Mooresville's Great Fire of 1842 (Mooresville Moments #16)

Learn about the Great Fire of 1842 that consumed nearly all of Mooresville, Indiana, and the amazing acts of generosity that assured the town's resurrection.

Mooresville's Great Fire of 1842

(Mooresville Moments #16)

by Mooresville Public Library

The fire occurred on Tuesday night, November 22, 1842.  According to the New York Tribune, the blaze began in the home of James G. Slocum, in which an unidentified woman and three unidentified children were sleeping, and all four tragically died in the inferno.  Slocum was apparently away at the time.

The New York Tribune, Friday, December 16, 1842, page 2

(Click images to enlarge)

The New York Tribune article was repeated verbatim in several newspapers, including the following:

The Schenectady (N.Y.) Cabinet, Tuesday, December 20, 1842, page 2

 The Boston (MA) Trumpet and Universalist Magazine, Saturday, December 24, 1842, page 3

The Montpelier (VT) Watchman, Friday, December 23, 1842, page 3

The New York Spectator, Wednesday, December 28, 1842, page 46

The identification of Slocum's residence as the start of the conflagration is an amazingly precise detail for a New York City newspaper to relate about a small Indiana village, especially when one considers the following:

• Mooresville historian Clara S. Richardson stated that the 1842 fire was "of unknown origin," and she does not mention the Slocums nor any deaths from the fire (page 24 of A Brief History of Mooresville, Indiana, 1824-1974.  [1974].  Mooresville, IN: Dickinson Publishing Company--available online here);

• No one named Slocum (or with variant spellings, such as Slocumb or Slocom) is buried in any cemeteries in Morgan County, Indiana;

• No one named Slocum (or with variant spellings, such as Slocumb or Slocom) was listed as living in Mooresville or Morgan County, Indiana, in the 1840 Federal Census, although a James Slocumb was shown to reside in Monroe County, Indiana in the 1840 and 1850 Federal Censuses and was extensively discussed (spelled as both Slocumb and Slocum) in Charles Blanchard's 1884 historical and biographical sketches of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown Counties (available online here). 

• No one named Slocum (or with variant spellings, such as Slocumb or Slocom) was mentioned in Almira Harvey Hadley's A Brief History of Mooresville and Vicinity (1918) (available online here) or in Margaret W. Fogleman's Early Mooresville (1884) (available online here) or in John Matthews' Ye Early Pioneers (1875) (available online here) or in The Pioneers of Morgan County:  Memoirs of Noah J. Major (1915) (available to checkout from Mooresville Public Library).

So, did the 1842 fire start in James Slocum's home and kill four people?  There is no local evidence to support the New York Tribune's claim, but it can't be completely ruled out.  The deceased woman and children could have had a different surname (or surnames) than Slocum, and they might have been visiting from another community (to which their remains could have been returned and interred).  Thus, looking for Slocums in the county cemeteries or federal censuses would not have identified the fire victims, if they were not named Slocum or came from out-of-town.  Nonetheless, the absence of James G. Slocum from the local historical record and U.S. censuses weighs against the Tribune's account, as does the paper's failure to identify the victims.

Let's quote from Clara Richardson's Mooresville history:

"In 1842 a fire of unknown origin hit Mooresville.  Before the fire, there were eleven stores and houses in this wooded area; next morning only the Moore Store and house were left.  Trees were cut, burned, houses and shops were deliberately torn apart to try to check the blaze on both sides of the street.  Work to construct new homes and stores started immediately, so the story goes."  (Page 24 of A Brief History of Mooresville, Indiana, 1824-1974.  [1974].  Mooresville, IN: Dickinson Publishing Company--available online here).

Quoting from Margaret W. Fogleman's Early Mooresville:

"About 1842 Mooresville was visited by the greatest fire it has ever known.  Beginning with Pa's [Samuel Moore's] store there were ten houses and shops before the fire.  Next morning there was Pa's store and our house left.  The Dr's [doctor's] shop at the west and a dwelling house at the east were torn down to check the fire."   (Early Mooresville [1884] [available online here]).  Margaret Fogleman was the daughter of town founder Samuel Moore (and his wife, Eliza Moore).

I'm inclined to give the local sources greater credence than the New York Tribune's account.  Perhaps Horace Greeley's reporters enlivened the tale to make for more interesting reading.  Clearly, the eastern newspapers that reprinted the story didn't check the facts further.

During December 1842 news of the Mooresville catastrophe was related in several papers across the United States as well as one in England (click images below to enlarge).

 

The Bristol (England) Mercury & Daily Post, Saturday, 31 December 1842, page 4

The Philadelphia (PA) Saturday Courier, December 17, 1842, page 3,

reprinting the Iowa mistake from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (see below)
 

 

The Brooklyn (N.Y.) Daily Eagle, Monday, December 12, 1842, page 2,

which incorrectly placed Mooresville in Iowa 

 The Charleston (S.C.) Mercury, Tuesday, December 13, 1842, page 2,

 reprinting the Iowa mistake from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (see above)

 The New York Tribune, Thursday, December 15, 1842, page 1

 

The Niles National Register, St. Louis, Missouri, Saturday, December 17, 1842, page 16

Some of the accounts quoted the original story that appeared in the Indiana State Sentinel, November 29, 1842, without adjusting for the time delay in printing.  For instance, the New York Tribune on December 15, 1842, incorrectly stated that the fire took place "Tuesday night of last week," which would have been December 6, two weeks after it happened.  This mistake was repeated in the Charleston (S.C.) Mercury, The Philadelphia (PA) Saturday Courier, and the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Daily Eagle.   The Niles National Register was only a week off (reporting November 29 as the fire date, when it was actually the Tuesday before, November 22).

