Knox County, Ohio - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 1 of those read), 1862 (part 2 of 2)

At the 9tli session of the General Assembly, held at Zanes^ille, December 3d, 1810, the subject of removal of the county seat from Mount Vernon was again agitated. By the Senate Journal, page 163, we find that Mr. Trimble presented a batch of x)etitions, praying a review, which was referred to a committee. On page 166, we find Mr. Trimble, from committee, reported tliat, in their opinion, commissioners ought to be appointed to examine and make report to the next Legislature the place they tliink proper for the seat of justice of Knox county. The said report was read. A motion was made that said report be committed to a committee of the whole Senate, and made the order of this dav; and on the question thereon it was decided in the negative. On motion. Ordered, that the further consideration of said report be postponed till the first Monday in December next.

At the next session it received its final quietus. Mount Vernon had improved in the intermediate time very much, and thenceforth its star has been in the ascendant. Clinton continues but a few years longer as a business place, and after the departure of its chief worker to other parts, its people moved to Mount Vernon, Fredericktown, and elsewhere, and not one of the old inhabitants there remains to tell tliat Clinton has been an important town in the history of Knox county.

On the 23d of January, 1809, Mr. Holden presented at the clerk's table a petition from sundry inhabitants of the county of Licking, also a petition from sundry inhabitants of the counties of Licking, Knox and Richland, setting forth their remote situ- ation from water carriage, and tlie necessity of having good roads ; that they have 7io road ivlicrehy they can receive letters, or any hind of intelligence, or any 'property from any part of tlie United States, or this kState, except by chance or private conveyance, nearer than N^ewark or Zanesville, and praying for the establishment of a road from Xewark, in Licking county ; thence to Mount Yernon, in Knox county ; thence to Mansiickl,in Richhind county ; and thence to the mouth of the river Huron, Lake Erie, &c.; which were read.

On motion, and on leave being granted by the House, Mr. Merwin presented at the clerk's table a petition from sundry inhabitants of Eairfield county, of a similar nature to the before mentioned petitions, j)raying for the establishment of a road from Lancaster, in said county, through Mount Yernon, in Knox county, to the Portage, in Cuyahoga. - House Journal, page 177.

Among the questions of great moment at this time to the people of the State was, whether the Clinton Library Society should be incorporated or not. It appears that Samuel H. Smith and other live Yankees of Clinton had conceived the idea of founding a vast and comprehensive library at that point, and at the session of the General Assembly of 1807, Mr. Dillon laid before the Senate a petition of Samuel H. Smith and others of the town of Clinton and its vicinity, in Eairfield county, for the incorporation of the " Clinton Library and School or Academy Society." After its reference to a committee, and about two months travail, it finally got through the Senate on the 6th of Eebruary, 1808.

In the House it had a perilous trip, was attacked upon several sides, discussed elaborately, and at length Avent down before the storm. - House Jonrnal, imge 171.

At the next session onr literary friends at Clinton again pressed their favorite measure ; they petitioned, implored, entreated, supplicated and prayed, they had lobbies on the ground to leg for it, and triumphantly they carried it through the House into the Senate, with an amendment to it, that was not very acceptable ; but this time the grave and reverend Senators were obdurate and flint-hearted, and page 111 of the Senate Journal of the Seventh General Assembly shows how they "killed it."

With a pluck worthy of a noble cause, tlic Clintonians beseeched and beset and besieged the next General Assembly for an act that would enable them to preserve their fine library from destruction by those literar}^ Goths and Vandals - the moths and vampires ; but all their etforts were unavailing, and posterity have been thus deprived of an accumulation of books that might in time have eclipsed the far-famed librarv of Alexandria. One of the oldest inhabitants has kindly placed in our hands one of the books, bearing the Olintonian mark, which he bought at the winding up of the concern for the just sum of 18| cents lawful money.

Indignant at the conduct of the illiterate General Assembly, the stock-holders withdrew from W\^ enterprise, and sold at auction the library for $7.50 and the book-case for %\^ ; and thus terminated a great measnrewliicli agitated three sessions of the General Assembly of our State, costing the people in time consumed upon it by their K-epresentatiTCS, Senators, etc., from eight to ten thousand dollars, and illustrating fully the character of the greater part of special and local legislation which, like much of a general character, may be termed all "cry and no TTOol," and shoyrno substance, all ending in smoke. At the time, howeyer, the natiyes of Mount Yernon regarded it as a seyen horned monster that would driye them out of existence, and they looked with holy horror at haying such an incorporated body at Clinton, which might accomplish their oyerthrow and cause them to lose the county seat. The sons of some who shook in their breeches with dread, may now shake in their boots, conyulsed by laughter at this reminiscence.

