarcely be effected the present season.

HINT -- Worse than January?

Brookville Democrat, December 1848

BREAK -- We have been informed that there has been a break in the Miami Canal between Brookville and Lockland, the bank having been washed away by the latest freshets for several hundred yards. A stop to navigation at the present time will cause a great inconvenience to those shipping and receiving on this line. We hope the damage is not as serious as it has been represented.

HINT -- It was always worse than that.

NOTES: The canals took a beating from the river and were more often than not shut down for repairs. The feeder dams were built to tolerate a calm stream. Rarely did a season pass that the waterway between Hagerstown and Cedar Grove not close for repairs. The canals did make a profit when they were functional, all the way up to about 1848.

Flooding was an annual event with each disaster being reviewed and determined to be the worst in memory. As the population grew and expanded its commerce in the river valleys, the losses exponentially grew.

This blog was designed to discuss a lot of that. So start at the beginning ------------> over here.








Saturday, February 22, 2025

What not to do instead of being sober (1854)

  

Brookville American, March 3, 1854

A few commodities for this market.

When you go to Church and kneel in time of prayer, don't suppose your bonnet or posture hides from the congregation the fact that you are laughing with and talking to your simple simpering companion -- for verily such things are seen and known by many.

When you let the hair grow on your upper lip and stand before the glass and twist it round your finger, don't forget that it is a very strong indication of a fop and cox-comb, and of a very big head, with very little  brains, for very sensible folks so understand it.

When you are found chewing tobacco or smoking to the annoyance of the company or using vulgar or profane language, or frequent the doggeries, don't for a moment be so verdant as to suppose anybody suspects you of good breeding, intelligence or decency, for verily that would be an egregious blunder.

When some great question, involving morals and the cause of suffering humanity, is before the people, don't get astride the fence, and shake hands both ways, as the Politicians do, don't try to be popular at the expense of truth and righteousness, get down on one side or t'other, for verily your position is a ridiculous one, and fully understood. 

When you pray, don't bore your auditory with a fifteen-minute harangue, praying all over the world and back again, but after this manner, pray ye, (viz) imitating the example of Christ, be brief, the thoughts of your hearers are drawn from the skies to strained backs, and aching knees.

Make short prayers, quit when you are done and be not as the hypocrites are, do not as the heathens do, for ye shall not be heard for your much speaking.

When you would be thought a good temperance man, or woman, don't stand aloof from all temperance organizations crouch to the whiskey influence, and court the smiles of all engaged in the nefarious traffic, for so does the would-be codfish aristocracy.

When you do alms, do not get up an oyster supper and spend fifty dollars in gormandizing to raise as much more for the poor and then have the proceeds and distribution published in all the churches, but let your alms be in secret, then shall you have praise of God.

X




 


Saturday, February 15, 2025

Bundle up, baby

Lawrenceburg Palladium, April 1827

From the Bloomington Gazette

Sparking -- At the March term of the Monroe circuit court at Bloomington (IN), a gentleman was fined $15 and a lady sentenced to 25 days imprisonment for BUNDLING three times.

It is to be hoped that this decision  will put a stop to this indecent manner of sparking, so common amongst the youngsters of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Carolina.

Query, why should the male be fined $15 only and a female [the weaker vessel] thrust within the four walls of a loathsome jai, there to be imprisoned for 25 days?

Note: Bundling was an old-time technique used by pioneer families to keep small children warm on long winter nights. Children would be wrapped together in bed, the boys separated from the girls by a wooden plank. The practice was supposed to end around puberty. Evidently, some folks had other ideas on it. The Amish were fond of the bundling board. 

As "contraception," it was an amazing concept. 

Bloomington was not much of a place in 1827. 




Friday, February 14, 2025

Liberia 1825

 


Indiana Palladium / Lawrenceburg August 5, 1825

The African Colony -- If this Colony shall prosper, as it probably will, though it is too distant to have much effect in reducing the number of free colored population in the United States, which was the original design of it, it may have a happy effect on the neighboring nations or tribes in that quarter of the world, and become highly valuable to us on account of the commerce which it will afford.

Coffee, cotton and rice grow here as natives, and may be cultivated to any extent. With these rich staples for exports, and a soil capable of producing abundant supplies of grain, what mighty results may be hoped for, when this colony of civilized blacks shall acquire power to command the adjacent inhabitants, forbid the slave trade and enter into treaties with the European and American nations? 

