USA > Indiana > Adams County > Standard history of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : An authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 32
USA > Indiana > Wells County > Standard history of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : An authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 32
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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
MR. DOUGHERTY IN CHARGE OF CONSTRUCTION
"A number of citizens were discussed as to who should take charge of the work and put it through with as much haste as possible, when Mr. Studabaker proposed the writer who was then twenty-four years old. Some objections were made on account of his age, but, with Mr. Studa- baker's keen foresight, he was determined to have control of the con-
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struetion so that it might be put through as rapidly as possible and before any failure might occur with the Junction Railroad. So he proposed that the receiver should give a $100,000 hond, which was promptly given by Mr. Studabaker signing the bond, with Jesse R. Williams of Fort Wayne and other gentlemen. He brought it to Bluffton for the signature of the principal, and on the next day the writer took charge of the enterprise, hiring all labor, buying the ma- terial and securing the right-of-way.
COLLECTING AT THE POINT OF HIS GUN
"Among the first men hired to hew ties was Augustus N. Martin, who afterward was elected reporter of the Supreme Court and was also representative in Congress for three times from this district. There was much annoyance in getting the right-of-way, because of many unfulfilled promises made by the men who undertook to build this railroad years prior to this time. One of the instances that now comes to our mind occurred on the farm of George F. Burgan, through which the road ran a mile north of Bluffton. He was very agreeable as to the question of amount, and we agreed with him as to what he was to have, and told him to let the men go to work and we would be out and pay him next day. This conversation was in the yard, and he immediately stepped into the house, took down his rifle and said : 'You will pay me now, or the first man that steps on my land will be shot.' So we were compelled to return to Bluffton at once and obtain the money to pay him, for the men were there ready to go to work. From that time on, the road had no better friend than Mr. Burgan.
HIS CLIENT NOT FAVORED
"We had several lawsuits for right-of-way, in which we found David Colerick, of Fort Wayne, a very able lawyer, always on the opposite side. After we had the right-of-way through the farms, Colerick came to us and asked that there might be a cattle-guard put in so that a crossing could be made for a client of his, that the latter might drive his stock from one side of the farm to the other. We said to him, 'Mr. Colerick, we do not consider you a friend of the road; therefore, do not believe we can grant your request in behalf of your client.' He yelled out, at the top of his voice, 'Friend ! I am no man's friend, nor the road's either. I never had but one friend-myself- and he d-d near ruined me.' His client did not get the crossing.
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A RAILROAD, OR NOT A RAILROAD ( ?)
"The intimation we had that the Junction Railroad and Louis Worthington, the president, were in financial straits, caused great fears that the road never could be completed for lack of money. So it was agreed that the Junction Railroad would seeure the iron, and we would do the work, and furnish the ties and bridges to complete the line to Bluffton, and hold the $100,000 citizens' bond as security for what money we had advanced and would advance, until the road should be completed to Bluffton. The condition of the bond was such that the $100,000 would be due whenever a train of cars would have run over the road from the City of Fort Wayne into the Town of Bluffton, where Market Street would eross the railroad. This made it extremely important that the road should be completed to Market Street, Bluffton, before November 30, 1869.
"As the time drew near for the completion of the road, there had been a large number of men and teams put on the grade and in the woods, making ties and getting out timber, and the last month we had three hundred names on the pay roll, which required over $30,000. On November 10, 1869, twenty days before the time was up, we had run a train from Fort Wayne to Market Street, Bluffton, which made the citizens' bond binding and worth $100,000. Then came the great jollification, large numbers of people coming in from all parts of the county with well-filled baskets.
"Up to this time there had been but one engine on the road, it being under the care of the writer, and the contractors, Byrd, Sturgis & Ney, refusing to surrender the possession of the road to the Junction Railroad until they were settled with for their profits. The Junction Railroad bribed the fireman to run away with the engine. While the engineer was temporarily off his engine at Fort Wayne, the fireman cut loose and started it down the Pennsylvania traek to Lima, with all speed possible. This created great excitement at Bluffton, and the question then arose in the minds of the wiseaeres whether, from a legal stand-point, we had a railroad or not ; and it was a mooted question as to whether the $100,000 citizens' bond could be collected ; but it was only a few days until a train of cars was placed on the road.
