Peoria County, Illinois - Chapter 12: County Buildings, 1880

Chapter 12: County Buildings

The early Court House - The County Jail - New Court House - Laying the Corner Stone - House Warming - County Infirmary - Poor Farm - Circuit Court - Judges - The Criminal Calendar - Official Record.

When Peoria county was organized in the Spring of 182"). there were but few houses at Fort Clark. All of them were small structures, built of logs, and, with one or two exceptions, were occupied as private residences. There was not a building in the county seat of the new county that could be secured for the exclusive use of any of the county officers, and as a consequence they \yere forced to keep their offices at their residences, as already shown in the case of County Clerk Waters. This was the most important office at that time. The sheriff and treasurer hud but little need for an office, and while the sheriff could carry the papers Ijelonging to his office in his hat, the treasurer could carry those belonging to his department in his pockets. The requirements of the other officers were equally limited, and when business was wanted with any of them, if they could not accommodate the demand on the street, or wherever they were at work - count)' officers had to work in those daj's - they adjourned to their cabins.

The first term of the Circuit Court was held in a small log cabin that stood at or near the place occupied by the Fort Clark mill. Subsequent terms of the court were held under similar conditions. In March, 1829, John Hamlin, for the sum of seventyfive dollars, assigned to the County Commissioners, for the use of the county, all his right, title and interest in a log house that stootl between Water Street and the river, a little l)elow where the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railroad bridge spans the river, and known as the Crozier house, which was used for several years for the purposes of county offices, courts, etc. This building had been erected and occupied as a store house by Simon Crozier, and was the one in the upper story of which the Circuit Court was held wlien the cabin court room became too small to accommodate tlie attendance.

In Jtiiie, 1H:1;',. the Cotinty Court being in session, it wius "ordered that the (^lerk adveilise in tiie Sangamon -lnurnal that sealed propo.siils wiiuld be received at the Clerk's office in tlie town of I'eoria, iinlil the i'tb day of July next, for furnishing 150,000 brick on the public square in said town of Peoria, at which time and place contracts will be entered into for the said brick : also, that at the same time contracts would be given for furnishing the stone and lumber that might be wanted to construct a court house."

A special session of tlie Court was held on July 9, at which the proposals thus invited were examined. Samuel Hackelton was awarded the contract for furnishing the brick, at five dollars per thousand, and required to enter into bonds, " with good and sufficient security," for a faithful performance of his part of the contract. The contract for furnishing the lumber was awarded to Moffatt and Hamlin.

In September, 183-3, a contract was awarded to Daniel Fash, senior, for furnishing the material for the foundation walls, but at a special session of the court in January, 1834, this contract was cancelled by request of J. N. Chrisman. the surviving obligor. At the same session - September, 1833 - John Hamlin was employed as agent to furnish rock for the court-house foundations, and the hewn timber necessary, on as good terms as he could secure. The clerk was also directed to advertise in the Sangamon Journal, Beardstown Chronicle and St. Louis Republican, that sealed proposals would be received at the clerk's office in Peoria, until the third day of the next term of the Commissioners' Court, for doing the mason work in laying the foundation walls, and also the brick work, the county furnishing all the materials. Proposals were also invited for the carpenter work, exclusive of the doors and windows ; plans and specifications to be seen at the clerk's office. Aquila Wren, John Coyle and E. S. Jones were the Commissioners at this time, and under their administration measures for building the court-house had been inaugurated.

At the March term (1834) of the court, the contract for the mason work was awarded to Charles W. McClelan, and the carpenter work to George B. Macy.

At a special session in April, Francis Voris was appointed agent to superintend the building, and served until July 10, next following, when he was succeeded by Isaac Waters. At the same time Waters was appointed building superintendent, he was given a contract to furnish the stone, rough and dressed, for the foundation walls of the court-house, to be delivered, ready for use, whenever and wherever the masons should direct.

In October, 1834, John Hamlin was appointed agent for the county to superintend the building of the court-house, and furnish material on the best terms to be secured. From this order it appears that Mr. Waters had failed to meet the obligations of his contract to furnish stone, as previously noted, and as building superintendent. He was County Clerk at the time, and by reason of the infirmities of age, etc., the County Commissioners found it expedient to remove him from office. William Mitchell was appointed to the succession.

McClelan failed to complete the foundation walls as per agreement, and in October, 1834, the County Commissioners resolved to take the work under their own management. This resolution, on the part of the Commissioners, provoked a controversy between the court and Mr. McClelan, which became a subject of arbitration. Five citizens - Francis Voris, George B. Macy, William Compher, Jacob N. Chrisman and A. S. Buxton, were chosen arbitrators, it being agreed that their decision should be accepted and considered a rule of court. While there is no record of that decision on the journal, it is fair to presume the differences between the Commissioners and Mr. McClelan were settled to the satisfaction of both parties, as McClelan's name subsequently appears as one of the mechanics engaged on the court-house work.

April 28, 1834, special session. Joshua Bowman was awarded the contract for furnishing tlie base stones for the columns in front of the old temple of justice. These stones were four feet square and ten inches in thickness. They were delivered, ready to be put in place, for thirty-five dollars.

Ordered, And it is liereby agreed that Hamlin and Macy forthwith proceed with the work on the court-house, agreeable to contract, and that all extra work, additions, alterations and damages wliich have arisen, or maj- arise, in consequence of delay by the mason work not being completed in such manner as to allow them to proceed agreeable to contract, shall be allowed for hereafter, and the amount thereof shall be computed b}' two or more disinterested raeclianics ; provided, that the original contract shall be in no wise invalidated by the passage of this order. Reuben B. Hamlin.

Under this agreement the work was pushed rapidly forward, and at the June term, 183"), instructions were given to invite proposals for painting, etc. In July Joshua Bowman was awarded the contract for furnishing the dressed stone for the steps to the front of the court-house at sixty-two and-a-half cents per foot, and at the December term of the court he was awarded a contract for four plain round columns at ten dollars per foot, running measure.

At this - December - session Henry Gilbert, on the part of the county and W. A. Blair, on the part of Reuben B. Hamlin, were chosen to arbitrate the cost of the additions, alterations, damages, etc., as provided in the order or agreement of April 29, the arbitration resulting as follows :

The coint-house was fully completed in the Winter of 188.T-6. The lower story was originally divided into six rooms or offices, three of which were assigned to county officers, and the other three leased to lawyers. Some years after its completion, not being fire-proof, the safety of the county records began to interest the people. Some of them favored pulling down the building and erecting a finer and better one. one that would be fire-proof. Tlie pro])()sition was thoroughly discussed. The heaviest tax-payers in the county, as a rule, were o]iposed to the measure, while those wlio paid no taxes were in favor of a new liuilding. The citizens of Peoria, tax-payers and iion-tax-payers combined in favor of a building that would cost one liundred thousand dollars, but they were overpowered by the farmer interests, and a compromise was made which resulted in the erection of fire-proof wings for the protection of the records, whidi were usimI as clerk's offices until tlie entire structure was sold to David Burns for f2;')0, and torn down and removed, in May, IHTti, to make room for the present magnificent temj)le of justice. The wings cost about -'j'rj.OOO.

The old court-house was several times remodeled to suit the notions of those who were entrusted with tlie management of the county offices. Bench, bar, jury-box. seats, etc., were all several times changed from the original ])lan ; the stairs were removed from the insi<le to the outside of the building, and in fact when the old imildin',' was torn down, except the walls, columns, etc., there was but little of tlie original structure left.

where offenses were not bailable, or where bail could not be secured, prisoners were guarded by persons employed for that purpose, and in other cases they were taken to jails in other counties for safe keeping. No-ma-que, the Indian murderer of a Frenchman, and the first criminal in the county, was kept under guard a part of the time, and a part of the time he was imprisoned at Edwardsville. In consequence of the absence of a jail and the cost of guarding prisoners or keeping them in jails so far away as Edwardsville, many evil-doers escaped arrest and punishment that otherwise would have been made to "languish in durance vile."

The first county jail was built m 1834. It was built of square logs and stood on the alley between Main, and Hamilton, and Monroe and Perry streets. It was sixteen feet square and fourteen feet high. It is thus described by Mr. Charles Ballance : " The lower story was constructed of three thicknesses of logs - two lying horizontally and one between them standing perpendicularly, so that should an attempt be made to bore the logs out, the perpendicular ones would come down and stop the hole. The upper story was of only one thickness of logs. The corners were dove-tailed to give strength to the structure. The floor of the lower part was made of square timbers fitted closely together, and covered with heavy oak plank, well spiked. Above the strong room there was a strong floor, with a trap door. There was no door in the lower story or prison part. The upper story was reached by a pair of outside stairs. Prisoners were taken up these stairs, and, with the help of a laddei-, passed down through the trapdoor to the lower room. After their descent, the ladder was drawn up, and the trap door closed and bolted." The cost of this structure was one thousand dollars.

As small and inconvenient as this jail may have been, it was made to answer the purpose until 1849, when another one, part stone and part brick, was built at the intersection of Washington and North Fayette streets. That building cost $11,000, and continued to be used as a jail until the present structure was completed in 1869. Its great distance from the court house rendered it inconvenient. This inconvenience was acknowledged when the location was first selected, but there were difficulties in the way of avoiding it. The greatest of these difficulties was in the fact that the county had sold all the lots around the court-house square, and they were all occupied, or if not occupied, were held at such prices that it was considered bad economy to buy them back at from ten to twenty times as much as they had been sold for. But at last it was found to be a matter of economy to repurchase ground enough near the court-house for a jail, and in 1867 the Board of Supervisors bought the lots on which the present jail is erected for $6,000, and which the County Commissioners had sold for seventy-five dollars. The new jail was completed and turned over to the Sheriff, under order of the County Board of Supervisors, Feb'y 24, 1869, at a cost of $75,000, and is one of the finest buildings of its kind in the West.

