Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1891-01-16


suits, and when not holding courts be en-
gagged in vanous Improvements on his
lands. One Of his many enterprises was
the successful turning Of the channel of the
creek below town, cutting of and shorten
ing its course near half a mile, and forming
now, as can be yet seen, what is called the
Yogeley island He also was prominent
member. with the late Mr.. Henry Muntz,
of Zelienople. the late Mr.. George Miller.
of this place. and others in the formation
cf Bible society, for the spread of the
Bible among the then poor of this county.
In political affairs he was at all times
quite active, attending among other things
the National Conventions of his party, then
generally held at Baltimore, for the nomi-
nation of its candidates for President. Per
sonally he was affable, easy of access,
generous, a true friend and a charitable
man. Take him all in all he had more of
the elements of a really great man than
any of the public men of Butler of his day.
The Judges had just been made elective
before his death aud had he lived a month
or SO longer his friends expected to see him
nominated as one of the first Judges of the
Supreme Court of the State. for which he
was candidate and for which they We're
urging him. He was followed as Judge
here by Judge Agnew, yet living, and he
in turn by Judge MeGufin, deceased, and
he by Judges McJunkin and James Bredin,
and now by our present ones, Judges
Hazen and MeMichael
THEGILMoRB SQUARES.
Continuing around the Diamond from the
Bredin square brings us to one of the old
time Gilmore squares, so called from the
late Hon John Gilmore, who, fifty years
ago, owned both Of the squares on east end
of the Diamond The brick house now
owned By Mrs. Catharine Graham and now
resided in by her and her sister, Mrs.
Elizabeth Porterfeld, was erected by Mr..
Gilmore near 80 years ago. Mrs. Graham
is the widow of the late John Graham,
Esq, good man and very distinguished
member of the Butler Bar whose early
death was canse of great sorrow and re-
gret to all our then citizens, as well as a
great loss to cur Bar. He had purchased
and lived in this house and died in same in
1860 Mrs. Porterfeld's first husband was
Mr.. Cornelius Coll, man highly respected
and esteemed BY all who knew his many
noble traits ofcharacter. Few men of the
town were more accurate scholars than
was Neal Coll, as he was familiarly called,
and his good Judgment of men and things
was often sought for. He was most ex-
eellent printer, and was clerk in the
Prothonotaryis office for several years. He
died Nov. Is, 1858, much lamented by many
personal friends.
Where the above Mrs. Graham house
stands formerly stood popular black
smiths sh op, carried on by the late Col.
Mandsseas Gillespie and the late Mr.. Sam'l
Paulhemas, Of Centre Twp. Mr.. Paul
hemas became known as "Vulean," from
notable political event that occurred in the
town in 1888. 1t was during the election
for a Governor that year. One party, the
Wings, had run up flag at the Mechling,
now Bank corner, on the street, in honor
of their cause and candidate, Joseph Rit-
ner, for Governor. This displeased the
Democrats, whose candidate was David r.
Porter, to such an extent that they deter
mined to tear down the flag. In this move
ment Mr.. Paulhemas, who was a very
ardent Democrat, took leading part, ap-
pearing upon the ground, hammer in hand
and apron on, to assist in the great work
of bringing down the Whig flag. There
was much party spirit and excitement
existing in town at the time, and the late
Parker C. Purviance, Esq, q noted humor-
list of those days, wrote and published a
comedy on the subject, entitled "The
Flag; a Comedy in Acts. y In this
comedy he represented Mr.. Paulhemas in
the character of Vulcan, which name ad
hered to him for long time. Other
characters in the comedy was an Ex.-
Sheriff of the county, Mr.. john Welsh,
who was described as Johnny Trot."
The late James G. Campbell, Esq, was
called "Trip" ana a Mr.. David Wilson,
who was rather talkative man, was
characterized as "Davy Blatherskite. +"
Other Of the leading citizens of the town
were characters in this comedy of Mr.. Pur
viance and it had a great sale and was in
great demand at the time Col. Gillespie
removed to Donegal Twp, where he died
some years ago
Across the street, on Diamond, east end,
was the other John Gilmore square, upon
which now is the Riddle offices owned by
erected by the late Hon. Samuel A. Gill
more, son of John, who lived there, and
with his brother, late Hon. Alfred Gilmore,
occupied the old Office there as their law
office. The old gentleman himself lived,
before he removed to the Mrs. Graham
house, in log framed house that stood
where the present house of the late Capt.
Jacob Ziegler now stands. Capt. Ziegler,
''Uncle Jake" bought and built there,
tearing away the old one. Hon. John Gill
more for many years was one of the PROM
inent men of Butler. He was q member
of the State Legislature, State Treasurer
and a member of Congress, about 1880. Lie
was large, very fine looking man, and
much respected as gentleman in every
way. He died between the fifties and six
ties. His son Alfred also became a men,
Der of Congress, elected in 1s4S and again
in 1850. Samuel A. Gilmore was leading
member of the Bar, with large practice
for many years. In 1916 he was appointed
President Judge for the district of Fayette,
Washington and Greene counties and re-
moved to Uniontown, Fayette Co, Pa,
where he lived until his dece ase, about ten
years ago. Alfred died in Scranton, Pa,
last summer j. Ii. n.
(To be cORtiRaed.)
THE United States has been sued in its
own Supreme Court by the British Govern
ment,-a novel proceeding. On Monday
lost Cir Tobn Tbnn,ncou Attv Ganara1 of