Researched by Sharon M. Kouns

IR Thursday, April 27, 1854 - MEMORIAL
DOCTOR C. BRIGGS
To the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, remonstrating against the repeal of charter of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company.
Your memorialist, a stockholder and director in the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, being too ill, at the time, to examine with care the memorial to your Honorable Body signed by a great majority of the stockholders in same company; and believing - owing to the haste with which said memorial was necessarily prepared - that some facts have not been stated with sufficient clearness and others entirely overlooked, most respectfully requests the attention of each member of the Legislature to the following statement of facts:
Your memorialist drew the charter of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company; was instrumental in procuring its passage by the Legislature; took an active part in its organization, and since then to the present time, has been a director in said Company and was its Secretary from its organization till the Spring of 1851; and has, therefore, that knowledge and sustains that relation to other stockholders which will enable him to give a true and impartial history of its origin, policy, action and results since its corporate existence.
To understand fully the origin of the Company and the objects it was designed to accomplish, it is necessary to appreciate to some extent the resources of Lawrence and the adjoining counties in Iron and Coal and the condition of this mineral region previous to the organization of said company. It is the Iron region of South-eastern Ohio; contains rich deposits of Iron Ore and Coal, and embraces parts of the counties of Lawrence, Scioto, Jackson, Gallia, Vinton, Athens and Hocking. Its great value will be better appreciated by contrasting it with the most valuable Iron District of England - that of South Staffordshire which is twenty-one miles long and seven miles broad. A little more than fifty years ago it contained ten Furnaces making about thirteen thousand tons of Iron annually. In 1846 it contained one hundred and forty-six Furnaces, making annually, between 500,000 and 600,000 tons of Iron. This rapid increase in the production of Pig Iron caused a corresponding development of manufacturing, commercial and other interests. Railroads and Canals were constructed connecting the district with the sea-coast and every part of Great Britain; and the population increased from a few thousand, to upwards of two hundred thousand, besides the immense increase in the manufacturing towns in the vicinity, viz.: Birmingham with a population of upwards of two hundred thousand, and Dudley and Wolverhampton, also large manufacturing towns in the vicinity depending mainly for their growth upon the Staffordshire Iron and Coal. All this was accomplished in about fifty years, and in a district of country only twenty-one miles long and seven miles broad. The Coal and Iron used in producing these wonderful results were taken from a depth of between five and six hundred feet beneath the surface, and the ore from a seam only five or six inches in thickness!
Now the Iron region of South Eastern Ohio is far superior to that just described as to extent, the character and abundance of the ores, and the facilities for working them Including a small part of Kentucky, this region is more than seventy miles long and twelve miles broad, being more than seven times as large as that of Staffordshire, with the coal and ore cropping out at the surface, thus affording great facilities for mining over the whole district.
The following extract from a document carefully prepared by YOUR MEMORIALIST in 1838 may, with propriety, be quoted here:
“In Closing the hasty sketch of the Iron Ore and Coal deposits of this series of Strata,” (in the counties of Lawrence, Scioto and Jackson) “it may be proper to glance at the future importance of the manufacturing of Iron in this part of the State.
The prosperity of this branch of industry is always mainly dependent upon the abundance of the raw materials which must be used, and the small amount of labor and expense with which they can be obtained. Here, we have all the facilities necessary to success. The fuel, fluxes, and ores are so abundant, and contiguous to each other, and can be obtained with so little expense, that the manufacture of iron, under judicious regulations, cannot fail to be eminently successful
At a very low calculation of the amount of good iron ore in the region which has this season been explored, it is equal to a solid, unbroken stratum, sixty miles in length, six miles in width, and three feet in thickness.
From this estimate, which it is believed is much too low, it appears that the iron ores of this portion of the State are not only sufficient to supply all demands for ages, but to form an important article of commerce with other States.
There can be no doubt that the manufacture of iron will continue to increase for many years; and , with the exception of agriculture, it may become the most important branch of industry to the citizens of the State. To be convinced of this, reference need only be made to the constantly increasing demand for iron, the facilities for its manufacture, and the amount annually imported into this country.
