USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 16
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PROSPECT VALLEY-PROSPECT HEIGHTS
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
form the grand and petit juries, hence they were summoned from the attached portion. All the grand jury but two were from the east side of the Illinois river, chiefly my acquaintances and neighbors. We took our provisions and bedding, the latter being a blanket or quilt for each. It was the practice also in those days to take a flagon of liquor, and this was not omitted on the occasion spoken of. In truth, so faithfully was the flagon put under requisition, that but two of our number were sober when we appeared in court and received our charge. Judge Sawyer was then the presiding officer ; James Turney the prose- cuting attorney ; and Messrs. Cavarly, Pugh, Bogardus and Turney, the entire bar.
"There were about eight bills of indictment found by the grand jury, one of which was against an Indian named Nomaque for murder. He had been tried the fall before; but obtaining a new trial, he was indicted again this term. There being no secure jail, the sheriff (Samuel Fulton) kept him under guard in the house of Mr. Allen. At night about a dozen drunken Indians met to rescue him, and attempted to enter the door for that purpose. Allen sprang out of a back window, and seizing a clapboard, rushed to the front of the house and laid about him with great fury. He felled four of the Indians to the ground before they could recover from their consternation, when the others retreated. Allen pursuing the hindmost, continued his blows, the retreating fellow crying out 'Schtop, white man! for God's sake schtop!' Felling him also, the five laid till morning, when they were able to crawl off. Nomaque after- wards made his escape-joined Black Hawk in the war of 1832-was wounded in Stillman's defeat, and afterwards found nearly dead by some Peorians, who humanely shot him through to put an end to his sufferings.
"The court house was a log building on the bank of the river, in which the jurors slept at night on their blankets on the floor. There was a tavern kept by Mr. Bogardus, but it was not large enough to furnish sleeping accom- modations for them. The grand jury room was a lumber cabin in which Bo- gardus kept saddles and other cattle fixings."
The session of the legislature held in 1827 reorganized the judiciary by abolishing the office of circuit judge and assigning the judges of the supreme court to do circuit duty. The first circuit was then composed of the counties of Peoria, Fulton, Schuyler, Adams, Pike, Calhoun, Greene, Morgan and San- gamon, to which Samuel D. Lockwood was assigned. This jurist is said to have been a most scholarly and polished gentleman and the peer of any judge that had ever sat on the supreme bench of the state. It was said of him by a recent historian that "he stands out conspicuously as the beau ideal of a judge. His appearance on the bench was the very personification of dignity, learning and judicial acumen." Judge Lockwood presided over this court from the May term, 1827, to the October term, 1828. At his first term held in Peoria, the sheriff, Samuel Fulton, was indicted for malfeasance in office. The charge was negligence in allowing the Indian, Nomaque, to escape from his custody. The indictment, however, was twice quashed on the ground that no capias had been issued, requiring the sheriff to take him into his custody.
Another change in the judiciary was made by the legislature in 1829. A circuit was established consisting of the territory west and north of the Illinois and Kankakee rivers, embracing that portion which had formerly been at- tached to the county of Pike. At this same session of the legislature Richard M. Young was elected and commissioned on the 23d day of January, 1829, as judge of this circuit. His first term of court in Peoria was in June, 1829, and his last was the October term of 1834. Judge Young was the first judge elected to preside in the third circuit and on the formation of the fifth circuit just designated, he removed to Quincy, where he resided during the time he was upon the bench. In 1836 he was elected United States senator and served the full term of six years. In 1843 he was elected to the supreme court and held the office until 1847, when he was appointed commissioner of the land office
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
at Washington. In 1850 he was appointed clerk of the national house of repre- sentatives. His later years, however, were quite tragic, as his intellect became impaired to the extent that it was necessary to send him to an asylum, where he died.
John Dixon resigned as clerk of the circuit court and on the 8th day of June, 1830, Stephen Stillman was appointed his successor.
