St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-23
Some Interesting Events of 1657---Bad
Houses Burned by MOb---Vigi-
lance Committee.
II. @. Tuttle and His Shadows---Balloons
IN the Air and Balloons in
Real Estate.
p. X. Johnson and the Days of $40
IAN Artistic Liar and Bit
of History.
Cane---AIlis and His Law
&. w. Armstrong.
ICopyrighted by T. NJ. Newson.1
CONCERT HALL BLOCK.


CONCERT HALL BLOCK.
ABOVE the elevator, on Third street. on the
S S2tii size, was erected in 1857 by j. w.
aiccSiuhg' or rather by his father, large
building called the Concert Hall block. 1t
was near where was the first tenpin alley i'm
the city, the remains of which can now be
seen. In the basement of this block was a
nan IN which Tom Marshall. the celebrated
kentucky orator, once delivered one of his
famous speeches, and the upper part of the
building was devoted to offices. One of
these offices was occupied by J. III. Brown
son, VINO, III tit of insanity threw himself
from the back window, falling 10
the ground below, some one hundred feet
and OF course killing himself almost in
stantly. He was q large man, a LAWYER
and gentleman of good ability. The acct
dent occurred in December, 1858. The
building burned down a few wears after
wards. Prior TO this. or some time in 1854.
the writer strongly advocated in his paper
the purchase by the city of all the river
front on Third street. from Bridge square to
above the Metropolitan hotel. and that it be
forever held sacred as the bay window to St.
raul. lie claimed that the scenery on the
mississippi at this point equaled anything
IN Europe, and it ought to be preserved. but
II was not. Some day in the future his
advice will be heeded-but at a big cost.
VI. c. FUTILE.
MT. futile Is man of ordinary size. hair
turning little grey, and yet his step is as
eIaStlc as that OF man of 80 years. lie has
a pleasant word for his acquaintance. and
mas Il'ed here so long that he is a part of
tile history OF the city. For many years he
engaged taking shadows, and now i'm turn
he, himself, is taken in Pen Pictures TO he
perpetuated in history. He is very social
III his ways, always CHEEKY. hopeful. some
what cautious and yet venturesOma enough
when ne thinks he sees his way clear. He
was among the first daguerreOtypists in the
city and finally merged into photography.
lie was born in Maine in 1880. educated
there and learned the trade of daguerrean
ARTIST, removed 10 st. Anthony in 1858 and
III 1919 came TO st. Paul, and in 1861 bought
ont Z. L. Whitney'S gallery and carried on
the business for good many wears. He
early Joined the Pioneer guards and was in
the celebrated Wright county war. when
Col Prlnce did the commanding and Col.
Crooks did the prompting and the troops
dld the hghting-Over the camp fire with
stolen chickens and pigs-and Mississippi
water! Iuttle says the pigs didn't squeal.
nor did any of the boys. Some of
the soldiers were wounded in the neck. and
We're brought home in ambulances because
they were .sunstruckI After his experience
IN this war he helped raise Company ID.
second regiment, and was elected first lieu
tenant. The fatigueS OF the first war so
shattered his health, however that he
could only serve two years in the Union
army ana then resigned, returning to ST.
I auI' where he engaged in the Photographic
business anu continued ten Years. For some
time past he has been dealing i'm real estate
Like many other old settlers Mr.. futile has
begun TO realize that the fundamental basis
OF all success in this utilitarian age is money.
and so he is reaching out to see if he can't
get some of the plums by buying and selling
little OF mother earth.
UP IN a BALLOON!
This year our ventureSome fellow citizen
Mr.. Marcoe, made several successful balloon
aScenSiOnS, in one of which Mr.. Croffut of
the then st. Paul Daily Times ACCOMPANIED
him and wrote description of the upper
regions. In another ascension S. s. Eaton
and ID. NJ. Brown went up with him. They
sailed from the fair grounds and landed
eighteen miles nOrthward, where Mr.. Eaton
was thrown out, or fell out and the
valve ropes were broken off close to the
neck OF the balloon, and it shot up into the
sky, when Mr.. Brown, to save their lives.
climbed UP to the neck of the balloon by
the network and secured the cords. The
same year good many went up in real es-
tate balloons, but they never came down
again and their balloons went to the d
This was also the year when Croffut of the
Times was kicked Off the War Eagle. bv
mistake. iii place of Ramaley of the Pioneer.
Ramaley even now rubS himself and
chuckleS over his good luck. while Croffut
says ne never did ike steamboat riding. and
preferred to travel on the cars! But didn't
Ramaley laugh?
p. X. JOHNSON.
Mr.. Johnson is an Old-timer. and still
lives at MankatO. He was born in Yer
mont in the birthplace of Stephen A. Doug
las, i'll 1916; attended one term of school
with young Douglas, but says that he did
not add anything to his own intellectual
growth; became an apprentice TO tine tailor
ing business in 1892; served three years:
carried on business two years, and in
1887, or forty-eight years ago. emigrated
to Wisconsin and after visiting small places
like Chicago, Kenosha, Racine and Mil
waukee land they were small in those
days., he finally located at Rockford ILL.,
Here he formed partnership in the tailor
ing business withWilliam Tinker of this city.
which continued until 1S41. They then re-
moved TO Prairie du Chen and remained
there as partners up to 1916, when, in 1917.
he came to St. Paul to hunt and fish and to
look up his land. as he was one of the heirs to
the Carver estate, embracing Saltwater, St.
Anthony, st. Paul and so forth. He saws
that this time he could have had lot on
Third street for making out a quitclaim
deed, but what was the use when the
Carver heirs owned the whole city? Finally
he consented to take q lot as a gift from II.
NJ. Rice on upper Third street and there. in
a small building. he commenced tailoring,
but he did not make up his mind to remain
in the city until 1S49. He was a member
of the legislature in 1S49 along with
Henry Jackson and other '49ers,
and aided in locating the capital at ST. Paul.
He married Miss BivinS in 1851, and soon
after settled near the mouth of the Blue
Earth river-nOw MankatO-buiIt the first
house there, laid off the town, was pOstmaS-
ter, register of deeds. deputy clerk of the
court. justice of the peace. ETC., ETC., and in
1866 was a member Of the legislature.
THE RIGHT MAN.
In note to the writer Mr.. johnson saws:
''In your political TRADE against Rice in
this place, now some thirty odd years ago,
it was L instead of Jackson who compli-
mented you for telling more political lies
(artistically), in given time than any man
L ever listened to-" l am glad to have
found the right man at last who accused me
of lying in my speech at Mankato, for poor
jackson will now be able to sleep more
quietly in his grave since johnson comes to
the front and cOnfesses his crime of inter-
rupting the writer when he was trying to
save his country by abusing Rice. John
sons and Newson's fame will now go down
to history together.
Mr.. johnson is a man Of a good