Vanderburgh County, Indiana - Chapter 12: Judges of Courts, 1897

Chapter 12: Judges of Courts

yudges of Courts - First Session of the Circuit Court - Associate Judges - Characteristics of Some of Them - District Judges - Old Legal For 7ns of Procedure - Antiquated Legal Language Dragged Along Doxvn from the Medieval Ages - The Fixity of Legal Principles Necessarily Operate Against Progress iti Codes of Practice - Court Houses and Court Cases - Different Law Courts and the Judges.

The fii'st session of the circuit court of Vanderburgh county was held in the residence of Hugh McGarv, in the town of Evansville, on Monday, the 23rd day of February, 1818. This day was appointed by the legislature for the first court ever held in this county, under and by provision of the laws.

David Hart was the first presiding judge of the fourth judicial district of the state of Indiana, which embraced Vanderburgh county in its scope, and when he ojiened the court he appointed Hugh McGary clerk of the same, out of consideration for the use of his house as a court-house.

The first associate judges of this circuit were elected in 1818. They were John McCrary and William Wagnon, both residents of Vanderburgh county. McCrary was a native of North Carolina, and had been here as early as 1813, when the rude hut of Hugh McGary was the only dwelling on the ground now covered by Evansville. McCrary was a preacher and a conscientious man, in strong contrast with his associate justice, Wagnon, of whom we shall have more to say in these . pages. Neither of these associate justices had ever studied law, and it is doubtful if they ever looked into a law book before their election to the bench, but in those days associate judges were expected only to arrange the preliminaries and get cases at issue, in order that they might be tried with dispatch by the regular circuit judge in term time. The principle prevailed in their selection, that "a little learning is a dangerous thing." It was perhaps well for the litigants that the early associate justices knew nothing about tlu' law, and all that was requisite to make them competent and efficient was good judgment and conscientious scruples. It is needless to say that some of them proved to have neither, and being men of strong prejudices, perpetrated many a wrong against the state and individuals, deliberately. Judge AVilliam Wagnon was a typical, uncouth, backwoodsman, whose principal characteristics were illiteracy and egotism - a true type of the immoral and profane elements of those times - a dangerous combination, especially in a judge. He was moreover unscrupulous, and his selection as associate judge was only out of compliment to him as a man of some means, and in consideration of his liberality in entertaining his political associates. He himself had frequently violated the laws that he was called upon to enforce, and continued to violate them with impunity after he assumed the duties of a judge. He sold whisky to the Indians, contrary to the law. He had been prosecuted for adultery. He abandoned his wife for another woman, and a divorce followed. He had been fiuecl for fighting, and was regarded as a man who had

>no use for the truth in a business transaction of any sort. In 1820, James E. E. Goodlett, the father of ex-Mayor N. M. Goodlett, succeeded to the position of presiding judge. He was born in Culpepper county in Old Virginia, and came to Indiana in 181() and settled at Corydon, Harrison county, the first capital of the state. He lived in Princeton, Indiana, as early as 1818, and a few years later lived on a farm in the woods on the little Mt. Vernon road about three miles from the site of Evausville. He was slow to decide, but seldom made a mistake. He was con.scientious, and what he lacked in the knowledge of the technicalities of the law, he supplied with principles of equity based on good judgment. He had, however, .studied law and, after leaving the bench, he practiced.

In 1822, Associate Judge \Yagnon was succeeded by \\'iliiain Olm- .stead. Like Wagnon, Olmstead was not learned in the law, but wholly unlike him in character. He was a man who lived in the fear of doing wrong. In fact it has been said of him that he was .so conscientious and sympathetic as to almost incapacitate him for the position, when it came to the decision of close questions of facts and law.

From 1825 to 1887 John M. Dunham was the colleague of Judge Olm.stead, and for ability as well as conscientiousness was the peer of any man in the community. In fact he had few equals anywhere in the new country. He had a fine education and liis home, a humble cottage, stood where the Blount wagon works, on Fifth and Locust streets are now located. There are those living here today who re-

His successor on the bench, John W. Lilliston, served as judge from 1839 to 1844. Lilliston was a man of very ordinary ability, and knew about as much law as a country justice who never saw a copy of the statutes of the state. He was as weak in character as in mental ability, and was a little less unscrupulous than his predecessor, Judge Wagnon.

