USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > The courts of justice, bench & bar of Washington County, Pennsylvania > Part 12
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DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW COURT-HOUSE.
clients. The entrances to these corridors are furnished with leather-covered swinging doors studded with brass.
In the northeast corridor is situated the office of the dis- trict attorney, which is twenty-two feet long and seventeen feet wide. The walls are colored in golden tones, and it is provided with a handsome fireplace of red Numidian marble, having a carved antique oak mantel.
The next room is one devoted to the use of witnesses, and is also handsomely decorated.
In the northeast corner is located the chamber of Judge J. A. McIlvaine, which is exceedingly handsome. The walls are heavily wainscoted in mahogany panels four feet above the floor, and thence to the ceiling are covered with bur- lap decorated in tapestry ornaments, after the renaissance style, in green and russet. The ceiling is colored an olive- yellow, with an egg cornice around its edges, picked out in green and gold, and has a handsome antique brass chandelier depending from its center, holding five lusters. The doors and window frames are of solid mahogany, surmounted by elaborately carved consoles. On the west side of the room is an elaborate fireplace of verd-antique marble, having a handsome mahogany mantel resting on two fluted Corinthian columns.
The first two rooms in the northwest corridor are desig- nated as jury-rooms No. 1 and No. 2, and in the northwest corner is situated the grand-jury room, which is twenty-two feet long by twenty feet wide, and provided with an anteroom.
The prisoners' room is the first in the southwest corridor, which is followed by a handsome marble-lined toilet-room and jury-rooms No. 3 and No. 4, while the room corresponding to the anteroom of the grand jury is devoted to the use of the court crier and tipstaves.
A convenient lawyers' waiting-room, having a handsome red Numidian marble fireplace and antique oak mantel, is the first room on the southeast corridor. Next adjoining is a ladies' waiting-room, supplied with a toilet and other acces- sories, while the chamber of Judge J. F. Taylor occupies the
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COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
extreme southeast corner, and is similar to that of Judge McIlvaine, with the exception that blue is substituted for green in color effect.
On the north side of the corridor on the second floor, and directly over the main entrance, is located the court library. This room has an elaborately carved entrance of polished oak, supplied with heavy doors of the same wood. The interior woodwork is of Honduras mahogany, and the doorways and windows are surmounted with heavy carved consoles. The walls are surrounded by a surbase of white marble, above which reaches a three-foot mahogany wainscoting, deeply paneled. They are sand-finished, the color scheme being green and gold, with the frescoing in the style of the Italian renaissance. The ceiling is paneled in fawn color, and adorned with twelve old brass and silver electroliers, each holding three incandescent lights. At each end of the room, which is forty-eight feet long, forty feet wide, and twenty feet high, are placed magnificently carved fireplaces of pure Italian marble. The shelving is entirely of iron, colored a dark green touched up with gold.
On the south side of the library is situated the librarian's room, the walls of which are decorated in Pompeiian red, having a gilt egg border, and a ceiling of fawn color; while on the north side is the court reporter's room, which is decorated in golden tones, the walls having a graceful Grecian border in plain gold.
The third floor is reached by two flights of iron stairs, in- laid with white marble, which lead upward from each side of court-room No. 3, on the west side of the building.
The corridor on the third floor is really the rotunda on which rests the base of the dome. It is twelve feet wide and fourteen feet high, with walls colored in golden tones, above a white marble surbase, and decorated with a Grecian border in gold. The ceiling is divided into squares with Roman arches, each square having four electric liglits.
The side toward the central area is composed of twelve
NORTHWEST CORNER, FROM THIRD CORRIDOR. [Half-tone by the Chasmar-Winchell Press, New York.]
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DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW COURT-HOUSE.
massive Roman arches, between which extends an ornate scroll-work railing of bronzed iron.
On the east side of the corridor immediately over the court library is situated the quarters of the Bar Association. This room is entered through doors of antique oak, which lightly swing in a heavy doorway of the same material. The walls are sand-finished and colored a rich Pompeiian red, adorned with a handsome egg and frescoed border, while the ceiling is of a light ecru shade, from which hang two old brass and silver electroliers, having a cluster of six incan- descent lamps each. At each end are two beautiful fire- places, composed of Mexican onyx, on either side of which stand two fluted Ionic columns of antique oak, which support a hand-carved mantel of the same material.
