USA > Indiana > Bartholomew County > History of Bartholomew County, Indiana : From the earliest time to the present, with biographical sketches, notes, etc. : Together with a short history of the Northwest, the Indiana Territory, and the state of Indiana > Part 28
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321
COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
into court, which were inspected and found to be correct. IIe was released from his bond and his personal note for $13 which the county held, was surrendered to him. James McAchran succeeded to the office but was removed, and Joseph L. Washburn held it temporarily.
In July, 1828, George Lyon was appointed and directed to call on McAchran for all papers belonging to the county, and to bring suits on all accounts where there was a probability of collecting. These were hard times. It is elsewhere narrated how for years efforts had been made to build a court house, how contractors, not paid in money, were unable to complete the work, how Newton Jones at last in a manner completed it and took as the greater part of his pay a judgment against Ruddick, and how the Legislature early in 1829, came to the county's relief with an act authorizing a poll tax to be paid in specic only. Jones was a candidate for the Legislature. Among the local issues discussed probably " tax or no tax" was prominent. He was elected but died before the House assembled. In September, 1829, Ephraim Arnold was appointed agent, received from Lyon $5.91, and in May following was charged with $124 "means placed in his hands."
To show more clearly what led up to such hard times a step backward must be taken. The town lots had brought in October, 1821, as before stated, $5,865. According to the terms of sale but one-fifth part of it was paid in cash, i. c., $1,173. By law 10 per cent. of this amount was set apart and reserved for the use of the Public Seminary fund. This left $1,055.70. There may be added to this $42.50, the amount paid by Richard Fansher for two lots, he being the only man who paid all cash for his purchase. The agent as instructed by the Commissioners loaned to Joseph Pownall $112.50, and other small amounts to others on personal security. He paid the Treasurer $654.61, and was directed to hold the balance subject to the call of the Commissioners. At length the Commis- sioners called but called in vain. They removed Gen. Downing and ordered suit to be brought against him, but at length settled the matter by taking his personal notes aggregating about $500. These notes passed into the hands of Gabbard as a part of the $4,263.59 above mentioned. The money that was paid to the Treas-
322
BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY.
urer was little more than enough to pay the preferred claims inci- dent to organization and the cost of running the county the first year. The amount of taxes collected was not large and was materially di- minished by the depreciated currency in which they were paid, as will be shown by the following order passed in November, IS21, "ordered that Joseph Mckinney be allowed to change the paper money of this State, being $146, for specie at fifty per cent. if it is law for the County Treasurer to receive the State paper for taxes due the county." In February, 1822, a similar order was made as to $46, but it was to be discounted on "the best terms possible." Hence the almost entire absence of specie in the treasury.
The early Treasurers were somewhat careless in their methods of doing business. Each one at the close of his term made a satis- factory showing to the Board of his own transactions, but they were in the dark as to the exact state of affairs. In IS25, therefore Samuel W. Cowan was appointed to " examine. the situation of the county from its organization to the present," and in December of that year a special session of the Board of Commissioners was held to receive his report which was as follows:
1821.
Receipts. $327 00
Expenses. $445 00
I822.
592 67 12
78I 5312
1823.
461 II
691 041/2
1824.
289 5612
. 549 9334
1825.
498 021/2
356 02
Thus showing from 1821 to 1824, inclusive, a deficit of 796.27, and in 1825 a balance in county's favor of $142.0012. In 1825, Philip Sweetzer became Treasurer, and in July, 1827, reported re- ceipts since appointment $494.30; expenses $20.48; balance $473.81. He settled satisfactorily, and in July, 1828, A. A. Wiles, his successor, reported receipts $385.29. In the following November he was credited with $409.55 (presumably for county orders paid and cancelled), and in January, 1829, he was removed. On settlement the Board found due from him $6.24, " which he is bound to ac- count for in specie or its equivalant when called for." But in jus- tice to him be it said that in March following he was allowed $6.58
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323
COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
" as excess paid in 182S." Samuel M. Osbourne was then ap- pointed Treasurer, and on settlement in November, 1831, reported receipts $1, 198.46 (of which $35.12 was cash available for county purposes ) ; expenses, $1,013.69; balance, $184.77. These figures complete the record for the first ten years of the county's existence. They may profitably be compared with the following: Total receipts at the treasury in 1863, $51,382.14; in 1868, $216,362.32; in ISS7, $253,887.54; total value of taxables in 1843, $1,714,258; in IS51, $3,203,855; in 1860, $7,315,852; in 1870, $9,857,660, in ISSO, $10,- 101,625 .; in 1887, $10,424,385.