The New Couet-House

The first court-house worthy the name in Peoria county, was commenced in 1835 and completed and occupied in September, 1835. In the day of its completion it was recognized as a handsome structure and a credit to the enterprise and liberalit}' of the people by whom it was built. But as time passed on and the elements of nature beat against its walls, its beauty faded and it began to look dingy and dilapidated. A few years previous to the beginning of the rebellion, steps were taken toward erecting a new building in the rear of the old structure, fronting on Jefferson street. Work was begun, and one wing - that used for the office of the circuit clerk previous to the commencement of the present magnificent building - completed. Then the war came on, and the court-house fever was lost in the new excitement. The proposition to build a new courthouse was abandoned, and the efforts of the people were turned to saving the country. From that time until 1874 the project to build a new temple of justice remained in abeyance.

Ou Thursday, December 10, 1874, the County Board being in session, Supervisor Anderson, from the Committee on Public Buildings, offered the following:

The present court-house is getting old and dilapidated, unsightly and uncomfortable, unwholesome and un. savory, leaky in the roof, floors, and windows and doors that are neither ornamental nor hardly useful ; that its foundations are showing decay ; and finally, that the present court-house of I'eoria county is entirely inadequate in accommodations for the busines'i of the county, and in looks and appearance a disgrace to the county and city of I'eoria. In view of these facts, the undersigned would respectfully offer the following resolutions :

2. That the question of issuing county bonds to the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,' to run not exceeding ten years, and to draw not exceeding eight per cent, interest, be submitted to the legal voters of Peoria county at the next April election

3. That the county clerk be instructed to give the proper notice that the question will be submitted to be voted upon at that election, and that he also cause to be printed on the ballots to be used at that election the words " For County Bonds," and " Against County Bonds," as provided by law.

Mr. Rowcliff moved to amend the resolution so far as to submit the question to a vote of the people at the next November election, instead of at the election.

Mr. Anderson accepted the amendment, and the yeas and nays were called on the adoption of the resolution as amended. Those voting in the affirmative were :

Plans were invited, and after a pretty severe struggle, the plans and specifications offered by Messrs. Wilcox and Miller, architects, of Chicago, were adopted on the 31st day of March, 1876.

Style, Venetian Italian, plan, cruciform, with grand colonnade entrances or pi>rticos, forty-two feet wide, at the Adam.s and Jefferson street fronts. At the Main and Hamilton street fronts, two-story colonnades and arcades. Size, one hundred and seventy -seven feet front on Adams and Jefferson streets, b)- ninety feet on Main and Hamilton streets. Height to cornices, ninety feet, and to the top of the lantern supji^rting tlie dome, one hundred and sixty feet from the base line.

Proposals for the erection of the court-house were invited, and ten bids, accompanied with samples of stone were offered. The bids were opened on the 3d day of May, 1876. The samples of stone offered were Kickapoo, Amherst, Aux Sable and Buena Vista. After several Ijallotings on Thursday, tlie 4th, the Ainlierst sand stone, from Clough's quarry, near Cleveland, Oliio, was approved, the last ballot restilting as follows: For Amherst stone, lifteen votes; Aux Sable, seven voles: Kickapoo, fotir votes.

The bid of Pliilip II. Decker, of Cook county, was considered the best, and the contract was awarded to iiim, at the sum of $206,071.31, and a committee of tliree, consisting of Messrs. Anderson, McClean and Collier, with tiie arcliitect, was chosen to j)repare a contract witli Mr. Decker. The contract was dated May 12, 1876, and bears the signatures (jf I'liilip H. Decker, tlie contractor and hiiiltli'r, and John A. McCoy, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, at tliat time, and Jolin D. McCliire, Ctmnty (Herk.

The old court-house was sold to David Burns, ft)r the sum of iis2.")0.00, to be removed within ten days." On Saturday, the 13tii day of May, tlie members of the Peoria Bar, many of whom had grown old in the practice of their profession beneath its shadows,

- In tearing down the old liuiUling, George K. I'arish, who was associated with Mr. Hums, in attempting to jump from the lop of the building to the wooden ceiling of the portico of the front entrance, fell through, and received injuries, from which he died in a few hours.

assembled in the court-room of the condemned structure for a formal leave-taking before the work of demolition was commenced. Jonathan K. Cooper presided. Speeches were made by Judge Gale, E. G. Johnson, E. P. Sloan, D. McCuUoch, Judge Louck, John Holmes and others. The speeches were full of reminiscenses incident to the courts, court-houses, lawyers and judges in early times. Some of them were historical, some humorous, but all appropriate to the occasion.

The Corner-Stone

The corner-stone of the new temple was laid on Saturday, the 30th day of September, 1876. The ceremonies attending were simple and quiet. Brief speeches were made by Hon. J. K. Cooper and Judge Cochran. After the speeches, Thomas Crotty, Esq., presented the following contributions to the crypt:

List of county officers, members of the Board of Supervisors and special court-house building committee for 1876; Names of architect, contractor and builder, and superintendent of court-house building; Photographs of R. G. IngersoU and the old court-house, by H. H. Cole; Copies of the Chicago Tribttm, the Ti?ncs, and Inter-Ocean, Campbell county (Kentucky) Leader, and the weekly Peoria papers ; Packet from Crotty Brothers ; Packet miscellaneous business and visiting cards ; Published reports of the county treasurer for the year ending September I, 1876 ; Annual report of the Workingmen's Loan and Homestead Association of Peoria ; Abstract of valuation of real and personal property in the county of Peoria, for the years 1875 and 1876 ; Photograph bust of Abraham Lincoln, by J. N. Ward ; List of practicing attorneys, furnished by Crotty Brothers ; Illustrated weeklies from 1834 to 1876, furnished by Crotty Brothers; Thirty-five dollars in Confederate scrip, by Louis Furst; Copy of the Brimfield Gazette; Laus of Illinois, 1873-4; Twenty-five cents postal scrip, original issue, by Charles H. Suit; Fifth annual report of the trade and commerce of Peoria; Notes of Texas; An act on roads and bridges in Illinois in 1875; One volume of the proceedings of the State Board of Equalization, 1875 ; One volume of the report of the Slate Board of Charities, 1875 , Fire insurance register and index, 1875 ; Fire insurance calendar, by R. Bliss & Co. ; Packet from George L. Bestor; Photograph of C. C. Miller, architect, from Wilcox & Miller; City directories, 1S58-1871 ; Life of C. Bestor ; A Mexican silver dollar, by Samuel Crouse.

Centennial Idyl, Franks & Sons ; Frank Incense, do ; Historical Centennial Poem, by R. W. Burt ; Centennial New Year's Address, by the Tratiscript carriers ; Graduating exercises of Peoria High School, class of 1875 ; Centennial Guide Over the Erie Railway ; The type-writer ; Twentieth annual report of Peoria Board of School Inspectors ; Future of Peoria, by Rev. A. A. Stevens ; Specimen of fine wood-engraving, by F. S. Hallock, Peoria ; Transcript Almanac, 1875^; Centennial oration and speeches of R. G. IngersoU, 1876; Premium list of Central Illinois Fair, 1876. t

These chronicles were placed in a tin box which was hermetically sealed. The large triangular block of Amherst sandstone, finished smooth on the Adams street side, with the year - 1876 - deeply engraved in handsome figures, was raised by the powerful arm of the derrick, and held in readiness. The box containing the oiierings above enu- , merated, was deposited in the cavity cut in the solid limestone water tablet. Spencer's Band struck up an appropriate air, the chief corner stone was swung slowly around and lowered to its place, and the ceremonies were concluded.

House Warming

The contract specified that the building should be completed on or before the 1st day May, 1878. It was not completed, however, until the beginning of November of that year. The event was celebrated by a grand banquet and house-warming on the 18th of that month, when all the people of the county were invited to come and inspect the new court-house. The exercises, as laid down in the programme, were opened with prayer by Rev. J. D. Wilson, of Christ church. Speeches were made by Messrs. James, Crotty. Cockle, Fuller, McCoy, Tipton, Cremer, and Judges McCulloch, Cochran, Puterbaugh, and others. About two hundred and fifty persons sat down to the banquet, prepared by Mr. Deane. All day long there was a throng of visitors to the new building, and all seemed proud of the local dwelling place of the Goddess of Justice in Peoria county.

f206,071.31. Modifications from the original plan were made in some particulars. In such cajjes, a corresponding deduction was made in the contract price. In some other cases changes were made that involved additional expense to the contractor, and a corresponding addition to the contract price followed. When the final reckoning came, and the sum total was footed up, the cost was found to be *J48,%8.70. It is virtually a fireproof building. The girders, beams, inside columns, door and window shutters, etc., are of best New Jersey iron. The entire structure is warmed l)y steam. The steam is generated at a boiler house in the rear of the jail across Hamilton street, and conducted through an underground passage. The tunnel through which the main pipe is laid is large enough for a foot-piissage way, and besides serving this purpose, affords means for safe transfer of prisoners between the jail and court-house.