In March, 1832, Judge Samuel Hall was commissioned by Governor Noah Noble as presiding judge of the fourth district. He had previously lived in Priucetou, Gibson county, Indiana, where he had practiced law. While he was not a brilliant lawyer, he made a good, careful judge. After quitting the bench he was elected president of the Evansville and Crawfordsville, now the Evansville and Terre Haute railroad company. He resigned the judgeship in 1835 and was succeeded by Judge Charles I. Battell, who was appointed by the governor to fill the vacancy. Battell was a resident of the town of Evansville and had only served as judge one term of court, when he formed a partnership with John Ingle, the firm name being Battell & Ingle.

At the next regular election following the resignation of Judge Hall, Elisha Embree, of Princeton, was elected judge of the fourth judicial district and 'received his commission from Governor Noah Noble, dated December 11, 1835. He was a native of Kentucky, but his parents located near Princeton in this state in 1811. He studied law with Judge Hall, whom he succeeded on the bench. Judge Embree was a cai-eful, firm man with decision of character, besides being well-posted in law.

In 1846 James Lockhart was commissioned to succeed Judge Embree as judge of the fourth judicial circuit by Governor James Whitcomb. Governor Whitcomb was the father-in-law of the ex-governor of the state, Claude Matthews, who was succeeded in January, 1897 by Governor Mount. Judge Lockhart had become one of the leading lawyers of the state, and it may be said that his appointment was the beginning of a new era in the history of the judiciary of Indiana, that henceforth it required some legal ability and knowledge of the law to become a judge of the fourth judicial circuit. Judge Lockhart was slow in decision but was almost invariably right in his conclusions. He was an untiring worker and a close student, consequently a careful judge. He was a spleudid office lawyer and a regular "book worm." He afterwards figured to a great extent iu politics, and was a member of the twenty-third congress of the United States. Alvin P. Hovey succeeded Judge Lockhart in 1851. His commission w^as signed by Governor Joseph A. Wright, was dated in September ot that year. The career and character of Judge Hovey are well-known to the people of this day and generation. He was an indefatigable worker and a hard student, and besides being a splendid lawyer, he was a distinguished member of the literati. He became a poet and a scholar whose steady advance to the front rank of the foremost public men of the state, from the humble walks of life presents a career worthy the emulation of the young men ot the future. He had the dignified, defiant bearing of a soldier, and yet beneath his rough and apparently haughty exterior, was a noble heart and a loving disposition that attracted men to him and won their admiration, verifying the old saying :

"There's many a good heart beneath a rough exterior." His election to congress, his career in the legislative halls of the nation, and his election to the high office of governor of the state are marked periods in the political history of the country, and will be remembered because of tlieir remarkable features. He displayed fine qualities as a soldier in the civil war, having great courage, ready action, and commanding force.

The March term, 1852, was the first term of court held after 1819, without associate judges. In 1842, Conrad Stacer, a resident of Scott township, had succeeded John W. Lilliston. Like his predecessor he knew very little of the law, but he was a man of good character, and was conscientious in the discharge of his duties. He was the son of Frederick Stacer, one of the first settlers of the county.

In 1844, Silas Stephens succeeded Judge Olmstead. Judge Stephens was a man of noble attributes, who had a high conception of the duties of his office. His was one of those noble natures that is enabled to distinguish between right and wrong, and as a judge he knew no such thing as permitting the defeat of justice through the technicalities of the law. He was born in Kentucky in 1801, and he learned the trade of a harness maker and saddler. He came to this county in 1822, with no earthly possessions except his flint lock rifle. He soon, however, obtained a foothold in the little community, and accumulated money and property rapidly. He had not looked into a law book a dozen times up to the time he was elected to the judgeship. He was one of those men, however, whom the people in new countries always seek to arbitrate their diSerences between man and man. He was just; he was impartial; he was firm and decisive; and withal he possessed that mental acumen which enabled him to arrive at conclusions that baffled the trickery and chicanery of the most astute lawyers. He took up the study of law as soon as elected and made one of the safest judges that ever sat upon the bench in the fourth judicial circuit.

Judge Stephens was united in marriage to Miss Julieene Evans, the daughter of General Robert M. Evans, and from this union there sprang a line of worthy offspring, who are even to this day valuable factors in our social and business life, one of whom is Silas Stephens Scantlin, a grandson, whose name perpetuates the memory of this illustrious pioneer.

