USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 28
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" We'll whip the devil round the stump, Halleo, halleolujah ! And hit him a kick at every jump, Halleo, halleolujah."
The mode of conducting our wood-meetings was patterned after the original in Kentucky. The manner of worship and conversions were the same, and while a great deal of harsh criticism has been made against this mode of religious worship, there is one thing that must be admitted,-many bad, wicked persons were changed into good religious people. Pitch-pine fagots were burned at night to light the grounds.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
The pioneer Catholic service in Pennsylvania was in Philadelphia, in 1780. The pioneer priest was either Polycarp Wickstead, or James Had- dock. The pioneer church erected in Pennsylvania was St. Joseph's, in Philadelphia.
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CHAPTER XIV
PIONEER CIRCUIT COURTS-PIONEER CIRCUIT JUDGES-PRESIDENT AND ASSO- CIATES-PIONEER BAR AND EARLY LAWYERS
THE first legislation creating a judiciary in this State was called the provincial act of March 22, 1722. This court was styled "The Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace and Gaol Delivery." The Orphans' Court was established in 1713. The constitution of 1776 provided for the con- tinuance of these courts. By the constitution adopted in 1790 the judicial power of the State was vested in a Supreme Court, in a Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Jail Delivery, Common Pleas, Quarter Sessions, Orphans' Court, and Register Court for each county, and for justices of the peace for boroughs and townships. The early judges were appointed by the governor.
In 1806, for the more convenient establishment of the Supreme Court, the State was made into two districts,-viz., the Eastern and Western. The salary of a county associate judge was one hundred and fifty dollars per year.
Both the president judge of a district and the associate judges for a county were appointed in this State until 1850, when the State constitution was changed to make them elective. The term of the president judge ran ten years, but the term of the associates was for five. The president circuit judge's salary was sixteen hundred dollars a year and mileage.
Pennsylvania has had four constitutions. The first one, September 28, 1776. Under this constitution the General Assembly consisted of but one house. The members were elected yearly. The laws were called " Acts of Assembly." A new constitution was formed in 1790, when the Senate body of the Legislature was created. Under this constitution a free colored man could vote at any election in the State, hence all public notices were addressed to the freemen of the locality.
The third revision was in 1838. Under this constitution the free colored man was denied his vote. All life offices were abolished.
In 1838 the amended constitution as adopted limited the rights of any one man to serve in the office of governor to six years out of nine. Under the first constitution of 1790 the limit of service in this office was nine years out of twelve. It was customary then in Pennsylvania to publish laws and public documents in separate books, in English and German. The debates of the 1838 convention were so published.
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Up to 1840 the judges were all appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Supreme Court judges were appointed for fifteen years, district judges of the Court of Common Pleas were appointed for ten years, and the associate judges were appointed for five.
The fourth revision was in 1873. One of the principal points in this constitution was to restrict local legislation, and under it the colored man was again given his right to vote. From 1843 to 1850 members of the Legislature received one dollar and fifty cents per day ; in 1850 their pay was increased to three dollars per day for one hundred days, and one dollar and fifty cents per day for every day after that in session.
By an act of the General Assembly of April 13, 1791, the counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Allegheny constituted the Fifth Judicial District, and on March 26, 1804, Jefferson County was attached to Westmoreland for judicial purposes. On June 2, 1803, Samuel Roberts was commissioned President Judge for the Fifth Judicial District, by Governor McKean. This Samuel Roberts was Jefferson's pioneer territorial judge until March 10, 1806. Judge Roberts was an able jurist and a literary man of note. He compiled and published, in 1817, a text-work on law, a digest of the British statutes, with notes and illustrations. Samuel Roberts was born in Philadelphia, September 10, 1761, and as judge he continued to preside in Allegheny County until his death, in 1820.
By an act of Assembly of February, 24, 1806, the counties of Somerset, Cambria, Indiana, Armstrong, and Westmoreland were made into the Tenth Judicial District, and John Young, of Westmoreland, was commissioned Judge for that district March 1, 1806.
By an act of Assembly of March 10, 1806, the county of Indiana was organized for judicial purposes, to take effect the first Monday in November, 1806.
