USA > Illinois > Champaign County > A Standard history of Champaign County Illinois : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, civic and social development : a chronicle of the people, with family lineage and memoirs, Volume I > Part 17
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FIRST TERM OF CIRCUIT COURT OPENED
On March 2, 1833, a legislative act was approved by the governor providing that "when the counties of Iroquois and Champaign shall be organized under the provisions of the acts of this Legislature, then the judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit shall have power to change the time of holding courts in the county of Coles so as to suit the time of holding courts in the said counties of Champaign and Iroquois." Until 1835, however, no Circuit Court was convened in Champaign County. Legally, there was no circuit judge during that period, al- though one of the judges of the State Supreme Court was authorized to hold court therein. But a more specific law was passed in 1834, and on January 19, 1835, under its provisions Justin Harlan of Clark County was commissioned judge of the Fourth Circuit. On April 6 of that year he opened the first term of the Circuit Court of Champaign County, at the house of Isaac H. Alexander.
With Judge Harlan (uncle of the late United States Senator James Harlan of Iowa) appeared Andrew Stevenson, sheriff, who had suc- ceeded the first incumbent of that office, John Salisbury. The court appointed Thomas R. Webber clerk; by like appointment, Mr. Webber continued as clerk of the Circuit Court until the adoption of the con- stitution of 1848, and after that, by popular election until 1857.
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THE COURTHOUSE OF 1848
The third courthouse for the accommodation of the established courts and the officials of Champaign County was completed during the constitutional year of 1848 by E. O. Smith of Decatur, at a cost of $2,744, and was pronounced a "very pretty building of brick and wood, with a bell tower on the center of the roof, stone floor, window sills and caps."
SCENE OF FAMOUS SPEECHES AND MEETINGS
In that building were delivered several of Lincoln's great speeches, notably his third speech in his famous debates with Douglas on the Nebraska Bill. An eye-witness of that historic oration of October 24, 1854, who had just called on Lincoln and Judge Davis at the old Penn- sylvania House, across the street, says: "After some further conversa- tion and a few preliminary arrangements, the old court room opposite shone resplendent in the coruscation of eleven tallow candles, glued on the top of the nether sashes of the windows, to which place we adjourned and where, with no preliminaries Mr. Lincoln delivered to a full house the third speech on the mighty issue of slavery in our nation."
Two years later it was the courthouse which was the center of the political maelstrom which surged through Champaign County and the country, and resulted in the birth of the Republican party, and the election of Lincoln four years later. One of the early calls for a meet- ing to discuss the issues of that day appears in the Urbana Union of May 8, 1856. It reads: "The citizens of Champaign County, without regard to past political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present admin- istration, to the extension of slavery over territory now free, in favor of the admission of free Kansas, and of restoring the government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson, are requested to meet in convention at the court house in Urbana on Thursday, the 18th day of May, to deliberate on the great political measures that now agitate the public mind, and to appoint a delegate to the State Anti-Nebraska Convention. The undersigned would join in the call, hoping that all who can will be present.
"Signed: A. Campbell, W. W. Beasley, J. W. Sim, James Dean, Winston Somers, H. M. Russell, S. S. Cunningham, David O. Quick, James Core, James D. Jaquith, Chalmers M. Sherfy, W. C.
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Cassell, James W. Somers, W. H. Talbutt, Henry Robinson, J. O. Cunningham, John M. Dunlap, J. Ingersol, A. M. Ayers, Sol. Bernstein, Henry Fitzgerald, A. O. Howell, E. Harkness, James Curtiss, W. C. Beck, J. H. Thomas, William H. Somers, J. C. Sheldon, Arthur Bradshaw, F. B. Sale, James Yeazle, William Park and F. M. Owens."
Two weeks later the Union reports that the meeting was duly held. It was called to order by J. D. Jaquith; Rev. Arthur Bradshaw was chosen chairman and J. O. Cunningham secretary. Resolutions were adopted that the meeting was opposed to any interference with slavery in the states where it existed; also to its extension to free territory ; that Congress had the constitutional power to thus limit its operations; that Kansas ought to be admitted as a free state; that William H. Bis- sell was the choice of the meeting for governor of Illinois, and that, regardless of party, all should co-operate against the extension of slavery.