The appended table shows the expenditures for county purposes alone for the years designated :
1836 $1,334 17
IS64
$21,253 99
1839
1,68I 79
I865
19,928 47
IS40
4,916 63
IS66
23,289 00 :
IS4I
3,005 50
1867
41,317 79
1844
3,826 61
1868
45,491 03
1845
2,997 IO
IS69
30,251 13
1846
4,242 86
1870
62,805 46
1847
5,116 IO
1871
62,591 72
1848
2,762 96
1872
30,588 59
1849
5,466 35
1873
27,947 23
1850
3,906 12
1874
32,409 23
IS51
3,439 23
1875
27,417 8I
1852
4,634 83
1876
51,426 91
I853
6,460 70
1877
51,299 34
1854
6,995 28
1878
50,341 14
1855
5,819 10
1879
75,815 59
1856
6,71I 28
IS80
58,051 69
1857
7,780 49
188I
81,577 75
1858
9,011 19
I8S2
54,726 00
1859
17,755
SI
1883
45,847 41
1860
18,479 41
1884
38,073 14
1861
10,844 77
18S5
105,892 88
1862
9,948 61
1886
84,061 52
1863
12,358 90
1887
52,050 79
The following issues of bonds have been made: June, 1872, $60,000 for the court house; June, 1878, $32,000 for the poor asylum and to redeem $20,000 of outstanding bonds; August
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BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY.
and September, ISSO, $37,000 for bridges; December, ISSo, $8,000 for bridges; January, ISS4, $35,000 for bridges; June, 1884, $32,000 to fund indebtedness; November, 1885, $25,000 to fund indebtedness. Of these bonds, $137,000 have been paid and can- celled, leaving outstanding $92,000.
The county holds in trust for the use and benefit of the public schools a common school fund of $38,273.96, and a congressional township fund of $55,115.83, the latter fund representing the sales of the sixteenth section in each congressional township originally set apart as a " school section." One of these sections, containing 640 acres, in early days sold for $1,311, while another in ISS2 brought $37,572.77. This fund was for many years managed by a School Commissioner and afterwards by the County Auditor.
Gideon B. Hart, for nineteen years was the trusted agent of the county in charge of the fund, and his successor was W. H. H. Ter- rell, who served until the duties of the office were assigned by law to the County Auditor.
The County Poor .- One of the chief objects of social organi- zation among civilized people is mutual protection. / Incidental thereto is the care of the unfortunate poor who have become unable to support themselves because of age, natural defect, disease or unavoidable misfortune. "The poor shall be with you always," is true of all places. The relief of this class is a public duty than which few are more worthy an honorable and conscientious per- formance. It is gratifying to know that Bartholomew County has never been thoughtless or negligent in this regard. The means adopted at first, perhaps, may not accord with advanced ideas that pertain among humanitarians of to-day, but they were the best permitted by the times and the circumstances. The laws of the State provided for the appointment of Overseers of the Poor whose duties were defined by the statutes, the chief of which was to cause all poor persons who became public charges to be farmed out an- nually on contract in such manner as was deemed best calculated to promote the public good. Minors were bound out as apprentices: males until twenty-one years of age, females until eighteen years of age. An act approved in January, 1828, authorized the execu- tion of indentures of apprenticeship by the Overseers, which were
325
COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
entered of record in the Recorder's office, and the apprentice was provided with lawful means for the maintenance of his natural rights against the oppressions of the "master." May 15, IS21, the Board of Commissioners appointed the first Overseers of the Poor, who were for the Northern District, James Goodwin and Abdiel Parsons, for the Middle District, Joseph Cox and Robert Wilkerson, for the Southern District, Richard Wall and John Rud- dick, for Sand Creek Township, Samuel Richardson and Samuel Arnelt. Among other early Overseers were: Joseph Vanmeter, Joshua McQueen, Henry Saunders, David Hager, James Quick, John F. Jones, Samuel Crittenden, A. A. Wiles, C. Edwards, James McEwen and Jacob Gabbert. They were paid for the time actu- ally employed at a small per dicm. The total sum paid prior to 1833 was $81.49.