FINANCIAL COMPLICATIONS
"While Mr. Studabaker and the writer were delighted to have com- pleted the road in time to leave them secure for what had been ad- vanced, yet there was great trouble ahead. About $50,000 of the
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money which had been appropriated by the county commissioners to the railroad had been paid in by tax payers to the county treasurer, he having deposited it in our bank. We, in turn, deposited it in the Cen- tral National Bank of Cincinnati; but when we made the last payment to the laborers and for the material, and our bank undertook to draw the money from the Central National Bank of Cincinnati, we were told that Louis Worthington had already drawn the money, claiming it due them as soon as the railroad reached Market Street, Bluffton. After spending two days making every effort to get them to give up the money peaceably, we employed lawyers with the intention of forcing them to pay us the money, for the reason that we had never given the Central National Bank any authority to pay Mr. Worthington the money, and if they had advanced it to him on his word they must rely on that for their pay. This settled one-half of the citizens' bond.
"The other half was settled so far as it could be done by the county commissioners, who ordered the county auditor to issue county orders covering the other $50,000, which was to be paid out of money as soon as collected for that purpose. The county commissioners ap- pointed Mr. John Studabaker trustee to take charge of these county orders, but Hon. Newton Burwell, who had just held a term in the lower house of the Legislature and was quite active in politics, raised an objection to Mr. Studabaker being made trustee because of his being a republican. He had little trouble in convincing the county commissioners that Mr. Studabaker could not be trusted with these county orders on account of his polities, this being made especially easy because of there having been quite a contest over Manuel Popejoy, who was nominated as one of the commissioners on the democratic ticket. However, when the committee appointed by the four hundred on the citizens' bond called on Mr. Popejoy and asked what he would do in regard to pledging himself to appropriate the money for the rail- road, his reply was, 'If the law warrants such an appropriation and I am elected, I will vote for it.' The signers of the bond knew there was no law authorizing a levy for railroad purposes; so they set about to defeat him, and did so by electing Louis Prilliman, a republican. Thus Mr. Burwell's objection to Mr. Studabaker on account of his polities was accepted by the commissioners as being sufficient to remove him, and it was proposed that the writer, whose politics was regular, be put in his place, and he was appointed.
"This only increased trouble for the writer, as the county orders were then placed in his hands and he started for Cincinnati to ex- change them for the citizens' bond. He found it in the hands of a pork-packer named Joseph Rawson, who had advanced Mr. Worthing-
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ton the money on the last half of the bond, this being the money that paid for the railroad iron. Although we offered to sell them at ninety cents on the dollar, they had no attraction for Mr. Rawson and he promptly declined to take anything but eash. So we returned from Cineinnati with a heavy heart, feeling it would be from one to two years at least before the orders could be paid. The citizens' bond was now due, as the railroad had already reached Market Street, Bluffton. When we reached Bluffton it was late at night, and we found Amos
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SCENE FROM ERIE BRIDGE, BLUFFTON
Townsend walking up and down the street waiting for us. He said he had werd that the taxpayers in the northern part of the county would enjoin us from disposing of the orders, if they were able to pro- eure legal service on us.
"We ealled on Mr. Studabaker and decided there was only one thing for us to do, and that was for us to get out of the reach of the officers and make some disposition of the orders. We coneluded it was not safe to wait for the train the next morning and, after some deliberation, hitehed up and went to Fort Wayne in a private rig. If we were unable to sell the orders in Fort Wayne, we must keep on
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going, even to New York if necessary, until they were disposed of. We reached Fort Wayne a little before daylight. The writer, having traveled several nights, and being much worried, was directed to go to bed until called by Mr. Studabaker. The next morning, about nine o'clock, we were directed to go to the First National Bank of Fort Wayne, of which J. D. Nuttman was president, and to take whatever paper he offered in exchange for the orders, but we were to go through the form of making a sale by first offering at par, and when he offered ninety cents to agree to take it. We went through the performance and Mr. Nuttman handed over a paper together with two letters, one written to the auditor and the other to the treasurer of Wells County.
"As we were so nearly exhausted, Mr. Studabaker sent us home on the train and he drove back. On our way home we opened the papers and found a certificate of deposit from Nuttman calling for the amount of the face of the orders, less ten per cent to be paid when the orders were paid. When we got home we delivered one letter to W. H. Deam, treasurer, and one to S. M. Dailey, auditor. They opened the letters, which said that the First National Bank of Fort Wayne had bought the orders and would expect payment for them as soon as the money could be collected. Mr. Dailey, the auditor, in a very excited way, began to announce to everyone he met that the orders were sold and the money was in the Exchange Bank of John Studabaker & Company, ready to pay off the citizens' bond; all of which was glad news to everyone who had signed the bond. But this was but the beginning of our troubles."
