439 M. BUFFALO, Pop. 506,775. (Train 51 arrives 5:30p; No. 3, passes
7:15p; No. 41, 11:45p; No. 25, 11:51p; No. 19, 3:55a. Eastbound: No. 6
passes 11:31p; No. 26, 12:27a; No. 16, 4:35a; No. 22, 7:15a.)
French trappers and Jesuit missionaries were the first white men to
visit the site of Buffalo, and near here, on the east bank of the
Niagara River at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, La Salle in 1679 built the
"Griffin," with which he sailed up the Great Lakes to Green Bay, Wis. He
also built Ft. Conti at the mouth of the river, but this was burned in
the following year. Seven years later the marquis of Denonville in
behalf of the French built here another fort, the predecessor of the
various fortifications in this locality which were subsequently called
Ft. Niagara.
[Illustration: Port of Buffalo on Lake Erie, 1815]
Although the neighborhood was the scene of various operations during the
War of Independence, not a single white settler was living on the site
of the present city when the federal constitution was adopted in 1787,
and the town was not laid out till after the second presidency of
Washington. In 1801 Joseph Ellicott, sometimes called the "Father of
Buffalo," plotted the site for a town, calling it New Amsterdam but the
name of Buffalo Creek or Buffalo proved more popular. Ellicott was the
agent of a group of Dutch capitalists called the Holland Land Co., who
purchased a large tract of land for speculative purposes in the
neighborhood of Buffalo (1792).
At an early period (1784) the present site of the city of Buffalo
had come to be known as the "Buffalo Creek region," either from
the herds of buffalo or bison, which, according to Indian
tradition, had frequented the salt licks of the creek, or more
probably for some Indian chief.
During the War of 1812 Buffalo was a frontier town, and, owing to its
position on Lake Erie, very close to an important theater of operations.
The first gun of the war is said to have been fired on Aug. 13, by a
battery at Black Rock, then a rival, now a suburb of Buffalo, and
shortly afterwards British soldiers from the Canadian garrison at Ft.
Erie (directly across the Niagara River from Buffalo) made a raid into
Buffalo harbour and captured the schooner "Connecticut." The Americans
replied with a brilliant exploit in which Lieut. Jesse D. Elliott
(1782-1845) crossed the river and captured the "Detroit" and the
"Caledonia" under the guns of Ft. Erie.
The ruins of Ft. Erie are among the most picturesque features of
the region about Buffalo. The fort was captured in 1814 by an
American force under Gen. Winfield Scott, and was held by the
Americans till the end of the war, despite the efforts of a
British besieging force to dislodge them. At the close of
hostilities the Americans blew up the fort.
In the following spring (1812) five of the gunboats used by Capt. Perry
at the Battle of Lake Erie were fitted out in the harbour at Buffalo.
Perry's victory, however, did not save the little settlement from an
attack in Dec. of that year in which Gen. Sir Phineas Riall and a force
of 1,200 British and Indians captured the town and almost completely
destroyed it. After the war the town was rebuilt, and grew rapidly.
In 1818, near where La Salle in 1679 built his little sailing
vessel, the "Griffin," a group of N.Y. capitalists completed the
"Walk-in-the-Water," the first steamboat on the Great Lakes. The
completion of the Erie Canal, seven years later, with Buffalo as its
western terminus, greatly increased the city's importance. At Buffalo in
1848 met the Free Soil convention that nominated Martin Van Buren for
the presidency and Charles Francis Adams for the vice-presidency.
Grover Cleveland lived in Buffalo from 1855 until 1884, when he was
elected president.
Stephen Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) was born, fifth in a family
of nine children, in the town of Caldwell, Essex County, N.J. He
came of good colonial stock, but the death of his father
prevented his receiving a college education. About 1855 he
drifted westward with $25 in his pocket, and not long afterward
began to read law in a law office in Buffalo, where he was
admitted to the bar in 1859. He was assistant district attorney
of Erie County, of which Buffalo is the chief city, in 1863, was
elected sheriff on the Democratic ticket in 1869, and mayor of
Buffalo in 1881, although the city was normally Republican. As
mayor he attracted wide attention by his independence and
business-like methods--qualities which distinguished his entire
career. After his election as governor in the following year, the
Democratic party chose him as their candidate against James G.
