History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions, Part 7

Author: Harding, Lewis Albert, 1880- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1378

USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 7

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"The stairs to start from the South east Corner of the house, and ascend to the passage. The window and door frames to be made in a workmanlike manner."

On March 7, following, the order was issued to receive bids for the construction of the building. The order is here given in full :

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

"Ordered that the Court house be built on the Public Square in the town of Greensburgh and that the Centre of the Square be the Centre of the house. to be completed on or before the first day of May, 1827. And the terins of payments as follows. four hundred dollars to be paid on or before the 25th of December next, and the balance to be paid in three equal annual enstalments thereafter. Bond and approved Security will he required of the purchaser in a penalty of double the sum that the building is sold for. The person or persons bidding the same off and failing to Comply with the Con- ditions above Stated. will forfiet the sum of fifty dollars to be recovered by suit in the name of the County Agent to be applied to the use of the County in building said house. The person bidding off the same shall give bond and security as above stated within fifteen days from this date."

On Monday, November 6, 1826, the board of justices, which was now made up of George W. Hopkins, president ; Wesley White, William E. Craw- ford, Griffe Griffiths, William Fowler, Samuel Bryan, James Donnell and Zacharialı Garton, gave notice of the "sale" of some more work on the new court house. This time it was for some minor work, and, from all that could be determined, the building was ready for occupation by the specified time in May, 1827.

This building was occupied until 1854, when it was condemned by the board and the work of its demolition commenced that summer. However, on June 8, 1853, the commissioners-Smith Reiley, B. H. Harney and H. S. Burke-appointed B. W. Wilson, I. G. Monfort and B. H. Harney as a com- mittee to draft plans and specifications for the construction of a new court house, "the whole cost of said house, when completed and furnished, not to exceed thirty thousand dollars." This committee reported on September 7. its report was accepted and it was dismissed. The commissioners then employed Edwin May to superintend the construction and appointed B. W. Wilson, I. G. Montfort and B. H. Harney to act as a building committee and as the representatives of the commissioners. May was instructed to consult with them on all contracts, payments and changes in the original plan.

On March 6. 1854, the contract for the stone work was let to W. W. Lowe and Jacob M. Hiltertrand. But it was not until June 19, 1855, that the contract for the brick work was placed. It went to R. B. Thomson and Henry H. Talbott for four dollars and twenty-nine cents per thousand bricks actually used, the waste and soft bricks to be deducted from the kiln count. The contractors were to furnish all labor, tools, "including hods, ladders and all necessary apparatus for the raising of the bricks on the tower and

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

other parts of the building, at their own cost and charges," but the county was to furnish "brick, lime and sand, water in the wells in the public square, together with all the scaffolding and nails." \ bid was made by N. T. Horton, of Cincinnati, by the pound for the frame for the galvanized iron roof and the iron doors, window shutters and stairs. He asked thirty-seven and a half dollars per hundred square feet for laying the iron roof. The esti- mated cost of the new house on the plan as first accepted was forty thou- sand dollars, but the plans were changed and departed from until, when completed. it, with the improvements of the grounds and the iron fence around it. cost the county close to one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

As early as 1885 the remodeling of the court house was discussed in the commissioners' court, and on June 12, 1888, the board of commissioners, after consideration of the project, decided that the county treasury was too depleted for any such step to be taken at that time: however, they directed that such be done in the spring of 1889. and on December 10, 1888, they ordered the auditor to secure plans and specifications. At a special session called on January 30. 1889, the proposals submitted by McDonald Brothers, of Louisville, were accepted and the contract of drafting plans and specifi- cations awarded to them. On March 18. 1889, bids were received for "remodeling the court house" and for "heating the court house." The con- tract for the first was awarded to J. C. MeGarvey & Brother, of Cincinnati. Ohio, for twenty-seven thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine dollars, with two thousand one hundred dollars reduction for certain changes that might be made. The highest bid was for thirty-seven thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. Security was ordered to be presented on the following 25th of March. But it was on March 26, and not March 25, as stated by the tablet on the west wall of the corridor in the court house, that the contract was approved and the cost, after several changes, set at twenty-four thousand, nine hun- dred and ninety-nine dollars. The heating contract was awarded to 1. D. Smead & Company, of Toledo, Ohio, for twenty-seven hundred and fifty dollars. The contract for furnishing the court room, library, the judge's private office. and the offices of the clerk, sheriff, recorder. superintendent of schools, treasurer and auditor was given to the Grand Rapids Furniture Company, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. on February 7. 1890. The building was inspected and accepted by the commissioners and architect on March 14, 1890, "excepting the painting, and a part of the wainscot in the obscure portions of the corridors, the clearing out of the cellar and refitting the same." The commissioners at the time the contract for remodeling was

