A STORY OF NIAGARA. TO WHICH ARE APPENDED REMINISCENCES OF A CUSTOM HOUSE OFFICER.
BYC. R. EDWARDS.
BUFFALO:
BREED, LENT & CO.
No. 240 Main Street.
1870.Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, BY CHARLES R. EDWARDS, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. WARREN, JOHNSON & Co. Stereotypers, Printers and Binders, BUFFALO, N. Y.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
- CHAPTER I. The Widow's Son—Scenes at the Farm House—The Telegram—A Sudden Fright—A Secret Office—Prospect of going to Niagara. 19
- CHAPTER II. Dangers Anticipated—What some people do at Niagara—A Lover dismissed—The Secret Slander—Another reading of an old letter—Miss Sommers returns to Niagara. 32
- CHAPTER III. The Country Baileys—And the Village Baileys—The Country Cousin becomes a Politician—The Mistake—Social Inconsistency. 40
- CHAPTER IV. Deacon Sommers of Niagara—Too slight an acquaintance with Jared Bailey—How Benjamin and the Deacon's Daughter became Lovers. 47
- CHAPTER V. The Plotters—The Courtship—Letter from Niagara—The Widow's Daughter—Benjamin's Suspicions—The Fraudulent Will—The Criminal Assault—The Mysterious, Disappearance of Eleanor Grace. 53
- CHAPTER VI. A peep into a Private Political Caucus—A Humiliating Necessity—The Little Lawyer's Startling Proposition. 68
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- CHAPTER VII. An Unusual Visit—Mysterious Matters referred to—Most Angry towards whom he has most Injured—How a bold, bad man tries to stand upon his dignity. 74
- CHAPTER VIII. How an angry man flourished his cane and talked to the "hitching-post"—Strange Happenings for one day—Black Tom's Opinion of Judge Bailey—An Affecting Incident—Aunt Polly and Little Tilly—The Niagara Frontier. 84
- CHAPTER IX. Scenes at Niagara—An Inquisitive Servant—A Talking Ghost—Deacon Sommers—The Old "Fugitive Slave Law"—Mrs. Hartley's Letter—More Disclosures. 91
- CHAPTER X. Laura urges Letters of Inquiry—Letter to Adeline—Mysterious Things—How and why Concealed—Judge Bailey—More about the Will fraud. 102
- CHAPTER XI. Frightened at last—A Fit—Deeper Injury planned against the Innocent—Adeline's Silence—Rev. Mr. Smoothwell—David Bailey "proposes" by Letter to Laura Sommers. 112
- CHAPTER XII. The Detective starts for Niagara—An act of Politeness—Almost a Discovery—A Trick of Travel. 125
- CHAPTER XIII. The two Detectives—A Laughable and Mutual Deception—Benjamin learns something of Niagara Falls and Smugglers. 135
- CHAPTER XIV. Benjamin arrives at the Falls—A Hackman who understands his business—Experience as a Stranger—Points of Interest to Visitors. 145
- CHAPTER XV. The Hack-driver continues to interest Benjamin—Other Strangers—Another Custom House Officer—Gulliver's Driver—Smuggling talked of—Hints of how it is done. 153
- CHAPTER XVI. More Experience at Niagara—Eloquence of the Guide—Interesting Matters—Queer place for a Suicide, a Murder and a Wedding—Accidents—Cholera, etc. 161
- CHAPTER XVII. Benjamin and the Collector of Customs—A Ramble on the bank o Niagara—Meeting Black-legs—Benjamin charged with a crime—The Mysterious Witness—Laughable Impudence. 170
- CHAPTER XVIII. Excitement in the Bar-room—More about the Black-legs—"Dis be der Bolice"—A Stranger talked of in the Village of Niagara Falls—A Talk of Laura's Lovers—Deacon Sommers puzzled. 182
- CHAPTER XIX. A Singular Comparison of Letters—How a Minister proposed to Laura—How a Colonel proposed—Laura's Opinion of them. 192
- CHAPTER XX. Suspicious Rumors—Fears of Exposure—The two Detectives—A Laughable Discovery—The Whisky Smugglers—Ben in bad company—Something about the Will fraud. 201
- CHAPTER XXI. More Things peculiar to the Frontier—A Fair Smuggler—Dobbins the new Officer—Makes a Seizure—Falls in Love—A Custom House Auction—The Smuggled Dress Patterns. 214
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- CHAPTER XXII. Dobbins gets Deeper in Love with the Deacon's Daughter—Troubled with Nervous Mental Inquiries—Excitement at the Auction—The Mysterious Bidder. 228