Still another change was made in the judiciary in 1835. In that year the state was again divided into circuits and five judges in addition to the 'one already in office were chosen. These new judges were Stephen T. Logan, Sid- ney Breese, Henry Eddy, Thomas Ford and Justin Harlan. Thomas Ford was assigned to the sixth district, in which Peoria was situated. For some reason, however, Judge Breese presided at the first term of the circuit court in Peoria. At the September term Judge Stephen T. Logan presided. He resigned his office in 1837 and was again elected by the legislature in 1839, but declined to accept and never afterwards occupied a position upon the bench. Judge Logan was one of the ablest lawyers and jurists of his time. He had been profession- ally associated with Abraham Lincoln for three years and also filled many posi- tions of public trust, for which he was ably fitted. Thomas Ford, who was assigned to the sixth circuit in which Peoria was situated, afterward became governor of the state. The first term at which he presided was May, 1836, but in March, 1837, he resigned and was succeeded by Dan Stone, one of the noted men of his day. Judge Stone presided from the May term, 1837, until the May term, 1838. One of the noted cases decided by him was political in its character which touched upon the right of aliens to vote at the general elec- tion. The matter was carried to the supreme court but before a final decision had been reached the eighth and ninth judicial circuits had been formed by the legislature and Thomas Ford, on the 25th day of February, 1839, had been elected and commissioned as judge of the ninth district. The controversies growing out of the decision of Judge Stone in the case above referred to led the legislature to again reorganize the judiciary of the state and by an act, February 10, 1841, all former laws authorizing the election of circuit judges or establishing circuit courts was repealed. The act then provided there should be appointed by joint ballot of both branches of the general assembly at that session five additional associate justices and the three associate justices then in office should constitute the supreme court of the state. The state was then divided into nine circuits and the chief justice and his eight associates were required to hold court in these circuits. Thomas Ford was elected one of the five new justices of the supreme court, February 15, 1841, but he resigned August Ist, 1842, to accept the office of governor of the state, to which he was called soon after being elected. While acting as supreme judge he again pre- sided over the circuit court at Peoria from 1841 until 1842, and Judge Richard M. Young again held court here as one of the supreme judges at the May term, 1843. Judge John Dean Caton presided over the circuit court at the October term, 1842, and the October term, 1843, and from thence on to the October term, 1848. He was a member of the supreme court for twenty-one years, having succeeded Governor Ford upon his resignation in 1842. He was reappointed by Governor Ford in 1843 to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge John M. Robinson. He resigned in 1864.
After the adoption of the constitution in 1848, T. Lyle Dickey presided at the May and October terms of 1849, and William Kellogg, of the tenth circuit, to which Peoria then belonged, from the March term of 1850, to November, 1852. Judge Kellogg had been commissioned as judge of the tenth circuit, February 12, 1850. Resigning in November, 1852, he was succeeded by Heze- kiah M. Wead, but before the latter could hold a term of court the sixteenth circuit, composed of Peoria and Stark counties, had been formed, of which Onslow Peters had been elected judge. Judge Wead, however, held court here at the fall term of 1863 to finish up certain cases in which Judge Peters had
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
been engaged as counsel. Judge Kellogg was elected to congress in 1856 and again in 1858 and 1860.
There is some uncertainty as to where the courts were held in the two fol- lowing years. At the January term of the county commissioners' court, the sheriff was authorized to procure a house for the holding of court but the records do not show where the place or places selected were located. At the March term, 1829, a record was made of the purchase from John Hamlin of a log house 16x14 feet, under which was a cellar, which subsequently served as a jail. This building John Hamlin, in consideration of $75, conveyed to the county, as the following instrument indicates :
"I do hereby assign to the county commissioners of Peoria county for the use of said county, all my right, title and claim to a certain log house situated in the town of Peoria for and in consideration of $75-the said house known as the one built by Simon Crozier and formerly occupied as a store house by said Crozier.
"JOHN HAMLIN. "Peoria, Illinois, March 3, 1829.
"Witness, John Dixon."
It was therefore ordered at this same term that the treasurer pay John Hamlin $75 for a house to be used for county purposes and here it might be well to explain that this house is also said to have been situated below the pres- ent railroad bridge. Mr. Ballance, who arrived in Peoria soon after its pur- chase, in his history of Peoria says in a description of the building that it was located "at or near where the Fort Clark mill stands," to which Judge McCul- loch in his history of the county of more recent date adds "which was on the river bank on the northeasterly side of Harrison street. The building remained standing until 1843, when it was replaced by Orin Hamlin's steam flouring mill." A pencil sketch of Peoria in 1831 said to have been executed by J. M. Roberts, indicates from the grouping of the buildings that the historians, Drown and Ballance, were correct in their location of this building and that it was the cabin on the site upon which the Fort Clark mill stood and now covered by the warehouse of the Peoria Transfer Company.