The last to serve as associate judge in this circuit was William Shook, who became the successor of Judge Stacer in 1849. Judge Shook was a farmer and resided in Union township. He had been a justice of the peace in his township, and the residents had acquired the habit of calling him judge. But he was a very weak man both mentally and morally. He was in fact illiterate and very loose in his moral life. He had, however, the faculty of communing with men and ingratiating himself into their favor. He knew absolutely nothing about legal formulas and was ignorant of legal procedure. He possessed, however, a fair share of common sense and a disposition to do right.

Before the adoption of the constitution of the state in 1852, which contained a revised code of practice, the old forms of procedure were such as made it necessary for a practitioner and a judge to be well posted in the practice, but notwithstanding this fact, judges were continually elected and appointed who were utterly ignorant of the law and the practice. This was the condition of things all over the state of Indiana, and is doubtless what led to the adoption of the code of 1852, which wiped out all distinction between actions at law and suits in equity and provided for one form of complaint setting forth the facts constituting the cause of action, etc.

While this new code simplified the procedure in courts, and rendered it more difficult for shrewd lawyers to defeat right and justice through technicalities in the practice; it also let down the flood-gates of the forum of justice and admitted to the profession many adventurers, who imagined they were thoroughly equipped for the practice of one of the noblest professions of the world. County school teachers, farmers, who iiad distinguished themselves in neighboring debating societies and "spelling matches," country politicians, who had learned how to harangue the crowds at the cross-roads; Sunday school teachers, who had been in the habit of placing their own construction on passages in the bible until they imagined themselves smart; in a word, every glib-tongued ignoramus, with gab and gall, flattering himself that he was cut out to be a lawyer, broke into the sacred precincts of the profession; and then it began to dawn upon the people that, unless they had able lawyers and level-headed men on the bench, the rights of litigants would be subverted to personal ends.

Under the code of 1852, any citizen was competent to practice law in the courts of this state, the only qualification necessary being a good moral character. Under the new code those mythical personages, "John Doe" and "Richard Roe," nominal parties as plaintiffs and defendants to suits at law, were consigned to oblivion, and the charm of parading under a musical and euphonious "uom de plume" in the courts of justice was no longer accorded litigants, who must now drop these stage names and play their respective parts of "heavy villian" and "persecuted victim" under the names by which they are known to the world.

The old practitioners and advocates who had become accustomed to the use of legal mythology, which, like the expressions, "the party of the first part" and "party of the second part," was music to their ears, deprecated the new code, which broke the eveness of the musical measure of the lines by the introduction of the real names of the parties to the suit.

The adoption of the new code wrought by many changes in the practice, and to the old lawyers it seemed like moving into a new state. However, while the change of form of practice in our courts was, at that time, considered a great detriment and wearisome to old lawyers, who had practically monopolized the business, it offered much encouragement to young men, who, perchance, had the collegiate education necessary to become great lawyers, yet because of the formula of pleading and intricacy of practice, were practically debarred from entering the profession under the old common law and chancery jjractice.

Governor Joseph A. "Wright commissioned Wm. E. Niblack, judge of the circuit, in April, 1854, to succeed Judge Hovey ; Judge Niblack never acquired a residence in Vanderburgh county. He resided at Dover Hill in Martin county, but was born in Dubois county. The only experience Judge Niblack ever had in law was as a practitioner in the country courts, but he made an excellent judge. He was later

Ballard Smith was appointed judge to fill the vacancy, by Governor A. P. Willard, October 24, 1857. Smith was a resident of Caunelton, Perry county, at the time he received his commission as judge from Governor Willard. He held but few terms of court here. He removed to Terre Haute, where he became a shining light of the bar.

His successor to the judgeship was M. F. Burke, who was likewise commissioned by Governor Willard in 1858. He was a thorough lawyer and a great leader of the Democracy in his district. As a judge he gave eminent satisfaction.

Judge Wm. F. Parrett received his commission as judge of the fourth judicial circuit from Governor Willard in August, 1859, and presided on the bench for ten years in succession, resigning in 1869. He had been for many years one of the brightest lights at the bar. He was a natural born orator and his style was graceful and easy. His successor was Judge David T. Laird in October, 1870, who was a resident of Eockport, Spencer county, Indiana.

Judge Laird belonged to that class of strong but uneducated men, whose redeeming features are a kindly nature, a big heart and natural ability. He never allowed a technicality to stand in his way, but brushed it aside and got right down to the meat in the case. He was not popular with the lawyers because of his utter disregard of technical objections raised in the course of the trial of a case.