On either side of this room are placed anterooms deco- rated in the same style.
Directly across the building on the west side and above court-room No. 3 is situated a large semicircular room, which will be used by the Historical Society. The walls of this room are of a dark green graduating into yellow on the ceiling, which is heavily paneled, and contains nine electroliers, each containing three incandescent lamps.
-The building described in the foregoing paper, as thus reproduced from a publication made on the day of its dedi- cation, must stand as an object-lesson for the people who come after us and wish to see what we have done. It may be said to be merely American art. Yet Mr. Frederic Harri- son, the learned English essayist, philosopher, and author, writing in "The Nineteenth Century and After," for June, 1901, of his observations as to American architecture on his recent visit to this country, said:
"In constructive novelties the American builder is con- summate. Nothing in Europe since the fall of old Rome and Byzantium, not even in Genoa in its prime, has equaled the lavish use of magnificent marble columns, granite blocks, and ornamental stone, as we see it to-day in the United
a
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COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
States. . The reckless use of precious marbles seems to threaten exhaustion of the quarries, but one is assured that they are ample for all demands. Why more use is not made in Europe of the magnificent marbles of America is not very obvious. But we certainly might easily adopt some of the constructive devices of their builders. . In matters of construction, contrivance, the free use of new kinds of stone and wood, of plumbing, heating, and the minor arts of fitting, the belated European in America feels himself a Rip Van Winkle, whirled into a new century and a later civilization."
The plain people of our county pause in groups as they enter the rotunda of this court-house, and seem to be deeply impressed with its beauty; while the immediate effect of the entire building, in all its relations, upon the court, the bar, and the public, in the transaction of business, is and has been of a most pleasant and beneficial character. We commit the new court-house, as a work of art, to the more intelligent and cultivated taste of the future.
::
ONE-HALF DOME, FROM FIRST PLATFORM.
[Half-tone by the Chasmar-Winchell Press, New York, from photograph by Hallam.]
IX. THE FIRST JUDICIAL BUSINESS.
THE regular terms of court begin at this time on the second Mondays of February, May, and November, and on the third Monday of August, in each year; but it is the practice to have the grand jury to meet one week before the beginning of the regular term of the Court of Quarter Sessions, that bills of indictment may be passed upon and ready for trial by the time the petit jury is to attend.
The first three terms of the year 1900 were held in the old Town Hall, in its new location south of Cherry Avenue, and opposite the new sheriff's residence and jail, but after the August term it was found that the November term could be held in the new court-rooms; and on October 4, 1900, the venires for grand and petit jurors for the regular term, begin- ning on November 19th, were issued, and preparations were begun for the formal dedication of the new court-house on November 17th, the last day of the week preceding the term.
THE FIRST GRAND JURY.
Workmen under the contractors had been engaged day and night for weeks, to have the building completed by the appointed time, with a determination to accomplish the pur- pose; but on Monday, November 12, 1900, they were still at work in the corridors and elsewhere, when the following grand jurors, returned by Joseph T. Hemphill, Esq., the sheriff of the county, appeared in session in court-room No. 1, to join in the first act of judicial business ever transacted in the new court-house:
Samuel Allender, laborer, William Bamford, farmer,
Mt. Pleasant township. Robinson township.
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ยท
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COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
Edwin A. Christman, printer, Enos Coulson, fruit-grower, John Donaldson, miner, Charles Forsythe, dealer, A. J. Hertzog, printer, John Hupp, farmer, Charles Hormell, farmer, Cyrus Lindley, carriage-maker,
E. E. Mulholland, farmer,
J. E. Miller, gentleman,
H. P. Mollenauer, farmer, Wm. Mccutcheon, carpenter,
R. J. Nesbit, farmer,
Chartiers township.
Wm. T. Robinson, hotel-keeper, Canonsburg borough.
Charles G. Stroud, farmer,
R. G. Smith, Contractor,
Wm. R. Wilkins, carpenter,
Coal Centre borough.
Joseph A. Wise, laborer,
Washington borough.
Union township.
Stockdale borough.
Union township. East Pike Run township.
Morris township.
Centreville borough.
West Washington borough. Independence township. Washington borough.
North Strabane township.
Washington borough.
West Bethlehem township.
Of the grand jurors summoned, E. E. Hormell was excused, and Samuel A. Myers, W. D. Simpson, and Elmer Wall did not attend.
