Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-09-04
Prom lhe Hartford tconn.l rimes. |



Fall Of the "Old Charter Oak"
The famous old Charter Oak of this city,
so noted in song and history, fell with a ire
mendous crash during the great storm at
quarter past one O'Clock this morning, (Au-
gust 81
This noble old tree stood upon the beau
tiful grounds of Hon. Isaac w. Stuart, late
the WHY'S estate, in the southern part Of
the city. About three years ago, some boys
built a fire in the hollow of this tree, which
burnt out the punk, and though it was feared
that this would kill it, such was not the
fact. Fresh sprouts sprung out the next
spring, and Mr.. Stuart took great pains to
preserve this valued relic of the original
forests of New England, but more especially
interesting as the tree in which the old
British Charter of Connecticut was secreted
and preserved. At this time the hollow in
the .runk Of the old oak was so large that a
fire company of twenty-seven full-grown
men stood up in it together.
Mr.. Stuart had a stout door made to shut
up the entrance, and he also placed tin caps
upon the stumps of broken limbs, and for
the past three or four Years fresh sprouts
have grown upon most of its limbs, though
other limbs were decaying. At the time oil
its fall, young and fresh acorns were growing
on every part of it. Thousands of people
are visiting the tree, and bringing away
such sprigs and parts of limbs as Mr.. Stuart
permits.
Waterman Butler says ne stood at the
head Of the street at the time of the crash.
The wind had been blowing freshly from
the northwest for an hour or more. He first
heard q loud crack, and saw the Old Oak
swaying in the breeze /; a cracking noise fol-
lowed, then the crash-all within the space
Of half a minnte-and the famous monarch
of the forest, whose history is so intimately
intwined in that of Connecticut, was pros.
trate upon the earth One thousand years
ago, when it was in the prime of life-when
its years were half numbered-its far-reach-
ing branches had sported in fercer storms and
more swift winged winds. But now, since
full two thousand years have smiled and
waned upon its youth, its prime and its de.
cline, it had become gray and decrepid, but
still wal tenacious Of life it still el~-s to
The lovely snot .L;sh gave ii birth, by lis
far-reaching roots, running a long way uI
into the beautiful hillside and downward to
the sharp cut below. Firmly, ay, proudly,
the Oak stood, seemingly conscious that Ma.
ture had marked out for its own accommo-
dation one of the most enchanting retreat,
in the State, and that destiny had accorded
to it a notable and everlasting historic page
in the story of Conn cticut-one Of the pat.
riotic and original thirteen States of the
Union?
Proudly it had stood, and when t~ottering
18th oVa aud rn1upaA 10 a mara shall Of
few inch es, by the steady inroads of Time
itself, it still chung with fondness to tn,
loved spot on which it had witnessed the
decay and downfall of many of its associ
ates-the path and the bloody wars of the
red man, and the red mans dscay-the birth
and death of generations of the white man
whose AK had cut away its towering comradei
of the olden time. But while preserving
fair exterior, it was inwardly wasting away
and was obliged to yield and fall in a storm
far less severe than many thousands that haC
preceded it.
Before Governor Wyllys came to Americ;
he sent his steward forward to prepare
place for his residence. As he was cutting
away the trees upon the hillside of tn,
beautiful "Wyllys' Place, " a deputation o
Indians came to him and requested that h,
would spare this hollow Oak. They de
clared that ii had "been the guide of thei
ancestors for centur es." 1t was spared, t.
fall this day, having finally yielded to TIT
process of natural decay.
The tree measured thirty-three feet in cir
conference at the bottom, and it has broker
off so as to leave eight feet of stump on on,
side and six feet on the other-the stunt
measuring thirty-one feet in circumference,
at its tom