Description: RARE Autograph Letter Signed On Letterhead of Buffalo Agricultural Machine Works Signed y Lucian Hawley Appointed as Head of IRS - NY by Ulysses S Grant Broke up the Famous American "Whiskey Ring" of the 19th Century Buffalo, New York 1859 For offer, an original old manuscript letter. Fresh from an estate in Upstate NY. Never offered on the market until now. Vintage, Old, antique, Original - NOT a Reproduction - Guaranteed !! This letter was unearthed from a collection of letters found in a local estate, all folded up for many years. Originally from the Case business, in Vernon, NY (Salmon Case, and later S. Case's Sons). ALS. Rare billhead / letterhead of this company from Buffalo. Kirby's Mower and reaper, etc. Hawley was secretary, but was famous for breaking up the famous Whiskey Ring of the 1870s, among other things. Please see below for biography. In good to very good condition. Ink smudges, Fold marks (NOTE - these will be sent folded up, as found, to save on shipping). Please see photos for details. If you collect Americana history, American 19th century Civil War era, MS document related, politics, farming, etc., this is one you will not see again. A nice piece for your paper / ephemera collection. Perhaps some genealogy research information as well. Combine shipping on multiple bid wins! 1550 Hawley, Lucian, Buffalo, was born November 8, 1818, in Moreau, Saratoga county, N. Y., and in 1837 moved to Buffalo, which he has ever since claimed as his residence. He was educated in Glens Falls and in Buffalo, and read law in the latter city with Fillmore & Haven, of which the senior member was afterward president of the United States. Mr. Hawley remained with this firm until his admission to the bar in November, 1844, acting as their managing clerk; he then entered upon active practice, first in copartnership with Isaiah T. Williams, and also in 1846 with Nelson K. Hopkins. the firm name being Williams, Hopkins & Hawley. In 1847 this firm dissolved and Mr. Hawley associated himself with his brother, Seth C., until 1849, when he was appointed deputy collector of customs for this district. From 1853 to 1865 he was at various times managing clerk in the law office of John Ganson, traveling collector for Pratt & Co., secretary of the Commercial Advertiser Publishing Company, and secretary of the Buffalo Agricultural Machine Works. For eleven years from 1865 to 1876 he was engaged in the U. S. internal revenue service, being appointed by President Grant, in 1878, supervisor of internal revenue of this State with headquarters in New York city. In this capacity he was largely instrumental in procuring the downfall of the famous "whisky ring." which originated at St. Louis, but which extended all over the country. This occurred in 1875. Mr. Hawley had charge of the raid at St. Louis, and through him and other Federal officers the government indicted 238 persons and brought into court about three and a half millions of dollars worth of seized property. He resigned in February, 1876, but by request remained in office until May, when he returned to Buffalo, and has since been engaged in managing estates, etc., and in the practice of the law. He is a man of the highest integrity, respected by all, and possessed of broad experience. In every capacity he has faithfully discharged the duties and trusts reposed in him. Mr. Hawley has been three times married; first to Irene Burt Leech, of Buffalo, on April 19, 1848; second to Helen Goodrich, of Glens Falls, on January 16, 1857; and third to Lida Williams Jennings, of Lockport, Niagara county, on December 18, 1877. By his first marriage he had one son, George B., a wholesale dealer in plumbers' supplies, of Cincinnati, O., and a daughter, Irene B. (Mrs. Charles W. Jennings), of Grand Rapids, Mich. Source:Our County and its peopleA descriptive work on Erie County, New YorkEdited by: Truman C. WhiteThe Boston History Company, Published 1898 LUCIAN HAWLEY is one of the very few still spared by the great reaper whose professional associations carry him back to the days of Fillmore & Haven, Barker, Hawley & Sill, Clinton & Smith, and others of the strong men of Buffalo's early bar, two generations ago. In 1840, ten years before Millard Fillmore came to the presidency, Lucian Hawley was a law student in Fillmore & Haven's office, and for four years was managing clerk and kept their books. Mr. Hawley is now over eighty years old, but he would scarce be taken for more than sixty-five, so LUCIAN HAWLEY. well preserved is he. He gives the same active daily attention to business as he did twenty years ago. After his admission to the bar, in 1844, he began practice at Buffalo in copartnership with Isaiah T. Williams, and in 1846 with Nelson K. Hopkins, the firm being Williams, Hopkins & Hawley. In 1847 the firm dissolved, and Mr. Hawley associated himself with his brother, Seth C., until 1849, when he was appointed a deputy collector of customs for the Buffalo district. During the fifties Mr. Hawley was in the law office of John Ganson, who has left a memory with the * Explanatory – Mr. Hawley's father was a Bible reader and named his boy after the Roman paragrapher who lampooned St. Paul. That worthy had no other name, and spelled it Lucian, and this one has felt bound to stand by the old man's choice, altho' he thinks if his father had looked at Lucian as he counsellor. His clients and friends fondly know has, the boy might have had another name. [graphic]older attorneys of Buffalo as a legal giant of that time. For eleven years, from 1865 to 