Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/713

DAVIESS DAVILA 709 W. county of Indiana, between the E. and W. forks of White river, which unite at its S. W. angle; area, 423 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 16,747. The greater part of the land is level or rolling, and fertile. There are large beds of bituminous coal in the county. The Wabash and Erie canal and the Ohio and Mississippi railroad traverse it. The chief productions in 1870 were 251,923 bushels of wheat, 702,642 of Indian corn, 98,530 of oats, 39,895 of potatoes, 9,648 tons of hay, 208,468 Ibs. of butter, 63,382 of wool, and 39,830 of tobacco. There were 5,969 horses, 4,122 milch cows, 7,280 other cattle, 25,205 sheep, and 27,689 swine; 3 grist mills, 11 saw mills, 12 manufactories of car- riages and wagons, 5 of saddlery and harness, and 2 of woollen goods. Capital, "Washington. III. A N. W. county of Missouri, intersected by Grand river ; area, 576 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 14,410, of whom 324 were colored. The sur- face is moderately uneven and most of the soil fertile. The chief productions in 1870 were 85,362 bushels of wheat, 624,012 of Indian corn, 244,963 of oats, 47,620 of potatoes, 7,613 tons of hay, 211,787 Ibs. of butter, and 64,339 of wool. There were 8,465 horses, 5,831 milch cows, 10,512 other cattle, 25,652 sheep, and 26,228 swine; 2 grist mills, 5 saw mills, and 3 wool-carding and cloth-dressing establishments. Capital, Gallatin. DAVIESS, Joseph Hamilton (known as Jo DAVIESS), an American lawyer and soldier, born in Bedford co., Va., in 1774, killed at the battle of Tippecanoe, Nov. 7, 1811. In 1779 his parents emigrated to Kentucky, and settled in Lincoln county, and afterward near Dan- ville. He was educated in an academy at Har- rodsburg, where he became a good classical and mathematical scholar, and pursued a wide course of reading. After six months' service as a volunteer against the Indians in 1793, he studied law, and in 1795 settled at Danville and entered on a career which soon made his name a household word in the west. Being a federalist, he was excluded from any hope of political advancement, and devoted himself to his profession. Many stories are told of his eccentricities. Instead of " riding the circuit," he used to shoulder his rifle and range the woods from town to town ; and he often ap- peared in court in a picturesque hunting cos- tume. In 1799 he acted as second to John Rowan in a duel in which Rowan's antagonist was killed. Both principal and seconds fled, to avoid prosecution. Daviess was for some time a fugitive ; but finally hearing that Rowan had been arrested, he returned, appeared in court as his counsel, and secured his acquittal. Daviess is said to have been the first western lawyer that ever argued a case in the United States supreme court. He made his appear- ance in the national capital in a remarkably picturesque and dilapidated costume, gained an important suit, and returned in nearly the same guise. Soon afterward he married a sister of Chief Justice Marshall, and was appointed United States attorney for the district of Ken- tucky. As such, on Nov. 3, 1806, he moved for an order requiring Aaron Burr to appear and answer to a charge of levying war against a nation with which our government was at peace. The judge overruled the motion ; but Burr appeared in court next day, and requested that the motion be granted. This was done, Burr boldly courting investigation, and Henry Clay becoming his counsel. Some of the wit- nesses upon whom Daviess had relied could not be brought into court, and the prosecution fell through. This affair almost entirely de- stroyed the popularity of Jo Daviess, which even the subsequent revelation of Burr's plot could not fully restore. In the summer of 1811 he joined the army under Gen. Harrison, for the campaign against the northwestern In- dians. In the battle of Tippecanoe, seeing that an exposed angle of the line was likely to give way before a determined assault, he led a cav- alry charge against the savages at that point. The manoeuvre was completely successful ; but Daviess fell, shot through the breast. DAVILA, Enrico Caterino, an Italian historian, born near Padua, Oct. 30, 1576, murdered near Yerona in the summer of 1631. He was the youngest son of Antonio Davila, several of whose ancestors had been constables of Cyprus, from which position the elder Davila was driven impoverished when the island was taken by the Turks. He sought refuge at the court of France in 1572, and Catharine de* Medici took him into favor. He named his young son in honor of the queen and her son Henry III. The boy commenced life as page to Catharine, and at 18 entered the army under Henry IV., and distinguished himself at the sieges of Honfleur and Amiens. Having returned to Italy, he devoted himself to study, and became a mem- ber of the society of the Innominati at Padua. A duel with a poet who lampooned him, and whom he ran through the body, caused him to flee to Venice. That republic was then raising troops for one of its frequent wars. Davila enlisted 300 men, and entered the army, holding commands successively in Friuli, Candia, Dalmatia, and elsewhere. He re- ceived a pension, as well as restoration to his hereditary rank of constable of Cyprus. Being appointed governor of Crema, he stopped with his family and attendants at the hamlet of San Michele, near Verona, to demand a relay of horses. This was refused by the postmaster, who on being reproved shot Davila dead with an arquebuse. In a general struggle which followed Davila's chaplain was killed, and Da- vila's son killed the postmaster, whose accom- plices were arrested and hanged. Davila is known chiefly for his famous work, the Istoria delle guerre civili di Francia, which describes the period from the death of Henry II. in 1559 to the peace of Vervins in 1598. It is a full and trustworthy record of facts, although too favorable to Catharine de' Medici. It was first published by Baglioni (Venice, 1630). The