by George A. Nye
The talk of the town on New Year's Day,
1883 was about the death of William Hull. He was a well-known
character about town who had worked in Perry Brown's market. those
who knew him say that he was a large man, with rather long curly
black hair, and when not under the influence of liquor was quite
congenial. He had several children and lived at the west end of
Pike or Perry street in an old house. His wife was not a part
of his family at this time. Hull on Saturday night, December 30,
1882, had walked out the railroad with some other men to the home
of Joseph Rough, which was bout a mile west of town along the
north side of the Pennsylvania tracks. The place is now marked
only by a few trees just west of the Zimmer airport. They had
gone to Rough's home to hold a dance as was customary in many
country homes. Rough did not allow them to dance because they
were drunk. To make a long story short, a fight ensued and Hull's
body was discovered along the tracks by young Dick Hubler, who
was returning from a literary at the Swihart school. Hull was
taken into the house and later hauled to the depot in Warsaw on
a handcar. The funeral took place from R. C. Smith's undertaking
establishment, and it is said that the body was buried in the
potter's field.
John Shaffer was indicted and tried for the murder of Hull. A long trial was held in the basement of the old Methodist church for the present court house was then being built. The crowds became so large that an adjournment was taken to the opera house. Judge Elisha Van Buren Long presided; John M. Reid was sheriff and Joseph H. Taylor was clerk of the court. After a second trial it was decided that Hull was not murdered at all, but was struck by the evening fast train. John Shaffer was acquitted. Hull's ghost was often seen walking the track about the old Rough home by Mrs. Rough and others, it is said. so persistent was the spectre that one trackwalker quit his job. At one time it flagged a train; the engineer stopped, climbed down from the cab, but saw nothing. In April, 1886, Hull's ghost was seen by Frank Whitney, an engineer, as a pure white object as tall as a tree, moving uneasily as though it was seeking rest that never could be found. At one time Joe Hale saw the ghost walking on the tracks carrying an axe. For years a cross marked the tie where the body was found. The death of Bill Hull is an unsolved mystery, and the cause of his death will always be charged up to John Barleycorn, as were many others in the days of the old saloon. Hull's children at the undertaker's Sunday morning said that if daddy had listened to them and stayed at home that night he would not be dead. The children were sent to Columbia City.
The Gold-Spike Railroad
Another topic of conversation around Warsaw at this time was the
Gold-Spike Railroad. Its official name was to be the Detroit,
Indiana & St. Louis. It was to come down through Albion, on
to Warsaw and go on through Illinois. Had the line become a reality
it would perhaps now be the main line of the Wabash from Detroit
to St. Louis. One of the chief sponsors of the line in this town
was Amos Thompson Shaw Kist, who for many years had been connected
with the surveyor's office. Kist surveyed several routes out of
Warsaw, one through Mentone, another through Sevastopol. He and
his party were feted wherever he went for every town wanted a
railroad and railroad projects were talked of all over northern
Indiana. At Sevastopol the citizens promised to erect a depot
if the line went through. Technicalities arose with regard to
the sale of the bonds and the Gold-Spike Railroad had to be listed
with other mythical projects in Warsaw's history. The Nickel Plate
had just been completed through the southern part of the county,
giving rise to the new towns of Kinsey, Packerton, Burket and
Mentone. Soon the B. & O. was built through the northern part
of the county and this finished railroad building in Kosciusko
county until about 1903-04 when the interurban lines were built.
At the present time a sponsor of a new railroad through the county
could not get as many followers as a man selling snowballs in
the Klondike.
Finishing the Courthouse
During the years 1883-84 the present courthouse was under construction.
The building was first occupied in February 1884. The interior
finishings of the courthouse were considered very exceptional,
the wood being the finest of walnut and butternut. The ceiling
of the court room was a work of art. Joe Hahne, a son-in-law of
Fred Sessel, was the artist for this building and other buildings,
the Gabriel R. Lesh residence and the Bash mansion.. T. J. Tolan
the architect, died and the work was carried on by his brother.