The clock in the tower was manufactured by the Seth Thomas Clock Company, of New York, and is of the Hotchkiss pattern. The bell, weighing four thousand pounds, is from the Meneeley and Kimberley bell works, at Troy, New York. The clock and bell were furnished by the American Clock Company of the city of New York, and cost $2,49.^.

The stone coping around the square was erected by Messrs. Triebel and Son, of Peoria. The junior partner of this firm also designed the plan for the grade, walks, etc., of the square, all of which reflect credit upon Peoria genius, enterprise and workmanship.

An examination of the records of the county clerk's oflfice reveals the fact, and a most commendai)le one, that from a very early period in the countj-'s history, generous and humane provisions were made for the care of the poor, the sick, and the disabled, to whom fortune had denied her favors. In the earlier days their care and maintenance was secured under contract, with suitable persons.

As an instance of the manner in which contracts were made for the maintenance of the unfortunate, the following order of the County Commissioners under date of March 8, 184o, is presented :

OrJereJ, Thai John Keller be allowed to take charge of the |>au|>ers now upon the county, and that he be allowed two dollars per week for Benedict, one dollar and lifty cents for Isaac Dewey, one dollar and hfty cents each for Nichols and his wife, and one dollar per week for each of the children.

Physicians to the poor and indigent were apj)ointed by the County Commissioners, and their Itills, when presented, were audited and ordered to be paid as were any other bills against the county.

This system of management continued in force until the beginning of the year 1848. On the 11th day of December, 1847, the County Commissioners, Thomaj* P. Smith, Thomas Mooney and James L. Riggs, contracted with William Mitchell for the south half of the norliieast quarter of section ten in Limestone townsiiip (^uighty acres) for the purpose of a poor farm, the contract price being one tiiousaiid dollars, to be paid when the deed was delivered. The deed bears date June !-, 1.^4!^.

On the loth day of January, 184S. the county clerk was directed to adverti.se for bids for taking charge of the farm and the poor who ihighl be sent there ; the proposals to be opened on the first day of the next mouth. When that day came, one of the County Commissioners, Mr. Riggs, was sick and unable to be i)rosent, and at his request the proposals were not opened till the next day. The bid of Hiram I'atridge was considered to be the lowest and best, and he was elected to the miinagement of the poor bouse and poor farm for one year. The buildings on the farm at the time of purchase were made to answer for the time being, and thus commenced a system of nnmagement that has resulted in the jiresent large, comfortable and convenient county alms house.

ginning of 1849, and for the services of himself, wife and three hoys, and one yoke of oxen and one horse, he was allowed at the rate of three hundred and sixty-five dollars per year. The same management was continued under Thomas Bryant, as County Judge, and for some years after the management of county affairs passed under the control of a County Board of Supervisors.

At the first session of the Board of Supervisors, on the 8th of April, 1850, L. B. Cornwell, Stephen C. Wheeler and Isaac Brown were appointed a committee to visit and examine the poor house and poor farm, and to report thereon. This committee reported June 19th, of that year. At the same session fift)^ dollars were appropriated by the Board for cellar repairs and one hundred and fifty dollars for repairs to the house - making a total of two hundred dollars, which was, the first appropriation for improvements on the county infirmary. On the 13th of September, in the same year the Board ordered the erection and enclosure of an addition to the building then used, for which purpose an appropriation of four hundred dollars was made. At the March meeting, 1S51, Mr. Patridge was chosen to continue in the management of the farm, and Dr. John H. Murph}' was elected by the board to be county physician. In the Summer of 1851, the Board of Supervisors purchased what was known as the Herron farm, adjoining the poor farm, and as an addition thereto, for which they agreed to pay #9,000. This tract consisted of one hundred and sixty acres, and increased the poor farm to two hundi'ed and forty acres. The deed fi'om Herron and wife to the county bears date September 14, 1851.

In April, 1867, the Board ordered the Herron tract to be sold, stipulating, however, that it should not be sold at a less price than the original cost. Henry Harker became the purchaser, and the sale, as made b}' a committee appointed for that purpose, was ratified in full board on the 10th of September, 1867.

In April, 1868, a committee was appointed from the Board of Supervisors to select a new site, to consist of forty acres. Several sites were offered and examined, but the committee finally reported in favor of a re-purchase of the Herron tract at a slight advance over the price for which it had been sold. They assigned as a reason that it acjoined the original poor farm purchase, eligibility of situation, purity of water, healthfulness of location, and that with the two places united, there was ample room to raise enough farm and stock products to support the inmates of the alms-house, with something for sale besides. The report of the Committee was accepted and adopted, the County Board voted to re-purchase the Herron-Harker place, and appointed Messrs. Anderson, Matson, Jenkins, Wilder and Pinkerton a committee to advertise for and receive bids for the erection of an alms-house according to plans previously adopted. On the 22d of February, 18ii9, this committee reported that they had received several propositions for the erection of an alms-house, and that the bid of G. L. Ryers, for $59,000, made on the basis of the plans shown, was considered to be the lowest and best; also, that the committee had prepared a bill to be presented to the Legislature authorizing the board to issue and sell bonds to the amoimt of sixty thousand dollars for the purpose of erecting the building under consideration.

That there be a committee appointed by the Chairman of this Board to get up plans for a poor house that shall not cost to exceed thirty thousand dollars. The plans to furnish accommodations for one hundred paupers, to be a good, substantial, plain building, and to be so arranged that it can be added to at any time the necessities of the county requires, without destroying the appearance or convenience of the building.

Messrs. Anderson, Burdett, Monroe and Dunlap were appointed a committee to adopt the plans and proceed with the building. In April, 1869, plans were presented by Charles Ulrichson, which were adopted, and the contract awarded to him.

Supervisors of Peoria county to build an alms-house, and to issue bonds to pay for the same," approved March 25, 1869, bonds to the amount of tiiirty-five thousand dollars were issued and the building was commenced.

In February. 1870, the committee in charge of the work reported that Mr. Ulrichson had completed the contract, and that the building was ready to be delivered to the county.

In closing the account, it was voted by the board to present Mr. Ulrichson with an order on the count}- treasury for five hundred dollai-s, as a token of respect and honor for the faithful manner in which he had filled his part of the contract. Tliis sum added to the above total makes the cost of the Peoria county alms-house *38,4o0.t)l.

Alms-House And Poor Farm Management

The poor farm is under the oversight of a committee of three persons appointed by the Board of Supervisors, and known as inspectors. This committee is appointed from the Board. A workinj^ manager for the farm is elected by the board, who has immediate charge, subject to the Inspectors, of the alms-house and the farm. A strict account is kept by the Superintendent or working manager of every thing produced on the farm, of the articles and amount consumed, and of whatever sold. Regular reports are made to the board, which are as carefully examined as are the accounts rendered against the county by private individuals. Since the re-purchase of the Herron-Harker place, the farm has been well improved and all of it made availai)le for some purpose or other. Some of it is devoted to tillage, some to meadow, some to pasturage and stockgrowing. Every interest connected with the farm is carefully guarded and made as productive as possible. The last report of the Superintendent is here submitted :

Receipts

There have been eighty.seven persons admitted during the year, and one hundred and nine persons discharged during the same time. Total number of inmates December i, 1S79, io8 ; average monthly nnmber of inmates, 125.

The average cost of keeping paupers, per week, during the past year has been eighty-one cents per head, but when the value of products on hand is taken into consideration, to wit : the sum of four hundred dollars, the average cost of keeping each inmate would only be seventy-four cents per week during the year.

The Fibst Term

The first term of the Circuit Court commenced on the 14th day of November, A. D. 1825. John York Sawyer, judge ; John Dixon, clerk, and Samuel Fulton, sheriff. The court was held in a log building fourteen feet square, that stood on the bank of the river, just below the bridge of the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw railway. It had only one window, and its loft was low - in fact, it was a genuine log cabin. This court-house also served for religious meetings on the Sabbath. The basement, which was reached from an opening or door on the river side, was sometimes used as a jail and sometimes as a stable.

The first case called was entitled Crocker & Funk vs. Latham, appeal. The judgment of the court below was reversed and ordered to stand for naught, and that the defendant have judgment for twelve dollars and fifty cents and costs.

The next case, as shown by the old docket, was a slander suit brought against Edmund Weed by Abner Cooper and his wife Sarah. A. W. (Javarly appeared as attorney for the defendant and filed a demurrer. The demurrer was sustained, and the defendant " permitted to go hence and to recover from the plaintiffs the costs in the case." Cavarly came from Carrollton, in Greene county.

The following other cases made up the docket: The People vs. Joseph Ogee, and Jacob Funk, affray ; The People vs. No-ma-que, murder ; The People vs. Levi Ellis and Lyman Leonard, affray ; The People vs. Abner Cooper, assault and battery ; The People vs. John Grifiin, assault and battery ; Abner Cooper and his wife Sarah vs. Sally Weed, motion to reconsider ; same t^s. Edmund Weed, motion to reconsider; William Blauchard vs. John Taylor, trespass.

John L. Bogardus, attorney, was fined five dollars for contempt of court, and William S. Hamlin, a constahle of the court, was also fined five dollars for contempt, but the next day after the fine was imposed, it was ordered to be remitted.

