USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Uniontown > A history of Uniontown : the county seat of Fayette County, Pennsylvania > Part 38
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6. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man. The free expression of opinions about the public character and conduct of men in a public capacity, is a primary and essential principle in our happy re-
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public, and any attempt to restrain or abridge this privilege and punish any supposed abuse thereof without a legal trial before a jury of the country, should meet with the indignant disapprobation of every true republican.
7. It is an excellent rule, that no man should be a judge in his own case. More especially should it be determined beyond all doubt, that no judge should be permitted to decide cases in which his own feelings, passions and character are deeply inter- ested and involved. To permit any human being in a judicial capacity, arbitrarily to punish a citizen for a supposed personal or other insult given, or disrespect shown out of court, or for an offense constructively derived therefrom as against the court, would be most dangerous to the liberty of the citizen, the liberty of the press, and the welfare of our Republic.
8. This meeting view with serious alarm the doctrines ad- vanced in the late decision and opinion pronounced by Judge Baird in the case of the members of the Fayette bar whose names were thereby struck from the roll of Attorneys. That whole proceeding we deem repugnant to the spirit of all our laws, and the genius of all our republican institutions. It is in our opinion, a direct violation of the true intent and meaning of the seventh section of the " Declaration of Rights" in the Constitution of Pennsylvania.
9. The people of Fayette county have great cause to represent as a grievance, no longer to be borne, the manner in which business has been conducted in our court for some time past. This has been a subject of almost universal complaint in this county for years past, and has had a tendency to alienate the confidence of the people from their judicial institutions, which, as much as any other, should have their affection and respect.
10. The meeting direct that the foregoing resolutions, views and opinions be transmitted to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and they respectfully ask the members thereof to take the same into consideration and do in relation thereto what to them may seem expedient and right.
The resolutions having been considered by the meeting, were carried and adopted unanimously.
It was further and finally resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by its officers, published in the several newspapers of this judicial district, and that copies thereof be addressed to the Speaker of the Senate, and Speaker of the
JUDGE JOHN BOUVIER.
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House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, to be laid before their bodies respectively.
James A. McClelland, President.
Uriah Springer, William Vance,
Wm. Hazel,
Vice-Presidents.
G. D. Evans,
Robert Boyd,
John I. Dorsey,
George Meason, 7 Secretaries.
Monday, January 26th, 1835.
On the 14th of March, 1835, an act was passed by the pro- visions of which the Supreme Court was required to take juris- diction of the proceedings whereby the eight members of the bar were stricken from the roll.
In pursuance of the provisions of the Act of Assembly, the letters of Judge Baird, the answer of respondents and ruling of the court were presented to the Supreme Court, in session at Philadelphia, March 19, 1835. The eight gentlemen whose names had been stricken from the roll appeared by their at- torneys, G. M. Dallas and Joseph R. Ingersoll, who presented the following bill of exceptions :
First. The Court of Common Pleas of Fayette county erred in considering the said attorneys as the authors of a letter to the Honorable T. H. Baird, under the date of October 3, 1834, liable to the penalty of being struck from the roll for an alleged libel upon the court.
Second. The court below erred in considering that by the writing or publishing of the said letter the said attorneys did " misbehave themselves in their offices of attorneys " respec- tively.
Third. The court below erred in considering that by the writing or publishing of said letter the attorneys had departed from their obligation to behave themselves in the office of at- torney within the court according to the best of their learning or ability, and with all good fidelity as well as to the court as to their clients.
Fourth. The order of the court below, that the name of the said attorneys be struck from the list is unconstitutional, illegal and oppressive, and the same should be forthwith re- versed and annulled."