The building stands as a fitting memorial to its architect. After
it was completed commissioners from other places came here to
inspect it. Duncan Russell set everyone of the cut stone in the
building. The steel tower of the building was put up in May, 1883,
by Joseph Marshall. It was then painted by Nate Sleeper. The clock
and bell cost $1,900. The bell weighs over two tons. The clock
faces were first lighted by gas lights controlled by electricity
from the basement so that the janitor did not have to go up to
the tower to light the lights. In 1884 standard time went into
effect so the clocks were turned forward about 25 minutes. This
did not please some people, so they tried two faces on standard
time and the other two on sun time. This, however, balled up the
striking and so standard time was finally decided on. Robert Hitzler,
pioneer cabinet-maker, was awarded the contract for making all
the new furniture necessary for the building. Homer Reeves appears
to have been one of the first janitors. Soon after 1884 Valparaiso,
Lafayette and Columbia City built new courthouses. George Hughes
of Warsaw was killed while working on the one at Valparaiso. Hitchracks
were installed on the south side of the square by the merchants
on Center street. In the summer of 1883 the old Thomas building
was removed and the present brick building was erected on the
same site. In the west room Charley Thomas had a grocery store,
bakery and a farmers' lunch counter.
The Old Frazer Ditch
It was in the spring of 1883 that workmen
were constructing the Frazer ditch to drain the tamarack swamp
just east of the C. W. & M. Railroad. All of this low ground
in early days was a huckleberry marsh. It is said that this ditch
used to be an open natural waterway and that there was a bridge
where it crossed Center street under the sidewalk at the corner
of Park avenue. This bridge was provided with wooden handrails
when it was an open drain at that point. Valentine Hammond was
drainage commissioner in 1883 and had charge of the building of
this tile ditch. Much quicksand was encountered so the work progressed
slowly. In 1866, a ditch had been constructed to drain this swamp,
but the tile proved to be too small. The new ditch was supposed
to have five feet of fall at its upper end and heavy additional
fall at its outlet. It is quite likely that the word "heavy"
was a misprint. There were few houses on Center street at this
time between the railroad and Scott street. The Jaques residence,
the Frazer home and the J. D. Thayer mansion were three of the
old-timers on this street. Once or two blocks east of the railroad
on the south side was the "show grounds." E. C. Aborn
and other older citizens remember when prominent circuses showed
here to large crowds. Once a band of Indians with a show roamed
through the adjacent marshlands in quest of medicinal herbs. Shows
were using grounds in this vicinity as late as 1895.
Some Large Fires
Warsaw was visited by three large fires
in 1883-94. On March 21, 1883, the largest hotel in Warsaw, the
Lake View House, burned. Flames were discovered along towards
evening. It was midnight before the first [fire] was out This
was a four-story brick building on the northeast corner of Buffalo
and Center streets. William Kirtley had the upper three floors
for a hotel. The lower floor was occupied by Pringle's saloon
on the corner, and by Richardson & Moran's dry goods store
east and north of the saloon. The Fire burned as far east as Grabner's
hardware store where a fire wall arrested its progress. The several
cisterns were pumped dry by the steamer and the hand-pumper, and
so a call for help was sent to Fort Wayne. They sent a company
which came to Warsaw in fifty-five minutes. They connected their
thousand feet of hose with our six hundred and in this way set
an engine at the foot of Buffalo street. Center lake..... cistern to be pumped .... fire was finally under control. During the fire Captain
John N. Runyan ordered the postoffice moved across the street
into Bob Hickman's billiard hall for the entire block seemed to
be doomed. The next morning it was moved back, the whole change
being made without missing a single mail. The office was then
where Mumaw's news stand is now. This fire seemed to have started
in what was known as the lamp room of the hotel. Mr. Kirtley lost
heavily. Once before his hotel had burned when he was located
in the old Popham Exchange. Soon after the fire Daniel Shoup commenced
to build the present Temple block. The third story was put on
by the Masonic lodge. No longer was this corner to be a hotel
corner as it had been for over forty years. Chapman & Seloff
operated a cigar factory and store on this corner and it has been
a cigar store corner ever since. The hotel problem in Warsaw was
to be solved by Elijah Hays who soon started the Hays House.