No-ma-que was an Indian of the Pottawatomie tribe, and had been arrested and held on the chart^e of killing a Frenchman named Pierre Landre. An indictment was found against him by the grand jury at this term of court, and he was arraigned for trial. Joseph Ogee and Jaques Metti were sworn as interpreters. Defendant's counsel, William S. Hamilton, moved to dismiss the case for want of jurisdiciioii. The motion was overruled, a jur}- ordered, and nine men called from the liystanders. The pannel was not full and Judge Sawyer directed the sheriff to summon twelve talesmen to appear the next morning. The second day after arraignment a jury was obtained and the trial proceeded. Plea, not guilty. Some of the witnesses, the three BuUbonaits, who had been summoned, did not appear, and were subsequently punished for contempt in neglecting to obey the mandates of the law. There were witnesses enough, however, to sustain the charge in the indictment, and on the fourth day of the trial the case was given to the jury, and the following verdict returned :

"Stale of Illinois, Peoria Circuit Court, November Term, Eighteen Hundred and Twenty-five : We, the traverse jury ia and for the county aforesaid, do find No-ma^ue, an Indian of the Pottawatomie tribe, guilty of the murder of Pierre Landre. Austin Crocker. Allen .S. Daugherty. Alexander McNaughton^ Nathan Dillon, Henr^' Neely, William Woodrow, Peter DuMont, .\aron Reed, Abram Galentine, Josiah Fulton, Cornelius Doty. David Mathews. November 17, 1825."

A motion for a new trial was made and overruled. Counsel for defendant also moved for arrest of judgment, which motion was also overruled, and No-ma-que was called for sentence. The sentence of the court was that No-ma-que should beheld by the sheriff until the tliird Saturday in January. 1826, and that on that day he sliould be taken by the sheriff to some convenient place and there hung by the neck until he was dead.

Hamilton carried the case to the Supreme Court, secured a hearing, and on the 25th day of December, 1825, that court reversed the decision of tlie court below, but ordered No-ma-que to be held for tliirty days, to enable the local autliorities to take measures to again bring him to trial. He was held as a prisoner, part of the time under guard, a part of the time confined in jail at Edwardsville, and a part of tlie time lie was permitted to go at large on his own recognizance, until the ()etol)er term, 1826, when he was again indicted and called for trial. His counsel moved that tlie indictment be quashed on the ground that he had been once convicted of the offense charged. The defendant then raised tlie question of jurisdiction, to which the attorney for the people demurred. The demurrer was sustained by the court, to which defendant's counsel excepted, and the case was again certified to tlie Supreme Court. From that time forward until the May term of tlie court, 1828, No-ma-que roamed at will, without hindrance.

" In the year 1826 I lived three miles from Mackinaw, on the Peoria and Springfield road, in what is now Tazewell county, but then attached to Peoria, and being twentyone years of age that year, I was summoned on tlie grand jury. There were not enough adults tlien in Peoria county proper to form tlie grand and petit juries, and hence they were summoned from the attached portion. All the grand jury liut two were from the east side of tlie Illinois river, and were chiefly my neighbors. We took our provisions and beiMing, the latter being a blanket ortiuilt for each. It was also the practice in those days to take aloiitj a Hagon of li(nior, and the custom was not omitted on this occasion. In truth, 80 fiitlifuliy was the flagon put untler retiuisition, that but two of our niinibcr were sober when we appeared in court to receive the judge's charge. Judge Sawyer was the pre-

" There were only about eight bills of indictment found by the grand jury - one of these was against an Indian named No-ma-que, for murder. He had been tried the Fall before, but obtaining a new trial he was indicted again at this term. There being no secure jail, the sheriif (Samuel Fulton) kept him under guard at the house of a Mr. Allen. One night about a dozen drunken Indians met to rescue him, and attempted to enter the door for that jjurpose. Allen sprang out of a back window, and, seizing a clapboard, rushed around to the front of the house and laid about him with great fury. He felled four of the Indians to the ground before they could recover from their consternation, when the others retreated. Allen followed close on the heels of the hindmost and belabored him without mercy until he begged for quarters, crying, ' Stop, white man ! Stop, white man ! Stop ! ' Felling him, also, the five laid until morning, when they were able to crawl off. * * * *

" The court-house was a log building on the bank of the river, in which the jurors slept on their blankets on the floor. There was a tavern kept by Mr. Bogardus, but it was not large enough to furnish sleeping accommodations for them. The grand jury room was a lumber cabin, in which Bogai'dus kept saddles and other cattle fixings."

The Last Of No-Ma-Qub

At the May term, 1828, on motion of the attorney for the people, the No-ma-que murder case was struck from the docket, and the red murderer left the country. When Black Hawk invaded Illinois in 1832, No-ma-que was present with him at Stillman's Run, and was badly wounded. He was found in that condition lying in the way of some of the Peoria men, who humanely shot him to death to end his misery.

Droun's Peoria Directory (1844) has another article, written by "I. U., Esq." (Isaac Underbill), from which the following extracts are selected:

" I first landed on the shore of Peoria Lake on Christmas day, 1833, and took lodgings with our worthy townsman, A. O. Garrett, who then kept the ' Peoria Hotel,' in a small two-story wooden building at the corner of Main and Washington streets.

" The only building west of the hotel at that time was a barn a short distance up Main street. The entire town consisted of but seven frame houses and a few log tenements. Being favorably impressed with its future prospects, its beautiful site, and the magnificent lake, I determined to make it my future residence. Mr. Aquilla Wren was at that time one of the County Commissioners for Peoria county, of whom i purchased several lots on Washington street, at forty dollars each. The day following I left in the steamboat Peoria for the South.

"In a few months I returned again to Peoria. During my absence expensive preparations had been made for building, and before the first of September about forty houses and stores were erected.

"Judge Young was the presiding judge at that time, and held the Circuit Court in a small building, fourteen feet square, on the river bank. * * * * TYie grand juiy sat under the shade of a crab-apple tree, and the petit jury deliberated in an old French cellar (sometimes humorously called a potato hole - Ed.), partially filled up and surrounded with a growth of rank high weeds and grass. * * * * xhe venerable Isaac Waters was clerk of the court. His office and dwelling were in a small log cabin, where now (1844) stands the plow works of Tobey & Anderson. The old gentleman used to carry the seal of the Court in his pocket, and on one occasion, by mistake, offered it to the post-master in payment of postajje.

" The only practicing members of the bar that resided here at that time were the Hon. Lewis Bigelow and Charles Ballance. The former was an eminent jurist and profound scholar. I was informed that he wrote a digest of the laws of Massachusetts, a valuable work of upwards of eight hundred pages, with one quill. He died here in 1838. William Frisby, a member of the bar of much promise, arrived here in 1834. By his indefatigable studies he was fast reaching the topmost round of the ladder of his profession, when he c^ied in 1842, lamented by a large circle of friends and acquaintances."

In 1832 and 1803, the judicial district of which Peoria formed a part was composed of what are now the counties of Pike, Adams, Brown, Schuyler, Fulton, McDonough, Hancock. Henderson, Warren, Knox, Marshall, Stark, Henry, Mercer. Rock Island. Putnam, Bureau, LaSalle, DeKalb, Lee. Whiteside, Carroll. Jo Daviess. Stephenson, Winnebago, Ogle, Boone, McHenry. Lake, Cook, DuPage. Kane. Grundy. Will and Peoria.* In those days there were but few white men in all the region of country, and but few roads or bridges, and no public conveyances of any kind. Judges and lawyers traveled on horse-back from county seat to county seat. In some instances they traveled in squads and camped or lodged wherever night overtook them. And jolly squads they were I Places of entertainment along the trails of travel from court to court were few. as well as poor in accommodations. Sometimes judges, lawyere and families where they stopped to remain over night, all slept in one room, which served as well for kitchen, dining room, parlor, sitting room, etc. Songs, jokes, stories, and tricks played on each other, were the amusements of tlie night. And the old-time lawyers and judges made a humorous combination, about which many amusing anecdotes might be written. Their like the country will never know again.

Judge Samuel D. Lockwood succeeded Judge Sawyer, and presided at the May term, 1827, and in June, 1829, Richard M. Young came to succeed Judge Lockwood. "The most essential requisites for a good judge in those days," wrote Mr. Ballance, " was to own a good horse and to know how to ride him. These two requisites Judge Young possessed in a high degree. He was a fine looking, complai>ant Kentuckian, who did not possess much legal learning, but did own a fine, high-blooded Kentucky horse, and knew well how to ride him.

"In May, 1833, Judge Young made his appearance in tiie village of Peoria, and announced that he was on his way to Ciiicago to hold court. He had traveled one hundred and thirty miles from Quincy, where he lived, and to reach Chicago, as the trail then ran, had not less than one hundred and seventy miles more to travel to reach the county seat of Cook, making in all three hundred miles he had to travel to hold a three days court."

Mr. Ballance desired to accompany Judge Young to Chicago, partly to seek practice and partly to see the country. So scarce were horses in Peoria at that time that he could neither hire nor borrow one in the village on which to make the trip, and went to the country and presented his case to an old farmer, who had a small drove of horses. The only broken ones the farmer had, he wished to use, and as a matter of necessity, Mr. Ballance took one tiiat was unused to bridle or sa<ldle, and "on which no man had ever sat." He asked the old farmer why he had not broken his horses, and he replied that he was too old and that his boys were too young. He made Mr. Ballance welcome to the colt, however, but filed a demurrer to his attempting to ride him. "for," said he, " I am afraid he will break your neck." Mr. Ballance cited lus iiutiiorily in objection to the demurrer, tliat he had been raised wiiere they made horses at> a business, and that he would risk the chances of a trial, if he could get into the saddle. The colt was caught, bridled and saddled, and the farmer and his oldest son held him in chancery till Mr. Ballance was well mounted, and then let him go. And he did go - sometimes with one end toward Chicago, and sometimes with the other, and sometimes sideways, but Ballance stuck to the saddle like a mortgage to real estate, and reached Chicago after a little more than three days.

