USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 42
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
On the outer edges of the bottom lands that hem the river banks are benches of earth, evidently built up by drifts, composed of sand and alluvial soil, varying in height from five to thirty feet above the bottoms ; and running through the central part of the county, from north to south, is a range of hills, composed principally of sand, which are broken here and there by marshes or ponds, indicating that the hills were once the banks of a river or lake that spread over the level plain below. The fertility of the soil of the bottom lands, which is rich beyond compare, gives Knox County an agricul- tural superiority possessed by few localities, and enables the husbandman to grow most any kind of a crop he desires.
337
HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY
The geological reports show that more than one-half of the county is un- derlaid with a seam of coal, averaging from seven to ten feet in thickness. And the output of the numerous mines located in the northern and eastern portions of the county indicate an inexhaustible supply of "black diamonds." The coal is of a superior quality for both domestic and manufacturing pur- poses, and is probably of the same vein that is found in Sullivan, Daviess and Pike Counties. Its cheapness, and the low railroad rates, combined with the fact that Vincennes is the center of four trunk lines of railways, make the latter place most desirable for the location of manufactories. Natural gas, with which the Old Post is abundantly supplied from the Illinois fields just across the river, and its cheapness, is another feature of the city which ap- peals strongly to the manufacturer as well as the home-seeker.
While no efforts have been put forth to develop the field, it is presumed that in the vicinity of Monroe City bog iron is present in quantities sufficient to justify its being mined. In different localities of the county minute par- ticles of gold, copper and lead have been encountered. These atoms from larger bodies have always excited curiosity, but never to a degree to induce any one to go below the surface in quest of any of the metals named. The clay for the manufacture of brick is so plentiful that it may be said to be "as common as dirt." But there is another kind, probably just as plentiful, of far greater value, which has not received the attention to which it is entitled. This is the variety peculiarly adapted to the manufacture of fire brick, tiles, terra cotta and potters' wares. It is found under the coal, and as a market commodity is almost as valuable.
There are large quantities of stone in the county, yet it has never been quarried on a large scale. Sandstone, of a reddish cast, suitable for building foundations and tenacious enough for rough masonry work, is found in the Maria creek bottoms and west of Wolf Hills; also, south and east of the city, between La Plante's Hill and the Pyramid Mound. What is designated as Merom sandstone occurs at Fort Knox and at other places along the bluffs of the Wabash. While not generally adapted for building purposes, on account of softness, it is said to be valuable, after having been exposed sufficiently to wash out the iron. for glass making. Large quantities of good brown sand- stone (from which the pillars and front of the Pastime Club are built) are to be found in northern and southern sections ; and along the Wabash deep beds of limestone exist. Both of these stones are desirable for building purposes and are adapted to the application of all kinds of mason's tools.
THE EARLIER COURTS AND JUDGES.
The first court to convene in Knox County was the General Quarter Ses- sions of the Peace, which met in Vincennes July 14, 1790, at which session there were present the following judges: Antoine Gamelin, Paul Gamelin, Francois Busseron, James Johnson and Luke Decker, Esquires. The pro- ceedings consisted in reading the proclamation for the erection of the county
338
HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY
of Knox, the presentation of the general official commissions, and prescribing the dates of the terms of court.
The commissions of James Johnson and Luke Decker, as justices of the peace, John Small as sheriff, and Samuel Baird, as clerk of the court were read, also the laws for establishing the court and appointing the sheriff. Joseph Laballe was appointed constable for the village of Vincennes and Allen Ramsey constable for the district of river Duchee. At the afternoon session Peter Thorn was appointed a constable for the village, and swore in the court. The following persons were empaneled and sworn in as mem- bers of the Grand Inquest: John Rice Jones. John Mills, Henry Vander- burg, Francis Vigo, Thomas T. Jackson, John Baptiste Miet, Nicholas Miet, Robert Johnson, Patrick Simpson, John Baptiste Smarata, Robert Mays, Joseph Leflore, Thomas Jordon, Jolin Ganeshow, John Durgalare, Abraham Westfall, Benj. Beckes, Joseph St. Mary, Robert Day, Lawrence Basedon, Antoine Salamiere and Peter Mallet. The inquest jury consisted of twenty- two members, all of whom subscribed to the oath, which was administered in French to those who did not comprehend the English language. Shortly after receiving the charge, they presented the following report: "The Grand Inquest for the body of the county, upon their oath present that a murder of malice aforethought was committed on or about the 19th or 20th day of November last by one Michael Graft upon a certain Albin Guest, and as the same has not been taken notice of in any civil court, to the knowledge of the jury, they present the same to the court, that it may take cognizance of it in the proper court."