In reflection upon the prospective importance of the iron business to Ohio, a question naturally suggest itself, as to the necessary supply of fuel; for if dependence be placed entirely upon charcoal for smelting operations, this branch of industry must be comparatively limited. And, as the forests in this ferriferous region will be sufficient to reduce only a small part of the ores, our attention, on a subject of so much importance, should not only be directed to economy in the use of fuel, and to the preservation of our forests, but to the means of obtaining a sufficient supply from some other source.
Perhaps no fears need be entertained on this head, as the introduction of the hot blast, and the probability that some beds of bituminous coal will be soon brought into use for the smelting of iron ores, renders it nearly certain that this branch of industry will never receive a check from an insufficient supply of fuel.”
Notwithstanding the great mineral resources of this region, its development, until within the last few years, has been comparatively slow. It embraces a part of the State, the least desirable for agriculture. That which lies in Lawrence and Scioto counties, has a rugged and uneven surface, with steep hills and narrow valleys. North of this to the Hocking, the valleys are wider, the soil richer and the surface of the country is less broken. Though doubtless undervalued for agriculture purposes, yet the best part of it has been widely known and spoken of in terms of ridicule as, “the Huckleberry Knobs of Jackson.” Hence the population was sparse and no towns sprang up in the interior or at its outlet on the Ohio river, that attracted the attention of the laborer, the artisan and capitalist. Those who desired superior advantages of society and education, either removed to other towns, or sent their children abroad to be education. Thus, the region was from time to time drained of a part of its business talent and capital which was greatly needed for its future development.
The first Blast Furnace was erected about thirty years since. In 1849 when the Ohio Iron and Coal company was organized there were from 30 to 34 Furnaces making in the aggregate about 50,000 tons of iron annually, which, with the exception of that consumed in the rolling mill and foundry at Hanging Rock, was sent to other towns to be converted into bar iron, castings, nails, &c. A large part of it was sent out of the state, chiefly to Wheeling and Pittsburgh, which, after being manufactured, was re-shipped down the river to a market at a cost that would make a large item in the profits of the manufacturer; while it was believed it could be more cheaply manufactured in the region in which it was produced.
This, then, was the condition of this iron district, thus briefly described , previous to the organization of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company - a great part unfit for agriculture - a rugged and uneven surface - bad roads - a sparse population - without towns which could concentrate labor, skill and capital - business men of talent and capital, seeking more favorable locations, for society and education - and its great mineral resources only partially developed, but capable of producing more iron annually than is now made in the United States.
It had been the opinion of your memorialist since his first acquaintance with this district in 1837, that its superior advantages for the manufacture of Pig Iron and its conversion into the various forms required by civilized life, were such as to enable it to compete with any part of the world. But, as before shown, there were great obstacles in the way. The capital, skill and labor were not here. - Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Wheeling and other towns had made so great progress in manufacturing, that most intelligent business men believed, that with all our natural advantages, we could not compete with them. These manufacturing towns had the labor, skill, capital, - all the superior advantages of education and other benefits of well organized society - we were, comparatively, without them. The future in this regard seemed hopeless. Thus most believed. Your memorialist, however was of the opinion that all these obstacles, great as they were, might be overcome by the following means:
1st. By the construction of a Railroad from some suitable point on the Ohio river through this region to intersect with other roads in the interior of the State, so as to open fully this great store-house of Iron and Coal.
2nd. By selecting a suitable site for manufacturing operations; holding out liberal inducements to manufacturers and others, in the donation of grounds &c., and bringing within the reach of a manufacturing population, the social, religious, and educational advantages of well organized society.
3rd. By determining the practicability of substituting the stone coal for charcoal in the reduction of the iron ores - which if successful, would make the manufacture of Pig Iron permanent, and so extensive that the supply would only be limited by the demand.
If these objects could be accomplished, it was evident to your memorialist that the progress of this region in manufactures and population, in the arts and sciences - in all the best interest of community would be rapid beyond precedent - unparalleled in the history of the State; all the natural elements of growth were here. BUT TO DEVELOP THEM ASSOCIATED CAPITAL, SKILL AND LABOR WERE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
In the Autumn of 1848 circumstances, not necessary here to mention seemed favorable for carrying out these views, (which for a long time had been entertained by Mr. John Campbell and your memorialist and before they were personally known to each other); and therefore an association of iron manufacturers and others was formed, and the charter of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company obtained March 23, 1849.
This preliminary statement has been made that the Legislature and the public may fully understand and appreciate the objects for which the company was organized, and the corporate powers necessary to accomplish those objects.
