USA > Indiana > Lawrence County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 11
USA > Indiana > Monroe County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 11
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On the banks of beautiful White river rested the little town of Palestine, once the premier village of the county, but long since relegated to become a mere hamlet. The first term of the court was held at this town in June, 1819. at the court house, which was built of brick. Until 1825, Palestine was the location of the seat of justice, and at that time was abandoned owing to the fever and ague developing in the community. At the first term of court held here, Jonathan Doty was the judge, and James R. Higgins and Daniel Shell were admitted to the legal practice. The first divorce in Lawrence county was granted at this session, the principals being Benjamin and Nancy Dawson.
In October, 1819, court was again held here. John Martin. a traverse juror. was fined for contempt of court. However, a non-suit was ordered, a juror withdrawn, the rest discharged, and thus the plaintiff reserved the right to bring his suit again. Winthrop Foote became prosecutor in place of John Ross.
In the March term, 1820, the first sentence of the lash was executed in
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the county. The prisoner was John Workman, and his indictment was for larceny. He pleaded not guilty. The jury, which was composed of John Short, David Green, David Love, James Fulkerson, John Grey, Joseph Rawlins, Robert Hunter, Samuel Simons, George Sheeks, John Bates, William Elrod and Samuel McBride, heard the evidence in the case, and returned the verdict of guilty, and assessed "his fine at one dollar, and that he receive five stripes." Trouble ensued over this verdict, and unquestionably justice was given a twist in the case. There was a damage suit brought at this term of court by the commissioners of the county vs. Robert M. Carlton, Alexander Walker, Reuben Kilgore, George Sheeks, Pleasant Parks, Edward Johnson and Joshua Taylor. However, the case never came to trial. At the June term, 1820, Charles Dewey and Hugh S. Ross were admitted to the bar. Twenty-one indictments were returned by the grand jury, fifteen for assault and battery, four for affray, one for counterfeiting, and one for attempting to steal a hog.
ROLLIN C. DEWEY, FIRST RESIDENT ATTORNEY.
Rollin C. Dewey and James Bramin were admitted to the legal practice during the. October term, 1820. and the former became the first resident at- torney of the county. Rollin C. Dewey was a native of Massachusetts and a very competent lawyer, although in many ways a failure, in part, due to lack of direction. He was afterwards elected justice of the peace, an office which he filled very creditably. His death occurred in 1832, of the cholera.
At this October term, 1820, John Bailey was fined thirty-seven and one- half cents for assaulting Winthrop Foote, the prosecuting attorney. Also the order of the court to pay Foote seventy-five dollars for service during the year was rejected by the altruistic prosecutor. John Anderson, mentioned before. was again in the dock for his characteristic ferociousness, and was fined the startling sum of six dollars, four and one-tenth cents. William Fields gave his commission of associate judge for seven years, and, being qualified, entered the position. At this term, the name of the sheriff appeared, Joseph Glover, in his case with Robert M. Carlton.
At the March term, 1822, William W. Wick, of another circuit. was the presiding judge. It was he who quit after three years service because "it was starving him out." Judge Wick also presided at the June term, and then the following were admitted to the bar: Addison Smith, John Kings- bury, Thomas M. Allen, Henry A. Coward and James Whitcomb. This was the Whitcomb who later became governor of Indiana. At that time he was
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a struggling young lawyer in Bloomington, Monroe county, and practiced at this bar until 1836. He died while a member of the United States Senate.
SLANDER SUIT.S.
The Hon. Ben Blackwell took the office of presiding judge in the Septem- ber term, 1822, and in this session came the first slander trial of the county. The case was James L. Mitchell vs. Thomas McMannis. The plaintiff re- ceived thirty-five dollars. With the inception of this slander case, they became the fad. The majority of trials for the next few years were for abusive words, or other causes, which make up a slander charge. At one time there were eleven cases on the docket. The Glover-Foote case was perhaps the most notable of these old cases, and from that particular one many others were born, and assumed equally as large proportions.
In the June term, 18.23, Henry P. Thornton, Edgar C. Wilson, Thomas H. Blake and James Whitcomb were admitted to the bar. This was the sec- ond time for Whitcomb, and it probably resulted from an oversight. Thorn- ton was a picturesque example of the old-time attorney. He was born in North Carolina, educated in Kentucky, and trained in the law courts of south- ern Indiana. His legal experience had included clashes with such men as Amos Lane, James Marshall, Stevens, Carpenter, Howk, Harbin H. Moore and others. He was not a great and powerful lawyer ; he was too lenient with his opponent to be so, but he was a conscientious, faithful and exact attorney, and commanded the universal esteem and respect of his friends and clients.