Blaine. He was the first Democrat to be elected president for 24
years. His administration was marked by firmness and justice; he
stood staunchly by the new civil service law, and during his
first term vetoed 413 bills, more than two-thirds of which were
private pension bills. He vigorously attacked the high tariff
laws then in effect, but the administration tariff bill was
blocked by his Republican opponents. In 1888 Cleveland was
defeated for re-election by Benjamin Harrison, but in 1892 he was
again nominated and defeated President Harrison by a large
majority. The most important event of his second administration
was the repeal of the silver legislation which had been a growing
menace for 15 years. The panic of 1893 was accompanied by an
outbreak of labor troubles, the most serious of which was the
Pullman strike at Chicago (1894). When Gov. Altgeld of Illinois
failed to act, President Cleveland sent troops to Chicago to
clear the way for mail trains, and the strike was settled within
a week. He also acted decisively in the Venezuela affair, with
the result that Great Britain agreed to arbitrate on terms which
safeguarded the national dignity on both sides. At the end of his
term, Cleveland retired to Princeton, N.J.
The Pan-American Exposition in celebration of the progress of the
Western Hemisphere in the 19th century, was held here May 1-Nov. 2,
1901. It was during a reception in the Temple of Music on the Exposition
grounds that President McKinley was assassinated on Sept. 6. He died at
the home of John A. Milburn, the president of the exposition.
President McKinley's assassin was Leon Czolgosz, a young man of
Polish parentage, who shot the president with a revolver at close
range. For a while it was thought that the president would
recover, but he collapsed and died on Sept. 14, 1901. Czolgosz
professed to belong to the school of anarchists who believe in
violence. He was executed in October, 1901.
Buffalo today has broad and spacious streets and a park system (1,229
acres) of unusual beauty. The largest park is Delaware Park (362 acres),
on the north side of the city. This park is adjoined on the south by the
Forest Lawn Cemetery which contains monuments to Millard Fillmore and
the Indian chief "Red Jacket."
Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), 13th president of the U.S., was
born in East Aurora, a little village 14 M. from Buffalo, and
practiced law in Buffalo. He served several terms as member of
Congress and in 1848 was elected vice-president on the Whig
ticket, with Zachery Taylor as president. President Taylor died
July 9, 1850, and on the next day Fillmore took the oath of
office as his successor. He favored the "Compromise Measures,"
designed to pacify the South, and signed the Fugitive Slave Law.
In 1852 he was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination for the
presidency at the Whig National Convention.
Red Jacket (1751-1830) was a famous Seneca chief and friend of
the whites. He was faithful to the whites when approached by
Tecumseh and the "Prophet" in their scheme to combine all of the
Indians from Canada to Florida in a great Confederacy. In the War
of 1812, he assisted the Americans. By many he was considered the
greatest orator of his race.
To the west of the park are the grounds of the Buffalo State Hospital
for the Insane. Overlooking the lake on a cliff 60 ft. high, is the park
known as "The Front," the site of Ft. Porter, which has a garrison of
U.S. Soldiers.
The University of Buffalo, organized in 1845, has about 1,000 students
and comprises schools of medicine, law, dentistry and pharmacy. Other
educational institutions of Buffalo are the Canisius College, a Roman
Catholic (Jesuit) institution for men, and the Martin Luther Seminary, a
Theological seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Buffalo has
several fine public buildings, including the Albright Art Gallery (white
marble), the Buffalo Historical Society Building (in Delaware Park), the
Public Library (valued at $1,000,000), and the City Hall and County
Building ($1,500,000). Since 1914 Buffalo has been under the commission
form of government.
Almost equidistant from Chicago and N.Y.C., the city of Buffalo, by
reason of its favorable location in respect to lake transportation and
its position on the principal northern trade route between the East and
the West, has become one of the important commercial and industrial
centres in the Union. Originally, the harbour was only the shallow mouth
of the Buffalo River, but it has been greatly enlarged and improved by
extensive federal work. The Welland Canal, about 25 M. west of Buffalo,
connects Lake Erie with the St. Lawrence River. The annual tonnage of
the port of Buffalo is upwards of 20,000,000 tons. The total export
trade is close to $100,000,000. Besides being the first port in the
country in handling horses, sheep, cattle and hogs, it receives immense
quantities of lumber, pig iron and ore and has more than a score of huge
grain elevators with a capacity of about 30,000,000 bushels.
In the manufacturing field it has two great advantages: a supply of
natural gas and almost unlimited electric power from Niagara Falls. Its
total annual output is valued at approximately $400,000,000, and its
manufactures include meat packing, foundry and machine shop products,
flour, steel, linseed oil, railroad cars, clothing, chemicals,
furniture, automobiles, jewelry, confectionery and tobacco.