At the next session of the court, held in October, 1790, the members in attendance were Paul Gamelin, James Johnson and Francois Busseron, but "in consequence of the militia of the county of Knox being ordered by the United States, in congress assembled, on an expedition against the In- dians of the Wabash, the court for want of a jury found it necessary to adjourn." The residence of John Small was the place at which the court sessions were held; but, owing to conditions as stated, from the dates last named, there was no court business transacted until July 28, 1791, at which time an indictment was found against Patrick Simpson, Anthony Smith, Joseph James and Derick Schuyler, of Vincennes, for riot and assault upon Joseph Andrew ; also one against Joseph Janes for an assault upon Maria Louisa Lefevre, and another against Patrick Simpson and Anthony Smith, for an assault upon Josetta Andrew. In the first case the defendants Simp- son, Smith and Janes were each fined $16, and Schuyler was mulcted in the sum of $22; and in the other two cases the defendants were fined 12 cents cach.
FORMATION OF FIRST TOWNSHIPS IN KNOX COUNTY.
In October, 1791, the court, pursuant to the statutes in such cases made and provided, took the initiatory for dividing the county of Knox into two townships, to be named the townships of Vincennes and Clarksville. It was
JURY AND LAWYERS IN CELEBRATED WISE WILL CASE General Benjamin Harrison, second from the right, one of the attorneys, and George G. Biley, another of the attorneys, first from the right
339
HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY
decreed that the township of Vincennes shall begin at the line dividing the county of Knox from the county of St. Clair, and shall run from the line of the two counties on the Ohio to the river which empties in the Ohio called Blue river ; from thence up the said river to its source, and from thence in a north course to the northerly boundary of the county; thence along with that northwesterly line westwardly till it strikes the line of St. Clair County and along that line southwardly to the beginning. The township of Clarks- ville to comprehend the whole of the remainder of the said county of Knox, from Blue river to the bounds thereof of the county of Hamilton. The symbol adopted for Vincennes was a capital "V," and for the township of Clarksville the letter "C."
In 1801 an order was made by the court of quarter sessions, by James Johnson, Antoine Marchal and Ephriam Jordon, "esquires justices," that two townships should be laid off as follows, to-wit: "The township of Vin- cennes shall be composed of the village of Vincennes, the upper and lower prairie and the commons, and shall be known and called by the name and style of Vincennes township. Ordered, that the second township shall be bounded by the road leading from the town of Vincennes to Harbin's Ferry, beginning at the point where the road crosses the line of the township of Vincennes ; thence along that road until it strikes the division line between the county of Knox and the county of Clark, and that it be named and styled Harrison township," which name was given in honor of General Harrison. And it was further ordered by the court "that the third township shall be bounded by the said road until it strikes the said division line be- tween the counties of Knox and Clark, and should be known by the name and style of Palmyra township." And, in the establishment of all these townships it was further decreed by the court that no boundaries heretofore established should be respected.
At the time of this apportionment Vincennes township embraced the western part of the county, Harrison all to the southeast and Palmyra all to the east and northeast. In 1808 Busseron township had been laid off and embraced the northern part of the county, the name given having been applied out of compliment to Major Francois Busseron, as stated heretofore. Widner was the next township to be established, but the year of its estab- lishment, owing to the disappearance of documents bearing on the same, is not known. The date, however, is said to be about 1812. It embraced the larger portion of Vigo township, and was named in honor of John Wid- ner. Decker and Johnson townships were laid out some time between the years 1813 and 1823; the records relating thereto are also missing. It was ordered in 1838 "that part of Harrison township lying north of the town- ship line between Harrison and Palmyra on the east side of Pond creek, run- ning down said creek to fractional sections Nos. 9 and 16, thence east to White river. be attached to Palmyra."