The Indiana Farmer, published at Salem, was ordered to receive and publish record of the John Connelly-Susannah Connelly divorce case, and in the same term of court it was ordered that Rollin C. Dewey be appointed prosecuting attorney, in place of Winthrop Foote, who resigned. Three indictments were returned against supervisors of highways, namely: Hiram Donica, Elijah Curry and Bartholomew Thatcher. At this time the first alien was made a citizen of the United States in this court. Samuel Wilson, an Irishman. so declared his intention. Samuel Lockhart also renounced the English government, and was made an American citizen.
In the April term, 1824. John F. Ross, his commission duly signed by Governor William Hendricks, took his seat as judge of the second circuit. John H. Sampson was the only gentleman admitted to the bar during this term. An application was made at this time by John A. Smith for a pension, in return for his services during the Revolutionary war. After this, there were many such cases before the court.
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FIRST ARSON CASE.
In the same term, April, 1824, occurred the first arson case of Lawrence county. It was listed in the records as "The State vs. James Taylor, Pleasant Taylor and William Leaky." James Taylor and Leaky were exonerated, but Pleasant Taylor was not so fortunate. He was given a year in the state prison. At this session Daniel Rogers was recommended to the county bar ; Ebenezer Post applied for benefits due him for Revolutionary service. Rollin C. Dewey was appointed to the office of master of chancery.
At the April term, 1825. William Connelly and John D. Laughlin were qualified as associate justices. John Lowrey was continued for seven years as clerk of the circuit court, he having already served seven years. William W. Wick (late judge), Reuben W. Nelson and Hugh L. Livingston were admitted to practice. Mr. Livingston, a native of South Carolina, was an- other resident attorney of Lawrence county for a number of years, sharing the honor with Mr. Dewey. He afterward moved to Bloomfield and Sullivan, where he practiced. In the August term, 1825, John Kingsbury was selected as state prosecutor.
FIRST COURT AT BEDFORD.
On February 6, 1826, the first term of the circuit court was held in the city of Bedford, the seat of justice having been removed from Palestine. On the east side of the public square, in a two-story log house, on the ground afterward occupied by the Gardner building, this court was held. The build- ing was in poor condition, the cracks between the logs open, the house without paint, and a general air of destitution about the place. Often the juries reached a verdict while sitting on the logs back of the building. The records kept by the clerk and recorder were in the upper story.
Harbin H. Moore and Milton Stapp were admitted to the bar in the August term, 1826, and in the April term, 1827, Henry Handy, N. G. Howard, Isaac Howk. William K. Howard and Albert S. White were admitted. Mr. Howk was the father of Judge Howk, later of the state supreme court. Mr. White was in after years a member of Congress, serving two terms. In the August, 1827, term, John Farnham was admitted. Many cases were tried during this term, chief among them being the application of Patrick McManus for a pension : the furnishing of a guard for Jameson Hamilton, convicted of assault and battery with intent to kill George Miller. In April, 1828, James Collins was admitted to the legal bar.
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Perhaps one of the most notable cases of this day was the one of Ezekiel Blackwell vs. the Board of Justices of Lawrence county. Blackwell had re- fused to take lots in Bedford corresponding to his lots in Palestine, and he had sued the county for the value of his lots in that town before the removal of the county seat. The supreme court reversed the lower court, and the case went, on change of venue, to Washington county.
The April term, 1829, saw the admission of Enos Fletcher to the bar, and the trying of a hog marking case, by a jury of three, namely, Stever Younger, Horatio Jeter and Elbert Jeter. John Lowrey, clerk, resigned, and John Brown was appointed pro tem. Brown was regularly commissioned for seven years at the next court. Another Bedford lawyer appears on the rec- ords at this juncture, William B. Slaughter, a native of Virginia. He began the practice of law in a frame shanty, represented the county in the Legisla- ture, and was afterwards appointed register of the land offices in Michigan.
Other distinguished men were admitted to the bar soon after this, among them being Tilghman A. Howard. partner of James Whitcomb at Blooming- ton. He was elected to Congress, and came near being both senator and governor. He held the office of charge d'affaires to Texas, a republic then. in 1844, and in that southern land he met his death. Howard was admitted to the bar in March, 1831. In March, 1832, Pleasant Pagett and Joseph Athon were made associate justices, and Robert Mitchell, clerk. Richard W. Thompson was admitted in September, 1833, and at the September term. 1833, Oliver H. Allen and Phrelan G. Paugh were admitted. John H. Thompson presided at this term, and was later succeeded by John H. Allen .. In September, 1835, Elsy Woodward was placed as associate judge in place of Joseph Athon, who resigned.