In 1823 Dr. Joseph Rose was paid $12 for services rendered Nancy Burkham, and $10 was allowed James Lash for keeping her five weeks. In 1832 an allowance of $12 was made "for keeping Nancy, a woman of color, a pauper," and in the same year $17.83 was paid for the support of Nancy Tyler. In March, 1827, an allowance of $5 was made "for farming out a pauper and burying a child"-the first of the kind for either of the services mentioned. In March, 1828, the payment of $18.25 was directed for the sup- port of Samuel G. Rice, and an allowance of $26 was made for professional services rendered him by Dr. W. P. Kiser. The most unfortunate of the early poor was John Powers. He became a public charge early in 1828, and prior to the Christmas of 1829 there had been expended by the county in his behalf $140.74, all of it for his "keep," except $3 which was paid Nathan Bass and Uriah McQueen for "advertising and selling" him, in November, 1829. From first to last the county spent in caring for this one man $424.63, and at length this record closed his career in March, 1835, "allowed $18.50 for the keep and burial of John Powers." These facts are recorded not to reflect upon the man named, for poverty of itself is never a disgrace, but to show the laudable con- duct of the community in thus relieving his want. Up to this ti few expenses for the poor other than those named were incurr but as the population increased there was a natural growth in the
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326
BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY.
dependent class, and the necessity of providing better means for their care became manifest. In May, 1839, a committee was ap- pointed by the County Commissioners to select a site for a poor house, and authorized to purchase a farm, but nothing permanent resulted from the work of this committee. Consequently, in March, 1842, another committee composed of Francis J. Crump, John Prather and William S. Jones was appointed. After examin- ing several tracts of land, the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 14, Township 10, Range 5 east, was purchased from P. H. Redman for $500, of which $372.05 was paid in cash and $127.95 in the individual notes of the committee due one year from date. One hundred and sixty dollars was expended in repairing a house then on the land. In June, 1845, the Commissioners pur- chased for $1,650, from George G. Gabbert, 110 acres of land in Section 35, Township 9, Range 5 east, and in the following March sold the old farm to Harvey Dickinson in consideration that he should feed and clothe all the paupers of the county for three years, and decently bury those dying at the asylum during that time.
In March, 1860, an additional tract of land in the same section, comprising about seventy acres, was purchased from John Young, for $2,000, and in December, 1868, sixty acres of timber land, in Section 2, Township 8, Range 5 east, were bought from Thomas J. Followell, for $2,400. In July, 1848, a brick house, 56x18x8, divided into four equal parts by brick partitions, was built by James W. Betts, at a cost of $700, and in June, 1861, an additional build- ing, 24x18, was erected at a cost of $150. In June, 1863, the necessity for a larger and better house was so apparent that bids for its construction were advertised for. The contract was awarded to Adam Keller, for $2,338.05. In April, 1878, after personal examination of the premises, the Board of Commissioners found the conveniences at the poor farm wholly inadequate, and decided to erect a new asylum, which, however, was not to cost in excess of $12,000, the sum to be raised by an issue of county bonds. G. W. Bunting, an architect of Indianapolis, was employed to draw up the plans and specifications. Pursuant to advertisements, the following proposals were submitted in June of the same year :
327
COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
Samuel Hege, $11,900; McCormack & Sweeney, $13,2SS; R. M. Rowley & Son, $12,773; Keller & Brockman, $12,975; Perkinson, Dunlap & Co., $10,900. The last named bid being considered the lowest and best, was accepted, and contract entered into June 14th. When the contract was prepared a change had been made in the specifications respecting the kind of mortar to be used by which the proposed and accepted price was to be increased $100, and for this reason Commissioner Gant declined to sign the same, deeming it a bad precedent to establish. When the work was completed the contractors were allowed $12,114.79. The house is a two story brick building, well built, spacious, and in all ways well suited for the purposes designed. A barn, 34x40 feet, was built in the same year, by Samuel Hege, at a cost of $352.
