CHAPTER II
FIRST CITY ELECTION IN 1854 — FIRST CITY OFFICIALS — ORLANDO SIMONS ADMINISTERS A MORE VIGOROUS METHOD OF APPREHENDING CRIME — PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST CITY COUNCIL — DUTIES OF THE FIRST CITY MARSHAL — IMMENSE IMMIGRATION BEGINS IN 1855 AND WITH IT COMES GENERAL LAWLESSNESS AND DISORDER — A POLICE FORCE IS ORGANIZED ON MAY 30TH, 1856 — HENRY GALVIN ONLY MEMBER OF THE FORCE NOW LIVING — A CITY HALL AND JAIL IS BUILT; THE MAN WHO FURNISHES THE MONEY TO BUILD IT IS THE FIRST PRISONER — A STAR IS PROCURED FOR POLICEMEN — THE PRESENT COUNTY JAIL WAS BUILT IN 1857 — A REAL ESTATE BOOM OCCURS — THEN FOLLOWS THE LAMENTABLE PANIC OF 1857 — MINNESOTA BECOMES A STATE IN 1858 — A WOMAN IS SENTENCED TO HANG — A VOLUNTEER POLICE DEPARTMENT — REGULAR PAID POLICE DEPARTMENT REORGANIZED IN 1863 — THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FORCE OF DETECTIVES — A NEW CHARTER IS GRANTED IN 1868 — A FEMALE PRISON IS ESTABLISHED — A BRIDGE IS BUILT CONNECTING DAYTON'S BLUFF WITH THE CITY — ST. PAUL DOUBLES ITS POPULATION DURING THE PERIOD 1860 TO 1870 — WEST ST. PAUL IS ANNEXED TO ST. PAUL IN 1874 AND THE POPULATION IS INCREASED TO 30,000.
1854! The year in which a city, an infant named St. Paul, was born to the then youngest daughter of the Union, Minnesota — "Whitish Water." And even as on the day of birth, March 4th, the grand old "Father of Waters" the mighty Mississippi, smiled paternally on the active little hamlet, so since that time, throughout its many stages of progress, it has never ceased to be reliant on the river for mercantile profit, for unalloyed enjoyment and for all the magnificence of scenery which has made St. Paul justly famous in the estimation of a beauty-loving world.
With the coming of 1854 St. Paul numbered 4,000 souls and the city valuation was $1,300,000. Small wonder that the tax-payers of that day concluded that the incorporation of a city was an eminently fitting, if not an imperatively necessary event.
Just a month from the time of its incorporation, on April 4, 1854, the first city election was held, resulting in an even admixture of Whigs and Democrats, as follows:
Mayor — David Olmstead.
Treasurer — D. Rohrer.
City Marshal — Wm. R. Miller.
City Justice — Orlando Simons.
Aldermen — R. C. Knox, A. C. Chamblin, R. Marvin, A. L. Larpenteur, F. Fanning, C. S. Cave, George L. Becker, Jno. R. Irvine, J. M. Stone.
The first mayor, David Olmstead, had been a member of the town council and an editor of the Democrat, so that he was tolerably well versed in the study of municipal economy before assuming a leadership. He was born in Vermont in 1822 and early became an Indian trader, following the Winnebagoes in their journeys westward as far as Long Prairie; where he opened a store. In 1849 he was elected a member of the first territorial council, becoming the president of that body, and later on, in 1851, was a "town father." After that he settled down in a little white frame house on the corner of Third and Wabasha sts., writing the views and setting the type of the Minnesota Democrat. And in 1854 he stepped from the editorial sanctum into the office of mayor, a first chief executive of whose broadminded, liberal policy the city of St. Paul may well feel proud, inasmuch as it contributed vastly to its growth and progress. Like the present mayor, Mr. Olmstead was an extremely polite man, serenely dignified, and yet alert and active in every movement which he deemed practical, or which had enlisted his sympathies. He remained in office one year, removing to Winona in 1855, and during the same year becoming a nominee for congress on the anti-slavery ticket. Ill health overtook him soon after, and he died in 1861 when only thirty-nine years of age.
Of the first city marshal, and in fact the first chief of police, ex-officio, "Bill Miller," little is known today, save that he came to the village in the early fifties and soon became a power in the community. A man of generous physical proportions, he was of a very hearty, sociable disposition, but invariably attentive to the performance of duty, as represented by attendance at every council meeting, and obedience to all the ordinances passed by that august body.
Judge Orlando Simons, the first police judge of the infant city, was until within the past decade a familiar figure on the streets. He was born in New York in 1824, and was educated in the schools of Elmira and Chester. As a slender legal fledgeling he came to St. Paul in 1849, finding, however, that the law had already too many "lean, lank representatives on deck." But, nothing daunted, he set to work at the trade of a carpenter, which he had acquired early in life, and was soon lifted into his proper sphere by being elected a successor of Justice Wakefield, in 1850. When a city justice, it is said he often made the "fur fly," but his vigorous methods of apprehending crime and prompt action afterward were well suited to the needs of that primitive period. In 1875 he was appointed associate judge of the common pleas court of Ramsey county and remained on the bench seven years. His death occurred Nov. 9, 1890.
The proceedings in manuscript of the first city council, are interesting reading and a valuable contribution to history. Even a casual glance through the time-worn yellow pages will convince one that of all early officials, the city marshal worked hardest. At least the duties assigned him are most voluminous; he certainly seems to have been "chief cook and bottle-washer," in the municipal kitchen, during the whole of his incumbency. For instance: He was required to attend the common council at their several meetings; to act as their rental agent and general purveyor; to rent market stalls; to issue licenses for dogs, shows, liquor stores and billiard rooms, and to impose fines for failure to comply with his mandates; to collect wharfage on steamboats; to keep streets and sidewalks clean; to destroy squatter shanties; to select such lots at the cemetery as the burial of paupers might require; and the last, but not the least, of his injunctions appears in the form of a suggestion in an early issue of the Pioneer: "The corporation ought to instruct the marshal to shoot down every swine found in the streets after suitable notice to the owners and thus settle the matter at once." Hunting in those days came easy, to a chief of police. But besides all aforesaid methods of recreation he had also to patrol the streets, and be on hand to interfere in every passing brawl. And in return he received the magnificent stipend of $400 per annum, and ten per cent of all monies collected by him for fines and licenses. The regular salary as voted by the common council, was $300. but it was increased $100 in lieu of services rendered in attendance on that body. Marshal Miller had, on assuming his position, to give two bonds in the sum of $2,500.
