Cass County, Illinois - Chapter 9: County Institutions, 1915

FIRST LAND OWNED BY COUNTY - DONATED BY DBR. HENRY H. HALL AND WIFE - COURTHOUSE AND JAIL BUILT AT VIRGINIA - LAW AS TO IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT - COURTHOUSE AND JAIL BUILT AT BEARDSTOWN - CONCERNING LOCATION OF COUNTY SEAT - PRESENT PUBLIC BUILDINGS WELL ARRANGED FOR COUNTY BUSINESS - PROVISION MADE FOR COUNTY POOR - COUNTY FARM - PRESENT ALMSHOUSE ERECTED ABOUT 1899 - AN EFFICIENT AND PRACTICAL SUPERINTENDENT.

The first real property owned by the county of Cass was a donation from Dr. Henry H. Hall, under the terms of the act of the legislature creating the County of Cass, and providing that if the county seat should be located at any other place in the county than at Beardstown, the citizens of the place where it should be so located, should donate to the county fifteen acres of land upon which the courthouse was to be erected, or to be disposed of as the county commissioners might see fit, and the proceeds expended in erecting a courthouse and jail. In May, 1837, a vote had been taken upon the question of the permanent location of the county seat, and a majority of the voters decided it should be at Beardstown, but the citizens of Beardstown, not complying with the terms of the law for the formation of the County of Cass, the commissioners of the county decided the county seat should be located at Virginia, pursuant to an alternative provision of the act. In compliance with that act, Dr. Henry H. Hall and wife, Ann H. P. Hall, made a deed of donation with warranty to fifteen acres of land in section 3, township 17, range 10, west, the center of the tract being the stake placed by the county commissioners where the "county seat or courthouse"? should be located. The deed bears the date of April 2, 1888, and is recorded in Book A of Deeds, page 94. On April 4, 1838, the county commissioners' court appointed Henry H. Hall commissioner to sell and convey any real estate within certain description except the public square on which was to be located the courthouse, and authorized him to make any and all deeds of conveyance, and do all acts necessary to transfer title to said lands. Joshua P. Crow, Amos Bonny, and George F. Miller were then the county commissioners.

On April 21, 1838, Henry H. Hall and the county commissioners entered into a contract, that, in consideration on the part of Hall that he would build a courthouse and jail, he should have the proceeds of the sale of the lands above mentioned, which he was authorized to sell as a commissioner under his appointment. On June 21, 1838, the ground was platted into 100 lots, except the public or courthouse square, which was 300 feet wide, and 450 feet long, leaving a G60-foot street on each side. The lots were sold as fast as Commissioner Hall could find purchasers, and he soon had a number of them disposed of, and he also prepared to erect the courthouse. The contract for the brick work was let to George W. Wearer, the father of Captain W. H. Weaver, who is now living at Petersburg and is well known to the people of Cass County. The brick were burned at a point a little north of the present line of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad. opposite the north side of the old fair grounds. By the end of the summer of 1839, Dr. Hall reported to the county commissioners that the buildings were ready to be turned over. The jail had been built on another tract of ground, mention of which will be made later. The center of the courthouse was at the point where the commissioners had driven the stake in the center of the fifteen-acre tract. as the contract provided for, and it was a two-story building facing the south. The office rooms for the clerks and other county officers were on the ground floor, and the court and jury rooms were above. After the county seat remoyal, the building was sold to the trustees of township 17, range 10, for the use of the Virginia school district, a full description of this transaction being given in the chapter relating to schools. At the September meeting of the county commissioners court, on September 2. 1839. the commissioners caused a record to be made showing that they had inspected the courthouse and jail built by Henry H. Hall under his contract with the board of commissioners; that the buildings were erected in accordance with the contract, and that they were accepted, and Dr. Hall was released from all further responsibility. The contract entered into by Dr. Hall did not require him to build the jail on any part of the fifteen acres, and he preferred to put it on a lot of his own, nearly a quarter of a mile southeast of the courthouse, on lot 94 of his addition to the original town of Virginia.