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DECATUR COUNTY COURT HOUSE.

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

let were, Everett Hamilton, Henry Steining and Ezra Guthrie, and when the building was accepted, Henry Steining, Ezra Guthrie and Augustus Miller.

In 1903 the building was in need of repairs and on March 7 the com- missioners-Jethro C. Meeks, Uriah Privett and Jesse Styers-awarded H. L. Shute the contract of making certain repairs, for fifty-two hundred dol- lars. At this same session of the commissioners, plans for a hitchrack were submitted by the engineer, J. W. Craig, and accepted. Bids were ordered to be received for the sale of the old fence about the court house square park at this same meeting.

TILE TREE ON THE COURT HOUSE TOWER.

In the summer of 1870 a citizen of Greensburg, whose name posterity has not preserved, was examining the court house tower with a spyglass, when he noticed, springing from the third crevice above the water sheet on the east side of the tower, one hundred and ten feet above the ground, a small twig. From that day down to the present time the fame of the tree on the tower has been heralded throughout the world. Apostrophes, prose epics, poems galore and even songs have been written about it. Strangers to the city always ask to be shown the curiosity the first thing, many not being convinced that there is such a tree until they actually see it.

The first picture of the tree appeared in a local paper in the issue of January 10, 1879, when the court house and tree were shown in connection with an advertisement of St. John's Lone Tree Medicine Company. Since that time the tree has been exhibited pictorially all over the world, and postal cards by the tens of thousands have convinced a doubting world that such a tree really exists. By 1884, according to one of the local papers, the bole of the tree was four inches in diameter and the tree itself was nine feet in height. Some time during the latter part of the seventies other trees sprang up on the tower, and at one time no less than seven were casting their shade over the tower. This grove was allowed to flourish until the court house was remodeled in 1888, when it was deemed necessary to remove some of them. The largest tree of the forest was getting of such dimen- sions that it was threatening to tear up the roof, and since it was a ques- tion of either saving the tree or the roof, the tree had to be sacrificed. Three other small trees were removed at this time. Since then all the others have died except the one on the northeast corner. At the present time ( 1915)

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

this one tree is about eighteen feet high and has a bole of about five inches in diameter. Strange to say, it never seems to be affected by the summer droughts, but remains green even when the trees in the court house yard are showing the effects of dry weather.

Among the many poems written about this famous tree. the one by D. Eckley Hunter, then of Washington, Indiana, and an instructor in the teachers' county institute at the time, is the best which has come to atten- tion. Professor Hunter read it at the close of the session, August 22, 1884. Mr. Hunter has a fairy to explain the origin of the tree and then draws a moral. The complete poem has fourteen stanzas, but only eight of them are here given :

THE GROVE ON THIE COURT HOUSE TOWER.

The wonders of nature. are many, I ween, They come to my mind in a shower ; But where may so wondrous a wonder be seen As the grove on the top of the tower?

It troubled my dreams, it puzzled my brain, Till Ina and Pearl with a flower, Came in and the wonderful wonder made plain Of the grove on the top of the tower.

They said they were rambling-Pearl told me herself- And stopped to admire that flower When in it a fairy they heard tell an elf Of the grove on the top of the tower. (What the fairy said) It is many and many a year ago Since the men who wielded the power Determined to plant and determined to grow A grove at the foot of the tower.

They planted, they watered and they waited long For the shade of the leafy bower ; At length the reward of their labors came In the grove at the foot of the tower.