The salary of Judge Simons, as city Justice, was $250 per annum. In addition he was allowed to collect regular fees in all civil cases.
With the passing of a resolution voting a regular salary to the city justice a clamor arose for the same liberality(?) toward the three ward justices, and for a time the matter proved a source of agitation. But the city was too small, the city treasury too empty, and the county taxes too heavy, to admit of such extravagance and the justices were forced to return to all their former schemes for increasing fees.
Of one of these early legal lights, Le May, a French Canadian, a story is told which might have served him well in the early days of Fargo, had he chosen to make his subsequent home there instead of in Pembina. He had married a couple and received the customary greenback. The next day they returned and wanted the knot untied; marriage had proven, even for a day, an utter, utter failure. "N'importe," quoth the fat little justice, and straightway declared he would annul the whole affair, certificate and all, on payment of a five-dollar gold piece. And to suit his action to the word, at sight of the money he tore up the certificate and pronounced them free.
The common council chamber was at this time composed of three rooms above the jewelry store of Nathan Spicer, on 3d st., between Minnesota and Cedar, and the rent paid monthly was $12. A market-house on the corner of 7th and Wabasha had been built not long before this, in 1853, by Vetal Guerin, and was rented by him to the city for $152.50 per quarter annum. It was in the second story of this old red brick market house, afterwards bought by the city for $20,000, that the early municipal court was held, called then, as it often is now, the "police court."
On Dec. 29, 1854, occurred the first execution in Ramsey county, that of Yu-ha-see. Though he undoubtedly deserved death, the mode of it and the brutal treatment he received during the period of his incarceration, are a blot on the fair fame of the growing little city. The hanging took place on a bitter cold day, and as the poor, friendless creature was marched to the scaffold, erected on an exposed plot of ground covering what is now the brow of St. Anthony Hill, he was followed by a yelling, hooting mob, who seemed to delight in the fact that he shivered with the cold. Indeed the whole affair, beginning with his extremely scanty attire and ending in a prolonged death struggle, was treated as a huge joke by the crowds who had gathered, en masse, to pass rude, indecent remarks and to jeer at the soul launched into eternity by Sheriff Lull.
In September of this year a resolution passed the common council which authorized Marshal Miller to appoint "a city police of such numbers and at such times as in his opinion the same may be necessary for the public safety." But of these early "special" police, if any were appointed, nothing is known today. According to all records, "Bill Miller" seems to have been "left alone in his glory" until a much later day.
During one of the December sessions of the city fathers a salary of $300 per annum was voted the mayor, and of $3.00 per week to the aldermen, And accordingly at the next meeting orders were drawn on the city treasurer to meet the various amounts. But within another week the tide turned in the form of an ordinance rescinding the measure entirely "in as far as same contemplates any pay for future services." And thus it is not known just how well or ill the first mayor and aldermen fared, for with this injunction affixed not even the treasury orders may have been cashed. It certainly speaks well for this pioneer body to note that they firmly believed in "charity ending, not beginning, at home."
The first murder committed in the newly incorporated city was in June, W. W. Hickcox, a druggist, had an altercation with a drayman named Peltier, in regard to a delivery of goods. A blow with a dray-pin wielded by Peltier, fractured his skull and he died very soon after. But Peltier, though arrested and tried for homicide, managed, like some ten or twelve before him, to effectually cheat the gallows.
Gov. Alexander Ramsey, having been succeeded by Willis A. Gorman, became the second mayor of St. Paul, April 4, 1855. In his opening address to the council an allusion is made to questions which have sorely beset many a mayor since his day. After a review of public issues then at stake, Mayor Ramsey says:
"I trust that every citizen when he observes infractions of the laws; violations of the public order and public morals, will remember that idle complaining without efficient action, is the reverse of duty; that there is a police justice for the city, whose office is always open to hear legitimate complaints and who will promptly summon offenders to answer to the laws for any offense against them, that there is a city marshal who wilt not shrink from performing the duties of his office; and that the mayor of the city, besides presiding at the meetings of the council, has no power to interfere except to see that the charter officers perform their respective duties, or, in the unusual case of riot or resistance to the laws, to embody a special police levied from the mass of the citizens for the occasion."
The aldermen elected for the second year were: Wm. H. Nobles, C. H. Schurmeier, C. S. Cave, A. L. Larpenteur, J. R. Irvine, A. G. Fuller. Both Marshal Miller and Police Judge Simons remained in office through many succeeding elections.
At the beginning of 1855 St. Paul had a population of 4,716, and at the end there were so many new inhabitants, in the hotels, in improvised boarding houses, in squatter shanties and "camping out," that it was impossible to count them. And as 1855 was the first great year of immigration, so, too, it was the year in which St. Paul began to acquire a reputation for general lawlessness and disorder, caused by the unprecedented rush of travel into and through it.
St. Paul's third mayor, George L. Becker, elected April 4, 1856, is still living, a hale and hearty, handsome type of "three score and ten," at its best. He was born in New York, in 1829, and after receiving an elementary education there became a student in the University of Michigan, graduating in 1846. For three years following he read law with a celebrated firm of that day and then, in 1849, came westward, establishing himself as one of the first territorial settlers, and a member of the firm of Rice, Becker & Whitall. A year after it became Rice, Hollinshead & Becker and remained in practice until 1855, when Mr. Rice withdrew. The election of Mr. Becker to the mayoralty in 1856 caused his retirement from active professional life, inasmuch as from that time to this he has continuously occupied positions of public trust. In 1857 he was elected a member of congress, but the state being entitled to only two members, instead of the three elected, he could not take his seat. In 1862 he became Land Commissioner of the St. Paul & Pacific railway, and two years later, president of the road, holding that position twelve years, and during the time doing much to advance civilization in the Northwest by means of railroad enterprises, and a deep personal interest in the material progress of St. Paul. The latter quality was especially evinced throughout the two terms served by Gen. Becker as Senator from Ramsey county, late in the '60's. He is at present a member of the Railroad & Warehouse Commission.