- CHAPTER XXIII. Our Detective crosses Niagara River with Smugglers at midnight—Pistols—Officers—Stories among the Smugglers—A Trick of old Chewbrick—Figsley hints about one Jared Bailey—Benjamin's presence of mind—Learning something of Interest to Himself. 238
- CHAPTER XXIV. Our Detective's Letter—Smugglers Planning a Robbery—A Villain's Reflections—Old Crimes reaching into the Present—Figsley—Vroman—Jared Bailey—Revelations of a lost Letter—A Chain of Circumstances—Deacon Sommers hears of Benjamin Bailey—Unsuspected Danger. 249
- CHAPTER XXV. The Mile-woods—How Benjamin happened at the Robber's Shanty—Concealed in the loft—The Five Robbers—Victims to be thrown over the Falls—Benjamin resolves to die attempting their rescue. 260
- CHAPTER XXVI. An Embarrassing Invitation—A Manly Reply—A Short and Affecting Explanation—More Disclosures—The Fate of Eleanor Grace—The Will—Death of Judge Bailey—Justice, Truth and Happiness. 270
- CHAPTER XXVII. Of the Events which force our story to its conclusion—And what became of the principal characters. 282
PART II.
REMINISCENCES OF A CUSTOM HOUSE OFFICER.
- CHAPTER I. Custom House Regulations at the Niagara Suspension Bridge—Strangers crossing the Bridge unmindful of Custom House Laws—The Consequences—Amusing Incidents—A Senator—Duties on Indian Bead Work, etc.—Blaming General Scott—Inspecting a Strange Wagon by lamplight—Affecting Incidents—How Custom House Officers are sometimes deceived. 291
- CHAPTER II. Law against bringing Bottles of Liquor from Canada into the States—Women Smugglers—Wit of an Irish Washer-woman caught Smuggling—The Western Drover and his Tobacco, in Three Acts—The Angry Scene—Polite Kindness—Reconciliation. 301
- CHAPTER III. Appearances often Deceiving—The Beggar's Bundle—The "Intelligent Gentleman"—"A Reliable Source"—A Little Reflection—The Sulphur Springs—Suspension Bridge Tolls—A Midnight Office—The Devil and His Wife. 310
- CHAPTER IV. The Preacher's Brandy—Strange Companions—Mr. O'Flinigan—Astonishing Figures—The Unfortunate Widow—Custom House Laws—Two Puzzling Questions—When are Household Goods and Tools of Trade free of duty. 317
- CHAPTER V. Excursion Parties crossing the Bridge—Amusing Incidents—More Information about Custom House matters—Qualities requisite for an Officer—How to please the Public and still inspect their Baggage—The Stove-pipe Hat—The man who said "by Mighty"—Emigrants crossing the Bridge—Other Incidents. 325
INTRODUCTION.
AMONG the incidents at Niagara Falls, and in life on the Niagara frontier, may be found the material for many an interesting volume that has never been written,—facts that are stranger than fiction; and events, which, however exciting in themselves, possess additional interest from their association with one of the most romantic and most famous localities in the world.
The traveler from every country who journeys to any foreign clime, is as sure to went his way to Niagara as the Arab to make his pilgrimage to Mecca. Here have come some of the most renowned personages; among whom have been Presidents and Princes, and the Queen of the Sandwich Islands. The Europeans, the South Americans, and the Japanese, have paid their respects to Niagara. So have ambassadors from China, with their gaudy costumes, and long braided hair dangling from their heads in Oriental style. And then a score of Indians, chiefs on their way to Washington from the region of the Rocky Mountains, have paused to look page: 10-11[View Page 10-11] upon the work of the Great Spirit, and upon the white man's bridges over the chasm! And while viewing the scene, with the serious gravity of the red man, have they sat in groups upon the banks of the river and passed round the pipe of peace, each taking a few puffs of tobacco smoke after their peculiar custom. Occasionally an Indian trafficker from some small tribe, not far away, can tell of the once renowned war-chief, Brandt.
And some of the Senecas here remember their celebrated chief, Red Jacket, who died near Buffalo, N.Y., not many years ago, at the age of one hundred years. It was Red Jacket who said to the missionary, that the white man's religion was not necessary for Indians, else the Great Spirit would have sent it to their fathers!
