USA > Iowa > Washington County > The history of Washington County, Iowa, its cities, towns, and c., a biographical directory of its citizens > Part 48
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"The court-house to be situated on lot 4, block 8, in the town of Wash- ington, and placed upon six good, substantial rock pillars, 18x28 feet in size, two stories high; lower story to be nine feet high in the clear, and the upper, seven feet in the clear; roofed with joint shingles, made of oak or walnut timber; weatherboarded with black walnut lumber; floors to be made of oak or walnut planks; one panel door below, and two batten doors above; one twenty-four light window was to admit the flood of sunlight sufficient to bathe the interior of the entire structure; in the upper story a partition for the subdivision of the room into county offices; the whole building, above and below, to be well plastered; the frame of the house to be made of good, substantial timber, and all the material to be of approved quality, and all to be completed by October, 1840."
Not a very elaborate building to be sure, but that old house is enshrined in memories that the present can never know. It stood on the ground now occupied by Chilcote & Cook's drug store, and was used for every possible purpose and had a career of great usefulness. School was taught, the gospel preached and justice dispensed within its substantial old walls. Then it served frequently as a resting place for weary travelers, and indeed its doors always swung on easy hinges.
If the old settlers are to be believed, the old black walnut weatherboard- ing often rang on the pioneer Sabbath with a more stirring eloquence than enlivens the pulpits of the present time. Many of the earliest ininisters have officiated within its walls, and if those old walls could speak, they would tell many a strange pioneer tale of religion, that is now lost forever. The preacher would mount a store box in the center of the room, and the andience would disperse themselves about on benches.
To that old log court-honse ministers came of different faiths, but all eager to expound the simple truths of a sublime and beautiful. religion, and point out for comparison the thorny path of duty, and the primrose path of dalliance. Often have those old walls given back the echoes of those who did a song of Zion sing, and many an erring wanderer has had his heart moved to repentance thereby more strongly than ever by the strains of homely eloquence. With Monday morning the old building changed its character, and men came there seeking not the mercy of God, but the jus- tice of man. The scales were held with an even hand. Fine points of law were doubtless often ignored, but those who presided knew every man in the county, and they dealt out substantial justice, and the broad principles of natural equity prevailed. Children came there to school, and sat at the feet of the teachers who knew but little more than themselves, but however humble the teacher's acquirements, he was liailed as a wise man and a ben- efactor, and his lessons were heeded with attention. The doors of the old court-house were always open, and there the weary traveler often found a resting place. There, too, the people of the settlement met to discuss their own affairs, and learn from visitors the news from the great world so far away to the eastward.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Simple emigrants stood there, and filled listening ears with tales of events over the sea. There the shameful story of the coup d'etat was made clear with many explanatory passages and matters of detail never dreamed of on the boulevards of Paris, where the drunken and infuriated soldiery fired upon unresisting, peaceful citizens, merely to create a stupefying terror upon which the Empire might be founded. There, long after this event, was told another story of a different character. The sufferings from the Irish famine were expounded by men and women racy of the soil, who could tell with a shndder of the days when it first became apparent that the food crops of the nation had failed. The story was a truly sickening affair, such as no European people had unfolded for more than a century, and when the first recital was ended the wanderers were urged to begin again. The sad story was continued for days and weeks at intervals, with a pathos which brought tears to the eyes of the strongest men. The doubts that brooded in the air in old Ireland when stories came to the peasants from afar, about crops look- ing beautiful at night and by morning were a stench over the country side. How the poor creatures said an Ave Maria with redoubled faith over their potato fields, but could not postpone the evil day when a smell of putrefac- tion penetrated every dwelling, and it was known that over millions of acres- of food upon which many millions relied for sustenance, the destroying an- gel had passed. The famine followed, with its deaths beyond number, reck- oned by the ignorant at millions in excess of the whole population of Ireland, but actually carrying off nearly seven hundred thousand men, women and children. Then their eyes would glisten for a moment, says a countryman, as they told with tears of joy of the fleets of ships that came over the Atlantic laden with grain, which a noble charity had sent from America to the snfferers. "Even England, the hard-hearted Saxon race, which since the days of the Plantagnet has never ceased to be our oppressor-even England bowed down in the dust by our side to pray for us, and to give us succor." Thus the court-house of the old time was the scene of many an affecting pow-wow.