The village was rapidly becoming a city, not only in growth of population and progress, but in a sudden accumulation of vice and crime directly attributable to the real estate mania, which had brought many gamblers and "black-legs," as well as other undesirable citizens in its wake. "Bill" Miller could no longer hold his own, and so, on May 30, 1856, the first police force of St. Paul came into existence, with the city marshal as its chief. Four patrolmen were elected by the council, all of whom have long since passed out of the life of St. Paul, if indeed they have not exchanged that of the world for the slumber of eternity. They were John Gabel, Nicholas Miller, M. C. Hardwig and Edward Maher, and they were paid $1.50 for every day of service.
John Gabel and Nicholas Miller soon dropped out, it seems, for when in the fall of 1856, the real police department, consisting of one chief, three captains and nine men, was organized by the mayor, their names are not included in the roster which reads thus: City marshal or chief of police, Wm. Miller; captain 1st district, Solomon Walters. Police: Wm. H. Spitzer, Smith McAuley, Jos. Fadden. Captain, 2d district, Bert Miller. Police: Wm. Tonika, Andrew Sanberg, Aspinwall Cornwall. Captain, 3d district, Jas. Gooding. Police: M. C. Hardwig, Henry Galvin, Edward Maher. The mayor's message, accompanying the notice of appointment, strongly recommends a "ball and chain gang" as "an antidote to police rule."
Of all these men, pioneers of law and order, and harbingers of a newer, better civilization, only one, Henry Galvin, now the sergeant of arms in the council chamber, lives to tell the tale of a struggle with conditions which today seem but as shadows of a well-nigh forgotten past. Mr. Galvin was born in Ireland in 1830, and when twenty-two years of age emigrated to Connecticut. In 1855 he was married to Miss Mary Mullen and during the same year "set up house-keeping" in the little city which, grown large and strong, is still his home. Then, in August, 1856, he became one of the first policemen and has been on the force, with the exception of odd intervals, ever since.
His position of sergeant at arms was given him Jan. 1, 1896.
For a while he drew a pension in addition to the little stipend of $20 a month attached to the office, but when police pensions were abolished, he, too, lost what had seemed a protection to his old age.
The pay of captains was at the time fixed as $2 per day. As to the size of a district, a fair estimate would be that it contained about 2,000 people or one-third of the population, but owing to the residence portion of St. Paul being so widely scattered even then it is more likely that districts were formed with regard to area of territory rather than the number of inhabitants they contained. The salary of City Justice Simons was increased to $500 per annum in view of the larger duties entailed by a well policed community.
The immediate cause of the enlargement of the force within three months of its establishment was a murder, one of those murders which so often occurred in the early days of St. Paul, unshrouded, unavenged, and one might almost surmise — unlamented, by reason of the leniency accorded the perpetrator. On July 9, the lifeless body of George R. McKensie, proprietor of the Mansion House, which stood on the bluff at the foot of Minnesota st., was found floating in the river, bearing every evidence of desperate treatment and robbery. During the spring a man named Robert Johnson had met the same fate at the hands of highwaymen, and so numerous were the crimes committed by the bands of brutal and drunken desperadoes who swarmed through the streets and thronged the wharf, that at a public meeting, called for the purpose of preserving law and order and preventing further crime, a secret vigilance committee was appointed to patrol the streets at night, and thus effectually aid the first four policemen, who were unable to cope with the situation. This remedy for signal abuses, used for the first, but not the last time in St. Paul during the dreadful summer of 1856, proved entirely too much for the disorderly element, and what with a force of twelve men to hold it in check, St. Paul soon experienced a restoration to as much of its former order as was possible under varied and ever changing conditions.
Aug. 12, 1856, the common council directed the purchase of a lot on the corner of Fifth and Washington sts., for the sum of $1,500. It was the site of the city hall, which was so long a familiar landmark to the growing generation. A "lock-up" on the first story was included in the contract, which amounted to $6,500, payment to be made in city bonds at par. Be it said that these bonds were bought up by a certain "Baron von Glahn," a capitalist and also a man of somewhat convivial spirits, evidenced by the curious fact that he was one of the first "D. D.'s" to taste the comforts of the new jail after its completion. Albert Fuller & Co. and George Scott were the contractors, and the building, a stone structure of a commodious, old-fashioned aspect, well-shaded by spreading oaks and tall poplars, long since hewn down by the "hand of progress" (?) and with its ground floor walls well placarded by virtue of sundry official notices, became a permanent fixture of the city early in the spring of 1857.
The new jail contained "six iron cages," and was in every way superior to the one torn down. The petition of a workingman who it seems was really unjustly imprisoned in the old log jail just before it was demolished serves as an apt illustration of what used to be the fate of petty sinners. Written Nov. 25, 1856, it reads: "To the Honorable Mayor and Common Council of the City of St. Paul: Learning from a friend that your honorable body will sit in council this afternoon at 3 o'clock I avail myself of the opportunity as a so-called criminal to lay before your honorable body my situation. On the 16th inst. for no other crime under Heaven but lawfully and honestly asking my hard-earned wages, I was taken in custody by a police officer in this city, brought before Justice Simons, prosecuted and fined in the penal sum of $100. I am still incarcerated in a place not fit for a human being, but better adapted for a hog pen. I, therefore, most respectfully pray that your honorable body will take into consideration my situation and if possible, release me from this cursed prison and your petitioner will as in duty bound ever pray. John Tucker."
At one of the council sessions a provision was made allowing John Gabel, a member of the first police quartette, 75 cents a day for the board of prisoners confined in the lock-up.
May 29, 1856, the city clerk was directed by the council to procure a "star" for the city marshal and the police officers, and later on, in October, it was decided the words "St. Paul Police" be engraved thereon. The chief, however, was exempted from wearing this badge "in a conspicuous position."