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The Court of Common Pleas of Fayette county was repre- sented by J. Sargeant. Lengthy arguments were made by both sides. After due deliberation the opinion of the court was de- livered by Chief Justice Gibson, March 31, 1835, who stated that " the language of the respondents' letter was 'bland and re- spectful.' They had earnestly and uniformly protested that the object of the publication was not to afflict the judge, but to disabuse the public mind; and professing this to be their motive, and in the absence of evidence to disprove it, we are bound to receive it as the true one. They too acted from the impulse of excitement, for which allowance is to be made, be- lieving that the president had implicated them in the disgraceful assault on his person. The publication was made by them, not as members of the bar, but as persons put upon their defense by an intimation that they were to be dealt with criminally. In conclusion, it appears that a case to justify the removal of the respondents has not been made out; whereupon it is con- sidered that the order to make the rule in this case absolute be rescinded and the rule discharged: that the respondents be restored to their office, and that this decree be certified to the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette county."
" Decreed accordingly."
An interesting episode occurred in connection with the ex- pulsion of the eight members of the bar. On Thursday, Janu- ary 8th, Colonel Samuel Evans, rose, and in a mild but firm tone of voice requested that the court strike his name off with those that had been stricken off. Evidently the colonel es- teemed it an honor rather than a disgrace to meet with the dis- pleasure of the judge. The court records of January 10, 1839, show the following :
" To the Honorable: the Judges of the Courts of Fayette county :
The undersigned, in the year 1835, considered it his duty to withdraw from the bar of Fayette county. The circumstances which induced this course no longer existing, I now apply to the court to be restored to all my rights and privileges as a member of said bar.
Signed, Samuel Evans.
January 10, 1839, Ordered that Samuel Evans, Esq., be re- admitted to the bar as an attorney of the court, and be entitled
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to all the rights, privileges and immunities pertaining to that office."
COURT HOUSES.
The act authorizing the purchase of land and the erection of a court house for the use of the county restricted the ex- penditures for the same to one thousand pounds, current money of the State, a sum equal to two thousand six hundred and sixty- six dollars and sixty-six cents.
Under the authority so conferred on them, the trustees pur- chased a site for the public buildings from Henry Beeson, the proprietor of Uniontown, who on the 16th of March, 1784, " for and in consideration of the love which he bears to the inhabi- tants of the county of Fayette, and for the further considera- tion of six pence to him in hand well and truly paid" conveyed by deed to the said trustees for the county the following de- scribed lot of ground, known in the general plan of the town by the name of "The Central Public Grounds," containing in breadth eastward and westward on the street called Elbow street, ninety-nine feet, and running back to Redstone creek, and containing one hundred and forty-six perches.
In the original plat of the town a triangular lot was formed at the angle of Elbow street, and this lot Henry Beeson, the founder of the town, intended should be used for some public purpose. On this lot, and standing some distance back from the street a school house was built, and in this the first courts of the county were held until a court house could be erected.
This original lot not being large enough on which to erect a court house Mr. Beeson generously added another lot on the west, and on this enlarged lot the first court house of the county was erected and was completed in January, 1796, and on Jan- uary 26th, of that year the old building, first a school house and then a court house, was sold at public auction to Dennis Springer, the contractor on the new court house, for fifteen pounds, twelve shillings and six pence, a sum equal to forty- one dollars and sixty-seven cents, and he was to remove the old building from the public grounds.
This first court house was a two-story brick building with an alcove at the rear of the bench. In front of the bench was a chancel rail within which were the grand and petit jury boxes, a prisoners' box and accommodations for the bar. The grand jury room and two petit jury rooms were on the second floor.
A
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A belfry stood over the center of the building supported by eight turned columns and surmounted by a weather vane. For the erection of this building Mr. Springer was paid $1,362.53.
The county offices, which were built two years later than the court house, stood a little distance from and on each side of the court house and a short distance nearer the street, thus forming a hollow square facing the street. These offices were two-story brick buildings, and the public records were moved into them November 16, 1798, from the property of Jonathan Miller, where they had been kept. This court house was de- stroyed by fire while court was in session, February 4, 1845, but the public records were all secured unharmed. The court moved over into the Dawson Law Building and resumed busi- ness.
On the 25th of February the commissioners made arrange- ments with the trustees of the Presbyterian church for the use of the church for the holding of the courts until a new court house could be erected.