At the June term ( 1829) it was ordered that the lower story of the court house, as the building was now termed, be used as a jail, and at the September term, 1830, John Hamlin, from whom the building had been purchased, was given the use of the cellar until the month of April following, for the sum of $3, which same amount had been paid by F. Bournonait the preceding winter for storing goods therein.
At the September term. 1830, the clerk was authorized to have certain repairs made on the court house. That is to say, "plastered in the joints, weather boarded, a window with glass on the river side, and a plank floor laid loose on the joice above-the work to be done on as good terms as could be had reasonable and that he should present his bills to the next commissioners court properly authenticated." At the same time John Hamlin was given au- thority to buy a ten plate stove, with the necessary pipe, the cost of which was not to exceed $30. Whether or not these repairs were made the record does not show. However, at the June term, 1831, the following entry was made :
"Ordered that the treasurer pay $16 for repairs to the court house as fol- lows: A desk, the boarding and casing to be of walnut plank 6 feet long. 41/2 feet high1, 31/2 feet wide from the wall, sided in front and posts cased at their end; narrow strip on front top, from that inward slope 12 inches, floored with any kind of sound plank, one step from the room floor, all but the floor to be planed, a narrow strip on the inside end of the slope-four benches, two 14 feet long, or the length of the room, two 6 feet long, one and one-half inches thick, with an additional strip or piece where the legs are put in. The lower
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
room, the three hewed logs missing to be put in place, that is, replaced with a door cheek, a door to be made of strong inch plank, hinges, pad-lock and staples to be furnished by the workmen. Also two benches for table."
It is very probable these improvements were all made, for an allowance was made to Moses Clifton of $16.75 for repairs to the court house. The building, however, was not adequate for the purpose it was intended when pur- chased, as the record shows several orders subsequently made for the use of private houses by the commissioners. However, an entry indicates that on July 10, 1834, leave was granted ( some one not shown) to keep a school in the court house for a quarter, except in term of court or when needed by the county commissioners or for elections. The building was also used for religious meet- ings but was sold to Bigelow & Underhill in 1835 for $60.
The year 1833 finds the county without a building specially constructed for county purposes, and however necessary might have been a court house at that time, the necessity for a jail was more present. Thieving and outlawry in the county was becoming more prevalent and many arrests in cases of a petty nature were being made at shorter intervals, which placed the authorities at a disadvantage, from the fact there was no proper place in which to incarcerate the culprits pending trial of their cases. A gang of thieves had made their appearance in the county and it became necessary to send one of them to Schuyler county for trial and two others to the jail in Putnam county for safe keeping. This the authorities maintained was putting the county to much ex- pense. The items below would indicate that the county commissioners were not far from wrong in their contention :
To Giles C. Dana for arresting and keeping L. Thomas and
Joseph McMeehan .$ 2.50
Amos Stevens for conveying Thornton Hollis to Schuyler county 49.50 William Compher for conveying Webster Evans to Putnam county William Compher for conveying Joseph McMeehan to 29.00 Putnam county. 29.00
William Compher for pursuing Thornton Hollis. 9.37
William Compher for bringing two prisoners from Put- nam jail. . 31.00
Obadiah Motley, sheriff Putnam county, for keeping Evans from November 21 to April 22. 68.50
Obadiah Motley for keeping McMeehan November 28, to April 22. 65.37
Total for three prisoners $284.25
T11E FIRST JAIL BUILDING
It was therefore ordered that lot 3 in block 37 be set apart for the site of a jail. The contract for the building was let to George De Pree, who was awarded on his contract at the April term, 1835, the sum of $381. which was probably but a portion of the contract price. The description of this building in Ballance's history is as follows: "About the year 1834 a jail was built of square logs, on the alley between Main and Hamilton and between Monroe and Perry streets. It was sixteen feet square and fourteen feet high. The lower story was con- structed of three thicknesses of logs, two lying horizontally and the one between them standing perpendicularly, so that should any attempt be made to bore the logs, the perpendicular ones would come down and stop the hole. The upper story was only one thickness of logs. To give strength, these logs were dove- tailed at the corners. Above the strong room there was a strong floor and trap
5 57
JAIL AND COURTHOUSE IN 1815
曲曲
PEORIA'S FIRST COURTHOUSE, BUILT IN 1836
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
door. Through this trap door prisoners were passed and then the ladder drawn up. The floor of the lower part was made of timbers fitted close together and the whole covered with oaken planks spiked down." No mention is made of any windows in the lower story and when the building was first constructed there probably were none, for at the March term, 1839, Henry Hahn was ordered to put one in. This was the only jail building in the county until 1849, when a new one was erected. When it was replaced the lot was sold to Halsey O. Merri- man, June 9, 1847, for $150. Soon after the erection of the jail a log cabin was built on the same lot for the use of the janitor. Daniel Bristol was the contractor and was paid $2.70 at the June term for his work.
