History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 18

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664

USA > Indiana > Randolph County > History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships > Part 18

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Mr. Smith says (in substance) "I may be allowed to give the history of that matter.

"I came (for some reason) to Winchester, January 7, 1828. Board of Justices in session, only three present, Woodworth, Nelson, Willson. Esq. Nelson wished me to be collector; I told him 'No, I cannot give security;' he said, 'I will fix that.' ' Well, I will do it then,' said I.

"The board appointed me, and I was sworn in with David Heaston, John Nelson, and Charles Conway for my security. In May, 1828, I was elected Teacher at Richmond. I made my brother, Carey Smith, Deputy, and he did the collection, and I taught school nine months, being my first and last.

" Revenue collected, $804.38. Commission for collection, $40."

From 1818 to 1824, Commissioners were elected; 1825-30, Boards of Justices did the county business.

As the Justices got no pay for this service, their attendance was very irregular. They would come, for the most part, only when their neighborhood wished or needed something special, and then they would go home again. On one occasion the Sheriff had to go with a subpoena and compel the attendance of two Justices to form a quorum. Hence, after seven years, the Legis- lature of 1831, restored the Commissioners, and the county busi- ness has been done in that way ever since.

COURTS, 1820-30.

During this time, there was but one court of record, consist- ing of a Presiding Judge and two Associate Judges. The court could be held by the Presiding Judge alone, or by the Associate Judges alone, or, of course, by the Presiding Judge, with one or both Associates. But the Associates could try neither criminal nor chancery cases. The Associates did the probate business with a separate record.

Court, April, 1820, Edwards and Wright. One day Charles Conway took judgment by default against William Connor (store kecper) for $135, with interest at six per cent, from De- cember 26, 1818, with costs and charges. The court did not compute the interest and add it in, but added this clause, "This execution is entitled to a credit of $1.50, from January 30, 1820."

This was the first judgment ever rendered in the Randolph Circuit Court, and it was one by the Associates, without a lawyer so far as appears. The judgment might have been considered void for uncertainty of amount. But no advantage was taken of the defect ( if it were one). Jesse Johnson "stayed the execu- tion" twelve months, and doubtless the amount was duly paid sixty-one years ago.

April, 1820. Solomon Wright, Sheriff. Grand Jurors- Williamn Hunt, foreman, Henry Hill, James Massey, Daniel Petty, Ephraim Bowen, R. Mcintyre, John Ballinger, Amos Peacock, Joshua Wright, Isaac Wright, Albert Banta, John Coats, Thomas Wright. No cases, discharged; 75 cents each. The next court was held at Charles Conway's, June, 1820. Court held two days, and had two cases. Grand Jury found one indict- ment, the first in the county., John P. Huddleston vs. William Frazier, affray.

October, 1820. Held in court house, one day, no case-no indictment.

April, 1821. Judges Eggleston, Edwards, Wright. Court

HISTORY OF RANDOLPHI COUNTY.

sat one day. Frazier was tried and acquitted. A chancery, a divorce and one appeal case were disposed of.

July, 1821. Associate Judges-two days, Bethuel F. Morris, Cyrus Finch and Isaac M. Johnson were admitted to the bar, and Morris was appointed Prosecutor.

He removed to Indianapolis shortly, and became the first Judge of the Indianapolis Circuit Court. He was the Judge at the trial at Pendleton ( Falls Creek), of the white men convicted and hung for the murder of some Indians. And he is the Judge also, against whom some scribbler in a Philadelphia paper of that day perpetrated the monstrous tale that "went the rounds," to wit : " He (the writer) came to a hewed log building with a wood- en chimney, raised a little above the mantel, and the hearth not filled in. He found a barefooted man sitting on the puncheon floor near the fire-place paring his nails. By and by a man came riding up with a deer's-skin hunting skirt on. The other man ( the barefooted man ) accosted the 'man on horseback' ' Well, Mr. Sheriff, have you got a jury?' 'Not quite, Judge, I have nine men caught and tied, and I'll soon have three more.'" This picture was intended for Pendleton Court House and Judge Morris, not so far out of the way for the court house, but a vile caricature of an able and upright Judge, by some Philadel- phia upstart, prospecting in our far-off Indiana wilderness !

But to the court. Two cases, and Philip Hobaugh made proof of a pension claim.

October, 1821. No cases, no indictment.

April, 1822. One day, little business.

August, 1822. Judge Eggleston-two days, some business. April, 1823. One day, three indictments. Charles H. Test, Lot Bloomfield, and Charles W. Ewing, were admitted to the bar. Test and Ewing both became Judges afterward.