The first court was held in the court-house on the 8th day of November, 1841, Mr. Neil, the contractor, not finishing the building at the time speci- . fied in the contract, and on this account had one hundred dollars deducted from the contract price.
The building continued to be used for a court-bouse till 1848, when the new conrt-house was received from the contractor, and thenceforth it ceased to be a temple of justice. In the course of time it was torn down and re- moved to the north part of town and reconstructed into a stable.
It is a shame that the people of modern times have such little reverence for the relics of former days. After this house ceased to be available for business purposes, and its removal was determined on, it should have been taken to some other part of the city and located upon some lot purchased by public subscription, where it might have remained, to have at least witnessed the semi-centennial of the county's history. It is sad that, in their haste to grow rich, so few have care even for the early work of their own hands. How many of the early settlers have preserved their first habitations? The sight of that humble cabin would be a source of much consolation in old age, as it reminded the owner of the trials and triumphs of other times, and its presence would go far toward reconciling the coming generation with their lot, when comparing its humble appearance with the modern resi-
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
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dences, whose extensive apartments are beginning to be too unpretentious for the enterprising sport of the irrepressible "Young Americas."
The second court-house was a brick sturcture and stood in the center of the public square. The building was commenced in the year 1845, and completed in the year 1847.
At the time this structure was completed it was regarded as a very im- posing structure and compared very favorably with the best court-house in the State. Most all the citizens of Washington county know all about that building; it is a thing of the present, as it were, and yet it is no more. As it neither belongs to the present nor the past it is not properly a subject of history, and all that will be proper to say further concerning it is that it continued to be used as a court-house till 1869 when it was pronounced unsafe and was torn down.
Up to the present time no other building has taken its place, and as far as the health, convenience and beauty of the town are concerned it is well that such is the case. The park in the public square is much better off without a court-house than with one, and the people of Washington will make a great mistake if they ever permit the erection of another court- honse in their beautiful park.
Of course Washington county ought to have a court-house, and doubt- less will have one at a time not far in the future; but two points in the court-house question are probably settled. First, it will not be built iu the public park: second, it will not be a gorgeous and extravagantly expen- sive building, but will be a convenient, safe and durable structure designed for nse rather than ornament. The time for Washington county to adver- tise itself through the medium of a showy court-house has passed: Wash- ington county needs no advertising and if it did there are ways much more effectual than through the medium of a brag court-house.
THAT JAIL. -
Not the present dungeon where offenders are placed in durance vile, for the latter is one of those things of beauty which in order to be appreciated! must be seen, but the jail of old behind whose prison bars languished the unfortunate wretch who dared offend against the majesty of the blind goddess.
It was a two story log building, 16x18 feet, the lower story being built double and the space between the two walls pounded full of broken stone. The floor of the second story consists of hewed logs laid closely together. It was
Ordered that such extra work as is necessary for the completion of the jail in the town of Washington be let to Alexander Lee for the sum of one hundred and seventy dollars. Said work shall consist in the following, to-wit: The lower room shall be lined on the sides,. ends and bottom with two inch solid white, black or burr oak plank, spiked on with double tenpenny nails, four to the square foot in the floor, and the intermediate spaces in the floor to be filled with sixpenny nails, one to every square inch. The sides and ends to be spiked on with double tenpenny nails with three tiers of spikes to the sides, running from the top to bottom, viz: the ends, and middle of the sides and ends; said tiers to contain thirty-three. spikes each. Said planks to be sound and well seasoned and all work to be done in a good! and workmanlike manner.
The lower story contained neither doors nor windows. On the outside extended a stairway to the second story. In the second floor there was a trap-door] which upon being opened revealed an aperature sufficiently
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY ..
large to admit a good sized man. The prisoner was conducted up the stairs to the second story, the trap-door opened, and then dropped down to this place of solitary confinement.
