Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1891-01-23

perity. He was public spirited in all that
open in the expression of his opinions and
pronounced in all his views. He served a
a term as Prothonotary of the county, from
1886 to 1889. and held various other posts
of trust. Mr.. sullivan died in 1854 He
was the father oil our present Col. John NJ
| Sullivan, who is his only son. Mr.. Welsh
was a tailor by trade and very active
man in the affairs of the town. Mr.. Smith
was a prominent lawyer, particularly in
criminal cases, generally defending Grim
inals among them the Mohawk case, with
Mr.. Mitchell, his partner.
THE WALTER LowRIE SQUARES.
The two squares in the rear of the Court
House, west end Of Diamond, were known
as the Walter Lowrie squares. The lot
where the Jail now stands was owned by
| him but is now. with the one adjoining
west, the property of the county. Upon
this, where Jail now is on corner, was
frame house built by Mr.. Lowrie and paint
ed in a vellowish color and from a paint
said to have been made from some clay or
earth obtained in those days along the
creek. Several of the first frame houses OF
the town received their first ornamental
coloring from paint made from this
material found along the Connoquenessing.
| In this house the late Mr.. W. W. Brandon,
uncle to our present W. d. Brandon, Esq,
had store, so years or more ago. The
late Mr. Clark McPherrin also had his first
store there, probably for time with Mr..
Jonathan Plummer. Mr.. McPherrin after
wards removed his store to the east Dougal
| lot. Both he and Mr. Brandon were men
of much moral worth and highly respected
as citizens. Both are long since deceased
and are now remembered but by few lly-
ing. Henry Krug, Sr., and the late Mr..
Samuel s. Wilson, father of present County
| Treasurer James S. Wilson, also once
lived in this house The late Col. Francis
| Mcbride lived there at one time, and he
and our present l.. z. Mitchell, Esq. had
their law Office there, as Mcbride d
Mitchell, attorneys. Col. Mcbride had
| been Sheriff of the county, about 1880, and
aft ierwards studied law and was admitted
to the Bar He was portly, fine looking
man, gentlemanly in his manners and
generous in his nature, and particular
the town in his day. Many others lived or
had their offices in this old house, among
them the writer OF this, who in the sum
mer of 1850. had his law Office in corner
room of same.
| The old Jail stood in the rear or west of
| the present one. II was a stone building,
perhaps 45 by p feet, and two storied. In
some of its windows were great iron bars,
crossed, from and through which prisoners
| in those days could often be seen looking
out upon the street. Men were imprisoned
| for debt in those days and up to the year
| 1912. when the law abolishing imprison-
ment for debt in this State was passed.
We well recolect seeing men standing be-
hind these bars who were put in Jail be-
cause they could not pay their debts. under
a law that We now look back upo III won
der, and which il now existence no Jail
could possibly be made large enough to
hold all that would be liable 10 be put
there for that cause.
But the most notable event in connection
with the old Jail was that growing out oi
an attempt to rescue the Indian Mohawk
from its walls and to deal summary punish
ment upon him. This was in the summer
of IS43, and shortly after Mohawk had
cen imprisoned. A fear prevailed in the
| upper part of the county among the friends
and neighbors OF Mr.. Wigton, whose wife
and family had been most cruelty murder
ed by Mohawk, that the Jail was insecure
and that in some way he might escape
punish This fear was increased by
various reports to that effect. and resulted
in a combined and determined effort to
prevent any such escape. The people up
there assembled duly armed and organized,
and were marching to Butler, under the
command of the late Col Samuel Loudon,
Of now, Clay Twp The Sheriff, the late
James G.. Campbell. had of course his duty
to perform under the law and to prevent
such a rescue of IA prisoner He summoned
every man to bis aid, called out tho posse
cOmifdtus. the people, to assist him III de
fense of the Jail appointed a press body,
con sistipg of the late John Graham. Esq,
Lewis Il. Mitchell Esq, and others, whose
dnty it was to Impress and force all into
service. One very funny incident occurred
in this duty. A foung lrishman, lately
arrived, was in tbs crowd in front of the
Jail, looking on tie scene i'll wonder He
was ordered to take up arms for service,
but he objected aud instead of doing SO
broke away and ran. Nearly the whole
crowd ran to catch him, around the Court
House aud down South Main Street to
what is now the Etenmiller Hotel, where
priest was then staying and to whom he
rushed in and claimed the protection of.
He made good bis escape, by safely reach
almost to death The two military com
panies of the town had been ordered out
by the Sheriff for duty, one, the German
Guards, Capt. Dorr, promptly responded
for service; the other, the late DeKalb
Grays, Capt Ziegler, did not respond with
the same alacrity The whole town was
in great excitemens AT every door and
window Of the jail, and all around on its
walls and at every approach to it men were
stationed, with guns in hand. and ordered
to defend the jail at any extremity. But
this extremity fortunately did not come
The rescuing party, however, had reached
rs near town as the then Sloppy Hotel
now Berg farm, mile up the Mercer road.
Here they were met by some of the then
principal citizens of the town, Judge |
Bredin, Mr. Beatty, Samuel A. Gilmore,
and others, speeches were made to them
and assurances given that Mohawk should |
be more safely secured, and be tried and |
punished, by due process of law Mohawk |
had been confined in basement room of
the jail very dungeon looking place, |
called the murderers cell, in the middle of
the floor Of which was huge iron ring, to
which by strong chains attached to his feet |
he was secured until tried and executed, in |
the early part Of 1874. Where he was
buried, then in the woods, is now fast be- |
coming part of our growing town, lots
being recently laid out and sold and |
houses built in that vicinity.
OTHER LOwRIB SQUARE.
An.o.n r.a,,, A. o.I.r c,o