August, 1823. Court sat two days. Martin M. Ray and William Steele admitted. Divorce ( first one) granted. Huldah Way from her husband, Nathan Way.

November, 1823. Full bench, two days, three State cases, two civil suits.

February, 1824, one day, three cases. August 1824, full bench. Cyrus Finch was appointed Prosecutor ; Josiah F. Polke admitted. Mr. Smith says : "I was at this court, and saw and heard my first criminal trial and conviction to the penitentiary. It was a somewhat peculiar case. David Banta had been in- dicted for hog-stealing, so-called, i. e., taking and killing a marked hog not his own. Cyrus Finch prosecuted and James Rariden defended. It was clearly proved that the hog was marked with a mark not his ; that he took the hog home, cleaned, dressed and salted it. Judge Eggleston charged the jury that when he found by the mark that the hog was not his, the as- portation of the hog completed the larceny, if he did that with the intent of appropriating it to his own use; and that, if the jury so found, they must bring him in guilty. The jury brought in this verdict :

" Guilty, as charged in the indictment. We do further find that the property has been restored, and do fine the defendant $3 and costs, and that he go to the State prison for one year."

Rariden gave notice of a motion for a new trial and arrest of judgment, reasons to be filed next morning.

Next morning Judge Eggleston asked Rariden, "Where is the prisoner ?"

"I have not seen him."

"Call the prisoner."

The bailiff called at the door, "David Banta." three times. No answer. Rariden ( sotto voce), "My client probably has some business in Ohio which he wants attended to just now." Some of the jurors had thought that, as the property had been restored, the parties should be quits. But the judge held that recovery of the property did not condone the offense, and gave indyment for $3 and costs, and one year in the State prison. But bavid was not there to pay the money, nor to go to prison, and he has not, to this day, come and done it, nor any part of it.

That was the first conviction for felony in a Randolph court. But, though there was a conviction and a sentence, there has never been, to this day, an execution of the judgment. "

August, 1824. Two days, some dozen cases. February, 1825, Edwards & Sample, Judges ; Oliver H. Smith, Prosecutor. Five days, half-a-dozen cases. August, 1825, full bench, O. H. Smith, Prosecuting Attorney. Two days, four State cases, two civil cases. February, 1826, full bench. Two days, eight or ten cases. August, 1826. Amos Lane, Prosecutor, full bench. Three days, nine pages of record. Elijah Arnold's name appears for the first time on the record ( to keep the peace ). It appears often after this, for, perhaps, twenty-five years. He has been dead some years. He was a wild, troub- lesome, reckless man. He was reckoned to belong to a gang of counterfeiters, thieves, etc., with headquarters in the " fallen timber " in the south part of the county. Old residents of that region are full of tales of the reckless mischief of Arnold and his comrades in daring and crime. The gang was broken up after a long time.

Wilder Potter was also indicted for " mayhem. " The first slander case was disposed of, defendant acquitted.

February, 1827. Two days, seven pages of record. August, 1827. Full bench, Test, Prosecutor. Wilder tried for mayhem, convicted, fine $5 and costs, Rariden, defense.

February, 1828. Full bench, two days, nine pages. Second slander suit, defendant found guilty. August, 1828. Full bench, two days, ten pages. February, 1829. Three days, fifteen pages ; M. M. Ray, Prosecutor. Jere Smith first acted as Deputy Clerk that term, serving thus for ten or eleven years.

August, 1829. Three days, seventeen pages. John D. Vaughn, John S. Newman and Caleb B. Smith were admitted to the bar.

"At this term. my old friend, Conway," says Mr. Smith," was tried for assault and battery. He owned the fact. 'I'll be pun- ished,' said the old man,' 'if I didn't put him out.' Conway, however, was acquitted by the jury."

This brings the history of the courts up to 1830.

OFFICIALS, 1818-1830.

It may not be amiss to devote a chapter to the detailed official history of the county, up to the limit just named.

The commissioners were as follows :

Benj. Cox, 1818-20; Eli Overman, 1818-20; John James, 1818-24 ; John Wright, 1820-22; Zachariah Puckett, 1820-22 ; David Bowles, 1822-23; Daniel Blount, 1823-24; David Stout, 1823-24.

PRESIDENTS, BOARD JUSTICES.

John Coats, 1825-26; Samuel D. Woodworth, 1826-29; John Odle, 1828-31.

