USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > The courts of justice, bench & bar of Washington County, Pennsylvania > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27
On February 4, 1899, James Q. McGiffin, the county solicitor, died. Mr. McGiffin's high standard of professional conduct, his genial, kindly disposition, and his manly char- acter, endeared him to his associates of the bar, to whom his sudden death came as a shock. He had had a very successful professional career. He was intensely interested in the enter- prise of erecting these buildings, and in his official capacity lent it very material and effective aid. This history is, to a considerable extent, based on a sketch prepared by him a short time before his death, giving an account of the proceed- ings in connection with the buildings down to that time.
It is a remarkable fact, that during the erection of the court-house and jail, and within a period of eight months, four
196
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
of the county officials died in office. The deaths of Mr. Charlton and Mr. McGiffin have already been mentioned. The other two officers were John H. Kennedy, high sheriff, who died June 20, 1898, and R. S. Wilson, director of the poor, whose death occurred February 22, 1899.
A few days after Mr. McGiffin's death the writer was appointed by the commissioners as his successor.
On March 7, 1899, the corner-stone of the court-house was laid. It had been expected that this would be done in the late preceding fall, and plans had been laid to make it a func- tion of some considerable ceremony. But as it was found impossible to be ready for it before bad weather set in, all plans for a formal demonstration were abandoned, and when the corner-stone came to be laid this was done in an informal manner. On account of the inclemency of the weather, what exercises were had took place in the audience-room of the town hall, used by the county as a court-room. The writer was called upon to preside over the meeting. The exercises were simple, consisting of an address by the Hon. J. F. Taylor, additional law judge, in which, on behalf of the committee of arrangements, he presented to the president judge, the Hon. J. A. McIlvaine, a copper box containing a large number of memorials and relics to be deposited in the stone. Judge McIlvaine then delivered a short address, at the conclusion of which he turned over the box to Mr. J. M. Yohe, the superin- tendent of construction. After a response by John H. Mur- doch, Esq., on behalf of the bar, the exercises were closed with a prayer by the Rev. James D. Moffat, D.D., President of Washington and Jefferson College, invoking the Divine blessing on the building enterprise, and upon the building when completed as a temple of justice. Mr. Yohe then car-
197
HISTORICAL ADDRESS, MR. JAMES I. BROWNSON.
ried the box to the northeast corner of the court-house build- ing and deposited it in the place prepared for it in the corner- stone.
On June 24, 1899, a contract was entered into with the Pennsylvania Construction Company, of Marietta, Pennsyl- vania, for steel counters, book-racks, file-cases, etc., to be placed in the several offices, for the sum of $37,275.50.
After receiving bids for the marble work, the contract therefor was on September 12, 1899, let to Philip McDonough, of Cincinnati, for $29,900, to be completed on February 1,1900.
At the election in November, 1899, Messrs. Dunn and Shillito were chosen by the people to be their own successors. Mr. Clark was not a candidate for the ensuing term. The third member of the board elected was Tom P. Sloan, of East Pike Run township, who entered upon his official duties Jan- uary 1, 1900. Mr. Sloan took up the work on the court-house at the stage in which he found it, and cordially co-operated with his colleagues in carrying it on to a conclusion upon the lines in which it was proceeding. The writer desires to say, speaking from personal knowledge and observation, that through all the changes that have occurred in the board of commissioners, and throughout the whole history of these building operations, there has been harmony of aim and of action on the part of the commissioners, all differences of opinion that arose among them being adjusted amicably and with good will, and all of them being animated by the com- mon desire and purpose to make the buildings as perfect and substantial pieces of work as it was possible to do.
On May 12, 1900, for reasons deemed sufficient by the commissioners, the marble contract was taken out of the hands
198
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
of Mr. McDonough, and after advertising for and receiving bids for its completion, was on June 12, 1900, relet to Miller & Sons, at their bid of $30,000. They afterward sublet it to the B. P. Young Company.