BUILDING OF THE SECOND RAILROAD
It would be unprofitable and of little general interest to follow the many involved details which were finally untangled and the citi- zens' bond paid off in full; thus clearing off all the obligations cover- ing the construction of the first railroad to Bluffton and penetrating Wells County. Continuing, Mr. Dougherty says: "The building of the second road, running east and west through Bluffton, had been agitated from time to time for a number of years. At times a line was proposed from Lima to Logansville, at other times from Van Wert in a southwesterly direction and thence west, through Crawfordsville; but finally the narrow-gauge fever struck the country, and Joe Boehmr and Doctor Evans, of Delphos, Ohio, came along and proposed to build a road from that point through Bluffton west. At this time, townships were authorized to vote aid, which was done by Harrison, Lancaster and Liberty townships. James Crosbie and the writer
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were given the contract to build the road from Bluffton to Warren. The iron covering that point of the road was to be furnished by the company. The grade was constructed and the iron furnished, but before it was delivered it was necessary to have the officers of the company sign a note eovering $7,000 for the iron. The note was signed by Joseph Bochmr, Doctor Evans, W. J. Craig and the writer. Mr. Crosbie and the writer were given notes covering their contraet, executed by the citizens of Warren and payable when the road was completed to that place. These were paid promptly, but the $7,000 was unprovided for, and after considerable manipulation the road was sold and the $7,000 paid by the succeeding company, so that Bluffton had the second railroad. From this small start it has since been con- verted into a standard gange, with first-class day coaches and sleepers and with through trains from Toledo to St. Louis."
As intimated, an east-and-west line of railroad had ever been thought to be the greatest desideratum in respect to thoroughfares. Accordingly, a movement was set on foot, immediately after the completion of the Muncie Railroad, for the building a narrow-gange railroad running from Toledo to some western metropolis, through Wells County, under the impression that such a road could be more cheaply built, and more cheaply operated after it was built. The long- delaying, soul-sickening hide-and-seek, now-you-see-it and now-you- don't performances of various supposed capitalists, characterized the early history of this line to an unusual extent. The numerous ehame- leon changes and skillful prestidigitations of the various "companies," building or proposing to build the various links between Toledo and the great West, generally are too tedious to relate here, and, in fact, uncalled for. Even the names of the routes are too numerous to cata- logue, the most prominent of which have been the "Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis" and the "Narrow-Gauge Railroad."
THE "CLOVER LEAF," OR "BUST"
May we be pardoned for relating, in this connection, what took place in a Bluffton Sunday school, illustrating the long and intensely felt desire of the citizens to have this line of road hurried up? It is related that a Sunday school teacher had a boy in her class who had not failed in his penny contribution for more than a year; and when he was found empty-handed one Sunday, his teacher observed, "Why, Johnny, did you forget your penny today?" "No, Ma'am," he humbly replied, "but father says the narrow gauge railroad will do this town more good than any fourteen Sunday schools; and I am
LOOKING SOUTH FROM CLOVER LEAF BRIDGE, BLUFFTON
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going to chuck my coppers into that enterprise for the next few weeks." "Won't the heathen miss your pennies?" she asked. "I suppose they will; but we've got to come right down for this road or this town is busted."
To condense the history of Wells County's connection with this road into a few lines, let it be sufficient to repeat that Messrs. Hugh Dougherty, James Crosby, W. J. Craig, elerk of the Wells County Court at that time, and others of more distant points took hold of the enterprise, and, under the new law enabling townships to vote aid or take stock, raised the money on their individual credit, and soon built the road from the state line to Warren, the first train reaching Bluff- ton in August, 1879.
The new Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City Railroad was adopted by the company in 1886 and it was determined to widen the track to the standard gauge, run through trains to Kansas City, and bring the whole line up to first-class condition, which was eventually done under the name Toledo, St. Louis & Western (Clover Leaf).
THE CHICAGO & ERIE LINE
The Chicago & Atlantie line was proposed about 1872, and the following year Wells County, by a majority of 247, voted to aid in its construction. It was pushed through the northern part of Adams County striking Decatur; also through the northern sections of Wells County, missing Bluffton by about six miles. Through trains com- menced to run in July, 1883; and the forerunner of the Chicago & Erie line had been placed on the map.
