Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1882-06-21


in town." said Mr. Henry Russell yester-
day to Commercial reporter. The place
he alluded to was the old George D. Prem
tlce house, on the north side of Walnut
Street, just above Floyd, which had been
sold by Marshal Bailey few days ago.
The purchaser was Mr.. G. w. Conway,
and the price he paid for it was $1,000.
1t is house with history. There is
not, perhaps, in the whole city a place
about which hangs more gruesome tales.
1t stands there near the centre of this
busy workaday city. and has nothing in
common with the dull, monotonous houses
about it. For sixteen years it shaped
the destinies of George D. Prentice. He
crossed it's threshold young, vigorous, in
the MONDAY of his glory, and he left it
shattered by disease and his splendid in
tellect shaken, after enduring all the tor
lures of the damned A strange place it
is indeed.
To explain the influence of this most
singular house upon the life and thought
and actions of Prentice it will be neces-
sary to go back little beyond his first en-
trance within its ill-omened walls.
came to Kentucky from the North man
who, though 20 years of age, had gained
a national reputation. A charming
talker, brilliant writer, and man Of
transcendant powers of wit and humor.
He came to write the life of Henry Clay,
who then ruled Kentucky as the Plantag-
enets ruled England or the Bourbons
France. Presented thus to Kentdckians,
Prentice had little difficulty in gaining
their ear. One bright September morning
he found himself in Louisville. Soon az
forwards he started the Journal and,
driving every competition from the field,
he soon ruled the literary world with all
the capricious tyranny and iron tirmness
with which his idol Clay, ruled the politi-
cal world. 1t was the era of personality
and over the personal writers of that day
Prentice lowered head and shoulders.
No man knew better than he how to give
point to paragraph that would rankle
for years. Many and famous were his
fights. Shadrach Penn, the editor of the
Adoertiser, opened fire on Prentice. OF
course the fire was returned. The fight
which followed was the talk of the nation.
Never before or since was such brilliancy
of wit, such well-rounded periods and
stately sentences employed in newspaper
quarrel. Prentice poured forth all his
erudition, all his eloquence upon Penn,
At length Penn admitted his defeat.
Other f. hts followed, for fighting was
then the order of the day. Jackson had
killed Dickinson, Randolph had done his
best to kill Clay. Every man worth any
thing was politician, and there were few
politicians who had not killed their man
and who were not willing to kill another.
No abuse was too foul for an enemy, no
f1attery too gross for friend. Prentice
entered into the spirit of the times. His
paper soon became all-powerful in Ken
lucky 1t made and unmade governors
and congressman. His wit burned like
hot iron, and he was not at all sparing in
his use of it.
This was Prentice previous to that ever
memorable year of 1856, when he entered
the door of that house across whose
threshold was the trail of the serpent.
Up to this time he was temperate and
happy years before he had married a
ter of Joseph s. Benham, prominent
lawyer of this city. They lived together
very happily, and two sons, Clarence and
CORTLAND, had come to seal their union.
From the day he entered its accursed
walls misery marked him for her own.
The way he became possessed of the
house was too singular to be passed over
hastily. 1t may in some means account
for that continuous stream of ill-fOrtune
which ever after followed him.
In the spring of 1854 crowd of disso-
lutte young college boys at Nashville
formed secret society whose object was
the extinction of Roman Catholic and
foreign influence in this country. A few
designing politicians in that city saw the
influence of such questions over the minds
Of the ignorant and bigoted, and they
determined to profit by them. The doc
trine was heralded abroad that America
was for Americans; that the Catholics
were engaged in secret and reasonable
plots; that the foreigners were ruling and
running the land. The effect of this was
immediate and terrible. The whole
country became infamed. 1t was like
England during one of the no-Popery
riots of the eighteenth century. A secret
society was formed whose sole object was
the destruction of the Catholic and for
eign influence. Oaths deep and binding
were imposed. It was a party of pro-
scription. The man who did not belong
to it was an enemy and was to be hunted
down The old Wing party was just fall
ing to pieces, and it was glad to enter any
party opposed to its old enemy, the Jack
son Democracy. While the excitement
was great all over the Union it was in
tense in Kentucky. We can have no idea
at this late date of the wild fanaticism
preached and practised. Know-Nothing-
ism was something worse than civil war;
it was struggle into which all the worst
elements of politics and religion entered.
Prentice soon joined the society.
eve initiated him into the order at the
old engine house, near Shelby and Main
the ablest leaders of the party, to the re-
porter, land remember we'll the night.
He was called on to speak, but he was no
speaker. He told them he approved of
the order, and would pour forth his feel
ings in the Journal"
"Did many others join?"
"All the wealth and talent in the city
were in it. l remember we indicted Mr..
w. n. Haldeman, now proprietor of the
Courier Journal. But he wanted it done
very secretly and quietly, and no fuss
was made about it. There were eight
lodges in the city, and all of them were
we'll attended"
Prentice did not forget his promise.
Day after day he Numbered forth his de-
nunciations of the foreigners. Article
after article, incendiary and bitter, served
but as fresh fuel to the fire. The excite
ment became greater and greater. Into
the remotest parts of the State the in
udmudtOIy dItlC1eS O1 ITeutlCe uau pene-
trated, and everywhere they had aroused
the people to the highest pitch.
The summer of 1855 came, and the
Know-Nothings nominated Charles
Moorehead for governor. In the Louis
vile district they put up Humphrey
Marshall, whom the Democrats opposed
by Gen. William Preston. This district
became the centre of all observation.
Here was the citadel of the order. Prem
tees all-powerful pen had beaten down
all opposition. He was the life and soul
of the party. As the race drew near its
close all men saw that blood must mark
its termination. Each day little blood
red paper hearts were scattered broadcast
over the streets. A Know-Nothing was
bound to pick them up. If they had a
pin-hole in the centre he was called to
the lodge; if not they were thrown
around merely to intimidate the enemy.
The never-to-be-forgotten 9th day of
August dawned bright and clear. Long
before daylight the polls were crowded
with Know'Nothings: All their plans
had been perfected. They were armed to
the teeth and woro nrpnorod for tho