At its September term a new township was formed by the court, bounded as follows: "Beginning at the juncture of the river Du Chien ; thence up
340
HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY
the river to the township line of Decker; thence north to Vincennes com- mons ; thence west to the ditch; thence down the ditch to Grand Coupeé ; thence up Coupeé to the Wabash; thence down the Wabash to the mouth of the Embarrass, the same to be called Uno township, and the place of elec- tion to be St. Thomas' church. * In 1846 a material change was made in the boundaries of this township, and it was finally abolished. Two explana- tions for its abolition by the commissioners were given by an old settler- one being that there were not people enough living in the township who could read or write that were legally qualified to sit on an election board ; and the other was that many of the farmers were in the habit of driving their hogs into the township to feed, and so few of the hogs were ever driven out that it came to be known as "hog thief township," and the better element of the community petitioned the commissioners to abandon the township organization.
BUILDING OF THE FIRST JAIL AND COURT HOUSE.
Mr. Prior, who was a commandant of militia, having charge of Fort Knox, at the request of court appropriated the southwest bastion of the for- tification for the purpose of establishing a jail, and the place was subse- quently converted into a temporary prison. It was also ordered by the court "that Henry Vanderburg contract and agree with any person or persons for the building and erecting of any pillory or stocks, to be placed before the church, and that the same be paid for out of the funds of the county."
Because some of the justices of the peace and judges of the court of common pleas did not understand the English laws, and desired to have them translated into French, the court engaged John Rice Jones to do the trans- lating, and agreed to pay him for such service the sum of $33.33 1/3 for an indefinite period. Jones was a Welshman, and came here before the close of the eighteenth century. He was a brilliant lawyer, a fluent talker and splendid writer. He took a lively interest in the affairs of Knox County and Vincennes. He was especially active in military matters, was with Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe and had previously distinguished himself in the Vincennes-Spain embroilo by aiding in the impressment of goods belonging to Spanish merchants. He built a theatre at the corner of Broadway and First streets early in the nineteenth century, in which the first performance was given in the year 1807. The title of the play produced was "Drowning Men Catch at Straws;" and, singularly coincidental with the production of the piece and the opening of the theatre on that night, a man named Robert M. Douglas was accidentally drowned in the Wabash, not a great distance from the playhouse.
Some time during the year 1810 the contract for the building of a court house was let. The style or dimensions of the building, however, are not given. William Lindsay was the contractor and Charles A. Boyles fur-
* Goodspeed, History of Knox and Dovicss Counties, pp. 149-150.
341
HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY
nished the stone for the foundations; Abraham Snapp furnished the lum- ber; Samuel Parr did the carpenter work, and Mark Dunning the black- smith work; Robert Bunting was superintendent of construction. The house, which has undergone some modifications since it was built, is standing to- day at the corner of Fourth and Buntin streets, and is occupied as a resi- dence by Hon. J. P. L. Weems. For many years it was the comfortable homestead of the late Hon. Wm. E. Niblack, who made many alterations on the building before he moved into it. The original cost of the house, which was first occupied for county purposes, July 30, 1813, was $3,156.41 1/3. Before the building of the court house the court sessions were held from July, 1810, until July, 1813, at the residence of Antoine Mar- chal, who was paid by the county $200 for the use of his property during that period.
In 1803 Henry Vanderburg was delegated to superintend the construction of a jail on a lot purchased of Robert Buntin, corner Fourth and Buntin streets, the site of Mr. Yates' residence. While it was a very unpreten- tious structure, it took two years to build it, work having been started on construction in 1803 and finished in 1805 .* In early days it was a criminal offense to owe anybody, and debtors were in a few instances incarcerated for non-payment of obligations. The incarceration, however, did not always mean confinement in jail, but meant sometimes that the guilty parties were obliged to remain within certain territorial boundaries beyond which they dared not go without the assent of creditors. Doctor Smith says that "in 1808 an order was passed that 'no objection being made by the creditors, and the debtor making oath that he possessed neither personal or real property. he should be released ;' and then and there imprisonment for debt was accord- ingly abolished in the territory. The records disclose a description of one of these 'debtor's limits,' as it were, and it is a curiosity and unique, to say the least, and is worthy of mention here. It reads as follows: 'Beginning at low water mark on the Wabash between Antoine Marchal and Margaret Gamelin's; thence down said street to the lower corner of James Purcell's ; thence up to St. Louis street ; thence up said street, including the same, to the corner of John Ochiltree's house, next to Thomas Coulter's ; thence up the street, between Coulter's and Ochiltree's, to John Knelly's lot; from thence to the corner of the lot opposite the widow Brouillettes; thence down that street leading to H. Vanderburg's, to the place of beginning, in- cluding the streets.' It is supposed the debtors knew the deviations of the boundaries outlined and governed themselves accordingly."
