USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume I > Part 10
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THE NEW COURT HOUSE.
In 1835 the board of commissioners decided to build a new court house, and they appointed John Inman, Wil-
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liam Freeland, Levi Fellows, Ruel Learned and Hugh L. Livingston as a committee to draft plans, etc., and gave them authority to borrow one thousand five hundred dol- lars, but not to pay a higher rate of interest than ten per cent. The report of the committee showed that the court house would cost five thousand one hundred and fifty- seven dollars. The committee was authorized to super- intend the building. The contract was let to Calvin B. Hartwell for five thousand eight hundred dollars, one thousand dollars to be paid April 1, 1836; one thousand five hundred dollars November 1, 1836; one thousand dollars April 1, 1837 ; and balance at completion of build- ing. The contractor, after receiving the first payment, left the state, and his sureties, Andrew Downing and Samuel Simons, were required to finish the building. Mr. Downing undertook the completion of the building. The county failed to make payments according to contract ,and after Mr. Downing had exhausted his means and his credit the work was about to stop. The committee, on their own responsibility, borrowed of the Bedford Bank two thousand dollars at twelve per cent., and the work was completed. The building was not finished until 1839, and cost the county six thousand two hundred seventy- one dollars and fifty-nine cents. In the year 1835 the term of service of Thomas Warnick as clerk of the court expired. Up to this time he held the office of clerk con- tinuously from the first election of clerk of the county.
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Next to Judge Bradford he seems to have been the lead- ing man in the organization of the county. In the earliest days of the county, when no money could be collected on taxes, he advanced money for the purchase of the neces- sary books for records. Samuel R. Cavins succeeded Mr. Warnick as clerk of the court and held the office contin- uously until after the October election in the year 1856.
AD QUOD DAMNUM.
The first ad quod damnum case in the county was in this year. It was on the application of Ruel Learned for the purpose of establishing a mill on Richland creek, about one mile southeast of Bloomfield, and for assessing dam- ages incident thereto. The jury was composed of John T. Freeland, Paris Chipman, John Milam, A. B. Chip- man, Jesse Barnes, Barney Perry, Benjamin Brooks, Hil- ton Waggoner, James H. Hicks, Thomas Patterson, Car- pus Shaw and John VanVoorst. The jury reported no damages to any one, and that all the lands on the stream, for two miles above the dam, were public lands. Two years and a half passed without the admission of an at- torney at the bar. In 1836 Willis A. Gorman was ad- mitted. He was afterward colonel in the Mexican war and a general in the Civil war, a member of congress and" governor of Minnesota. David McDonald was ad- mitted to practice. In 1837 Elisha M. Huntington
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appeared as president judge. He remained on the bench only two years, and was appointed judge of the district court of the United States. George F. Watterman and William Smith were admitted to practice. The first case of John Doe vs. Richard Roe was instituted this year. These mythical parties adorned the court docket almost every term from 1837 to 1853, when they disappeared from the state under the practice adopted under the con- stitution adopted in 1852.
OTHER TERMS OF COURT.
In 1838 Judge Levi Fellows again appeared as as- sociate judge, to take the place of Judge Cole, whose term of office expired. Judge Cole lived to be quite an old man, but was not afterward an officer of the court. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 from Kentucky. In his native state he had been a leading, influential man in his county, and had served one term as sheriff. He was a Baptist preacher. During this period there is consid- erable confusion in the records as to who was prosecuting attorney. David McDonald seems to appear more fre- quently than any other, but Craven P. Hester, D. R. Eck- les and others occasionally appear. Thomas J. Throop, George R. Gibson and Basil Champer were admitted to practice.
In 1839 David McDonald appeared as judge, and
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continued in office as judge until the close of the year 1852. Jolin S. Watts appeared as prosecuting attorney, and continued four years. John R. Dixson was sheriff, and continued in office four years. He was remarkable for his gallantry toward the ladies, his kindness to chil- dren and his general cleverness toward the people, with whom he was very popular. He belonged to the "corn- stalk militia," and had been promoted to the rank of ma- jor, and was uniformly called Major Dixson. He was considerable of a stump speaker, but only a part of one of his speeches has been reported. It was delivered at Fair Play, near which place he had resided from the very earliest settlement of the county. It was as follows: "Fellow Citizens-It has been circulated at the settle- ments of the county that I have not been in the county long enough to entitle me to the votes of the people. I am glad to meet so many of my fellow citizens today, for there is not a man, woman or child in this settlement but what knows I made the first cow track ever made by a white man on these prairies."
