History of Henry County, Indiana, Part 27

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago: Inter-State Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 996

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The grand jury then returned to the court-room and reported to the court the result of their deliberations, -four bills of indict ment for assault and battery: One against Solomon Byrkett, two against Samuel Bedson (a member of the Board of Justices in 1824), and one against Peter Smith. Bedson plead guilty and was fined $1. The other cases were not tried. The judges voted themselves their salary, $2 a day, and ordered that the prosecuting attorney, be payed $5 for his service, and court adjourned until the following March.

The presiding judge was not present during this term of court, nor did he favor Henry County with a visit until the November term, 1823.

At the March term, 1823, the grand jury was composed of William McKimmy, Foreman, Soloman Byrkett, Abijah Cain, Jacob Elliott, Moses Fink, George Hanby, Daniel Jackson, John K. Nutt, Allen Hunt, Stephen McCray, William Morris, Thomas

* The "room " where the deliberations of the jury took place was a log heap near by.

300

HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

Ray and Asahel Woodard-all " good and lawful men," although one of them, Byrkett, was tried the same day for breaking the peace (with his fists). He was acquitted, however, by the follow- ing traverse jury, the first ever impaneled in Henry County : William Shannon, Nathan Pearson, James Rozell, Samuel Bedson, Christopher Bundy, Minor Fox, Jacob Richey, Hugh McDaniel, William Rowe, John Blount, Josiah Clawson and Jacob Witter.

At the present day it would seen a little inconsistent with the demands of justice to have men, themselves under indictment for a breach of the peace, serving on juries to try others for like offenses. Yet such a state of things was by no means uncommon in the early courts of this county. The foremost men of the day were as like as any others to figure as defendants in assault and battery cases-which species of litigation occupied the attention of the court far more than all other business. During the first five years of the county's existence ninety-one bills of indictment were found against citizens of the county for various offenses. A clas- sification of these bills shows that for assault and battery there were forty-four indictments; for affray, twenty-four; for rout, one; for gaming, five; for rape, four; for extortion, two; for perjury, two; for larceny, two; for robbery, two; vagrancy, lewdness, violating estray law, selling liquor without license, obstructing a process, and negligence in office, one each.

The first term of Circuit Court held in the old log court-house began April 11, 1825, Bethuel F. Morris, Presiding Judge, being present.

When the Court of Common Pleas was in existence two terms of Circuit Court per year sufficed for the county. Since 1873 the number of terms of the Circuit Court has been four, which are now arranged to begin as follows: On the first Monday in Feb- ruary, the fourth Monday in April, the first Monday in September, , and the third Monday in November of each year.

PROBATE COURT.

The first term of Probate Court in Henry County was held at the house of Charles Jamison in New Castle. It began on the 2d of October, 1822, before Thomas R. Stanford, Elisha Long, " Associate Judges of the Henry Circuit Court and sole judges of this court." The first business of the court was as follows:

"The Last Will and Testament of Ephraim Smith, deceased, was proved by the oath of Nathaniel Richmond and Rene Julian, witness thereto, and ordered to be recorded," etc.

301

HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

This was not the first will admitted to probate, however; for we find that on Sept. 23, 1822, the will of Thomas Cox, deceased, was proved before Rene Julian, Clerk.

The associate judges were the sole judges of the Probate Court until 1829, when a judge was elected specially for this court. Jesse H. Healey, the first Sheriff, had also the honor of being the first "County Judge," and entered upon his duties in November, 1829. The clerk of the Circuit Court served also as clerk of probate. When the Common Pleas Court was organized in 1853 its jurisdic- tion extended to matters of probate and the Probate Court ceased to exist.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

The first term of the Court of Common Pleas held in Henry County began Monday, Jan. 1, 1853; present, Hon. Martin L. Bundy, Judge of the court; Elijah B. Martindale, District Attorney; Joshua Johnson, Sheriff ; and Simon T. Powell, Clerk. This court was abolished in 1873.

THE FIRST COURT-HOUSE.