Transactions Of The Year 1809

Ii!^ the beginning of tliis year the people of the county were in sore distress at prosj)ects of heavy taxation, the money in the treasury having been exhausted in paying the commissioners who had located the countv seat, the heavy demands for killing wolves, and such like expenses.

On Monday, the 23d of January, 1809, the commissioners met at Mount Yernon, and were in a "peck of trouble," if we may judge from the following entry:

" The board, taking into consideration the situation of the taxes on resident and non-resident lands, the board, on an investigation of the business, do order Every paper and document thereunto belonging to be forwarded to the Auditor of State.

So mucli in tlie habit of issuing wolf orders had James Smith, clerk, gotten by this time, that we tind on the journals an order issued for commissioner's services reading thus :

Notwithstanding the abundance of game of this kind, and the facility with Avhich the old sportsmen could take the scalps, the howling varmints seemed to be on the increase, and, like grey hairs, for eveiy one plucked two took their place, and hence our commissioners grew more determined to extirpate them, and made the following order on the 7th of June, 1809 :

" Ordered, that all persons who shall kill and procure the scalps of grown wolves and panthers within our Balawick, and produce a certificate thereof, according to law, after this date, shall be allowed $2, and all those who shall kill and procure the same of wolves and panthers and scalps of six months and under shall be allowed $1."

The first demands made upon the treasury under this act were by John Mitchell and Francis Hardista, each of whom had killed a grown wolf. For a time these inhuman derils disputed the mastery with the white man, and it seemed somewhat doubtful which would come oif victor in the contest and retain possession of the lands upon Owl Creek. They ncitlier had fear of the church ecclesiastic or the military power ; they frightened the women and children, and hung about the heels of men, settingall laws and threats at defiance. One old settler has told us of liis having on a Sabbath day killed a large wolf near Grod's barn at Clinton which was making off with one of Sam. Smith's geese, while the people w^ere serving the Lord ; another of his friends having been present witli the whole military of the county parading on general muster day, when a fierce black wolf attacked one of George Zin's pigs within a stone's throw north-east of the public square, when the army gave pursuit, and it was finally killed by Captain Joe Walker; where ui^oii a grand spree was taken by the whole military and

Grand events those in the hardy pioneer's life ! And yet, at this day not a spot bears the name of Wolf, nor does a creek or branch commemorate such achievements. And posterity, were it not for these pages, we fear, would be in blissful ignorance of the fact that there were any other inhabitants of these classic lands than owls and Indians when the men of the hunting shirt and rifle first navigated this famous river in scallops and pirogues.

Then

" Court of Common Pleas was opened at Mount Vernon the 2d day of January, 1809. Present: Jentlemen the Honorable William Wilson, President, John Mills and Wm. Gass, Associate Judges. A Grand Juiy was called and qualified for the body of this county, to wit: Jas, Walker, Sen'r, foreman, Eleazer Biggs, John Baxter, John Beam, Joseph Walker, Levi Ilerrod, Nathaniel Scritchfield, Wm. Herrod, David Johnson, Jas. Strange, Jas. Walker, Jr., Wm. Cooper and Jonathan Craig, who, after receiving their charge. Returned out of Court.

" The State of Ohio vs. Aaron Brown. - On an Indictment. The defendant plead guilty, and is fined SI. 00 and the costs of prosecution, and stands convicted until the whole be complied with.

" Thomas Parr vs. John Craig. - William Walker undertook for the defendant in case he should be cast he would satisfy the condemnation of the Court, or render his body a prisoner in lieu thereof.

" Thomas B. Patterson, for the use of Moses Righj, vs. Samuel Kratzer. - Parties agreed to reference to the Court, who adjudged $2.55 debt and costs for the plaintiff.

Of Its Subsequent Career, And That Of Its Successor

On the 6tli of June, 1808, the commissioners of this county, finding the great want of a jail in said town, and by virtue of the j)owers vested in them by law,

" Ordered, a jail to be built, 24 feet long, 16 feet wide, 9 feet high, with square timber of one foot square, including the upper and lower floor, and a petition of like timber, with a good shingle roof, and stone or brick chimney, three windows, with iron grates, of 6 lights eacla, and 2 sufficient doors, one on the outside and ov.f in the petition in the inside, and the walls, petition, and lower Hoor lined with 3 inch plank, spiked on with spikes 7 inches. The front door marked A and petition door B to be of 1^ inch stuff; 0 chimney. The jail to be built on the public square of said town, on a corner."