According to the original plans and specifications for the buildings, it was estimated that the sum of $500,000 would cover the cost and necessary expenditures connected with the building enterprise, and it was for this reason that the amount of the bond issue, already mentioned, was fixed at that sum. Before adopting plans, the commissioners endeavored to ascer- tain the ideas of the people regarding the amount of money that should be expended in the erection of the court-house and jail, by personal interviews and correspondence with rep- resentative citizens in the different sections of the county. The conclusion at which they arrived was, that the people, as a body, were in favor of the expenditure of the sum named, and accordingly they fixed this sum as the limit, and required the plans to be so drawn as not to involve a greater expense. To keep within this limit they had to sacrifice some things which they desired. It was necessary, much to their regret, to forego the use of granite and resort to sandstone as building material. It was necessary to have the floors of the court-house con- structed largely of tile, although experience in the Allegheny County court-house and elsewhere has shown tile floors to be lacking in durability, and to need frequent repairs. It was necessary to make the interior of the court-house exhibit a degree of plainness not in keeping with the character and quality of the building in other respects, and to do without many conveniences and ornaments which were required to render the edifice harmoniously beautiful throughout. But in obedience to what they believed to be the wish of the peo-
CASPAR RiVL.
LIBERTY. TO THE RIGHT, ABOVE THE FRONT PORTICO. [Half-tone by the Chasmar-Winchell Press. New York. ]
199
HISTORICAL ADDRESS, MR. JAMES I. BROWNSON.
ple, they left out many things which they desired to put in, and by so doing succeeded in bringing the cost, according to the contracts originally let, down to about the limit they had set.
But while the building was in progress two changes occurred.
In the first place, not only have our people shared in the general prosperity which the country has been enjoying, but there has been a prosperity special to Washington County. In the past two years foreign capital has come into the county and bought up many thousand acres of coal, immensely in- creasing the taxable property within its limits. Coal, which three or four years ago had practically no market value, and cut no figure in the valuations of real estate, has been sold at constantly rising prices, and is assessed for taxation against the non-resident purchasers at its market price. Not only have the disbursements made in paying for this coal put our farmers, throughout a large proportion of the county, out of debt, making taxation less of a burden to them than it was, but new tax-payers have, by these investments in coal, come in to share its burdens with our citizens.
In the second place, as the work of erection progressed, and the design created in the brain of the architect began to be embodied in stone, the ideas of the people began to expand. Tax-payers who came to the county-seat on business, and looked at the growing edifice, came to the commissioners, and express- ing a change of view upon the subject of cost, urged that the interior and surroundings of the court-house be finished in a manner and style that would be in keeping with its noble exte- rior. Men who had formerly been opposed to the expenditure of as much as $500,000 now urged that this limit be disregarded. The burden of the opinions expressed was, that the commis-
200
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
sioners ought to "finish it right," and that the people would not object to the cost of so doing.
Moved by these representations, the commissioners, con- sidering that after incurring the increase of cost necessary to make the finishing, decoration, and furnishing of the court- house conform to a high standard of beauty, elegance, and convenience, the burden of the building would be no greater than was anticipated when the expenditure of only $500,000 was in contemplation, and believing that the people desired to have the building finished in such a way that they could be proud of it, and that to do this would be following the present wish of the tax-payers (just as the original limitation of $500,000 was a following of their desire as then entertained), made changes in the plans and specifications, with the approval of the judges, in the direction of carrying out the ideas re- ferred to. Granite steps at the entrance were substituted for sandstone, marble floors were substituted for tile and wood, decorative frescoing was provided for, the style and grade of the finish and furnishing were raised, and many ornaments and conveniences were added. The result of these changes was to enhance the aggregate cost of the building by a considerable sum, but the commissioners believe that in this temple of justice, beautiful, elegant, and in keeping with the dignity of the high purposes for which it is designed, the people of Wash- ington County are getting value received.
The additions and alterations, the finishing and embellish- ment of the building, and all work not covered or provided for by the original contracts were given out to numerous persons and firms named in the subjoined list, who executed the same under the general control of William Miller & Sons, at prices fixed by competitive biddings.
201
HISTORICAL ADDRESS, MR. JAMES I. BROWNSON.
CONTRACTORS.
William Miller & Sons, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, general contractors.
Maginn & Lewis, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, heating and ventilating.
Stinson (late Halpin), Kennedy & Co., Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, plumbing work and electric fixtures.