Then angels looked down from their home above, And smiled on these men of power ; And said, "We'll plant, yes, plant them a grove On the topmost stones of the tower."

It is thus they smile on deeds below That are done for a future hour ; And that none forget, they have caused to grow A grove on the top of the tower.

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

May God bless the angels, and God bless the men Who plant for a future hour. And God bless the shade of the maples, and then The grove on the top of the tower.

THE COUNTY JAIL.

Until the organization of Decatur county, residents in this part of the "New Purchase" had been living without law, so consequently there were no legal punishments for transgressions. But with the organization of the county and the formation of a local government, a jail was rendered neces- sary. The board of commissioners, meeting on February II, 1823, ordered the construction of a log jail and at a subsequent session, fixed its specifica- tions as follows :

"To be twenty by twenty-four feet square; the walls to be of stone and two and one-half feet thick, laid with good lime mortar, and every hole to extend through the wall. The first story to be seven feet high; one window in the lower story to be fourteen inches square, to be bounded with solid rock three feet in length and not less than fourteen inches thick, the bars to be one and one-half inclies square, well riveted to the frame and to be four squares of three inches."

The room last described was the dungeon, intended for the incarcera- tion of prisoners of the worse type. Entrance to it was effected through a trap-door in the floor of the upper story. Construction of the upper story was very similar to that of the lower, save that those confined there got fresh air from two windows, instead of one. This room was intended for keeping prisoners jailed for minor offenses.

A narrow stairway on the outside of the building led to the door of the upper room, the only entrance to the jail. This building stood on the west side of the court house yard until 1832. It was very poorly con- structed, and incapable of detaining anyone who really wanted to get out.

According to tradition, Hiram Hendricks, who, with Robert Church, did the stone work on the building, was the first person to be incarcerated therein. As the story is told. Hendricks was jailed for debt upon com- plaint of Owen O'Reiley. The next morning, when O'Reiley went to jail for the purpose of interviewing his debtor he found him seated outside, looking regretfully at a huge hole, which he had cut through the wall in order to get to the fresh air.

On May 4, 1830, the board ordered that "the Agent of the County, be instructed to sell to the lowest bidder the repairing of the jail of said

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

County in the following manner, towit, the sides of the Upper Story thereof to be lined with oak plank one and one-half inches thick to be set up and down, well secured at the bottom and top and lined across the same with three- quarter poplar plank, tongued and grooved and nailed with good six-penny nails not to exceed three inches apart on the whole face of the lining and that the lining be turned around the door and windows to the grates and likewise the fixing of the trap door and some convenient way to be made to descend to the lower room of said jail, the whole to be completed in a good workmanlike manner by the first day of October next."

But in 1832 it was decided that a new jail was needed and the follow- ing order is taken from page 204 of the commissioners' court records :

"Ordered by the board that the sheriff of the county do proceed after (after giving three weeks' notice in the Political Observer) to sell on the 2d Saturday in June next, at the door of the court house in Greensburgh, the building of a jail for said county of the following description, to wit:

"To be of hewn timbers not less than twelve inches square, the whole of the timbers to be eighteen feet long, a double wall, the corners dove- tail notches, the inside walls to extend and notch on the outside walls, a space between the walls of six inches to be filled with wide rocks set on edge, the under floor to be the same as the wall with stone between, the logs crossing each other, the foundation or joist course of the floor and the bottom rounds of the outside walls to be of white oak, the timber of the balance of the walls of good, sound wood such as beach, sugar, etc., two windows in the lower story one on the west and the other on the east side of the house, opposite each other of the following description. six inches in height and four feet wide to be filled with grates of iron one inch square, three inches apart, to stand up and down and to pass through a bar of iron half an inch thick and three inches wide to cross the grate in the center, the bar to extend in the timbers two inches, a plate of rolled iron half an inch thick and to extend in the walls a proper distance, the rolled iron to cover and be well spiked on the jams around the windows. the logs of the walls to be notched close and the inside walls to be laid in lime mortar. The second floor to be of one tier of logs hewn twelve inches in thickness, the edges hewn square. The second story to be in like manner of the first, with a tier of joists one foot thick, laid close, resting on the inside wall, and butting against the outside wall to be hewn to a thickness of twelve inches, the edges squared and one tier crossing them in the same manner to extend out for the room to stand on-and window in the upper story similar as in the lower story-one door of common size