" This day the board has proceeded to the Ex'n of the jail, and finding the same unfinished they do allow the undertakers thereof until the first day of May next to finish the same, agreeable to the article of agreement in that case made and provided."

" Ordered, that the commissioners do receive the jail from the hands of John Mills, Alexander Walker, and James Walker, Sr., provided that the said Mills and others do saw down the corners of said jail, and then our Clerk shall have authority to issue orders on the treasury for the sum of 433 dollars and 50 cents, as shall appear by a reference to the agreement, and that the Clerk issue orders of such sizes as the Claimants may desire, with their proper numbers to the above amount."

The jail being then declared completed, the commissioners ordered 50 cents to be expended by Joseph Walker for two steeples and hasj) for the jail.

The calaboose having been duly prepared, the officers of the law became exceedingly self-important, consequential and overbearing. Michael Click, an old Dutchman, who was fond of grog, was taken up, "tight as a musket," and locked up in the quarters. The constable had gone down street and was boasting of his exploit in taking up Mike, when the voice of the old fellow was heard just behind them.

slioiiting at tlie top of his lungs: "By tarn, tliey cau't keep me in tlieir tammed sliail - I am trumps, by Ct - d." He had crawled up tlie chimney till he got near the top and stuck fast, when, as he said, he ''swelled and bursted" it open, and then jumped to the ground, a free man once again.

The chimney was repaired at the expense of the county, and Click, several weeks after, when confined '-broke out," and, meeting Judge Wilson on the street, narrated his several jail exploits in great glee, vowing tliat they never could keep old Mike in that jail any longer than it suited him to stay, for he had lent a hand when it was built and knew all its weak points. Eor several years, however, this little log concern served as a nominal terror to evil doers. At lengih so many escapes were made from it, that its fate was sealed, and it was sold to Wm. Y. Earquhar, who moved it to the outskirts of town and constructed out of it a sort of a tobacco house.

The commissioners, on the 4th of December, 1823, determined to erect another jail and jailor's house, on the square, of brick, which remained an eye-sore to the people of the town until about 1850, when John Armstrong, Street Commissioner, and A. Banning l^orton. Councilman of the Third Ward, in grading and excavating the north-east part of the public square, with "malice aforethought" undermined it, and caused the removal of that pile of rubbish.

" Grand Jury. - David Demmick, foreman, Moses Craig, Wm. Downs, Jas. Craig, David Johnson, Jeremiah Brown, Charles Cooper, Ziba Leonard, Nathaniel M. Young, John Kerr, John Cook, James Loveridge, James Walker, Jr., who returned out of Court, and after some time returned in Court, with the following indictments, to wit:

" The State of Ohio vs. Wm. Wallace. - For salt and batterj, a true bill, and pleads guilty, the Court do say, that the defendant do pay a fine of $1 and costs of this prosecution.

" One o'clock P. M. " John Armstrong vs. John Kerr. - Tried by Jury, and defendant not found guilty of Trespass. The plaintiff, by E. Ilerrick, his attorney, gives notice of an appeal.

" Wm. Biggs, who sues as well for himself as for the State of Ohio, vs. Willia^n Darling. - Ordered, that the plaintiff appear in Court to-morrow morning and enter security for costs, or he become non plus.

" Ordered, that the clerk have authority to issue license to John Baxter and Michael Click each to keep a public house of entertainment until next term, on their paying the proper sum.

Important Acts Of Commissioners In Regard To Rates Of

IMPORTANT ACTS OF COMMISSIONERS IN REGARD TO RATES OF TAXATION AND OTHER MATTERS - PECULIARITY OF THE OLD CLERK IN SPELLING - HIGH AUTHORITY QUOTED.

On the 5th of March " a petition was forwarded to the board of Commissioners of this county, praying for a Road Leading from the town of Mansfield on a South East direction, to intersect with the State road near the fifty-four mile tree, to run on a straight direction as the ground will admit, to intersect the State road, and the board do declare that the same is inexpedient. '^

On the 7th of June the Commissioners " Ordered, that the rates of licens* of Taverns hereafter obtained for one year in this county shall be as follows : In the town of Mount Vernon, on the Public Sq[uare, and on Market Street, shall be rated at six dollars; all Taverns in the Town of Frederick and in the Town of Clinton, and on the road leading from the Town of Mount Vernon to Newark, within the county of Knox, at Five dollars ; all Taverns in any other part of the Town of Mount Vernon, at five dollars; all taverns on roads leading through any part of the county, or Richland county, at four dollars."