By an act of Assembly of March 10, 1806, Jefferson County was annexed to the county of Indiana, and the authority of the county commissioners and other county officers of said Indiana County was extended over and within the county of Jefferson. Jefferson remained annexed to Indiana County until 1824, and for judicial purposes alone until, by act of Assembly, April 2, 1830, to organize the provisional county of Jefferson for judicial purposes, it was stipulated in Section 2 that the county should be attached to and form part of the Fourth Judicial District, and that the president judge of the Fourth Judicial District, and the associates to be appointed, shall have like power as other counties, etc., on and after the first Monday in October, to do and perform all duties, etc. Hon. Thomas Burnside, of Bellefonte, Centre County, was then the president judge of this Fourth Judicial District, com- posed of Mifflin, Center, Huntingdon, and Bedford Counties, and by this act of the Legislature he was made the pioneer judge to hold court in and for Jefferson County. Hon. Thomas Burnside was born in the county of
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Tyrone, Ireland, July 28, 1782. His father emigrated to Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, in 1792.
In 1800 Burnside read law with Hon. Robert Porter, of Philadelphia, who died suddenly in Brookville in 1842, being found dead in his bed in the morning at the Red Lion Tavern, kept by John Smith. Judge Porter stopped off the stage to rest over night while travelling through this wilder- ness. Porter is buried in the old cemetery. On February 13, 1804, Hon. Thomas Burnside was admitted to the Philadelphia bar. In the month of March of that year he moved to and settled in Bellefonte, Center County, Pennsylvania. In 1811 he was elected to the State Senate. In 1815 he was sent to Congress. In 1816 he was appointed a president judge. In 1823 he was again elected a State Senator and made Speaker. In 1826 he was again appointed president judge, and in 1845 he was commissioned judge for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
In stature Judge Burnside was of medium height, dark complexioned, and very homely. He was a learned lawyer, an able jurist, and a kind, honest, open-hearted gentleman. He served as judge in Jefferson County until September 1, 1835, when the Eighteenth Judicial District was organized. Like other judges of his period, he could get " drunk through and through" every court week.
THE EIGHTEENTH DISTRICT
By an act passed April 8, 1833, the counties of Potter, McKean, Warren, and Jefferson were made the Eighteenth Judicial District, from and after September 1, 1835, and the governor was required to appoint a president judge for the district, and Nathaniel B. Eldred, of Mckean County, was appointed judge November 10, 1835. Judge Eldred resigned in 1839. He died January 27, 1867.
COURTS WITHIN THE EIGHTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT IN 1837
Warren County .- The court at Warren, for Warren County, will be held on the first Mondays of March, June, September, and December.
Jefferson County .- At Brookville, for Jefferson County, the second Mon- days of February, May, September, and December.
McKean County .- At Smethport, for Mckean County, the Mondays immediately after the courts in Brookville.
Potter County .- At Coudersport, for Potter County, on the Mondays immediately after the courts in Mckean County.
HON. NATHANIEL B. ELDRED, President Judge of said courts.
Alexander McCalmont, of Franklin, Venango County, was appointed judge May 31, 1839, and served until 1849. As an illustration of the man, and his manner of holding court, I give an incident that occurred in Ridgway, Elk County. in 1844. while he was holding the pioneer court there.
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The pioneer court crier was Nathaniel Hyatt, of Kersey, and he, like everybody else in those days, was fond of attending court for the sake of visiting, seeing the judge, telling stories, and " smiling with his neighbors."
Mr. Hyatt was a large man, peculiar, and had a coarse voice. Judge Alexander McCalmont, of Venango, was on the bench, a very easy-going, mild-mannered man.
One day while the court was in session Mr. Hyatt was busy telling a bevy of neighbors some stories in the court-room and talking loud. The judge thought there was a little too much noise in court, and, to personally reprimand Mr. Hyatt, he commenced "a rapping, gently tapping, tapping," three times on the desk and addressing Mr. Hyatt thus: "Crier, there is a little too much noise in court."
Promptly Mr. Hyatt responded by stamping his right foot violently on the floor, and in his loud, coarse voice exclaimed, "Let there be silence in court. What the hell are you about?"
Joseph Buffington, of Kittanning, Armstrong County, was appointed judge June 1, 1849, to serve until the end of the next session of the State Senate. He was reappointed January 15, 1850. Under the amended consti- tution of the State the president judge was made elective for ten years, and the associates for five.
Eminent lawyers then attended all courts in the district They rode in the stage or on horseback, wore green leggings, and carried their papers, books, etc., in large leather saddle-bags. Most of these circuit lawyers were very polite gentlemen, and particular not to refuse a " drink."