Section 2nd of the Charter declares the objects of the Company to be:
1st. To develop more fully the mineral resources of Lawrence and the adjoining counties, especially their resources in Iron and Coal.
2nd. To convert and encourage the conversion of the raw materials into the appropriate manufactured articles and merchandise.
3rd. To determine by actual experiment the practicability of substituting the stone coal for charcoal in the reduction of the Iron ores.
Section 3rd and 4th of the Charter gives the company the powers necessary to carry out these objects - powers not granted in the general law, relative to incorporation for manufacturing and other purposes passed February 9th, 1846, and therefore requiring a special act. These powers are:
1st. To hold and convey real estate in all respects the same as natural persons. The purposes for which this power is given is stated in the following language of the Charter. –‘TO ENCOURAGE THE ERECTION OF MANUFACTUING ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE VICINITY, and for other purposes connected with the operations of the company, said COMPANY MAY GIVE OR LEASE, OR SELL AND CONVEY ANY PART OR PARTS OF THEIR PREMISES IN ALL RESPECTS THE SAME AS NATURAL PERSONS.”
2nd. The power to subscribe stock to any railroad in the vicinity to an amount not exceeding $100,000 for the purpose of facilitating the transportation of the products of mines, &c.
These are the only points in which the Charter of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company has any POWER not granted by the general law above mentioned. But it differs materially from charters under that law in the fact, that THE STOCKHOLDERS ARE INDIVIDUALLY LIABLE FOR ALL THE DEBTS OF THE COMPANY.
Your attention is here called to the fact that this Charter grants NO SPECIAL PRIVILEGES - NO POWERS, which any private individual or association of individuals, may not exercise under the laws of this State. The stockholders are held to the fullest extent personally responsible for all their acts and INDIVIDUALLY LIABLE FOR ALL THE DEBTS OF THE COMPANY. All the advantages, therefore, obtained from the Charter, is that it enables them to act promptly and efficiently in carrying out the purposes of their organization.
April 23rd, 1849 the Company was organized according to the laws of this State, by making, acknowledging before a magistrate - and filing for record the following certificate:
“An act having passed the Legislature of the State of Ohio, March 23rd, 1849, creating John Campbell, Joseph W. Dempsey, Henry Blake, Caleb Briggs, J. W. Means, John Ellison, James A. Richey and others and their associated a body corporate under the name of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, we whose names are hereunto annexed, associated under said act of incorporation for the object mentioned therein, make the following certificate in conformity to an act of the Legislature of Ohio relative to incorporation for manufacturing and other purposes passed February 9th, 1846, to wit:
“1st. The objects of said Ohio Iron and Coal Company are to develop more fully the mineral resources of Lawrence and the adjoining counties, - especially their resources in Iron and Coal, - and to convert, and encourage the conversion of the raw materials into the appropriate manufactured articles and merchandise, and to determine by actual experiment the practicability of substituting the stone coal for charcoal in the reduction of the Iron ores.
“2nd. The capital stock of said company, shall be fifty thousand dollars, and divided into one thousand shares, and the price of each share, shall be fifty dollars.
“3rd. There have been selected seven directors or trustees, and to them has been entrusted the business of said company until the time fixed by law for the annual meeting; said directors or trustees are John Campbell, John Peters, William D. Kelly, James W. Means, Caleb Briggs, John Ellison and Washington Irwin.
“4th. The business of said company will be carried on in Lawrence county, and their principal office for business will be on the Ohio river in Upper township, near the mouth of Storms Creek, where said company propose to lay out a town to be called Ironton, with the view of carrying out one of the objects of incorporation, namely, TO ENCOURAGE THE ERECTION OF MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE VICINITY FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE RAW MATERIALS INTO THE VARIOUS MANUFACTURED ARTICLES AND MERCHANDISE.
Hanging Rock April 23, 1849.