The farm is annually inspected by the Board of Commissioners, and the comfort of the inmates is carefully looked after. This duty was performed by the Overseers of the Poor until that office was abolished. They visited the asylum frequently and made written reports to the Commissioners. These reports show good manage- ment and humane conduct on the part of the Superintendents. The first Superintendent was Silas Keely, who received $300 for keep- ing from one to eleven persons six months. Other early Superin- tendents were : Frederick Hyatt, Hance Irwin and Thomas Whalen. - The last named kept all the paupers in 1848 for the use of the farm and 300 bushels of corn, and in 1849 for the use of the farm and $125. The present Superintendent is Thomas J. Noland who is under contract for three years to keep all the paupers for the use of the farm and $1,600 per year. The amount expended for the poor in the asylum in 1878, was $1,734.26; in 1879, $1,420.55; and in 1887, $1,403.80. Concerning those supported outside of the asylum the figures below are appended to show the fluctuations in this item of expense from 1853. As to the period prior to that date a sufficient idea for the purposes of history has been given above.
Expenditures in behalf of the county poor who are not inmates of the asylum:
328
BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY.
1853
$690 00
IS71
$1,593 42
1854.
463 42
IS72.
2,254 82
IS55
704 30
1873
2,398 68
IS56
889 79
1874.
2,425 66
1857
1,755 98
IS75
2,908 35
I858.
1,516 84
1876.
3,179 96
IS59
I,III 68
1877
3,659 61
IS60
1,770 97
1878.
3,572 3I
186I
3,401 74
1879.
3,762 32
1862.
1,595 55
1880.
4,926 75
1863.
1,596 54
ISSI
4,854 04
IS64.
2,139 28
IS82
5,952 53
I865
4,352 60
IS83.
4,170 72
1866
4,117 66
1884
5,631 87
IS67
4,736 49
1885.
4,71I
2I
I868.
3,297 82
I886
4,557 37
I869.
3,321 47
IS87.
4,328 26
1870
2,485 02
Total from 1853 to ISS7
$104,835 03
Public Buildings .- Court Houses: On February 26, 1821, im- mediately after the organization of the county, the Board of Com- missioners purchased for $50 from Luke Bonesteel a small, double log house, to be used as a court house. It was inadequate for the needs it was bought to supply, and preparations were soon begun to have it replaced. In November, 1821, the building of a new court house was determined upon, to be of brick, two stories high, forty feet square, and about twenty-five feet high. The contract was awarded to Giles Mitchell. In 1824, the house purchased from Bonesteel was sold, and for several years rooms were rented by the Commissioners wherever they could be best obtained. In No- vember, 1824, the "undertakers of the court house " were given another year to complete the same, but when the time expired, the building was not finished. Mitchell was released from his contract, and was allowed $47.73, the balance due him, he having previously been paid $1,000. At the same time the County Agent received Mitchell's note, promising to deliver in Columbus, for the county, " four thousand brick." In January, 1826, a contract for finishing the cupola, doors, windows, etc., of the court house, was awarded to Mr. Jones, and in May following, he was allowed $3,465. This
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COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
and $20 paid upon settlement in May, 1827, were the only cash payments made to this contractor. The County Agent was directed to surrender to Benjamin Crow John Lindsey's note, on which Crow's name appeared as a surety; Crow was to give his individ- ual note to Jones; and the amount was to be charged to Jones on " what will be due in November next" on his contract. The amount of these notes, or what would be due on the contract, are not stated. The agent was further directed to deliver to David Stipp two $52 notes, in favor of the county, on his signing over to Jones a bond held by Stipp for lot No. 86, in Columbus. The scarcity of specie rendered such makeshifts necessary. Still the court house was not finished, and the means of raising money were so few that new expedients had to be resorted to. The Legislature was appealed to, and on January 6, 1829, it was enacted by the General Assembly " that the Board of Justices of Bartholomew County, shall levy a poll tax of 25 cents on each and every person in said county liable to pay a poll tax for State purposes, which tax shall be paid in specie only, and shall be by said Board appro- priated to the finishing of the court house of said county."
