The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-07-23
THE HOUSE OF THE COPPER
 HAnE

HEADS.
 There is, in Rush County, five miles ] east of Nashville and near the station of Griffin. on the C.. H. and D. Railroad. house that stands as monument to it's former resident and his views on the abolition of slavery. To the people of the neighborhood it is known as The House of the Copperheads." and the name is appropriate so far as its decor ations. interior and exterior, are con- cerned.
 William Griffin, who died in August, 1883, was one of the weslthiest citizens O. Rush County. He obtained his for tune through his ability as trader and farmer. He owned 800 acres of the most fertile land in Indiana, and, be- fore the civil war came with its bitter partisanship and its severing of ties of love and friendship. he dwelt as one of the happiest among the people of Grif- fin, named in his honor.
 He was pronounced in his hatred for advocates of the abolition of slavery and declared himself to be copper head of the type that gave quarter to no man who sought to free the blacks. Just when the war broke out Griffin was building home in the midst of his broad acres. It was then that he decided to do something novel, yet dar- ing.
 He would make his house cry out his sentiments by decorating it with cop perhead snakes. He had ten snakes made of metal and ordered them paint de copper color Then, when the roof had been put on, he curled the snakes so that they would appear to be spring ing at all who looked upon them, and fastened them under the cornice of the house. The ten snakes still occupy the same position under the caves.
 When a balcony was built over his front door, he had the supports for it and it's roof sawed, so that they, too would look like snakes. As a decora- tion for the interior of his home he had the Confederate stars and bars painted over the door castings and the same stars and bars are there to-day. They are preserved as relics of the strong minded old man who put them there.
 After Griffin built the house he proud | ly proclaimed to his enemies, the ad- herents of Lincoln, that he had decor- ated his house to satisfy his own politi- cal desires. His sympathy for the South was so strong that even the in- terior of the house was built after the quaint pattern peculiar to old Southern homes. It has broad halls, low ceilings, old fashioned windows and doors, and is, withal the very picture of comfort.
 There must have been commotion in the neighborhood after Griffin's cop perhead house. was built, judging from I the stories told to-day. There were in the vicinity of Griffin hundreds of sym pathizers with the cause of the North, land the threats to burn the ''eopperhead house. were numerous. The spirit of, ineendiarism did not grow to the extent that the house was burned, but it was freely predicted that 1t would be. Not far from Griffin there was a nest of the Knights of the Golden Circle, and they counterbalanced the threats of Northern adherents by saying that if Griffin's house burned that they would get even.
 One of the sensational incidents of the war, from a Hoosier point of view, oc- cured not farfron Griffin. shortly af- ter Griff1ns copperhead house" had been completed and the spirit of resent ment was at its height, there came a report that Morgan and his raiders were at Fayetteville, three miles away. All of the men in the neighborhood who were able to bear arms, and were friends of the cause of Lincoln, mount ed horses and rode toward Fayetteville to meet Morgarfss men in battle. When they reached Fayetteville they learned that instead of Morgan's men having come there, a murder had been commit ted that had no bearing on the war.
 The would-be pursuers of Morgan made demonstration in front of Grif- fins house but made no effort to re- move the snakes and other evidences of his allegiance to the South. He was compelled, 1t Is said, to go to Conner vile, and take the oathof allegiance, but his snakes still reigned under the roof.
 The house of the copperheads is now the property of John Gray, a wealthy farmer and stock dealer. Gray has re- painted the house. and the old copper snakes are now bright blue. He has left them in their place as a relic of the days that tried mems souls. The old stars and bars were also left in the house.
 The old house stands in spacious yard that is filled with almost every tree native to Indiana. Flowers and shrubbery grow in profusion every where, and the home of Griffin. strong Of sentiment though he was, must have been place of restfulness sufficient to soften any nature. Yet he adhered to and openly advertised his sentiments And his house of copperheads' lives after him. Indianapolis News.
 IN A JAPANESE PRISON.
 s,.s 2 ii. sY.l.