USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County : together with historic notes on the Northwest, and the state of Ohio, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and all other authentic sources > Part 22
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It is said that Owen Davis, the owner of the mill and the court house, the father-in-law of Gen. Benjamin Whiteman, one of the associate judges, a kind hearted and obliging man, and also a fear-
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less Indian fighter, had an altercation with a man from Warren County, whom he charged with stealing his neighbor's hogs ; a fight occurred and Davis came off victorious. He then went into court and addressed his son-in-law the judge, with whom he was on quite familiar terms. He said, "Well Ben! I've whipped that hog thief, what's the damage ? What's to pay ?" Saying, this he drew from his pocket a buck-skin wallet containing eight or ten dollars, and slam- med it on the table. Then shaking his fist at the judge he continued .: "Yes! Ben, and if you'd steal a hog I'd whip you too." This special address to the judge was also emphasized with an oath. All the parties pleaded guilty to the indictment made, and were fined. Davis to the amount of eight dollars.
The first business of the court after the grand jury returned was the appointment of James Galloway, jr., as county surveyor. He was the son of James Galloway, sen., who two days later, August 4th, was appointed treasurer by the court of associate judges. On the 2d day of the term, August 3d, Joseph C. Vance was appointed to survey the county seat, and lay off the town of Xenia. This he did the same season, and at the December term of the court of associate judges received $49.25 for his services. He furnished chain-men in making the survey, made a plat of the town and sold some lots. On the third day of the term Daniel Symmes was allowed $20.00 for prosecuting in behalf of the state. This fee was decided at the December term of the court to be illegal, and it was required to be refunded.
At the November term of the Court of Common Pleas, Thomas Davis, a justice of the peace, was arraigned for misconduct in office. He pleaded guilty and was fined one dollar and ordered to "stand committed until perfornied." Rev. Robert Armstrong received license to solemnize the rites of matrimony. Also at this term the first civil case was tried by a jury ; it was the case of Wallingsford, vs. Vandolah, for slander. Wallingsford was a member of the Baptist Church, and Vandolah had said, " Wallingsford is a liar, and I can prove it." A verdict of 25 cents was rendered for the plaintiff. At the December term, in the case of William Chip- man vs. Henry Storm, judgment was confessed for one cent damages" and costs. The June term, 1804, was the last term of court held in the old log house. Arthur St. Clair, of Cincinnati, was present as prosecuting attorney, and administered the oath to Wm. MeFar- land, foreman of the grand jury, with the hand of the latter on a copy
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of the Arabian Nights Entertainment, which, from its external like- ness, the prosecutor had taken for a New Testament.
SUPREME COURT.
The first Supreme Court in the county was held at the house of Peter Borders, on Beaver Creek, on the 25th day of October, 1803. Hon. Samuel Huntington and Wm. Spriggs were the judges, Wm. Maxwell, sheriff, and Arthur St. Clair prosecuting attorney. John Paul was elected clerk, and entered into bond in the penal sum of $2.000 for the faithful discharge of his duties ; Benjamin Whiteman and Josiah Grover were his securities. "Then came a grand jury, to-wit: Andrew Read foreman, James Snodon, Joseph C. Vance, William Allen, John Marshall, John McKnight, Samuel Brewster, John McClain, James Snodgrass, John Judy, Robert Lowry, Thomas Frean and Samuel Freeman." These men were sworn a grand jury of inquest for the body of Greene County, who retired out of court to consider of indictments; after some time returned into court and having nothing to present were discharged. The only business transacted by this court, was the admission of Richard L. Thomas, Esq., counsellor and attorney at law ; this done "court adjourned till court in course." The first session of the Supreme Court was held in accordance with the statutes on the fourth Tuesday of October of this year. It was held annually thereafter at such time as the court itself might determine. The work for grand juries at such times was not great. The first grand jury, as we have seen, found noth- ing to do. And at the second term of the court held on the third day of October, 1804, the grand jury appointed in the early part of the first day, retired, found whatever bills of indictment they could, reported to court, and were discharged the same day.