Indiana State Sentinel, November 29, 1842

The fire consumed nearly all of the town, sparing only Samuel Moore's general store and residence on the northeast corner of Main and Indiana Streets in downtown Mooresville.  Moore supplied lumber and labor free-of-charge to help citizens rebuild their homes and businesses.

Dillinger's Hometown Holdup

Everybody has heard about John Dillinger, the famous American bank robber of the early 1930s.  Many people know that he lived for many years in Mooresville, Indiana.  But did you know that Dillinger's "first" holdup (or, at least, the first for which he was arrested) occurred in 1924 next to the First Christian Church on South Jefferson Street?

Our local history video elaborates.

John Dillinger's Hometown Holdup
(Mooresville Moments #7)
by Mooresville Public Library

Frank Morgan Holdup

Mooresville Times

September 12, 1924

John Dillinger's sentencing

Mooresville Times

September 19, 1924

Ed Singleton's sentencing

Mooresville Times

October 17, 1924

Frank Morgan owned and operated the West End Grocery at 135 West High Street in Mooresville.  On Saturday, September 6, 1924, Morgan went home for dinner and took the bulk of the day's cash receipts with him; then he returned to the store, staying open until around 10-11 p.m.  After closing, he was walking down South Jefferson Street when Dillinger jumped him from behind the First Christian Church, striking Morgan over the head with a metal rod.  Dillinger pulled a gun on Morgan, but the two struggled, and the gun fell to the ground, discharging.  When neighbors began to respond to the noise, Dillinger fled east down Broad Alley.

Many people maintain that Dillinger was goaded into attempting to rob Frank Morgan by Edgar Singleton, his cousin, roughly ten years Dillinger's senior.  Dillinger played semi-professional baseball with Singleton in Martinsville (Singleton was an umpire--see clipping below).  Singleton worked at the Mooresville light power plant.  While drinking at Moore & Pearce, a pool room (in the basement of the Lindley Block in downtown Mooresville, which burned down in 1925), Singleton plied Dillinger with enough alcohol to persuade the younger man to stick-up Morgan, thinking the elderly grocer would be carrying cash from his store's Saturday sales.  They didn't know that Morgan had taken the money home earlier and had little cash on his person at the time of the robbery attempt.  Purportedly, Singleton awaited in a getaway car further down South Jefferson from the church (closer to West High Street), but when the revolver went off, Singleton apparently panicked and drove away, leaving Dillinger behind.

Some accounts have Singleton struggling and striking Morgan and dropping the revolver, but it appears that Dillinger's confession admitted that he was the party responsible for the fracas.

Umpire Ed Singleton

Mooresville Times

Thursday, October 8, 1964

Dillinger loitered around the pool room afterwards, asking others there if Morgan was all right (before it became commonly known that Morgan had been attacked, taken home, and stitched up by a local physician).  Dillinger returned home, finally admitting to his father what he had done, and his father encouraged him to turn himself in, thinking John would be shown clemency (it was, after all, his first arrest) that would result in a relatively short jail term.  Dillinger senior expected this episode to scare John straight, but no one anticipated that the Morgan County judge who sentenced Dillinger would invoke the heaviest penalties possible to make an example of him.  Likely, the judge was mindful of Dillinger's having committed battery (grievous bodily harm) upon Morgan and had used a firearm in the crime's commission, both aggravating circumstances necessitating sterner sentencing.  Spending years behind bars with hardened criminals, however, embittered Dillinger and placed him in the ideal environment from which to learn serious larceny skills.  When he finally was released, he was ready to "get even" by robbing banks.  Certainly, Dillinger's father blamed the judge for turning his son toward a life of crime.

What might have happened if Dillinger had received a lighter sentence?  Nobody can know for certain, but he might very well have been "scared straight," perhaps ending up pursuing his semi-professional baseball career at a higher level.  Or perhaps he might have become an ordinary, regular "working Joe."  One thing's for certain:  he would not now be a world-famous bank robber, entering the American folklore of the Great Depression.

Mooresville citizens are proud of their community and the many other people (well-known or otherwise) who have lived here over the years.  But Dillinger still captivates public interest.  He was a bad dude, but he is part of our history.  For better or worse, Dillinger is the town's most famous person.  That remains a sore spot with many longtime locals, many of whom knew the Dillinger family personally and, to spare them heartache and embarrassment, went to great lengths to avoid publicity about the famed criminal.  In 1973, when the local McDonald's franchise decorated the restaurant with Dillinger photos, a contingent of prominent local citizens protested, suggesting that McDonald's could sell its food elsewhere if it insisted upon glorifying Dillinger's unlawful career.  The restaurant took down the decorations in favor of more neutral images.

If we are faithful to local history, we can't ignore John Dillinger, but we needn't sensationalize him, either.  He is just another person in the tapestry of Mooresville's past, available to those interested who wish to learn about his story, one among many, many other stories that are equally worth telling.