History of Henderson County, Kentucky, Part 6

Author: Starling, Edmund Lyne, 1864- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Henderson, Ky.
Number of Pages: 892

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SPOTTSVILLE ROAD.

In 1817 the road, which. is now known as the Henderson and Spottsville Road, was established twenty-five feet wide from the Town to Race Creek, and from thence to Hopkins' Ferry on Green River.

EVANSVILLE ROAD.

During the same year Richard Hart, John Weller, Enoch Sevier and John Stayden were appointed to view a road from Henderson to Evansville. In July, 1818, one year after, John Weller, John Upp, Daniel Smith and Samuel Buttler were appointed to view the same route.

In 1819, Daniel Smith, Daniel McBride, William Smith, John Williams, and Robert Terry, were appointed for the same pur- pose and every report made by the viewers proved objectionable to the land owners along the line. At the August term, 1822, a writ ad quod damnum issued and was tried by the following jurors : Robert Terry, W. R. Bowen, Walter C. Langley, Joel Lambert, W. H. In- gram, John Weller, Samuel H. Davis, Robert G. Slayden, James H. Lyne, Obediah Smith, Leonard H. Lyne and Thomas Herndon, who returned the following verdict.

" We, of the jury, find that John Smith, one of the contestants, is en- titled to five dollars and seventy-five cents. John Hart, to fifty dollars."

An order was then made by the court, establishing this a public road, and the damages awarded by the jury to be paid out of the county levy for that year.

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

MORGANFIELD ROAD.

In 1822 it was-

" Ordered by the court that the road leading from the Town of Hender- son to the county line enroute to Morganfield, in the direction of Davis Mill, on Highland Creek, be opened twenty feet wide, cleared, smoothed and es- tablished as one of the public roads of this Commonwealth, and that Charles Walden be appointed surveyor, and directed to open the same,"

Davis' Mill was located about one mile below the present cross- ing on the Smith Mills route. Some time after the location of this road, Clementine Wimsatt and others procured an order changing the crossing from Smith Mills to the Union County line, to the one used at the present time. For several years there was no bridge built across Highland Creek, and during the dry months it was easily forded. In times of high water, and during the winter and spring months, Mr. Wimsatt kept a ferryboat, which was used in crossing by stage and other vehicles. Since that time there have been many changes made in this road.

DIAMOND ISLAND AND KNOB LICK ROAD.

In 1823, a road from Diamand Island to the Knob Lick Road, fifteen feet wide, was established. This road followed the Ohio River to a point two miles below Alves Bluff, where it diverged at right angles, passing and crossing the Henderson and Morganfield Road at the present site of the Town of Geneva, from thence to Corydon and Cairo, and thence to the Knob Lick Road.

CORYDON ROAD.

In 1824 an order was passed to view a road fifteen feet wide, from the bridge on the Henderson and Morganfield Road, to intersect the Diamond Island Road beyond Grixon Brown's. This was done and Grixon Brown appointed surveyor. This road is now known as the Corydon Road, and leaves the Henderson and Morganfield Road just below the bridge over Canoe Creek, three miles from the city.

VACANT LANDS APPROPRIATED.

In the year 1831, an act of the General Assembly of Kentucky was passed appropriating all vacant lands in Henderson County to the improvement of roads. By this act the Register of the land office was directed to issue to Henderson County, free of costs, two hundred and fifty dollars worth of land warrants, containing five hundred acres each, which said warrants the County Courts were authorized to have surveyed upon any vacant or unappropriated land lying in the county, and carry the same into grant, and to then dispose of the same or any part thereof, and apply the proceeds to the improvement of the mail

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

road, from Smith's Ferry, on Green River, to the Union County line. These lands were designed to be sold agreeably to that act, and for that purpose William D. Allison_ clerk of the County Court, at its January meeting, was appointed agent for the county to dispose of the land warrants granted to the said court, with full power to locate said warrants, or sell or transfer the same. Subsequent to this act the County Court passed the following order :

" Ordered that the land warrants granted to the County of Henderson by the Legislature be appropriated to the road from the Town of Henderson to the Union County line on the road leading to Morganfield, and that Thomas Towles be appointed Superintendent of the works."

"'In the year 1834 the road from Henderson to the mouth of Green River was established fifteen feet wide, with John Weller, Sr., surveyor, who was directed to open the same and keep it in repair. In 1835, February 18, the Legislature passed an act, providing that all the lands within the Commonwealth east and north of the Tenn- essee River, vacant and unappropriated on the first day of August, 1835, should be vested in the respective County Court of the counties in which said lands might lie, to be sold at five dollars per one hun- dred acres, and that the proceeds arising therefrom be appropriated to a fund constituted for the improvement of the roads and bridges of the county, and for no other purpose.