THE FIRST CHARGE TO GRAND JURY.
The grand jury, having been duly sworn, and William Bamford selected as foreman, his honor J. A. McIlvaine, President Judge, delivered the following charge:
GENTLEMEN:
To you has come the distinction of being the first grand jury to serve in this new court-house. As judges frequently make their charges to the grand jury the medium of express- ing their opinions on matters of public concern, I may be pardoned on this occasion in congratulating you on this dis- tinction, and in giving expression to some thoughts that it suggests.
Hanover township.
Centreville borough.
-
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THE FIRST GRAND JURY.
Samuel Allender. A. J. Hertzog. Charles Forsythe.
E. E. Mulholland. Cyrus Lindley.
William Mccutcheon. Charles Hormel. Enos Coulson.
H. P. Mollenaur. E. A. Christman.
Charles G. Stroud.
R. G. Smith.
W. T. Robinson. J. E. Miller.
William Bamford. John Hnpp.
W. R. Wilkins. R. J. Neshit.
Joseph A. Wise.
[Half-tone by Bragdon, from photograph by Hallam.]
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THE FIRST JUDICIAL BUSINESS.
We certainly have a magnificent court-house; but in my opinion none too good, either for the purposes for which it was erected or for the people who erected it. It must not be forgotten that the building is a "Temple of Justice," and that the people who erected it belong to Washington County.
To-day, as we enter upon its occupancy, we are proud of the building, not only because it is a temple of justice fitly and appropriately built, but because we believe that it, in all its beauty, symmetry, and solidity, stands as an index to the intelligence, wealth, and patriotism of the people who built it, and as an exemplification of their devotion to the preservation of our rights and liberties as administered through our forms of government.
In this building shall be "the place where justice is judicially administered." Here the several courts of the Commonwealth holden in and for our county shall do busi- ness, and we hope righteously adjudicate all matters brought before them. Here the "Common Pleas," a child of " Magna Charta " born at Runnymede, which for centuries has been a shield and bulwark to protect the English-speaking people in the enjoyment of their civil rights, shall find a home. Here the affairs of the living shall be regulated, and the estates of the dead distributed. Here questions of life, liberty, and property shall be inquired into and determined. Here justice and equity are to be administered. Truly the building, in its grandeur, is but in keeping with the grand purposes for which it will be used.
Again, the people of the county at large should be proud of this building because it is their building. And it is their building not only because they paid for it, but because they will use it. A court-house is not a building for the few, for the judges and the lawyers, as some might thoughtlessly sug-
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COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
gest; but it is a building in which all have an interest, for every individual citizen of the county may be personally an active participant in the business here transacted. Passing by the business that the citizens of the county at large have to transact in the various county offices that will be found in the building, allow me to call your attention to the personal interest that every citizen of the county has in our courts.
Our government is divided into three branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary; and of these three the judiciary is the one to which the people stand the nearest. With the executive and legislative departments of our govern- ment the people have, personally, little to do except to elect the officers who shall discharge the duties of these depart- ments, and to furnish the money necessary to run them. With the local judiciary it is different. Besides taking part in the election of our judges and the other officers of the court, and contributing, as tax-payers, to the payment of the expenses incurred in running this department of our state government, every man, woman, and child may become a part of the local court as we find it here in active operation.
Two general divisions may be made of such a court. The first division includes the litigants, without whom a court would be a court only in name. And who in all this county may not become a litigant, either voluntarily as a petitioner, plaintiff, or prosecutor, or involuntarily as a respondent or defendant? For the investigation of all complaints the courts are always open. Any person, rich or poor, citizen or alien, male or female, may enter and be heard. Litigation is one of the luxuries that all can enjoy. Indeed, the ease with which any one can get into our courts with his grievance has given rise to a problem that is pressing us now for
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THE FIRST JUDICIAL BUSINESS.
solution; that is, how to get rid of useless and trivial liti- gation, and at the same time leave our courts as they now are, open to all. But aside from this trivial litigation, no one knows when he may become a litigant in court. Our popu- lation, wealth, and business are growing so rapidly, and new conditions are so continually springing up, that the volume of legitimate and necessary business is great, and on the increase. And we can safely say that there is no man in this county who will help to pay for this court-house that is not a possible litigant. All may need to use it.