Pennsylvania Construction Company, Marietta, Pennsyl- vania, metal furniture.
Otis Elevator Company, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, elevators. Speer & Hollar, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, furniture. C. M. Reed, Washington, Pennsylvania, carpets and rugs. J. W. Gessford, Washington, Pennsylvania, window shades.
The A. B. Caldwell Company, Washington, Pennsylvania, linoleum.
SUBCONTRACTORS.
1. With William Miller & Sons:
Morrison Brothers, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, stone- work; carving by A. Giammartini, Allegheny City, Penn- sylvania; sand by Iron City Sand Company, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; cement by Duncan & Porter, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and by Charles H. Spriggs, Washington, Penn- sylvania; stone by Forest City Stone Company, Cleveland, Ohio.
Cornelius Curran, Washington, Pennsylvania, brick work.
Pittsburg Bridge Company, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, iron work.
Marlin & Co., Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, galvanized iron work, tinning, and skylights.
Richey, Browne & Donald, Long Island City, New York, ornamental iron work.
202
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
The Van Dorn Iron Works Company, Cleveland, Ohio, prison work.
The Columbia Fire-Proofing Company, Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, fire-proofing; cement by Charles E. Pope, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; iron by American Steel Hoop Company, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Scott A. White, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, tile roofing.
Perth Amboy Terra-Cotta Company, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, ornamental terra-cotta work.
Fred. Lingenfelser, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, plastering; plaster by Murray Brothers, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania; lath by Canonsburg Iron and Steel Company, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
Wadsworth Stone and Paving Company, Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, cement floors and sidewalks.
Detrick & Mirick, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, tile work.
Steiner & Voegtly, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, hardware. Carter & Pullman, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, electric work. B. P. Young & Co., Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, marble work. Eli Thomas, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and Mycenæan Marble Company, New York, New York, artificial marble work.
Crossman & Sturdy, Chicago, Illinois, and Conroy, Prough & Co., Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, art glass.
Crossman & Sturdy, Chicago, Illinois, interior decorating.
2. With Maginn & Lewis:
S. Keighley, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, galvanized iron work in connection with heating; M. Ryan, Washington, Pennsylvania, iron furnace stack.
3. With Stinson, Kennedy & Co .:
Standard Manufacturing Company, Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania, plumbing fixtures; Black & Boyd Manufacturing Com- pany, New York City, electric fixtures.
203
HISTORICAL ADDRESS, MR. JAMES I. BROWNSON.
When the date of dedication was fixed it was expected that the building would be fully completed previous to the time named, and that it would be possible to give, in connection with the dedication, an exact statement, to the dollar, of the cost of building the court-house and jail. As things have turned out, however, the work on the court-house is not entirely finished yet, although an army of workmen labored throughout the night, and some of them down almost to the time for the dedication ceremonies, and there is considerable furnishing yet to go in. It is therefore not possible, at this time, to gather up, settle, and adjust all the bills, and prepare a complete, accurate, and precise statement in detail. But the architect has furnished the following, as an approximate statement of the cost in round numbers, of the buildings and their equipments and surroundings, viz .: Cost of court-house building, $512,000; metal and wood furniture, decorations, and furnishings, $110,000; cost of jail buildings, $123,000; cells and jail equipment, $28,000; cost of fixing up and improving grounds, sidewalks, etc., $52,000.
The first use that was made of the court-house was on Monday morning, November 12, 1900, when a session of court was held in court-room No. 1, in the north wing of the build- ing. In the afternoon of the same day the grand jury summoned for the November term was convened in the same room, and received their charge from the Hon. J. A. McIlvaine, president judge, and during the week they continued in session, transacting the business for which they were called together.
And now, on this seventeenth day of November, 1900, it is to be formally dedicated to the sacred uses of justice. May the administration of the law within its walls ever be as pure and unsullied as the light of day, which this afternoon,
·
204
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
illumining dome and halls and corridors, reveals the beauty and glory of this magnificent structure.
-
DEDICATORY ADDRESS.