THE SECOND JAIL
The second jail was erected in 1849 on the corner of Washington and North Fayette (now Eaton ) streets. On June 7, 1844, the commissioners' court had ordered notices to be published in the Press and. Register, newspapers then pub- lished in Peoria, inviting the submission of plans at the coming September term for a jail to be constructed of stone. The records do not show that anything further was done in this matter until December 4. 1845, when a contract was let to George O. Kingsley for the erection of a jail for $6,640. At the March term, 1846, lot 1, No. 1.of the subdivision of lots I and 3 in block 18, was chosen as the site for the new bastile. Chester Hamlin was appointed superintendent of the work, for which he was to have two per cent commission. Charles Ul- richson, an architect, was allowed $io for examining the plans and specifica- tions, but what they were, the records do not show. After having made some progress in his work, for which he was paid $616, Kingsley's contract was re- scinded at the September term 1846. For that reason the work was suspended and nothing further was done until the December term, when the clerk was directed to advertise for proposals to be submitted at the January term, 1847, for the building of a jail according to plans and specifications in the clerk's office. On January 6, 1847, the contract was let to Thomas Turbit, Thomas P. Smith and William Smith, farmers, then living in that part of the county which afterwards became known as Logan township. The contract price was $7,450.
Three years after it had been commenced, or, to be exact, on April 14, 1849, the new jail building was accepted as fully completed and on settlement there was found due the contractors the sum of $1,695.99. This sum was allowed, notwithstanding the contractors had placed upon the building a temporary roof instead of a copper roof required of them in the contract. From this it seems they had been relieved.
That part of the new structure which fronted the street had the appearance of an ordinary brick building. It was brick and was used for the sheriff's home, while the rear portion, or jail proper, was stone. The cells were on the first floor and arranged around the outer walls, in which grated windows were inserted. A hall separated the two ranges of cells. On the second floor was a large room called the debtor's room, which was intended for the imprisonment of unfortunates not able, or refusing to pay their debts. As this barbarous practice became illegal, the room was later used as a place of confinement for female prisoners.
THE THIRD JAIL
In 1867 the board of supervisors bought the lot on which the present jail is located, for the sum of $6,000. It had originally belonged to the county but after having obtained title to the county seat site, the county commissioners had sold the lot for $75. The new jail was completed at a cost of $75,000 and was placed in custody of the sheriff on the 24th day of January, 1869.
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
THE FIRST COURT HOUSE
It was at the June term, 1833, that initial steps were taken for the building of a court house. The clerk was ordered to advertise in the Sangamon Journal for sealed proposals to be delivered at the clerk's office until the 9th day of July following, for the furnishing of 150,000 brick on the public square, at which time contracts would be awarded, also at the same time contracts would be let for the stone and lumber that might be wanted in the construction of a court house. At the March term, 1834, Reuben B. Hamlin, one of the contractors for furnishing lumber, was allowed $15 for a drawing of the proposed court house. Bids for brick were received at the July term, 1833, and the contract for the same was awarded to Samuel Hackelton at $5 per thousand, and the firm of Moffatt & Hamlin was awarded the lumber contract. The brick used in the building was burned at the foot of the bluff near Knoxville avenue by Moore & Pitt, who had in their employ at the time Robert Smith, later a resident of Mossville.