CRIME
From 1778 to 1855, inclusive, three hundred and twenty-eight persons were hanged in Pennsylvania. Of these, five suffered the penalty of death for high treason, eight for robbery, fourteen for burglary, three for assault, one for arson, four for counterfeiting, and seven for unknown offences. On April 22, 1794, the death penalty was abolished except for murder in the first degree. Before 1834 hangings took place in public, and since then in jail-yards or corridors.
I will here give a sample of justice in 1784. Joe Disbury was tried in Sunbury for thievery, etc., found guilty, and sentenced to receive thirty- nine lashes, stand in the pillory one hour, have his ears cut off and nailed to the post, and be imprisoned three months and pay a fine of thirty pounds.
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CHAPTER XV
THE PIONEER DOCTOR IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA-BROOKVILLE'S PIONEER RESURRECTION ; OR, " WHO SKINNED THE NIGGER ?"-THE TRUE STORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE ANATOMICAL LAW
MEDICINE was practised by the Egyptian priests. Moses, the Law-giver, was a doctor and learned in all the arts of the Egyptians.
The pioneer and early doctor was a useful citizen, and his visits to the early settlers when afflicted was a great comfort. How we all long now to see the doctor when we are sick! These isolated people longed just the same for the coming of their doctor. The science of medicine then was very crude, and the art of it very imperfect, hence the early practitioner had but limited skill; yet, while exercising whatever he professed for the relief of suffering, his privations and labor while travelling by night or day on horseback with his " old pill-bags" were hard and severe in the extreme. The extent of his circuit was usually from fifty to one hundred miles over poor roads and paths, swimming his horse through creeks and rivers as best he could. I have travelled a circuit of one hundred miles in my day. In those days every one had respect for the doctor, and every family along his circuit was delighted with an opportunity to extend free hospitality to the doctor and his horse.
When I commenced the practice of medicine, I had to ride on horseback. My field extended all through and over Jefferson, Forest, Elk, as well as the western part of Clearfield County. My rides were long, day and night, through rain, mud, sleet, cold, snow, and darkness, with no rubber garments to protect me from storms. I have travelled the creek beds, forded and swam my horse when the rivers were in rafting stage, rode over paths, and ridden many a time from dark until daylight all alone through the wilder- ness, twenty, thirty, or forty miles, stopping about midnight at some cabin to give my horse a little feed.
In those days there was no telegraph, telephone, or daily mail through which to summon a doctor, but a neighbor had to be sent on foot or on horse- back to find a physician, and not to come back without him. I was a good practical botanist, and used mostly herbs and roots; these I gathered in the spring, summer, and fall. Recipes were the fad then. One of my preceptors had a book of these, which I carefully copied, and any others I could find. Medical colleges were few. and medical literature was scarce. As doctors
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we knew but little, and had to rely on what common-sense we possessed. My partner, Dr. Niver, made what he called " devil's broth." It was a mixed decoction of about all our roots and herbs, to be administered, as he said, " with the hope that some one of the ingredients would hit the disease."
Medicine and its practice was about all theory; remedies were crude and drastic; instruments few, imperfect, and clumsy. I feel amazed when I think how ignorant I was, yet I tied arteries, set broken bones, amputated limbs, saved lives! The pioneer doctor unselfishly responded to all calls, asking no questions as to pay, and performing more free labor for humanity than all other classes of men combined.
In learning the art I rode with my preceptor. In some of my long rides I have become so tired about midnight that I felt I could not go a step farther, when I would dismount from my horse, hitch him to a log on the outside of a log-barn, slip the bridle around his neck, climb into the mow, throw the horse an armful of hay, and then fall asleep in the hay, only to awaken when the sun was an hour or two high. The pioneer doctor carried his pill-bags well stocked with calomel, Dover's powder, tartar emetic, blistering salve, a pair of old turnkeys for extracting teeth, and spring- and thumb-lancets for bleeding purposes, as everybody had to be bled, sick or well. Twenty-five cents was the fee for bleeding, and the amount of blood drawn from the arm was from half a pint to a quart. The custom of bleeding sick or well fell into disrepute about 1850. A town visit was from twenty-five to fifty cents, a visit in the country twenty-five cents a mile, an obstetric fee five dollars. The pioneer doctor always wore green leggings or corduroy overalls. I was no exception to this rule. Sanitary science was unknown fifty years ago.