The first case that came before the Supreme Court in this county was one in which Archibald Dawden and Robert Reneck were in- dicted for the murder of a certain Indian by the name of "Betty George or otherwise Kenawa Tuckaw." The accused, not being ready for trial, were admitted to bail in the penal sum of two thous- and dollars each. Simon Kenton, who ran the gauntlet at Chilli- cothe (Oldtown), was one of the bondsmen for Archibald Dawden. Amos Derraugh was a witness for the state, and gave bond in the penal sum of two hundred dollars for his appearance at the next
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term of court, to give testimony in favor of our said state, vs. the said defendants, Archibald and Robert.
At the third term of the Supreme Court, held on the 11th day of November, 1805, after the grand jury had been impaneled and received its charge, this murder case was the first to be brought up and disposed of. Dawden and Reneck came into court and " saith they are not guilty as in the indictment against them is alleged, whereupon, on the motion of the defendants, by their attorney, the court grants a change of venue," and the cause was carried to Champaign County. It is probable that the offense was committed in that part of Greene County that became Champaign County on the 20th day of February, 1805. James Galloway, sen., and two others, each gave bond in the sum of five hundred dollars to appear at Springfield, Champaign County, at the term of the Supreme Court, to be held there "on -th inst, and give testimony in behalf of the de- fendants," Dawden and Reneck.
The business of the Supreme Court during the early years of its existence related to matters generally of no grave importance. At this same term, after the disposal of the murder case, John Hoop is indicted for an assault. He pleads guilty, and is fined ten dollars and " stands committed until the order is performed." Nimrod Haddox is arraigned upon an indictment for an affray. He pleads not guilty. "Therefore," says the record, "let a jury come." The jury came. He is tried, found guilty, and fined five dollars with the costs, and stands committed " till performance." James Scott is indicted for breaking the public's jail. He pleads not guilty, and is bound over to the next term of the Supreme Court. This term of the Supreme Court adjourned according to the good Latin of that early day, " si no dy," and with this term its clerk, John Paul, goes out of office, and Josiah Grover is appointed his succes- sor. John Paul was the first clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, having been appointed by the associate judges on the 10th day of May, 1803, and continued in this office until 1808. He was also the first clerk of the Court of Commissioners, appointed at its first session in June, 1804, and continued till Tuesday, March 8, 1808. He was clerk of the Supreme Court during three of its terms, from 1803 to 1805, inclusive. He owned considerable land in the county, and, either learning or believing that the county seat would be located at the point where it now is, Xenia, he purchased the land, and after the location of the county seat, by the state com-
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missioners, donated the public square, bounded by Main (Chilli- cothe), Detroit, Market, and Greene streets, to the county, for its public buildings. He was a fair scribe, and wrote a very straight line on the unruled paper used at that time, but evidently not a very thorough Latin scholar, as the above quotation, "si no dy," would indicate. His last recorded item, as clerk of the commis- sioners, was the following, to-wit: "Abraham Lewis is allowed $1.50 for one wolf scalp." After this item he proceeds to say, " Court adjourned sine die. John Paul." His Latin orthography had been somewhat improved.
Much of the work, or rather that kind of work, that had been done by the associate judges prior to June 20, 1804, was at that time transferred to the county commissioners. They were required to meet annually, on the second Monday in June, at the place where the Court of Common Pleas was usually held, to allow all just debts and demands against the county; to pay the charges of building and repairing court houses, prison and bridges; to assess county taxes; erect public buildings, establish public roads, and construct bridges. It was their duty, also, to appoint the county treasurer, and at the first session of the associate judges, next suc- ceeding the annual meeting of the commissioners, to make a full report of receipts and expenditures of the county for the year. Vacancies in the court of commissions, caused by death or resig- nation, were to be filled by appointment of the associate judges. The first appointment thus made was on the 15th day of Novem- ber, 1804. On that day it was " ordered that John McLain be ap- pointed a commissioner, in the room and place of John Sterret, who hath resigned his office."