All these things may happen in less than fifty years, and possibly at an earlier period, and the hope of spreading light trough this dark land, should make us zealous for the success of the project, notwithstanding it may not materially affect he design for which the colony was established. 

The present colonists are healthy and appear to be prosperous -- and will be joined by others as fast, perhaps as the general good will admit of. A very rapid accession of population cannot be otherwise les injurious, as destructive of these fruits which experience has reared for the safety of persons and property.

NOTES: The colony was known as Liberia on the western coast of Africa. The proposal was accepted by most American politicians from 1816 forward until the Civil War that African Americans should want to return to their native homeland. Generally, black leaders opposed the plan, as did abolitionists and Southern slaveowners, who feared the loss of cheap labor.

Most states set up funds to help these people go back to Africa and in a couple of cases, actually mandated they leave the state in an effort to speed up the process.

Indiana, in 1851, wrote into its new Constitution that black people were prohibited from living or working in the state. The impact was theoretical; the law was repealed in 1866. 

Liberia still exists with some of its history rooted in American custom, but the country suffered a civil war in the last part of the 20th century. It's capital city is Monrovia, after James Monroe, the president when the plan to colonize the country was advanced.

A few white people were a part of this immigration, being either speculators or criminals in some cases.

As early as 1824, a similar program emerged to send some black people to the island of Haiti.

Colonization groups were founded essentially on racist agendas with no legitimate interest in helping freed slaves build a permanent government. Only a few thousand people actually took part in the colonization of Liberia and Haiti.

William Lloyd Garrison was author of Thoughts on African Colonization (1832), in which he proclaimed the society a fraud. According to Garrison and his many followers, the society was not a solution to the problem of American slavery — it actually was helping, and was intended to help, to preserve it. 


 






Stupid people stopped reading

 Indiana Palladium / Lawrenceburg, Dearborn County, Jan. 7, 1825

NEWSPAPERS

Newspapers are things that can be dispensed with -- as costing money that might be saved. So is the schooling of our children -- so, indeed, are nine-tenths of which it costs us to live. Almost any man might lay up money every year if he would live on bread and water, and clothe himself in the cheapest manner he could -- but what of that?

Who would live like a brute and die like a beggar, for the mere pleasure of saving money which he cannot carry hence with him -- though like a dead weight, it may hang upon his soul at the last moment of his mortal existence! There are few such -- five or ten in a million; and what wretched creatures are they? 

Most men, sensible that they must die, are disposed to enjoy a little of the fruits of their toils; and nothing is perhaps more necessary to the enjoyment of society, of self-satisfaction in retirement, than a well-informed and virtuous mind. It gives a zest to all things in prosperity, and is the best resource in adversity.

Newspapers though not always conducted with talents and respectability, are the best possible channels for obtaining an acquaintance with the affairs of the world, and to implant desires in the hearts of youth for more solid readings, as he goes on to maturity. 

In truth, they are the great engine that moves the moral and political world, and are infinitely powerful to establish the character of a people, as well as to preserve their liberties; and cannot be so easily disposed with as some persons believe -- unless, indeed, we think the trouble with self-government is too great, and agree to transfer the power of the state to the few that are ready to use it for their own advantage.

But this cannot be the will of the people of the United States; yet observing, however, the top general repugnance to reading, it is the duty of those who feel the pleasure and profit of it, to smooth the way to it and afford every facility that light and knowledge may be diffused. 

"An armed people and an unarmed magistracy," said (John) Dickinson, "is the best guarantee of freedom."

And while the body of the people read, reason and reflect -- while the press is free and liberally supported, the sword of the magistracy is pointless, except it is directed to execute the will of the people.

How important then is it that will should result from an enlightened mind? 



 


Thursday, February 13, 2025

Maps by Noble

 Indiana American Apr 04, 1856


The UNDERSIGNED proposes to furnish to all subscribers, a complete map of the County, on the plan of that of Marion County, Ind., got up by Condit, Wright & Hayden, and now in the Auditor's office in the Court House at Brookville.

It will show at one view the names of every person in the county owning land, the public roads, Canal, churches, schoolhouses, mills, etc. 

