The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-01-09
WHEN JENNY
Lind SANG
in WHEELING.
An Event IN wheeling Back in 81
Recalled BY the Death Of i
Captain Clark.
A FAMOUS STEAMBOAT RACE
Betwssn the Buckeye State and the
Messenger Preceded the Giving
Of the Concert.

The story frst printed IN tHs
cInnati Tlmes-star last week and since
appearing in pittsburgh and wheeling
paperu, in which the death of Captain
wIniam clark, Of Bridgeport is made
to recall the famous recOrd-brealsins
trip Of the Buckeye State from cincin-
natl to pittsburgh in 1851. Is 50 full Of
inaccuracies and mlsstatements that
the IntellIgencer takes occasion to set
the matter straight. The story referred
to is as follows:
The death at PortHmouth OF SaPt ~
\ William Clark, the f9theF'ln'l9H ~ t NJ
| lnts popular Captain Chris. g. young, ~ ~
al All ga river men to talking Captain
| Clark with Captain Tom Whltten' W.
a niiot ON the Buckeye State when, N t 1e
I0's She made her famous 1857 E 1n L5Vs ~
Louisville 70 Pittsn1Tsh :or I'M to mort. has
never been beaten. Captain sam henO
commanded the Buckeye state, anu t On
Kennedy was head engineer. The Wy Lne
| nav, celebrated run came to DO nlAue Wa
n foIioWg: Jenny Lind and her concerI
| troupe were performing at the 0iu t1 = ~
| deon hall, Just RACED TO the EL0uLu "
make room for modern SKY scfaIses'I' "a ~
niSht Saturday. and wero Obliged 70 play
| IN Pittsbtll gh Monday night al o'eloSSH'
| There wa great rivRIrY between tne pait1i-
tiai fast side wheelerS OF the ClilcinI5 ~ =
PfttSburEh trade IN those days; me NE
Bnsseya state on this occasion had the
faTnoiiS MESSENGER to compete WITH. Ene
| MesssnEer was commanded by CaPtlln
James Fisher, afterwards q the 9 gs i VoGS
FiSber heard the Buckeye State was neeo-
! tiafiaQ, % carry the Jenny Lima troupe
| He sfepDed In and secured them 70 me
utter dISmay Of Captain Reno. Ater i tne
troupe boarded the Messenger, WhIch leLt
mere Al y midnight, Saturday, captain
Reno The moro he thought the matter over
the angrisr he grew. and ne many q Stt
mined to beat the Messenger " 70 s s.Hse
Fot IN steam and left here at 4 a m. sum
| dsy morning, four hours behind the Mes
genRer. made the run to Pittsburgh IN
! forty hours. the fastest on record tneIl.
ana a speed by steamboat that never
mas been beaten. The Jenny LIND troupe
were two hours late filling their engage
nsnt. and the Buckeye State was lylnB
cold at the wharf when she got there
To begin with, Captain Clark did not
die at Portsmouth, but at Bridgeport.
Again, the trip of the Buckeye State
was not in the 'fortIes," 1t was In the
spring Of 1851. Still again, not from
Louisville to Pittsburgh; 1t was be-
tween Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Also.
the run Of forty hours between the two
ports, made then by the Buckeye
State, was excelled the following year
when the packet Pittsburgh made the
trip in thIrty-nine hours, one hour bet
ter than the Buckeyes performance.
And finally, the Messenger did not
take the Jenny Lind troupe to Pitts
burgh on this famous trip; 1t was to
Wheeling they came. and they weren't
two hours late In arriving. 1t is diff
cult to imagine quarter column ar
ticle in which so many inaccuracies
and nIsstatements could appear.
The Jenny Lind troupe had been Sc
cured for a concert in Wheeling by a
committee of public spirited citizens,
and she was to come to wheeling from
Cincinnati. AS stated in the CIncin-
natl story the troupe first engaged
passage on the Buckeye State, but the
Messenger slipped in and captured the
prize at the eleventh hour, by agree
ing to hold back the boat, which was
scheduled to leave at p.
m. Saturday, until midnight. after the
concert in Cincinnati. The Messenger
left at the hour indicated, and four
hours later the Buckeye State, with the
angry Reno on the roof, left on a pro-
attess run for Pittsburgh, the ayowed
object being to reach Wheeling before
the arrival Of the Lind troupe on the
Messenger. This was easily accom-
plished, but by making only the stops
necessary to take on fuel fats. Not an
ounce of freight was taken and only
the passengers who came aboard at
Cincinnati. At some point consider
able distance down the river the Buck
eye state passed the Messenger and
reached wheeling about II o'clock Nom
day morning, the time of the run
from the Queen City being thirty
two hours. Proceeding, she oontln-
ued her reeord-breaking run on to
Pittsburgh, arriving there at 8 p. m.
the same day. The boats fast run
created great interest all along the
river. The Messenger reached Wheel
ing several hours later. but It is not
true that she arrived too late for the
concert to begin on schedule time.
The committee of citizens of Wheel
ing who were responsible for the APP
pearance OF the Swedish nightingale
here was composed Of Messrs. John
Bishop, S. H. Greer, Jacob s. Rhodes
A. ]. Pannell and several others as
prominent. They made the contract
with the famous P. T. Barnum, who
was Jenny Llnd's American manager
and agreed to pay 5000 for the one
concert. The seats were solo at auc-
ton, and the FIRST scat, says Judge g.
L. cranmer, went to a tailor. Michael
Imhoff, who, he says, paid $3.50 for It
Other old citizens are under the I'm
preston that the seat went for 800
Several were sold at $50, but most Of
them brought s.. The concert was
given in the old Fourth Street n. e.
church, which stood on the site Of the
present edItice. The committee encoun-
tered some difficulty in securing the
church, and eventually had to agree to
pipe the church for illuminating gas.
The concert was given Monday even
ing, and every seat was occupied, both
In the auditorium and gallery. Mr.
Imhoff chose the most prominent seat
in the church. He procured an imita-