On August 12, 1846, the commissioners contracted with Samuel Bryan, Jr. of Harrisburg, for the erection of a new court house to be built of brick, 85 by 58 feet, two stories high, with county offices on the first floor, court and jury rooms on the second floor. The contract was signed September 2nd, and the building was to be completed by the 1st of December, but was not ready for occupancy until March following. This court house was surmounted with a belfry, a town clock and a statue of General Fayette, after whom the county was named. This was found to be inadequate for the transaction of the growing business of the county, and in 1890, it was torn away, additional grounds were purchased and the present stone structure erected in 1891-92, at a cost of $250,000.
The cornerstone of this new court house was laid June 1, 1891, with appropriate ceremonies, the Honorable William H. Playford delivering the oration on the occasion. A term of argument court was held in the new building February 21, 1893, and the first regular term of court was held March 6th, Judge Ewing presiding. The opening of this term of court was pre- ceded by the invocation of the Divine blessing by Rev. H. F. King, D. D., and many eulogistic remarks were indulged in by the court and members of the bar.
During the building of the new court house the courts
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History of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
were held in the public school building, and the county offices were kept in the old Dr. Walker property which had been con- demned and owned by the borough, preparatory to the opening of South Gallatin avenue.
A chair that was sold with other furniture at auction, Jan- uary 26, 1796, at the time of the sale of the first court house, was purchased by the great-grandfather of M. R. Thomas of Henry Clay township, and kept since that time in the Thomas family, and soon after the election of Judge Van Swearingen to the bench, Mr. M. R. Thomas presented him with the chair which he highly prizes as a souvenir.
The steel flag staff which stands on the court house lawn was purchased by popular subscription, and cost about one hundred and thirty-five dollars. It stands about one hundred and thirty-three feet above the sidewalk. The flag was first unfurled from this staff July 4, 1898, with appropriate cere- monies.
Major Everhart Bierer of the Tenth Pennsylvania regi- ment, serving in the war with Spain in the Philippine Islands, secured an Arabian piece of artillery through Major Turnel of the Spanish land forces of Manila and presented it for the court house lawn.
The large cannon that adorns the court house lawn was purchased at the Pittsburgh arsenal from contributions of the citizens of Uniontown in May, 1876; Major Jesse B. Gardner and Captain John Richards solicited the subscriptions to the amount of one hundred dollars. The gun was used for firing salutes on 4th of July occasions. Upon the occasion of the ninety-ninth anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln, February 12, 1908, this cannon was mounted upon a carriage which had been procured through the efforts of the Fayette County Veterans' association, and an address was de- livered by R. F. Hopwood, Esq. The War Department con- tributed the forty twelve-pound balls that are stacked in front of the gun.
The oil portrait of the Honorable John Bannister Gibson, for many years chief justice of Pennsylvania, which hangs in the large court room, was painted about 1840, by James Wilson, a skillful artist in his profession, at the solicitation of Joshua B. Howell and other members of the Fayette county bar. This portrait of Chief Justice Gibson, which is said to be a most
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accurate likeness, hung in the alcove of the old court house that was destroyed by fire in 1845, but was rescued unharmed and placed in the office of Hon. Nathaniel Ewing, where it re- mained many years, and upon the completion of the present court house it was restored to its proper place.
A full length oil portrait of General Joshua B. Howell was procured April 11, 1904, and hung on the walls of the large court room.
Another decoration is a fine oil portrait of Judge John Kennedy of the supreme court of Pennsylvania.
The fine oil portrait of General Lafayette which adorns the wall on the right of the judges' bench in the large court room was donated by Mr. Henry Clay Frick, and was formally presented to the citizens of Fayette county July 4, 1905, by Mr. Thomas Lynch, president of the H. C. Frick Coke Company, and was accepted on the part of the commissioners by their attorney, Robert F. Hopwood, Esq.
The large oil portrait of Washington at Dorchester Heights was presented to the county by ex-Senator W. A. Clark, Oc- tober 14, 1908. The painting was executed by C. S. Kilpatrick of Connellsville and is a reproduction of Gilbert Stewart's masterpiece. This canvas, which is seven by ten feet, adorns the wall of the small court room.
