The History of Peru

by Henry S. Beebe

"Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks
In Vallombrosa."

Gen. Fry and other aspiring gentlemen commenced harangues, but were speedily cut short by the "boys" who insisted that this was not the entertainment to which they were invited.

The number of Irish, living along the lines of the canal and rail road, for many years, far outnumbered all other residents; but this was the only demonstration against the quiet of the community which, by concerted action, has taken place from that time to the present, if the riots on the Central Rail Road work, on the south bank of the river, be excepted. The excess and violence, in either case, must not be attributed to the Irish residents, as a class. To the conservative influence of the more intelligent portion, rather than to any exhibition of physical power, is the community indebted for the general good order which has prevailed. The learned professions, merchants, farmers and mechanics are largely composed of their class; and many, who came here as poor laborers, are now wealthy men, appreciating, in a degree equal to that of other citizens, the blessings of a government of laws. The writer is fully satisfied, by close observation, that the influence of the Catholic clergy has ever been on the side of order and submission to the laws.

Of the riots on the Central Rail Road the following account is presented.

In December, 1853, a force of about four hundred and fifty men was employed on the embankment and excavations on the south end of the Central Rail Road bridge at La Salle. A misunderstanding existed between the contractor, Albert Story, and the men about wages. The latter had been employed at one dollar and a quarter per day, but the contractor, being unwilling any longer to pay more than one dollar per day, so informed the men and appointed a day—the 15th—when he would pay such as chose to quit work. The men, on their part, alleged that they had been allured from the East by handbills circulated by Story and his associates, announcing that one dollar and a quarter per day would be paid on the job; and that after they had expended all their means to reach the work, the promise was violated, and they were thrown out of employment, except at reduced wages, with families to provide for, at the commencement of winter.

On the day appointed the clerk commenced paying. Soon an error was found in the accounts which was announced to the men, and the business of paying was suspended. This incensed the men, who rushed into the office and declared they would help themselves to their pay. One of them struck Story in the face. During the scuffle, Col. Maynard, a Superintendent of the work and a resident of Chicago, left by the back way to find and take care of Mrs. Story and her children. While he was gone the assailants were forced from the room and the door refastened, when the crowd commenced with axes, picks and shovels to break down the door. One succeeded in entering, when Story, who was armed, asked his clerks whether it was best to shoot. They said, "no, we had better be quiet." Mr. Story, not knowing that Maynard had gone to take care of his wife and children, went by the back way to the house. Finding his wife gone, he started for the stable for a horse on which to leave the place. The men, seeing him, rushed towards the stable, shouting "kill him! kill him! kill him!" and with picks, shovels and stones brutally and almost instantly murdered him, one man striking him with a stone on the head after he was dead. It has been asserted that Story did fire upon the crowd, wounding one man, but this did not clearly appear on the subsequent trials.

The news of the murder soon reached La Salle, and a telegraphic dispatch was sent to Ottawa for Sheriff Thorn, who arrived with a military force about 7 o'clock in the evening. These, with Mayor Campbell, of La Salle, and about one hundred citizens, started for the scene of the murder.—On arriving at the spot a number of individuals were discovered, scattered over the hills, some of whom were armed, though only a few assumed a threatening attitude. Being fired upon they stopped, and one returned the fire, and received, in return, two balls in his arm, and was then arrested. The Sheriff then visited the different shanties and arrested all, or nearly all, the men he could find, amounting to sixty or seventy, of which some thirty or forty were recognized as participators in the row, though none were of the supposed ringleaders, but these were subsequently arrested. The Sheriff left a portion of his force as a permanent guard; and the work being prosecuted by other parties, the vicinity, through out the winter, bore resemblance to a regular military encampment.

Twelve were indicted as ringleaders in the affray, four of whom, Kren Brennan, James Terry, Michael Terry and Martin Ryan took a change of venue to Kane county, where they were convicted of murder, when a new trial was granted which resulted in a second conviction. By the clemency of Gov. Matteson their punishment was commuted to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life; and among the last of his official acts, a full pardon was granted. The executive interference caused great dissatisfaction, and upon the occasion of the Governor visiting La Salle, he was burnt in effigy. Six were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to the penitentiary for one year and served out the term. The other two were not found.

On the bluff, near the old fort, and afterwards at Manville Hollow, for many years, there lived an individual whose peculiarities were so strongly marked as to demand a notice in this work.—His name was John Myers, but more familiarly known, among the early settlers, as the "stallion painter." He was a fair specimen of the frontier man—a type of which is attempted to be described in this chapter. In fact, he served as a model for that description. But justice was not done to his moral qualities. His rough garb and uncouth manners concealed a noble and true heart. He was brave, impulsive and generous, and scorned and loathed subterfuge, evasion, and chicanery as only a noble and true heart can. He liked whisky, as all frontier men do, but he seldom lost his bodily or mental equilibrium.—He was never in a condition when all his native coolness and resources would not have been at command in an instant, had he been assailed by any of his old familiar foes, whether man or beast. He was never quarrelsome, even in his cups, but the wronged or weaker party in any conflict, was sure to find in him a champion as chivalrous as ever raised a shield or poised a lance. His exhilaration was generally manifested in yells, such as no human throat ever uttered before. The most ambitious steam whistle might have been envious of his screams. These he called his blessings. He sometimes indulged in songs. Such unearthly notes were never heard out of Pandemonium.

He would have made the fortune of Spalding & Rogers by singing an accompaniment to the calliope. Many of the present citizens of Peru will recollect his vocal performances as he pursued his way homewards across the bottom above the town. On the occasion of the first opening of a court at Ottawa, he went up to witness that novel performance. Having imbibed a few draughts of whisky, and being rather unfamiliar with the etiquette and decorum of courts, he indulged in exercises not very gratifying to judicial dignity or favorable to the progress of business.—Being frequently reprimanded he became somewhat incensed, whereupon he gave vent to his indignation in one of the most remarkable efforts of the lungs that ever electrified a court of Justice. Judges, lawyers and spectators recoiled in dismay, and it is believed that the pins and tenons which confined the roof were seriously strained.