THE OLD-FASHIONED DOCTOR, BY H. C. DODGE
" He'd stalk to our crib-side and order us gruffly To stick out our tongue, which we'd do with such dread, And give, while he handled our pulses so roughly, An ominous shake of his solemn old head.
" And then, while he listened to mother's description Of things we had eaten and what we had done,
He grimly would write his old Latin prescription For nastiest medicines under the sun.
" Those horrible doses. How mother would scold us, And beg us and buy us to take 'em in vain ; And oh, how we'd struggle when father would hold us And squeeze shut our noses regardless of pain.
" And, when forced to open our mouths, quickly mother Would shove in a spoonful that strangled us till We spluttered it out-just in time for another.
Its vile, deathly taste's in our memory still."
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
" BROOKVILLE'S PIONEER RESURRECTION ; OR, 'WHO SKINNED THE NIGGER?' -THE TRUTH TOLD FOR THE FIRST TIME, BY THE ONLY ONE NOW LIVING OF THE SEVEN WHO WERE ENGAGED IN IT-THE TRUE STORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE ANATOMICAL LAW
" To everything there is a time and a season."
"On Sunday morning, November 8, 1857, Brookville was thrown into a state of the greatest commotion and excitement, occasioned by the dis- covery by W. C. Smith (then a lad of fifteen) of the mutilated remains of a human being in an ice-house belonging to K. L. Blood, on the corner of Pickering Street and Coal Alley, or where Mrs. Banks now lives. When discovered by Smith, the door was broken open, having been forced during the night, and the body was found lying on the ice, with a board under the shoulders and head, the legs and arms spread apart, the intestines taken out, a lump of ice placed in the abdominal cavity, and the body literally skinned, the cuticle having been removed entirely from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet.
" Filled with terror, young Smith ran from the spot, telling his discovery to all he met. Men, women, and children rushed en masse to the ice-house. Thoughts of savage butchery, suicide, and horror took hold of the people. Women cried, and men turned pale with indignation. The news of Smith's discovery spread like wildfire, and the excitement and indignation became more and more intense as hundreds of men, women, and children from the town and vicinity gathered around the lonely ice-house. It was at first supposed to be murder most foul; but, on a closer inspection of the 'remains' by Henry R. Fullerton, a little 'curly hair,' resembling 'negro wool,' was found lying loose near the body. This was a clue. Fullerton then declared it was the mutilated corpse of one Henry Southerland, who had died about ten days before and been buried in the old graveyard. Tools were at once procured by the excited mob, led by Henry R. Fullerton, Cyrus Butler, Sr., Richard Arthurs, Esq., and others, and a rush was made for Southerland's grave. Arriving there, and upon the removal of a few shovelfuls of dirt, a loose slipper was found, and farther on its mate. When the coffin was reached, the body was found to be gone, and only the clothes, torn off, and lying inside, were to be seen. What was this desecration for? Cyrus Butler, Sr., a gruff old man, said, 'For money.' He boldly asserted that men nowa- days would do anything for money. 'Yes,' he said, 'skin human excrement and eat the little end on't.' Soon, in the absence of any better theory, every- body seemed to accept his belief, and it was positively asserted from one to another that 'a negro hide would sell for five hundred dollars, to make razor-strops,' etc.
" During the entire day the mob were at sea. The officials permitted the
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body to remain exposed,-a revolting spectacle to men, women, and children. To all of this I was an interested spectator.
" At nightfall an inquest was summoned of twelve men by Justices John Smith and A. J. Brady.
" CORONER'S INQUEST
"'Proceedings of the coroner's inquest, held in the borough of Brook- ville, upon the body of a man found in the ice-house belonging to K. L. Blood, on the corner of Pickering Street and Spring [Coal] Alley, on the morning of Sunday, November 8, '1857.
"'In pursuance of the summons issued by Justices John Smith and A. J. Brady, the following persons were called and sworn,-to wit: E. R. Brady, J. J. Y. Thompson, Andrew Craig, John Boucher, Levi A. Dodd, Christopher Smathers, Henry R. Fullerton, G. W. Andrews, S. C. Arthurs, John E. Carroll, John Ramsey, Daniel Smith, who repaired to the ice-house and made an examination of the body there deposited, and found the remains of a male human being, with the breast sawed open, the bowels and entrails removed, the toe- and finger-nails cut off at the first joint, and the skin of the entire body removed.