SIGNED:
Caleb Briggs John Campbell Jos. W. Dempsey
John Peters Washington Irwin William D. Kelly
Jas. W. Means William Ellison H. S. Willard
James O. Willard Wm. H. Kelly David T. Woodrow
John Culbertson Smith Ashcraft John Ellison
John E. Clark George Steece Hiram Campbell
Henry Blake
It should here be observed that the construction of a railroad to penetrate this iron district being necessary, as before stated, to accomplish the objects of the company, your memorialist with others in 1848-49, procured the Charter of the Iron Railroad Company, “with power to construct a railroad from the Ohio River in Lawrence county, to the south line of Jackson, and thence in a northerly direction to intersect the line of the Belpre and Cincinnati Railroad Company,” - thus passing more than fifty miles through the richest part of the Iron and Coal region of Southern Ohio. The Iron Railroad Company and the Ohio Iron and Coal Company were both organized on the same day and by the same persons - all the stockholders in the one being the stockholders also in the other. For each share taken in the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, two were taken in the Railroad Company.
Thus there was subscribed to the capital stock of the former $39,350; and to the capital stock of the latter $78,650 making in the aggregate $118,000 - all subscribed by citizens of that part of the county of Lawrence in the iron district, or by those who owned property therein. This was all the stock that could be procured for the p_____________________________ companies were organized.
The Ohio Iron and coal Company soon after its organization purchased the greater part of the LaGrange Furnace and lands, with some bottom lands on the Ohio River, in all between four and five thousand acres, and at a cost between thirty-three and thirty-four thousand dollars.
It being evident that the company had not at the time sufficient means to carry on the La Grange Furnace it was, therefore, rented for a term of years. But it is now and has been, in the possession and use of the company, since last autumn -so far as necessary to prepare for the work of the present year.
At a meeting of the directors, May 3rd, 1849, it was “resolved that John Campbell, C. Briggs and W. D. Kelly be authorized to lay out a town on the lands of the Company above the mouth of Storms Creek for the purpose of encouraging the erection of manufacturing establishments and other purposes connected with the operations of the Company - that said town shall be called Ironton, - that suitable grounds shall be appropriated in the laying off said town for a market, Court House and offices; and for the public buildings of said town, - that four suitable lots shall be given for churches, each to a different denomination of Christians, and lots for school houses for public schools, and that the President cause the plat and survey of said town to be prepared and recorded agreeably to law in the records of the County of Lawrence.”
In accordance with the above resolution the town of Ironton was laid off and the plat and survey thereof recorded. A sale of lots was made on the 20th day of June, 1849.
The following considerations governed the Company in the disposal of this property:
1st. It was evident that the projected town must depend for growth, almost exclusively, upon the introduction of manufactures, for which it was laid out to encourage and facilitate. - Hence it was agreed to donate grounds for manufacturing purposes, lots for school houses, churches, public buildings, &c.
2nd. It had been found from an experience of many years, by the Iron Manufacturers in the vicinity, that the sale and use of intoxicating liquors in the neighborhood of their establishments was, in every point of view, injurious to themselves and to those whom they employed. Believing therefore that the sale of intoxicating liquors would be a great evil, both to the manufacturer and laborer, and a great obstacle to a speedy and successful introduction of manufactures, all conveyances of real estate were made on condition that no intoxicating liquors should ever be sold thereon.
3rd. As the growth of many towns in the state had been greatly retarded by the cupidity of speculators, who held property without improving it, to the manifest injury of the public, purchases were, therefore, required, in contracts for sale to improve within a reasonable time.
Under this wise and prudential policy in the disposal of the property of the Company, the growth and prosperity of manufactures at Ironton, has hitherto been almost unparalleled in the history of the country. In less than five years by the persevering and judiciously directed efforts of the Company there has been attracted to this point a manufacturing population of between three and four thousand, enjoying all the advantages of good schools, churches and other benefits of a well organized community, and that for industry, morality and intelligence challenges comparison with any manufacturing town in the country. These great results have been produced by that policy which has been represented to the Legislature as “hateful and odious” to the citizens of Ironton.
Your memorialist would further state that he is not a stockholder in the Iron Bank nor an owner in any Iron property on the line of the Iron Railroad, and therefore sustains that relation to other stockholders as enables him to give an impartial statement of its operations: That the Ohio Iron and Coal Company has hitherto endeavored to carry out the legitimate purposes of its organization - that, as far as has been in the power of the Company, it has aided and encouraged the introduction of manufactures, and with the most successful results: that it has aided in the construction of the Iron Railroad: that it has opened mines of Iron Ore and Coal; and that it has engaged in mining and manufacture so far as its means would permit. These facts are fully set forth and proved by the memorial of the stockholders, now before your Honorable Body, and the accompanying affidavits to which attention is here directed.
