USA > Illinois > Adams County > The history of Adams County Illinois : containing a history of the county - its cities, towns, etc. a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion; general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 38
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1st. That all proceedings for the removal of the county seat be suspended, and post- poned until the termination of this contest.
2d. That this court will permit the said election to be contested before them, aud will appoint a time and place for the hearing thereof; and,
3d. That, in case this court shall decline to make the order above prayed for, it will be pleased to order all proceedings for the removal of the county seat to be stayed and sus- pended until the decision of said contest before said three justices under the notice afore- said, and your petitioners will ever pray, etc.
Signed, JOEL RICE, J. H. LUCE, JOHN WOOD, J. T. HOLMES.
Committee on behalf of the legal voters of Adams county, in favor of the seat of justice being retained at Quincy.
Quincy, Adams county, Illinois, ¿ Monday, 6th of September, 1841. 5
The opinion of two members of the court upon the above petition, involving a question of local interests, which was mixed with not a little per- sonal feeling engendered by the contest, we believe, in justice to an impar- tial account, should be given. The questions presented in the petition were treated in an opinion of some length by William Richards and Eli See- horn, two of the commissioners. The opinion as filed by them was in the following words, which we have taken from official records of their proceed- ings in the matter:
OPINION OF WILLIAM RICHARDS AND ELI SEEHORN:
After hearing the matter discussed by the attorneys and counsel on each side of the question, we, William Richards and Eli Seehorn, two of the county commissioners, have made and delivered the following opinion, to-wit .: In the matter of the question of Joel Rice and others, praying for a contest of the validity of the late election for the removal of the seat of justice of this county presented to this court on yesterday.
(
Charles Chase
DECEASED) ELLINGTON TOWNSHIP
W. Chapman (DECEASED) ELLINGTON TOWNSHIP
:
& Bowles (DECEASED) ELLINGTON TOWNSHIP
Jannes grunner
287
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
The petitioners represent, among other things, that at the election held on the second day of August last, for the removal of the seat of justice of this county from Quincy to Columbus, there were more than one hundred illegal votes polled in favor of the removal to Columbus, as they are informed and believe, and further, that at several of the precincts the said election was not held and conducted conformably to the law, nor the returns thereof made according to the provisions of the law, and that they pray that this court will permit the said election to be contested before them, and will appoint a time and place for the hear- ing thereof, and that all proceedings for the removal of the county seat be suspended and postponed until the termination of such contest. It is contended by counsel for petitioners in their arguments, that this court has the power of hearing the contest of the validity of said election ; that such power is inherent in the law authorizing the election and incident to the duties imposed on this court in the event of Columbus receiving a majority of the legal votes. On the other side it is contended by counsel that there is no law authorizing the contest prayed for, and that the legislature never intended that said election should be contested, else it would have given the power and pointed out in the law itself the mode of conducting such contest.