After the building was erected, Dr. Hall and wife deeded the ground on which it stood to the county. Lot 94 is a large one, surrounded by alleys, and is 180 feet square. The deed, however, did not convey all the lot, but only a part described as a tract of land "on which the prison of Cass County is erected, its boundaries being: commencing at the southeast corner of the criminal room and running south 10 feet, thence west 101 feet, thence north 55 feet, thence east 101 feet, thence south 16 feet to the northeast corner of the debtors' room, and including the ground on which said rooms stand. The angles are to be in the same course with the lines of the lot 94." Thus it is revealed, by a provision for a debtors' room, that some persons yet clung to the barbarous idea of imprisoning persons for not paying their debts; although the constitution of 1818 provided that "no person shall be imprisoned for debt unless upon refusal to deliver up his estate for the benefit of his creditors in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, or in cases where there is strong presumption of fraud." This identical language against imprisonment for debt is incorporated in both succeeding constitutions, but before the people of Cass County would believe this the Supreme court of the state had to determine judicially that this section of the constitution abolished imprisonment for debt. It was well, however, to have a "criminal room," for neither the constitution nor the Supreme court has succeeded in abolishing eriminals. On March 5, 1841, Dr. Hall and his wife deeded to the county another small portion of lot 94, "commencing at the northeast corner of the prison ground, and running easterly 24 feet, thence southerly 55 feet, thence westerly 24 feet, thence northerly to place of beginning." However, there is nothing in either description to indicate where the prison stood. The building was a substantial one of brick, one story in height and containing four rooms. This remained on the premises until September, 1904, when, like the old Bastile of Paris, France, it was razed to the ground and nothing is left to indicate where it stood but the condition of the ground. The outlines of the foundation are still visible, and upon inspection it is found that the building stood a little east and north of the center of lot 94. Lot 94 is east of J. N. Sinclair's residence on South Job street, and it is now owned by Mr. Sinclair. The east side of lot 94 is 101 feet east of the alley running along the westerly side, and the north walls about 44 feet south of the northerly line of the lot. In size it was 29 feet north and south, and was nearly square. but the exact width cannot be ascertained. In 1851, six years after the county seat was removed to Beardstown, the county commissioners appointed John B. Fulks a commissioner to sell the property, and on August 4 of that year he sold it at public auction to Henry H. Hall. The deed simply conveys all "right. title or interest of the County of Cass" in and to lot 94. ete.. without any particular description of the tract of ground. It was purchased later by Robert Chittick. and occupied as a residence, the building having been improved to a certain extent. My. Chittick was a mechanie¢ and blacksmith, who had his shop some little distance east of the old building for many years, and is well remembered hy the older citizens.

The act of the legislature granting a yote upon the question of removal of the county seat from Virginia in 1842, provided that if removed by vote. then the locality to which it was to be removed should provide a suitable court and jail without expense to the county. Beardstown agreed to the proposition. and guaranteed the buildings before the vote was taken. Pursuant to the vote in favor of removal to Beardstown at the election held September 3. 1843. and to the requirements of the law. the trustees of Beardstown contracted with B. W. Sehneider to build a courthouse. and with Thomas Beard. the founder of Beardstown, to build a jail. Both buildings were erected on lot 1 of block 81 of the original town of Beardstown. at the southeasterly corner of the public park. The courthouse was built on the north end and corner of the lot, and the jail at the rear end on the south, with an open space of ahout 20 feet between the two. At the February term, 1845, of the commissioners court, the deed to the lot was presented to the board along with a receipt from the contractors, B. W. Schneider and Thomas Beard, for payment in full for the cost of erection of the buildings. and a certificate from Judge Samuel D. Lockwood, the cireuit judge for the county. of the sufficiency of the buildings. Whereupon the board ordered all the papers recorded, and adjourned the court to meet at Beardstown on the first Monday of March, 1845. The courthouse building is a twostory brick one, with a court room and jury roonis on the second floor. There are four rooms on the ground floor, with a hall through the center, from north to south, and a stairway to the second floor at the rear end of the hall. It was not a large building, but was made very substantial and convenient. and is yet in a splendid state of preservation, having been kept in excellent repair, and is now the city hall of Beardstown, in which the city offices are located. the court room being used for the council chamber. It is also used for holding the terms of the city court, inaugurated at Beardstown in 1911. The old jail is used as a city jail, and the space between the two has heen enclosed and houses the fire department of the city. The famous "Duff Armstrong" trial was held in this courthouse. a description of which is given in another chapter.