To return to Judge Young. It is said of him that he had sufficient ability to fill any office with honor and respectability, and that he became very popular with the masses. He was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1836, and served a full term of six years from the 4th of March, 1837, to the 4th of March, 1843. After that he served on the supreme bench, and acquitted himself with creditable distinction. But at last his sun sank in clouds. For several years before his death he resided in Washington and practiced as a claim agent. There he became insane and died in an insane asylum. Of his last days and of his sufferings but little was ever known to his old associates and acquaintances in Peoria.

After Judge Young was elected to the United States Senate, Thomas Ford succeeded to the judgeship. He served as a judge sixj-ears, and in 1842 was elected to be Governor of the State on the Democratic ticket. When he retired from the gubernatorial chair in 1846, he removed from his home at Oregon, in Ogle county, to Peoria, and resumed the practice of law. Here his fortune began to wane. His health failed and he became a hopeless invalid. His devoted wife wore herself out in watching and caring for her honored husband, and died suddenly. Her husband died soon after (^in 1850), leaving his family in poverty and destitution. It is said that while Governor Ford lay sick and helpless, his family was furnished with food by a party of Peorians, all but two of whom had been his political opponents. The same good Samaritans bore his funeral expenses and carried his remains to the silent city of the dead, and there consigned to mother earth all that was mortal of one of the purest and most incorruptible judges and governors known in the history of Illinois. He died ignorant whence the aid came, so quietly and unostentatiously was the truly Christian work carried on. And after the mother and father had been laid awaj^ in their "- windowless palaces of rest," their children, all but the oldest one, who was then uearl}' grown, were cared for and educated by the same kindly hands that smoothed their parents' pathway to the tomb. Such deeds of true Christian charity may not be justly recognized and appreciated here, but a reward far richer than ever conceived in the hearts of men, awaits them in the eternal Aisles of Light.

Between the time of his removal to Peoria and his death. Governor Ford completed his manuscript histor}' of Illinois. After his death, the late General Shields revised the manuscript, where revision was necessar}-, and perfected arrangements to secure its publication, for the benefit of the author's children. This was the only legacy left them, and is, in fact, the only reliable early history of the State ever published. But for Governor Ford's indomitable industry and familiar knowledge of the men and times with which he was closely identified for so many years, and the generosity of his friend and compatriot, there is but little doubt that much of the early history of the State would have been forever lost.

Jitdges From 1825 To Januaby 1, 1880

The following is a complete register of the Judges who have presided in the Peoria circuit from the first term of the court in November, 1825, to the present - January 1, 1880:

Samuel D. Lockwood came to succeed Judge Sawyer, and presided at the May term, 1827. In June, 1829, Judge Lockwood was succeeded by Richard M. Young. Judge Young remained on the bench until the close of 1834. Sydney Breese presided at the

Spring term, lS3o. and Stephen T. Logan presided at the September term, 1835. Thomas Ford presided at the May term, 1836. Dan Stone presided from tlie May term, 1837, to the May term. 1838. In August, 1838, Thomas Ford was elected to he Judge of the district, and when the September term of court came on, he exchanged with Jesse B. Thomas of the first district, and the hitter gentleman presided here. Ford presided at the April term, 1839, and regularly at every term thereafter until 1842, closing his judgeship with the April term. John D. Catou presided at the October term, 1842, and Judge Young, who had been elected to the Supreme bench, presided in May, 1843. J. D. Caton, one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, presided at the October term, 1843, and regularly thereafter until and including the (Jetober term, 1848. T. Lyle Dickey presided at the May and October terms, 1849. William Kellogg, of Fulton, was elected to be Judge of the Tenth district in 1849, and presided at the March term, 18.50, and until March, 1852. Onslow Peters, of the Sixteenth district, presided at the May term, 1853, and until he was succeeded by Judge Gale, at the May term, 1856. Judge Elihu N. Powell presided at the November term, 1856, and was succeeded at the August term, 1861, by Amos L. Merriman. Merrimaii resigned in September, 1863, and was succeeded by Marion Williamson, who was succeeded in turn by Sabin D. Puterbaugh in August, 1867. Puterbaugh remained on the bench until January. 1^73, and then resigned. Between the time of his resignation and the election of Joseph W. Cochran, in June. 1873, Henry B. Hopkins was appointed to be Judge ad interim. Cochran served until June, 1879, and was succeeded by Ninian M. Laws, of Lacon.

Nearly all of the old-time Judges have passed away. The last days of Young and Ford have been noticed, and our pen is now directed to those who succeeded them:

E. T. Lnckwood, subsequently removed to Belvidere, Boone county, and for some years piior to his death lived at Batavia, Kane county. 111., where, having acquired a competency by the rise of somo lands in the suburbs of Chicago, he purchased a beautiful country place, and peacefully closed a life of rare usefulness and singular purity and honesty.

Sydney Breese died on his extensive and well cultivated farm near Carlisle, in Clinton county, June 27, 1878. His portrait, a correct likeness, has a place in the Peoria Law Library.

J. I). Caton served on the Supreme bench for a number of years, and won distinction as an able and impartial jurist. He became immensely wealthy, and his home at Deer Park, Ottawa, La Salle county, is the pride of that part of the State. He is now largely interested in telegraphy and the manufacture of telegraphic instruments.

Onslow Peters was a native of Massachu.setts. His father wa,s a blacksmith, and owned the farm on which the Massachusetts State Reform School is located, at Westboro, and ."old it to the State for that purpose. Onslow canie to Illinois in 1836. After President Pierce succeeded to the Presidency in 185:'., Judge Peters went to Washington to loiik after an appointment, anil died there sudilenly the '^Hth of February, 1856.

John York Sawyer was born at Reading, Windsor county, Vermont, March 15, 1787. At the commencement of the war with Great Britain in 1812 lie enlisted in the army and was appointed ensign, and afterwards promoted to adjutant of Colonel Aikens' regiment, and served until the close of the war. He came to Illinois in 1816, and settled at Edwardsville on the 16tli of December of that year. He was Probate Judge and Recorder of Madison county for several years. On the 29th of December, 1825, Messrs. Sawyer, Samuel McRoberts, Richard M. Young, James Hall and James O. Wattles were commissioned to be Judges of the Circuit Court. In the arrangement of circuits, Judge Sawyer was assigned to the First circuit, which included Peoria county. The appointment of clerks to the clerk was vested in the judges in those days, and Judge Sawyer appointed Isaac Waters to be clerk of the Peoria Circuit Court. After serving as judge two years, the Legislature repealed the act establishing the system of courts as being too expensive, the salaries of the judges being fixed at five hundred dollars each per year.

In 1827 Sawyer embarked in the newspaper business, establishing the Plow-Boy^ an agricultural paper, which he published for two years. He afterward owned the Illinois Advocate, published at Edwardsville, and was the author of the first " Illinois Farmers' Almanac." In 1832, he was elected State printer, and moved to Vandalia, where he died in 1836, from an attack of pneumonia. Judge Sawyer was twice married. His second wife survived him, and died in Upper Alton in 1872. He left no issue.

Marion Williamson died in Peoria, on the 22d day of April, 1868. He was born in Adams county, Ohio, where he received a common school education, and then climbed to the honorable distinction of lawyer and judge by his own unaided exertions. He read law in the office of William Buck, of Adams county, and was admitted to the bar in 1852, and went to Ottumwa, Iowa, where he spent the Winter of 1852-3, and removed to Oquawka, in this State, in the Spring of the year last named, and came from there to Peoria in the Fall of 1856, and associated himself with Judge Mead. In 1859 the partnership was dissolved, and Judge Williamson opened an office by himself, and continued the practice of his profession until Judge Merriman resigned, as elsewhere noticed, when he was elected to fill the vacancy. On the occasion of his death a city paper, referring to his judgeship, said : " He filled the office with honor to himself and benefit to the community. His peculiar adaptability to the position made him one of the best officers that ever sat on the bench."

Sabin D. Puterbaugh resigned in January, 1873, and returned to law practice. He has written and published a treatise on common law practice, and also a treatise on chancery pleadings, several editions of which have been published, which is evidence of their value to the profession.

An act of the Legislature, approved June 2, and in force July 1, 1877, divided the State of Illinois, exclusive of the County of Cook, into thirteen judicial circuits, of which the Counties of Putnam, Marshall, Woodford, Tazewell, Peoria and Stark were designated as the Eighth. Under the provisions of this law, one additional judge was elected in each district on the first Monday in August, 1877. David McCollough was elected as the additional judge in this (the 8th) circuit. The same act provided that three judges should be elected by general ticket in each circuit on the first Mondaj^ in June, 1879, and that their tenure of office should continue for six 3-ears. At that election McCollough was elected from Peoria county. Laws from Marshall county, and Burns from Marshall county.

Appeixate Codbt

The law further provided that the Supreme Court should select twelve circuit Judges to hold such Appellate courts, three to each district. Judge McCulloch was selected as one of the Appellate Judges for the third district, and is now serving.

The Cbiminal, Calendab

Considering that Peoria county is a river county, and that since the building of railroads, the city of Peoria has become a railroad center of no mean importance, the county has always been remarkably free from capital crimes, as compared with other communities. There have been fewer murders, in proportion to the population, than in any other county in the State. From the time of the first settlement in the shadows of Fort Clark in the Spring of 1819, the presence of evil doers and criminally disposed characters, has not been tolerated. Every attempted violation of the law, ever}- infringement upon the rights of persons and propert}', has been promptlj- met and as promptly punished.