To John Ball Brisbin belongs the honor of having been elected fourth mayor on the Democratic ticket. "entirely without opposition," April 4, 1857. He was a native of Saratoga. N. Y., and was born in 1827. His parents were both distinguished — his father as a prominent physician and his mother because of her close relationship to George Washington — and young Brisbin spent his early youth surrounded by all the comfort and refinement of environment commensurate with their station in life. He went to school in Troy and Schuylersville, and later at Yale college, acquired a literary reputation which was at one time national. After graduation he read law with several leading New York firms, and in 1849 was admitted to the bar. In 1853 he located in St. Paul, and was soon a leader of the Democratic party in Minnesota, becoming city attorney, and later, president of the territorial council (senate) in 1856. Then, in 1857 he became mayor by a unanimous vote, and from that time until his death, which occurred March 22, 1898, was a continual factor in its growth and development. To him, more than to any other one man St. Paul owes its present position as the possessor of a new capitol, which, when finished, will be unrivalled in magnificence of site or structure, for it was his ruling, while president of the senate, which saved the capitol from being removed to St. Peter in 1857. He was a man of brilliant mentality and great oratorical ability, eloquent to a degree which invariably carried weight with a jury, and possessed of more than ordinary personal magnetism.
Early in January, 1857, another brutal murder roused the community. Henry Schroeder, a German tailor, who lived alone in his little shop, was found there with his skull fractured and not a clue to his slayer was ever discovered. St. Paul was yet to learn the value of expert detective service.
In March of this year the building of the present Ramsey county jail was begun on a contract for $10,000. being awarded to Day & Grace. Official audits say, however, that it cost considerably more before it was completed. To make room for it the little old log jail was torn down, but it will probably not be within the knowledge of the present generation that a like fate is given the solid mass of brick and stone which occupies a goodly portion of the handsome court house square, immediately adjoining the city and county building, of which St. Paul is justly proud.
It seems small wonder murders were committed when never a murderer was brought to justice. Though one of them, "Mike Smith," a notorious thug, was pursued as far as St. Louis by Sheriff Prince, he, too, escaped, leaving the blood of another victim, Peter W. Trotter, to "cry aloud for vengeance."
But there were many victims of another kind in store for St. Paul, victims of a mania which reached its height in the summer of 1857, the "real estate craze," a blind, mad rush for land, unsurpassed in the annals of Northwestern history. Land in sight or land on paper, it mattered not; everybody — farm hands, clerks, merchants — all bought land and the sharpers who had but a paper townsite to show in lieu of pockets full of gold went on their way down the river rejoicing. Gamblers, con-men, thieves, and bad women thronged the hotels and streets. St. Paul had grown to be the "fastest" town on the river. Money was plenty, official salaries went up, the mayor suddenly found a vision of $800 staring him in the face, and the aldermen, hitherto so free from monetary burdens drew $500 each for that year's "householding." But the marshal, working day and night to keep the city's moral sidewalks clean, had his salary decreased just $100 a year for his pains. The pay of captains was raised to $2.50, and that of the men to $2 a day.
Then came the crash of 1857, and St. Paul awoke from its dizzy dream of fictitious values to find itself a financial, if not a moral, bankrupt. Oh, the bitterness of those days of reconstruction — the mortgage sales! The wholesale poverty! The business wrecks! Few of the merchants were able to weather the storm and the population, which had increased "a floating three thousand" during the summer, fell off almost 50 per cent. The September census showed St. Paul as having 9,973 inhabitants.
The vigilance committee was again called upon for night duty during that very flush summer, when twelve policemen were hard put to preserve daylight peace, as well as midnight quiet. Fires and riots had occurred galore — but after the panic set in all was at a standstill; for awhile there was not even any arresting to be done. It was the familiar old story of "the devil turned monk," only that in this case the devil skipped down the river and left the monk behind to reap his wild oats.
On April 4, 1858, the spring election occurred and Norman Wolfred Kittson became the mayor of St. Paul.
With a record of over fifty years spent in the Northwest Norman W. Kittson might well be supposed to possess qualities of heart and mind and a gift for pioneer organization well adapted to the needs of one of the first mayors of St. Paul. He was born in Lower Canada in 1814, and was a grandson of John Kittson, who fought with Gen. Wolfe at the siege of Quebec. When sixteen he became an employe of the American Fur Company, and four years later took a position in the sutler's department at Fort Snelling, beginning, while there, a friendship with Henry H. Sibley which lasted throughout the lives of both men. In 1839 he established a trading post near St. Anthony Falls, and in 1843 became a partner of the American Fur Company, shipping furs in little wooden carts along the Red River route from Pembina to Mendota for many years. Immediately after the organization of Minnesota he served five terms in the legislature as a representative of the Pembina district, and such was his rugged strength at that time that he frequently made the entire trip, 500 miles, on snowshoes, using a dog sledge only in extremely severe weather, and having to rely on his own resources for food and shelter in the absence of human habitations. As "His Honor" of 1858 he did much to resuscitate St. Paul from the material damper cast on it by the collapse of the first "real estate boom." In early days he established a line of steamers plying the Mississippi, then he became prominently identified with railroad affairs. His family was at one time very large, but has been greatly decreased by death. He died May 10, 1888.
In May, 1858, Minnesota was admitted as a state, and the city of St. Paul was reincorporated with four wards, the capitol remaining there, despite much opposition.
A new chief of police, in fact, the first, officially elected as such, made his appearance this year in the person of J. W. Crosby, who seems to have succeeded in pleasing the common council far more than did the rotund, easy-going, yet ever-rushing ex-officio chief, "Bill" Miller. His salary was fixed at $1,000 per annum, and his bonds at $3,000. The mayor's salary remained $800, and the captains of police were given $3, the privates $2.50 a day, an increase of 50 cents per diem.
Early in February a question which has ever since proven debatable, municipal ground, stirred up a tempest in the council teapot. The committee on police had dared send in the following report: "Your committee would further recommend that a portion of the police be discharged and that some Germans be appointed in their stead. The police force are as follows: Three Americans, six Irish and two French."
How little that committee dreamed that the day of the German was yet to come, and how wasted were the many angry flings and bitter retorts which filled the air of that council chamber so long ago, during the warm debate on an endless issue which is today quite as deplorable a political factor as it was then. But unlike that of today, the nationality question of 1858 was promptly nipped in the bud and laid on the shelf, the aldermen becoming agreed on the passage of the following resolution:
"The appointment of the police force of this city is vested in the mayor, therefore: Resolved, that the Common Council has nothing to do with the nationality of police so appointed by the mayor."