This speech was electrical. Such a charge against such a man was so preposterous that all parties in that settlement felt constrained to rebuke the caluminator, and they voted for and elected the gallant major.
EMINENT LEGAL PRACTITIONERS. ยท
This year John S. Watts, Thomas H. Carson, Rich- ard W. Thompson, George G. Dunn, Samuel H. Smydth,
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Samuel B. Gookins and Henry Secrest were admitted to practice -- an array of able and distinguished men, most of whom filled places of trust and distinction after this. Thomas H. Carson had just located at Bloomfield. He practiced law about ten years and went to Kentucky, from whence he came. While here he held the office of auditor one term. During the war he served as an officer in the Union army. Samuel Howe Smydth was a very brilliant young man. He was sent to France as an officer of the government, and died there. Each of these men have relatives in Greene county, where the brother of one mar- ried the sister of the other. John S. Watts was after- ward appointed judge in New Mexico by President Fill- more, and remained there during his life. R. W. Thomp- son was afterward a member of congress, and was sec- retary of the navy in President Hayes' cabinet. George G. Dunn was afterward in congress several terms, and was regarded as the greatest orator in Indiana. Henry Secrest achieved very high rank in his profession. Sam- uel B. Gookins was a lawyer and judge of the highest grade. For a short time he was judge on the supreme bench of Indiana. In 1840 no change occurred in the officers of the court. Elias S. Terry was the only attor- ney admitted to practice that year. He was located at Washington, Indiana, at that time. He afterward was judge of a circuit in the northern part of the state. He was a graduate of West Point, but resigned and devoted
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himself to the practice of law. He was a man of fine ability. In what was called an "affair of honor" between George G. Dunn and James Hughes hie acted as second for Mr. Dunn, while Major Livingston was second for Judge Hughes. The "affair of honor" was settled by the seconds in such a manner as to make it satisfactory and honorable to all parties without the effusion of blood.
THE ROUSSEAUS.
In 1841 Lewis B. Edward and Joel B. Sexton ap- peared as associate judges, which was the only change in the officers of the court. Judge Edwards was one of the earliest settlers where Bloomfield now stands, and filled many offices of honor and trust. He was a printer and editor, and worked in the office of the Vincennes Sun when that paper was first started, and at the time of his death was the oldest printer and editor living in the state. Judge Sexton was an early settler in that part of Burlin- game township, afterward formed into Center, and was long and favorably known throughout the county. He held the office until the close of the year 1851, when it was abolished. He died in 1868. During the year Rich- ard H. Rousseau and Lovel H. Rosseau located at Bloom- field and were admitted to practice law. They were both first-class lawyers. R. H. Rousseau served one term in the legislature. L. H. Rousseau served two terms in the
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house and one in the senate. He was captain of the one company of soldiers raised in the county for the Mexican war, and was in the Second Indiana Regiment. He aft- erward achieved great distinction in the war of the Re- bellion, and was promoted to the rank of major general. He served one term in congress, and at the time of his death was brigadier general in the regular army.
At the time at which R. H. Rousseau, familiarly and generally called Dick Rousseau, was admitted to practice, he and George Dunn, Basil Champer, Thomas H. Carson and Hon. David McDonald, president judge of the court, were each indicted by the grand jury for nuisance. The cases were continued one year, when all except the judge were tried and found not guilty. John S. Watts was appointed special judge to try the case against Judge Mc- Donald, and the prosecuting attorney entered a nolle in that case.
WOMAN'S RIGHTS.
In that day there seems to have been some grave doubts about the status of women as persons in their re- lation to certain business positions. But the Hoosiers took a more liberal and sensible view of the question than Governor Butler, of Massachusetts, has since taken. Sa- rah Smith applied to have the ferry across White river near Worthington re-established in her name. Some Ben Butler of an attorney sprung the question as to whether
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such a privilege could be extended to a woman. The case was held over until the next term for decision. At the next term Mrs. Smith's case was pressed with great vigor by Major Livingston, and was resisted vigorously by L. H. Rousseau on behalf of a man who wanted a ferry near by. To the honor of the officials of Greene county Mrs. Smith gained her cause.