The second division of a court is made up of four classes: First, the judges; second, the lawyers; third, the jurors; and fourth, the witnesses. Here again, there is no one in the county who may not be included in one or the other of these classes. In the proper administration of justice all these actors have a part to perform that is equally impor- tant. The judges and the lawyers are only one-half of the court; the other half comes from the body of the county. And to have an ideal court we must not only have able and upright judges, and competent and worthy attorneys, but we must have intelligent and honest jurors, and truth- ful and unbiased witnesses.
And I may be excused on this occasion for impressing upon jurors and witnesses the importance of the part they take in the proper administration of justice. In the course of one year, as our courts now run, at least five hundred different men of the county will be called to act as jurors in this building, and more than twice that number of its citizens may be here examined as witnesses. The manner in which these jurors and witnesses shall conduct them- selves and discharge their duties will vitally affect the re-
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COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
sults of litigation; so that upon them much depends as to whether justice shall be done or not.
In our system of jurisprudence jurors occupy an exceed- ingly important position. They are the judges of the facts of the cases they try, and should be as impartial and honest in their judgments as the man who sits on the bench as the judge of the law. A juror should always deport him- self so as not to bring into disrepute the honorable position he is called upon to fill. He should not allow any one to discuss with him the merits of any of the cases that he may be called to try. When called as a juror in any par- ticular case he should come to the discharge of his duty without any preconceived notions as to the merits of the case, and without any feeling of friendship or enmity for either of the parties or their attorneys. He should recol- lect that he is to determine the issues that are submitted to him upon the evidence adduced before him at the trial. He should be impartial, and resent any outside efforts to influence or prejudice him in favor of or against the one side or the other of any case that he may have to deter- mine. He should ever remember that he is part of the court, and should stand on his dignity if any one should attempt to trifle with him.
Witnesses also are a part of the court; upon their knowl- edge of facts, given in the trial of the case, the judge and the jury act. And upon the faithful discharge of their duties depends the righteousness of the judgment that may be pronounced. Too many witnesses forget when they enter the witness-box that they are part of the court, charged with the ascertainment of the truth in the issue being tried. They appear to act as if they thought they were retainers of the party who subpoenaed them, and that their duty was
JOHN ADDISON MCILVAINE, ADMITTED, 1867. PRESIDENT JUDGE FROM 1886. [Half-tone by Bragdon, from photograph by Hallam.]
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THE FIRST JUDICIAL BUSINESS.
to help him all they could. The testimony of witnesses should be given in the interest of truth, and not in the interest of either party.
As this new court-house is so much better than the old one, may we not hope that the administration of justice will here be on a higher plane? An eminent educator has said that the greatest element in education is inspiration. To judges, lawyers, jurors, and witnesses, this building, in its grandeur and beauty, ought to be an inspiration to better service. To each of us let the ancient maxim, Justitia suum cuique distribuit, take on a new meaning, and here may justice thus defined in every case be done though the heavens fall.
X.
THE DEDICATION EXERCISES.
SATURDAY, November 17, 1900, the day the new court-house was dedicated to its uses as a temple of justice, was a rather mild early-winter day. In the morning a slight snow had covered the surrounding hills and had left the streets some- what unpleasant, but during the day the sky became clear, and the weather in the afternoon and evening prevented the attendance of no one at the "grand opening."
A committee of the Washington Bar Association, consist- ing of Mr. James I. Brownson, as chairman, and Mr. L. Mc- Carrell, Mr. J. P. Miller, Mr. T. J. Duncan, and Mr. Winfield McIlvaine, in conjunction with subordinate committees and representatives of the county commissioners, had issued invi- tations to friends beyond the county, and had arranged the following:
PROGRAM.
EXERCISES TO COMMENCE AT TWO O'CLOCK P.M., WHEN THE HON. J. A. M'ILVAINE WILL CALL FOR ORDER, AND INTRODUCE THE MASTER OF CEREMONIES, THEODORE NOSS, PH.D., PRESIDENT OF CALIFORNIA STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
PRAYER, REV. FRANK FISH, CLAYSVILLE.
PRESENTATION OF THE BUILDING, ON BEHALF OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, TO THE TAX-PAYERS AND THOSE WHO SHALL OCCUPY IT AS THE SERVANTS OF THE PEOPLE:
MR. J. MURRAY CLARK, CANONSBURG.
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BAR ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE.