The city treasury seems to have been rather empty this year, at any rate there was much bickering over police salaries during the months of June and July. Finally, on Aug. 3. the pay of the chief of police was decreased to $2.50 a day, and that of officers and turnkeys fixed at $2. After Oct. 1 captains received $2.75 and men $2.25 a day.
On Aug. 30 the force was composed of the following men: J. W. Crosby, chief: Wm. Renniger, Am. Dufor, A. J. Church, Judson Parker, John Killroy, James Gooding, James Fitzgerald, George Morton, Edward Maher, Johnson Colter, Henry Galvin, Wm. Smith, James Waters, John Bresett.
A resolution was passed at this time requiring all policemen to wear a band with the words "City Police" on it in the front of their hats or caps, said bands to be provided by the mayor at city expense.
During the early years of patrol duty the levee and the streets which ran parallel to it were the only well policed parts of the city. All wickedness, unless indeed it were Indian treachery, traveled river-bound in those days and incoming vagabonds were comparatively easy to get rid of if intercepted at the landing. It was a time of religious revival besides, and religion in primeval days was a great preserver of peace in interior neighborhoods, so much so that they seldom needed police protection.
Col. D. A. Robertson, who on May 3, 1859, took his place as sixth mayor of St. Paul, was a Pennsylvanian of Highland Scotch descent. He was admitted to the bar of New York in 1839, but soon after located in Ohio as the editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer and Mount Vernon Banner. In 1844 he became United States marshal for the state of Ohio, holding the position four years. The first tide of territorial immigration brought him to Minnesota and from the time of his landing in 1850 to the day of his death in May, 1895, he was continually active in seeking the welfare of his adopted state and city, whether at home or abroad. It was he who established the Minnesota Democrat immediately after his arrival in St. Paul. A mayor in 1859, he was a sheriff two terms, beginning with 1862, a member of the house of representatives in 1866 and 1867, and later a promoter of many state and city enterprises dealing with the furtherance of science and literature.
With the spring of 1859 affairs in St. Paul began to look brighter, a permanent era of prosperity was just at its dawning and the sand-hills of the past were fast giving way to the limestone foundations on which St. Paul has built her present reputation for solidity. Municipal issues also began to have a fixed aspect; the police department was allowed fourteen members, one chief, one captain and twelve men and the question of salary was settled at the beginning of the official year. Chief of police $600 per annum, captain of police $60 a month, officers $40 a month, jailers and turnkeys $1 a day, city justice $600 per annum.
A woman was sentenced to be hung that spring for the first and only time in the history of Minnesota. She had committed a murder — it was the old, old story — an ugly old man; divorcee in triplicate; a fair young wife, buxom beauty with a past; an overly assiduous hired man, loving and loved in turn; a faithless hired girl, who refused to forget that she had bought arsenic for her mistress. And so, because of the sudden death of "Polander" Bilansky, living on a claim called "Oak Point," now part of Arlington Heights, March 11, 1859, Anne Bilansky, his wife, was arrested and indicted for murder in the first degree, arsenic, being found in the dead man's stomach. And on June 3, after a fair trial and an unusually brilliant defense by ex-Gov. W. A. Gorman, she was sentenced to death by hanging, the governor fixing March 23, 1860, as the date.
Quite a number of the members of the legislature were opposed to capital punishment, and a bill was passed commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment. But Gov. Ramsey would not sign it, saying that the case did not call for executive clemency.
The gallows was erected on the court house square in the yard at the rear of the jail, and although a high board fence enclosed it, thousands of people who had not been able to force their way in were able to get a full view of the gruesome proceedings from the tops of the many small hills near by. Anne Bilansky met her fate calmly, cheerfully saying good-bye to her few friends, and to the very last protesting her innocence. Death came within a few minutes after the adjustment of the noose at 10 o'clock a. m. by Sheriff Tullis, and within an hour the mortal remains of the first executed murdress had been deposited in the Catholic burial ground.
Col. John Stoughtenburgh Prince, seventh and tenth chief executive of St. Paul, and of whom it used to be said, "You can't beat Prince for mayor," was a native of Ohio and born in 1821. He was early left fatherless, and as a mere child went into the world to begin a career which, notwithstanding many hardships and privations, was uniformly successful. In 1840 he entered the employ of the American Fur Co., and from 1842 to 1854 was engaged in superintending the land and lumber interests of the Choteaus, in St. Louis, up in the Northwest region. Aside from his own real estate and logging investments he was prominently identified with the commercial life of the growing metropolis as one of its first insurance men, first railroad directors, and first bankers. His military title was earned while a member of Gen. Sibley's staff. As a mayor lie was always stirring and active, carrying the city through the beginning of the civil war with consummate tact and a courage of conviction which tided over many an emergency. His death occurred in September, 1895.
A census taken in June, 1860, by John M. Lamb, deputy marshal, was reported thus: Population of the city, 10,279; native born, 5,620; foreign born, 4,659.
With the business depression resulting from forebodings of civil war city salaries took a downward leap, the new chief of police, John O'Gorman, receiving $500, and the captain $480 per annum, whilst those of policemen were cut to $30 a month. Police salaries paid out from March 31, 1859, to March 31, 1860, aggregated $7,586.37.
As was quite natural, owing to the extremely unsettled condition of all things, municipal affairs remained at a standstill during the entire war period. Mayor Prince was re-elected to office in 1861 and 1862, and was largely instrumental in enforcing city provision for the families of soldiers, as well as preserving rigid law and order within city limits. In his opening address to the council April 8, 1862, he speaks of complaint having been made by the press against the police force, but affirms that after a careful investigation he has found no sufficient reason for making changes.
The force at this time had been greatly curtailed, seven men besides the chief and captain comprising the police department. In May the mayor was authorized to appoint two extra policemen to do night and day duty at the levee. Salaries at this time rose to $460 per annum for patrolmen and turnkeys, with a corresponding decrease in that of Police Justice Nelson Gibbs, who received $400 instead of the $500 allowed in 1861.