STATE ROADS.

In the same month of the same year another act was passed declaring the Smith's Ferry and Henderson, and Henderson and Mor- ganfield Roads a State road in connection with the road running from the mouth of Salt River to Shawneetown, Illinois. By this act, the court was directed to lay off the road from Green River to the Union County line, into convenient precincts, and to allot to each Surveyor a sufficient number of hands to keep the road in good repair thirty feet wide and free from stumps. The County Court, under the provision of this act, was not allowed to alter or change this road. It seems the Commissioner of the County Court experienced some diffi- culty in finding vacant lands at that time, for at the October meeting of the Court the following order was passed :

" All persons finding and informing the court of this county of any va- cant and unappropriated lands in this county, shall have a pre-emption right of buying the same from the court at ten per cent. less than the assessed value."

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

The revenue accruing to the county from this source, while not large, was nevertheless a considerable help, going towards the object for which it was intended. Aside from this, the court was not punctil- liously particular in appropriating the money arising from the sale of vacant lands, as the Legislature intended, for we find in 1836 the following order passed at the October Court of Claims :"

" Ordered that the sum of five hundred dollars heretofore appropriated be placed to the order of the Board of Internal Improvements to be applied, in addition to the sum of one thousand dollars, appropriated by the Legisla- ture at their session of 1835 and '36, for the improvements of the roads of Hen- derson County to be used for the purpose of building a county poor house."

However, in 1838, the following appropriations for the improve- ments of roads, were made : Three hundred to improve what was known as Robinson's flat, two and a half miles out on the Knob Lick Road, one hundred dollars to the road to Calhoun's Ferry, on Green River, the ferry having been changed from Smith's, four hundred on the road leading to Madisonville and four hundred on the road lead- ing to Morganfield. For these amounts the Commissioners appointed by the County Court to superintend the work were authorized to draw upon the agent of the Internal Revenue Fund.

STATE ROAD TO HOPKINSVILLE.

In 1841, an act, entitled an act to establish a State Road from Henderson through Madisonville to Hopkinsville, was approved Jan- uary 26. In obedience to this act, the County Court of Henderson County appointed Willie Sugg and Levin W. Arnett Commissioners for the county, to meet Mark. A. Bone and Frederick Wood, of Hop- kins 'County, and Reading Barfield, of Christian County, for the pur- pose of viewing the old road. At the October court the Commissioners reported having viewed the route, and at the November court follow- ing, they, together with Samuel Morton, Surveyor ; William H. Thom- asson and William Morton, chain carriers, and James Bishop, marker, were allowed such fees as the law prescribed should be paid. Mr. Morton was allowed for three days' work, the time spent by him in sur- veying the route through Henderson County. The report of the Com- missioners was adopted and the road established and recognized as a State road, although a route from Henderson to Madisonville had been established many years prior to that time, yet this was the first impor- tant recognition of the road.

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

FLOYD AND LOCKETT ROAD.

In 1855 application was made by Dr. W. B. Floyd and Thomas J. Lockett, for the opening and location of a public road from Thomas W. Royster's to intersect the Madisonville Road at a point between the old homestead of John T. Hopkins and Canoe Creek. On this application it was ordered by the court, that Enoch Spencer, William G. Denton, Joseph McMullen, and John D. Weller, be appointed viewers ; to this John T. Hopkins and S. J. Hawkins, through a por- tion of whose land it was proposed to locate the road, objected, and on their motion another set of viewers, to-wit : James Alves, Mad- ison M. Denton, John A. Randolph, Wyatt H. Ingram and W. R. Rudy, were appointed to view the road from Thomas W. Royster's to intersect the Madisonville Road at a point two or three miles further on toward Madisonville. The route, as proposed by Floyd and Lockett, began at Thomas W. Royster's and ran thence through the lands of Joseph McMullin and Thomas Spencer, thence on the lines of Elizabeth Denton, John H. Spencer, Thomas B. Higginson, Samuel D. Denton, William G. Denton and Enoch Spencer, thence over the lands of Madison M. Denton, Thomas D. Talbott, Mary S. Talbott, Thomas J. Lockett, and on to the old Slover Flat Road, thence over the lands of Mrs. Chinoe Smith, to Sugg's corner on Alves' line, thence on this line to his corner, thence on Edgar Sugg's line to the corner of the horse-lot on the Edgar Sugg's farm, now owned by Gabe D. Sugg, thence over the land of S. J. Hawkins to what is known by the name of the Agnew route, thence with said Agnew's route to the Madisonville Road leading to Henderson. On the twenty-fifth day of February, 1856, the viewers reported and summons was directed to issue against the land owners, a writ of ad quod damnum was issued and tried as to all except Hopkins, in whose case the jury hung. June, 1856, the applicants and J. T. Hopkins entered into agreement that Y. E. Allison, Judge of the County Court, might go upon the land of said Hopkins and assess the damages. This the Judge very sensi- bly declined to do. August, 1856, Hopkins and Hawkins moved to quash the returns. This motion was overruled and the road ordered to be opened and established as a public road thirty feet wide from Thomas W. Royster's to the Henderson and Madisonvilie Road at John T. Hopkins', and over and along the route reported by the viewers. It was further ordered that the expense of building five bridges reported to be necessary, was too great for the precinct or pre- cincts of the road. To all of this Hopkins and Hawkins objected and prayed an appeal to the Circuit Court, which was granted At the