Justices, attending more or less, 1825-31 :

George Ritenour, Wm. Hunt, Wm. Rowe, David Frazier, Wm. Massey, John Nelson, Noah Johnson, Jesse B. Wright, Geo. T. Willson, Isaac Barnes, Samuel Woodworth, Daniel B. Miller. John Odle, Curtis Voris, John Jones, David B. Semans, John Coats.

ASSOCIATE JUDGES.

William Edwards, 1818-34; John Wright, 1818-46.

SHERIFFS.

David Wright, 1818-19; Solomon Wright 1820-24; Thomas Wright, 1825-1827.

CLERK AND RECORDER.

Charles Conway, 1818-39.

TREASURERS (APPOINTED BY COMMISSIONERS).

Jesse Johnson, 1818-24; John B. Wright, 1825-29 ; James T. Liston, 1829-30.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

At a special term of Commissioners' Court, December 6, 1818,

HISTORY OF RANDOLPII COUNTY.

the building of a court house and jail was let-the first to Abner Overman for $254.50, the second to Albert Banta for $125-to be completed in eighteen months. The court house was to be 18x24, hewed log and two stories. The jail was to be 14x18 feet, of square hewed logs, thirteen inches on each face, floored above and below, and also a middle floor all of the same timber, two stories, each six feet high in the clear.

In October, 1820, the court house and jail were received by the Commissioners. There was no outer door to the lower story of the jail, but its only entrance was a trap-door from the upper story, and that was entered by a short flight of stairs and a door at the top of the stairs.

In 1826, the Commissioners thought the county needed a new court house, which was the truth. In July, 1826, Paul W. Way was appointed to let the contract for the new building, which he did, and it was finished in 1828.

The old log court house was sold (with the lot No. 7) in 1829 or 1830.

The public square, three and one-half acres, was cleared about 1820, by David Lasley, a young man who had lately come to the county. The timber was very heavy, sugar-tree, oak, beech, hickory, etc. Some of the trees were three or four feet through. He says it took him three or four days to get a hole in the woods large enough for the sun to shine on the ground. He did the job alone and it took him three and one-half months. He got $35 for the job, boarding himself and working often far into the night.

It was winter when he burned it, and there had come snow, and to burn it was almost impossible. He says that Moorman Way got $70 for putting new trees in the square, just twice as much as he got for taking the old ones off.

The original jail was still in use as a jail in 1846, and for years afterward (till 1856). That block-house jail was all Ran- dolph had for thirty-six years.

The second court house did not prove a good job, and the Commissioners sold it, and from that time till 1877, Randolph County had no court house.

Some years before (1856) two buildings had been erected, one for a jail and one for county offices, brick, two stories. The courts were held in Ward's Hall, on the north side of the public square.

However, in 1875, the Commissioners, Thomas Clevinger, F. G. Morgan and Philip Barger, let the contract for a new court house to A. J. Campfield ; architect, J. C. Johnson, Fremont, Ohio, for $73,000. The building was completed in 1877 with- out the changing of a single dollar in specifications or estimates. What may now seem strange, it was yet a fact, that very strong opposition was made to the measure and a fierce furor of denun- ziation took place, in so much that, when two of the Board, Messrs. Morgan and Clevinger, were presented as candidates for renomination by the Republican party, they were defeated be- cause they had been guilty of contracting to build that said court house. But the court house was built nevertheless, and there it stands to-day, the pride and glory of the county, of its architect, and of the Commissioners who had back-bone enough to go for- ward and secure its construction. It is, indeed, a gem of beauty, a marvel of taste and elegance and of cheapness as well. A man might sooner be the architect of that edifice than be President of the United States, or King of England. A President may be only an ordinary man, and a king may be a dunce or a madman ; but for such a building as that, only genius the most wonderful could conceive, and skill the most consummate could design and execute so beautiful and artistic a structure. It has been justly pronounced by good judges to be one of the finest buildings in the State.

One of the Commissioners has since said (and doubtless the others would say the same), that he is not sorry for the part he cook in the transaction, and that if he had the thing to determine again he would do just as he did before.

Say what one will as to the time or manner of construction, none can deny that it is one of the most beautiful edifices in the whole land, and well worth the money it cost, and now stands an honor to the county to which it belongs.

It has been claimed since its erection, that two very serious draw-backs and defects exist-that it is not fire proof, and that no sufficient provision was made for heating the building.

If these things be true, they are indeed serious objections. and mistakes that should not have been committed.

The necessity of fire-proof arrangements for the security of the public records is, indeed, the grand, unanswerable, overwheim- ing reason for the construction of costly public buildings, and no expense should be spared which is really essential to the attain- ment of that end. And careless or defective flues are in a vast number of cases, the cause of the conflagrations that so often bring dismay, and widespread desolation upon the dwellers of the county.