FIRST MURDER CASE.
The first murder indictment returned by the grand jury in Lawrence county was in May, 1843, and against Polly Ann Wymore. The jury pro- nounced the verdict of not guilty.
EMINENT ATTORNEYS AND JUDGES.
There are certain names linked with the legal history of Lawrence county which became notable in the annals of the state as a whole. Some of them are as follows: James Hughes, Jonathan K. Kinney, George H. Monson, John H. Butler, Cyrus L. Dunham, John J. Cummins, Daniel Long. William
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T. Otto took the place of David McDonald on the bench, and Alexander Butler became an associate judge. William W. Williamson, William A. Porter and Frank Emerson were also admitted to the bar. In the November term, 1846, McDonald presided, the clerk was Gus Clark, and the sheriff, Felix Raymond. Andrew J. Simpson, George A. Thornton, Samuel W. Short, John A. Miller, J. R. E. Goodlet and Curtiss Dunham were admitted during this year and in 1847. In 1848, Lovell H. Rousseau, Jesse Cox, Jacob B. Low, A. B. Carlton and George A. Buskirk were added to the list of attorneys. In 1850 A. G. Cavins, Alexander McCleland and E. D. Pearson were admitted.
NEW COURTS.
George A. Bicknell took his seat as sole judge in March, 1853, and the reversion to the one-judge style of court created no little dissatisfaction among the legal men of the time. The associate justices became a thing of the past. John Edwards, Morton C. Hunter, Nathaniel McDonald, Horace Heffron and Newton F. Malott were admitted during the term this change was made.
Others who became members of the Lawrence county bar in the years following shortly after were: John D. Ferguson, Thomas L. Smith, Jonathan Payne, J. S. Buchanan, Frank Emerson, Thomas M. Brown, I. N. Stiles, W. WV. Browning, Samuel P. Crawford (ex-governor of Kansas), S. H. Bus- kirk, A. C. Voris, William Weir, William R. Harrison, Francis L. Neff, E. E. Rose, P. A. Parks, C. T. Woolfolk, William Herod, Oliver T. Baird, A. D. Lemon, Newton Crook, William Paugh, Gideon Putnam, Theodore Gazley, John H. Martin, Thomas L. Smith, Michael C. Kerr, Fred T. Brown, R. C. McAfee, Lycurgus Irwin, Madison Evans, Alfred Ryers.
MURDER CASES.
In the September term, 1860, the case of the State vs. John Hitchcock, murder in the first degree, came up for trial. Hitchcock shot a man named Graham, who was pursuing him for stealing a horse. The court sent Hitch- cock to prison for a life term, but he afterward escaped and was never heard from. At one time during his incarceration he begged Governor Morton to be allowed to enlist in the army, but his request was refused.
In September, 1862, Jefferson Brannan was indicted for the murder of Thomas Peters. After nine years of haggling, the case finally came up for trial, in September, 1871, and Brannan was given a prison sentence, dur- ing the service of which he died.
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The case of the State vs. William Sanders, charged with a triple murder in Orange county, came up in the March term, 1867, and the defendant had such attorneys as Daniel W. Voorhees, Thomas B. Buskirk and Putnam and Friedley. The prosecutor was Robert M. Weir, assisted by Francis Wilson, of Orange county. The jury failed to agree, and the defendant gave bond for eight thousand dollars for each of the three cases, in security for his appearance next term. He never appeared, and nothing was ever done with the bond.
The State vs. John H. Morrow and Luzetta V. Christopher was one of the most conspicuous of the early murder trials. Morrow was residing at the home of Mrs. Christopher's husband, and late one night the neighbors found the body of Christopher, wounded by knife cuts. Morrow himself, Mrs. Christopher, and the children were all more or less injured by knife wounds. Morrow and Mrs. Christopher were indicted and the first trial re- sulted in a "hung jury." Afterwards, however, the two were convicted for a term of years. Mrs. Christopher died in the woman's prison at Indianapolis.