The granting of licenses for keeping tavern and selling mer- chandise was still retained as the duty of the associate judges, and at a court held in Xenia on the 15th day of November, 1804, the first Court of Associate Judges held there, four tavern licenses were granted, one to William A. Beatty, for keeping tavern in the town of Xenia, "for one year from the first day of October last past, on his paying eight dollars and fees." This was the first tavern in Xenia, and seems to have been opened on the first day of October, 1804. The house was a hewed log, double structure, two stories high. It stood on the south side of Main Street, very nearly opposite the middle point of the public square. Its length was from east to west, and width from north to south, and its west
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end was about forty-five feet east of the southeast corner of Main and Detroit streets, where the First National Bank now stands. This building was not only a dwelling house and a tavern, but it was also Greene County's second court house, courts having been held in it from the 15th day of November, 1804, till the completion of the first court house proper, on the 14th day of August, 1809. The court was held in the west room of the second story. The first election in Xenia was held at this house on the second Tuesday of October, 1804, and subsequent elections were held there for many years.
We have said that subsequent to June 20, 1804, the granting of licenses for keeping tavern was done by the associate judges. While this is true, it was left to the commissioners to determine, within certain limits, how much a tavern license should be, and on the 20th of August, 1805, tavern licenses were rated as follows, to- wit: In Xenia, $8; at Yellow Springs and its vicinity, $12; and on the several roads in other parts of the county, $6. The rate of license being in some proportion to the business done, it would be inferred that the tavern business was better at Yellow Springs, at this time, than in Xenia. Later, on the 9th of June, 1807, Xenia license was rated at $8; Yellow Springs and its vicinity, within one- half mile, $8; all other parts of the county, $6.
On the 6th of April, 1806, a license was granted to James Gowdy for retailing merchandise. His store was a log cabin, with a mud and stick chimney, situated on Greene Street, about sixty feet north of Main. This was the first store in the town, and Mr. Gowdy was the first merchant.
JAILS.
Greene County's first jail, we have seen, was the block house near Jacob Smith's mill, on Beaver Creek. The second jail was built of logs, in Xenia, in 1804. No record is extant showing the exact spot that this jail occupied, nor how much it cost to build it. The earliest record that appears concerning it was made July 2, 1804, when Amos Derrough, the contractor and builder, was paid $33.75, balance on the first payment for building the public jail. The pro- cess of building it was slow, and on the 15th of August, 1804, the commissioners informed the contractor that if the work was not completed by the 15th of September, it would be re-let to the lowest
15
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bidder. It was completed in due time, and accepted by the com- missioners October 8, 1804. It is said that it stood on ground which the first court house subsequently occupied, and that it was built of hewed logs. This was the first structure erected for the purpose of a public jail. What became of this building, or why it needed re- building so soon, no record informs us. But on Tuesday, March 12, 1805, only five months after its acceptance, we are informed that " the repairing and newly erecting the public jail was let to James Collier for $640." One historian informs us that this jail-that is, the first one, built by Amos Derrough-was burned down the next year after it was built, and that in April, 1806, a new jail was accepted from William A. Beatty. It is not certain that this state- ment is correct. It is more probable that the jail erected by James Collier, which the historian does not mention, was the one that was burned, and that this jail, erected in haste, was unsuited to the pur- poses for which it was intended, and hence the language, " Repair- ing and newly erecting the public jail."
James Collier, as well as Amos Derrough, seems to have tried, to some extent, the patience of the commissioners. This second jail was not completed at the time required by contract, and on the 7th of January, 1806, it was ordered that unless it was completed by the first of April following, it should be re-let to the lowest bidder; and the commissioners further declared, that to be built according to contract, "it must be taken down and rebuilt." April 1st came, and the work was not finished, and on the 8th the time was ex- tended to the 17th. On the 18th of April, 1806, the commissioners accepted the work, but took $50 from the pay of the contractor, on account of its imperfection. This second jail was a log structure, and was located on the public square, somewhere north of the site of the first court house. It cost the county $590. This jail was burned probably in the latter part of 1807, and it is most likely that this, instead of the first one, is the jail referred to as "burnt down the year following."