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

December term of the Circuit Court, a decree was rendered reversing for sufficient reasons, the proceeding of the County Court, so far as Hopkins and Hawkins were concerned. On the twenty-ninth day of October another writ of ad quod damnum was awarded by the higher court and was tried upon the premises by the following jurors : J. E. Jackson, Larkin White, R. E. Moss, Thomas McFarland, P. D. Neg- ley, W. S. Pamplin, James S. Hicks, E. T. Cheatham, John Walden, James White, W. B. Smith and J. W. Tapp. This jury returned the following

VERDICT :

"John Hopkins, for damages, one thousand and seventy-seven dollars; S. J. Hawkins, for same, two hundred and eighty-one dollars and seventy-five cents."

April, 1858, Thomas J. Lockett, Wm. Lockett and Andrew Agnew agreed with the County Court to have three of the five bridges built at no expense to the county, whereupon it was ordered that the road be opened as first directed. This proceeding was still resisted by Hop- kins and Hawkins, but finally compromised. Then the road was established and laid off into one precinct, with Thomas Spencer as overseer. There was never, perhaps, a public county road established which engendered so much bitterness of feeling and had such a bill of costs attaching to it as was the case in this Floyd and Lockett Road. For three years it was fought in the courts, and a host of witnesses summoned to testify. Eminent lawyers were employed on both sides, and every technicality known to the law was taken advantage of by both parties. The road cost the co .nty a large amount of money ; nev- ertheless, it has been a blessing greatly enjoyed by the inhabitants of " Frog Island " and others adjacent to the line.

A NUISANCE.

The old road service, or system, established by law for road-work- ing, was always regarded by most persons as one faulty in the extreme, and not more than one remove from a nuisance. All male laboring persons of the age of sixteen years or more, except such as were mas- ters of two or more male laboring slaves, of the age of sixteen years or more, were appointed by the court to work on some public road. Every person so appointed was required, upon notice of the Surveyor, placed over him, to attend with proper tools for clearing the road, or do such work as might be allotted him, or to find some other person equally able to work in his room. In case of his failure to attend when summoned, he was required to pay the sum of seven shillings, sixpence for every day's offense. If the delinquent was an infant or

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

minor, the sum was to be paid by his parent, guardian or master, or, if a slave or servant, by his overseer or master. The amount could be recovered by the overseer of the road before any Justice of the Peace within his county, and one-half of the fine was to go to the overseer of the road. For this work the laborers were entitled to credit on their account of good citizenship. This continued until 1821, when payments were then made for the use of teams and implements.

DUTY OF ROAD SURVEYORS.

The surveyors of roads occupied an unenviable position, for to him, and him alone, did the traveling public look for a good and safe foundation to travel over. It was made his duty to superintend the road in his precinct and to see that the same was cleared and kept in good order and repair, and upon his failure to do this, he was sub- jected to a fine of any sum not exceeding ten dollars, nor less than two dollars and fifty cents, to be recovered by indictment. For years and years, at each term of the Court of Quarter Sessions, and then the Circuit Court, it was the custom, whether from the force of habit, or spite, for at least two-thirds of the road surveyors to be summoned to answer an indictment or indictments found against them, for neg- lecting some part of the road under their charge.