JAILS.
A log building which stood on a private lot east of the court house was used temporarily as a jail until 1787, at which time a stone jail was erected on the public grounds, and ac- cepted by the grand jury June 26th of that year. This jail was enlarged in 1801, and in 1812, a new one was erected, and, strange to say, this new jail was partly destroyed by fire in 1814.
In 1854, a new jail and sheriff's residence were erected at a cost of $15,973. The present jail and sheriff's residence were built in 1889, at a cost of $140,000, and George A. Mc- Cormick was the first sheriff to take charge of it.
THE BAR OF FAYETTE COUNTY.
When General Ephraim Douglass assumed his duties as prothonotary of the new county of Fayette, he wrote to his friend, General William Irvine, that the courts had been es-
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History of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
tablished and that although the good people here were without any practicable way of making money, they appeared willing enough to go to law; and from the array of attorneys that were admitted at the first term of court, it would appear that the general was not far from the truth in his statement.
At the first session of the courts of Fayette county, Decem- ber, 1783, the following attorneys were admitted to practice at this bar, the majority of whom were already members of the Washington county bar, viz. : James Ross, Thomas Smith, Hugh Breckenridge, Michael Huffnagle, David Redick, David Brad- ford, Robert Gilbraith, Samuel Irwin, Thomas Scott, David Semple, John Woods and George Thompson, and later, West- moreland, Allegheny and Somerset added some legal lights. It is said that Thomas Hadden, who came from the eastern part of the state, and admitted in September, 1795, was the first resi- dent attorney at the Fayette county bar.
It is the purpose here to mention a few of the many able and prominent members of the legal profession who have been connected with the Fayette county bar.
Thomas Smith was a member of the Bedford county bar, and was attending the Fayette county courts when George Washington visited Uniontown September 22, 1784, and re- tained him in some ejectment suits the latter had entered in the Washington county courts. He afterwards became an as- sociate justice of the supreme court in 1794.
James Ross, son of Hon. George Ross of York county, Pa., was born July 12, 1762; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1790, and was a United States senator from 1794 to 1803. He was admitted to the bar of Fayette county Decem- ber, 1783. He became one of the leading orators of Allegheny county and made the address of welcome on the occasion of the visit .of President James Monroe at Pittsburgh in 1817, and also an address of welcome to General Lafayette as the nation's guest in 1825. He died in Allegheny county November 27, 1847.
David Bradford was a native of Maryland and came to Washington county where he was soon admitted to the bar, and was soon honored with the appointment as deputy attorney- general of that county. He was admitted to the bar of Fayette county December, 1783. He took a leading part in the famous Whisky Insurrection movement, and on account of the promi-
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nent part he assumed in that uprising the amnesty proclamation issued by the government included all the insurrectionists ex- cept him. He fled to Bayou Sara in Louisiana Territory where he died.
Parker Campbell was born in Carlisle in 1768, was admitted to the bar at March term, 1795. He was also a member of the Washington county bar where he was the acknowledged leader for many years. He was the most distinguished lawyer of his day, and was engaged in the most important cases tried in those courts in his time. He died July 30, 1824.
General Arthur St. Clair of Revolutionary fame was ad- mitted to the Fayette county bar June, 1794. He evidently never practiced much at this bar.
General Thomas Meason, son of Isaac Meason of the Mount Braddock farm, was admitted September 25, 1798, and left Uniontown in the winter of 1812-13 on horseback to enlist at Washington city in the service of his country, and caught cold on his journey which caused his death at the age of forty years. He was buried in the Congressional burying grounds. He read law with James Ross of Pittsburgh.
John Lyon was born in Carlisle, October 13, 1771, and was graduated at Dickenson college and came to Uniontown as a private soldier with the troops sent out for the suppression of the Whisky Insurrection in 1794, and returned with the troops, but soon came back and settled at Uniontown. He was ad- mitted to the bar June 26, 1797. He married Priscilla Coulter of Greensburg and practiced law here until he died, April 27, 1837. His home was on the lot now occupied by the business block of Charles H. Seaton on East Main street. The mem- bers of the local bar erected a sandstone monument at his grave.