COURTHOUSE TOO SMALL
In the fall of 1856, at the height of the Fremont campaign, the crowds which gathered at the county seat were so large that they over- taxed the little brick courthouse and had to be held in the open; as witness the following from the Urbana Union of September 25: "Early in the morning (of the 18th) the people from every direction com- menced flowing into town with banners, badges and mottoes, and the loudest 'shrieks for freedom.' Some came with processions, with dele- gations from their neighborhoods, and some came singly, while others came in wagons, carriages, on horseback, on mules and on foot-none forgetting that they were assembled as a free people for the purpose of 'securing the blessings of liberty to themselves and to their pos- terity.'
"After raising the flag of our Union to the top of a pole 150 feet high, which had been previously raised, and giving three hearty cheers for Fremont, the throng moved, not to the courthouse (as it was claimed was done by the other party a few days before), but to Web- ber's Grove. The procession was headed by the Urbana band and Rey- nold's band of Danville, both of which, during the day, acquitted them- selves with credit in discoursing music for the occasion.
"The dinner, although consisting of large quantities of provisions- over two whole beeves, several muttons, thirty dozens of chickens, tur- keys, pigs, etc., with huge quantities of bread, besides piles of cakes and pies contributed by the ladies of the county-was insufficient to supply the wants of the vast throng."
HOTEL WHERE LINCOLN STOPPED IN URBANA (WINDOW OF HIS ROOM IN UPPER LEFT CORNER)
UNDER BIG ELM TREE (EAST OF BIG FOUR SHOPS) LINCOLN MADE FAMOUS SPEECH
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TREASURED WORDS OF LINCOLN
It came out incidentally that Abraham Lincoln was one of the speakers and reviewed the procession. One of the attractions of the parade was a "float" loaded with pretty girls representing the states of the Union which then existed. In passing upon that feature of the procession, Lincoln remarked that it reminded him of "a large basket full of roses." When those pretty girls became the grandmothers of Champaign County, and the homely, unassuming Lincoln of 1856 had gone into history as the great emancipator and martyred President of the United States, that remark was recalled by the old ladies with unfeigned pride and tenderness.
RESULT OF 1856 AND 1860 CAMPAIGNS
The result of the 1856 campaign, which centered in the courthouse, was to give Fremont 722 votes in the county, Buchanan 556, and Fill- more 236. Four years later Lincoln received 1,720, Douglas 1,251, Bell 99 and Breckenridge 12.
LINCOLN-DOUGLAS SENATORIAL CONTEST (1858)
In the fall of 1858, the courthouse was also the scene of an enthus- iastic meeting during the Lincoln-Douglas campaign for the United States Senate. In reply to a speech delivered by the Little Giant, Lin- coln had spoken at the fair grounds in Urbana-although the exhibition had closed the day before-notwithstanding which, he had met with a rousing reception, and in the evening, with William Bross, editor of the Chicago Tribune, and Judge Terry of Danville, spoke at the court- house. Although the lank son of Illinois seems to have carried most of the meetings with him, he lost the senatorial election, but progressed far toward the presidency.
MAIN SPEECHES AT THE FAIR GROUNDS
The fair grounds at Urbana will always be remembered by the pio- neers of the county as the scene of two famous speeches delivered by Lincoln and Douglas in their historic campaign for a seat in the United States Senate. But the Little Giant was too firmly seated to be dis- placed by his already popular but then less prominent opponent. Doug- las spoke on the closing day of the fair, September 23, 1858, and Lin-
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coln on the day after, when "the show was over and the people had all gone home." But to the surprise of all, Lincoln drew nearly as large a crowd as Douglas. They had already met in joint debate at various Illinois towns, the last time before the Urbana appointment, at Charles- ton, on the 18th. Their speeches had been widely and earnestly dis- cussed-there were no neutrals in those days-and all were anxious to weigh the arguments as they came from the lips of the distinguished orators.
At the time of the Urbana clash, the fair grounds of the Agricultural Association lay upon both sides of what is now Lincoln Avenue, about a mile north of Springfield Avenue and within the bounds of Crystal Lake Park. From all accounts, Judge Douglas was a fine "mixer" and made hosts of friends by appearing at the grounds on the afternoon of the day before his speech. On the afternoon of the speaking the usual procession formed, near the head of which was a wagon bearing a plat- form of hickory poles loaded with cheering Democrats (Hickory Boys), among whom was the Senator himself. The correspondent of the Chi- cago Democrat, who heard his speech, criticized his delivery rather severely, concluding: "As an orator he is no more to be compared to Lovejoy, Farnsworth, Arnold, Palmer or Herndon than the merest tyro at debating. I venture the assertion that twenty men can be found in every county in Illinois who, before an impartial audience, would receive the palm over him for declamatory skill."