Road overseers, as they were called, were subjected to an ordeal in early times that would hardly hold these piping times of limitless civilization. Yet, those people who paved the way to a glorious and un- thought of future, we must bow our heads in humble acknowledgment, that while public matters are at this day more systematically arranged, there is more wealth behind, more of everything conducive to success ; yea, more; that had we to-day, as a people, to undergo what was their lot, we should miserably fail. We must confess that the children and grandchildren have not inherited the hardy, indomitable spirit of pio- neer manhood.

FIRST JAIL.

CHAPTER VII.

GETTING READY FOR WORK-PRISON HOUSE TO BE BUILT, ETC .- SUICIDE OF J. ELMAS DENTON, JAILER.

T the July meeting, 1799, of the County Court, initiatory steps were taken looking to the building of a prison house of suitable size for those times. General Samuel Hopkins and John Husband were appointed a committee to investigate and report a plan for such a building as in their judgment would meet the views of the court. At the August term of the said court, the committee made the follow- ing report. The report is copied verbatim and was evidently written by the learned architect who furnished the plan of the then royal lockup:

"The Commissioners appointed to report a plan of a "goal," and the necessary repairs of the school house to make it convenient for holding the courts therein, reports the plan of the "goal " as follows: the lower room to be twelve feet in the clear, built of square timbers ten inches thick, each wall three double, with the middle timbers standing upright, the floors double ten inches thick crossing each other, the loft in the same manner, the upper room of square logs eight inches thick, both stories eight feet high and clabboard roof, and the necessary grating for the windows and locks for the doors, to be doub- led and fifty dollars to repair the school house.

" SAMUEL HOPKINS, "JOHN HUSBAND, " Commissioners .

WHEREUPON IT WAS

" Ordered, that a jail be built on the Public Square in the Town of Hen- derson. Abraham Landers, Jacob Barnett and John Husband are appointed Commissioners to let the building and the additions to the school house, to

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

the lowest undertaker; provided, however, such alterations do not materially exhaust the amount of funds in sight and report."

At the September meeting, the Commissioners reported having let the building of the jail to Jonathan Anthony, for the sum of three hundred and thirty-nine dollars, to be built according to the plan and specifications reported. This report was adopted, and the Com- missioners continued with instructions to make further efforts to let the additions to the old school house, to any person who would un- dertake the work, for a sum not exceeding fifty dollars. This, the first public building in Henderson County, was soon begun and completed.

VIEWERS APPOINTED.

At the February term of the court, and the first court held after the completion of the new jail, the following order passed :

" On motion of Jonathan Anthony, it is ordered that Adam Rankin, John Standley and John Sprinkle gentlemen to view the house built by said Anthony, for the public jail of the county. and make report of the repairs to be made to said house in order to make it sufficently strong for the safe keep- ing of prisoners of the court."

Agreeably to this order the Committee of the court did view the jail, and returned to the court the following report:

VIEWERS' REPORT.

" By order of the court we proceeded to view the jail, and find the doors of the lower story to be about three and a half inches thick, not well spiked, and that part of the hinge which goes into the log for the door to hang on, does not go through to clinch, the facings of the doors are not spiked, the sta- ples are not sufficient, some of the logs of the upper floor of the under story are loose and ought to be made fast ; the locks we can't say anything about, as they are not at the doors, the bars of the window not an inch thick, the door of the upper story not well spiked, nor the facing, which ought to be done; the windows not so large as called for, and the facing not well spiked, some of the logs not squared and not sufficiently close.

‘· ADAM RANKIN. "JOHN HUSBANDS, " JOHN SPRINKLE."

" A FAULTY GOAL."

From this report the court determined that Mr. Anthony, the contractor, had not complied with his contract, but, on the contrary, had failed to convince them that he was a respectable mechanic. However, when the new jail had been completed, it was the pride of the town, not so much owing to its architectural beauty and finish, as to the fact of its being the first public building in the county. It had two stories and two doors, one door opening into the lower story, the other a trap-door opening into the upper story. It had one small

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

window or light-hole in the second story. The lower story was called a dungeon, the upper the debtors' prison, where persons arrested for debt were confined. A common split ladder furnished the poor - debtor a pathway from the dungeon to his abode above. There was no fire-place in the jail, so during cold weather those confined in it were compelled to go to bed, keep up a lively calesthenic drill or freeze. This little log prison house, no better than a majority of the cattle stables of the county at this time, was received in 1800, and re- · cognized as headquarters for criminals and debtors, until proving in- sufficient.

" A NEW JAIL."