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

to be cut in the end well on the north side, in the upper story a door frame to be made as wide as the thickness of the walls and well, fastened in both walls, the frame to be of white oak four inches thick and to be lined on the inside on the walls, and the frame well spiked to the walls with sufficient iron spikes, not less than eight inches long. The shutter to be two and a half feet wide and six feet high, to be made of two-inch oak plank, made double, well spiked together with strong iron spikes, a strong lock with double bolts to be well imbedded in the door with a sufficient key-both sides of the door to be entirely lined with strong sheet iron nailed on with one nail to every three inches, a sheet of hammered iron, half an inch thick, twelve inches long and eight inches wide to be set in the frame with strong spikes to receive the bolt and to be bent so as to cover the inside of the frame. A substantial stairway to be erected on the outside of the jail to reach the door with a good platform, the timber of white oak; the build- ing to be well covered with shingles, the gables weatherboarded, the eaves boxed and plain cornice, the corners of the house to be neatly turned down, a hatchway to be made in the center of the second floor two feet and a half square with a sufficient shutter lock and key. The doors to be hung with strong wrought iron hinges. The whole of the work to be completed in a strong workmanlike manner. Stories to be seven and one-half feet high in the clear inside. The building to stand on a stone foundation of one foot underground and six inches above the surface of the earth three feet thick, to be of good stone, laid in a workmanlike manner. The grates in the windows to be set in a frame in the center of walls to be made strong and rabited in the logs two inches, the inside of the frame to be lined with iron half an inch thick, well spiked on. And the logs where they are cut to make the windows to be lined with rolled iron half an inch thick, well spiked on.

"The whole to be completed by the fourth Monday in October next. The payments to be made when the work is completed by orders drawn on the treasury of the county. One bid reserved for the use of the county. We undertake to give bond and security to the acceptance of the sheriff for the faithful performance of the work.

"And it is further ordered that the sheriff. at the time and place afore- said, sell the old jail on a credit until the first of January next, for the best price he can obtain for the same, one bid reserved for the use of the county -bond and security required.

"And it is further ordered that George Q. McCoy be appointed to

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

inspect the work of the new jail as it progresses, who will report the same to this board."

The report of the day's session is signed by Seth Lowe, George W. Hopkins and Edward Tanner, commissioners.

On June 15. 1859. the board of commissioners passed a motion to remove the county jail from the corner of the court house square and ordered the sheriff and auditor of the county to purchase a suitable site, and to remove all material from the old to the new site. A site on the north side of West Main street, a half block from the public square, was selected and the old jail was removed in September, 1859. Edwin May was engaged, at the price of two hundred and fifty dollars, as the architect and superintendent of construction. Bids were received for the construc- tion of the building on September 30, 1859, and the contract awarded to Henry H. Talbott and Richard B. Thompson. The contract price of the building and the date of its acceptance by the board could not be ascertained.

This building was in continuous use as the county jail until 1880. On March 10, of that year, the commissioners made it a matter of record in the minutes of their court that they had "visited the jails of Shelbyville and Columbus, with the view of better determining plans for erecting a jail in this county." On April 13, 1880, the commissioners, S. H. Logan, Wren Grayson and Henry W. Badeker, accepted the plans and specifica- tion for a new jail submitted by Edward Carlisle, an architect. At a spe- cial session on May 20, 1880, bids for its construction were examined and the contract awarded to Rosebrough & Company, of Greensburg, for eleven thousand three hundred and fifty dollars and the old jail was sold to Rich- ard J. Braden, the highest bidder, for three hundred and fifty dollars cash. However, on the next morning, May 21, Rosebrough & Company refused to accept the contract and the work was let to the next best and lowest bidder, the Greensburg Limestone Company, of Greensburg, for twelve thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars. The new building was to be built on the site of the old one and was to be completed by October I, fol- lowing. This building is still in use as the county jail.