Buffalo is connected with the Canadian shore by ferry and by the
International Bridge, completed in 1873 at a cost of $1,500,000.
Niagara Falls, while it is not on the main route to Chicago is best
reached from Buffalo, from which it is only 32 miles distant, and
travellers so easily can stop over to make the little side trip that it
is virtually a part of the journey westward.
[Illustration: The fall of Niagara in the Province of New York.
A Colonial Print (1762) in the N.Y. Public Library]
Niagara Falls.
Of the seven natural wonders of the American world, which are given as
Yellowstone Park, Garden of the Gods, Mammoth Cave, Niagara Falls, the
Natural Bridge, Yosemite Valley, and the Giant Trees of California, by
far the greatest spectacle is Niagara. The name means "thunder of the
waters," and was given by the early Indians who regarded the falls with
a quite comprehensible religious awe. Today there are more than a
million and a half visitors annually.
Probably the first white man to discover the Falls was Etienne Brul['e], an
associate and trusted comrade of Champlain; but the first chronicler and
the man to whom honour of discovery is usually given, is Father
Hennepin, founder of the monastery at Ft. Frontenac in Quebec, who in
1678 joined La Salle's Mississippi expedition, and pushing on a few days
journey ahead of his commander, came upon the wonderful waters described
in his _Louisiane Nouvelle_ (1698). The French built some trading posts
here and their influence prevailed until 1759, when the British, driving
the French northward overthrew their fortifications and took possession
of the land. When the Revolution broke out some years later, the
Indians, terrible and unscrupulous wagers of guerilla warfare, fought on
the British side.
The Niagara River, upon which the Falls are situated, 22 M. from its
head in Lake Erie, and 14 M. from its mouth in Lake Ontario, forms the
outlet of four of the five Great Lakes (Erie, Huron, Michigan and
Superior). It descends about 330 ft. in its course of 36 M. About 15 M.
from Lake Erie the river narrows and the rapids begin. In the last three
quarters of a mile above the falls, the water descends 55 ft. and the
velocity is enormous. The basin of the Falls has a depth of from 100 to
192 ft. During cold winters the spray covers the grass and trees in the
park along the cliff with a delicate veneer of ice, while below the
Falls it is tossed up and frozen into a solid arch. Adjoining the left
(Canadian) bank is the greater division, Horseshoe Fall, 155 ft. high
and curving to a breadth of 2,600 ft. The American Fall, adjoining the
right bank, is 162 ft. high and about 1,400 ft. broad. In recognition of
their aesthetic value the province of Ontario and the State of New York
have reserved the adjacent land as public parks. In the midst of the
Rapids lies a little group of islands, among them the famous Goat
Island. Besides the wonderful view it affords, its western end gives a
unique example of absolutely virgin forest.
The Indians used to fish and hunt, crossing the Rapids on foot
and supporting their steps with tall wooden poles spiked with
iron. The necessity, on one occasion, of saving two marooned
comrades on the island, taught them this means of crossing, which
they had never before attempted.
The Niagara River runs half its length on an upper plain, then drops at
the falls into a narrow gorge through which it courses seven miles to
the escarpment, the crest of which is a bed of limestone--60 ft. thick
at the falls. The water plunges into a deep basin hollowed out of soft
shale, which, as well as the escarpment, is being constantly worn away.
The site of the cataract retreats upstream and the gorge is lengthened
at a rate of about five ft. a year. It is evident that the whole gorge
has been dug out by the river, and many attempts have been made to
determine the time consumed in the work. The solution of the problem
would aid in establishing a relation between the periods and ages of
geologic time and the centuries of human chronology. The Horseshoe Fall
wore its cliff back 335 ft. in about 63 years. Geologists have computed
25,000 years as a lower limit for plausible estimates of the river, but
have been able to set no upper limit.
The Canadian and American shores are connected by three bridges, one of
which a suspension carrying all classes of traffic, is 1,240 ft. long.
The flow of water in the river averages 222,000 cubic ft. per second,
though it sometimes falls as low as 176,000 cubic ft.