Lesh Factory Fire
On Sunday morning, November 25, 1883, the factory of G. B. Lesh
& Co. was destroyed by fire. thirty-one employees were thrown
out of work with winter staring them in the face. The total loss
was $60,000. This factory was along the north side of the railroad
between Washington and Columbia streets. Some time later a new
company was formed (May, 1884) to be known as the G. B. Lesh Manufacturing
Company. They built one of the largest band sawmills in the state.
G. B. Lesh, John H. Lesh, Lewis Petry, Owen Switzer and others
were members of this firm. For twenty years this factory specialized
in plow handles. They had their own electric light plant, formed
their own fire company, and gave employment to fifty or more people
either as factory hands or log-haulers. At the time of this fire
Perry Brown was fire chief, William Conrad was foreman and Robert
Shaw was engineer of the steamer. About 1905 the Lesh factory
moved to Tennessee where lumber was more plentiful.
Frame Store Buildings Burn
During the last week in January, 1884, fire was discovered in
a room adjoining the general store of James H. Cisney near the
northeast corner of Buffalo and Market streets. It was not long
until the whole row of long frame buildings reaching northward
were on fire. In spite of the efforts of the hook-and-ladder company,
the hose companies, and the steamer the buildings were reduced
to ashes. Cisney lost heavily. What was left he moved across the
street. McCauley's hat and cap store was burned. W. T. Danner's
jewelry store and Mayer & Zimmerman's notion store was a total
loss. Lyman Sapp's drug store was damaged. Mrs. Loney's frame
building to the north was saved. Cisney's loss was estimated at
$6,000. Jap Frush's house on Union and Perry streets is said to
have been one of these buildings that went through the fire. He
was given this building for moving it away. Other frames were
moved around where The Times building is now. Col. C. W. Chapman
rebuilt the corner for a year or so. After Mr. Gibson's death
his store was closed out and Phillipson's has occupied the corner
ever since.
Warsaw Industries in 1883
The lumber business and the ice business were two of the leading
industries in Warsaw in 1883-84. One big factory of the day was
that of Fred Myers on Market street west of Washington. Myers
had come here from Leesburg where he had a big sawmill and lumber
yard during the seventies. He had leveled down a big hill which
stood just southwest of the present U. B. church, pushed the dirt
into the low ground to the south and had built a planing mill.
At Janesville, Wisconsin, he owned another mill and many acres
of forest land. His son, Silas, was sent to this mill, and although
he was young in years he made good. All in all, Fred Myers at
this time was worth over one hundred thousand dollars. The Myers
planing mill continued to run in Warsaw until about 1910. On the
low ground to the east sat an old frame two-story house which
T. J. Quick had moved there from the State Bank corner in 1876.
Years ago it had been known as the Republican building. North
of this site and south of Trish's wagon shop was John Gartee's
blacksmith shop.
Old Flour Mills
In 1883-84, Shoup & Oldfather were running the large mill
near the depot on Union street. They decided to tear the old mill
down and rebuild it. The first mill had been built by Heller &
Gallentine in 1858. It was a two-story brick with a hip
roof. It was a burr mill. Shoup & Oldfather built
the mill which is there today and made it into a roller mill.
Gilt Edge and Sunshine were their two leading brands of flour
It is now operated by the Warsaw Grain and Milling Co. Trish
Brothers were makers of fine wagons on Washington street.
William Conrad was a pioneer here in wagon and carriage making.
His shops were just east of the present Hays hotel, across the
alley. Harry Oram worked for Conrad for fifteen years, but
in October, 1883, he purchased the blacksmith shop of Beroth Brothers
just west of the court house, and began building up a business
which in a few years rivaled Conrad's, Armington's at Leesburg,
and Trish Brothers. About 1887 Oram tore down several old
frames that graced the corner and erected a substantial two-story
brick wagon and carriage shop. Goerge Schrom was one of
Oram's reliable wagon-makers for many years. In the fall
of 1883, the Orams moved into the William Chapman house where
the family has lived for fifty years. They formerly resided
on the present Times corner.