The question presented is to this Court a new one, and unaided by the lights of legal learning, the Court has felt that it is a difficult one to decide. It is to be regretted that the Legislature did not itself especially provide for contesting its validity. Such a provision would have had a great tendency to prevent frauds from being committed. This, however, it has not done, and the question to be determined is whether this Court has the power of hearing the contest. If it has, it cannot be desired that it has also the power to prescribe the time, place and mode of conducting said contest, for this would be incident to the other. It appears from the certificate of Mr. Wren, our clerk, certifying the election returns to us that there were ninety-one majority votes polled in favor of the removal. The represen- tation of the petitioners, if true, show that there were more than that number of illegal votes polled in favor of the removal to Columbus. The Court are very well satisfied that they have the power of going behind the clerk's certificate for the purpose of ascertaining correctly facts on which any of its orders or actions are to be based, when doubts arise, else in many cases, irreparable injuries might be done without adequate remedy. Neither the certificate of said clerk nor those of the judges of the election can in their opinion be only prima facia evidence of the existence of the facts to which they certify. This being the case, the Court are of the opinion that it has the power of hearing a contest of the validity of the said election, and the Court is further strengthened in this opinion from the provisions of the case itself, authorizing the election. The Court is well satisfied that the Legislature never intended that persons not qualified to vote at said election for county officers, should vote either for or against the removal of the seat of justice. Indeed it would be absurd to entertain the contrary opinion. The first section of the law authorizing the election-The Laws of Illinois, 1841, page 94-says: At which election, the clerk thereof shall open two columns, the one for Quincy, the other for Columbus, and shall take and record the vote for each qualified voter for one of the aforesaid places as the seat of justice for said county. And in the same section it says that the said election shall be conducted and the returns thereof made in the same manner as is provided in ordinary cases of the election of justices of the peace, and the second section of the same law provides that if at such election, Columbus shall receive the greatest number of votes for said seat of justice, then it shall be the duty of the County Commissioners' Court of said county, without delay, to cause to be erected, purchased or rented, suitable buildings in the town of Columbus, for a court-house, etc. If then, at said election, there were illegal votes polled, or it was not conducted or the returns thereof made in the manner provided in ordinary cases of the election of justices of the peace, more has been done than was even intended by the Legislature. In short, the Court are of the opinion that the Legislature intended simply that there should be a fair expression of the opinion of the legal voters of this county as to whether the seat of justice should be removed or not. This intention may have been defeated by fraudulent votes or by the election being conducted in an illegal manner or in both ways, and if the representations of the petitioners are true, there is grounds to believe that such is the case, and the Court believe it is their duty to so construe the law as to carry out the intentions of the Legislature. They therefore decide that they will hear the contest of said election and suspend any further action in reference to the removal of said seat of justice until after said contest.
[Signed] WILLIAM RICHARDS. ELI SEEHORN.
To this decision of William Richards and Eli Seehorn, a majority of the Commissioners' Court, a "dissenting opinion " or protest was filed by George Smith, the other member of the court, which, from the official records, appears in the following language:
2SS
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
QUINCY, Sept. 8th, 1841.
The undersigned, one of the county commissioners of the connty of Adams, presents the following protest against a decision of a majority of the commissioners of said county, as made on the 7th inst., relative to contesting an election held in August last, removing the seat of justice of said county from Quincy to Columbus. The undersigned protests because said decision was not warranted by law, the Court having no jurisdiction in cases of con- tested elections, it being a court of limited jurisdiction, where duties are prescribed by the statute of the State, and it is believed by the undersigned that any act of said court, not granted them by law limiting the duties and powers would be a direct violation of their oath of office and an act of unwarrantable usurpation. I protest, because said decision is calculated to oppress the tax-payers with a burthensome tax of several thousand dollars. To investi- gate a matter, whether true or false, must finally be decided by the tribunals of the land to be without law or precedence, and absolutely null and void. I protest, because, from the showing of the petitioners themselves, they have doubts whether the remedy for the sup- posed grievances is in this Court or in some other, and they also admit there is no law clearly giving this Court the right to hear said petition, and ask the Court to decide so important a matter as the rights of three thousand people, upon at least a very doubtful question, without showing to the Court that it is their last resort, and unless they prevent an investigation, injustice will follow. I protest because the petition (setting aside the question of jurisdiction) does not show sufficient grounds upon which the Court could come to the conclusion that either fraud, illegality or informality was committed in said election, all the evidence before said Court being rumor and belief formed thercon, without stating facts. No names are given of illegal voters; no precinct specified at which the judges and clerks were not sworn according to law, nor any particular informality in the returns thereof, all of which I believe was absolutely requisite to enable the Court to decide understandingly. Finally, the undersigned protests, because he believes that if fraud has been committed or informality made in the returns of said election, and the party aggrieved has a right to con- test at all, either the authority of the Circuit Court or the magistrates as provided in the case of contesting county officers is less doubtful than this Court to grant the prayer of the petitioners, and that this Court cannot take cognizence of the matter without arrogating to itself legislative powers by violating the laws of their State, and entailing upon the county all the evils that must inevitably fall on acts of injustice and oppression. Therefore, the undersigned would ask leave to enter the foregoing protest upon the records of said county. [Signed] GEORGE SMITH.