On Aug. 19, 1862, just after Minnesota had sent her last five regiments down the river, among the number of volunteers being three St. Paul policemen, Mayor Prince, in a lengthy communication to the council, advised the adoption of an entirely new and decidedly unique police measure. The force, for the preceding three years reduced to its lowest practicable number, had, with a loss of its three soldier members, grown too small, according to His Honor, to afford St. Paul sufficient protection. And the treasury of the Saintly City, depleted by its heavy war drain, was really too empty to permit of enlargement of the police department, consequently the mayor moved for a dismissal of every man on a beat, and the establishment of a "home guard." Each ward was to enroll the names of sixty of its citizens who would be willing to serve upon the patrol without pay, and then to designate two of their number to serve one night in a month. There were then four wards. So much for a night guard. During the day the constables of the several wards were to do police duty for the fees, the whole force to be under the control of the former chief and captain. James Gooding was at this time in command, succeeding H. H. Western at the election in April, 1862.
So for one winter at a time when love of country surmounted even that of home and order, St. Paul was nightly patrolled by a volunteer police force. During the day the six remaining policemen, not the constables, as intimated, preserved municipal peace.
Where is the man who does not delight in both a semblance of the military and a social club? Hardly had a "home guard" been mentioned as a possibility when meetings were called in every ward for the purpose of organization. The First Ward Home Guards were first to come to the front, William B. Langley being chosen captain; Charles L. Wood, first lieutenant, and William Leip, second lieutenant.
The company numbered over sixty men, and according to the "City News" of that time "night-hawking" became wonderfully popular when looked upon as a necessary evil by wives and mothers at home.
There were fully one hundred members in the Third Ward company, the officers of which were: Captain, C. C. Lund; first lieutenant, H. Schiffbauer; second lieutenant, I. V. D. Heard.
In mentioning the selection of the Fifth Ward Co. officers as captain, A. T. Chamblin; first lieutenant, Harvey Officer, and second lieutenant, J. H. Conaway, the Daily Pioneer adds: "A very good selection we think."
The "Lower Town Home Guards," composed mostly of influential German citizens, organized Saturday night, September 6. Ferdinand Willius was elected captain, and the other officers were: First lieutenant D. S. Stomles; second lieutenant George Constans; treasurer, C. H. Schurmeier; secretary, Charles Passavant.
D. A. Monfort, who died very recently, was secretary of the Fourth Ward Guards. A. J. Chamblin became major of the little regiment, drilling it so effectively as to inspire a taste for war even among those citizens who most severely denounced governmental drafting.
A curious little newspaper item, clipped from among a veritable volume of war notes and stories, is illustrative of some of the social conditions prevalent in 1862. Says the editor:
"A fair specimen of mob law was exhibited on Third street yesterday afternoon. While Officers Patterson and Pendergast were carrying a man under arrest to the calaboose they were surrounded by thirty or more men, who demanded the prisoner. The officers refused to give him up, when the mob rescued him from them and allowed him to escape. Among the leaders we noticed several citizens who we would have supposed far above such an act. We are glad to say, however, that a number of the rascals have been arrested and will be properly dealt with for resisting officers in the discharge of their duty."
We notice furthermore that six of the "prominent citizens" were fined $5 and costs by Justice Gibbs.
Burglars evidently did not fear hangmen in those halcyon days of warlike serenity. On Oct. 2, 1862, a burglar entered the residence of Sheriff Tullis and escaped with a goodly armful of valuables.
Of Mayor John Esaias Warren, elected in the spring of 1863, not much is known now except that a half century ago he was an important factor in local politics, a law partner of Joseph Wakefield, formerly town justice, in 1852, and that when elected to office he received the warm support of many political enemies, because of his pronounced attitude on the war question. He was subsequently United States district attorney, and finally moved to Chicago, where he became lost to the sight of St. Paul and its citizens. He died in Brussels, Belgium, July 6, 1896.
At the first council meeting of 1863 a provision was made for a regular and paid police department, consisting of one chief at $600; one captain at $500, and seven privates at $480 per annum. Mayor Warren, however, in a subsequent communication, objected seriously to the small number of patrolmen. saying there should be twelve, but that at least three new men must be enrolled for the sake of public peace and safety. The letter, written April 21, 1863, is extremely interesting in view of the insight it gives into the "beat" and boundary questions of that time:
"Two policemen are stationed on the levee during the day and one at night. Two on Third street by day and two by night; one above and one below the bridge (Wabasha st.); this exhausts the entire number. Robert st., Jackson st., and Minnesota st. should have at least one night policeman. There should also be a watchman on Seventh st. and another on Fort st."
"These regular beats being established, the public, if they bear them in mind will always know where to look for a policeman whenever disturbances in the neighboring streets occur. The police, moreover, have stringent instructions always to wear their stars, so that they may be easily identified."
In an ordinance passed soon after a fine of $5 was imposed on any citizen who should wear a "police star" unless so authorized.
The force with the addition of three men, as recommended by the mayor, was now composed of the following men: Chief. Michael Cummings; captain. George Morton; police officers: 1, Henry Galvin: 2, Peter Sass; 3, Jacob Heck; 4, James Waters; 5, Win. Costello; 6, Herman Harff; 7, Michael Quinn; 8, John O'Connor; 9, William Burke; 10, Patrick Morin.
But during the year charges had been made against the department and apparently the mayor was radically unsuited with its personnel, for on Feb. 16, 1864, he submitted a list of changes to the council, the roster reading:
Chief, M. Cummings.
Captain, Jacob Heck.
J. B. Sprague, special.
Hugh Dunn, special.
John McMahon, special.
Herman Harff, special.
Mathias Steffles, special.
John O'Connor, special.
Patrick Morin, special.
James Butterfield, special.
Andrew Oleson, special.
James Waters, special.
The valedictory address of Mayor Warren was a masterpiece of its kind in that it recommended reforms which even at this late day are proving of value to the city. It seems that he was the first chief executive who believed implicitly in detective service. "The office of the ordinary police is to prevent crime," said he, in the course of his remarks, "of a detective to follow out secret clues, and bring to light the perpetrators. It will not do to withdraw men from their regular police 'beats' and set them to trace out the intricacies of an ingenious robbery which may take days, and perhaps weeks to unravel. While the men are thus employed other robberies might, and probably would take place in the neighborhood of their described beats. It would be well known that the men were away and their posts left unguarded, and thus crime so far from being diminished would be increased."