The act establishing Henry County required that the commis- sioners should provide for the erection of suitable county buildings within one year after their election. The officials appear to have been in no haste to carry out this provision of the law; for, in the records of the Commissioners' Court, the subject of county build- ings is not mentioned until February, 1823. It was then decided to receive bids for the erection of a court-house of the following dimensions:

"Being logs twenty-two by eighteen feet each log to face not less than twelve inches at the little end being seven inches thick twelve rounds high with a cabin roof to consist of eleven joists," etc. The order providing for this remarkable structure concludes with the announcement that

"The sale of the above described building be on the Wednesday after the second Monday in May next with a good door three feet wide six feet six inches high."

It seems that the commissioners, before their next meeting, must have been instructed by some more competent architect than he who devised the above plan; at all events, the " sale," " with a door three feet wide" was never made. The order was rescinded, and instead another was passed on Tuesday, May 13, 1823:

302

HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

" Ordered, That Ezekiel Leavell, agent for Henry County, sell to the lowest bidder, Wednesday, the 14th day of May, 1823, a court-house of the following dimensions and description, to wit : The said building shall be built of hewn logs, the side logs of which must be twenty-six feet long and the end logs twenty feet long. The logs when hewn must be seven inches thick, and on the middle of the log face at least twelve inches. The sills and sleepers for said building shall be procured of good and durable timber and the foundation set on stone of sufficient size, to wit: One stone at each corner and one on the middle of each side sill. The under floor shall consist of puncheons well hewn and lain down solid and smooth. The under story between the floor and joice shall be at least nine feet high. All logs put in said building shall be butted square. There shall be two doors, one on each side of the building," etc.

The doors were to be of good, strong plank and placed nine feet from the end of the building. Two windows, each of fifteen lights, were to be placed in the lower story. The court was separated from the spectators by a partition of banisters, at least four feet high, with a gate in it. The only furniture specified was "at least five strong smooth benches of the length of about eleven feet." The second story was to be floored with plank and to be divided into two rooms (each illuminated by one window) by a partition running through the middle of the building. "The building shall be well chinked and daubed and covered with good oak boards confined by sufficient weight poles." "There shall be furnished a good strong set of straight steps, commonly called mill steps, from one corner of the spectators' room to the second floor of the building."

Further specifications directed that the court-house should be finished on or before the second Monday in February, 1825; that the clerk be directed to pay the contractor the sum of $20 as soon as the building should be raised and covered; that it be built on the southeast corner of lot number 4 in block number 12. *

George Barnard, being the lowest bidder, was awarded the con- tract for building this first rude temple of justice and gave bonds for the faithful performance of the work. His price was $247.

* A little southeast of the site of the present court-house. The order providing for bids was to be "advertised in three of the most public places in the county and in the Western Times, published in Centreville, Ind." It was further declared that the building should be "in height, materials and construction, similar to the court-house in Connersville, Fayette Co., Ind."

303

HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

On the 10th of May, 1824, the commissioners met at the house of John Smith in New Castle and adjourned to the court-house. Ac- cording to their judgment the building had been constructed according to contract, and the balance due the builder-$227-was ordered to be paid to Byrom Cadwalader. From this it would ap- pear that the contract made with Barnard was executed by Cad- walader, though the records make no mention of this fact.

The court-house was completed, but, probably through an over- sight, it was unprovided with heating apparatus. To remedy this serious defect, on the 12th of May, 1824, the board ordered that a brick chimney, with fire-places on the first and second stories, be built at the center of the west end of the court-house, the contract for the same to be let to the lowest bidder on the second Monday in September, 1824. Probably the fire-places proved unsatisfac- tory; for, in September, 1825, it was ordered that a stove and pipe be purchased for the court-house, and the sum of $30 was allowed for that purpose.

This primitive court-house, with its puncheon floor, cabin roof and chinked and daubed walls, soon proved inadequate for the wants of the growing county; and, although it had been built so as to be good for at least half a century, only seven years after its completion we find the county commissioners taking measures for the erection of a new structure of surpassing grandeur for that age. We can but wonder at their ambitious and progressive spirit and imagine what grumbling on the part of the tax-payers assailed their ears !

The log court-house disappeared, but by a sad perversion of the law of "the eternal fitness of things," a portion of it was trans- formed into a pig-pen, in which humble capacity, for aught we know to the contrary, it is serving to-day.

THE BRICK COURT-HOUSE.