On Tuesday, December 6, 1808, it was ordered that a public jail be erected in the town of Xenia, on the ground staked off, the foundation to be eighteen inches deep and twenty feet square, and that "all the material of the old jail that was saved be used in the new one." This expression, "All the material of the old jail that was saved," indicates that the second jail was burned. This third jail was two stories high, and was constructed of hewed logs. It
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was situated near the north end of the public square, on the ground that was subsequently occupied by a market house. It was built by William A. Beatty, finished by him, and accepted by the commis- sioners on the 18th day of October, 1809.
This jail was burned sometime between the 20th day of July, 1813, and the 13th of September of the same year. On the 20th of July the record says: "The commissioners viewed the public jail, and reported it in as good condition as the situation of the place would admit;" and on the 13th of September the commis- sioners met to "sell the building of a prison," and "the building of a stone prison was sold to James Miller," the lowest bidder, at $1,084. It was located in the middle part of the public square, north of the first court house, its west end in a line with the east end of the court house. Its length was east and west. This was the fourth jail. It was completed and accepted by the commissioners on the 16th day of December, 1815. Its builder, James Miller, was a Scotchman, who came to this country when quite a young man. A few years later his father, whom he had left in Scotland, followed him. By many letters received from young Miller, containing full descriptions of the state, county, and neighborhood, the old gentle- man had become so familiar with it, that he began to realize that everybody in America must know his "wee Janie" and his locality as well as he. Accordingly, on his arrival in Philadelphia, and from that point to Clark's Run, in Greene County, he was accus- tomed to ask many whom he met, with his Scotch accent: "Do ye ken one Jamie Miller, the stone mason, who lives on Clark's Run, Greene County, in the State of Ohio?" But by the time that the old gentleman had arrived in Greene County, he had found that his son "Jamie" was better known here, and in Scotland, than at any intermediate point.
This fourth jail was used as a prison until the year 1836, when it gave place to the fifth one, that was built a little north of it. This stone prison, and the one which followed it, had especial apartments for debtors; for in those times men were imprisoned for debt. Sometimes the debtor was not so poor but that he could carpet his small room in the jail, and live quite comfortably.
On the 2d day of September, 1834, the commissioners gave the contract for building a new jail to Daniel Lewis, at a cost of $4,600. It was a brick structure, two stories high, and was located on the public square, its east end on Greene Street, and about 210 feet
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north of Main. It extended north 40 feet, and west 44 feet. It was completed and accepted June 10, 1836. Ryan Gowdy, T. G. Bates, and John Fudge were then commissioners. The north end of the jail ranged with the north line of James Collier's house, on said public ground. It pointed north.
The present jail, with the residence of the sheriff, was built in 1860, during the commissionership of John Fudge, A. H. Baugh- man, and Robert Jackson. It is located on the corner of Market and Whiteman streets. The contract of building it was awarded to John Scott, at a cost of $7,340. It was received by the commission- ers, and put under the control of the sheriff, on the 8th day of December, 1860. This is the sixth prison that has been built by the county for that special purpose, and, counting the block-house jail on Beaver Creek, it is the seventh prison that Greene County has furnished for her criminals in her history of seventy-seven years.
COURT HOUSES.
The first court house in Greene County, the house of Peter Bor- ders in Beaver Creek, was erected by Gen. Benjamin Whiteman, probably some time prior to 1800. It was the cradle of Greene County's judicial history. The second court house, the double log house of William A. Beatty was built some time during the year 1804. The building of the third court house, or more properly the first one erected for that especial purpose ; in the language of the record "was offered for sale and bid off by William Kendall for $3.396" on the 6th day of January, 1806, during the commissioner- ship of James Snoden, John McClain and David Huston. The first and second jails had already been built on the public square ; and yet a portion of the ground, ("two lots," the record says,) was still covered with forest trees, and William Kendall was allowed six dollars for clearing off the timber. This first court house, proper was built of brick. It was forty feet square and twenty-eight feet high. The cupola in the center of the roof, at first designed to be . ten feet in diameter and fifteen feet high, was made twenty-five feet high. It was built on the south side of the square, sixty-two feet back from "Chillicothe" (Main) Street. The principal entrance was on Main Street. At first it had a door on the west side toward Detroit Street, but this door was filled in with brick before the completion of the house. On Saturday, July 1, 1809, the commis-
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sioners, not entirely satisfied with the work on the court house, appointed James Miller and Matthew Dinsmore, disinterested parties, with power to choose a third, to examine the work. These reported the plastering improperly done, but on the 14th of August the commissioners settled with Kendall, and accepted the building; for although some parts had not been completed according to con- tract, yet others had been done better than the agreement required.