This map will be valuable to every resident and a guide to any wishing to find any point within the County. Subscriptions are earnestly solicited and as soon as a sufficient number shall subscribe, the work will be commenced and prosecuted with vigor. 

I can be found at the Valley House, Brookville, and will be pleased to furnish all information. I hope all my old friends, of days long past, will solicit and send me subscribers. The price will be Five Dollars, on delivery.

Subscription lists will be left at all the towns and public places.

March 14 -- JAMES NOBLE

*

Notes: No idea if this James Noble is related to the senator, the brother or some other Noble who might have come from Brookville. Valley House = elegant hotel in Brookville built around this time by a German immigrant named Peter Schaf. (NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW THIS.)

<----------- James Noble, the senator in the first years of statehood, lived 1785-1831. His brother Noah was governor and was in charge when the state went broke as part of the Panic of 1837. Noah married his cousin and his offspring were the product of that. I doubt this James is one of them.

James Noble in this piece was a merchant in Brookville in the 1850s, Sen. Noble's son, also James, was a longtime officer in the U.S. Navy and it's possible this is the same man. 







Saturday, February 8, 2025

Rose

  

The Corner Stone/ College Corner IN-OH Feb. 1876

Another Pioneer Gone

Wm. S. Rose died last Wednesday at the residence of his only daughter in Union County, Mrs. John Freeman, at the age of 81 and was buried by the Masons of Fairfield, of which Order he was an honorary member, at the burying ground below Fairfield. (Brier).

The funeral was preached in the M.E. Church at Fairfield. Mr. Rose made a Master Mason in Sharptown, N.J, in the year 1816 and moved to Union County in 1817, since which time with the exception of one or two years, he has been a resident of Union and Franklin counties, and has been Coroner of Union County since the recollection of the oldest inhabitant. He sold the first goods ever sold over a counter in Fairfield.

His friends were many and his enemies few. He had served more than the allotted period of years in the battle of life and leaves behind him a record which any man might well be proud to say at the close of life, "such has been my life too."

An alternate obituary in the Liberty Herald:

Again our hearts have been touched by the saddening influence of the hand of bereavement, softening our thoughts, and impressing upon our minds the great lesson that we, too, are mortal, and bearing a rapid flight to the Ocean of Eternity. 

The Angel of death has again entered our Lodge and we heard not the rustling of his wings or the sound of his footsteps, neither spake he of the land beyond the horizon of time, but silently gathered in the harvest of death, our aged and much esteemed Brother, William S. Rose, bear him to that land where the spirit needs no guiding hand, but roams at will, not among but forever away from the shadows.

**

Rose, as in Roseburg, is one of the original families in Harmony ad Liberty townships. Allegedly, Rose built the first permanent house in Fairfield that was not a log cabin. Rose was a member of the Bath Springs Presbyterian church. He was one of the original founders in 1821. The church lasted until 1857. I don't have many details about that. It was near Bath Springs Cemetery. -- JU 

ANOTHER ROSE LINK



Daniel -- not happy in 1876

 College Corner/ Corner Stone, Aug, 9, 1876


FAIRFIELD ITEMS

Mr. Editor -- It is evident that this place has a little life, yet it is rapidly dying. Some think that we will ultimately be engulfed in a vortex made by the toiling hand of the sturdy Granger. We are in great despair. The humming wheels of industry seems to stand still, while indolence and the cry of "hard times," pervade the ranks of our community. 

Once we had the opportunity of having a railroad up our beautiful valley, if we would give a few thousand dollars. But no one made a move toward it; and we now sleep in silent bliss, without a rattling car to disturb our slumbers.

Unless some change overcomes the demented minds of a few of our citizens, we will never have any improvements. Melancholy as it may seem, we have those in our minds, who own property and yet they oppose railroads as a great detriment to our welfare. Such men are fit subjects for the Insane Asylum, and should be prohibited from the right to suffrage.

Months have elapsed since we have had half enough hitching posts to accommodate those who come to town. Recently a few new posts have been erected; and the enterprising merchants who engaged in this work deserve the highest encomiums the Grangers can pronounce upon them. 

Our millers, Brown and Best, deserve much credit for the enterprising spirit they have manifested in rebuilding their mill dam which has been so often removed by high water within the past year.

Ferguson and Barton will teach the schools here for the coming year.