Nine miles north-east of the Falls is an Indian village of Tuscaroras, a tribe numbering about three hundred. Several interesting accounts of real life among this tribe are related by the white inhabitants near them, one of which is the true story of the British officer, who, many years ago, married an Indian girl of the tribe; a descendant of whom is now a well known Captain in the United States army. Known to many also, was the white missionary girl, who married a pious Indian of the tribe. Frequently has the visitor at the Falls gone to the Indian village and heard her Indian husband interpret the sermons of the white preacher. The wife of the present Tuscarora chief is a well educated Indian woman, and her brother is known to the people of the United States as a gentleman of fine accomplishments, and who served with distinguished ability upon the staff of Gen. Grant.
The small remnant of Indians now found in this locality, seem, however, like some ancient relic of a mysterious race which soon will take their last look at Niagara.
Upon this frontier, time has witnessed the important movements of armies, Indian massacres, and the abortive attempts of Canadian rebellions. Here the political fugitives of one country have crossed for safety into the other; and criminals have left their own country—for their country's good! And still continue the expert and daring operations of smugglers, and the attempts of government officials to detect and capture them; the secret history of which will furnish all varieties of incidents from the amusing to the tragical, and from plans of successful strategy to plans of ridiculous failure.
Across this river the so-called underground-railroads once had several of their terminations; where fugitive slaves were landed from the United States into Canada, a work once secretly carried on by the anti-slavery men. Subsequently, during the great rebellion, the tables were turned, and the original owner in many cases became the fugitive, crossing the same frontier for safety where his former slaves had once fled before him! but could now return to the States for their year of jubilee!
page: 12-13[View Page 12-13]The Niagara River is thirty-six miles in length; its course northward, and the center of the stream part of the boundary line between the United States and Canada. It is the outlet of Lake Erie, carrying the waters of the great upper lakes into Lake Ontario on their way to the River St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean. On the shore of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara, stands the city of Buffalo, containing a population of one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, which are principally of English and German descent.
From Lake Erie to the Falls the distance is twenty-two miles; the river in no place less than three-fourths of a mile in width; the banks low, and the surrounding country comparatively level.
Five miles before reaching the Falls the little village of La Salle stands upon the American shore. At this place was constructed the first vessel that ever navigated Lake Erie or the upper lakes. It was sixty tons burden, and built in 1679, by Robert La Salle, a Frenchman, who, a little before this time, had established trading posts here and at the mouth of the river. A little below this once stood Fort Schlosser. Upon the opposite shore, three miles from the Falls, is the Canadian village of Chippewa, near which the Niagara receives the waters of Welland River, also known as Chippewa Creek. To these places the Niagara River is navigable. And between these landings and among the islands of the river the smugglers make their midnight trips by sail and oar, at the risk of accidents that would send them into the merciless rapids below, as well as at the risk of meeting customhouse officers on shore and river, armed with as deadly weapons as themselves.
For a distance of one mile before reaching the Falls, the river—a mile in width—becomes grand and terrible in its swift descent; and finally, being divided at the edge of the fall by a wild, romantic island, the parted waters plunge on either side in a perpendicular descent over the end and side of a chasm one hundred and sixty feet in depth.
The gorge of Niagara with its varied and picturesque scenery, and increasing in depth by the descent of its rapids, and being about one-third the width of the Falls, winds its way for seven miles, when there is a sudden descent of several hundred feet in the face of the country, forming a one-sided mountain, which stretches far away on either side, to the east and to the west. At the top of this mountain-side, near the gorge, and upon Canadian ground, stands Brock's Monument, erected in memory of the British General who was killed about half-way down the mountain in the battle of Queenston Heights, fought on the 11th of October, 1812, between the British and Americans. At the foot of the mountain is a small Canadian village known as Queenston. Upon the American side of the river, directly opposite, is the ancient looking village of Lewiston, once the scene of an Indian massacre, and famous in the history of this frontier.
page: 14-15[View Page 14-15]From these two places the river flows in a smooth current to Lake Ontario, a distance of seven miles. At the mouth of the river, upon the American shore, is the old Fort Niagara. Directly opposite stands guard the Canadian Fort Massasauga. From Lake Ontario steamboats bring their passengers up the river as far as Lewiston and Queenston.