In February, 1874, W. T. Walters, W. A. Land and D. O. Spencer were admitted, and in May Samuel C. Wilson, William Farrell and John R. East. In 1875. M. C. Hunter, Jr .. Albert H. Davis, Allan W. Prather and C. W. Thompson were admitted; in 1876, B. E. Rhoades, C. F. McNutt and Harry Kelly; in 1877. James McClelland, Ben Hagle, H. H. Edwards, S. B. Voyles, Frank Branaman and Fred T. Rand; in 1878, John Q. Voyles, H. H. Friedley, Thomas G. Mahan, Gen. W. T. Spicely, C. H. Burton, Joseph R. Burton, Aaron Shaw, John T. Dye and L. C. Weir; in 1879, John S. Denny, D. H. Ellison, J. H. Willard, Ferdinand S. Swift, George A. Thornton; in 1881, Simpson B. Lowe, S. S. Mayfield and John M. Stalker ; in 1882, Harry C. Huffstetter, and in 1884, Francis B. Hitchcock and Eli K. Millen. Official records show that the resident attorneys of Bed- ford at this time were E. D. Pearson, George W. Friedley, John Riley, Newton F. Crooke, George O. Iseminger, James H. Willard, Moses F. Dunn, George G. Dunn, Robert N. Palmer. W. H. Martin, Samuel D. Luckett, Simpson Lowe and F. B. Hitchcock.
About the year 1882 the narrow gauge railroad case was the main inter- est of the county. Subscriptions had been made to the road, and a tax amounting to forty thousand dollars voted by Shawswick township. Efforts were made to nullify the payment of this tax, but was unsuccessful after going through many courts and employing the efforts of the ablest lawyers of the day, the case being heard in the Monroe, Washington and Orange county courts and in United States courts.
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The court of common pleas, when established, was very limited, but afterward was given more scope. It did all probate work, with limited criminal and civil jurisdiction. The first judge was J. R. E. Goodlet, and he took his seat in January, 1853. Others who occupied the position were Col. Frank Emerson, Ralph Applewhite, Beaty McClelland and J. D. New.
PRESENT BAR OF LAWRENCE COUNTY.
The following is a list of the attorneys practicing at the Lawrence county bar in 1913:
At Bedford-John D. Alexander, James E. Boruff, Ray R. Boruff, Thomas J. Brooks, William F. Brooks, Logan R. Browning, William E. Clark, Moses F. Dunn, Fred N. Fletcher, Albert J. Fields, Charles R. Gowen, George O. Iseminger, Joseph S. Ikerd, Harold Kelley, Simpson B. Lowe, William H. Martin, Walter J. Mosier, William R. Martin, Lee E. Ragsdale, Robert L. Mellen, McHenry Owen, Henry P. Pearson, Robert N. Palmer, Eli B. Stephenson, John L. Smith, John H. Underwood, Thomas C. Underwood, F. Marshall Woolery, James A. Zaring.
At Oolitic-H. L. Paxton.
At Mitchell-Samuel S. Doman, John H. Edwards. Calvin Faris, Joseph Giles.
CHAPTER XI.
LAWRENCE COUNTY MEDICAL HISTORY.
Perhaps there is no harder topic to write upon, in the annals of any county, than that of the medical profession, from the fact that physicians, either through lack of time or inclination, seldom keep records of their prac- tice and of the various meetings of medical associations that in almost all counties are formed from time to time. Yet, the family physician is always on hand with the earliest settlement in almost every community. He goes with the tread of pioneer life and is ever watchful after the health and life of his fellow men. He has ever been noted for his daring and self-sacrificing life, even braving the severest of wintry storms, over almost impassable roads, in the face of great hardships, frequently at the jeopardy of his own life. He was in an early day ready to leave his own warm bed to face a biting frost to gain the bedside of some sick man, woman or infant, without regard to the financial standing of his patient. The books of early-day doctors were filled with accounts for services for which not a farthing was ever forth- coming. Unaided by the modern hospitals and surgical appliances, these old-time doctors used to manage to set the broken or dislocated limbs and care for the ugly wounds of their patients, in a most remarkable manner, and usually with great success.
With the march of years and decades, the science of medicine has greatly advanced, until today the cases that once seemed hopeless are treated with ease and a good degree of certainty. The mode of administering medi- cine has also materially changed in the last fifty years. The schools of medicine, whose name has come to be Legion, are all more liberal than in former days, and the day has forever gone when a "regular" looks down with a sneer on the work of a homeopath or even an osteopath practitioner.
It will be impossible, for the reasons given, to give much concerning the life and character of the early physicians in Lawrence county, but some tribute should be here appended to their memory.
EARLY AND SUBSEQUENT PHYSICIANS.