The jail was completed in August, 1842, and for over a quarter of a cen- tury was a terror to evil-doers. It certainly was not a very desirable place to be put, and when once there the offender was pretty much in the fix of the man in the room with the door locked and the key in the well.
It could not have been a great ornament to the town, but it is reported to have served the purpose for which it was erected very well, and at length it was sat down upon by the grand jury, and having been pronounced a nuisance, was removed by order of court.
ASYLUM FOR THE POOR AND INSANE.
Asylums for the poor, the disabled, and the unfortunate are peculiarly Christian institutions, it has been said, and they become more common with the growth of civilization. None of the heathen nations, Rome, Greece or Macedon, in their times of greatest wealth and power, ever estab- lished any public institutions for the relief of the destitute, but in this age a State, or even a connty of any considerable size or prosperity, would be considered far behind in all the elements of progress unless some provision was made for the care of paupers and other unfortunates.
Washington county has been rather remarkably free from abject poverty, but nevertheless has been diligent and generous in providing a place for those too poor to have any other. Care is taken to make the institution adapted to its purposes and to keep it always in good order.
Although the poor of the county have been cared for from the beginning by appropriations made by the county board, it was not till more recent times that a county infirmary was established. Before that time it was the custom to have the paupers boarded in private families, and also to furnish provisions to indigent families. This plan was very expensive, the county frequently being compelled to pay as high as four dollars per week for the board and lodging of a single pauper; also the plan of furnishing provisions was unsatisfactory, as thereby the way was left open for the practice of fraud, many persons in this way frequently receiving aid who were not deserving.
The first step toward the establishment of a county infirmary was taken by the board of supervisors during the year 1870, when an order was made authorizing a vote to be taken at the following October election on the proposition of purchasing grounds and erecting buildings. The proposi- tion was defeated at the polls, the vote in favor of the proposition being 1,087 and opposed 1,150.
Upon the defeat of the measure at the polls the project was abandoned by the supervisors, but the expense annually occasioned in maintaining the indigent and helpless, and the number and amount of claims made and allowed at each meeting of the board soon began to attract the attention of the people who began to inquire if there were no better and more econom- ical ways whereby the needs of the unfortunate could be supplied and their wants alleviated. The matter was frequently brought to the attention of the members of the board, whose duty it was to take the first action. The board, however, were slow to act, urging the recent defeat of the measure at the polls as an excuse for not so doing.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Thus matters went until the summer of 1873, when the feeling in favor of the purchase of a farm and the erection of buildings became so pro- nounced that the board of supervisors were constrained to take the initia- tive step.
At the June meeting of the board of supervisors, 1873, the following record was made:
Numerous petitions were presented to the board asking that the question of purchasing a poor-farm and house be submitted to the voters of the county. After due deliberation the board direct that the question of purchasing said poor-house and farm at a cost, ready for use, of not exceeding eight thousand dollars be submitted to the voters of the county at the next regular election in October, 1873, and that the sheriff is hereby directed to give due notice by publication of the submission of said proposition to the voters of the county. Those in favor of said purchase will vote, "Poor-house and farm, yes." Those opposed to said purchase will vote, "Poor-house and farm, no."
The vote on this question was taken as ordered and the result was a sur- prise to everybody. Three years previous the proposition had been defeated and now it was carried by an overwhelming majority. The vote was as follows: In favor of poor-house and farm 2,278; against poor-house and farm 329. The reply to the proposition of the board was so unequivocal and pronounced that there was no longer any mistaking the will of the people, and the gentlemen composing this honorable body immediately set about the work of complying with the expressed wish of their constituents.
A farm of about one hundred acres was purchased and improvements made so that by July, 1874, the asylum was ready for the reception of in- mates.