Now in view of the preceding statement of facts, and of the memorial now before your Honorable Body signed by a majority of stockholders of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, your memorialist would request a careful examination of the extraordinary memorial of Ralph Leete and James Steece made to the Legislature under the solemnity of an oath. Under such circumstances, where the interests of the community and of individuals are deeply involved, it would be supposed that all statements would be made with most perfect fairness and candor, and with such care as to avoid even the possibility of error, or the conveying of a false impression. Your memorialist would avoid harsh epithets and speak as fair as possible of this remarkable document in the gentlest terms: But he would call attention to the following particulars in said memorial as either untrue or as conveying false impression, as is fully proved by preceding statements, and the affidavits of the following persons, viz.:
Isaac Brown, George P. Rogers, Dan. J. Lewis, George W. Willard, Samuel Richards, and others, to wit:
1st. That after laying out a large part of the bottom lands on the Ohio River into lots, “said Company opened a Land Office at Ironton and engaged in the sale of lots and the dealing in real estate.”
2nd. “That said corporation has confined its business operations to trading in and selling real estate.”
3rd. That said company “in 1853 purchased several tracts of land adjoining the said tract of 350 acres on the Ohio River.”
4th. That the present extent of the Iron Rail Road “is six miles north of any lands owned by the Company.”
5th. “That the Iron Ore mines of the said Iron and Coal Company are incapable of being profitably worked.”
6th. “That the said Ohio Iron and Coal Company, has not yet opened any mines ore engaged in the mining or manufacturing business.”
7th. That the impression is conveyed that John Ellison, Samuel W. Dempsey, John Culbertson and R. B. Hamilton are stockholders in the Iron Bank of Ironton.
8th. That the funds of the Company have now accumulated to a large sum, to about the amount of fifteen or twenty thousand dollars:” and that “they are advised, they form a capital on which said Bank does business.”
Truly under the circumstances, the memorial of the said Leete and Steece is a most remarkable document!!
In conclusion your memorialist would earnestly remonstrate against the repeal of the Charter of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company for the following reasons: - -
1st. That the grounds set forth for repeal in the __________________________ not exist.
2nd. That such repeal would be injurious both to the stockholders and the community; that the means which the company have heretofore employed most successfully for the encouragement of manufacturers must cease; that large amounts of capital that would otherwise seek this place for investment in manufactures, will be diverted to other points, - and especially to Ashland, in Kentucky - a town about three miles above this on the Ohio River, recently laid out by intelligent and enterprising capitalists WHO HAVE ADOPTED AND WILL CARRY OUT, THE SAME POLICY which has caused, hitherto, the almost unprecedented GROWTH OF IRONTON.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
April 19, 1854 C. BRIGGS
________
¬¬¬¬Note. A copy of Samuel Richards deposition is not at hand for publication. It shows, with other facts, that the average amount of cash in the Treasurer’s hands has not exceeded $1,610 since J. O. Willard has been Treasurer of the Company. That the largest accumulation of funds ever occurred was $9,484.97.
_________
(AFFIDAVIT)
I, Dan J. Lewis, of Ironton, Ohio, do say that in the year 1849 I did open a stone coal mine and dug and mined from it several thousand bushels of stone coal, supplying stone coal to a large portion of the inhabitants of Ironton, from said bank which was on the land of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company near Ironton, That I also mined limestone on their land and burnt it with stone coal about the same time. Also that there was dug for La Grange Furnace about the same time on the land of said Company a large quantity of iron ore near Ironton and sent about three miles on the Iron Railroad to La Grange Furnace. Also that in the fore part of the year 1851 the Ohio Iron and Coal Company employed Lewis and Williams to drive in a coal mine 450 feet under the ground, six miles from Ironton on the lands of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company and on the line of the Iron Railroad. That said mine was proved to be a superior one, averaging about four feet in thickness the whole 450 feet. That there is six or more mines of good workable coal opened by said company in the river hill from which there has been dug by myself and others for the Ohio Iron and Coal Company from their own mines more than (1,000,000) one million bushels stone coal between the spring of 1849 and January, 1854. That the Ohio Iron and Coal Company opened another good mine of coal on their lands on the Iron Railroad about six miles from Ironton from the appearance of which mine it is about 5 feet thick, there has been a large amount put on to the Railroad. Further that I have mined and sent to market hundreds of tons of fire clay from the lands of the said Ohio Iron and Coal Company. That I within the last four years dug more than 1000 tons of good iron ore on the lands of said Company which was transported about three miles on the Iron Railroad for Wm. D. Kelley & Brother.