From the decision of William Richards and Eli Seehorn, the majority of the commissioners, Williard Graves and others, by Nehemiah Bushnell, their counsel, prayed an appeal, which was granted on condition that they give a good bond, in the sum of one hundred dollars, to be paid provided the decision of the majority of the Court should be confirmed.
After the decision of the County Commissioners' Court, the friends of Quincy carried the contest to the Legislature at Springfield, and sneceeded in getting a special law through that body, dividing the county and ere- ating a new county, which was called Marquette, a very complete account of which may be obtained from a perusal of the aet, which, for the purpose of an unbiased and more full account of this affair, is inserted in our record of this local contest:
AN ACT TO CREATE THE COUNTY OF MARQUETTE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES THEREIN MENTIONED.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois represented in the Gen- eral Assembly : That all part of the now county of Adams lying east of range 7, west of the fourth principal Meridian, and also sections 1, 12, 13, 24, 25 and 36, of township 1, south of the base line in the aforesaid range 7, be, and the same is, hereby created into a new county, to be called the county of Marquette.
SEC. 2. There shall be an election on the first Monday of April next at the different places of voting for justices of the peace and constables in the limits of said county of Mar- quette; said election shall be conducted by the present judges of election in said county who have been appointed by the county of Adams according to the election laws of this State, at which election the legal voters of the said county of Marquette shall elect all county officers for said county, excepting school commissioner and one county commissioner and coroner, who shall be qualified and commissioned as similar officers are in other coun-
289
. HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
ties of this State. Said officers so elected and qualified shall hold their offices until the next ensuing general election for such offices now provided by law, and until their successors are legally qualified, and shall have the same jurisdiction, and discharge all the duties within the limits of the said county of Marquette, that are or may be required by law of similar officers in other counties of this State; Provided, however, that the person receiving the high- est number of votes at said election for county commissioner shall hold his office until the first Monday of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, anything in this section contained to the contrary notwithstanding.
SEC. 3. Within five days after said election the judges of the election at their different places of holding the same shall return the poll-books thereof to the town of Columnbus, in said county of Marquette, directed to Wesley D. McCann, an acting justice of the peace within the limits of said county, who, together with any two other acting justices of the peace of said county, shall meet in said town of Columbus within seven days after said election and proceed to open said election returns, and do and perform such other duties in relation to said returns as are now required of clerks of County Commissioners' Courts by law in relation to similar returns.
SEC. 4. As soon as the county officers shall have been elected and qualified the said county of Marquette shall be considered organized, and the clerk of the County Commis- sioners' Court shall give notice there of to the judge of the FifthJudicial Circuit, who shall thereupon appoint a clerk for the Circuit Court of said county, and shall hold court in the said county at the town of Columbus until the county seat of said county shall be located as hereinafter provided. Said county of Marquette shall constitute and form a part of the Fifth Judicial Circuit until otherwise provided by law; and it shall be the duty of the judge of said circuit to hold two terms of said court in said county annually at such times as he may order and appoint, or at such time as may be provided by law.
SEC. 5. All suits and prosecutions that have been commenced, or that may hereafter be commenced in the Circuit Court of Adams county before the organization of the said county of Marquette, shall not be affected by this act, but all suits and prosecutions so commenced as aforesaid shall be prosecuted to final termination in the Circuit Court of the said county of Adams, and the officers of the said county of Adams are hereby authorized and required to issue and execute all writs that may be necessary to the prosecution of all such suits and prosecutions to final termination anywhere within the limits of said county of Marquette.
SEC. 6. All justices of the peace and constables elected within the county of Adams, and who reside in the limits of the county of Marquette, shall hold their offices and have jurisdiction in the said county of Marquette as though they had been originally elected in said county.