Two POINTS OF VIEW
The Chicago Democrat was one of Lincoln's warm supporters; what we would call Republican newspapers, in some cases, retained their old political designation.
By reading the following it is evident that the Urbana Constitution, from which the extract is taken, was a Douglas paper: "The announce- ment that Senator Douglas would speak here last Thursday-the closing day of the county fair-called together by far the largest crowd ever assembled in the county of Champaign. A delegation of ladies and gentlemen on horseback, and a string of wheeled vehicles loaded down with citizens, the whole delegation being near a mile in length, escorted the Senator from West Urbana to the fair grounds, arriving there at about two o'clock. His arrival at the grounds was greeted by the masses there with deafening shouts and applause.
"After he was escorted to the stand, a very neat and appropriate reception speech was delivered by A. E. Harmon, Esq., of West Urbana, introducing him to the audience. He spoke about an hour and a half
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in a calm and dignified review of the great issues before the people, and was listened to with the profoundest attention by the thousands who were fortunate enough to obtain positions where they could hear. The extent of the crowd may be judged by the fact that the Senator's voice, heavy and sonorous as it was, was insufficient to reach many hundreds on the outer edge of the crowd. The demonstrations of applause with which he was greeted by the old line Whigs and Americans, as well as by the Democratic masses assembled there, show that his speech is pro- ducing a good effect in favor of Democratic principles. The Urbana Saxehorn and Military Band added much to the occasion by their spir- ited music.
"We cannot forbear acknowledging the marked courtesy with which the Senator and his friends were treated by the Republicans generally, and especially by those who hold influential positions in the Agricultural Association."
But, according to the Constitution, the Lincoln meetings were of quite another type. "The Republicans had a fine meeting here on ยท Friday," it remarks, with apparent candor, "and were addressed by Mr. Lincoln." Then : "Mr. Lincoln's speech was a complete backdown from every position he assumed in his opening speech at Springfield, except in one respect-that he insisted on the right and duty of Con- gress to prohibit slavery in the territories. This dogma, as Lincoln well knows, however, is the merest humbug, because it cannot be car- ried out while the decision of the Supreme Court upon that subject remains.
"Mr. Lincoln was probably not very well satisfied with his day's work, as in the evening he again assembled at the courthouse, where he delivered a discourse on that passage of the Scripture which declares that 'a house divided against itself cannot stand,' and the necessity of 'the perseverance of the saints' to the 'ultimate extinction of slavery in all the states.' Also, he gave his views on the cranberry and hoop-pole laws of Indiana; after which, Deacon Bross spoke. The deacon made a magnificent speech. He referred to the letter Washington had writ- ten to Henry Clay and to the fact that Lafayette was one of the fathers of the constitution. He said that the Republican party held that the negroes are not the equals of the whites in respect to social and political rights, but that they are the equals of the whites in the sense of the Declaration of Independence, which declares that 'all men are created equal.' This distinction was so clear and satisfactory that the deacon was vociferously cheered. The deacon also made several beautiful appeals to heaven, which were applauded in the most lively manner."
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The afore-mentioned Chicago Democrat gives its version of the chief Lincoln meeting at the fair grounds: "Lincoln has been with us, and the occasion has been one to be long remembered in eastern and central Illinois. It is no new thing for us to greet the honest face of Mr. Lin- eoln in our streets that it should stir up commotion, for half-yearly for many years he has been in the habit of spending a week here in the practice of his profession upon the most familiar and easy terms with all; so that a desire to see a man who grapples with and over- comes the Little Giant could not have induced a single person to leave his home and come here through the dust, all having seen him fre- quently and heard him speak, and very many being intimately acquainted with him; nothing but the respect and love for the cause of which he is the exponent in Illinois, could have brought together such a throng.