1876, Mr. Hawley was engaged in the United States internal revenue service. In 1873 he was appointed by President Grant supervisor of internal revenue of the State of New York, with headquarters in New York city. In this capacity he was largely instrumental in producing the downfall of the famous “whiskey ring,” which originated at St. Louis, but which extended all over the country. This occurred in 1875. Mr. Hawley had charge of the raid at St. Louis, and through him and other Federal officers the government indicted 238 persons and brought into court about three and a half million dollars' worth of seized property. This work had been so well done that during the fall after the St. Louis raid the secretary of the treasury sent Mr. Hawley to San Francisco to break up the whiskey ring existing on the Pacific coast. Owing to the political prominence of many persons connected with it, and the great difficulties they were able to place in his way, he saw that success could hardly attend his work, and he resigned in February, 1876 and returned east, but by request remained in office until May, when he returned to Buffalo. He has since been engaged in the practice of law and in managing estates. He is a man of the highest integrity and respected by all. Mr. Hawley was born November 8, 1818, in Moreau, Saratoga county, N. Y. He was educated at Glens Falls and in Buffalo, having removed to Buffalo in 1837, where he has since resided. Mr. Hawley has been three times married, first to Irene Burt Leech, of Buffalo, April 19, 1848; second to Helen Goodrich, of Glens Falls, January 16, 1857; and third to Lida Williams Jennings, of Washington city, December 18, 1877. By his first marriage he had one son, George B., a wholesale dealer in plumbers' supplies, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and a daughter, Irene B. (Mrs. Charles W. Jennings), of Grand Rapids, Mich. A contemporary cartoon about the Whiskey RingIn the United States, the Whiskey Ring was a scandal, exposed in 1875, involving diversion of tax revenues in a conspiracy among government agents, politicians, whiskey distillers, and distributors. The Whiskey Ring began in St. Louis but was also organized in Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Peoria. The scheme involved an extensive network of bribes involving distillers, rectifiers, gaugers, storekeepers, and internal revenue agents. Essentially, distillers bribed government officials, and those officials helped the distillers evade federal taxes on the whiskey they produced and sold. Whiskey was supposed to be taxed at 70 cents per gallon, however distillers would instead pay the officials 35 cents per gallon and the illicit whiskey was stamped as having the tax paid. Before they were caught, a group of politicians were able to siphon off millions of dollars in federal taxes. U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin Bristow, working without the knowledge of the President or the Attorney General, broke the tightly connected and politically powerful ring in 1875 using secret agents from outside the Treasury department to conduct a series of raids across the country on May 10, 1875. The trials began at Jefferson City, Missouri in October 1875. Ultimately, 110 convictions were made and over $3 million in taxes were recovered. President Grant appointed General John Brooks Henderson (a former U.S. Senator from Missouri) to serve as special prosecutor in charge of the indictments and trials, but Grant eventually fired Gen. Henderson for challenging Grant's interference in the prosecutions. Grant replaced Henderson with attorney James Broadhead. The Whiskey Ring was seen by many as a sign of corruption under the Republican governments that took power across the nation following the American Civil War. General Orville E. Babcock, the private secretary to the President, was indicted as a member of the ring — for this reason, President Ulysses S. Grant, although not directly involved in the ring, came to be seen as emblematic of Republican corruption, and later scandals involving his Secretary of War William W. Belknap only confirmed that perception. The Whiskey Ring along with other alleged abuses of power by the Republican party, contributed to national weariness of Reconstruction, which ended Grant's presidency with the Compromise of 1877. Ulysses Grant Administration scandals The Buffalo Agricultural Machine Works are another extensive concern in this branch of manufactures. The proprietors of these works have the control of several patented machines—among others, of Kirby's American Harvester, a Buffalo invention. The distinctive feature of this Combined Mower and Reaper is that it will work as well on rough as on smooth ground. This is accomplished by an arrangement by which the finger-bar is independent in its action, or, in other words, rises and falls in following the inequalities of the ground independently of the driving wheel. It is also recommended for its exceeding lightness of draft, and being made of iron it is not affected by exposure to dew, or showers, or sun. This Company have also introduced to the notice of the agricultural community a Combined Mower and Reaper which is easily drawn by one horse, and is said to be capable of doing as much work as most machines that require two horses. The Works are the property of a stock company with a large capital, air paid in, of which George L. Squier is President, Lucien Hawley Secretary, and John Valentine, Superintendent. This firm made a Gould pattern mortiser. Agricultural machinery is machinery used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that they tow or operate. Diverse arrays of equipment are used in both organic and nonorganic farming. Especially since the advent of mechanised agriculture, agricultural machinery is an indispensable part of how the world is fed. HistoryThe Industrial RevolutionWith the coming of the Industrial Revolution and the development of more complicated machines, farming methods took a great leap forward.