CHAPTER IV.

COUNTY OFFICERS.

COMMISSIONERS.

Four distinct boards of county commissioners and two boards of jus- tices have had charge of the affairs of Decatur county since its organization. The first board of commissioners held office from 1822 to 1824. It was then succeeded by a board of justices, composed of two justices of the peace from each township. This board held its last meeting on July 4, 1831. A board of three county commissioners then had charge of affairs until 1835, in which year a board of eighteen justices was created. The latter board held sway until June 7. 1847, in spite of the fact that the Legislature, in 1842, had dissolved such boards in Indiana. The Decatur county board was dis- solved by a special act of Legislature, January 14, 1847. A board of three commissioners then took office and when the new constitution was adopted, in 1852 this arrangement was continued. The three commissioners held full sway until 1899, in which year the legislative act creating county councils restricted their powers to a limited extent.

The first board of county commissioners met on May 14, 1822, at the home of Thomas Hendricks, in Greensburg, and were sworn in by H. H. Talbott, clerk of the county, through appointment by Governor Jennings. This board was composed of Williams Harbord, William Parks and Seth Lowe. The first action of this board was to divide the county into three township, Fugit, Washington and Adams. The first day of June was then fixed for holding township elections. Superintendents of the school sections were then named as follow : Thomas Thorp, James McLain, Thomas Hen- dricks, Nathaniel Robins and Paul Brown. Enoch McCarty was appointed tax lister and John Hopkins, treasurer.

When the three original townships were laid off, Fugit township had the same boundaries as at present ; save that a strip one and one-half miles wide and four miles long has since been stricken off and attached to Clinton. Adams township contained all its present territory, and. in addition, a strip

DECATUR COUNTY, INDIANA.

two miles wide and four miles long, that has since been added to Clay, and all of Clinton except the Fugit strip, above mentioned. The remainder of the county lay in Washington township.

Even in that early day, the high cost of living was sufficiently assertive to demand attention. The board accordingly fixed the following prices that might be charged by tavern keepers: Rum and wine, fifty cents a half pint ; whisky, twenty-five cents a pint; French brandy, fifty cents a half pint; meals, twenty-five cents, and a night's lodging, twenty-five cents.

THE BOARD OF JUSTICES.

The first board of justices met on September 6, 1824. There were eight members of this board, there then being four townships in the county. The board was composed of the following justices of the peace: Robert Church, George W. Ilopkins, James Caldwell, Zachariah Garton, Griffe Griffiths, Dillard Drake, Edward Turner and James Donnell. Other mem- bers of this board, before it passed out of existence in 1831, were Milton N. Williams, John McCarty, Samuel Bryan, Dan Bell, Robert Church, Wesley White, J. S. Forsythe. Davis Jewitt, Thomas Hamilton, G. W. Hopkins, W. E. Crawford, William Fowler, James Saunders, Alex M. Elliott, William Switzer, J. K. Rankin, Benjamin Jones, Ebenezer Douglas, T. C. Pemberton and Thomas Horton.

This board was followed by a second group of county commissioners composed of Seth Lowe, a member of the first board, George W. Hopkins and Edward Tanner. Thomas E. Pemberton later filled a vacancy on this board. The most important matter to receive the attention of these early county officials was the location of highways, and many pages are given in the records of their early meetings to such business. This board held its last meeting on January 5. 1835, and was followed by a board of eighteen justices, there then being nine townships in the county.

The second board of justices met on March 2, 1835, it being composed of the following : Zachariah Garton, Ezra Lathrop, James Howard, R. M. Jamison, Thomas Powers, John Hazelrigg, Theophilus Lee, Samuel Will- iams, James Johnston, David Jewitt, Nathaniel Robins, W. E. Crawford, J. G. Kindall, John Scriptor, John Plymate, Enoch James, Dan Barker and James Lewis. The only new members upon this board in the next twelve years were Henry Critzer, Robert Kennedy, Dan Barker and Ebenezer Douglas.

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History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions, Part 7

Author: Harding, Lewis Albert, 1880- [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1378

Author: Harding, Lewis Albert, 1880- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1378