Those who have read the history of the courts up to this time may remember that Ezekiel Herrington was the first man who divorced his wife in the county, and that in turn he was the first man against whom a divorce was granted. This year he is again brought into court on a complaint for divorce. For two years he and his wife met only in strife, the case being continued from time to time for that period. They had a long struggle, but at last his wife came out victorious.
BLACK CREEK MILL DAM.
During the year 1841 an ad quod damnum casc was commenced by Polly Skomp and Thomas Carrico to es- tablish a mill dam across Black creek at a point near . where the town of Marco now is. Livingston and Rous- seaus appeared for the applicants, and Dunn, Hester and Carson appeared for the various parties who opposed it. A large number of cases grew out of this mill dam, and the dockets of the state were not entirely clear of them
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for thirteen years. Several parties were indicted for nui- sance for establishing the dam, and one man was con- victed and fined, but most of the cases were nolled. The indictment for nuisance charged that the defendants had erected a dam seven feet high and that the water in the dam covered ten thousand acres of land. A large body of men from between Marco and Linton tore out the dam on two different occasions, if not more. Several were indicted for riot, and several suits for damages were commenced. One suit against eighteen men hung in the courts for several years, and finally dropped out, probably without any record as to how it got out. One case was taken from the county on change of venne, and was sent to Parke county. There additional attorneys-Usher and Terry, appeared on the mill dam side, and Gookins and Maxwell on the other side. In the meantime Josiah John- son married Mrs. Skomp and appeared as plaintiff. There was a judgment rendered in this case in favor of the plaintiffs for two hundred dollars and costs. There was an immense amount of costs in the various cases. In the last case alone the costs amounted to seven hundred sev- enty-four dollars and thirty-three cents.
Up to 1841 no election returns are preserved, and no records of them kept, which renders it difficult to give the terms of office. In 1842 no change was made in the courts and no attorney admitted to practice. In 1843 William G. Quick was the only attorney admitted to prac-
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tice, and he served as prosecuting attorney for two years. James Vanslyke appeared as sheriff, having been elected the year before. He was the son of Peter Vanslyke, and came to the county in 1819. He was very popular with the people, and was re-elected at the expiration of his term and held the office four years. This year John R. Stone appeared as probate judge. He was an early set- tler in what is now known as Jackson township, and held many positions of trust in his township before he was elected judge. During his judicial career he had the rep- utation among the members of the bar of deciding his cases right. If a case was not clear he would take it un- der advisement and think it over in a calm hour, and then he would almost uniformly decide the case correctly. He was one of our best citizens, and had one virtue in an emi- nent degree that many persons are sadly deficient in- he was true to his friends. Early in 1842 McHenry Do- zier went into the clerk's office as deputy. His records are models of beauty and perfection, and are admired by all who see them, none others being equal to them. He enlisted as a soldier in 1846 in Captain L. H. Rousseau's company in the Second Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was killed at the battle of Buena Vista in Mexico.
THE MURDER OF PHOEBE GRAVES.
On the 20th day of June, 1843, Phoebe Graves was murdered in the county. As to the fact of her being mur-
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dered there could be no doubt. She was killed near a public road, and her body dragged some thirty or forty yards farther into a thicket of woods, and was laid out and covered with sticks and brush. Only one person murdered her, and it was consummated after a great struggle, as the tracks of the struggle were plainly vis- ible, and the tracks of the murderer dragging her to the place of concealment and the tracks fleeing from the scene of the crime. She was murdered in daylight between 10 o'clock a. m. and I o'clock p. m., and it was done by breaking her neck. The strong probability was that it was done before 12 o'clock. Her body was found next morning before daylight, and an inquest was held on that day, at which hundreds of people attended. Suspicion rested upon three persons, and each of them was required to put his foot in the track. (The track was of a bare foot.) One person suspected was the brother-in-law of the deceased, Peter C. Graves, but he came promptly to the track, and it did not fit him, and besides that he could prove a clear alibi.
