Join us for the Finale @ the Historic Hoosier Theatre, December 3rd @ 4pm.
Please text Brack a picture all your keys and bring them on the 3rd.
Notable #6 - Why Vevay Architect George H. Kyle Was Wrongfully Imprisoned
... seriously, have we not learned anything?
U.P. Schenck House on Market Street - Historical American Buildings Survey
U.P. Schenck House - Lohmiller Real Estate
George H. Kyle was a locally famous architect who practiced from the 1820's to the 1870's. He made his mark on such county masterpieces as the U.P. Schenck House and the Armstrong-Capeland House, both on Market Street and the Thomas T. Wright House on US 56. He also designed, built and owned the Kyle House at Main and Liberty Streets, which later became the Phoenix Hotel.
Kyle became embroiled in a political mess during the Civil War and later testified to the "Committee on Arbitrary Arrests" within the Indiana House of Representatives. It's a fascinating story about party politics, quick tongues, and government overreach. Here's a quick take.
The standing rule that "you should never talk politics or religion" has been around for a while. The rule needs reworking, though, as I think it would be more appropriate to read something like, "be prepared for consequences when you talk politics or religion".
Captatin Thomas Wright / Old Hildreth House
In 1862, George Kyle and Captain Thomas Wright broke the "politics or religion" rule and it cost Kyle his liberty. Kyle and Wright had known each other for about 25 years, as it was Kyle who designed Wright's house on US 56. Kyle and Wright also were brother-in-laws as they married the Craig sisters. During a party at Kyle's house, they were making friendly conversation and then everything turned sour when the politics of the Civil War came up. See Kyle believed in the doctrine of States Rights, but unfortunately that doctrine was also used as a mantra of the Confederate South and argument for keeping slavery intact. Wright considered Kyle's support of States Rights as an admission to supporting every Confederate position and labelled Kyle "as bad as any rebel in the South". In hurried reply, Kyle made the mistake of flippantly saying, "if entertaining the opinions I expressed as above constituted a rebel, I was proud of being one". Of course, there was no evidence he was a rebel, but his quick tongue caught the attention of the wrong people, to include Oliver Ornsby, Frederick Courvoisier and Frederick Waldo who turned him in.
Phoenix Hotel, Sullivan's Pharmacy - Circa 1975 - Owner Retains Rights
On June 6th, 1862 the consequence of talking "politics or religion" came to bare. Kyle, along with 3 other men, were arrested by armed soldiers, sent by steamboat down the Ohio and kept at a Louisville military prison for 7 weeks. Actually, many who expressed any disagreement with the Civil War were arrested all over Indiana around the same time. They were accused of material support and aid to the South and accused of hoping the Lincoln Administration would fail. Here's the rub ... Kyle and most of the others were never charged with a crime. They simply disagreed with Lincoln and his supporter's approach of maintaining the War to win slaves their freedom.
This story is notable to me, not because we know exactly how Kyle felt, but because there are parallels to this story making headlines today.
So "appreciation" fills me. Most of us talk "politics or religion" even though we've heard the rule. Most of us are fortunate that the swift consequences that follow are minor. We may get "unfriended", or we may get ignored, or we may not get invited to a party. In more extreme cases, when we talk "politics or religion" we might lose jobs, or relationships or might get put into facebook jail ... oooohhh! Most of us, though, will never know what it's like to lose life or well-being for something flippant or serious we said. We'll never have our finances or our liberty taken for the words that we say. So "appreciation" fills me.
Despite being ratted out by locals and being imprisoned without cause, Kyle stuck around Vevay for at least 8 more years. In 1870 he designed and submitted plans for the Courthouse in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. I'd bet in those 8 years he never spoke "politics or religion" again.
Clue #6 of Dufour's Keys
So let's button up the clue and location. "This local architect was arrested because of confusion over his Civil War views." Finding George Kyle as a local architect would not have taken much time. The diversion I set up with his "Civil War views" and then story behind his arrest probably would have taken a little bit more to solve. The key was placed inside the old jail on the courthouse grounds. I placed it there, because amongst the other stories of arrests that were made, some were taken to the county jail before they were escorted down to the river. With little imagination, I could see Kyle being held across the street from his house at Main and Liberty, while petitioning his lawyer for release.