Some Old Merchants
In 1883-84 Marcus Phillipson's clothing
store was in the first room south of the Lake City Bank.
He had been in business here in several locations since 1864.
Wahl & Masters was the firm name of a dug store just north
of the bank. They had bought out George M. Thomas.
Two doors north was the drug store of A. B. C. Biewend.
One of the Biewends was a teacher of modern languages at Kendallville.
Some of the grocers of the day were Tom Nye Sr., Thomas Brothers,
H. D. Hetfield, Ed. Moon & Son, Weimer Brothers and Ben Dunnuck.
McKrill's restaurant was opposite the public square on Center
street. Eli Snyder, Press McFann, George and Thee Pringle,
John Lathrope, Eugene Sullivan and Philip Huffman were a few of
the saloon-keepers. E. A. Sheffield had a paint store in
the east room of the Opera House block. Beyer Brothers were
enterprising young men who had bought Wilcox spring near Eagle
lake and were buying up butter and eggs. A junk yard called the
Palace of Fashion was just west of Huffman's saloon on the northeast
corner of lake and Market streets. Hartson & Rittenhouse
built the brick barn later known as Hessel's feed barn on the
southeast corner of Washington and Fort Wayne streets. H.
M. Zekind & Co. were selling ironclad suits at $6.50.
They were forerunners of the Globe. Ed. Moon built the brick
building just south of Shane's corner after removing an old frame
long occupied by McCauley's store. Moon's grocery was here
until about 1900.
Sechrist & Zumbrun had brickyards north of the city. Uncle John Bybee had a small store on the Odd Fellows' corner surrounded by a grass plot which was known as "Central Park." J. W. Campfield was a renovator of feathers. Tommy Loveday was head cutter at Phillipson's J. S. Hirshman was proprietor of the Lion store. Thomas & Manly dealt in building supplies. Chapman & Seloff started the corner cigar store in September, 1883. Their brands were CWC, Lord Nelson, Monogram and Henry Clay. W. H. Bowser sold the White, St John and Eldridge sewing machines. Adam Weirick, after his hotel burned on the corner, opened a tavern just south on the alley next to the Hog Eye saloon, owned and operated by Elijah Evans. This location would no be just north of the new postoffice. F. H. Dresser & Co. at that time owned the Corner Book store. In February, 1884, Kilmer & Nusbaum bought out Wahl & Masters and remodeled the place into the finest drug store that Warsaw had known. Mr. Kilmer was the father of Orville Kilmer, our present postmaster. The Kilmers then lived on the northwest corner of Union and Pike streets. Rutter's hardware store on South Buffalo at this time expanded into the room to the south which had been purchased of Ed. Moon. The firm ran for a year or so as Rutter & Rousseau, but Dick Rutter soon became the sole owner and the store remained there for seventeen years. The rooms are now just south of the laundry. Johnny Dillon's peanut stand was a landmark on the Book Store corner.
Old Hotel Hays Site
After the big fire which destroyed
the lake View House, Elijah Hays began building the present Hays
house. There had been a boarding house on this corner years
before. A picture of the corner in 1871 shows a house there
surrounded by a neat fence inside of which several pretty trees
were growing. East of the corner were some frame buildings
sadly in need of repair. Workmen were a year or so putting
up the hotel. It was begun in May 1883. By May 1884
the outside walls of the hotel were completed. On Thursday
evening September 11, 1884 a grand opening was held and the house
thrown open to the public. Two hundred people visited the
place and listened to a concert by Lathrope's band. Mr.
and Mrs. Kirtley served a bountiful feast about 9 p.m. to all
guests. The hotel was modern in all respects. Each
of the forty-four rooms had outside ventilation. The office
on the ground floor was very large and roomy. It had a tile
floor. The whole place was brilliantly lighted with gas.
Two large sample rooms were near the office for the convenience
of traveling men. On the following night General Lew Wallace
spoke in Warsaw for Blain and Logan and a large crowd inspected
the new hotel. Wallace stayed at the home of W. D. Frazer
for Mrs. Frazer being of the Ristine family at Crawfordsville,
was a personal acquaintance of the general. The Hays hotel
for almost fifty years has been one of the leading hotels of the
city.