A mute by the name of Christopher Nations was sus- pected. He was plowing in a field near the scene of the murder on that day. When he was required to put his foot in the track he evidently did not understand the ob- ject of their action and struggled against putting his foot in the track. He was charged with the crime before a justice, and tried and bound over to the circuit court, but
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no indictment was ever returned against him. Paris C. Dunning, R. H. Rousseau and L. H. Rousseau prosecuted the case, and Hugh L. Livingston defended. There were two boys working in a field adjoining the field in which Mr. Nations was working, and knew that Mr. Nations was not out of the field until after I o'clock, but they were too young to be witnesses under the law at that time. One of the boys was afterward a resident of Bloomfield. He remembered the affair distinctly. He was eight years old at the time and saw Nations the whole time from 8 o'clock a. m. until I o'clock p. m. of that day. The third man upon whom suspicion rested was James Graves, the husband of the deceased. Three men joined in the affidavit against him before William C. Hicks, a justice of the peace. The case was fully investi- gated, as the circumstances enabled the attorneys to in- vestigate it at the time, and the defendant was adjudged guilty and was remanded into the custody of the sheriff. H. L. Livingston prosecuted the case and Dunning and Rousseaus defended. The defendant was taken out of the custody of the sheriff by writ of habeas corpus, and after investigation of the case before the associate judges of the circuit court he was admitted to bail. No indictment was ever returned against him. In the investigation of the charges, there being no doubt about the deceased being murdered, the attorneys for each party tried to show that some one else perpetrated the crime. The attorney of
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James Graves tried to show that Mr. Nations committed the crime, and the attorneys for Mr. Nations tried to show that James Graves committed the crime. The only evi- dence on the record in the case is the written admission singed by the attorneys on the trial of the case against Nations. The admissions were that on the trial of the habeas corpus case of James Graves that it was in proof that he (James Graves) was at home at 12 o'clock on the day of the murder, and that he was pulling weeds in the garden, and that his little child was with him. Also it was in proof at the same time, by Franklin Hodges, that on the same day about 2 o'clock p. m. he (Hodges) heard some one hallooing, and that he went out from the field where he was plowing and saw James Graves about three hundred yards from the place where the body was found next morning; that Graves was stand- ing in the road and had his little child in his arms, and stated that he had sent his little girl to Mr. Dueast's to hunt for her mother, and that he also stated that Phoebe (deceased) had gone that morning to Mrs. Nations', and that he supposed she had gone to Dueast's from Nations, and that Graves was hallooing for his wife and little daughter, and that said Graves returned home. The the- ory of those who believed James Graves guilty was that he left home at about 11 o'clock a. m. and his wife left Mrs. Nations' about the same time ; that they met on the road at a point near the place of the murder, and that the
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struggle commenced in the road, and that they struggled about forty to fifty yards from the road, where her neck was broken; that after concealing the body he returned to his home and remained there until near 2 o'clock, and then took his infant child and came back to a point near the scene of the murder. This theory was supported by the evidence the state offered, and by all the actions of the accused. A daughter of the deceased stated that he left home at 11 o'clock, with a curse upon his tongue against his wife, and the testimony of Mrs. Nations was that the deceased left her house at 11 o'clock, saying that she must go home to get dinner. Graves proved by the woman he afterward married that he was at another place during the whole time in which it was probable that the murder was committed.
Why the grand jury, under the circumstances, failed to return an indictment against Graves is somewhat as- tonishing. For years after this persons would talk about there being something wrong in the disposition of the case against Graves, and this same Frank Hodges, who was a witness in the investigation, publicly denounced James Graves as a murderer, and reiterated the charge on several occasions. Three years after the murder Mr. Graves ap- pealed to the court for redress for what he claimed to be injured innocence, and he sued Mr. Hodges for slander for accusing him of murder. Mr. Hodges, by his attor- ney, answered the complaint by admitting saying the
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words charged against him, and alleging that his words were true, and that James Graves did murder his wife, etc. When the issue was thus represented Mr. Graves dismissed the action, and thus ended all matters in court connected with or growing out of this cruel murder. James Graves and his family soon after this moved west and never returned to this county.
OTHER PRACTITIONERS.