On March 29, 1848, Niagara ran dry, and persons walked in the
rocky channel bed of the American Rapids between Goat Island and
the mainland. This phenomenon, never known before or since, was
due to these facts. Lake Erie was full of floating ice flowing to
its outlet, the source of Niagara River. During the previous
afternoon a heavy northeast wind had driven the ice back into the
lake, and during the night the wind, suddenly veering, blew a
gale from the west which forced the ice floe sharply into a mass
in the narrow channel of the river, where it froze. Thus, when
the water on the lower side of the barrier drained off, the
Niagara River and the American Fall were dry, and the Canadian
Fall a mere trickle. This extraordinary condition lasted for a
whole day.
Thus the descent of this stream at the Falls and in the Rapids just
above them gives in theory a water-power of nearly 4,000,000 lip.,
three-fourths of which is estimated as available.
This maximum could be obtained only by sacrificing the beauty of
the Falls--in fact diverting the river from its channel so that
the cataract as a scenic feature would be destroyed. To combat
this commercial vandalism an association for the protection of
the Falls has been formed.
There were before 1918 several companies with power-producing plants,
the largest of which was the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and
Manufacturing Company.
This company had made an extensive beginning in utilization of
the water fall by a tunnel 29 ft. deep and 18 ft. wide, passing
about 200 ft.. below the surface of the city from a point 1-1/4 M.
above the Falls to the upper steel arch bridge.
In 1918, when added power was needed for the more rapid production of
war materials, the various companies consolidated with the Niagara Falls
Power Company. In May of that year the intake from the Niagara River and
the hydraulic canal were deepened, and three hydro-electric units--the
largest in the world today--were installed, with the result that an
extension of 100,000 hp. was developed, making the total of the station
250,000 hp.
510 M. DUNKIRK, Pop. 19,366. (Train 3 passes 8:23p; No. 41, 1:00a; No.
25, 12:45a; No. 19, 4:57a. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 10:24p; No. 26,
11:26p; No. 16, 3:10a; No. 22, 6:08a.)
Dunkirk, settled about 1805, has a fine harbour and extensive lake
trade, and lies, moreover, in fertile agricultural and grape-growing
country. The property of the town, assessed at $10,000,000 is chiefly in
factories producing locomotives, radiators and other steel and iron
products, wagons, silk gloves, and concrete blocks. There are several
pleasant parks, of which Gratiot and Washington are the largest. Brocton
(519 M.) and Westfield (526 M.) are junctions for travellers bound for
Chautauqua (about 20 M. south of Brocton on Chautauqua Lake), the
principal seat of the Chautauqua educational movement.
The Chautauqua movement, instituted more than 46 years ago in the
west, has here its largest station. Each summer 15,000 or 20,000
people from all over the country assemble here to take courses in
a great variety of subjects, from Italian Primitivism to Camp
Cookery. Chautauqua makes its chief appeal, perhaps, to the
middle-aged and elderly who in their youth were working too hard
to have had any opportunities for study.
Just beyond Ripley (534 M.) we cross the state line into Pennsylvania.
557 M. ERIE, Pop. 93,372. (Train 3 passes 9:30p; No. 41, 2:06a; No. 25,
1:36a; No. 19, 5:59a. Eastbound No. 6 passes 9:25p; No. 26, 10:30p; No.
16, 2:03a; No. 22, 5:08a.)
Erie stands on the site of the old French fort Presque Isle, built in
1753 and surrounded by a village of a few hundred inhabitants. Although
Washington protested on behalf of the Governor of Va. against the French
occupation of this territory, it remained in French hands until 1758
when an epidemic of small-pox broke out, making the fort untenable. Two
years later the British seized it, and three years after the Indians,
rising against their white rulers in the Conspiracy of Pontiac, took
possession. In 1765 the British recaptured the fort and kept it until
1785, when it passed into the possession of the U.S. Gen. Anthony Wayne,
who was given the task of occupying the lake posts delivered up by the
English, came here soon after to negotiate the famous treaty of
Greenville with the Indians in 1795. He died in 1796 at Erie.
[Illustration: Old Block House At Erie
(From a Painting by Dr. Thomas B. Stuart)
Certain hostile tribes in northwest of Ohio who had defeated Gen.
St. Clair in 1791, sent away in scorn a mission asking permission
for white men to settle beyond the Ohio (1793). Wayne, angry at
this insolence, gathered together some troops of the recently
organized American army and after having given the Indians one
more chance of a peaceable settlement, defeated them thoroughly
in the battle of Fallen Timbers, 80 miles north of Cincinnati. By
the resulting treaty of Greenville, he opened up the northwest to
civilization.]