No boat has ever attempted to ascend the rapids in the gorge. Only one instance of safe descent has been known, which was that of J. R. Robinson, an old resident at the Falls, whose daring and skill, among other good deeds of the kind, rescued Chapin in 1839, from an island in the rapids near the brink of the Falls, below Goat Island bridge, and near the spot where in 1853, citizens and strangers witnessed for eight hours the vain attempts to rescue Avery.
The village of Niagara Falls is upon the American side and has a population of four thousand inhabitants, besides the strangers who in summer throng its extensive hotels near the great cataract. It is estimated that more than one hundred thousand people visit this place annually. One peculiar feature of busy life near the large hotels and at interesting points upon the banks of the river, are the bazaars of Indians curiosities and geological specimens, and whatever the visitor could desire to take home as appropriate mementos of Niagara.
Goat Island, which divides the Falls, contains sixty-one acres, and is reached from the American side by an iron bridge over the rapids. Immediately below the Falls the river in the deep chasm, is for a short distance, safely crossed in small ferry boats, which the visitor may reach by descending a stairway of 291 steps. At the top of the banks the chasm is crossed by footmen and carriages, upon one of the longest suspension bridges in the world; where, upon the Canada side is one of the best and most extensive hotels in the country, built in this rural and romantic location to afford its guests a front view of the whole Falls. A still better view, however, is obtained by approaching near where the famous Table Rock once was. Large portions of this rock, which projected for a great distance over the chasm, fell in 1818, 1828 and 1850. Here, descending by a stairway into the chasm, the visitor may be safely guided into a cave behind the great sheet of water. The large number of visitors to this locality, upon the Canada side, led a gentleman of wealth and scientific taste, some years ago, to conceive the idea of building an extensive museum for the exhibition of natural and artificial objects of interest. For this purpose a fine and imposing stone structure was erected near Table Rock, where one of the most interesting and scientific collections is visited by the traveler. Another elegant stone building with a large observatory at its top, is built close upon the bank of the Canadian Fall. From this observatory the traveler obtains one of the grandest views of the Falls, the chasm, the rapids and the surrounding scenery.
page: 16-17[View Page 16-17]One mile west is the battle ground of Lundy's Lane, a point of historic interest, where that terrible midnight contest was fought between the United States forces under Gen. Scott, and the British under Gen. Drummond, July 25th, 1814, twenty days after the battle of Chippewa.
Among points of interest along the gorge of Niagara are Buttery's Rapids, the Whirlpool and the Devil's Hole. At the latter place, three and a half miles below the Falls, and upon the American side, a detachment of one hundred British soldiers, in 1763, were surprised by a party of Seneca Indians, and all but two men, Steadman and Mathews, were massacred or driven to destruction over the precipice. Near Brantford in Canada, sixty-five miles west of the scene of this massacre, is the grave of Brandt, the Indian chief who led on this terrible slaughter.
Across the chasm, two miles below the Falls, is the great railroad suspension bridge, completed in 1855, and the first of the kind ever constructed. Its magnificent and substantial appearance, with long trains of cars moving on its deck or upper floor, its net work sides, and footmen and carriages crossing on its lower floor, excite the wonder and admiration of every beholder. This bridge unites, in social intercourse, the American village of Niagara City with the Canadian village of Clifton. As railroad stations both places are more commonly known as Suspension Bridge. The New York Central Railroad being connected by this bridge to the Great Western, running through Canada and connecting with the Michigan Central, makes one of the most direct and desirable routes from New York city to Chicago and the West.
And now, dear reader, having given a somewhat lengthy historical introduction to the locality, we offer only a word about the story:
Its plot will illustrate how strangely and how secretly fortune and misfortune, happiness and sorrow, do sometimes come upon the realities of life, and how varied are the characters and the scenes in which God's designs are controlling human plans; from the pious contentment of Black Tom and the fisherman to the troubles of the dissipated Figsley; from the hypocrisy of the aristocratic Jared Bailey to the unsuspicious family of Deacon Sommers; from the anxieties of Miss Sommers and her rival lovers to the desponding Adeline and the mirthful Dinah.
It is well, too, if many a reader shall receive a few hints through some of the characters in this book, before meeting them elsewhere.
The interest and value of the story are greatly increased in the fact that some of the characters, especially the custom-house officers, and one of the rival lovers, bring to light much of the secret history of life and doings at Niagara. That this task might be correctly performed, the writer took occasion to become personally acquainted in the locality. And hence, reader, the manuscript for this book was written within sight of the great cataract.
THE AUTHOR.