After music by the bands present, the master of ceremonies, explaining the absence of Hon. Joseph Buffington, introduced Mr. Boyd Crumrine,1 of the Washington bar, who said:
MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN:
Last Wednesday night I was called upon by the com- mittee of arrangements, with information of the illness of his Honor Judge Buffington, and a request that I should take his place upon the program made out for this notable occasion. I consented with reluctance, knowing that although I could occupy the learned judge's place on the program, yet I could not hope to fill it with any degree of satisfaction to you. For not only am I without his many qualifications for the honor- able position to which he was invited for your entertainment, but, as you must know, I have had too little time in which to gather the facts and incidents that would best illumine the meaning and purpose of what we have before us to-day, so as
1 Mr. Boyd Crumrine was born in East Bethlehem township, on February 9, 1838, of Daniel and Margaret (Bower) Crumrine; graduated at Jefferson College in 1860; studied law with the elder Mr. John L. Gow, and was ad- mitted to the Washington bar in 1861; district attorney 1865-1868; com- piled the Rules of Court for Washington County in 1871; published the Pittsburg Reports, three volumes, in 1872-75; Omnium Gatherum, or Notes of Cases for the Lawyer's Pocket or Counsel Table, in 1878; the Centennial Celebration of Washington County, in 1881; a History of Washington County, in 1882; was the official State Reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1887-1892, publishing thirty-one volumes, 116-146 Pa. St. Rep., inclusive; and in 1901, forty years after his admission to the bar, he prepared the manuscript for this volume.
BOYD CRUMRINE, ADMITTED, 1861. [Half-tone by Bragdon, from photograph by Hallam in 1901.]
205
DEDICATORY ADDRESS, MR. BOYD CRUMRINE.
to exalt the spirit of our people to a realization of that pur- pose and meaning.
There is in every one the spirit of the individual, and this spirit has a tendency to make the individual mean, selfish, and inconsiderate, unkind, unloving, and unlovable. But to this self-serving spirit there are checks and balances which direct, control, and regulate it, and make out of the single person one of many bound together by a common bond, which when felt and recognized is ennobling to each and all, and by its recog- nition all are lifted upon a higher plane of growth, power, and enjoyment.
For just as there is the spirit of the self, so there is a real spirit of the little community everywhere; the spirit of the township or town, also; the spirit of the city; the spirit of the county; the spirit of the state; and in our American govern- ment the spirit of the Union. These real and actually exist- ing sentiments and impelling tendencies, being aroused and given their full force upon us, make us the better men and the better women.
It is the spirit of the county, primarily, that the work of this day should arouse. For we are to make public note and record of a work of art and necessity; to open up to beneficent uses a public building, beautiful in form and color, strong and enduring in construction and material, finished in design and architecture, and perfectly adapted for the transaction of the business of the people and for the safe preservation of the evidential records thereof, through the ages that are to come.
But how may we know the spirit of a man unless we know something of his past? How may we know the purpose and spiritual meaning of a fact -a thing done-by a county, without at least a glance at the history of its people, to know
206
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
how they have come to be what they are, and how and why they have done what is set before us?
It may not be interesting to all of this audience, though it may be to many and should be to all, that a mere outline sketch should be made of what manner of men our people have been, who they were, and what they have done. We shall be lost when we have forgotten our past. There are seeds in the soil of our public life threatening a dangerous growth, and many of them are already started. We have even abandoned the public reading of the Declaration of Independence on Independence day!
Turn now your minds to the lives of our pioneers, English, Irish-Scotch (not Scotch-Irish), and German, or of whatso- ever foreign nationality. They left comfort and protection behind them in the East, and came across a mountain barrier, many of them with their wives and children, to found a home in the western wilderness, this side the waters of our two beautiful rivers and by the banks of the smaller streams that enter into them. That wilderness was made up of a tall and dense growth of oak and maple and walnut, varied by thickets of elder and brier and bramble, the whole roamed over by wild animals, with here and there the camps of strolling bands of Indians. The dreariness of the forest, and the dangers from Indians and wild animals, as well as the toil and trial of the making of the new home, were all to be braved and endured. Enough of this now; but stand and think of that straggling stream of our early people, looking from the tops of the moun- tains, as they crossed them, over into the scene to the west of them into which they came!