In spite of the necessary severity of the punishment meted out to the
Indians by the new government through the agency of Wayne, no part of
Washington's administration, domestic or foreign, was more original or
more benign than the policy he constantly urged toward them. To save
them from the frauds of traders a national system of trade was adopted,
and a number of laws were passed to protect them from the aggressions of
borderers, as well as to secure them in the rights allowed them in their
treaties.
The battle of Lake Erie (1813) was closely associated with the city.
Here were Perry's headquarters during the War of 1812, and here he built
in less than six months many of the vessels with which he won his naval
victory over the British.
Erie is now an important manufacturing centre, the products of which are
valued at between $40,000,000 and $50,000,000. A large branch of the
General Electric Co. is here, besides important factories for flour and
grist mill products, paper and wood pulp, organs, petroleum, etc. The
leading articles of shipment are lumber, coal, grain and iron ore. Over
1,400 ships a year enter and clear the broad, landlocked harbour. On a
bluff overlooking lake and city, is the State Soldiers' and Sailors'
Home, and nearby, a monument to Gen. Wayne. Between Springfield (577 M.)
and Conneaut we cross the state line into Ohio.
584 M. CONNEAUT, Pop. 9,000. (Train 3 passes 10:08p; No. 41, 2:39a; No.
25, 2:04a; No. 19, 6:34a. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:50p; No. 26, 9:59p;
No. 16, 1:20a; No. 22, 4:32a.)
The first permanent settlement was made here in 1799 though a
preliminary surveying party composed of Moses Cleaveland, the founder of
the city of Cleveland, and 50 associates, two of whom were women, had
arrived in 1796 and found 20 or 30 cabins of the Massauga tribe.
In his journal Cleaveland gives a description of the arrival
here, "on the creek Conneaugh, in New Connecticut Land," July 4,
1796. "We gave three cheers," he continues, "and christened the
place Ft. Independence, and, after many difficulties,
perplexities and hardships were surmounted and we were on the
good and promised land, felt that a just tribute of respect to
the day ought to be paid. There were in all, including women and
children, 50 in number. The men under Capt. Tinker, ranged
themselves on the beach and fired a Federal Salute of 15 rounds,
and then the 16th in honor of New Conn. Drank several toasts.
Closed with three cheers. Drank several pints of grog. Supped and
returned in good order."
After the whites had established themselves, the Indians were driven out
for having murdered a settler. The country of Ashtabula in which
Conneaut stands was not only the first settled on the Western Reserve,
but the first in Northern Ohio, and the town is sometimes called the
"Plymouth" of the Western Reserve.
Conneaut, which means in the Seneca language "many fish," is built at
the mouth of Conneaut Creek in what is now a thriving agricultural and
dairying region on Lake Erie. Besides being an excellent harbour to
which coal and ore are shipped, the city has flour and planing mills,
tanneries, canneries, and other factories.
595 M. ASHTABULA, Pop. 22,082. (Train 3 passes 10:29p; No. 41, 3:06a;
No. 25, 2:19a; No. 19, 6:50a. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:34p; No. 26,
9:44p; No. 16, 1:00a; No. 22, 4:16a.)
Settlers were attracted to the site of the present town of Ashtabula (an
Indian word said to mean "fish river") in 1801 by the excellent harbour
here, formed by the mouth of the Ashtabula River. The city is built on
the high bank of the river about 75 ft. above the lake and commands some
fine views. There are large green-houses under glass from which forced
fruit and vegetables are shipped to Pittsburgh and other large cities.
It is the centre of a prosperous agricultural and dairying region which
has been largely settled by Finns.
Ashtabula is one of the most important ports in America for the shipment
of iron ore and coal. Iron ore especially, is brought here in enormous
quantities by boat and trans-shipped to Pittsburgh. The shipyards and
drydocks in the harbour, and the huge machines for loading coal and
unloading ore are of great interest. The city has large manufactories
of leather, worsted goods, agricultural implements, foundry and machine
shop products; and the total value of its output is close to $10,000,000
annually.
602 M. GENEVA, Pop. 3,081. (Train 3 passes, 10:42p; No. 41, 3:18a; No.
25, 2:29a; No. 19, 7:03a. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:22p; No. 26, 9:32p;
No. 16, 12:39a; No. 22, 4:02a.)
Geneva is built close to the site of the early Indian village
Kanadasaga, burnt in 1779.
In that year Gen. Sullivan was despatched at the head of an
expedition against the Indians of Western N.Y., who had taken up
arms for the British and had been guilty of the terrible Wyoming
and Cherry Valley massacres. Kanadasaga was one of the Indian
"council hearths" destroyed, and tribes in this region were
driven westward, never to recover their old power.