[1] Instead of harvesting grain by hand with a sharp blade, wheeled machines cut a continuous swath. Instead of threshing the grain by beating it with sticks, threshing machines separated the seeds from the heads and stalks. The first tractors appeared in the late 19th century.[2] Steam powerPower for agricultural machinery was originally supplied by ox or other domesticated animals. With the invention of steam power came the portable engine, and later the traction engine, a multipurpose, mobile energy source that was the ground-crawling cousin to the steam locomotive. Agricultural steam engines took over the heavy pulling work of oxen, and were also equipped with a pulley that could power stationary machines via the use of a long belt. The steam-powered machines were low-powered by today's standards but, because of their size and their low gear ratios, they could provide a large drawbar pull. Their slow speed led farmers to comment that tractors had two speeds: "slow, and damn slow." Internal combustion enginesThe internal combustion engine; first the petrol engine, and later diesel engines; became the main source of power for the next generation of tractors. These engines also contributed to the development of the self-propelled, combined harvester and thresher, or combine harvester (also shortened to 'combine'). Instead of cutting the grain stalks and transporting them to a stationary threshing machine, these combines cut, threshed, and separated the grain while moving continuously through the field. Types A John Deere cotton harvester at work in a cotton field. From left to right: John Deere 7800 tractor with Houle slurry trailer, Case IH combine harvester, New Holland FX 25 forage harvester with corn head. A New Holland TR85 combine harvesterCombines might have taken the harvesting job away from tractors, but tractors still do the majority of work on a modern farm. They are used to push implements—machines that till the ground, plant seed, and perform other tasks. Tillage implements prepare the soil for planting by loosening the soil and killing weeds or competing plants. The best-known is the plow, the ancient implement that was upgraded in 1838 by John Deere. Plows are now used less frequently in the U.S. than formerly, with offset disks used instead to turn over the soil, and chisels used to gain the depth needed to retain moisture. The most common type of seeder is called a planter, and spaces seeds out equally in long rows, which are usually two to three feet apart. Some crops are planted by drills, which put out much more seed in rows less than a foot apart, blanketing the field with crops. Transplanters automate the task of transplanting seedlings to the field. With the widespread use of plastic mulch, plastic mulch layers, transplanters, and seeders lay down long rows of plastic, and plant through them automatically. After planting, other implements can be used to cultivate weeds from between rows, or to spread fertilizer and pesticides. Hay balers can be used to tightly package grass or alfalfa into a storable form for the winter months. Modern irrigation relies on machinery. Engines, pumps and other specialized gear provide water quickly and in high volumes to large areas of land. Similar types of equipment can be used to deliver fertilizers and pesticides. Besides the tractor, other vehicles have been adapted for use in farming, including trucks, airplanes, and helicopters, such as for transporting crops and making equipment mobile, to aerial spraying and livestock herd management. New technology and the futureThe basic technology of agricultural machines has changed little in the last century. Though modern harvesters and planters may do a better job or be slightly tweaked from their predecessors, the US$250,000 combine of today still cuts, threshes, and separates grain in the same way it has always been done. However, technology is changing the way that humans operate the machines, as computer monitoring systems, GPS locators, and self-steer programs allow the most advanced tractors and implements to be more precise and less wasteful in the use of fuel, seed, or fertilizer. In the foreseeable future, there may be mass production of driverless tractors, which use GPS maps and electronic sensors. Open source agricultural equipmentMany farmers are upset by their inability to fix the new types of high-tech farm equipment.[3] This is due mostly to companies using intellectual property law to prevent farmers from having the legal right to fix their equipment (or gain access to the information to allow them to do it).[4] In October 2015 an exemption was added to the DMCA to allow inspection and modification of the software in cars and other vehicles including agricultural machinery.[5] Erie County
Price: 123.25 USD
Location: Rochester, New York
End Time: 2025-01-15T04:15:48.000Z
Shipping Cost: 3.95 USD
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Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Industry: Historical
Original/Reproduction: Original
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