The corner-stone of the new court house was laid in the pres- ence of a crowd estimated at 8,000 people.

The following documents were deposited thereunder, viz .:

Copy of the Holy Bible.

Roll of officers and members of Winchester Lodge, No. 56, F. A. M.

Reports of Grand Masonic bodies, 1874-75.

Masonic Directory for Winchester.

Copy of each paper published in the county.

Copy of Winchester Patriot, first paper published in Ran- dolph County, dated October, 1843.

Report of Superintendent of Winchester Schools, 1874.

Premium list of Randolph County Fair, 1875.

Names of Judges and officers of the Circuit Court.

Names of county officers and members of the bar.

Names of corporation of officers of Winchester.

Copy of Hon. John E. Neff's speech on the Civil History of Randolph County, delivered at the laying of the corner-stone.

Coins and medals.

Copy of contract for first court house.

Names of members of the Richmond Commandery and cornet band present.

Among others on the stand were David Wysong, who built the first court house ; David Lasley, who cleared the public square of the native forest ; and John Coats, who, at that time, was thought to be the oldest citizen of the county-eighty-eight years old.

Material-Stone, brick and iron.

Exterior-Stone, pressed brick and galvanized iron.

Mansard Roof-Slate.

Rooms-First floor as follows: Auditor's office, two rooms ; Clerk's office, two rooms ; Recorder's office, two rooms. Two iron stairways-one large, one small. A large hall lengthwise. A hall crosswise. Four iron doors at the ends of the halls. The halls have tile marble floors, black and white. Second floor as follows : A large hall opening into the various rooms. A large court room ; several other rooms for various purposes.

Construction-Rubble stone foundation with various rubble stone walls along and across the basement ; entrance, step-stone ; walls, pressed brick, with cut stone finish ; stairways and outer- doors, iron ; cornice, dormer windows, etc., galvanized iron ; deck-roofs, etc., tin ; mansard roof, slate ; framing timber, solid pine ; floors and inside floor, ash ; inner doors, pine ; court room painted in frescoe.

Cost (without heating) $73,000 ; compensation of architect, three per cent ; cost of heating apparatus. $4,900.

NEW JAIL.

The Commissioners are now (March, 1881) making provi- sion and arrangements for the construction of a new jail, at a cost of between $30,000 and $40,000. They have purchased of. Martin A. Reeder, south of the Franklin House, on the east side

Thomas M. Anune

HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

of Main street, a lot for $1,200, and the intention is to proceed to the erection of the building during the present summer, and the expectation is, that it will be substantially and thoroughly built with modern methods of strength and security for the deten- tion and safe keeping of the persons confined within its walls, not to the neglect, however, of their health and bodily comfort. The following are (in substance) the specifications for its construc- tion :

At the April session, 1881, the building of the jail (and Sheriff's dwelling) was let to A. G. Campfield, contractor, ac- cording to specifications by Hodson, Architect, to be completed by December, 1881.

Cost of building, $34,500; compensation of architect, three per cent; dimensions of jail, forty-five by fifty-eight feet ; sheriff's residence, fifty-four by twenty-nine and a half feet ; foundation, rubble work ; prison floors, stone flagging ; mansard roof, covered with slate ; prison proper, iron cells with passageway seven feet wide all around them inside the outer walls, and a cen- tral hall nine feet wide; cornices, chimney-caps, etc., galvanized iron ; glass, AA double strength ; windows, grated with heavy twisted and riveted iron bars. Upper tier of cells reached by corridors, extending from the stair-cases in the hall, between the jail and the Sheriff's residence. The hospital is over the jail proper, in the second story (in the mansard roof), the lower story being sixteen feet high and including both tiers of prison cells. The cells open into the inner hall, and have grated un- glazed openings for light, heat and ventilation. The hospital department contains a hospital room and two or three bed-rooms, besides some others.

The sheriff's residence has three stories (with the roof). On the first floor are sitting room, kitchen, parlor, office, hall and stairway, and two other small rooms for no special purpose. On the second floor are two large rooms and two small rooms, the juve- nile and the female departments, each of the latter two having two cells apiece, and a larger room to each department. The whole building is to be heated by steam from the court house engine, 400 feet away. Great improvements, so reckoned, and great ex- pense as well, in jail construction, have been made since the days of the hewed log jail built in 1819.

Then, log jails at a cost of $100 or less were strong enough to hold the rogues of that day ; now, whether a jail built wholly of iron will hold the villains of the present time remains yet to be tried.