Prior to 1750 only a few venturesome hunters and trad- ers with the Indians passed into our lands west and south
207
DEDICATORY ADDRESS, MR. BOYD CRUMRINE.
of the Monongahela and Ohio rivers, and they not to stay. Among them was Peter Chartier, a half-breed trader from the Juniata valley. His name is perpetuated in the name of one of our most beautiful streams and valleys.
Cumberland County, now limited to a municipal divis- ion wholly in a valley running south from Harrisburg, east of the Alleghany Mountains, was formed on January 27, 1750, and then extended to the western boundary of the state, which, however, had not yet been determined. But there could be no permanent homes as yet upon settled titles to land west of the mountains, because the Indian title to those lands, always respected by the state, had not yet been ex- tinguished. And yet the records of the courts of Cumber- land County show business affairs of persons then within the present limits of Washington County.
But that Indian title was extinguished by the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in New York, on November 5, 1768; and on April 3, 1769, the land office of Pennsylvania for the sale of lands west of the Alleghany Mountains and south of the Ohio River was opened; and that very day warrants to survey were taken out by William Preston and others for several tracts which made up the Morganza property, in sight of Canonsburg, when subsequently purchased by Colonel George Morgan. Soon afterward, on June 15, 1769, warrants for three tracts were issued severally to Abraham Hunter, Joseph Hunter, and Martha Hunter for three hun- dred acres each, which, when surveyed on November 11, 1769, were named Catfish Camp, Grand Cairo, and Martha's Bottom. The borough of Washington, as originally laid out on Octo- ber 13, 1781, stands upon two of these tracts, Catfish Camp and Grand Cairo. But records and documentary evidence disclose the fact, embalmed now in history, that, beginning
208
COURTS OF JUSTICE, BENCH, AND BAR.
at the mouths of the smaller streams entering the rivers, and ascending slowly in all directions to the springs that fed them, homes had been established here and there, more or less distant from each other, before 1769, all over what is now our county. As early as 1767 the Hupps and Tea- gardens and Bumgartners had settled at or near the mouth of Ten Mile Creek; and in 1770 Henry Taylor, of English descent, most likely from Chester County, Pennsylvania, but directly hither from Cecil County, Maryland, is found blazing out upon the trees the lines of his land, and build- ing his cabin only about a mile northeast of this town, on the old Pittsburg clay road, where his descendants are found at this day. Many funny things could be told you of this Henry Taylor, but I must not in this presence; yet I will state that the records of the Westmoreland courts show that before Washington County was created he was bound over to appear in the Quarter Sessions of Westmore- land County for a misdemeanor very common with the best of men in those days, an assault and battery committed in a controversy about a division line.
And see how rapidly, after titles to land could be ob- tained, to wit: After April 3, 1769, other new counties had to be formed to bring the protection of courts of justice nearer to the business and persons of the increasing num- ber of hardy pioneers seeking and establishing homes upon these western lands, than which none on the globe are better.
On March 9, 1771, Bedford County was formed out of part of Cumberland County, with its county-seat at Raystown, now the borough of Bedford; and again the jurisdiction and machinery of the courts extended west of the moun-
209
DEDICATORY ADDRESS, MR. BOYD CRUMRINE.
tains and to the western boundary of the state, wherever it was, for that had not yet been determined. Two of the Bedford County townships, Pitt and Springhill, were in territory afterward a part of Washington County. In 1772 Pitt township had fifty-two landholders assessed for taxes; Springhill had three hundred and eight. In the list last referred to we find many familiar names; and among the first justices of the peace, ex-officio justices of the county courts, were George Wilson, Colonel William Crawford, Thomas Gist, and Dorsey Pentecost, all names as well known to us as the names of to-day's people.
Only two years afterward, to wit, on February 26, 1773, the county of Westmoreland was erected from that part of Bedford that lay west of the mountains, thus embrac- ing all of what is now Indiana, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Fayette, Washington, and Greene counties. Verily, old Westmoreland was the mother of counties! A very excel- lent and worthy general history of that county has lately been written by Edgar W. Hassler, and published by J. R. Weldin & Co., of Pittsburg, entitled "Old Westmore- land: A History of Western Pennsylvania during the Revolution."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.