* This was a very indifferent jail, as it was declared unsafe for prisoners in 1807, the Sheriff (Sullivan) entering his protest at that time against it. Robert Slaughter was one of the first prisoners in the jail. He was incarcerated for the murder of Joseph Harbin. He was executed in 1805, by Daniel O. Sullivan, for which and his coffin, gallows and burial the county paid $17 .- [Goodspeed, History of Knox and Daviess Counties, p. 152.]
342
HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY
MURDER OF THE DE BUISSIERE FAMILY AND JULIUS KLUCK.
For many years an organization known as the Johnson Township Regu- lators administered "justice" outside of the courts to all culprits in various parts of the county who had been favored by the law's delay, making the punishment inflicted fit the erime. The Regulators worked with greatest secrecy, and the mysterious disappearance of many persons who were charged with the graver offenses against society, were always laid at the door of these vigilantes. Pierre Vacelot, who murdered the De Buissiere family, consisting of mother, father and three children, it is said, was the last victim of the Regulators. Vacelot lived as a hired hand with the De Buissieres on the Wise farm five miles east of Vincennes. In the fall of 1879, as the family slept in their humble cabin, Vacelot in- vaded their sleeping apartments and with an axe as a weapon cleaved each victim. After completing his bloody work he went to the house of a neigh- bor and related that an unknown man, from whom he had made his escape, did the killing. His story was never believed. He was taken in custody and put in jail. The second morning after his incarceration the jailer found his dead body dangling at the end of a towel which had been adjusted to the top of his cell. Rumors were rife the night before the discovery was made that the Regulators were in town, which led to the supposition that Vace- lot's deathi was not self-inflicted. The killing of Julius Kluck, in 1870, has also been attributed to the Regulators-at least to one member of the organization. Kluck was at his home, corner Seventh and Bayou streets, reading a newspaper by the light of a coal oil lamp, when an unknown as- sassin fired at him through a closed window, filling his head and face with the contents of a double barrel shot gun, killing him instantly. It is alleged that Kluek had burned a mill in Johnson township belonging to the man who did the shooting.
THE LYNCHING OF CANFIELD AND EPPS.
Judge Lynch has never been an overzealous worker in Knox County. The two cases in which he last presided, therefore, are not devoid of in- terest. On June 17, 1884. Oliver Canfield, a laborer, who had quarreled with his sweetheart, Mollie Gherkin, deliberately shot and killed the girl at the boarding house of Alexander Brown, Fourth and Harrison streets. He was arrested and put in jail. On the night of the 24th a mob stormed the jail, overpowered the sheriff and took the prisoner to the scene of the tragedy, and with a bell-cord, taken from a B. & O. coach, hanged him to a tele- graph pole. Holly Epps, a negro, was Judge Lynch's last victim. Epps worked as a farm hand for James Dobson, a white farmer, living in Greene County, near Worthington. On the night of January 11, 1886, he murdered his employer in cold blood, and after perpetrating the crime, for which there was not the slightest justification, he attempted a violent assault on Mrs. Dobson. Failing in his design, he made his escape to the home of a
343
HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY
colored man in the neighborhood, where he was soon after arrested and taken to jail at Switz City. The Dobsons were very respectable people, and the indignation of the populace against the black fiend was wrought up to the highest tension. The excitement grew so intense that the Greene County authorities deemed it advisable to take Epps to Knox County for safe keep- ing, and he was accordingly brought here. At midnight of the 18th an "orderly mob" attacked the jail, the leader showing knowledge of the prem- ises by working the combination of the outside doors without assistance. Admittance was soon gained to the cell occupied by the black man, and he was led therefrom with a rope around the neck, and hanged to the tree near- est the gate at the Seventh street entrance to the court house yard. The limb over which the rope that strangled the murderer was thrown, never afterwards showed any signs of life, and was eventually lopped off.
TIIE LAST LEGAL HANGING.