Was ordered to be built in 1807. From accounts on file in the office of the County Clerk, it is safe to say that during each year of its ex- istence more money was paid out by the county for jail guards than the miserable little concern cost originally, This insignificant hut was located on Court Square on the spot where the front gate now stands. This second prison was built in 1808 and was of the follow- ing dimensions :

" The dungeon for criminals sixteen feet square, the sides of hewed logs ten inches in diameter and three logs thick, the floors of the same kind of logs. and two logs thick, laid at right angles to each other, the inner door made of timber three inches thick spiked with iron spikes three inches apart, hung on strong and sufficient iron hinges with staples and two strong bars to secure the door on the outside ; the outside of the door of the same dimension, and finished in the manner as the inner door, except that it shall be secured with a strong jail lock with a window nine inches wide. and two feet in length, se- cured with a strong iron grate, 'T'he debtors' apartment immediately above and of the same dimensions as the dungeon, appendant to the dungeon on the side out of which the door may be cut, a room sixteen feet square of hewed oak logs, one story high, with a good plank floor and loft, a brick or stone chimney in the end, with a door or window in the front of the house, and completely and comfortably finished for a guard room. It was further ordered that each of the before described 100ms be covered with good jointed shingles and lastly that the dungeon, debtors' room and room for the guard, be begun and finished in a workman-like manner, on or before the first day of October, 1808. Benja- mine Talbott, having agreed, with the consent of the court, to do the above de- scribed work. and for which he is to give bond with security in the Clerk's office, with covenant. agreeing with the order of the court in this particular, he is permitted to make use toward completing this work, of such iron taken from the late jail as he may think proper."

This jail was used until the year 1820, and during its. twelve years of existence was never regarded as a safe prison, and was a continual expense to the county. Accounts running from fifty to one hundred dollars were presented annually for guard service, and it may be

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

safely said that five times the cost of the building was paid for guard service alone. These claims continually coming in, awakened the Magistrates to the importance of building a stronger house, so at the October Court of Claims, 1816, five hundred dollars were levied for that purpose. In 1817, '18, '19 and '20, additional levies were made for the same purpose. In the year 1818 Ambrose Barbour, Fayette Posey and John Holloway were appointed commissioners to have built a good and sufficient jail. They presented a plan with specifications, which were approved and adopted. A contract, on the ' the twelfth day of June, 1819, was entered into with Francis Ham- mill, the then leading contractor in the town, and for the sum of five hundred dollars, but from some unknown cause was annuled, and another made on the third day of September, with William R. Bowen, at, and for the same price, according to the copy and minute of the court, but for the sum of three thousand five hundred dollars, accord- ing to the contract signed and entered into between the parties. That our readers may know the character of the building which stood on the brow of the Court Hill for forty-three years, the specifications adopted by the Commissioners are here inserted :

THE THIRD JAIL.

"The house to be of brick, forty feet long, twenty-six feet wide, two stories high, the tower story to be nine feet high between the sleepers and joists or floors, and the upper story to be eight feet high between the floors ; they must be divided in the lower story by a brick partition midway the house. The lower story two and a half bricks thick, the upper story two bricks thick in the walls, and two bricks thick in the partition, the underpinning to be stone to the tables, the upper room to be divided into three rooms or cells, each room to be 11x12 feet in the clear, the outer wall of which to be lined with timbers six inches thick, upright, to be faced crosswise with two-inch oak plank, and at least two inches thick and nailed or spiked to the timbers. The parti- tion walls, of and between each of the upper rooms or cells, to be made with upright timbers, eight inches thick and faced on each side.crossing with two- inch oak plank, as aforesaid. The lower floor to be laid with one and one-halt inch oak plank, with strong sleepers, the plank to be seasoned and jointed, but need not be dressed. The floors to the second story to be laid with timbers, close, ten inches thick and faced with two-inch oak plank, seasoned and joined as aforesaid, above and below the floor. The upper rooms above to be made with ten-inch timbers, as aforesaid, to be faced cross-wise below with two-inch oak plank. There must be a passageway to the upper room, six feet wide, made with ten-inch timbers, and faced with two-inch oak plank, as aforesaid; on each side, the timbers in all cases, must be placed upright and close together, and the oak plank for the facings must be seasoned and joined, but need not be dressed. To the lower rooms there must be an outside door, and window of eighteen lights to each room, opposite to each and midway of each room,

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History of Henderson County, Kentucky, Part 6

Author: Starling, Edmund Lyne, 1864- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Henderson, Ky. Number of Pages: 892

Author: Starling, Edmund Lyne, 1864- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Henderson, Ky.
Number of Pages: 892