public buildings of the county has heen the result of the contention over the permanent location of the county seat. therefore the history of that struggle is necessarily interwoven with the history of the public buildings. Under the law at that time it required a special act of legislature to have a vote upon the question of the remoyal of a county sent. On February 11. 1858, the legislature passed an act for a vote on the question of remoyal of the county seat, the vote to be taken the first Monday of November, 1855. The election was held and resulted in the defeat of Virginia. Again, in 1857, Dr. Samuel Christy. representative from Cass County. secured the passage of an act for a vote on the question. That election was held November 8. 1857, and it was charged that both sides of the contending forces committed stupendous frauds in securing a large vote. Beardstown succeeded in getting the greater number of ballots into the boxes. and Virginia, accepting the defeat. bided its time, which came again by act of legislature dated February 14, 1867, granting a vote to be taken April 2, 1867. The election resulted in an overwhelming majority for removal to Virginia. but trouble ensued which brought a contest in the Circuit court. The poll books of Virginia were rejected. and Beardstown retained the county seat. In the meantime a constitutional convention was called and held and a new provision was incorporated which was more favorable for. the location of county seats near the center of counties, and Virginia, being practically in the center of Cass County, thought the time had come when surely, if ever, she might recover the coveted prize. An act of legislature was passed providing the manner in which the vote under the new constitutional provision should be polled, among the provisions being one that a petition should be filed in the county court, after certain preliminaries, containing the names of signers of at least two-fifths of those who had voted at the previous presidential election. It required a great deal of labor on the part of the Viriginia people to secure that petition, but it also gave them an opportunity to canvass the question with the voters. At last the petition was finished and presented, and an election ordered for the second Tuesday of November, 1872, and the election caretully guarded and held, resulted in a majority of 128 for removal of the county seat to Virginia. Previous to the holding of this election. Virginia people, under the leadership of Jacob Dunaway, Samuel Petefish, Z. W. Gatton, Charles Crandall, Ignatius Skiles and others induced the building of a courthouse under the guise of erecting a new city hall for Virginia. and then agreeing to donate the building for a county courthouse. A contract was entered into with Jobst & Pierce, contractors of Peoria, Ill.. and a very excellent two-story brick building was erected on the public square of Virginia. known on the plat as Washington Fountain Square, and divided into compartments suitable for a courthouse. The building was constructed in 1872, but was not fully equipped until after the question of the county seat location was fully determined by the Supreme court, where it had been appealed after passing through the lower courts. After a canvass of the vote upon the election and Virginia had, by the canvassing board, been declared winner, an injunction was procured preventing the removal of the records to Virginia. The injunction was watched closely, and by renewals was kept in force until along in the fall of 1874, when, by an orersight on the part of lawyers for Beardstown, it was permitted to expire, and before another could be procured, Virginia people had organized a company, which, under the command of Robert Hall, went with teams to Beardstown in the night, and after the injunction expired at midnight, loaded up the records and files of the courts and escaped with them to Virginia. This was a hazardous undertaking, with the bitterness that had been engendered by the long contest, but it was more easily accomplished by reason of the fact that the county officials who had been elected at the previous election were residents of Virginia and the east end of the county, and favorable to the removal of the county seat to Virginia. It is said they were let into the secret of the undertaking and had prepared the records and files so that they were readily loaded into the wagons which came for them, and it was not until late the next morning that it was discovered by the Beardstown people that the records and books had disappeared. This, however, did not end the matter. Beardstown secured an injunction against the officers doing business at Virginia until the case should be finally decided. On June 7, 1875, the county board entered on their records that they had received a decision of the Supreme court dissolving the injunction, and organized the board by electing William Campbell chairman, and ordered the removal of the furniture from the Beardstown courthouse to the courthouse at Virginia, located on lot 77, or Washington Fountain Square. The other commissioners were, at that time, Robert Fielden and John H. Melone.