In mixed communities and growing, prosperous centers, there is always a certain per cent, of reckless, graceless characters and dishonest persons who seek by any means but honest industry to obtain a livelihood. These characters, as a rule, are never rightly entitled to be called permanent residents, but more appropriately come under the head of what are now called tramps. And it is safe to assume that seven out of every ten criminal cases, especially of the higher grades, that stain the court records of Peoria county, have been committed by transient characters. Capital offenses have been committed here, as they have been committed in every community since the world began to be peopled. But they have been punished. Only a very few of those convicted for murder, have escaped the full punishment of the law. Some, as in the case of McAlister, who murdered Joseph Eads in the beginning of 187.5, paid the penalty of life sentences in the penitentiary. Others have been sentenced for longer or shorter periods of time, according to the nature of the circumstances under which the offenses were committed.

The death penalty has onl}' been pronounced in four cases in the fifty-five years that have passed since the organization of the county under an act of the Legislature approved January 1.3, 1825. The first instance was in the case of No-ma-que, the Indian, already cited. In the other three cases the sentences were fully executed.

The first execution of the death penalty in Peoria county was a double one, in which two young men, named respectively Thomas Brown and (leorge Williams, were executed for the murder of a man named llewitl, in tlie lattir part of 18.")0.

Hewitt was a farmer and cattle dealer who lived at Berwick, in Warren county, and on the Saturday he was assaulted he had drawn some $1,")00 or ;'2,.')00 (the exact amount is not remembered) in Cherokee (fieorgia) " wild cat" money from Curtis' bank, at the corner of Main and Water streets. This fact was known lo Thomas Jordan, a notorious river thief of the times, whose alia.H was " Tom Tit," who imparti-d his knowledge to Brown and Williams, and planned to have them rob Hewitt of the money. They watched Hewitt's movements, saw him enter his buggy and start for home, and followed close in his rear. At the foot of the bluff, on Spring street, Hewitt got out of his buggy and sliirtfd to walk up the bluff lieliiiid his carriage to lighten the load for his horse. Brown and Williams ([uickeiied their pace, came ui> witii him and demanded bis money. On iiitf refusal to "stand and dclivcj," they assaulted him with u brick-bat, striking nim on the head, fracturing his skull, and rendering him unconscious. They barely had time to rifle his pockets when they were frightened away by some teamsters coming down the bluff, and ran over the Ijluff and reached and crossed the river between the site now occupied by the pottery and the " Narrows." By some means, probably by the help of the teamsters, who may "have imagined him intoxicated, Hewitt got up in his buggy, his horse started on and went out about ten miles, to Holmes's wayside tavern, where he was in the habit of stopping. There his condition was noticed and he was carried into the house. Medical aid was summoned, but the wounds were of such a nature that he died on the ninth day.

Brown and Williams had been seen running across the bluff and when it was known that Hewitt had been assaulted and robbed, suspicion pointed to them as the guilty parties, and they were traced across the river. Early on Sunday morning. Sheriff Riggs, George C. Bestor, Zenas Hotchkiss and others, crossed the river as a pursuing party, and in making inquiries among the farmers they learned that two young men answering the description of Brown and Williams had come into the neighborhood the evening 4)revious and hired a man to take them to Springfield. Bestor and Hotchkiss insisted on following the trail, and urged as an argument that unless they did so the robbers would escape, for as soon as they reached Springfield, then the nearest railroad point, they would take the cars and thus elude capture. Riggs could not be persuaded to follow them, and all of the posse, except Bestor and Hotchkiss, came back to Peoria, while the two last named pushed on to Springfield. The wagon which Brown and Williams hired had a green box with white stripes, and was easily followed. They reached Springfield on Sunday night, only a few hours behind the robbers, and found and captured them in bed. After their arrest their persons were examined and all of the stolen money but twentythree dollars was found secreted in their neck-handkerchiefs - the old fashioned black silk kind. Brown and Williams were brought back in irons, and taken out to Holmes' tavern, where Hewitt still remained, for identification. Hewitt had recovered consciousness, and immediately identified them as his assailants. The money was also identified by Curtis, as the money he had paid to Hewitt the Saturday previous.

Brown and Williams were lodged in the old jail at the corner of North Fayette and Washington streets, now occupied in part as a dwelling by Eberhardt Godel. When Court came on in November (1850), they were indicted for murder, put upon trial, found guilty of murder in the first degree, and on the 27th day of that month were sentenced by Judge Kellogg to be hanged on Friday, the 20th day of December. In the meantime " Tom Tit's " agency in the attempted robbery and murder, and his whereabouts had been discovered and a respite of thirty days was obtained to give the ofiicers time to bring him back, that he might be identified by the condemned men as accessory to the murder.

A Mob

The populace were greatly excited over the murder, and as the day first fixed for the execution drew near, the excitement increased. On the morning of that day men came to Peoria fi-om all parts of the country, until there was a large crowd in the streets round and about the jail. When it became known that a respite had been granted, the excitement overleaped all bounds of respect for law and good order, and the frenzied mob demanded that the men should be hanged, and declared that if the sheriff did not hang them, the mob would. The leading men of Peoria tried to allay their excitement, appealed to their better judgment, and urged them by every possible argument to disperse and go home, assuring them that the law should be enforced. Arguments and appeals to reason and obedience to law and good order were useless. The sheriff, James L. Riggs, naturally a timid man, had become frightened and kept concealed. His deputy, David D. Irons, was a man of more nerve, and with others that he called to his assistance, sought to l)ar the approach of the mob to the jail, but witliout effect. A part of the mob forced their way past Irons and his assistants and secured possession of Williams, who gave up without a struggle. Another part of the mob seized the scaffold, which had been erected in the jail yard, and bore it out to the center of the street. When it was seen that the mob was determined to take the men from the officere, Brown was told to defend himself as best he could, and right bravely did he respond. He secured one leg of a pair of trousei-s, into one end of which he fastened a brick-bat. The cell in which he was confined was small, and he so stationed himself as to be able to strike a head as soon as it appeared within the door, which had been forced. His aim was so unerring, and his weapon of defense so strong, that after two or three trials the attempt to drag him out was abandoned. One man from Fulton county received such a terrible blow that he died from the effects of it soon after.

Williams was carried out to the scaffold and placed under the beam. Then the courage of the mob oozed out, and not a man among them was brave enough to place the rope around his neck. After some parleying he was carried back to the jail to await a legal execution.

The Execution

On the 19th day of January the sentence of the Court was legally carried into execution, and Thomas Brown and George Williams, in the prime of their young manhood, paid tiie penalt}- of death for the murder of a fellow man. The gallows from which they were hanged was erected on the open prairie at a spot now overlooked by the stately residence and iiandsome grounds of John Griswold. The execution was public and was witnessed by no less than ten thousand people. There were terraces of men and women all along the bluff in the vicinity of the scaffold, many of whom had come from long distances to witness a double death-leap from the scaffold to eternity. When the demand of the law was satisfied, their bodies were cut down and given to Dr. Cooper, physician and surgeon, for the benefit of science.

The executed men were poor and friendless, and when the}' were firet called for trial, the Court appointed Halsey O. Merriman, Elihu N. Powell, and subsequently, Norman H. Purple, to defend them.

His Arrest, Trial And Conviction

As soon as the news of the assault upon Hewitt reached town, patrol and guards were thrown out in every direction and covering all the roads, with a view ot preventing the escape of any one not well known to the citizens, but not soon enough to prevent the flight of Thomas Jordan, alian " Tom Tit, '' who had planned and instigated the robbery and murder for wiiich Brown and Williams were executed. He was missing from the streets and his usual haunts, and it was learned that a man answering his description had been seen going down the river. A search was instituted in that direction, but he covered his tracks so well, that he was not overhauled. It was learned soon after, however, that he had gone to St. Louis, and from St. Louis he was traced to New Orleans.

At New Orleans, Jordan told his associates of the robbery and murder of Hewitt, and of the part he had taken in the affair, and in time the stury reached the ears of tlie police. Anticipating that a rcwaid would be offered for his ai>j)rehi-nsi()n, the Chief of (he New Orleans police wrote to the Governor of Illinois, advising him of .Ionian's presence in that city, and of his statement in relation to his complicity in the Hewitt murder. The Governor communicated with the authorities at Peoria, and the respite was obtained as already mentioned.

first evening he arrived there, he met the Chief of Police at the St. Charles Hotel, not by appointment, but by accident, and Ills liusiness was soon made known. Jordan was hunted up by the police, and arrested and put in the parish prison on a charge of vagrancy, and held there till the departure of an up river boat. While at New Orleans, Mr. Dodge learned that " Tom Tit " was a notorious wharf-rat or river thief, and he bore the name of a desperado, although he proved to be an arrant coward. He was held in prison until a boat was ready to cut loose, when he was ironed and hustled on board, with the assurance that he would be killed if he attempted to escape. The removal of " Tom Tit " from the prison to the boat was quietly conducted, so as to avoid an attempted rescue by the gang of which he was a member. As quietly as the movements were conducted however, two of his associates got on the boat and followed Mr. Dodge and his prisoner to St. Louis, and at one time, in the night hours, a movement was made by one of the villains looking to a rescue, but Dodge " scented the game " and nipped it in the bud. From St. Louis the way was clear, but as they neared Peoria, and heard of the attempted mobbing of Williams and Brown, " Tom Tit " became terribly frightened, and had to be braced up with brandy. They arrived home the morning of the 19th day of January, the day Williams and Brown were executed, and reached jail by a back street. The streets were filled with people who had come to see the execution, and when the conveyance neared the jail. Dodge told "Tom Tit, " who was trembling like a leaf, to be ready and jump as soon as the wagon stopped at the front of the jail, and get within as quick as he could. The instructions were obeyed and Jordan stood in the presence of the young men he had brought to the scaffold. The identification was positive. " That's the man, " exclaimed Brown, as soon as Jordan appeared in his presence.

