The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1860-11-08
OLD SETTLERS OF WAYNE co.

: : counties in Indiana Territory, viz: kro1
II Harrison. Clark and Dearborn. The tel
ri,ory embraced within the present limits c
A Wayne county. as we'll as the whole e7s
tern section OF Indiana. then belonged t
Dearborn county, and the earl, srt'l l+rs ha
to go To- Lswrenceburyh 10 attend court an
transact county business.
Il Richard Ru-s and Ephraim Overma
were elected Representatives o. Dearbor
county to the Territorial legislature for tn
year 1909. They were both elected tn
following year to the same Office with job,
Tempt ton for their colleague. The Legs
lature was then held at Vincennes, the coun
ty seat OF Kn,x county, where Governo
Harrison resided. and the representative
had long. tedious ,urney to perform o
two hundred miles on horseback through ar
almost unbroken wilderness, infested with
Indians ard wild beasts. and threatened with
"A still more dangerous enemy--negro sls
verv
| Notwithstanding the ordinance Of 1877
excluding slavery from the whole North
W. stern Territory. many we're to be found
who were willing. nay anxious, to introduce
the inhibited and bIighting institution upon
the virgin sell Of Indiana. Indeed. for a
while it was thrust upon the people. contra.
|
effort was made to render imperative the
Act OF 1897. and let slavery into Indiana
in the same manner that Senator Douglas
and his coajdutors tried to force it into Kan
sas. The subject excited deep interest in
the minds of the people. a majority of whom
had emigrated from slave States into the
new Territory with the hope of forming q
State government that would be free from
the taint Of this moral and political lepro.
~. They plsinly saw that The .ccurssd in.
stitution rested like an incubus on Virgin a,
Mary and and K-ntucky, benumbing their
energies. furnishing their escutcheo's, cor
rupting their morals, and holding the poor
white man down on level with the slave,
compelling him to work side by side with
the negro in the field or on the log. chopping
cut about. and the white man generally
compelled to take the butt-cut. This did
not accord with their notions of free Re-
publican government. They believed in
the doctrine Of the Declaration OF Indepen-
dence 'that all men are Grated equal; that
they are endowed by their Creator with cer-
tain inslienable rights; tha, am, ny these are
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
and in the beautiful Ian guage of St. Pierre,
that "when human policy iastens the chain
round the ancle Of the slave. Divine justice
risits the other end round the neck of the
tyrant; that the evil which man does to
a fellow creature shall retirn with seveniold
vengeance. upon himself; to the end that no
ma" shall find his own happiness in the mis-
cry Of another"
An election was held in May 1909. to
elect a delegate to Congress for Indiana
Territory. Jonathan Jennings, of Penn
sylvania birth was the andidate of the an
Ill,
native of Virginia. was the pro-slsvery can
ddate. Tn-re was a heated canvass. that
thoroughly stirred up the people through
out the Territory. 1t resulted in he cleo
,ion Of jennings by majority OF 26 votes.
Kmox aud Harrison gave Randolph 8 4 votes
and Jennings 66 Clark and Dearborn cast
SOC votes Tor Jennings and SO Tor Randolph.
White water valley then. Is ever since. de-
clared in favor Of Freedom, and her old set
tiers, Quakers. and other folks are entitled
Of slavery, whose iron mace was lifted to
strike down Liberty in one Of the iaircst
p ,r'ions OF Gnd's green esrlh
On the 18th day OF Nav 1916. An cleo
ton was held in the several counties (then
increased TO thirteen) throughout the Ter
ritory to elect members Of convention to
form State Constitution. At this election
Jeremiah Cox Patrick Baird. Hugh Gull
and Joseph Holman were elected the four
members from Wayne county. The Con-
ven,ion. which consisted of 43 members
convened vt Corydo ON the 10th of June
1916. Jonathan jennings former delegate
to Congress. was elected President of the
Convention and William Hendricks WAS
chosen Secretary. Nineteen days suhced
to produce the first Constitution of Indiana
which put the slavery question to rest, for
ever it is to be hoped, within her limits In
anticipation OF such a result many who had
brought slaves with them into tn Terrific
ry began u run them back into kentucky,
Virginia. and CsrolinA to avoid losing their
property, as they said and in the hurry and
scramble. some, it ~as thought. carried away
more than belonged TO them. Several free
negroes it was said 'come up missing" in
those days. whose descendants are now
probably hoeing tobacco or picking cotton
in S ,uthern States. Among my earliest
recollections was An incident Of attempted
kidnapping OF a free negro man his vile
and three children. The man steAler caught
and tied the negro woman. the darkness of
the night favored her husband. who fed
and made bis escape. The woman and her
two children wore put on horse which the
felon led. While passing near Esq. Cox's
d yelling. which stood where the village Of
Arlington was afterwards laid of. the negro
woman sprans upon the ground and before
her captor wa awar, Of her intention she
bol,ei into the 'Squire's cabin. crying "help
Squire! thieves are carrying off me and my
children! Help tor Gods sake helpf-
Fearing detection the kidnapper tumbled
the two little negroes over the fence into the
yard after their mother. and mounting the
horse made off up the road as il riding for
dear life. his horses iron shod feet Gathering
over stones. which emitted sparks If FIRE ~
he crossed ssons run. and s~cended the hill
on the road that crossed Whitewater at
Rail backs ford. aiterward Brom6eld' 8
1 ford. ELKHORN.
| efos narrative Of the captivity by the Iniians
| Of Richard Rue, George HOLMAN nd irvin Hutton,
zee trsasise -Uid >et,iers pAs. Ill TO l3i
| inclusive. The Rschari Rue above alluded 10 a. Q
member Of fesr,sor n lie lie asnre, the cane
sur~s the long and paia:si captivity dss
| crshed in the narrative r-s-rre fa.
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