* The first clerk was a very good pensman, a gentleman and scholar; but like General Jackson, he had his peculiarities of spelling and pronunciation, as, for instance, license without the E final, and gentlemen with a J.

"On each head of neat cattle, 10 cents; on houses, and other property made subject to taxation by law, one-half per cent, on its appraised value."

At tliis time liorses were valncd for taxation at $30 per head, and cattle at $10. The trouble about the tax duplicate and matters connected therewith was satisfactorily adjusted, as appears by the following entry on the 27th of June :

In September, 1809, we find: "On return of a Road laid out from Mount Vernon to a point on Mohicking, the viewers return the same unprofitable, and the same is Rejected."

" Grand Jury. - Jabez Beers, Joe Walker, George Downs, Gilman Bryant, John Baxter, George Lybarger, Henry Roberts, Thomas Townsend, Jonathan Hunt, Sen'r, John Green, James Craig, Samuel Wilson, Benj. Thompson, and Wm. Johnson, returned into Court and brought in the following Indictments:

" The State of Ohio vs. Henry Smith. - For retailing liquors contrary to the statute of this State ; a true bill ; who appears and pleads guilty. The attorney for the State of Ohio will no further prosecute this Indictment.

" Sa7ne vs. Bcnjaviin Butler. - For retailing S. liquors contrary to tlie statute of tins State ; who comes forward and puts in his plea - Guilty. The Court, in consideration of his offense, do assess his fine to $3.

" Same vs. Samuel Martin. - For same. Henry Roberts, John Harod and James Bryant enter into recognizance of $50 each to give evidence in this case.

" John J. Brvce vs. Thomas B. Patterson, Joseph Walker, Gilman Bryant. - This cause is to be continued until 1st of October for answer to bill of plaintiff.

" Sylvanius Lawrence, for the use of Be??jamin Rush, vs. George Davison. - Nathaniel Spurgeon and Wm. Scritchfield appeared and undertook for the defendant's appearance, &c.

"Letters of administration on Michael Shinabery's estate are issued to Catharine Shinabery. Gilmau Bryant and George Downes, securities; John Mills, Matthew Mant and James Smith, appraisers.

The first fiscal year of Knox conuty made the fi)Uowing showing on settlement of the Treasurer with the Commissioners, and "from a full inyestigation of all the accounts and monies paid into his hands as Treasurer, that the said Treasurer has paid and accounted with us for aboye, the same twentythree dollars seyenty cents and four mills, which is as follows:

" Ordered, that Henry Hains be allowed the sum of $23.70.4, which is a balance due him on settlement as Treasurer of Knox county, and the Tx-easurer is ordered to pay the same."

Melancholy Exit

Hcniy Haines, first Treasurer of Knox county, was one of tlie best men in the county at its organization. He was a native of , and settled on

He had been a man of education and property, and was in easy circumstances. He was a very ingenious, handy man, had a turning lathe, made chairs, farmed, etc. He became deranged on the subject of religion, was an active and leading member of the Discij)le or Christian denomination, at that time called "Kew Lights." He officiated with James Smith in the first conference held in the county, of which David Young, of Zanesville, was Presiding Elder.

Haines became a loud exhorter, and, becoming deranged, got a tin horn and rode around the town and county, day and night, notifying the people to prej)aTe for judgment, as the world was coming to an end. He proclaimed the same doctrine in his derangement that IMillerites subsequently did.

When he became ungovernable he was taken to Dr. R. D. Moore, who confined him in a mad shirt, or straight jacket, and treated him for several weeks until he was restored to reason ; but he said if he ever became insane again he would kill Dr. Moore. Shortl}^ after this the doctor removed to Fayette county, Pa., and Haines again became deranged, and was missing for some time. Search was made for him, but the first information that his family received of his whereabouts was in a letter from Dr. Moore. He had made his way into Oonnellsville for the purpose of killing the doctor, and had stolen the family silver spoons to pay his way in. Upon arriving there he had become rational again, and he told what his purpose had been, and staj'ed several weeks with the doctor, and was treated very kindly by him. !Not long after this he took a rope and hung himself to a tree on his own farm.