Our young and efficient physician, Dr. Homsher, is gaining a reputation in his profession that time can only efface.. Success to you George, is our wish. Debates on the Grange question can occasionally be heard here on the street corners.

This place has long been noted for its pretty girls. They are so fascinating that they have induced a young man who lives near Liberty to come and drink no more at the sparkling fountain of intemperance. That young and officious attorney, Davis, of Liberty, paid Fairfield a visit last week. Matrimony in view.

Our barber drinks blood. He is to be feared, lest he may become blood-thirsty. 

The Centennial is ceasing to be the topic of conversation. But few from here anticipate visiting the Exposition. Why do so many spend more money and time indiscreetly every year than would pay their expenses to the Centennial? Yet they so do and remain at home in ignorance of those grand sights which can be seen with but little cost.

Civilized and uncivilized, go and extend to foreigners the hand of amity and your mingling together will do much to enlighten and ameliorate all mankind.

Respectfully, 

Daniel 

***

Notes: In 1871, Fairfield voted on whether to have a railroad that began in Dearborn County and was to cut north on its way to Richmond. No idea if the plan was legitimate or half-baked. The vote failed the first time and evidently failed a second time as well. Pffffffffffft. 

Grangers were men of agriculture and connected with the workings of Milton Trusler, who lived in the Bentley area. No idea what these comments refer to otherwise.

The Centennial was the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. No idea where the Exposition was being held. Presumably, not on the railroad line that didn't come through Fairfield in 1876. 

Dr. George Homsher was a prominent Fairfield doctor. LINK HERE 




Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Walter, before he became infamous

 Liberty Express, 1915

WALTER F. BOSSERT

Choice of Many Republicans for District Chairman

---

Walter F. Bossert, a well-known local attorney and leading Republican Party worker, was the unanimous choice as candidate for the chairman of the Republican committee of the Sixth District, in a meeting of district and precinct committeemen, held here on Tuesday afternoon.

The Richmond Item in speaking of Mr. Bossert, says that "He represents no faction but from expressions from all persons here at the Republican rally at Liberty, he has the support of all wings of the party. He is a young man and has progressive ideas."

He was a candidate for Joint Senator from Wayne and Union counties in 1914 and made a good race. The Wayne County sentiment, which it is said here would decide this choice, is in support of Mr. Bossert, according to expressions of Wayne County men here Tuesday.

Notes: Bossert was from Brookville and is more known as the man who replaced D.C. Stephenson as Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan after Stephenson was convicted of murder in 1925. Bossert served in that capacity until late 1926 when he was ousted by national KKK Wizard Hiram Evans.

So it was clear he did indeed represent "factions" after all, none of them particularly progressive.

Bossert obtained a law degree from Indiana University in 1907. He practiced law in Brookville for two years and was appointed deputy prosecutor for Franklin, Union, and Fayette counties when they constituted a judicial district. He then practiced law in Terre Haute for two years before resettling to Liberty in 1912. 

Bossert unsuccessfully ran for the party's nomination for U.S. senator at the 1938 state convention. He tried again in 1940, but his name was not placed in nomination at that year's convention.





Not much love lost, 1864

Franklin Defender, Sept. 30, 1864

DEMOCRATIC MEETING IN LAUREL

Mr. Editor -- As was to be expected, after speeches made here last Saturday by a Mr. Applegate of Connersville, and Dr. Berry, Secesh candidate for Congress in the 4th District, their followers commenced shouting for Jeff Davis, for which one of their poor tools got a ball put through him at the hands of Col. James Smith.

It is thought the wound will prove fatal. So much for the teachings of such men as Dr. Berry. The burthen of his speech was the old song -- abuse of the Administration, and the Abolitionists bringing on the war, when the Dr. knows every time he utters it, he lies. 

But Applegate can outlie the Doctor, the Devil or Jeff Davis and in very bad grammar at that. 

His speech was nothing but a tissue of lies from beginning to end. And there sat and stood the gaping crowd for at least two solid hours, guzzling it down as good Democracy.

Oh Democracy, Democracy, how hast thou fallen! Thy noble name will soon become a hissing and a byword of shame and derision, detested and despised alive with traitors.

Yours, etc.