This act was repealed in January, 1832, but the Board of Jus- tices, a few days prior to the passage of the Repealing Act, or afterward and in ignorance of it, levied the usual poll tax. This led to contests, and in February, 1834, the action of the Board was legalized. In the Fall of 1829, William Chapman was awarded a contract to make further repairs, and the County Agent was directed to settle with him for his work. Chapman completed the wood-work, and in September, 1831, the house was at last ready for paint. The contract shows that the building, including the roof, was to be painted " Vanecian Read;" the window " shetters" to be green with . two good " cotes of pant," to be hung with iron hinges, and made "near after the same form of Hubbards store windows." The cornice, cupola and a ball above the same were to be painted white. Painting, plastering, and repairs to the inte- rior cost $386. In March, 1839, this old court house, which had cost so much time and trouble in its building, was sold for $825. Prior to this date the Commissioners, recognizing the fact that the public business, increasing constantly, demanded better
330
BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY.
facilities for its transaction than those enjoyed, appointed a com- mittee composed of John B. Abbett, Ephraim Arnold, and Moses Joiner, to consider the question of erecting a new court house. At the suggestion of this committee another was appointed to fur- nish a draft and model-which, when submitted, provided for a brick building with stone trimmings and fire-proof vaults, two stories high, and to be covered with pine or walnut shingles. In February, 1839, John Elder submitted a proposal to construct the building for $8,500, which was accepted. Upon completion of the work the county in part payment transferred to Elder a judg- ment obtained against Jesse Ruddick, et al., and paid the balance in cash. This building stood in the center of the present public square, and at the time of its completion, was ample for the needs of the county and an ornament to the town. But, thirty years later, in December, 1870, the Commissioners declared it " dilapi- dated, crumbling, and unsafe," and sold it for $350. It was then determined to build such an edifice as was demanded by the interests of the people who in that year had paid into the treasury more than $200,000, of which $63,912 was for county pur- poses. I. Hodgson, of Indianapolis, was chosen as architect. The Commissioners then in office were Louis Essex, John P. Holtz, and John W. Welmer, who met much opposition in the contemplation of this work. It has been said that " though the old court house was frail in its structure and forbidding in its aspect, yet it required as much courage to resolve on the construction of a new building and to enter on the execution of that resolve as to meet an embat- tled and hostile enemy in the field."