THE TRACTION LINES
Besides the three lines of railroad mentioned a number of traction roads accommodate the people of Wells County. The Fort Wayne & Northern Indiana Traction Company operates a section of its north and south line through the county, taking in Ossian, Kingsland, Bluffton, Poneto and Keystone; the Marion & Bluffton Traction line branches out toward the southwest, Liberty Center being its chief station in Wells County, and the Bluffton, Geneva & Celina line ex- tends toward the southeast, the cars making regular stops at Vera Cruz in Wells County. In November, 1917, the line last named, which had been for some time in the hands of a receiver was sold at anction
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to Thomas Flynn for the sum of $118,000. Mr. Flynn already owned four-fifths of the stock of the road, which had been built at a cost of $450,000.
It is estimated that there are within the limits of Wells County over eighty miles of steam railroads and forty-three miles of electric lines.
CHAPTER XIX
LEGAL AND MEDICAL MATTERS
BEFORE THE CIRCUIT COURT WAS-CIRCUIT COURT ORGANIZED-A DIS- COURAGING FIRST SUIT-FIRST INDICTMENTS PRESENTED-DAVID KIL- GORE SUCCEEDS JUDGE EWING-PROMINENT CITIZENS INDICTED FOR BETTING-FIRST DIVORCE SUIT-FIRST RESIDENT LAWYER-FIRST PROBATE ENTRY-JUDGE JAMES W. BORDEN-DAVID H. COLERICK -JOHN W. DAWSON-FIRST CONVICTION OF A FELON-LAST AS- SOCIATE JUDGE-JAMES L. WORDEN-OLD-TIME SPEEDY JUSTICE- JAMES F. MCDOWELL AND GEORGE S. BROWN-THE MURPIIY-FREE- MAN TRIAL-JUDGE EDWIN R. WILSON-WHOLESALE DIVORCE BUSI- NESS-COURT CHANGES, 1865-84 CRIMES AGAINST LIFE-THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS-WELLS COUNTY BAR IN 1887-THE BENCH AND BAR SINCE 1885-THE OLD COUNTRY DOCTOR-DOCTOR MELSHEIMER'S DESCRIPTION-HOW IT WAS THIRTY YEARS AGO- PIONEER PHYSICIANS AND EARLY EPIDEMICS-THE WELLS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Matters connected with the professions of the law and medicine are especially personal in their nature, and for that reason of unusual interest. The items concerning the legal profession are strung upon the framework of the bench, the organization and changes in the va- rions courts forming a substantial groundwork for individual sketches of judges and lawyers. As to the physicians and surgeons, the Wells County Medical Society is the only organized body around which they may be grouped, and they were practicing their scientific, humane and human arts long before they were formally associated. In many a community, in the old trying times, it was a friendly and a Christian rivalry for preeminence between the country doctor and the parson, the comparative preponderance of affection engendered depending largely on individual traits of warm-heartedness and charity.
BEFORE THE CIRCUIT COURT WAS
Previous to the organization of the Circuit Court of Wells County, its citizens were obliged to call upon the local 'squire for assistance.
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On September 2, 1837, Benjamin Brown tried the first case as a justice of the peace of Wells County. It was styled The State of In- diana versus Simon Miller, charged with assault and battery against the person of Elam Ilooker. The defendant was found guilty and fined $1, for the benefit of the seminary fund of Wells County.
The second law suit before a justice occurred in 1837, when Thomas W. Van Horn was called upon to decide which of two traps caught the wolf.
CIRCUIT COURT ORGANIZED
The first term of the Circuit Court of Wells County convened at the residence of Robert C. Bennett, where Bluffton is now situated, in October, 1837, with the following officers: Charles W. Ewing, judge; John Swett and James R. Greer, associate judges; Bowen Hale, clerk; Isaac Covert, sheriff, and Thomas Johnson, prosecuting at- torney. The first court entry was made on the 19th of the month named.