In the latter part of the year 1831, the contract for the erection of the second court-house was given to the lowest bidder, Nathan Crawford, who was to receive the sum of $5,315 to be paid in five annual installments as follows: On the 1st of January, 1832, $400; Jan. 1, 1833, $700 ; Jan. 1, 1834, $1,000; Jan. 1, 1835, $1,200; Jan. 1, 1836, the balance. All except the interior work was to be finished on or before the 1st of January, 1834, and the entire struct- ure was to be completed before the 1st of January, 1836. The build- ing was designed by Robert Murphey, who received $2.50 for his

304

HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

plans. According to the specifications the building was to be of brick, two stories high and forty feet square. The foundation was " to be dug eighteen inches below the surface of the ground; the walls to be two feet thick from the foundation three feet up;" the lower story to be fifteen feet high and the upper story twelve. The roof was to be of joined shingles of yellow poplar, eighteen inches in length, "to be pitched from each square to the center ; " and the whole structure to be surmounted by an eight sided cupola, eight feet in diameter and twenty feet high, eight feet of the dis- tance to be enclosed with Venetian blinds, the cupola to be covered by a suitable cap, from which was to arise a spear bearing a wooden ball, ten inches in diameter," nicely gilt ;" above the ball, a neat vane, and still higher, "a cross with a gilt ball on each end, " the whole to be surmounted with a neat cap on top of the spear. Such was the elaborate ornamentation of the building which was destined to be the pride of the county. Instead of four windows, as in the log court-house, the new building contained twenty-three windows, of twenty-four lights each. It was also provided with large folding doors, with a fan-light above.

On the morning of the 7th of January, 1836, the contractor, Craw- ford, presented himself before the commissioners, Robert Murphey, Tabor W. McKee and John Whittaker, doubtless expecting to receive payment in full for his work. His chagrin may be imagined on being informed that his work has been examined and found almost totally deficient; that the roof is leaky, the plaster- ing and carpentry badly done, and that "the contract is for- feited in. toto, and the materials out of which said house is constructed are in a great many cases deficient."

A compromise was effected at the March term following and the commissioners settled with Crawford, allowing him in all $4,500 for the building.

THE PRESENT COURT-HOUSE.

The second court-house of the county was destroyed by fire on the 13th day of February, 1864, and with it a portion of the public records as well as a quantity of official papers which were stored in one of the jury-rooms for want of room elsewhere. Murphey Hall was rented by the commissioners and used as a temporary court-house until the new and beautiful structure now adorning the public square was completed in 1869.

The commissioners, M. F. Edwards, John Minesinger and Elias

305

HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

Phelps, at once set about the work of providing for the erection of a building commensurate with the wealth and importance of Henry County. Mr. Edwards was appointed to superintend the work and performed his duties in a most competent and efficient manner. The structure was completed in less than four years from the time when work was begun. Its entire cost was about $120,000.

The size, arrangement and architectural beauty of the court- house are too familiar to every citizen of the county to require minute description in these pages. Suffice it to say that the entire building is admirably planned, and in every essential feature all that a first-class public building should be. The material is brick and stone. The main building is 66 x 82 feet, exclusive of the tower which projects from the front about nineteen feet. The height of the walls is fifty feet from the foundation, and of the tower 110 feet. The county offices on the ground floor are models of convenience. The court-room on the second floor is reached by a superb iron staircase. The size of the room is 50 x 65 feet; and for convenience and taste it is perhaps unsurpassed in the State. The frescoing of the room alone cost about $1,400. The building is heated throughout by steam.

Great indeed will Henry County have become when the present court-house proves too small for its needs.

COUNTY JAILS.

At the February term of Commissioners' Court, 1823, the board decided to receive bids for the building of a jail in the town of New Castle on the Wednesday after the second Monday in May fol- lowing, the jail to be built on lot number 3 in block number 12 of the town, and of the following dimensions:

" Fourteen feet square, seven feet between the floors, the logs to square ten inches, to be dovetail at each corner and pinned; upper and lower floors to consist of logs squared, of the same dimensions; the upper floor each log to be pinned down with one inch and one- half augur, one round of logs above the upper floor to fit down tight; the door to be three feet wide; the shutter to be made of two- inch oak plank, dovetailed, and be well spiked and hung with good and sufficient hinges, to open outside, with a good and sufficient bar with staples and lock; a cabin roof; the lower floor to be laid on oak sills and the house to be built on the top thereof; one win-

306

HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

dow one foot square with four-inch square bars of iron to be suf- ficiently set in."