"The time was perhaps the most unfavorable one in all the year for getting together a erowd coming, as it did, one day after an exciting county fair of three days, in an unusually siekly season when there is scarcely a family in the county more than able to take care of its own siek, and upon a day when the least stir in any of the roads was suf- ficient to raise a suffocating cloud of dust; yet the affair has been a most successful one in every way. The number present was very nearly, if not quite, as large as those in attendance at the Douglas demonstra- tion of yesterday-the enthusiasm ten times as great-and the effect never exceeded by that resulting from any speech ever delivered in the county before.
"At an early hour the people began to floek into town, and by the time designated for forming the procession, the streets were so blocked up that it was almost impossible for a vehicle of any kind to pass. At ten o'clock a procession led by the Urbana brass band, German band, and Danville band, and over sixty young ladies on horseback with their attendants, thirty-two of whom represented the states of the Union, marched to the Doane House for the purpose of escorting Mr. Lincoln to the fair grounds, where the speaking was to take place. When return- ing, the procession was augmented by a large delegation from the west- ern part of the county; also a large delegation from Piatt County- so that the entire procession reached more than one and a half miles.
"In this form the grounds were reached when, it being the hour of midday, the throng marched in good order to the dinner tables, where the ladies of the two Urbanas had spread ont a sumptuous and bonn- tiful dinner. All had enough and to spare. The people then repaired to the stand and, after being seated, listened to an eloquent reception speech made by Hon. M. L. Dunlap, formerly of Cook County, who
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then introduced Mr. Lincoln. Cheer after cheer, lustily and heartily given, greeted his appearance. His speech was commenced by acknowl- edging his gratitude at seeing so lively an interest taken in the great issue of the day. After a few other introductory allusions, he took up the various questions at issue in the campaign, meeting and refuting the common dogmas of Democracy, and probing to the bottom every subject touched. Throughout his remarks were terse, eloquent and witty, frequently eliciting loud demonstrations of merriment and applause. At the close of his remarks, loud cheers rang through the forest, in which the larger part of the audience took part.
"One thing is worthy of notice in contrast with yesterday's proceed- ings. On that occasion the audience sat under the thunderings of the Little Giant as still as if attending a funeral discourse, while this audience of Mr. Lincoln's was most enthusiastic and attentive, continu- ing as large at the enunciation of the last word as at the beginning.
"The meeting broke up, formed in procession, and escorted Mr. Lin- coln to his lodging, at the residence of Mayor Boyden, where his lady attendants and all parted from him with rapturous cheers."
In all of these rapturous cheers and generally hot enthusiasm, the Republican Wide-Awakes bore the same prominent part taken by the Hickory Boys in Democratic demonstrations; and the same was true throughout the country, the Republicans and Democrats having organ- ized their big boys and young men into clubs of Wide-Awakes and Hickory Boys.
ONE COURTHOUSE SOLD; ANOTHER BUILT
In 1859, the year before the election of Lincoln, the second frame courthouse, which had been twice moved and occupied for several years as a schoolhouse, was sold at auction and torn down. It then stood at the corner of Elm and Vine.
The 1848 courthouse of historic fame was also ordered to be replaced in 1859 by the fourth temple of justice which graced the square at Urbana. It is generally called the third permanent courthouse. It was built of brick, stone and iron by B. V. Enos, an Indianapolis con- tractor, at a cost of $30,000, and was not ready for complete occu- pancy, both by the county officers and the Circuit Court, until the autumn of 1861. During a period of forty years this courthouse well served its purposes.
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TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION ADOPTED
The fall of 1859 was the commencement, further, of a new epoch in the county government. From the organization of the county in 1833 until 1849, when it came under the provisions of the constitution of 1848, its governing board of three members was known as the Court of Connty Commissioners. Although declared to be "a conrt of record," it possessed no real judicial authority. Under the constitution of 1848 that body was superseded by the County Conrt, comprising the county judge and his two associates-Edward Ater, of Urbana, and John P. Tenbrook, of Sadorus, and Lewis Jones of Salt Fork. The County Court managed the affairs of the connty until the November election of 1859, which resulted in the adoption of the system of township organ- ization and the inauguration of a Board of Supervisors.
OTHER CHANGES IN OFFICERS
As to the other county officers, it has already been stated that under the 1818 constitution the judge of the Circuit Court appointed his clerk, and by the early statutes the clerk of the County Commissioners' Court was chosen by that body. The county treasurer and assessor was also appointed by the Commissioners' Court, leaving only the sheriff and the coroner to be chosen by the people. The constitution of 1848 made these offices elective.