In 1844 H. H. Throop, S. H. Buskirk, W. E. Tay- lor, A. J. Thixton and John M. Clark were admitted to practice. H. H. Throop located at Point Commerce, at that time the most enterprising town in the county. He was a careful, painstaking and conscientious lawyer, was educated for the law and was regarded as a very fine special pleader. In 1858, while preparing to move to the county seat, he died. He was one of the best men who lived in the county, honored by the people when alive and mourned for when dead. He was the first resident attorney who died in the county. S. H. Buskirk after- ward became eminent in his profession and was one of the ablest supreme judges of the state. Mr. Thixton located for a short time at Bloomfield. In 1845 Craven P. Hester, who had been admitted to practice at the sec- ond term of court in the county, appeared as prosecuting attorney and continued in that office until the latter part
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of 1849. At this term Jolin Osborn, Alanson J. Stevens, Francis M. Williams and William M. Franklin were ad- mitted to pratice. W. M. Franklin was afterward prose- cuting attorney, judge of common pleas court and cir- cuit court, and commissioner in 1883 of the supreme court.
In 1846 the only change in the officers of the court was the election of Edward E. Beasley as sheriff. He was an early settler of Beech township, and a farmer by occu- pation. He was very popular with the people, and always ran ahead of his party strength. He was elected sheriff for two terms in succession. He was a candidate for representative in the state legislature at two elections, but was defeated by a small majority each time. The last time he was a candidate was in 1856. His friends gen- erally wished him to indorse Mr. Fillmore for President, as a large majority of his political friends were in favor of Fillmore. But he was conscientiously in favor of Mr. Fremont, and openly avowed himself in favor of the "pathfinder." He said he would rather be right and suf- fer defeat than to be wrong and be elected. He was too honest to act from policy where his convictions of right were otherwise. The attorneys admitted to practice dur- ing the year were Augustus L. Rhodes, Alexander Mc- Clelland and Robert Crockett. Mr. Rhodes located at Bloomfield and resided there until 1854. He was a man of classical education, having graduated at Hamilton Col- lege, New York, in the next class after Governor A. P.
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Willard. He was a close student and fine lawyer. While in Greene county he was elected and served one term as prosecuting attorney of the circuit court. In 1854 he moved to California, where he took the front rank in his profession, and where he served sixteen years on the supreme bench, which was the longest term ever held by any one, and for two years was chief justice. and later was superior judge for several terms. Robert Crockett was also a resident of Greene county. He was a candidate for judge of the common pleas court, but was not elected. Mr. McClelland was from Monroe county. No changes occurred in the officers of the court during the years 1847 and 1848. In 1847 George H. Munson and Lewis Bollman were admitted to practice. Mr. Mun- son was a law partner of George C. Dunn and was a lawyer of superior legal attainments. He died compara- tively early in life. Lewis Bollman did not continue in the practice of law many years. He spent many years at Washington city in government service. Nearly forty years ago an old Whig song ran in this style :
"John Watts and Lewis Bollman made a mighty crash. They pounced upon poor Whitcomb and tore him all to smash."
In turned out when the votes were counted that there was more poetry than truth in the song, and it is
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hardly probable that an admirer of Shakespeare or Byron would regard it very poetic. About this time John V. Knox was appointed deputy clerk and served five or six years with great efficiency. He died in 1856. In 1848 James H. Hester, Richard Clements and Samuel W. Short were admitted to practice. Mr. Hester was a son of Craven P. Hester, and afterward became judge in an adjoining circuit. Mr. Clements was afterward judge of the common pleas court of another circuit. Samuel W. Short afterward filled many offices of honor in the county where he resided. In 1849 Augustus L. Rhodes was elected prosecuting attorney and continued in that office until 1851. Jesse Rainbolt was elected associate judge to take the place of Judge Edwards. He was an early settler in Center township. He was one of the lead- ing and best citizens of this part of the county, and con- tinued in that office until it was abolished. He lived to be quite an old man, but has been dead many years. Judge Willis D. Lester, who has been heretofore noticed, was elected probate judge. William J. McIntosh was elected sheriff. He was one of the early settlers in High- land township. He was elected for three successive terms, one being under what was called the old constitu- tion. He was emphatically a man of the people and was a candidate each time without a party indorsement. He was a very entertaining public speaker. While sheriff he discharged his duties with fidelity and ability, and amid
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