A Looker On

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE

Lawrenceburg, Oct. 12, 1864

Fourth District is redeemed -- thank God! Farquhar is elected to Congress. Treason has met with a stunning blow in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Our Union is safe. Let lovers of the Union everywhere rejoice! -- ED

NOTES: John Farquhar, a Union Republican, defeated George Berry for Congress. There is some probable validity to the claim that Southern sympathies existed in western Franklin County, mainly in Blooming Grove and Laurel townships. It's also likely it was political hate. That's Dr. Berry ---------------------->

William P. Applegate of Connersville was an active member of the Democratic (Jacksonian) Party in the 1860s and had sought a Congressional seat on a couple of occasions. 

Jeff Davis was, of course, Confederate president Jefferson Davis. 

Col. James Smith is harder to identify. He may have been from Springfield Township. If he killed somebody, he either went to prison or was told to leave the county. 




Monday, February 3, 2025

News of the day, more or less

 Brookville American, 1859

Briefs

-- Austin Webb will not remove from Blooming Grove, divers rumors to the contrary, notwithstanding, but will remain at the old stand, where he is ready at all times to do anything in his line from making nail up to repairing an 'ingine.'

-- Apropos of this subject, we will remark that the citizens of Blooming Grove and vicinity request us to state that a wagon maker is needed in their town, and from what we know of the location, etc., we no hesitancy tin saying that one would do well at that place.

-- The Democracy of Fairfield Township feel highly honored, no doubt, in the act of the Commissioners passing them by, and appointing as their appraiser of real estate, a whilom Main Liquor Law and renegade Know Nothing from Blooming Grove Township -- República is ungrateful!

-- Our friend, B.F. Webb, Esq., of Blooming Grove, has turned Dentist, and offers his professional services to the public. -- Success to him.

Rev. Mr. Iddings of Dunlapsville will preach at the Presbyterian Church in this place on next Sabbath (25th inst.) at 10 1/2 o'clock A.M. and 6 1/2 o'clock P.M. 

-- We are pleased to learn that Dr. Babb of Fairfield who has been seriously ill for a length of time, is improving and bids fair for a speedy recovery. This reminds us that the Dr. offers his property for sale.

State Tax

The vote in the House of Representatives indicates the defeat of the bill to levy a state tax to be collected on the present valuation of real estate. It is a truth long known by many taxpayers that great inequality exits in the appraised value of real estate, which should be first corrected, that taxes may be equitably levied. 

Forty counties south of the center of the state pay double the taxes that the same number of counties laying north of that line do. This inequality is outrageous and must be adjusted. 

It is declared practicable to borrow the money at reasonable rates to meet the deficiency for want of this tax levy, which should be done, and a fair and just appraisement made for the next year's duplicate.

Burglar Arrested

On Monday last the 13th, the store of Samuel Boutcher & Son of New Trenton was broken open and $80 (four $20 bills) stolen therefrom. 

Suspicion resting upon one George Baker, a resident of the place, he was arrested and taken before Esq. Barber, trial had and upon failure to execute bonds in the sum of $200, for his appearance at Court, was ordered to be committed to the jail of this county, where he remains at present, having arrived here late on Tuesday night. 

He will now have the pleasure of tasting the salubrious atmosphere of that "black hole of modern Calcutta" for a while. Whether it will have a tendency to commend his morals, time alone will tell.

Those who profess to be on terms of intimacy with him say that he is "defunct in the abstract." 





Sunday, February 2, 2025

What, no bacon?

Brookville American, July 1836

CINCINNATI markets

FLOUR. There has been but little enquiry for this article in the past week, in consequence of which a decline has taken place; price from boats $4.50.

WHISKEY. The demand is brisk and readily obtains 28 cts.; the stock in market is quite light, and but a small quantity is coming in.

LARD. A very great dullness prevails in the market with regard to this article; holders insisting upon such high rates for all qualities, as presents but small inducements to shippers to purchase -- 12c. nominal.

BACON. The receipts are light that which arrives readily commands 8 cts. hog round.

PORK. No sales. $10 Prime $16 nominal.

FEATHERS. Are in great request though at reduced prices; for a prime article 37 1/2 cts. per lb. is offered.

TOBACCO, Kentucky man. In this article we observe no improvement, and probably there will be none until the shipping season arrives. Price 9 1/2 cts.


Link rot

 It's a term the internet people use to describe web links that either expired or became something else. That's less common when Wikipedia links are included or those that are generated by various government libraries. I try (tried) to stay up with that but somebody I won't.