Chaptee Yii The Seat Of Justice For The Last Time

"^Vlien I moTed my family to tlie thirty-six acres of land which I had bought, I had no thought of ever laying out any portion of it in town lots, or of any town ever being laid out there, nor at that time had Walker or Patterson. The idea, when suggested, was pleasing, and we at once took up with it. Clinton had been laid out by Sam. Smith, and had never been paid out, I believe. It was started chiefly on the donation principle. Those who would put up buildings had their own time to pay for their lots, if ever they could.

"When we got word that the Commissioners were coming on to locate the county site, we were greatly stirred up about how we should manage. Kratzer and Williamson and Walker came to see me about it, and we all had a general consultation. I thought we had no chance of getting it, for I told them that they had, at Clinton, Bill Douglass' mill and a lot of good houses, and Sam. Smith's big brick house, and a plenty of smart Yankees to manage, and they had at Frederick Johnny Kerr's mill and a lot of ricli Quakers around it, and both them must give f 10, to make up a purse and get liquor for tlie devils we had, and engage them to go up to Clinton and Ercderick, and get drunk, and fiddle and fight and play hell generally when the Commissioners came up there to look, and that we would get two good yoke of oxen to work on the streets, and the rest of the men must take hold and spade and shovel and pick and roll logs and dig up stumps, and be fixing up the streets right, while all the women and girls must get out into their gardens, hoeing and weeding and working like good fellows, and I would have the best victuals cooked and the best cheer the little old tavern could afibrd, so as to please the bellies of the Commissioners, and we might then come out first for the county site selection.

that game, but at it he went, and they all fell into the \Aan. And we had a clever fellow named Munson, from Granville, and a big fellow named Bixbee, from over about Big-bell}^, and they agreed to go along and each to captain a gang of the rowdies, and see that it was played out right.

" It was Thursday afternoon when the Commissioners first came to our town, and they rode up and asked me if they could get to stay all night, and I told them that it was hard fare we had, but if they would put up with it they could, and they stopped. 1 guessed who they were at once, and j)assed the word around, and everything went on as we had planned it, and the next morning about dayliglit the busiest set of bees ever collected about a bive were at work, bammering, pounding, digging, lioeing, scraping and working on the streets and in the lots. Leah had breakfast bright and early ; I had their horses all cleaned up and well fed, and ready after they eat to start. They wondered at the work they saw going on, and if it was kept up always as they had seen it in town, and I told them we were all poor and hard working, and we never lost any time in our little town. They said they were going up to Clinton and Prederick to see those places, and were going to fix the county seat, and wanted me to go along, but I tried to beg off - that I was poor and must work, and couldn't lose the time, as it would take them two or three days to determine it. They said no, it wouldn't trick was played out well by the rowdies that they would soon be back, so I sort of hesitated as though I would and I wouldn't go, and finally told Kratzer if he would go too, I would, as I would like to see them fix the county seat up there, and then Jim Dunlap, who was a jovial fellow about 35, spoke up and said to come ahead ; the other two were sort of gruff, it seemed to me, and didn't say much, but looked solemn. They asked if we didn't expect to get the county seat at Mount Yernon, and I told them no, that we were too poor to try for it ; that I felt too poor really to go uj) with them, for some fellow might come along and stop with me, who would want me to go w ith him and look at land, and every fellow that I showed land to, gave me $2, which helped right smart. There were three sorts of poor - Grod's poor, the devil's poor, and poor devils, and that we were all poor devils ; but Sam. Smith was long headed, and Johnny Kerr had lots of rich Quakers to back him, so us poor de\ils were left out of the question.

" We then rode together up to Clinton, and there the rowdies were cutting up, and the fiddle going, and shouting and cursing being done of the tallest kind, and when we went to go into the tavern there was a rush to the door wav, and two men scuffling and fighting, and before the Commissioners could get in they were jammed and scuffed about, and in the din and confusion, and yells of ' pull them olf,' part them,' ' don't do it,' ' fair play, by G - d,' and all such calls, the Commissioners backed out from the tavern, and proposed to go and look at Predericktown. About that time old Sam. Smith came up, and when he found out they Avere the Commissioners, and going, he tried the hardest kind to get them to stop, but it was no go ; they had seen enougli of that place then, but promised him to call again to-morrow. On the way to Fredericktown I talked much mth them, and apologized for the way our people up there had acted, and they asked me if they cut up like Indians all the time, and I told them that about Clinton and Erederick there were a great many ricli men's sons, and they had no trades, and would frolic a little just to put in their time, but they were a mighty clever set of peox)le, &c. And I pointed out to them the pretty scenery, and bragged on the land around, but said not a word for Mount Yernon. When we got to