The foregoing are the chief changes in the forms of the county gov- ernment and its officials, which have not been noted in previous pages.
THE COURTHOUSE OF 1901
The courthouse now occupied, which is modern and elegant within and attractive withont, was fully completed in the fall of 1901, the September term of the Circuit Court for that year being opened in the new building by Judge Francis M. Wright. Forty years previously, in the preceding month, Hon. Oliver L. Davis, then judge of the Twenty- seventh circuit, opened the term of court in the courthouse of 1859-60,
Answering the demands for more space, consequent on greatly increased population and wealth, the building which had done service almost half a century, underwent an elaborate process of remodeling and enlargement which converted it into an imposing public edifice covering an area of 108 by 116 feet and three stories in height, with ample rooms for the courts and all the county offices. It is in the
3
COURTHOUSE, JAIL AND SHERIFF'S RESIDENCE (1901)
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UPON THIS SPOT ABRAHAM LINCOLN ON CCT. 24, 1854 DELIVERED HIS THIRD SPEECH IN OPPOSITION TO SENATOR DOUGLAS AND THE NEBRASKA BILL
FACSIMILE OF COURTHOUSE TABLET
Romanesque style of architecture, and its exterior is done in red sand- stone and mottled brick, and its tower stands 135 feet high. The building thus remodeled and enlarged was dedicated August 22, 1901.
The courthouse of 1901 was completed at a cost of $150,000, and no feature of it attracts more attention than a large marble tablet near the entrance to the county clerk's office, on the second story, which reads : "Upon this spot Abraham Lincoln, on October 24, 1854, delivered his third speech in opposition to Senator Douglas and the Nebraska bill."
MURDERER ESCAPES FROM OLD COUNTY JAIL
The building of the first county jail by Colonel M. W. Busey in 1840 has been briefly told. No special interest seems to have attached to this log jail eighteen feet square except that in 1845 Bill Weaver, the convicted murderer of David Hiltibran, escaped from it with the aid of an auger and little difficulty, and it was once visited by Lincoln. Weaver was to have been hanged on the 27th of June. Years after- ward tidings of him were received from Wisconsin, but the murderer was never recovered.
Other escapes from the jail followed, of offenders great and small, until in January, 1855, after a specially aggravating break-away, the Urbana Union bursts forth with the prevailing public sentiment, thus : "It (the jail) might answer for the imprisonment of infants, or of men who are badly crippled, but will not do for the detention of rascals." 1-11
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LINCOLN CALLS UPON SON OF FOSTER BROTHER
The decrepit old jail becomes somewhat famous in our day from a bit of Lincolnia attached to it by Major Whitney in his "Life on the Circuit with Lincoln." The story, as he tells it, is as follows: "In the summer of 1856, when he was one of the electors-at-large on the Fremont ticket, a crippled boy was aiding a drover to drive some horses to the northern part of the state. They stopped over night at Champaign and, while there, this boy went to a small watchmaker's shop kept by an old decrepit man named Green upon an errand, and stole a watch. The theft was discovered in time to cause the boy's arrest at the noon stopping place. He was brought before my father as a justice of the peace. The case being made out, he was committed, but the boy had requested that the case be left open until he could send for his uncle, Abraham Lincoln, to defend him. That being denied him, he wanted it continued until I should return home. But the case seeming too clear to be aided by lawyers, my father committed him to jail to await the action of the grand jury. Upon my return home, I was informed of the circumstances, but paid no attention to it at all, and forgot all about it at once.
"Not long thereafter, a mass meeting was held at Urbana, our county seat, to which Mr. Lincoln came as one of the speakers, and as soon as he saw me he said: 'I want to see you all to yourself.' When we had got beyond the hearing of others he said: "There is a boy in your jail I want to see, and I don't want anybody to know it except us. I wish you would arrange with the jailor to go there, on the sly, after the meeting, and let us in.' I then recollected this crippled boy, and Lincoln explained to me that when his father married his second wife she had a boy about his own age (John D. Johnston) ; that they were raised together, slept together and loved each other like brothers. This crippled boy was a son of that foster brother, and he was tending to the bad rapidly. 'He is already under the charge of stealing a gun at Charleston,' said Lincoln sadly. 'I shall do for him what I can in these two cases, but that's the last. After that, if he wants to be a thief, I sha'n't help him any more.'
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