It was subsequently enacted that the jail should be finished before the 1st Monday in August, 1823. Obadiah R. Weaver undertook the construction of the building for the sum of $120. At their meeting in May, 1824, the commissioners refused to receive the jail on the ground that the work had not been executed according to contract. They afterward accepted it and settled in full with Mr. Weaver for $45, he having previously received $20 when the structure was but " four rounds high."

The jail erected by Mr. Weaver probably had little architectural beauty, but with its iron bars, " window one foot square " and logs " pinned down," must have been a place of incarceration sufficiently formidable to evil-doers. It was soon found to be too small for the wants of the times and the commissioners were obliged to provide for its enlargement. It was decided to build an extension to the original structure, leaving a space of eight inches between, which interval was afterward to be filled up with timber. . The new part was to be much like the old, with one window of the same size; but the entire structure was to be raised to the height of two stories. A strong stairway at one end of the building afforded entrance to the second story, but the only way of entering the lower story was through a " strong trap door, two feet square, to be made secure with a strong bar of iron and a good and sufficient lock," thus rendering it necessary to take the criminal up stairs and lower him into one of these veritable "dark holes." One thinks of the inscription upon the gate in Dante's " Inferno: "

"Ye who enter here, leave every hope behind."

On the 7th of January, 1830, Moses Brown, Esq., for the con- sideration of $97.50, engaged to reconstruct the jail in accordance with the above specifications.

Less than five years elapsed before a new jail was ordered. The outside walls were to be of brick and the inner walls "of hewn timber, ten inches square, to be laid down half dovetailed," and seven feet high, the whole to be lined with beech plank an inch and a half thick, and "cross-lined " and well spiked, with cut spikes six inches long, to be placed not more than three inches apart. The floors of the cells were to be of good oak timber ten inches thick, covered by plank. The building to be two stories, but the cells of the upper story less strongly constructed than those below. The size of the structure was 18 x 25 feet. The lower story was to be

307

HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

ready for use before the 3d Monday of October, 1835, and the whole building to be complete before the 1st Monday in May, 1836. " At a sale held at the court-house, to sell the building of the goal," Miles Murphey, Jr., " bid off the same for $1,100." The work was performed according to contract and Henry County got along without a new jail for fifteen years.

On the 11th of February, 1851, the commissioners ordered the building of a new jail, the fourth within a period of less than twenty-eight years. The structure erected in accordance with this order was of brick, two stories high, 36 x 40 feet, the cell walls of hewn timber, lined with boiler-iron, and the floor of stone. Its cost was about $3,500. Elisha Clift and Jacob Elliott constructed it, under the supervision of the commissioners.

The present county jail was erected in 1866 and cost about $40,000. It was built under the efficient superintendence of Robert Cluggish, Esq. It is T-shaped, the front of the building serving as the jailer's residence. The walls are of brick and stone, solidly and substantially constructed. There are eighteen cells in the building. The jail is well calculated, in every respect, to prevent the escape of prisoners.

FORMER COUNTY BUILDINGS.

At the same time with the letting of the first log court-house and jail the commissioners awarded to the lowest bidder

"The erecting of a pound commonly called a stray pen; the said pen is to be erected in the southwest corner of the public square; the said pen to be erected at least five feet high and of good and durable timber, commonly called a post and rail fence with a gate and lock to the same."

This pound was almost as important as any of the county build- ings in early years. It was designed to receive any wandering farm-stock that might be found at large, and it was the duty of the keeper of the "stray pen " to care for such animals until they were claimed by their lawful owners. Minor Fox agreed to erect the pound for the sum of $12.50, and performed the work in a satisfactory manner. He was appointed its first keeper.

All the official records of the county during the first ten years of its existence do not cover as many pages as the records of one office for a single year at the present day. The amount of county business was small; the official salaries were insignificant; the officials generally were better accustomed to holding a plow than

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

to guiding a pen, consequently the records were few, and, in many instances, imperfect. A person having business at the county seat was more likely to find a county officer in his field than in his office. The clerk performed the duties of recorder as well as many of the duties now devolving upon the auditor. While this state of affairs continued, any small room that could be rented cheap was suitable for an office.