Tom Tit was held in jail to await the action of the grand jury. On Friday, the 7th day of March, 1851, he was indicted for murder. He was arraigned for plea on the 8th, plead not guilty, and was remanded to jail to await trial. On the 12th of May, Court being again in session, the grand jury returned another indictment against him, charging him with robbery. On the 14th of May, 1851, the indictment for murder was dismissed. On the 22d he was called to the bar of the Court to answer to the charge of robbery, to which he plead guilty, and was sentenced to the penitentiary at Alton for fourteen years, the first five to solitary confinement.

After his term of imprisonment but little was heard from "Tom Tit" for some years. At last he commenced to write to Mr. Dodge to interest him in securing his pardon. For some time Mr. Dodge gave no heed to the letters. At last, in 1863, "Tom Tit" wrote again, and assured Mr. Dodge that if his pardon was secured, he would enlist in the army. Dodge then wrote that, as he had done so much to bring him back for trial, he would do what he could to secure his enlargement, but that he could do as he pleased about joining the army. The pardon was secured, and " Tom Tit," after twelve years behind prison bars, was set at liberty. He kept bis jiromise to enlist, and in 1863 Mr. Dodge received another (and the last) letter from him, saying he was in the army of the Potomac, and telling where a letter would reach him. Mr. Dodge answered that letter, but never received any reply, and it is inferred that he was killed in battle, or died from other causes, and that "Tom Tit" is no more.

Henry McNulty and his wife lived at Chillicothe. He was a man of intemperate habits, and, when under the influence of liquor, was of a quarrelsome disposition, and frequently abused and maltreated his wife, who was an industrious, prudent woman. His conduct toward her was so intolerable, that she was often forced to secure his incarceration in jail that he might sober up, but would as often visit the authorities and secure his discharge. Sheriff Hitchcock and George Puterbaugh, State's Attorney, often cautioned her that her life was in danger from McNulty, but with the faith of a woman who loves her liushand, she gave but little heed to their warnings. In October, 1872, McNulty had been on a spree, and had been confined in jail on complaint of his wife. About the 18th of that montii liis wife came down to Peoria, secured iiis enlargement, and gave him money to carry him up home. When he was released from jail. Attorney George Puterbaugh warned him of the ultimate consequences of his reckless course, and tried to prevail upon him to lead a sober life in the future. The kind words were lost, however, for instead of going home with his wife, he remained in Peoria, and commenced drinking. Sometime on the evening of the 19th he found his way home, and that night his wife was killed. Suspicion pointed directly to McNulty. and on the '20th he was arrested and brought to Peoria and lodged in jail to await the action of the grand jury. On the 12th day of November tliat body returned an indictment against him charging him with the murder. On the loth he was called to the bar of the court, and the indictment read, to which he plead not guilty. The case came on for trial on the 10th day of December, and on the 11th the case was given to the jury, who returned the following verdict :

" We, the jury, find the defendant, Henry McNulty, guilty, in the manner and form as charged in the indictment and we further tind and determine that the punishment of the defendant shall be death by hanging."

The following named twelve men composed the jury that signed McNulty's death warrant: Charles A. Taylor, Thomas Lindsav, Asa Hicks, Henry Warden, Samuel Comegys, George T. Wasson, M. S. Beecher, John Minor, B. Randall, B. K. Herrington, Jacob F. Shafer and John P. Crup.

Up to this time McNulty was represented by A. M. Gibbons. After the verdict of the jury, O'Brien & Harmon appeared for the condemned man and presented several motions looking to a stay of sentence, etc., but the motions were all overruled, and the law allowed to take its course.

" It is ordered and adjudged by the court, that the said Henry McNulty be taken from the bar of this court to the county jail of this county, there to be securely kept until Friday, the 3d day of January, 1S73, and that on that day. l>ctween the hours of eleven o'clock in the morning and two o'clock in the afternoon, within the walls of the said jail, or within a yard or enclosure adjoining, the same be hanged by the neck until he is dead."

The execution of the sentence was quietly enforced. The gallows was erected in the corridor of tlie jail. Only a few persons, those recognized by law, were allowed to witness tlie terrible and awful spectacle of death by hanging. The instrument of death was carefully arranged. When the last moment of his time had come, the catch was sprung, and Henry McNulty, wiio, when sober, was a respectable appearing man, was launched into eternit}' to meet his Maker and tlie spirit of his murdered wife.

[Pending the proceedings of the trial that brought Henry McNulty to a felon's death, Sabin D. Puterbaugh was judge; George Puterbaugh, State's attorney; George A. Wilson, clerk ; and Frank Hitchcock, sheriff.]

In"lH74 and the beginning of 1875, Dan. McCallister kept a low saloon and den of infamy on Water street, near the corner of Main. He came to Peoria almost, if not quite directly, from a term in the Joliet penitentiary, and at once entered upon a most disrepntal)ie career. He surrounded himself with a degraded class of nu-n and women, and his den was the hiding place and rendezvous of every thief and outlaw that came this way. Tlie " Tontine," by which name his saloon was known, soon fell under the surveillance of the local authorities, and althougli tliere were man}- liints of dark and damnable deeds of crime committed there, with liis knowledge and connivance and with the knowledge and connivance of those he liarbored, no tangible clue was obtained to any of tliem, and his place was permitted to remain a vice-breeding, festering sink of iniquity until the early part of 187.5.

On the evening of the loth of April, 1875, the " Tontine " was visited by a man named Joseph Eads, his brother, and several other men, all of them, except the first named, being pretty well under the influence of liquor at the time of the visit. Joseph Eads, as was afterwards shown, was perfectly sober when he went there, and remained so during the entire evening. It was also shown that he had gone there more to persuade his brother away from the company by which he was surrounded, than for any other purpose.

During the fore part of the evening the party joined in a dance in one of the upper rooms with the fallen women who were gathered there, and the orgies ran high. Along towards midnight the drunken debauch broke up in a row, andMcCallister blew out the lights and forced the besotted crowd out of the house and closed the door. In the melee McCallister received a slight cut with a knife or some other sharp instrument on the back of his shoulder or side. The wound was slight, but sufficient to arouse the fury of his demon nature, already- heated with whisky, and he followed out into the street. Joseph Eads was standing a little way up Main street, separate from every one, and giving no heed to any thing around him. As soon as McCallister saw him he rushed towards him exclaiming in bitter language, "you are the man that cut me," and at the same time drew his revolver and shot Eads to death.

McCallister was arrested by the police the same night and taken to the police station. The form of a preliminary examination was gone through with before Justice Cunningham, and McCaUister was committed to jail on the 16th to await the action of the grand jury. Court came on iu May, Judge Cochran presiding, and on the 18th day of that month an indictment was returned against McCallister, charging him with the murder of Joseph Eads. He was called to the bar of the court and the indictment read to him, to which he entered the plea of not guilty, and was remanded for trial.

The character of McCallister and his place was so disreputable as to be a bar against any degree of public sympathy in his favor, a fact well known to him and his counsel, and he refused to go to trial in Peoria county, and asked for and obtained a change of venue.

The case was sent to Mason county, Havana, the seat of justice, and the trial came on there at the February term of the Circuit Court, 1876. The State's attorney was assisted in the prosecution by X. E. Wofthington, of Peoria, and S. P. Shope, of Lewiston, who were employed and paid by an appropriation made for that purpose, by the Board of Supervisors. The defense was conducted by Messrs. Thomas Cratty and L. W. James, of Peoria, and W. W. O'Brien, of Chicago. The counsel for the people and for the defendant were pretty evenly matched, and the contest was measured almost || word by word. McCallister's life was at stake, but with a liberal use of his ill-gotten money and the ingenuity of the best legal talent in the State, he hoped to baffle the ends of justice and gain a new lease of life. The people of Peoria were equally determined that he should be prosecuted to the utmost extent of the law, and were not sparing of money or the employment of counsel to ensure a thorough prosecution. The trial, because of the notoriously bad character of McCallister, and the eminent and wellknown ability of the attorneys engaged, attracted general attention, and lasted several days. At last, however, the evidence was concluded, arguments ended, and the case given to the jury, who found McCallister guilty of murder and he was sentenced to the penitentiary for the remainder of his natural life. I Thus was removed from the city of Peoria and from societ)' elsewhere, one of the was a murderer, but because of his naturally depraved disposition, and his ability to plan and execute, through those by whom he was surrounded, the darkest and most infamous crimes known to men. He reveled in dissipation, debaucher}-, corruption, dishonest}- and prostitution. Inside of his house the life of no one was safe. Outside, no one woidd take him for the desperado that he was. His presence among young men, whose habits were miitiirin^, was like the poison of a upas tree. Even among older and better matureil minds, his presence was not without evil influences. And it is to be hoped no community will ever sanction and that no Governor will ever prostitute the pardoning power to his enlargement. He is a fit companion to Rande. Together let them be forever immured within prison walls where they will be powerless for evil to the moral and physical well-being of their fellow-men.

