670 



OHIO. 



shall J. Williams, William T. Spear, Thaddeus 

 A. Minshall, Franklin J. Dickruan ; Clerk of 

 the Supreme Court, Urban H. Hester. 



Finances. The report of the Auditor shows 

 the balance to the credit of the general revenue 

 fund, Nov. 15, 1887, to have been $65,364; 

 receipts during 1888, $3,310,716. 75, this amount 

 including $100,000 advance draft drawn on the 

 taxes collected for the fiscal year 1889; dis- 

 bursements, $3,349.328.13 ; balance in treas- 

 ury, Nov. 15, 1888, $26,752.71. The sinking- 

 fund began the fiscal year with $102,294.08; 

 receipts, $894,511.77, this amount including 

 $10,000 advance draft drawn on the taxes col- 

 lected for 1889; disbursements, $995,357.16; 

 leaving balance $1 ,448.69. The State common- 

 school fund had on hand $54.620.56 ; receipts, 

 $1,690,961.04; disbursements, $1,654,057.50; 

 balance, $91,524.10. During the year the pub- 

 lic funded debt of the State was reduced by 

 the payment of loans to the amount of $619,- 

 800. On Nov. 15, 1888, the public funded debt 

 of the State was $3.046,665, of which $5,000 

 was foreign loan not bearing interest, $1,665 

 domestic debt, and the remainder 3-per-cent. 

 loans payable July 1 yearly in sums of $250,- 

 000, except in 1899, $240,000, and 18'.)o, sMoo,- 

 000. The irreducible State debt (tru?t funds) 

 was 45,638,127. The aggregate of local debts 

 in the State, was $56,780,024.40, divided as fol- 

 lows : Counties, $7,110,343.24; cities, $44,- 

 831,672.15; incorporated villages, $1,937,403.- 

 24; townships, $451,734.76; special school 

 districts, $2.448,871.01. There has been a 

 steady annual increase of local indebtedness, 

 mostly in counties and cities. 



Property and Taxation. The value of all taxa- 

 ble real estate and personal property in the 

 State, according to the consolidated tax dupli- 

 cate of 1888, is as follows: Real estate in cities, 

 towns, and villages, $477,604,587 ; real estate 

 not in cities, towns, or villages, $722,459,608 ; 

 chattel property, $531,994,601 ; total taxable 

 values, $1,732,058,796. The taxes levied for 

 1889 on that basis are : Total State purposes 

 (2 9-10 mills), $5,020,384.81 ; county purposes, 

 $8,594,293.55; township, city, school, and spe- 

 cial taxes, $19,318,687.33; levies for all pur- 

 poses, $32,933,365.69 : per-capita tax on dogs 

 for the sheep fund, $203,840; total taxes, 

 including all the delinquinces of former years, 

 $35,481,758.62. 



Railroads. The Commissioner of Railroads, in 

 his annual report, gives the railroad mileage of 

 entire lines that pass through Ohio, and places 

 the Ohio mileage at about 10,227-j- miles ; of 

 this amount about 467-J- miles are in the hands 

 of receivers, and of this total amount of track 

 0,960| miles are laid with steel rail and 2,059^ 

 miles with iron. The total train mileage was 

 91.420,208, and of cars 1,489,572,169. The to- 

 tal tonnage of freight yielding revenue was 87,- 

 030,555 ; total number of cars, 136,531. The 

 average of passengers killed to number carried 

 is 1 to 3,334,196. The number injured was 

 1,453, an average of one to 582,161 carried. 



Centennial Celebrations. The centennial of the 

 settlement of Ohio and organization of the Ter- 

 ritory of the Northwest was celebrated on four 

 different occasions during the year. The first 

 was at Marietta, to commemorate the landing 

 at that place of the first colony, April 7, 1788. 

 A second celebration was held in July at the 

 same place to commemorate the organization 

 of civil government in the new territory. Each 

 celebration occupied several days and was par- 

 ticipated in by representatives of other States, 

 orations being delivered by Hon. George F. 

 Hoar, of Massachusetts, Hon. John Randolph 

 Tucker, of Virginia, Hon. William M. Evarts, 

 of New York, and Hon. John W. Daniel, of 

 Virginia, in addition to a number of speeches 

 by eminent citizens of Ohio. The centennial 

 celebration of the Ohio valley and Central 

 States was held at Cincinnati and took the 

 form of an exhibition showing the progress and 

 present prosperity of those States. The exhi- 

 bition was opened July 4 with exercises in 

 which the States of Kentucky, Pennsylvania, 

 Indiana, and Nebraska were represented by 

 their respective executives and other officials 

 and distinguished citizens. The Ohio Centen- 

 nial celebration was at Columbus, taking the 

 place of the annual State fair. It was opened 

 September 4 with speeches by State and visit- 

 ing officials, the States of Massachusetts and 

 Connecticut being officially represented, and 

 continued to October 19. 



White Caps. Ohio had been free from organ- 

 ized bands of outlaws that under various names 

 had troubled neighboring States, but on the 

 night of November 17 there suddenly appeared 

 in the town of Sardinia, Brown County, a band 

 of from thirty to fifty horsemen, wearing masks 

 and calling themselves " White Caps," who 

 went to the house of Adam Berkes, dragged 

 him from his bed and severely whipped him, 

 on the ground of immoral conduct. The local 

 authorities failing to take cognizance of the 

 crime, appeal was made to the Governor. In 

 a message to the Legislature, the Governor said 

 an investigation was immediately instituted, by 

 which it was disclosed that a regular organiza- 

 tion had been formed of a secret, oath-bound 

 character, with a growing membership, includ- 

 ing some prominent respectable and responsi- 

 ble citizens ; and that they were proceeding 

 upon the theory that they would be strong 

 enough to take the law into their own hands, 

 defy the local authorities, and bring prosecu- 

 tions against their members to naught if at- 

 tempted. The declared purpose of the order 

 was to protect society from petty crimes and 

 misdemeanors for which, it was alleged, the 

 tedious and expensive processes of the law af- 

 forded no adequate relief. It was manifest that 

 the organization must be broken up at once. 

 But it was difficult to ascertain who its mem- 

 bers were, and to command the evidence ne- 

 cessary to support a prosecution and secure a 

 conviction. No one that belonged to the or- 

 ganization could be found who could be, under 