But as the county grew rapidly, so did the amount of official business. Accordingly the commissioners decided to erect a suit- able building for the offices of clerk and recorder. It was a one- story brick structure, 18 x 38 feet, and stood on the southeast corner of the public square. Thomas Ginn built it for the sum of $844. Here the records of the two offices named were kept until the year 1867, when they were removed to the new court-house.

The building containing the auditor's and treasurer's offices was similar to that above mentioned. It stood on the northeast corner of the public square and was erected by George Lowe, contractor, in 1847, for the sum of $545.

THE POOR FARM.

The county had no asylum for its poor prior to 1844, though the records of the commissioners' transactions show that the care of the paupers had not been among the least of their duties from the first.

In 1839 the county commissioners, D. C. Shawan, George Cor- wine and James Ball, purchased of William Silver a farm of 160 acres, situated about one mile northwest of New Castle, for the sum of $2,000. In May of the same year they made a contract with John D. Foosha for keeping the paupers, and provided for building a poor-house. It was ordered that " all persons who are now, or may hereafter become, a county charge, shall be removed, as the law directs, to the poor-house provided for that purpose." In 1844 a good and substantial brick house was erected upon the farm at a cost of $1,100. John H. Polsley was the contractor, and John Shroyer, Miles Murphey, Jr., and Dr. Joel Reed superin- tended the work. This house was burned in May, 1857, and re- placed by a better and more commodious structure, built at an expense of about $7,000. The farm has been enlarged to 280 acres, much of which is rich bottom-land. The farm has generally been well managed and the paupers humanely treated.

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HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.

FINANCIAL. A statement of the condition of county finances, 1841 to 1881:

YEAR.

NO. OF POLLS.

TOTAL VALUE OF TAXABLES.

STATE TAX.

COUNTY TAX.

SCHOOL TAX.

TOTAL TAXES.

AMOUNT DELIN- QUENT.

1841.

2,089

$2,376,350

$ 11,072

$3,420

$14,575

1846.

2,444

2,722,236

9,553

4,664

15,802

$ 739

1851.

2,633

4,341,149

14,563

9,345

$4,836

29,148

297

1856.

2,996

5,949,540

13,395

9,673

7,449

52,971

749

1861.

3,339

8,342,950

14,186

12,853

9,995

54,860

1,727

1866.

3,221

9,562,190

26,410

98,936

16,910

189,188

3,717

1870.

3,445

11,041,520

18,658

12,788

19,413

98,029

3,454

1881 .- Value of land, $6,998,220; value of improvements, $1,858,950; value of land and improvements, $8,847,170; value of personal property, $3,950,220; total value of taxables, $12,- 797,390; number of polls, 4,011.

Taxes levied for 1881: State tax, $17,362.34; new State House tax, $2,559.45; State school tax, $22,481.28; county tax, $27,600 .- 39; township tax, $5,283.61; tuition tax, $17,511.15; special school tax, $14,510.61; road tax, $10,261.19; dog tax, $2,204.00. Bridge tax for 1881, $3,335.09; railroad tax, $14,410.64; total tax, 1881, $126,554.45.

VALUATION OF HENRY COUNTY, 1883.

The following table shows the valuation and number of polls in each township and corporation of Henry County in the year 1883:

TOWNSHIP OR CORPORATION.

VALUE OF LAND.

VALUE OF IMPROVE- MENTS.

VALUE OF LAND AND IMPROVE- MENTS.

VALUE OF PERSONAL PROPERTY

TOTAL VALUE OF TAXABLES.

NO.

POLLS.

Wayne.

$622,700

$185,000

$807,700

$307,510

$1,115,210

285

Knightstown

167,710

330,590

498,300

532,415

1,030,715

295

Franklin.

507,740

98,540

606,280

254,700

860,980

185

Lewisville

15,490

41,730

57,220

66,230

123,450

Dudley.

543,340

107,870

651,210

222,300

873,510

215

New Lisbon.

4,050

8,520

12,570

18,680

31,250

Straughn's

6,600

5,740

12,340

11,540

23,880

Liberty.

697,940

74,250

772,190

366,450

1,138,640

312

Henry .

730,840

86,180

817,020

270,670

1,087,690

253

New Castle.

217,770

360,640

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History of Henry County, Indiana, Part 27

Author: Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago: Inter-State Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 996

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago: Inter-State Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 996