Williamson County, Illinois - The whole text, 1876 (part 5 of 5)

From History of Williamson County, Illinois. From the Earliest Times, Down to the Present, 1876, with an Accurate Account of the Secession Movement, Ordinances, Raids, Etc., Also, a Complete History of Its "bloody Vendetta," Includding All Its Recondite Causes, Results, Etc., Etc., published 1876. 329 words, reproduced complete and unedited. Source changes inside the text are labelled in place.

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The text

329 words

Machine-read from scans of History of Williamson County, Illinois. From the Earliest Times, Down to the Present, 1876, with an Accurate Account of the Secession Movement, Ordinances, Raids, Etc., Also, a Complete History of Its "bloody Vendetta," Includding All Its Recondite Causes, Results, Etc., Etc., published 1876. Nothing has been corrected: fixing what looks like a misspelled name is how an invented one gets published. Source changes are marked where they occur.

The first one was R. R. Hendrickson, Sheriff, in 1862, to the amount of $1,643.85 ; he paid most of it himself, and the rest was collected on his bond. In 1864, W. R. Scurlock, County Superintendent, defaulted in the sum of $750, which was paid by his bondsmen. James Cheneworth, County Treasurer in 1863, was a defaulter to a less amount, which was collected by suit on his bond. In 1875, J- ^- ^- Jennings was defaulter, as State's Attorney, of about $900. Suit is now pending on his bond. These were Democrats. In 1872, A. N. Owen, Sheriff, and a Republican, was defaulter to the sum of jg5,ooo. All the county and school part he paid up, but suit is now pending on his bond for the State tax, or part of it.

and once on the petition of James M. Duncan, in 1874. That is an improvement in county government that our people have not yet learned, but he day is not far distant when it will be adopted.

In 1874 it was funded in fifty-dollar bonds, running for five years, and there was $8,482.40 funded at that time. For the year ending September 1876, the total expenditures of the county were $31,366.79, but this was on account of the criminal trials. The taxes collected for that year were about $17,000. The county ought to be run on $8,000 a year in peaceable times, exclusive of the interest on railroad bonds ; but it oftener reaches $10,000 or $12,000.

With this I close the volume, hoping that, that impartiality and correctness with which I have tried to write it, may be accorded to me as a defense against the displeasure of those who find defects and omissions in it. And if it serves to assist any of the people of this great State in forming a correct estimate of the character of our people, and interests the companions of my youthful days, I shall be satisfied.

Provenance

Text from History of Williamson County, Illinois. From the Earliest Times, Down to the Present, 1876, with an Accurate Account of the Secession Movement, Ordinances, Raids, Etc., Also, a Complete History of Its "bloody Vendetta," Includding All Its Recondite Causes, Results, Etc., Etc., published 1876, in the public domain in the United States and digitised by the Internet Archive.