He also recommended that provision be made by the city for a "neat uniform dress," so that the members of the police force might at all times present a respectable appearance and be distinguished at a glance as belonging to the department. The greatest improvement suggested was the establishment of sentry boxes in every ward, "as places of refuge for the police on cold and stormy nights. This would obviate the apparent excuse they now have for resorting to saloons."
Removals for political reasons, Mayor Warren expressed himself as being decidedly averse to, but contended that the mayor should always possess power of removal in order to insure efficient service.
Two weeks afterward the council allowed the new mayor, Dr. J. H. Stewart, $200 for the employment of detective service. This was the beginning of a city detective bureau.
With John S. Prince, who was in 1861 his successful opponent on the mayoralty ticket, Dr. J. H. Stewart, during his political career in St. Paul, received the equal honor of being elected mayor five times. He came to the city in 1855 from New York, and as a slender young disciple of Esculapius scarce twenty-five in years, and far younger in looks and manner, hung out his little professional shingle. In 1856 he was appointed county physician, and in 1860 became a state senator. With the first call to arms in 1861 he accompanied the First Minnesotan down to Dixie as regimental surgeon, was taken prisoner at Bull Run, and exchanged at Richmond. After that he served his first term as mayor, a veteran of only thirty-five, and amply qualified to guide the current of those troublous times because of his own experience with life and death at its noblest and best, down in the trenches of the sunny South. He was postmaster of St. Paul in 1869, and later a member of congress, serving one term. For four years he held the office of surveyor-general of Minnesota and at the time of his death was in partnership with Dr. C. A. Wheaton, under the firm name of Stewart & Wheaton. He died Aug. 25. 1884, aged fifty-five years.
With the opening of navigation in 1865 the war was fast approaching an end and the outlook everywhere was growing brighter. For St. Paul it was the spring-time of a hope which has long since been granted a glorious fulfillment. Never had prosperity seemed so near at hand, what with capital pouring in from all sides, employment plenty and every branch of industry fully represented and active. Police salaries took an upward bound: in 1864 Chief Cleveland had received $600 for his services, and now Chief Turnbull was voted $1,000. A census taken in the summer of 1865 showed a population of 12,976.
Late in August the body of a man badly decayed was found in the river. A rope around his neck, attached to a stone plainly told the tale of an atrocious murder. Two years later George L. Van Solen, of St. Paul, was arrested as the murderer, and Dr. Henry Harcourt, of England, named as the victim. The doctor had mysteriously disappeared while off on a fishing trip to Pig's Eye as the guest of Van Solen, and owing to inquiries made by English relatives, the latter was taken into custody. The trial at the time attracted an immense amount of attention all over the county, but as the body could not be properly identified Van Solen, who was ably defended by two of Minnesota's greatest lawyers, Hon. Cushman K. Davis and Hon. I. V. D. Heard, was acquitted.
Mayor John S. Prince was re-elected to his fourth term of office in April, and remained in the chair two years. A. McElrath was at this time city justice, having succeeded Nelson Gibbs. The police department, during 1865, consisted of a chief and a captain and ten members, and remained stationary during 1866 with one exception, that police salaries in the latter year were increased $15 per month. The mayor's salary was at the lowest then — $200 per year.
But with the beginning of the fiscal year of 1867 the new mayor, Hon. George L. Otis, received a salary of $500. He was a native of New York state, and was born in 1829. As a child be went to Michigan with his parents, and early began the study of law. He had practiced several years before his arrival in St. Paul on a summer day in 1855, just at a time when the very atmosphere of the village seemed to bid the law defiance. It seems he encountered little difficulty in establishing a practice which grew larger with every succeeding year and that, though an extremely quiet, conservative man, little given to the convivial customs of the times he was extremely popular with his fellow citizens, both during and after his election to the office of eleventh mayor of St. Paul. He was a territorial representative in 1857-58, a state senator in 1866, a manager of the State Reform School and a Mason of high degree. His death occurred soon after he had passed the prime of life, in the early eighties.
In the spring of 1867 J. P. McIlrath succeeded Chief John Jones and held the position until 1870, going on record as one of the most efficient public officials of his time. A new departure during that year was the regular appointment of a special detective. Salaries remained fixed, with the single exception of that of the captain, who received an increase of $100 a year.
A new charter was granted St. Paul in 1868 and the city divided into five wards. As nearly as can be ascertained at present, the wards comprised the following territory:
Fifth Ward — All the district of country east of Broadway and Mississippi sts., bounded on the north by Minnehaha st., and on the south by the river.
First Ward — All the territory bounded on the east by Broadway and Mississippi sts., on the west by Jackson and Sylvan sts., on the north and south by Minnehaha and the levee.
Second Ward — All the land bounded by Jackson st., Sylvan st., Minnehaha st., Park av. and Aurora av., Wabasha st., Bluff st., and the Mississippi river.
Third Ward — All the district lying between Wabasha st., Exchange st., Rice st., Minnehaha st. and the river.
The Fourth Ward comprised all territory west of west line of Third Ward and east of city limits, including, we are told, "the center of the Mississippi river."
Dr. J. H. Stewart was re-elected to the mayoralty in the spring of 1868, and O. Malmros succeeded Judge Lambert in the city justice office.
Salaries of patrolmen fell $5 a month with the new administration, and that of the mayor was reduced to $300 per annum, where it remained for some time. John Schmidt was appointed city jailer and Edwin Shields poundmaster, each receiving $60 a month.
A much needed reform was established during this year — that of a workhouse for the incarceration of frail femininity. There had never been any provision made for the care of women at the city hall lock-up, and, sad to say, women, young and old, fairly outnumbered men for cases of vagrancy and disorderly conduct, in those days. On Dec. 15, 1868, the charitable institution known as the House of the Good Shepherd was declared by the council to be a workhouse for female prisoners tinder provisions of the St. Paul charter, and ordinances. Committals by the city justice were not to exceed thirty days (later changed to ninety) in length and the hard labor assigned was to be suitable to condition. In enforcing discipline or preventing escape the superintendent was instructed to call in the aid of Chief McIlrath if necessary. The same board, per capitum, was allowed as that received by the city jailer for the board of prisoners, 75 cents a day. If imprisoned in default of payment of a fine the inmates of the workhouse were to be permitted to work out their fines. The new house of refuge was in full running order early in January, of 1869.