John Kennedy was born near Shippensburg, Cumberland county, Pa., and was graduated at Dickenson college, and was admitted to the Fayette county bar at September term, 1798. On November 23, 1830, he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, which high office he held until his death in August, 1846. He erected the mansion on his farm in North Union township which was so long the home of Colonel Samuel Evans. His portrait adorns the walls of our present court house.
John M. Austin was a native of Hartford, Connecticut, where he was born in 1784. He read law with Judge Baldwin
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History of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
of Pittsburgh and was admitted to the bar on August 10, 1810. He was one of the members of the bar stricken from the roll by Judge Baird in 1834. He died in April, 1864.
Thomas Irwin was born in Philadelphia February 22, 1784, where he read law. He settled in Uniontown in 1811, and was admitted the same year, and in the following year he was ap- pointed district attorney. He was elected to the legislature, and in 1828 he defeated Mr. Stewart for the 21st congress. He was appointed by President Jackson judge of the United States Dis- trict court for the Western District of Pennsylvania; a position he held nearly thirty years-resigning it during the administra- tion of President Buchanan. While a resident here he erected the large residence on the northwest corner of Morgantown and West Fayette streets, now known as the Batton property. He died in Pittsburgh May 14, 1870, aged eighty-six years.
John Dawson was born July 13, 1788, and read law with General Thomas Meason and John Kennedy and was admitted in August, 1813. He was appointed an associate judge in 1851, a position he held until the office became elective. He owned and lived at Oak Hill, one mile west of town, now owned by J. V. Thompson. He died January 16, 1875, in the 87th year of his age.
Nathaniel Ewing was born near Merrittstown, Luzerne township in 1796, and was graduated at Jefferson college and read law with Thomas McGiffin, and was admitted to the bar November 19, 1816, and soon became a leading member of the bar. In several instances he succeeded in obtaining from the supreme court of the State a reversal of their previous decisions.
He was appointed president judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District by Governor Ritner to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Thomas Baird and served the con- stitutional term of ten years; which position he filled with highest ability and honor. He died February 8, 1874.
John Bouvier was born in 1787 in the department of Du Gard in the south of France, and came to Philadelphia with his parents, and became naturalized in 1812. He erected a building in West Philadelphia which he used as a printing office. Two years later he removed to Fayette county and located in Brownsville where he established the American Telegraph. This paper was soon. consolidated with the Genius of Liberty,
-
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then owned by John M. Austin in Uniontown, and while thus conducting the publication of the paper, Mr. Bouvier read law and was admitted to the bar in December, 1818. He withdrew from the paper in 1820, and at September term 1822, he was admitted to practice in the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and in the following year he removed to Philadelphia. He was appointed to the office of recorder of Philadelphia in 1836, and in 1838 he was commissioned a justice of the criminal court which position he held until his death in 1851.
While residing in Uniontown he began the compilation of a law dictionary which he published in 1839 in two octavo volumes, and from 1842 to 1846 he produced a revised edition of the work, and in 1848 he published a third edition, and after his death a fourth edition was published in 1852. He also prepared a work entitled " Institutes of American Law" which was com- pleted in 1851. These works are acknowledged to rank among the ablest contributions to the legal literature of the country.
James Todd was of Scotch descent and was born in York county, Pa., December 25, 1786. In the early part of the follow- ing year his parents removed to Fayette county, where his mother died during the same summer and his father survived her but a few months, and he was placed under the care of Duncan McLean. His schooling was limited to one and a half years attendance at the schools of the neighborhood. He, how- ever, improved himself by reading at night what books he could procure, after the labors of the day, and joined a debating society for further mental improvement. He served as county commissioner in 1815-19, and while serving as such he read law under John Bouvier, and at the expiration of his term he was elected to the legislature and was afterwards re-elected for four additional successive terms, always taking an active and leading part in its proceedings.
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