The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1939-06-02

of captain and carried it until his
death, and many who had called him
captain did not know how he gained
the title.
SO many men among the rolling mln
hands We're away from home and Ms
restraints and Influences that they
steadily, though steady and sober at
home, yielded to the prevailing infiu-
edce, that Wyandotte seemed like
frontier or mining town. Dissipation
and riot were the rule rather than the
exception among a large class Of the
population. 1t was then that Wyan-
Cote acquired the tough reputation
that has followed it so song and even
now has hardly lived down.
POSSIBLY you have heard Of the. cur
rent belief among the negroes that they
are not allowed to live In WyandOtte.
About 1859 or 1860 there was a color
ed b rber- who in addition. to his legiti
rate business kept bar and gambling
saloon. This was the resort Of many
rOughs and among them a negro nam
ed Obediah Sometimes when the bar
Der was away Obediah and his wife
would take charge. One day Obediah
while out cutting wood, hearing a cry
from his wife went TO protect her, but
the door was boited. He held an axe in
his hand and he smashed i'll the door
and attacked the rough crowd within.
Intent only on protecting his wife who,
however, was in no danger. In the
melee some of the crowd were injured.
They in turn set on him and dlsarmed
him, pursued him as he fled, caught
him on Elm street and when through
pounding him left him for dead. He
revived and escaped TO EcOrSe where
he took 4 train to Detroit. The rOughs
and their 'sympathizers went to the
school house, held a meeting and after
wards said they passed law that no
negro should live in WyandOtte.
For u number of years there were
40 negroes here, but in 1868 cOlOred
WoOdchopper moved here. He was a
quiet, peaceable fellow but, when on
his trips down town from time TO time,
was insulted by the rude boys. He did
not resent their words but one day one
IF the boys was foolish enough TO
strike him when he turned and gave
his asSaulteis thorough trOuncing.
The old spirit was aroused, threats
were made that the darkey should be
driven out of town; but the village
was now city, the council took firm
ground and after twenty cOnStables had
been sworn in the trouble was over.
Having in view the idea that manu-
featuring industries must be the life OF
WyandOtte efforts were made by those
interested to secure the locating Of
ether Industries here III 1871 this agi-
tatiOn secured the shipyard, the silver
works, and Later, the Doyle hoop fac
tOly, the trunk factory. and the boat
works, the Bishop factory and the Bur
re1l plant
Up 10 this time iron mills and fur
naces had been the main dependence.
The mills continueed to work with
more or less certainty until the panic
of 1873. The rolling mill succumbed in
1878 and went into bankruptcy. Things
looked very gloomy but the old Eureka
Company emerged from the financial
cmvulsiOn with unimpaired credit and
it took up the burden of the rolling
mill. For a time it paid dividends
amounting to almost 90 per cent, but
conditions changed, the age of iron
had passed TO the age of steel. This
brings us to the last scene in the iron
drama for WyandOtte.
1t was in the summer of 1887 that
the directors determined TO solve the
question Of fuel. There was in Cleve-
land Mr.. Latimer who had some To-
cal reputation and claimed To have the
power Of using u divining rod and dis
covering what lay beneath the surface
To the depth of LOCO feet. He was sent
for and came and when the point of
his rod dipped or went down, he
would say what was below and hO
far down. As he went along the road
to Sibley's he told us when we were
over gas and when on barren ground.
y careful memorandum waS kept and
he marked the results Oh Il map of the
region. The result was that on Augusi
5. 1857. contract was made to bore Il
well. Work was commenced Oh August
- and this work was pursued for
nearly two years, or until May, 1889,
depth of 2.640 feet being reached with
out finding gas except that once a
small pocket was struck. From $50 TO
LBS feet they found $40 feet Of salt
which. having been examined from
time TO time by Capt. Stearns of
Church & Co, was found to be of ex-
cellent quality. The finders did not
realize that a new industry had come
TO Michigan to fill the vacancy left by
the decadence Of the iron industry.