At the January term, 1834, John Hamlin was made agent to procure rock and have it placed upon the ground for the foundation and also to procure hewn timber for the court house upon the best terms obtainable. The clerk was directed to advertise in the Sangamon Journal, Beardstown Chronicle and St. Louis Republic that sealed proposals would be received at the clerk's office until the third day of the next term for the mason work in the foundation walls and also the brick work, the county to furnish the materials. Proposals were also asked for the carpenter work exclusive of the doors and windows, plans and specifications to be sent to the clerk's office.
The query might here arise as to why these notices were not published in a Peoria paper, and the answer is, there was no paper published in Peoria at that time.
The contract for the mason work was awarded to Charles W. McClallan, and the carpenter work to George B. Macy, at the March term, 1834. John Hamlin was released as agent to procure materials, and at the April term fol- lowing Francis Voris was selected to superintend the erection of the building and served in that capacity until July 10, when he was succeeded by Isaac Waters. By this time work was progressing on the new county building, and at the June term. 1834. orders were entered for the payment for the first work done thereon :
F. Voris, digging 851/2 yards foundation at 10 cents per yard . $ C. W. McClallan for quarrying 58 window sills at 621/2 cents each, 2 door sills at 621/2 cents each, and 200 feet water table at 61/2 cents per foot. 50.00
8.50
Alvah Moffatt for hauling. 16.621/2
George Martin for pine plank. 283.00
John H. Dusenberry for time and $5.00 advanced for quarrying rock 6.121/2
From what has been related the reader will at once see that a great deal of work in connection with the new court house devolved upon the commissioners' court. At a special term held in July, 1834, Joseph Mitchell was paid for haul- ing caps, sills, water tables and scaffold poles. Alva Moffatt was refunded $150 for money advanced to purchase lumber ; C. W. McClallan $50 for mason work; and John Pitt for hauling caps and sills. At the October term John Hamlin was again appointed agent to procure materials, the lack of which had caused delay in the progress of the work.
The first plans for this building made no provision for ornamentation but after the four walls had reached completion it was determined that a portico
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MOTORCYCLE POLICEMEN IN FRONT OF CITY PRISON
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PATROL HOUSE, PEORLA
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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY
and cupola should be added; consequently, at the April term, 1836, Joshua Bowman was awarded a contract for foundation stone for the columns, the same to be four feet square, ten inches thick and to cost $35.
At the August term, Joshua Bowman was awarded a contract to furnish, cut and lay stone steps around the piazza and up to the back door of the court house at 621/2 cents per foot. On October 16th Charles W. McClallan was ordered paid $100 on his contract for plastering, and soon thereafter the No- vember term of circuit court convened and seems to have been in the new court house while in an unfinished state, for at the December term, Reuben Hamlin, William P. Buxton, Nathaniel Dyes, John Brown, Albert Hurd and Job Ross were allowed compensation for suspension work on the court house during the sitting of circuit court. At the same term Henry Gilbert on the part of the county and WV. A. Blair on the part of Reuben B. Hamlin assessed the additional compensation demanded by the latter, as follows :
To additional size of building $ 300.00
To one extra window.
11.50
To extra work on windows. 75.00
To balustrades around bell deck.
50.00
To damages for failure on part of contract.
570.00
To hindrance for lumber this summer
50.00
To glue 20, at 3114 cents.
6.25
To extra work on capitals
I 50.00
To cash paid for labor.
1.50
To cash paid for dravage
.50
$1,214.75
At this time, while the court house had not reached completion, it was far enough advanced to admit of occupancy of a portion of the first story, which was divided into six rooms. Horace P. Johnson, an attorney, was granted leave to occupy room No. 2 from and after the 9th of December. On the 11th Joshua Bowman was awarded a contract for building and erecting four plain, round columns in front of the court house, to be completed by the Ist day of July following, at $10 per foot, running measure. C. W. McClallan was also given a contract to ornament the court room by putting a cornice around the ceiling. Both these contracts were settled for at the June term 1836, and the court house was practically finished.
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