The first grand jury consisted of Abraham McDowell, James Wright, James Cobbum, David Bennett, Christopher Miller, William Ray, William P. Davis, Henry Mace, Jeremiah Masterson, Nathaniel Batson, Isaac Dewitt, James Harvey, Isaac Wright, Isaac Lewellyn, Joseph Jones and Buell Baldwin, and petit jurors, Joseph Sparks, John McCullick, Noah Tobey, John Seek, Newton Putnam, Allen Norcross, Andrew Brown, John Higgins, John Casebeer, Goldsmith Baldwin, Samuel Wallace, Conklin Masterson, Henry Miller, Henry Myers, Daniel Miller, Jolm C. Whitman, James Jarrett, David Snyder, Mason Powell, William Foncannon, Samuel Myers, Adam Miller, John Swett and James R. Greer, all of whom but Newton Putnam are dead.
A DISCOURAGING FIRST SUIT
The first lawsuit in the Circuit Court was in 1838, when Andrew Ferguson was tried for assault and battery upon the person of John Mace. David Bennett prosecuted the case vigorously and Moses Jenkinson, subsequently of Fort Wayne, defended. Mr. Jenkinson had walked all the way from Geneva, Southern Adams County, to de- fend his client, thereby proving conclusively that he needed his pro- fessional fees; but the culprit learned that he was not licensed to practice and refused to pay him for his services. So poor Jenkinson went footing it back through the mud to his Geneva home, a rather dejected victim of ingratitude.
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FIRST INDICTMENTS PRESENTED
The grand jurors previous to the April term, 1839, failed to pre- sent any one for crime, but at this term Jehu T. Elliott, of New Castle, Indiana, afterward supreme judge, appeared as prosecuting attorney, and the first indictments in the county were then found and pre- sented, and the court made the following entry in relation thereto, which will be found on page 21, Minute Book "A": "Ordered by the court that in all bills of indictment found at the present term of this court for assaults and batteries, betting, and selling and giving spirits to Indians, the defendants be required to enter into recogni- zance in the sum of $25 each and security in a like sum, and in all in- dietments for grand larceny and for suffering gaming in grocery or tavern the defendants he required to enter into recognizance in the sum of $100 each with security in a like sum."
DAVID KILGORE SUCCEEDS JUDGE EWING
At the September term, 1839, Judge Ewing was succeeded on the bench by Hon. David Kilgore, of Muncie, afterward speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives and subsequently for two terms a member of Congress from the "Old Burnt Distriet."
At this term, among others, the famous Moses Jenkinson, Judge Jeremiah Smith, of Winchester, and Judge Jacob B. Julian, later of Indianapolis, were admitted to practice in the Circuit Court.
PROMINENT CITIZENS INDICTED FOR BETTING
The first criminal proceeding tried was against Associate Judge James R. Greer, who entered a plea of guilty to a charge of betting and was fined $1. It seems that the judges in those days dealt out justice impartially and in proof of this made one of their own number the first victim of the majesty of the law. At this term John Brown- lee, of Grant County, afterward a leading member of the Marion Bar, was the prosecuting attorney. The criminal docket contained fifty- two causes, of which forty-five were for betting, and most of the prom-' inent citizens of the county were placed under indictment.
At the March term, 1840, the late Jeremiah Smith appeared as prosecuting attorney.
FIRST DIVORCE SUIT
At the October term, 1840, the first divorce petition in the county was filled. Prior to that event domestic bliss and felicity seem to have reigned supreme.
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FIRST RESIDENT LAWYER
At the April term, 1841, Samuel Ogden succeeded John Swett as associate judge, and at this term John P. Greer, who spent the last years of his long life at Topeka, Kansas, became the first resident member of the Wells County Bar and was one of its leading lights until his removal from the state in 1857.
FIRST PROBATE ENTRY
The first entry in the probate docket of the county was made by William Wallace, probate judge, on November 10, 1841, ordering a writ of habeas corpus for the body of one Martin Perry.
JUDGE JAMES W. BORDEN
At the March term, 1842, James W. Borden, of Fort Wayne, suc- ceeded to the judgeship and Lucien P. Ferry of the same place ap- peared as prosecuting attorney. Judge Borden, though only a mod- erate lawyer, was a man of fine physical proportions, an excellent con- versationalist, and spent the subsequent years of his life in office, hav- ing been a member of the Constitutional Convention, judge of the Court of Common Pleas, minister to the Sandwich Islands under Bu- chanan, again common pleas judge, and he died in the harness as judge of the Allen Criminal Court about 1881. The court as then con- stituted had an equitable but arbitrary way of apportioning costs, and at this term, in the case of "Andy" Ferguson v. Almon Case, where the jury found for the plaintiff in the sum of $2, the court ordered "that each party pay one-half the costs."
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