More Old-Timers
In 1884 Fred S. Clark was teacher of
a Sunday school class at the Episcopal church. Some of his
students were: Ora Holbrook, Dora Karst, Carrie Farrar, Ada Philpott,
Grace Brantt, Georgia Ostrander, Ada Rizer, Minnie Peckham, Myrtle
Reeves and Anna Bratt. Stephen Philpott was a member of
this church and had studied to be a minister in England, but had
never preached. On Sunday Aug 5, 1883 the United Brethren congregation
dedicated their frame church on West Market street. Prof.
M. Dewitt Long of Roanoke Seminary preached the sermon.
Oak Grove school closed March 29, 1883, with George Elliott as
teacher. The funeral of Philip Doener took place at Whitney's
school house. He was a witch doctor who could cure erysipelas
with hot coals on a fire shovel. A new postoffice had been
started at Kinzie. Warsaw was trying to become the site
of a new insane asylum. Marcus Phillipson's father was a
Warsaw resident. He was born in Germany in 1800 and remembered
the battle of Waterloo. The Russian soldiers fighting against
Napoleon brought a terrible disease to his home which claimed
both of his parents within a few days of each other. The
hook-and-ladder company paraded in their new green and white uniforms.
The old Wright House stables were in the alley in the rear of
the Cosgrove brick (now the Globe) and were being torn down.
A hack left the Weirick house daily for Sevastopol. Charles
Butler, who had killed his wife at Ira Ryerson's home in Pierceton,
was here in jail. He escaped with some other prisoners,
was caught, and on a change of venue was put on trial at Columbia
City, and hung there in the jail yard on October, 1884.
The execution was witnessed by Doctors Webber, Bash and Davisson
of Warsaw. He was a prodigal son of Dr. G. W. Butler, a
rich man of Columbus, Ohio. George W. McCarter, a young
graduate of Asbury university, was running for surveyor.
A pretty June wedding in 1884 was that of Merl Funk to Orrilla
Mabie at the home of A. T. S. Kist, the bride's stepfather.
Rev. A. M. Cummins, minister at the U. B. church, baptized thirty
new converts in Center lake. Negro camp meetings were held
in August in Graves' grove on Prospect hill. Eli Snyder
was drum major of the Warsaw band. Rev. Aaron B. Maston
of Pierceton was a missionary in far off New Zealand, Australia
and Tasmania. His letters were very interesting. The
immortal J. N. was still roaming the county in the cause of Freedom
of Conscience. He wore a large hat, had long hair flowing
over his shoulders, and as he strode down the street one would
think either Paul or Silas had returned to earth. In speaking
in the cause of freedom he always assumed all the pressure and
wherever he went he lifted the veil of doubt and fear that the
sunshine of love and freedom might penetrate into the stygian
darkness of sine and shame!
But this was all fifty years ago!
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JOHN HANSON WORKED 50 YEARS AGO ON PIKE-CENTER LAKE CANAL EXCAVATION PROJECT
John Hanson of R. F. D. 3, Warsaw, on Friday renewed his Warsaw Daily Times for his forty-eighth consecutive year as a reader of the Daily Times and Northern Indianian. Hanson begun taking this paper when 19 years of age. Today he recalled that as a young man he was employed on excavation of the old Pike-Center Lake canal, dug probably 50 years ago and designed for passage of steam boats and row boats between the two lakes. The canal was filled in about 30 years ago and designed for passage of steam boats and row boats between the two lakes. The canal was filled in about 30 years ago, but part of the old ditch remains. It will be cleaned out soon to facilitate drainage, says Police Chief Lucas. Meanwhile Pike and Center Lakes are again being connected to bring fresh water supply into Center Lake to keep Center Lake at its regular level with fresh water after the Frazer ditch outlet is changed from emptying into Center lake and made to flow directly into Tippecanoe river by building of the new drainage sewer extension. Work on both projects is progressing.
Warsaw Daily Times & The Northern Indianian Saturday, December 30, 1933
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