The first court in this building was the Court of Common Pleas, held on the 26th day of September, 1809; Francis Dunlevy, presiding judge, and associate judges James Barrett, David Huston, and James Snoden. At this court were granted letters of administra- tion on the estate of William Maxwell, deceased, one of the first three associate judges in the county.
On the 9th day of October, 1841, sealed proposals for the build- ing of the old part of the present court house were examined, and those of John M. Roder and William C. Robinson, for the stone and brick work, were accepted at $4,864; that of A. E. Turnbull, for the carpenter work and finishing, including the plastering of the building and the fire-proof offices, was accepted. The old court house was sold for $199, and ordered to be removed on or before the first of March, 1842. The stone columns, erected by another party, at a cost of $458.66, were accepted August 3, 1843. The court house was completed and accepted November 24, 1843. The bell cost $200, and the town clock $100. In 1875 the last improvements were added, at an expense of $19,000. These im- provements were completed and the work accepted, in January, 1876.
On the 4th day of June, 1814, the commissioners resolved to build a public office for the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, and for the commissioners. On the 4th of July, following, a con- tract was made with David Douglass for building it, at a cost of $749.50. It was completed, and accepted by the commissioners September 4, 1815. It was a small, one story building, situated on the public square, about fifty feet north of Main Street, and about half way between the present cast line of the court house and Greene Street. A " piazza " to this office was built by John Har- bison in 1820.
On the 1st day of May, 1832, a contract was entered into with Daniel Lewis, for building the " public offices." This building was two stories high, constructed of brick, and was situated in front of
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the last-named office, east of the court house, its front line, or wall, on the line of Main Street. It was 63 feet long, and 22 feet wide, its length east and west, its east end 223 feet from the west line of Greene Street. It contained six rooms, and was built by Daniel Lewis, John H. Edsal, Henry Barns, and John Barns, at a cost of $2,100. On the lower floor, the west room was assigned by the com- missioners to the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, the middle room to the auditor, and the east room to the treasurer. On the second floor, the west room was assigned to the clerk of the Supreme Court, the middle room to the recorder, and the east room to the sheriff. Soon after the erection of this building, the clerk and com- missioners' office in its rear was removed. These "public offices" were demolished in 1842, about the time that the old court house was cleared away to give room for the new court house, erected during that and the following year. During the time that the new court house was in process of erection, courts were held in the "Radical Church," on Church Street. It was in this church, at a certain term of the Court of Common Pleas, that Ohio's most elo- quent son, Tom Corwin, the wagon boy, in a slander case, made one of his most impressive and telling speeches. He held the court, jury, officers, and citizens, who crowded the court room, now in tears, and now in almost uncontrollable laughter.
These, the several jails, and several court houses and public offices, have been the only buildings erected by the county in its history of seventy-seven years, except the infirmaries, or poor houses, which are described in another place. Nothing more need be said of them here, than that the land on which they are located, 104 41-100 acres, was purchased by the county from Samuel Crumbaugh, June 6, 1828, for $700, and on the 26th of the same month a contract was entered into with George W. Stipp, for building the first poor house, at a cost of $490.50. It was a building one story high, 8 feet between floors, 60 feet long, and 16 feet wide. It was situated just west of what is now called the "old building." George Townsley, William MeKnight, and George Galloway were, on this day, appointed by the commissioners directors of the poor house. Two years later (1830) a spring house and smoke house were built, at a cost of $54.50. These buildings were finished and accepted August 31, 1830.
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