The following bulletin of criminal statistics is compiled from the Sheriffs record, and shows the number of convictions for the crimes enumerated, from March 17, 1869, to December 31, 18T'J.

To the Penitentiary - Larcenj', \'20 ; burglary, oO ; rape, 4; false pretenses, 2; murder, 1 ; robbery, l.j ; confidence games,* 1 ; forgery, 5 ; bigamy, 4; incest 1 ; assault with intent to kill, 14 ; perjury. 1 ; horse stealing, 3 ; libel, 1 - total in ten years, "JIS.

In the same period of time, 378 persons have been confined in the county jail. These imprisonments represent all grades of petty crimes and misdemeanors - vagrancy, petit larceny, drunks, riot, etc. The terms of imprisonment ranged from a few hours to twelve months. Five of the number were sentenced to the jail by the U. S. Court. Thirty-five of the remainder were mere boys, and were sent from the jail to the Reform School for from two to five years. A goodly per cent, of the number incarcerated in the jail in the last few years were tramps - graceless scamps that never find work to suit them - who want to cut ice in dog-days, and harvest wheat and make hay in mid-winter.

Fikst Election

The first election for county oflScers was held on the 7th day of March, 1825. After that, until 1848, general elections were held in August. Under the amendments to the constitution in 1848, the time of holding elections was changed to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

County Commission Eus

August, 182G - Nathan Dillon, William Holland, John Hamlin. At the June term 1827, till' names of fieorge Sharji and Hcniy Thomas appear in place of Nathan Dillon and William Holland.

September term 1830, George Sharp, John Hamlin and Stephen French qualified as commissioners. At a special election, .August 4. 1831, Resolved Cleveland was elected to fill a vacancy in the boui'd caused by the death of tJeorgi- Sharp. At another special election on the ath of Deccmlier, John Coyle was elected to fill the place of John Hamlin, resigned. Stephen French also resigned at the beginning of the year, 1832, and at a special election on the 5th of March, Aiiuila Wren was elected to the vacancy.

August 1, I83t> - William J. Phelps, Aijuila Wren, Samuel T. McKean. *So booked on the jail record, but trial and conviction rollowed on >omc other charge.

August, 1838 - Clark D. Powell, Smith Frye, Moses Harlon. After this date the Commissioners served one, two and three years eacli, drawing for terms at the first meeting after election, so that only one Commissioner was elected annuall}' thereafter, unless to fill vacancies. Under this rule there was always two members of the Board, unless in case of death or resignation, who were familiar with the routine of county business, the oldest member presiding.

County Judges

Februar}' 12, 1849, the Legislature passed a law creating a County Court. Section one of this law provided "'that there should be established in each of the counties of this State, now created and organized, or which may hereafter be created or organized, a court of Record, to be styled the ' County Court, ' to be held and consist of one judge, to be styled the ' County Judge.' " Section seventeen of the same act [sec. p. 307-10, Statutes of 1858] provided for the election of two additional justices of the peace, whose jurisdiction should be co-extensive with the counties, etc., and who should sit with the county judge as members of the Court, for the transaction of all count}' business and none other. Elections under this law were as follows :

The Court was succeeded in the management of County business by the Board of Supervisors in April 1850. Its last meeting, however, was on the 4th of June of that year when their ''docket" was closed up and turned over to the Supervisors.

County Clerks

For some years after the count}- was organized, the position of County Clerk was filled by appointment by the Board of County Commissioners. At the first meeting of the Commissioners, March 8, 1825, Norman Hyde was appointed to be clerk to the Board. Hyde resigned between the time of that and the June meeting, when John Dixon was appointed, his appointment bearing date June 8. Dixon served until May, 1830, when he resigned, and Stephen Stillraan was appointed to the vacancy, June 6,1831. Isaac Waters was appointed, viee Stillman resigned. At the May meeting of the Board, William Mitchell was appointed clerk pro ten, and June 1, he was duly appointed to the place vice Isaac Waters removed because of age and infirmity. Mitchell served until succeeded at the November election b}' Charles Kettelle. Kettelle continued to hold the office until succeeded by the present incumbent, Colonel John D. McClure, who was elected in November, 1865 ; re-elected November 1869, November 1873, and November, 1877. His term of office will expire November, 1881. Colonel McClure's repeated election to this important office is good evidence of his worth as a citizen and fidelity as a public official.

Robert Kennedy, the chief deputy has been in the oflSce since January, 1869, and by his experience and iiidiistry, is as familiar with the duties of the oflBce as his superior.

These gentlemen are well known and highly appreciated by all who have had business in the office, for tlieir promptness, efficiency and universal courtesy. To them, as well as to tiieir cliief. the writer is under obligations for repeated favors and kindnesses while overhauling the records of the office for information for this volume.

August, 1834 - William Compher, resigned, and at a special election October 6, 1835, Thomas Bryant was elected to fill out the unexpired term.

August, I84ti - William Cumi)her ; re-elected August, 1848 ; defaulted and fled the country, leaving Clark Cleveland, his deputy, in charge. It was claimed that Compher would "return, but when it Itecame known that he would not, suits were brought and the Court appointed John A. McCoy as elisor. Time of holding elections changed.

August, 1838 - E. F. Nowland. Nowland refused to serve, and at a special election, October 1, 1H38, Jes-se Miles was elected to the vacancy. May 15, 1840. James Mossman, vice Miles.

At the first meeting of the first Board of County Commissioners, Aaron Hawley was appointed trea;'.urer. The first election of treasurer, of which we have easy accessible knowledge, was -

November, 1869 - Arthur T. Burket ; re-elected in November, 1871 and 1873. November, 1875 - Robert Will; succeeded April 4, 1876, by David B. Allen, who is still serving at this date, January, 1880.

Circuit Court Clerks

The early county clerks served as clerks to the Circuit Court. The first clerk under the constitution of 1848 was Jacob Gale, whose term of office commenced in September, 1848. He was re-elected in 1852.

Coukty Judges

The title of this office was first designated as Probate Justice of the Peace, and had jurisdiction of all matters pertaining to estates of decedents, guardianship, etc.

Norman Hyde, tlie first Judge of Probate in Peoria county, was elected to the position by the joint vote of the Legislature in January, 1825. He was commissioned by Governor Edward Coles, and qualified before Jolm Dixon, Clerk to the County Commissioners, June 4, 182.5. His first official entry was made June 6, 1825, the day fixed by law for the regular transaction of probate business. His last official entry appears under date of February 6, 1832. He died in the latter part of 1832. His will wa.< probated November 21st, 1832. He was unmarried, and bequeathed his property to his father, mother, brothers and nephews.

Mr. Hyde was succeeded by A. M. Hunt, by appointment of Governor John Reynolds, A. P. Field, Secretary of State. The commission was dated November 10, 1832. Between the close of Judge Hyde's official career and this date, the Black Hawk war wa.s the all absorbing topic, and but little business of any kind was transacted. Judge Hunt's official service commenced with a special term, November 15, 1832. He served five years, and died August 12, 1853.

George B. Parker was elected to succeed Judge Hunt, August 7, 1837, and was the first election of probate judge by the voters of the county. His first official records were made under date of October 2, l837, and his last under liate of May 20, 1839.

Edward Dickinson was elected August 7, 1839, and held his first term of court September 2, 1839. His last official act appears under date of Julv 24, 1843. He died July

Thomas Brj'ant came next, and was elected August 2, 1847. In 1849 the jurisdiction of this court was extended (see p. 307-10, statutes of 1858). There is no report of an election of probate judge in November, 1851, but the election returns for November, 1853, show Judge Bryant to have been re-elected that year, and the subsequent records that he served until November, 1857, when he was succeeded by Wellington Loucks. At this time the county judge had jurisdiction of all common law matters, but in 1860-61, the jurisdiction was diminished by act of the Legislature, and confined exclusively to probate matters, assignments, insanity, insolvencies and matters of eminent domain. After the change, Judge Loucks resigned, and at a special election, June 3, 1861, John C. Folliolt was chosen to tiie vacancy and filled out tlie unexpired term, until November, 1861, and was then elected for a full terra of four yeai-s, till Novemlier, 1865. Judge Bryant died May 17, 1872.

The present incumbent, Jolm C. Yates, succeeded Judge F'oUiott, and was first elected at the November election, 1865, and re-elected in November, 1869, November, 1873, and November, 1877. His term of office will expire in November, 1881. Term of office four years.

Of the ex-probate judges, onl}- two are living. Judge Loucks, on liis farm in Richwoods, and Judge Folliott, at his residence on Nortli Adams street, Peoria.

Chaibmbn Boakd Of Supeevisors County School Officers

Under the first school laws of Illinois, the schools of the county were under the supervision of a School Commissioner, who was elected biennially. This regim^ prevailed until 1865, when the law creating the office of County School Superintendent took effect, to be elected once in four years. The following is the list of school officers, with the term of service of each, from 1851 :

Commissioners. Ephraim Hinman, Nov., 1851, to Nov., 1855 ; David McColloch, Nov., 1855, to Nov., 1859; Charles Taggart, Nov., 1859, to Nov., 1863. William G. Randall was elected in Nov., 1863, but from some irregularity he resigned before his term of office expired, and N. E. Worthington was appointed to fill the vacancy. In November, 1865, Mr. Worthington was elected the first of the

County School Superintendents, and served until Nov., 1873, two terms. Miss Mary W. Whiteside was next elected, and filled the office very acceptably till Nov., 1877, when James E. Pillsbury, the present gentlemanly and efficient officer, was elected, and serves till Nov., 1881.