The old adage is, "The world grows wiser and wickeder," and many believe the saying to be the truth. It is, at least, the fact that the shrewdness displayed, both in the commission of crime and the evasion of its penalty, is perfectly amazing. The building is now (July, 1882) completed and in use. The heat- ing from the court house proved a failure. A separate engine for the jail is now employed.

SUPPORT OF POOR.

Some provision was made in the first days of the state for the poor. For many years, however, there was no County Asylum. Thirty years probably elapsed before Randolph County did more than to give outside aid, or to " hire out " or to "bind out " pau- pers or pauper children. One curious fact appears, that for some years a man was paid for keeping his own mother as a pauper. After that she was "sold out" to another party, who would keep her cheaper than her own son would do it.

Overseers were appointed by law to attend to the poor and afford needful help. The law required these officers to "farm out" such as were paupers, on the first Monday in May, allow- ing, however, the money to be paid, when judged proper, to the pauper himself; and required them, also, to "bind out" all pau- pers (females) under eighteen and (males) under twenty-one years of age. Some instances occur in the record of "farming out" at a very low price, which, however, room for insertion is lack- ing.

COUNTY INFIRMARY.

Some time previous to 1851, the Commissioners purchased a tract of land two miles southeast of Winchester, on the Lynn pike, for a Poor Farm. A dwelling was on the premises. which for a time was occupied for a Poor House. In March, 1852, William Fitzgerald was as (also he had previously been) em- ployed as Superintendent of the Poor House, as follows : $400 a year, quarterly, in county orders, including food and lodging for himself and family ; the family to give all their services, except when "the five younger children" were in school during the winter season. Before that date two reports are on file, showing the personal property of the county at the Poor House to be about $800 and $900 respectively.

In July, 1852, a County Poor Asylum was put under contract, to be completed by December, 1852; contractor, Joseph John- son. Dimensions, 65x40 feet, 12 feet high, 16 rooms below, hall 12 feet wide lengthwise the building, and another hall 7 feet wide the other way, with rooms also above. Cost, $1,750. This building was burned down in a few years and another one was erected not long after, which is now standing. The first was built of wood but the second is of brick, having two stories. It is large and commodious, being reasonably adapted to its pur- poses.

The cost of maintaining the poor at the Poor Asylum and otherwise during the years 1868, 1877 and 1880, is given below : 1868 (year ending May 31), $1,369.57 (probably excluding Superintendent's salary ); 1877, $4,415.99; 1881, $5,998.22. One would suppose there must be some error in the statement of cost of maintaining the poor for 1868. We give it, however, as set down in the annual exhibit for that year, as spread upon the Commissioners' record at the time.

SUPERINTENDENTS' POOR ASYLUM.

William H. Fitzgerald, from beginning to 1855 ; Simon Gray, from 1855 to 1857; Jeremiah Cox, from 1857 to 1859; Thomas McConochay, from 1859 to 1861; Elias Kizer, from 1861 to 1866; Jonathan Edwards, from 1866 to 1869; Amos Hall, from 1869 to 1878; Madison Hill, from 1878 to 1879; Amos Hall, from 1879 to 1882.

TOWNSHIPS-ORGANIZATION.

GREENSFORK TOWNSHIP

was organized in 1818 by David Wright, Sheriff, appointed by Gov. Jennings for that purpose. It included the whole south- ern half of the county. The north line of the township was a line one mile south of the line between Townships 19 and 20. The northwest part of Greensfork for one and a half miles reaches that line still. The north line of the rest of the town- ship is one mile farther south. This division remained during 1818 and 1819. November, 1819, West River was erected, in- cluding "all that part of Greensfork lying west of the west line of Section 16, Township 18, Range 14." This line is two and one-half miles west of the present west line of Green's Fork Township. Washington was afterward formed on the west, tak- ing off two and a half miles, and Wayne on the north, taking one mile on the north (except for one and a half miles) in the northwest quarter of Greensfork, leaving that township as at present.

WHITE RIVER TOWNSHIP

was created in 1818 by David Wright, Sheriff, before the organ- ization of the county and preparatory thereto. It included the whole of the county north of the line between Greensfork and White River as above stated.

[NOTE .- The county at that time itself extended only west and north to the outer boundary of the twelve-mile strip, com- monly called the "new boundary."]

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History of Randolph County, Indiana with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers : to which are appended maps of its several townships, Part 18

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman Number of Pages: 664

Author: Tucker, Ebenezer
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : A.L. Klingman
Number of Pages: 664