It is not positively asserted, but generally believed, that the first doctor to practice medicine in Lawrence county was Dr. Winthrop Foote, who was
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in Bedford when the town was laid out as a county seat. He was also ad- mitted to the legal profession here in 1819, and became an attorney of some note, but he is said to have been a better judge of medicine than of law. He was a native of Connecticut and had superior educational advantages. He was a man of eccentric manners, of extended information, of pungent wit and fine conversational powers. He was universally known throughout this county in the early days of its settlement.
Dr. William W. Yandell, a native of Tennessee, born in 1828, had an exciting youth and young manhood. He was one of a number who caught the 1849 California "gold fever" and crossed the plains in that eventful year. He also visited the Sandwich islands, as well as the uncivilized man-eating Fijis. He carried on speculation and mined much until 1855, when he came home and took up the study of medicine. He attended medical schools in Louisville, Kentucky, and located at Bryantsville, this county, in 1858, re- maining until 1861, when he became a private soldier in Company K, Seven- teenth Indiana Regiment. He served until honorably discharged in 1865. He then resumed practice at Knoxville, Indiana, but in 1874 removed to Huron, Lawrence county, where he continued in active practice.
Dr. A. W. Bare, born in Indiana in 1826, died in 1910. He graduated at Hanover College, Indiana, in 1848, read medicine and entered Louisville Medical University, practiced medicine at Brownstown, finally locating in Bryansville, where he built up an excellent practice. From 1864 to 1865 he was assistant surgeon, located most of the time at Louisville.
Dr. William H. Smith, born in Salem, this state, in 1830, died in Bed- ford in 1912. He entered the Corydon Seminary, and later the college at Bloomington, and studied medicine under Dr. Elijah Newland, of Salem. He attended Louisville Medical College and Bellevue Hospital Medical Col- lege, New York City. He located at Leesville, this county, in 1863, prac- ticed medicine. and also was a merchant and successful farmer. He owned at one time nine hundred acres of land and had much live stock. He was a Freemason and in politics was a Democrat.
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Dr. Elihu S. McIntire, born in Marietta, Ohio, in 1832, was reared on his parents' farm in Spencer county, Indiana, began teaching at the age of nineteen years, and soon thereafter took up the study of medicine. In the autumn of 1856 he entered the medical department of the Iowa University at Keokuk, graduating in the spring of 1858, and at once commenced the practice of his profession at Dallas City, Illinois, but in 1862 enlisted and was appointed assistant surgeon of the Seventy-eighth Illinois Regiment. He resigned in 1863 and went to practicing in Crawfordsville, Indiana, re-
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mained there until 1865, then came to Mitchell, this county, where he soon became a leading doctor of his community. Subsequently, the Doctor aban- doned his profession and edited the Mitchell Commercial for eleven years. He was a strong anti-slavery man; in church connections a Methodist, and was a member of the Masonic order. As both a physician and editor he had few superiors in Lawrence county.
Dr. John B. Larkin was born in Burlington, Vermont, in 1833, of Irish parentage. He followed farm life with his father, attending the common schools. He also worked in cotton and woolen mills in the New England states and at Newburg, New York, until 1852, then went South, visiting several cities by flat-boat. In 1854 he went to Ripley county, Indiana, taught school and went to Shelbyville, Illinois, where he attended an academy, taught and studied medicine. He then attended medical college at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and commenced the practice of medicine at Huron, this county. In August, 1862, he enlisted and was made an assistant surgeon, later sur- geon, serving till the end of the Civil war, then located in Mitchell, this county, where he was still in practice in the eighties. He was a graduate of the Hospital Medical College of Louisville and won class honors there. He was made secretary of the board of medical examiners for pensions at Mitchell. He was an Odd Fellow, and in his church relations was of the Methodist faith.
Dr. William T. Ellison, born in 1849, in Lawrence county, Indiana, re- mained at home until his father's death in 1867, when he began the study of medicine with Dr. May, with whom he remained some time, finally graduating at Bellevue Hospital Medical College. He commenced practice in Illinois, but two years later located at Heltonville, this county, where he soon won a fine medical practice. He was a consistent member of the Christian church, and in politics was a Democrat.
Dr. John H. Faucett was born in Orange county, Indiana, in 1840. In 1861 he enlisted in Company K, Forty-ninth Indiana Regiment, and was at the famous siege of Vicksburg, where he was severely wounded. Having been honorably discharged in 1863, he came home and in 1866 commenced the study of medicine at Kecksville, Indiana; graduated in 1874 from the Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, having practiced some, however, prior to that time. He first located at Trinity Springs, Indiana, remained until 1876, when he went to Fayetteville, Lawrence county, where he was last known as being among the leading doctors of that section.
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