"'The grave in which Henry Southerland (colored), of Pine Creek Township, had been buried having been opened in the presence of a number of the jurors and other persons, and it being found that the body of said deceased had been removed from the said grave, the following witnesses were called and sworn :
"'David Banks, sworn: I helped open the grave in which the body of Henry Southerland (colored) had been buried; found no body in the coffin ; found the burial clothes rolled up in a bundle and placed in the head of the coffin ; found one of the slippers in which deceased was buried in the clay about a foot above and before coming to the coffin; the body had evidently been removed.
"'F. C. Coryell, sworn: Was present at the opening of the grave to-day ; saw the coffin opened and no body there; found the clothes thrown in carelessly in a heap; one slipper with the clothes in the coffin and another in the clay some distance above the coffin : these slippers had my cost mark on, and are the same as purchased from me by the friends of Henry Souther- land for his funeral.
"' A. R. Marlin, sworn: Henry Southerland was buried in the grave- yard at Brookville on Wednesday or Thursday last: helped to bury him ; the grave opened to-day is the one in which deceased was placed; no body in the coffin when opened to-day.
"' Richard Arthurs, sworn: I examined the body in the ice-house this day; looked at the mouth and tongue; they resembled those of a person who had died of a disease; two double teeth out; seemed as if they had recently been drawn ; found some hair about the back of the neck, which was
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black and curly ; think it was the hair of a negro, or whiskers; think this is the body of Henry Southerland; toes, fingers, and skin taken off.
"'After making these enquiries and believing the body found in the ice-house to be that of Henry Southerland, which had been removed from the graveyard in the borough of Brookville, the jury caused the same to be taken up and deposited in the coffin, and placed in the grave from which the body of said Southerland had been removed, and the same filled up in their presence ; then returning to the office of John Smith, Esq., a justice of the peace, adjourned, to meet at nine o'clock to-morrow ( Monday) morning.
"'The jury render their verdict as follows: That the body found in the ice-house is, to the best of their knowledge and belief, the body of Henry Southerland, stolen from the grave in which the same had been deposited ; and that the skin, bowels, and toe- and finger-nails had been removed by some person or persons to the jury unknown.
"' E. R. BRADY, Foreman.
"'December 17, 1857. It is adjudged that there was probable cause for holding the inquest.
"' By the Court, "' J. S. McCALMONT.'
" This coroner's verdict was supposed to have been manipulated by the ' Masons.' It was the custom then to charge all unpopular verdicts on 'the Masons.'
" After the inquest jurors viewed the body and ice-house on Sunday evening, a rope was tied around Southerland's neck, he was dragged into Coal Alley, thrown into his coffin, and reburied in the old graveyard, where lie
"' Hearts once pregnant with celestial fire, Hearts that the rod of empire might have swayed, Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.'
" Who were the ghouls? As usual, stupidity and prejudice came to the front, and picked out for vengeance two innocent and inoffensive colored men living in the suburbs of the town. 'The law ordained in reverence we must hold,' and so on Sunday evening Theresa Sweeney, a sister of Southerland's, was sent for, and she made information against Charles Anderson and John Lewis. Cyrus Butler, Jr., a constable then in Pine Creek Township, arrested forthwith these two harmless colored men and thrust them into jail. On Monday morning, the 9th, Anderson and Lewis had a hearing before Justices Smith and Brady. George W. Ziegler, an able lawyer, represented the Commonwealth; but the poor negroes were without friends or a lawyer. However, as there was no evidence against them, they were discharged. The excitement was now so intense that several newly made
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graves were opened to see if friends had been disturbed. A few timid people placed night-guards in the cemetery.
" In commenting on this atrocity, the Jeffersonian said, ' Taking every- thing into consideration, it was one of the most inhuman and barbarous acts ever committed in a civilized community; and although the instigators and perpetrators may escape the punishment which their brutality demands, they cannot fail to receive the indignant frowns of an insulted community. They may evade a prosecution through the technicalities of the law, and they may laugh it off, and when we have no assurance but that our bodies, or those of our friends, may be treated in the same manner, cold and hardened must be the wretch who does not feel the flame of indignation rise in his breast at the perpetration of such an offence. * -X- * *
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