Mr. Alexander Robertson was employed as steward and a few of the more abject and helpless of the county's wards were taken from time to time from the places where they had heretofore been boarded at the county's expense to the very comfortable home which had been provided. Thus affairs continued, the number of ininates constantly increasing and the infirmary becoming very popular under Mr. Robertson's careful, kind, and economical management. Finally, the order was promulgated from the chief State authorities that the insane asylum at Mount Pleasant was overcrowded, and that the incurable insane would have to be sent back to the special care of the several counties from whence they had come. The board of supervisors immediately set about the work of preparing an addi- tional building suitable for the accommodation of insane persons and in due time Washington county was ready to take care of its own insane.
Thus matters stood on Sunday, December 8, 1878, when a most frightful disaster occurred, an account of which is hereby copied from the Washing- ton County "Press:"
"OVER THE HILLS TO THE POOR-HOUSE, TO FIND IT BURNING ON SUNDAY! CREMATION OF FIVE FEMALE INMATES. LOSS ABOUT $10,000. INSURANCE $4,200.
"The connty poor-house and infirmary. one and a-half miles from the city was destroyed by fire on Sunday, P. M., Dec. 8, 1878. Between 12 M. and 1 P. M. J. V. Anderson rode by from church in town to his home and saw nothing wrong. He had not gone three-quarters of a mile when he heard a shout of fire from J. G. Vincent, which called him back. The fire wr's discovered about 1 P. M., and in less than two hours the entire wooden struc- ture was consumed.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
"The verdict of the coroner's jury may vary from the following account, but we give the clearest information available. About noon superintendent Alex. Robertson was called up stairs into the long two-story building to quell a disturbance raised by the insane Mrs. R. P. Disney, who had been threatening all day, as previously, to burn the building. She was confined in an iron cage or cell and wanted a broom used by Mrs. Robinson, of Crawfordsville, an inmate who did some light work. The latter gave her the broom to sweep under the bed. She put it in under the bars above the floor and reaching it out at full arm's length stuck it into the open door of the stove in the central hall. When Mr. Robertson arrived the lighted broom was put out and not in the maniac's possession. He went down and was soon called to dinner. He had just began eating when a cry of 'smoke' in the upper hall called him to the spot, followed by his son John. Alex. was half suffocated by a dense volume of smoke which enveloped him upon opening the hall door leading up stairs. He fell stupified on the upper landing and John pulled him away by main force and shoved him down before him. He then ran around to another stairway and reached the center of the house up stairs and saw Mrs. Disney standing by the door of her cell with her hands on the bars. He had no keys to unlock the cells in which four women, all insane except one, were confined. Had be known that Miss Hagan's door was unlocked (she was afflicted with fits) he might perhaps, have rescued her, thongh that may be doubtful, for in the half moment he staid-just long enough to see that there was no fire in Mrs. Disney's cell, her bed intact,-an immense cloud of smoke, apparently issuing from the garret around the central flue on the west side of the house assailed liim and he had to beat a retreat to the north end, where he found several ininates and drove them down stairs. Among these was Susie Hardy, an idiot, who must have run back into a room below after being pulled out twice. She is missing and was no doubt cremated. It was im- possible to rescue the four up stairs. Alex. Robertson all but lost his life in trying to do it and would have perished if John had not dragged him away.
"These two were the only men available for the first half hour- that critical half hour. Then came J. G. Vincent, J. V. Anderson, and Ed. Donovan, but rescue was then impossible. They had to corral the crazy, imbecile folks as best they might in the small, detached mad-house just east of the burning building and pitch in to rescue personal property. The matron, Mrs. Robertson, was down sick with the pleurisy. Word was sent to town by S. R. Alexander, but reinforcements by hundreds of people pouring out on foot and in vehicles and on horseback in the teeth of a driving nor'-easter snow did not arrive for an hour, and by that time the game was up. Some of the neighbors did not know of the disaster-the snow was a fog covering the flames. Considerable stuff was got out, some provisions, clothing, furniture, etc., but all damaged by storm, etc. At the earliest opportunity the inmates were taken to Muisc Hall by Morton's 'bus, Downing's liveries, and other conveyances.
: "Mrs. Robertson was taken to J. G. Vincent's. The rest of the family found shelter in the city at night.