Ironton, April 19, 1854
(Signed) DAN J. LEWIS
(Sworn and subscribed before S. P. Calvin, Mayor of Ironton, April 19, 1854)

I, James Smythe do hereby certify that I have been a resident of Ironton for more than four years and that I have been during that time familiar with facts in the within statement sworn to by Dan J. Lewis and believe them to be substantially true as set forth by said Lewis; and I further say that I have distributed great quantities of said coal among the citizens of Ironton.
(Signed) JAMES SMYTHE
(Sworn to and subscribed before S. P. Calvin, Mayor of Ironton, April 19, 1854.
(AFFIDAVIT)
We were employed by John Campbell, Pres., of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, about the 1st of Oct., 1853, to open a coal bank on the lands of said Company about six miles from the Ohio river, which bank or mine we run under the hill about one hundred feet - working by the day at it - since which time we have been digging coal in the said mine all the time and delivering it on the Iron Railroad by the bushel for the Ohio Iron and coal Company, with two or three hands in said mine with us at work. We have delivered several thousand bushels.
WILLIAM RICHARDS
his
MORGAN X MORGAN
mark
(Subscribed and sworn to before S. Walter, J. P.)
(AFFIDAVIT)
I, Isaac Brown, say that I commenced doing business as agent of the Ohio Iron and Coal Co., at La Grange Furnace, Nov. 16th, 1853, for the purpose of manufacturing pig iron from the raw material; commenced work as follows: I had possession of one of the warehouses on the 21st of Nov. for the purpose of storing groceries and provisions for the use of labor at the furnace; contracted for chopping the first wood on or about the 24th of Nov. in the year 1853; also commenced opening a stone coal mine on the 31st Jan., present year, for the use of the smith shop and other uses about the furnace - also commenced digging iron ore on farm now owned by Joseph Sutton, about seven miles from La Grange furnace, which would be transported about three miles on the Iron Railroad, about the 1st Jan. of the present year; also commenced digging iron ore on the How farm, now owned by the Ohio Iron and Coal Co., about the 1st March of the present year. On the 1st March of the present year I had counted and paid for two thousand two hundred and seven cords of wood leaving a large amount in the different choppings not counted, but partly paid for; I also got possession of the furnace and buildings as follows: one ware house as above stated, and the store house on the sixteenth of January of the present year, also bought the smith and carpenter tools on or about the sixteenth of January, but did not get possession until about the 1st Feb. I also had possession of the furnace, and all the buildings on or about the 15th March of the year 1854.
ISAAC BROWN
(Subscribed and sworn to before S. P. Calvin, Mayor of Ironton.)

(AFFIDAVIT)
I, George P. Rogers, state that I am not a stockholder in the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, Iron Railroad Company nor Iron Bank of Ironton, that I have been employed as manager or clerk the greater part of the time for twenty-five years. That I was clerk for Wm. D. Kelley and Brothers, who were lessees of La Grange Furnace from the 13th of February 1852 until the 15th of April 1854 at La Grange Furnace. That on the Iron Railroad there has been transported two-thirds or more of the ore used at said furnace, partly from good mines owned by said Company on their own lands near Ironton, partly from their own lands twelve miles from Ironton, and near the terminus of the Iron Railroad, and partly from two to eight miles from said La Grange Furnace; that I believe that the ore mines of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company are capable of being worked profitably - (Parts of this affidavit are omitted in the printing as they are only corroborative of the other affidavits.)
(Signed) GEO. P. ROGERS
(Subscribed and sworn to before Jos. Wheeler, Judge of Probate.)

(AFFIDAVIT)
George W. Willard makes solemn oath, and says that he has had charge of the books of the Iron Bank of Ironton, ever since it first went into operation, and that the aggregate amount of paid up stock owned by John Campbell, James O. Willard, John Peters and Hiram Campbell has never exceeded the sum of $28,300, being much less than one half of the paid up stock of said Bank; that John Culbertson, John Ellison, Samuel W. Dempsey and Robert B. Hamilton do not now own and have never owned, one dollar of the stock of said Bank.