In addition to the lake, there are good mineral springs. According to
Duncan Ingraham, a Massachusetts traveller who wrote an account of a
journey in 1792, the town then consisted "of about 20 log houses, three
or four frame buildings, and as many idle persons as can live in them."
Some of these old houses along the main street are of pure Colonial
type, and really beautiful. Hobart College, founded 1822, is situated
here. Malt, tinware, flour, stoves, wall-paper, etc., are manufactured,
and there are also extensive nurseries.
622 M. PAINESVILLE, Pop. 7,272. (Train 3 passes, 11:06p; No. 41, 3:40a;
No. 25, 2:46a; No. 19, 7:27a. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 8:05p; No. 26,
9:16p; No. 16, 12:18a; No. 22, 3:43a.)
Painesville was founded in 1800 by settlers from Conn. and N.Y., the
chief among whom was Gen. Edward Paine (1745-1841), an ex-officer of the
Continental Army. It contains one of the early women's colleges of the
country--Lake Erie College, founded in 1859 as the successor to
Willoughby Seminary at Willoughby, Ohio, the buildings of which were
burned in 1846.
The history of this part of the State includes early episodes of
Mormonism. In Painesville was published a book by E.D. Howe purporting
to show that "the historical p(art?) of the book of Mormon" was
plagiarized from a romance called _The Manuscript Found_ written by
Solomon Spalding of Conneaut (about 1809). This claim has not been fully
verified by later research.
Nine miles southwest of Painesville at Kirtland was (one?) of the early
settlements made by Joseph Smith and his Mormon followers. They built
here a $40,000 temple (still standing), a teacher's seminary and a bank.
The bank failed and Smith had to leave the state to avoid the sheriff.
Most of his disciples followed him to Missouri. At Mentor (which we now
pass 4 M. west of Painesville) lived Sidney Rigdon, who later became one
of the Mormon leaders.
Rigdon (1793-1876) began his preaching career as a Baptist, then
helped in establishing a society called the "reformers," and
before being converted to Mormonism was pastor of a church in
Mentor. He became a Mormon leader, and published a new
translation of the Bible, with inserted prophecies of the coming
of Joseph Smith. With Hyrum and Joseph Smith and Brigham Young,
he moved westward in 1831 preaching, being "persecuted" and
establishing an occasional temple. At Far West, a town in
Missouri where the Mormons established themselves in 1838, Rigdon
preached his "salt sermon," from the Matt. V. 13, urging his
hearer to wage a "war of extermination" against all who disturbed
them. Following his advice, the Mormons involved themselves in
such broils with the "gentiles" that the state militia was called
out against them. Smith and Rigdon were arrested, but the former
escaped custody and with 15,000 followers, fled to Illinois. When
the latter was freed, he joined the "Saints" in the city of
Nauvoo which they had founded and was made a professor at their
university. After Smith's arrest and murder by a mob in 1849 and
the breaking up of Nauvoo, Rigdon disputed with Young for Smith's
place. Not only failing to secure it, but being in addition tried
for treason in wanting it, the disciple of Mormon returned to the
East and spent his last days at Friendship, N.Y. Howe, in the
book mentioned above, asserted that Sidney Rigdon was the
original "author and proprietor of the Mormon conspiracy."
Near Mentor, also is Lawnfield, the former home of James A. Garfield.
James Abram Garfield (1831-1881), 20th president of the U.S., was
born in a log cabin at Orange, Ohio, and began life as a farm
hand. He attended for a time the Western Reserve Eclectic
Institute, afterwards Hiram College, finally entering Williams
College from which he graduated, becoming a teacher of ancient
languages and literature. Entering politics as a Republican, he
was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1859. His Civil War record was
striking, and he was made major-general for gallantry at the
battle of Chickamauga. He was elected to Congress in 1863, where
he attracted attention as a hard worker and ready speaker, and
where later he became leader of the Republican party in the
House. He was an advocate of drastic measures against the South
and considered Lincoln's policies too lenient. At the
presidential convention of the Republican Party in 1880, he was
nominated on the 36th ballot as a compromise candidate, and in
the same year was elected president. On the 2d of July, 1881,
while on his way to attend commencement exercises at Williams
College, he was shot by Charles G. Giteau, a disappointed office
seeker who waylaid him in the Washington Railroad Station. He
died Sept. 19, 1881, at Elberon, N.J.