L. MCCARRELL, 1869.
JULIUS P. MILLER, 1879.
JAMES I. BROWNSON, 1878.
T. JEFF. DUNCAN, 1875. WINFIELD MCILVAINE, 1883.
[Half-tones by Bragdon, from photographs by Hallam.]
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THE PROGRAM.
RESPONSES-
ON BEHALF OF THE TAX-PAYERS: MR. J. WILEY DAY, MORRIS TOWNSHIP.
MR. D. S. FULTON, HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
MR. J. S. BUCHANAN, MOUNT PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.
ON BEHALF OF THE COURT: HON. J. F. TAYLOR.
ON BEHALF OF THE BAR AND COUNTY OFFICERS: ALEXANDER WILSON, ESQ.
HISTORY OF THE ERECTION OF THE NEW COURT-HOUSE, ETC. : MR. JAMES I. BROWNSON, COUNTY SOLICITOR.
MUSIC.
DEDICATORY ADDRESS: HON. JOSEPH BUFFINGTON, 1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
BENEDICTION : REV. FATHER JOHN J. FAUGHNAN, WASHINGTON.
THE BUILDING WILL BE OPEN TO ALL WHO MAY DESIRE TO VISIT IT FROM EIGHT A.M. UNTIL TEN P.M.
1 On Wednesday evening, prior to the Saturday of the dedicatory ex- ercises, it was learned with regret that his Honor Judge Buffington would be prevented by illness from attending. The committee of arrangements then called upon Mr. Boyd Crumrine, of the Washington County bar, to prepare and deliver the dedicatory address in his stead.
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COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
In reply to the invitations sent abroad, many letters of regret were received, extracts from some of which are here re- produced:
From Hon. William B. Hanna, President Judge of the Orphans' Court of Philadelphia County, November 12, 1900:
" Accept many thanks for the courteous invitation to attend the dedication of the new court-house for your county on Saturday afternoon next. I congratulate the court, the bar, and the citizens of Washington County upon the completion of a building which I am sure will add to their comfort and convenience, and be creditable to the people of such a large and prosperous county."
From Hon. Clement B. Penrose, Judge of the Orphans' Court of Philadelphia County, November 13, 1900:
"I greatly regret that my public duties make it impossible for me to accept your kind invitation to be present at the dedication of the new Washington County court-house. Your bar has a high reputation in this part of the state, and my best wishes and congratulations are most cordially extended."
From Hon. W. F. Bay Stewart, Judge of York County, Pennsylvania, November 13, 1900:
"I beg to acknowledge receipt of your invitation to be present at the dedication of your new court-house. I regret that on account of official engagements I will not be able to attend. It would give me very great pleasure to be present, as well on account of the distinguished gentlemen who are to speak, as for the reason that York County has just completed a new court-house, of which we are quite proud. I should like to see how much better Washington County lias done than we have. In external architectural beauty ours does not compare favorably with yours. We were hampered by our location, and hence could not adopt such a design as we would have chosen, but the internal arrangements, finish, conve- niences, and comforts are all that could be desired."
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LETTERS OF REGRET.
From Hon. Allen Craig, President Judge of Carbon and Monroe counties, November 12, 1900:
"I am in receipt of the invitation of your committee to attend the dedication services of your new court-house. If it were possible I should be very glad to be present on the occa- sion. Your county is to be congratulated on having so fine and comfortable a structure. The house of justice should command respect as well in appearance as in the administra- tion of the law."
From Hon. G. L. Cranmer, Wheeling, West Virginia, November 12, 1900:
" Your kind invitation to be present on the occasion of the ceremonies connected with the dedication of the new court- house has been received, and I regret my inability to be present on so interesting an occasion. As a monument indic- ative of the dispensing of justice and equity, and of the intelligence and liberality of the tax-payers and citizens of Washington County, may it long continue to be a permanent expression, is the hope of the undersigned."
From Mr. M. Hampton Todd, of the Philadelphia bar, November 12, 1900:
"I am very much obliged to the committee for the invita- tion to be present at the dedication of the new Washington court-house on November 17th, and I regret exceedingly that my professional engagements are such as to prevent my being present. I have always felt a deep interest in Washington County affairs, not only on account of my having been a student at Washington and Jefferson College, but also by reason of the fact that one of the first settlers of the county, John Miller, was my great-grandfather."
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