SEC. 7. Daniel Harrison, school commissioner; George Smith, one of the county com- missioners, and Jonas Grubb, the coroner of the present county of Adams, and who reside within the limits of the said county of Marquette, shall, after the organization of the said county of Marquette, hold their respective offices within and for the same until their pres- ent terms of office expire, and it shall be the duty of the clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of the said county of Marquette, as soon as the same shall be organized, to notify the clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of the said county of Adams thereof, when each of said offices within said county of Adams shall be deemed and considered vacant, which said vacancies in said Adams county shall be filled in the same manner as vacancies occa- sioned by other causes.
SEC. 8. The school funds belonging to the several townships in the county of Adams, and all moneys, notes, and mortgages appertaining to the same shall be paid and delivered over to the school commissioner of said county of Adams by the school commissioner of the said county of Marquette as soon as the school commissioner of the county of Adams shall be duly elected and qualified ; and also all moneys and interest arising from the school col- lege, and seminary fund which may belong to said county of Adams.
SEC. 9. At the next general election and until a new apportionment of representa- tion shall be made among the several counties of this State, the county of Adams shall elect three representatives, and the county of Marquette to the general assembly of this State, and in case a vacancy shall happen in the offices of senator from the county of Adams, the said county of Adams and county of Marquette shall vote together to fill such vacancy, and the said counties shall continue so to do until a new apportionment shall be made, and in case of election for senator it shall be the duty of the clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of the county of Marquette within four days after the returns of such election has been made to him, to meet the clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of the county of Adams, at his office in the city of Quincy, and the two clerks together shall compare the polls and deliver a certificate to the person elected, and also a transcript of the votes for senator to the secretary of State.
SEC. 10. For the purpose of fixing the permanent seat of justice for the said county of Marquette, it shall be the duties of the judges of election at the time and place of voting for county officers as provided for in this act, to cause as many columns as there may be voted
290
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
for to be ruled on the poll-books of said election. At the head of each column a separate place shall be entered as candidates for the county seat of said county of Marquette; at said election all the legal voters of said county shall vote for one of the places designated, the places to be agreed upon by the voters of said county in any number they may see proper, and the place receiving a majority of all the votes given shall be the permanent seat of jus- tice for said county ; but if no place shall receive a majority of all the votes given. then it shall be lawful for the said legal voters to meet at the several places of holding elections on the first Monday of August next, and then and there select and vote for one of the two places only having the highest number of votes at the former election, and the place having a majority of all the legal votes given shall be the permanent seat of justice of the said county of Marquette.
SEC. 11. That the County Commissioners' Court of said county of Marquette be and the same is hereby authorized and empowered at any regular term thereof whenever it shall be deemed expedient by an order to be entered on its records to appoint some competent person as a commissioner for the purpose hereinafter expressed, who shall take and sub- scribe an oath faithfully and carefully to perform such duties as shall be required of him by this aet; which oath may be administered and certified to the clerk of the aforesaid court by any justice of the peace of said county.
SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of the County Commissioners' Court of said county when it makes such appointment, or as soon thereafter as may be convenient, to provide a sufficient number of blank-books for the purpose contemplated by this act, substantially bound and suitable for recording deeds in, which books, when provided, shall be delivered to the afore- said commissioner, who shall receipt to the clerk for the same.
SEC. 13. As soon as such book or books shall be delivered to said commissioner, he shall : record in each book a copy of the order of his appointment, and of his oath of office, and proceed in due time to the office of the recorder of the county of Adams, and shall from the books in said office make out and record in a fair and legible manner in the book or books furnished him, all deeds and title papers, together with the acknowledgments and cer- tificates appertaining thereto of lands lying in the aforesaid county of Marquette, which have been recorded in the office of the recorder of said county of Adams, and when the said commissioner shall have finished transcribing the aforesaid records contemplated by the recorder of the said county of Adams, shall estimate the number of bonds and other title papers which said commissioner shall have transcribed into such book or books, and certify the same to the County Commissioners' Court of said county of Adams, which shall thereupon make an order in favor of said commissioner for the sum of twenty-five cents for each deed by him transcribed as aforesaid, to be paid as other county orders are.