The present courthouse at Virginia has been in use by the county ever since 1875. In 1891, E. M. Dale, under contract with the county board, built two fireproof vaults of large size, one on the east and one on the west side of 'the main building, with a room above each of them. The east room, below, is used for the vault for the deed records, and the Circuit court records, and the one on the west side is for the records of the County court, and those of county affairs. The east room above is used for the court library, and the one on the west is for the office of the county superintendent of schools. The jail at Virginia was built by Joseph F. Black, a pioneer resident of Cass County, and one of the best known architects and builders in central Illinois. He built the Central school building at Beardstown, and the Methodist church of that city, and the Cumberland Presbyterian, the Methodist and Christian churches of Virginia, and also the opera house of the same city, as well as many of the best and most costly residences of Virginia. The jail was built in 1876, under contract dated February 28 of that year, at a cost of $14,000. It stands on lots 112 and

118 of the original town, on W. Beardstown street, and is of brick and stone; the jail proper being of stone exclusively, while the main building is for the sheriff's residence and is a twostory brick structure, trimmed with stone, presenting an attractive appearance, although of a plain style of architecture. The other public or county buildings and property are those purchased and held for the care and maintenance of the poor. Prior to 1839, the method of caring for the poor was of an extremely humiliating character. When a person was cast upon the county in those days, an order was entered and the county clerk put up the paupers at public auction to the lowest bidder, that is, they were sold to the person who would take, keep and care for such paupers for the smallest sum per month. Reading the records without an explanation would result in engendering a feeling of horror at the unintentional barbarity practiced in those early days. Brutal and barbaric as it was, it was done with the best intentions on the part of those who had a disagreeable duty to perform. On June 22, 1839, there is record of a case in which two paupers, a man and woman, in which the woman was auctioned off at $3 per month, and the man at $10 per month, the two parties who agreed to take them at these sums being, according to the records, the lowest bidders. On December 8, 1840, William Blair was al- ' lowed by the county board $85 for building a small frame house, a "substitute for a hospital for keeping a deranged woman" in the Sugar Grove District, under conditions that could not oecur in Cass or any other county of the state at the present time. Great advancement has been made in methods of treatment and care for the unfortunate of the human race. Excellent homes are now provided in each county for the poor, and hospitals are built by the state for the treatment in a scientific manner of the deaf, blind, sick and demented. No insane person can be kept in an almshouse, however well and efficient the provisions for their comfort may be. There is no more "farming out" or selling of paupers. While all are not cared for in the county almshouse, the cases of those who are not, are carefully considered by the overseers of the poor, or the county boards, and such provision made for them as is deemed best for their welfare. The latest, and one of the most inportant efforts on the part of the people of the state through their legislators to provide for helpless children and worthy mothers, is the "mothers' pension law.' In 1846 the County of Cass concluded, through its commissioners, that it would make better provision for maintaining the poor, and purchased of Rev. Reddick Horn a tract of land of 134 acres, in township 18, north, range 11, west, in sections 21, 28 and 29. Rey. Reddick Horn, the Protestant Methodist preacher before mentioned in these pages, was then clerk of the Circuit court of the county, and continued as circuit clerk until March 28, 1849. On March 5, 1846, the county bought of James Buck and wife the west one-half of the southwest one-quarter of the southeast onequarter, and the southeast one-quarter of the southwest one-quarter of section 21. same township and range. With some slight changes re ducing the amount of land to 190 acres, which the county now owns, it has held those lands ever since. Of this farm, 100 acres is of the finest fertile soil in the county, and the balance is used for pasture and for buildings and feed lots, barns, ete. There is an excellent orchard and vegetable garden, the latter supplying sufficient vegetables for all the inmates. There is a splendid herd of dairy cattle which furnishes all supplies needed in a dairy line for the home. About twenty-five inmates are cared for annually.

On July 29, 1854, the county commissioners contracted for the erection of a house to be built on the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 21, at a cost of $950, and by that fall it was ready for occupancy as an almshouse. It was a small building with six rooms, all on one floor, and served the county very well as a comfortable home for the inmates. During 1888, however, a large three-story house was erected on the same building lots, which afforded ample provision for the poor. In 1899 this house was burned in some mysterious manner, but another was immediately built. This time, however, it was deemed wiser not to erect a house higher than two stories, and place more of it on the ground floor. There are now thirty-five rooms, which contain many modern conveniences that were not in the former home. The buildings are about one-half mile north of the station of the B. & O. S. W. Railroad, in the hamlet of Bluff Springs, and are upon an elevated tract of ground from which is obtained a splendid view of the Illinois River bottom lands, stretching for miles to the west and south, which is as beautiful and entrancing a scene as may be found in any part of the great, picturesque Illinois valley. John Thompson, who has been superintendent of the farm and home for fifteen years, is a very efficient man.