"The names of the inmates follow: Mrs. R. P. Disney, Mary Krofta, Henrietta Hagan, Anna Haberlick, Susie Hardy, C. Garber, Melissa Brown, Julia Drake, Thomas Haner, Wilhelmina Singer, Benedict Albin, J. L. Gilliland, Sarah Albite, Susan Ulch, Oliver H. Andis, Alice A. Cox, Lucy
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Harter, Cynthia Robinson, Mary Krotz, Sarah A. Polton, E. A. Housel, Stephen Padail, Mrs. Lucinda Sampson-twenty-three in all. It is all but certain that the first five named perished, for Susie Hardy was missing and the other four were certainly lost: Housel was pulled out several times, seeming crazy to go back into that literal hell of flames. Mrs. Disney was 54 years old and had been in since April, 1877. Miss Hagan was the daughter of W. H. R., of this city, and has been in since last April, some- times having twenty fits a day.
" The institution had been running four years July 13. The buildings probably cost the county $6,500 or $7,000. Frank Graves insured them and furniture for $2,800 in the North American and $1,400 in the Penn- sylvania, of Philadelphia. Robertson's loss on personal property is prob- ably $500, not insured. He does not seem to mind this, but is sadly broken down on account of the death of the inmates. He is not at all to blame. He did all he could do. His management has always been careful, consci- entions and prudent. He attributes the fire to a defective flue-that ever- lasting nuisance, if it be not an architectural crime. The six flues on that structure went out of the roof on a slant, or decline. They might easily have cracked, and that made this disaster not only possible but inevitable.
" By 4 P. M. the hip bones of four persons had been recovered. The flesh was not fully crernated, and filled the air with a distressing odor. In one or two cases the portion of the spine remained, with bits of ribs not yet destroyed. Chimneys and other debris had no doubt buried the remains of one, if not two more victims-shall we say victims of contract? It is al- most certain that the flue was the cause of the tragedy."
At 4 P. M. the day of the fire, Coroner William Wilson, Jr., arrived at the scene of the disaster and impaneled a jury, consisting of William Johnson, J. M. Denny, and B. M. McCoy, and with A. R. Dewey as conn- sel, proceeded to take notes, after which the inquest was adjourned till Monday. The inquest was resumed on Monday and continued throughout that day and the two following days. The following is the verdict returned by the jury at the conclusion of the investigation:
" The said jurors, on their oaths, say that the said Susan Hardy, Mrs. R. P. Disney, Henrietta Hagan, Auna Haberlick and Mary Krofta each came to her death by burning or suffocation. That the said burning or suffoca- tion was cansed in the following manner, to- wit:
"That on the eighth of December, of the year aforesaid, the said Henri- etta Hagan occupied the northeast cell, Mrs. R. P. Disney the northwest cell, Miss Anna Haberlick the southwest cell, and Mary Krofta the south- east cell, all in the centre grand division of the second story of the main building of the county poor-house of Washington county, Iowa.
"That of these, Mrs. Disney, Anna Haberlick and Mary Krofta were in- sane, and so far unmanageable as to necessitate their being locked up in said cells; that Henrietta Hagan was helpless, and could not remove her- self from her cell without aid; that about the honr of fifteen minutes past one o'clock on said day the said poor-house building was taken fire and burned down; that the said fire originated between the ceiling on the col- lar beams and the rafters, and near the centre flue on the west side; that the fire was caused by a defective flue, but what kind of a defect or what caused the defect, is unknown to the jury; that when the fire was discov- ered it was impossible for the employes to release the aforesaid inmates on account of smoke and heat; that the said Henrietta Hagan, Mrs. R. P.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Disney, Mary Krofta and Anna Haberlick then and there, in their cells being, were suffocated and burned to death; that the said Susan Hardy, a demented inmate, was several times led from the house, but returned to the northeast room of the first story, and was there suffocated and burned to death; that her return was without the knowledge of any of the persons in charge, and that they were not in any way at fault in the matter; that the bodies were identified by being found beneath their respective cells.
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