In the meantime the city jail was designated as the workhouse for all sorts and conditions of men, from the simple "drunk" who was allowed to sleep off a goodly "jag" on the hard stone floor, to the "ball and chain gang," under sentence for all the misdemeanors common to a city. What St. Paul would be now but for some of the prison labor expended on its streets is hard telling. Many hills were dug down, many swamps filled up, Rice Park was transformed into a thing of beauty, and Third st. became a boulevard through the daily toil of these "tramps" guarded sometimes by one, and oftener by two policemen. As the workhouse the lock-up was to be superintended by the chief of police, and the junior alderman of each ward were to constitute a board of managers.
St. Paul now contained about nineteen thousand people, but the houses had just been numbered; city life and city modes can hardly be said to have began in earnest before 1870.
Hon. James T. Maxfield became St. Paul's chief executive in the spring of 1869. From the time of birth to the present St. Paul has been singularly blessed in its choice of mayors. Not one has ever hesitated to put his shoulder to the wheel in a period of emergency, and to none is St. Paul more indebted for good clean government than to James T. Maxfield, who died in office May 29, 1878. He was born in Norwich, Ohio, March 7, 1827, and had been a resident of Goshen, Indiana; of Cleveland and of Detroit before permanently locating in St. Paul in 1864. It did not take him long after his arrival, however, to demonstrate his value as a citizen, as evidenced by his being elected three tines to the office of mayor.
In May of this year a petition quite contrary to one presented in 1864, and signed by over 1,000 citizens was sent to the mayor, requesting that disorderly houses and saloons be closed on Sunday. Inasmuch as the liquor sellers were already restrained by an ordinance from keeping open house on the Sabbath, the effect of the document was to determine a veritable crusade for the purpose of enforcing both it and other measures which had been passed against haunts of vice and crime as well as sin and misery.
A good substantial bridge was built across Trout Brook in 1869 and from that time on we find Dayton's Bluff taking an active part in municipal affairs.
Twelve hundred dollars per annum was voted the chief of police early that Spring, with $1,000 for the captain and S70 a month to the privates. The police force of 1869 consisted of sixteen men, including the chief and captain. During the winter months it was reduced to fourteen members. The number of arrests made during the year was 967.
Oct. 7 the council resolved that thereafter every fire alarm was to be attended by the presence of the chief of police, who was to report himself to any alderman on the premises.
Few police changes occurred in 1870, only one man being added for duty during the summer months and L. H. Eddy becoming chief. Luther H. Eddy was a prominent man in his day and generation. An alderman eight years, chief of the Fire Department one year and always an active, bustling man, brimful of energy.
The new mayor. Wm. Lee, had been a leading jobber of St. Paul for a number of years before entering the political field. He was born in Millford, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, April 14, 1822. and settled in Minnesota in 1859. As a mayor, twice elected to office and the postmaster of St. Paul two terms besides serving several years as a county commissioner, he has identified with a great many of the municipal enterprises which have marked the growth of the city. He is still living a retired life in his old homestead on E. Eighth st.
Thomas Howard became police justice in 1870 at a yearly salary of $600.
The census of 1870 showed a rapid growth of the city since 1865. The total population of St. Paul was reported at 20,030, whereas five years bemire it had been 12,976.
During Mayor Lee's second term of office, in 1871, four more policemen were added to the department.
On June 5, 1872, the first mention of a city appropriation for police outfits. The amount expended was $116.12, but no itemized account is given so we are left to presume that it was an outlay for the caps, belts, clubs and badges furnished to policemen during their incumbency. As to brass-buttoned suits they were purchased by individual members and were not insisted upon until Mayor Stewart's third term, beginning in 1872. Patrolman also supplied their own revolvers, and may we add, their own pipes. For at that time every "copper" smoked a "cob."
Eleven new men entered the department during 1872, among them being Officers Charles Rouleau and A. M. Lowell, now known as the two oldest veterans in active service. Many of them were night police, St. Paul having experienced an epidemic of incendiarism during the spring, which necessitated precautionary measures. During one month the residence of Dr. Steele, Maj. Donaldson and Gen. Sanborn were set fire to, and though large rewards were offered for the capture of the perpetrators nothing came of it but an abatement of that particular form of crime.
The office of police sergeant was created this year, the salary being fixed at $900 per annum. In 1873 it was increased to $1,000. That of the chief and captain rose to $1,500 and $1,200 respectively in the spring of 1872 and remained the same for a number of years to come. Policemen continued to receive $840 per annum. Six hundred dollars a year was granted the mayor.
The force for 1873 consisted of one chief, one captain, one sergeant and twenty-five patrolmen, showing a material increase since the re-election of Dr. J. H. Stewart, who continued in office until the spring of 1875. A. McElrath was city justice for the same length of time.
In 1874 the personnel of the St. Paul police force was as follows: Chief, J. H. McIlrath; captain, James King; sergeant, Charles Weber; officers, Galvin, Mitchell, Kenaley, Vogtli, Cayenross, Walstrum, Rouleau, Nolan, O'Keefe, Morgan, Pretris, Cristoph, Oelker, Lowell, Palmer, Bresett, Clark, Bremer, Murphy, Putzier, Ryan, Nugent, Nygard and Dowlan.
Early in January a resolution passed the council decreeing that the police department should thereafter constitute a board of fire wardens, the chief to act as clerk of the body, and accordingly make semi-annual reports to the common council. All policemen were ordered to enter houses and stores in their respective wards several times a year for the purpose of fire inspection.
The year 1874 is memorable in the municipal annals of St. Paul, because when near its close, on Nov. 16, West St. Paul was proclaimed by an act of the legislature a part of St. Paul and known thenceforth as the Sixth Ward. By this annexation about 3,000 acres were added to St. Paul, as well as a population of perhaps fifteen hundred souls. The city limits were thus increased to an area of 13,583 acres or twenty-one and one-fifth square miles, and the city census swelled to fully thirty thousand inhabitants. And in those days not a citizen dreamt of so large a population being multiplied by six within a quarter of a century. Truth certainly has proven stranger than fiction ever could be — in St. Paul.