SEC. 14. It shall be the duty of the recorder of the county of Adams to permit said commissioner to make transcripts of all and every such deed and title paper, and for that purpose to use the books in which such instruments may be recorded.
SEC. 15. The said County Commissioners' Court, of said Marquette county, shall have power to fill all vacancies in the said office of commissioner.
SEC. 16. It shall be the duty of the aforesaid commissioner after transcribing the afore- said deeds and title papers into the books so to be furnished him as aforesaid, to return the said books to the recorder of the said county of Marquette, and it shall be the duty of said recorder to make a certificate to that effect at the end of each book.
SEC. 17. The said commissioner on transcribing the deeds and title papers aforesaid into the books so provided as aforesaid, shall immediately after transcribing each deed, title paper, acknowledgment and certificate, note in the said book at what time, in what office, book and page, the same was originally recorded, and when such transcribed record books shall be delivered to the recorder of the said county of Marquette, they shall to all intents and purposes be considered and taken as books of record of title papers and deeds for the said county of Marquette, and copies of such transcribed records, certified by the recorder of said county, shall be evidence in all courts and places in the same manner that copies of deeds and title papers regularly recorded in the recorder's office of said county, are evidence and with the same effect.
SEC. 18. The debt now outstanding against the said county of Adams shall be paid by said county, and the said county of Marquette shall forever be released from the same; and it shall be the duty of the governor of this State, on or before the first day of April next, to appoint three suitable and disinterested persons not residents of either aforesaid counties, as commissioners, who shall, before entering upon the duties of their atoresaid office, make and subscribe their respective oaths or affirmations well and truly to discharge the duties required of them under the provisions of this act, impartially and to the best of their judg- ments and abilities, before some justice of the peace of the said county of Adams, who shall certify the same to the clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of said county, and which shall be filed by him in his office.
SEC. 19. It shall be the duties of the aforesaid commissioners, within one month after their said appointment, on some day to be agreed upon by them, to repair to the seat of justice of the county of Adams, and then and there, after making the aforesaid oath or affirmation, ascertain from the records of said county ; first, the value of taxable property
291
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY.
lying and being within the limits of the now county of Adams, from the book or books of the assessor of said county for the year of eighteen hundred and forty-two, according to the value of said property as set down in said book or books; secondly, the said commissioners shall in like manner, and from the same source, ascertain the value of taxable property lying and being within the limits of the said county of Marquette; thirdly, the said commission- ers shall ascertain the amount of the debt outstanding against the county of Adams at the time of the passage of this act; fourthly, the said commissioners shall appraise and value the court house and jail of said county of Adams, and all other property, either real or per- sonal, and all moneys, notes, bonds, etc., of every description, owned and belonging to the said county of Adams at the time of said appraisement, provided, however, that the public square in the city of Quincy shall be excepted from the provisions of this section, unless said public square should at any time hereafter be sold and converted into private property, in which event the county of Marquette shall be entitled to one-half of the proceeds of such sale, and excepting also from the provisions of this section the cemetery and market house and lot in said city of Quincy; fifthly, the said commissioners shall deduct from the value of said court house and jail the amount of the aforesaid outstanding debt against the said county of Adams, and then make out a duplicate award under their hands and seal, setting forth the result of the investigations hereinbefore required of them, and in which they shall award, to be paid by the said county of Adams to the said county of Marquette, such pro- portion of the balance of the appraised value of said court house and jail, after deducting the amount of the aforesaid outstanding debt against the said county of Adams, as the value of said taxable property lying and being within the limits of the said county of Marquette, loans to the value of the taxable property lying and being within the limits of the now county of Adams, and when the said award shall be so made out as provided in this section, one copy thereof shall be delivered by said commissioners to the clerk of the County Com- missioners' Court of the county of Adams, and the other to the clerk of the County Commis- sioners' Court of the said county of Marquette, and the same shall be filed by the said clerks in their respective offices.
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