(Signed) G. W. WILLARD
(Sworn to and subscribed before me this 22d day of April A. D., 1854, S. P. Calvin, Mayor of Ironton)

(AFFIDAVIT)
I, John Campbell, have been President of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company from the organization of said company till the present time; say that said company has not bought any lands on the Ohio River within the last three years, except about one and one-half acres for which they exchanged about one-half acre, in which trade they got $75, as the difference in value of the two pieces of land. That he has not used any means to get up any memorials or remonstrances to the General Assembly of the State of Ohio for or against the repeal of the charter of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, except the one signed by a majority of the stockholders dated April 4th, 1854. That he has not used any inducement or threat to any citizens of Ironton to induce them to sign or prevent them from signing any such paper; and further he does not know of any threat or inducement being made by any member or stockholder of said company for that purpose, nor does he know of any threats or inducements being made for said purpose by any of his partners in other business, or by any other person.
April 19, 1854 JOHN CAMPBELL
(Subscribed and sworn to before S. P. Calvin, Mayor of Ironton)
A “RETRAXIT”
Last week Ralph Leete, Repealer, desired from us, in our paper, an “open and complete retraxit.” It was not then in our power to furnish him with one of our own; but here is another man’s “retraxit,” both “open and complete,” which is at his service, and which we trust will answer his purpose fully as well as one of ours. Here it is:
MEMORIAL
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF OHIO. Your memorialist, a stockholder in the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, begs leave most respectfully to represent to your Honorable body, that in a statement made by him in writing, dated Jan’y 19th, 1854, in reference to the said Company, and which has been presented to you, he made several statements which he then believed to be true, owing to misrepresentations have been made to him, but which he has since ascertained to be erroneous; that several of the misrepresentations referred to were made by him by Ralph Leete professing to know the truth of things stated in said instrument as facts, and thus induced your memorialist to make many of the statements therein contained. With my present knowledge of the facts in the case I am most decidedly opposed to a repeal of the charter of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, and most respectfully request a withdrawal of the statement above mentioned, as well as that of my signature to a certain petition before your Honorable Body for purposes therein mentioned. W. H. KELLEY
Union Furnace Landing,
Lawrence Co., O., April 22, 1854
We will add a word. Gen. Kelley’s memorial to the Legislature for the repeal of the charter of the O.I. & C. Co. was very similar in its nature to that to which Ralph Leete, Repealer, attached his signature and oath, and it was probably drawn up by the said Leete. It placed the General in a false position, a position which he exceedingly regretted when he came to learn the truth of the matter, and he has had the courage and magnanimity to admit that he was led by misrepresentations, into the wrong, and to withdraw the said memorial. For this last act of his he will forfeit none of the good will of his own personal friends, whatever others may think of it. Our friend, the General, will learn from this experience of his - never to trust, without the most scrutinizing examination to a Demagogue in matters pertaining to Demagogue’s trade.
___________________________
“REPEAL.”
This - the Repeal of the Charter of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company - has been, for the past four weeks, the exciting and almost all-absorbing topic in Ironton. It is no longer such; at least, is no longer regarded as a serious matter. At our last advices there had been no decisive action in the Legislature in reference to the matter, but it appeared probable that not more than ten out of thirty-five Senators could be rallied in favor of the repeal, and we have seen a private letter from Judge Johnston, in which he state his belief that the repeal could not pass the House even if it should pass the Senate. Indeed it seems not altogether certain that any body at Columbus is now in favor of repeal, save perhaps, Ralph Leete, Repealer, and our Senator Anderson, Leete’s right-hand man in the contest, or Leete his-don’t care which way you have it.
V____________________ selves all over with - not “glory,” but ridicule, except that the case of Ralph Leete, Repealer, is a little more serious than that of ridicule. We have heard of some folks being compelled to crawl out of a very small hole, in order to extricate themselves from difficulty, but Leete worse off, the poor fellow, has no hole at all at which to crawl out, except to “emigrate,” and even that would not relieve him from reflecting on the unseemly beauties of his deceased favorite –“Repeal.”
But we will not probe “proud flesh;” only the case of Ralph Leete, Repealer, reminds us very much of that of the Negro, in the old story, who, in his joy, rolled over and over in the mud on hearing, as he vainly supposed, the celebrated Whitefield preach - he has badly dirtied his coat for nothing.