Pursuant to advertisements previously given, the following bids were received in April, 1871: McCormack & Sweeney, $139,900; Frank L. Farman, $147,330; Epperson & Myers, $156,997; Mc- Kay & Goshom, $134,990; D. J. Silver, $163,000; Short Peperly & Co., $200,000. The contract was awarded to McCormack & Sweeney. At various times it became necessary to enlarge upon the original plans which increased the cost of the building beyond the amount stipulated in the contract. The contractors received about $175,000; the architect, $8,998.95; John Rouser, builder of counters, book cases, and other fixtures, $7,672; the Howard Watch & Clock
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33I
COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
Co. of Boston, for the town clock and bell, $5,000; the Union Foundry Works, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for fence enclosing the public square, $8,133.45. Other expenditures, including that for the heat- ing apparatus, swell the cost of the improvements made to above $225,000. The building stands on the northeast corner of the public square, fronting on Third and Washington streets. After the Franco-American style of architecture, its exterior is of pressed brick and stone trimmings. The foundation stone is from the quarries at North Vernon, the finishing stone from those at Elletts- ville, and the brick from the manufactories of Indianapolis. The building is three stories in height, with a mansard roof, surmounted by a tower twenty-five feet square and 154 feet high. The east front is 122 feet 8 inches long; the north front 122 feet long. It is thoroughly fire proof. On the first floor are the offices of the Auditor, Recorder, Clerk, Sheriff, Treasurer and Board of Com- missioners, all roomy and handsomely furnished; on the second floor are two spacious and lofty court rooms, one 72x42 feet, the other 52x47 feet, the offices of the Judges, County Attorneys, and Sur- veyor; and on the third floor are entrances to the court-room gal- leries, jury and witness rooms, beautifully designed and substantially built in all their parts. This court house will long remain " an archi- tectural triumph and a proud and enduring monument to the intelli- gence and enterprise of its founders."
When completed and received the Commissioners determined to open the new building to the public on December 29, 1874. Preparations were made for a gala day and appropriate public ex- ercises. A cordial and general invitation to the citizens of the county to attend the ceremonies and a banquet to be held in the evening, was extended through the press. On the appointed day the streets of the city were thronged at an early hour. The entire people of the county seemed to have assembled, and large numbers from all parts of the State were. present. In the afternoon a great crowd gathered at the new Temple of Justice, the corridors, court rooms and offices being filled with the old and young, rich and poor, of all classes and trades. In the larger court room an eager throng awaited, with beaming faces and glad hearts, the commence- ment of the exercises, and each took part in the doings of the day with
332
BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY.
proud pleasure. Mayor Thomas Essex presided; appropriate speeches were made by Hon. Joseph E. McDonald, Col. W. P. Tomlinson, of Louisville : Judge Samuel II. Buskirk, of the Supreme Bench; Judge J. Y. Allison, of Madison; Judge C. L. Dunham, and others; a poem of considerable beauty and pathos, by Mrs. Laura C. Arnold, was read, and music suitable to the occasion was rendered by the city bands. The festivities were concluded by a ball and banquet in the evening, when brief addresses were de- livered and appropriate toasts proposed and responded to eloquently by visiting and resident men of acknowledged ability. The event was notable, important and long to be remembered.
fails .- Among the first improvements made by the county was the building of a jail. The contract was let to John McEwen in May, 1821. He was to receive the first payment of $83 out of the money received at the sale of town lots. The jail was built of logs and stood fifty feet from the southeast corner of the public square, on a line from that corner to the center of the square. When completed the Board of Commissioners refused to accept it because it was not built according to contract, and suit was ordered to be brought against McEwen because it was not completed at the time agreed upon. McEwen succeeded, however, in having the matter submitted to arbitration - Newton C. Jones, James Van- zant and Joshua McQueen - upon whose recommendation it was finally received, and the County Agent was directed to enter a credit on McEwen's note for $112.75. Some repairs were made on it in 1825, but it was not secure. At various times prisoners were guarded over night by watchmen hired for the purpose at fifty cents per night. In this connection it may be proper to state that Joseph Mckinney in November, 1822, was allowed $21.25 for taking a convicted criminal, M. W. Harrington, to the State prison, this be- ing the first allowance of the kind. In July, 1826, two men were allowed $6 each for taking prisoners to Jeffersonville. The allow- ance specifies the amount as being payment for six days' labor on the part of each. The first pair of handcuffs were bought in March, IS28, for $2.50. In 1831 a contract was made with Sam- uel Patterson for the building of a jail for $1,ISS. This jail stood on the southwest corner of the public square, thirty feet from each
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