Erederick, tliey stopped at Ajtgs' tayern, and found a good deal siicli quarreling going on as at Clinton, and I got afraid then that they might see through it, and suspect that we had a hand in getting it up, and so I got down about the mill, and sat on the logs awhile with Kratzer and Patterson, and left them up at the tavern to see the fighting in the yard, and just before going in to dinner I called one of the rowdies to me and told him it was all working well, and gave him more money, and told him to swear the others not to re^Tilge on them ever, and we would make it right with 'em. After dinner the Commissioners sauntered around, and I proposed going back and leaving them, as they would want to stay all night there, and I had some work to do and chores to attend to at home before night ; but they would have me wait a while longer for them, and I did it. While there sitting on a log, we bet two gallons of wine with Johnny Kerr, as to which place would get the county seat. When they were ready they started, and we rode back to Mount Yernon, where Mrs. Butler had the best kind of a supper cooked up, and it put them in right good humor. She knew how to fix things up right on such an occasion.

" The men about Mount Yernon were all quiet, and kept so, and when Dunlap asked Coyle's two boys to take a dram with him, they hung back and hesitated, until I told them to come up and take a drink with the gentleman - that there was no harm in it ; and they poured out the least bit of drams they ever took in their lives. The next morning the Commissioners got ready to start, and I had got Kiiuck Harris, tlie only nigger in tlie conntry tlien, to sleek tlieir horses off, and tliey came out looking first rate. Dnnlap was a funny fellow, and he tliouglit he could hop, and bantered some of the boys to hop, but they were afraid they would be beat by him, and said it warn't no use to try, as they knew he could beat them. But I told him to make his hop, and he went out in the road and gave a sample ; I went over it just a little, and we hopped several times, until I concluded to show him what Ben. could do, and I hopped so far over his furtlierest mark that they all laughed him right out, and he gave it up, saying I could hop some. In those days I never found the man that could beat me. When they were about starting I asked them if they were not going back to Clinton and give it another look, but they said no, and the Olintonites never saw them any more. They wanted to go to Delaware, and asked me to pilot them a part of the way, which I did, and when I got out with them back of George Lewis' place, I tried to find something out of them as to what they had determined on, but they evaded my questions, and gave me little satisfaction. On bidding them goodby, I hoped they were not put out with our j)lace on account of the hard fare I had given them - that I had nothing nice to give them, as I kept only a little log tavern, and supplied my table by hunting and butchering. One of them remarked that if they ever came this way again, they were well enough suited to call on me. I then said that I was poor, and felt discouraged, and thought that I Avould quit off and go some where else and make a better liying for myself and family. Dnnlap tlion said I was doing well enough, and must not get out of heart. And so we parted. When we got back to town all the men gathered around me to find out what was our chance. I told them what had passed between us, and that I was satisfied it would be found that our side was ahead, and I called them all up to take a good drink at my expense on Mount Yernon being made the permanent county seat. That little trick of ours, I am sure, made the scales turn in our favor, and when we knew that it was established at Mount Vernon, you can imagine that we had loud rejoicing over it."

In this time of war, Avhen the public mind is educated to believe that it is fair in any way to gain an advantage over an enemy, there will be but few who will not consider this little county seat contest to have been proj)erly conducted upon the i)art of the Yernonites. The rule that "all is fair in politics" having of late years gained general acceptation and credence, those who have dabbled in govern mental affairs will say that this was rightly done, and all who have won in matters of love, and who has not, will concede that " the end justifies the means," and all who believe that " whatever is is right," will determine that Mount Yernon honorably, jnstly and legitimately became the permanent seat of jus tice of Knox county.

Jonathan Hunts Ryder

Jonathan Hunt informs us that he was one of the volunteer workers on the streets at the time the Commissioners came on, and that Gilman Bryant sort of bossed tlie work, and, being a cripple, lie tended on them and gave out the whisky and water, cheering them np as he came around, saying : " Work like men in harvest, but keep sober, boys." Mike CMck, and John Click, liis brother, drove the oxen." Mike was a bully hand with a team, and made them tear up stumps, haul logs, plow and scrape, as necessary. Men never worked better on a road than that force then did. They chopped down trees, cut off logs, grubbed, dug down rough places, filled up gulleys, burned log heaps, and made a wonderful change in the appearance of tilings. It was the first work ever done on the streets of Mount Yernon.