The last legal execution to take place in Knox County occurred between the hours of 10 and 12 o'clock on the morning of April 19, 1889, when Sylvester Grubb, who shot and killed his sweetheart, Gertrude Downey, on the Princeton's fair ground, September 13, 1888, was hanged by Sheriff M. M. McDowell. The case was brought for trial from Gibson to Knox County on a change of venue. The cause was tried before Hon. W. F. Townsend, special judge, and the verdict of the jury, which was rendered October 19, 1888, read as follows :
"We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, as he stands charged in the indictment, and fix his punishment that he suffer death.
RICHARD A. WOODS, Foreman."
BURNING OF THE COUNTY RECORDS.
All of the county records were destroyed by fire on January 24, 1814. John D. Hay was the recorder and postmaster, and both offices, were kept in his stores (the present site of the big department store), which had a stock of goods valued at $20,000. All were destroyed, and two small chil- dren of Mr. Hay perished in the flames. To add horror to the dreadful calamity, three hundred pounds of gunpowder, stored in the cellar, exploded, killing one man outright and maiming another so severely that he subse- quently died of his injuries. John Duffield Hay was a volunteer captain in the army, was in the battle of Tippecanoe, and in 1812 was one of General Harrison's aide-de-camps. He was the father of five children, three of whom were born subsequent to the lamentable occurrence which caused the death of the first two. * The eldest daughter, Mary Ann, born in 1815, mar- ried Dr. Joseph Maddox, a physician of Vincennes, each of whom died early ; Nancy Ann, born in 1817, married John W. Maddox, a prominent
* H. M. Smith. Historical Sketches Old Vincennes, p. 182.
344
HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY
merchant (succeeding his father-in-law) and a staunch church member, dying in March, 1879; and George Duffield Hay, who was a prominent mer- chant in Vincennes many years, but who removed to Phialdelphia, where he died in September, 1895, leaving one son, Henry Gurley Hay, a promi- nent banker and financier of Cheyenne, Wyoming. The relict of Mr. Mad- dox died in February, 1902, aged eighty-five years, in Chester, Pa., leaving only one daughter, Mrs. Sarah Hay Vance, relict of the late Rev. Joseph P. Vance (for many years pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Vin- cennes) now a resident of Cheyenne. John Duffield Hay was for many years prominent in the mercantile business at Vincennes and died here in November, 1840.
THE SECOND COURT HOUSE-THE BECKES-SCULL DUEL.
The first board of justices, under the provisions of an act "to regulate the mode of doing county business," met at Vincennes, September 6, 1824, and consisted of the following members: Frederick Graeter, Samuel Hill, David Lillie, Joseph McClure, James Thorn, Joshua Bond, William Raper, William P. Beckes and Aquilla Ramsey. A committee consisting of Samuel Langdon, Joseph Chambers, John Black and William Raper was appointed July, 1826, to examine the court house, and after completing the examination made the following report: "The committee appointed to examine the court house and the expediency of repairing the same, is of opinion that the house can not be repaired to benefit the county in proportion to the expense. It is the opinion of the committee that it will be of more benefit to the county to enter into the building of a new court house at this time, under the impression that the materials of the old one may be better disposed of to the benefit of the county ; the committee would recommend to the board the appointment of a committee of three citizens of the borough to receive proposals and enter into such plans as the board may see proper to sug- gest. The committee has also made some inquiry in regard to the proba- bility of obtaining a loan of money, but has not been able to obtain any information on that point." The name of William P. Beckes, one of the members of the first board of justices, recalls an unfortunate affair through which his uncle, Parmenas Beckes, met his death. Parmenas Beckes, who was a brother of Benj. V. Beckes had married a Mrs. Johnson, a widow, the mother of a beautiful daughter, and Dr. Scull, who had been a suitor for the hand of Beckes' stepdaughter, (Miss Johnson) it appears made some slighting remark regarding the chastity of the young lady. Beckes chal- lenged Scull, who was a surgeon with Harrison's army, to a duel, which was fought on the Illinois shore of the Wabash, directly opposite Vin- cennes, and in the affair lost his life. Parmenas Beckes wrote a letter to his brother Benjamin V., in July, 1813, which explains the incidents which led up to the affair of honor, wherein he says: "This may be the last of my writing to you, being about to engage in a duel, a custom I ever abhorred, but
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.