Los Angeles herald., 1907-05-21
HAS BUTTONS THAT
BOUGHT BIG STATE
PASADENA MAN TREASURES
RELICS OF PENN
Were on Coat Which Quaker Pioneer
Traded for Entire State of PENN
sylvania and Have Descended
Many Generations
Special to The Herald.

SpeCldl lO j he I1GIdlu.
PASADENA, May 20.-Buttons that
bought a state, buttons that were
guards over the Quaker settlers of
Pennsylvania, when the savage war cry
terror to the early forefathers settled
along the Atlantic seaboard colony, but
tons that graced the coat of William
Penn, these are the buttons owned and
treasured by E. N. Ackley, an aged man
who lives at Schutzen park and who
visits Pasadena quite frequently. He
is old and feeble now and for years he
has guarded the treasure which has
been handed down in the family as an
heirloom since the days when Captain
Ridgeway obtained them from the In
dianS in 1900.
The buttons are on a string and that
little string of buttons has never been
united nor out of the possession OF MI
Ackley since he received them as leg
acy from Jerry Ridgeway of Santa Roso
in $40, until they were united Tor a
photograph taken yesterday. Whlle the
Photographic reproduction was Deng
made Mr.. Ackley stood near his treas
ure and did not allow his eyes to wan
der from the precious buttons for
single instant
Would Sell Buttons
Under ordinary. conditions l would
not take $4,000 for the buttons" he
said. But 1 am old and feeble ana
would need to work for my living, and
find myself facing poverty; ne e
a question by saying he would sell
them if he found purchaser who
would appreciate the historic buttons,
IT hate to let them go and | would
not let them go unless / knew the pur--
chaser would hold them as dear as l
myself" Pointing to one OF the set, an
emblem of the British admiralty, OIL
which Penn was a member, Mr.. Ackiey
said he had been offered, $1,000 for the
button by a woman who thought a
great deal of it and who had been Wis
ibly affected at the sight of the but
ton when she saw it for the frst time.
There are a round dozen of the but
tons and they vary in size from as
quarter of a dollar. Each is curiously
engraved and bears an emblem the
orders of those times when the settle
ment of the eastern coast was con con,
| tinued under the greatest hardshlp'
The buttons are all of brass and are
worth nothing except for the assQGla- "a,
tions around them. The fact that they
once purchased the state OF Pennsyi-
| yania makes them appear, to the mod
ern generation in a hallowed nght,
value not to be measured in dollars and
cents being attached to them.
Buttons for Pennsylvania
When william Penn founded, his
Quaker colony he called ,councll an9
| began tactics different than those useo
nv the other colonists. He arranged tor
a council between the white settlers
and the Indian chiefs. In that councll
under the famous elm tree, e,.seaeod the e0a' S1
bearing the buttons, now possessed ey G
Mr. ACkley. was traded for the lands
NOW m, Included in the boundaries of the
state Of Pennsylvania and for more
The council under that tree and the
treaty. made in that council saved mucf
Of the bioodshed that would have fol,
lowed the settlement tot of the the lands ol
| PENNSYLVANIA by the Quakers;
The buttons were admired by the In,
dams because they were new ant
strange to them. They were bough
by a handful of baubles of less lntrln-
sic value,