Entry in Richard H. Collins\u27 History of Kentucky on the Indian Head Rock from September 14, 1854.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/indian_head_rock/1019/thumbnail.jp

Collins, Lewis

Collins, Richard H.

English

Morehead State University

1851. ANNALS OF KENTUCKY. 73lights of glass broken in the Maysvillecotton mill; stones weighing 102 and 43pounds and less thrown entirely across tlieOhio river, into Aberdeen, over a milefrom the magazine; the rattling of stoneson the roofs and through the roofs andsides of houses and of the steamboat Huron,described as appalling; eight churchesdamaged, froip $100 to $1,100 each. $1,500reward offered for the perpetrators, withoutAug. 27—Sunday, about 12 M., a tre-mendous storm passes over part of Louis-ville, blowing down the new 4th Presby-terian church, two large brick warehouses,the gable end and upper story of severalother houses, unroofing and seriously in-juring over 50 houses, and three steam-boats. In the church, while Rev. RobertMorrison was preaching in the basement—(the Upper room not finished,) the door wasblown open, and the house filled with dust,rendering the room dark ; a crash was thenheard, and in the twinkling of an eye thework of death and destruction was com-plete ; 16 dead bodies, fathers and motherswith their children, were recovered fromthe ruins, and 23 badly wounded.Sept. 14—Termination of the most re-markable drouth since 1839. In Greenupcounty, opposite Portsmouth, Ohio, is awater-mark called the " Indian Head," ahuman face rudely carved by the aborig-ines, many years ago, upon the easternside of a large rock imbedded in the waterof the Ohio river. The " log " kept in theneighborhood shows that the mouth of the1S39—Nov. 10, 10% inches out of water.1846—Oct. 4, 17Ji inches under water.1848—Aug. 15, i'A inches under water.1849—Sept. 23, top of head 4% inches un-der water.1850—Sept. 16, top of rock 2}4 inches outof water.1851—Sept. 27, eyes to be seen—the lowestmeasure on record from 1839 tothis date.1854—Sept. 5, mouth just on water-line—therefore lower than since 1839.In Oct., 1838, the river was lower thanever known by any reliable mark, beforeor since (up to 1872)—being, at Maysville,10 inches lower than on Sept. 10, 1854.The little steamer U. S. Aid (the only onerunning, for a week past,) two days inmaking the trip from Cincinnati to Mays-ville. For several days before Sept. 9, theweather warmer than ever known, ther-mometer 102° to 104° in the shade; andat 2 P. M., when exposed to the sun, risingin a few minutes to 154°. But little rainfor several months, vegetation parched orburned up, springs and wells nearly alldry, farmers driving stock 3 to 7 miles towater, and hauling water same distancefor cooking and drinking uses. Ohio riverforded in many places. In southern Ky.,near the Tennessee line, the rain fall inJune was 3J^ inches, in .July 1)4, in Aug.OK, and from 1st to 20th Sept. OH' inches—in all, only 534 inches; in 1853, duringsame time, 21 % inches fell. Corn scarceand selling at 65 cents to $1. Many thou-sands of hogs sent from Ky. to northernIndiana to be fatted.Sept. 27—Death of Presley Ewing, mem-ber of congress from 3d district, by cholera,near Mammoth Cave.Oct. 16—Col. John Allen, in a card, s.aysthat the filibustering expedition, 1500strong, which had been organijing at Lou-isville, has been disbanded, for want ofOct. 17—Failure of the Newport SafetyFund Bank of Kentucky.Oct. 18—Failure of the Kentucky TrustCompany Bank at Covington.Oct. 19—Bank panic in the west, morefailures, and great run on local banks,banking houses and brokers. Oct. 24,notes of the Indiana and other Free Banks"thrown out" by leading city banks, andsold at a discount to brokers. Notes ofKy. Trust Co. Bank fall to 60 and 50 centson the dollar, and Newport Safety FundBank notes to 35 and 30 cents. Commer-cial Bank of Ky. notes have been crieddown, and a " run '' organized by thebrokers ; but the other Ky. banks, resolv-ing to stand by each other, receive andprotect her notes, and promptly break theforce of the panic in that direction. Oct.27, the banking-house of G. H. Monsarrat& Co., Louisville, suspends payment, "inconsequence of the perfidy of a confiden-tial agent." Nov. 8 and 9, great run onprivate banks in Cincinnati, all suspend,and several make assignments. 33 banks,including the two at Covington and New-port, Ky., one each in Georgia, Michigan,Delaware, Boston, and Maine, and theothers in New York, Ohio, and Indiana,have failed within six weeks. The Ky.banks h.ave retired more than half of thecirculation which they had out four monthsago. One Louisville broker draws out ofthe Ky. branch banks at Bowling Green,Russellville, Hopkinsville and Princeton$140,000 in specie. Nov. 20, bank failureselsewhere than in Ky. continue ; Ky. banknotes standard bank funds throughout theOct. 21—Henry Fortman found guilty ofmanslaughter, at Covington, in killingSamuel Ea.ston, a lad 12 years old, son ofShadford Fasten, by throwing him downand stamping on his head, breast and side;sentenced to 10 years in the penitentiary.Oct. 25—Public dinner at Memphis,Tenn., to Geo. D. Prentice, editor Louis-ville Journal.Oct. 26—Sale of cattle recently importedby the Ky. Importing Co., near Lexington ;the two-year old bull, Sirius, purchased byR. A. Alexander, of Woodford county, at$3,600.Oct. 28, 29—8 deaths at Louisville byOct. 30—Weymer obtains a verdict, inU. S. district court at Columbus, Ohio, of$3,000 against Rush R. Sloan, a Sanduskylawyer, for aiding in the escape of fourslaves from Ky. Attorneys for plaintiff,

Collin\u27s Historical Sketches of Kentucky: History of Kentucky

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&amp;context=indian_head_rock

Collin\u27s Historical Sketches of Kentucky: History of Kentucky

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Morehead State University