Hide Article Text (OCR)
By DOROTHY CLARK Located on the east side of South Sixth Street and north of Farrington was an empty lot purchased by Henry D. Williams in 1852 on which he built a house before the year was out. It was soon to become known as Rowdy Hall. The house was sold to Chauncey Rose in 1865, who sold it to Josephus Collett in 1870, who, in turn, sold it soon after to Sam McDonald, a newcomer to this city described as a wild young man banished by his family from his home in Baltimore. Young McDonald made the house a scene of wild dis order with his boon com panions who visited him there. Their female com panions were imported from Baltimore for frequent vis its. He made ex tensive alter ations in the house, adding a grand ball room with two fireplaces. In some of the wild parties held there, his men visitors shot out the lights over the mantel and the marks still show in the marble where the bullets struck. Historian C. C. Oakey in 1908 had this to say about McDonald, “His grandfather DOROTHY J. CLARK was General Samuel McDon ald, distinguished as soldier and business man, who ac cumulated a great fortune to be scattered by son and grandson. “William McDonald, so of the general, and Sam’s father, was a sporting man of Balti more, best known as owner of the famous Flora Temple, and owned a magnificent resi dence and estate of 360 acres almost within the city of Balti more. The home was one of the finest and stateliest in Maryland. Before it were marble gates, surmounted by bronze lions, at which gate keepers constantly stood to admit visitors to the splendid grounds which they guarded. The estate was tied up until William should be 35, but he died before that age, when his boy was 13. “The son, Samuel, spent years in school in England and Germany, and on his re turn was made lieutenant colonel of a Maryland militia regiment, the good associa tions and rigid discipline of which for a time kept him within the bounds of propriety. He fell from grace and a pro longed drinking bout caused the breaking of an engage ment of three years’ standing with a Baltimore girl. A Demon When Drinking “He came to Terre Haute in 1871 and bought both town and country property, and di vided his time between the two places. He was a hand some young fellow, very courteous and gentlemanly when sober, but drink trans formed him into a demon. He paid thirty thousand dollars for his country seat, and the extensive improvements alone cost over fifteen thousand. He was a collector of all kinds of livestock, very fine for the time, but not to be judged by extravagant prices paid for them. He had some trotting stock and find hunting dogs, and everything he did was on a scale of magnificence which astonished the people of Terre Haute and Vigo. “His home was Rowdy Hall, where unbridled license ruled. He was indifferent to public opinion and talunted his vices in public view, as he did his disreputable companions, male and female. Strange to say, he would not gamble fur ther than to back his horses in the park. His train con sisted of a Baltimore gambler, another fop, a private secre tary, and a very faithful Irish attendant. While on a visit to Baltimore, young McDonald killed a noted gambler in a barroom quarrel, was indict ed, tried and acquitted, his lawyer being the late Senator Whyte, his former guardian (who never lost a case). “After a severe spell of ill ness he formed good resolu tions and moved all of his 6th St. belongings to his farm (the old Stewart farm). He soon tired of hunting, fishing, kennels and stables, and the last few weeks of his life was a prolonged debauch, and he died alone except for the hired help in his house, in the most dreary and neglected surroundings, after a wild, fe vered delirium.” Except for his Negro serv ant, he died alone on Aug. 20, 1877, aged 28 years, and his body was brought home from his farm in Lost Creek Two. His sisters from Baltimore sold the property to Col. Richard W. Thompson in 1881.
Newspaper Details
Terre Haute Tribune Star
Terre Haute, Indiana, US
Sun, Feb 18, 1968
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 04 Jul 2026
Other Publications Near Terre Haute, Indiana
Western Register and Terre Haute Advertiser
Terre Haute Wabash Courier
Terre Haute Tribune Star
Terre Haute Tribune
Terre Haute Star