Judge Laird was succeeded by Judge Wm. F. Parrett, March 7, 1873, who was again called to the bench by Governor Thomas A. Hendricks. For nearly sixteen years Judge Parrett wore the judicial ermine with ability and distinction. So popular was he as a judge that, although an uncompromising Democrat, the Republicans only on one or two occasions, as election time rolled around, ventured to put a man against him. The leading business men of the whole circuit supported him and would have continued to do so to the end of his days, without respect to party politics, had he desired to remain on the bench.

Other leading lawyers in his party, however, grew impatient and thought that the judge had monopolized the bench long enough, and a quiet political move was started among the members of his own party to "shelve" him. He was pursuaded to make the race for congress. He yielded to the entreaties of his friends and thus unconsciously released all claim to a.position of public trust, with its handsome competency, to which he undoubtedly held an absolute title for

In January, 1889, Judge Robert Dale Richardson was appointed by Governor Isaac P. Gray to fill the unexpired term of Judge Parrett. He was succeeded in the election of 1896, by Judge H. A. Mattison.

Judge Richardson was born in Spencer county, Indiana, January 13, 1847. He received the common-school training of most farm boys, and later pursued his studies at the State University at Bloomington, Indiana, where he was graduated from the literary and law departments in 1867-68. He came to Evansville in 1868 and began the practice of law. His native strong sense and his fine legal acumen won him recognition at once at the bar as a promising young attorney. His abilities finally placed him on the bench, where some of his decisions attracted wide notice for their fairness and profoundness. As judge of the first judicial circuit he attained such popularity and favor that he was retained on the bench till after the November election in 1896, when H. A. Mattison was chosen as his successor. Judge Richardson then continued the practice of his profession.

Judge Hamilton Allen Mattison was born in South Berlin, New York, September 23, 1832. He was reared on a farm, and received instruction in the brief-termed common country schools. When nineteen years of age he entered the New York Conference Seminary, at Charlotteville, where he pursued his studies and also acted as assistant teacher. He was graduated from Union college in 1860. He was principal of the Bacon Seminary, at Woodstown, New Jersey, for the next two years. In 1862 he entered the army, and was promoted regularly until he became a major, serving on the staff of Generals Alexander Hayes and N. A. Miles. He was in many hard-fought battles, was wounded three times at Chancellorsville, and twice in other fights- At the battle of the wilderness he was captured, confined in many prisons, most cruelly treated, suffered untold hardships and privations, and at last, goaded to the desperate resolve of death or freedom, he and Rev. John Scamahorn escaped from Columbia, South Carolina. They began a long, perilous tramp by night, in an enemy's country, but they at last reached Sherman's army at Savannah. After the war he was graduated from the Albany law school in 1866. Early in 1868 he came to Evansville, and became county attorney in 1870 and prosecuting attorney of the Vanderburgh county criminal court the following year. He filled other important positions, and in 1896 was elected judge of the circuit court. He is a man of singularly acute intellect, liberal culture, wide reading, and native geniality.

His miud, like Henry Hallam's, is more of the order of a judge than of an advocate. In an equitable view of a matter, no one can reach a conclusion more safely or more in accordance with human experience and consciousness than he. His decisions on the bench not only promise satisfaction to litigants and lawyers, but also signify that he will make a brilliant record for himself.

Probate Court

On the adoption of a condition in 1816, when Indiana territory was admitted as a state, the common pleas court was abolished and the probate court was established, with jurisdiction over all matters pertaining ao the settlement of estates. In Vanderburgh county the first probate court assembled in February, 1821, in the county clerk's office, with associate judges John McCrary and William Wagnon on the bench. By virtue of their office as associate judges, they were judges of the probate court till 1829, when G. W. Lindsay became probate judge, filling the place till August, 1835. Nathan Rowley succeeded him, serving one year. John B. Stinson served from August, 1836, to August 1841. Edward Hopkins acted pro tem during the August term, 1841. The next regular judge of this court was Thomas Hornbrook, who served from November, 1841 to February, 1846. John B. Stinson serving pro tem for August, 1846. Edward Hopkins succeeded Judge Hornbrook and filled the office from November, 1846, to August, 1850. Cadwallader M. Griffith served for the next year, and Ira P. Grainger filled the position the last year of the existence of the court, M-hich was abolished in 1852. Those who filled the position of judge proper in this court were all men of good business talent, prominent in their day, devoted to the best interests of the city and community, and while they were not lawyers, yet they were trusted for their sound judgment and unimpeachable integrity. According to the record, they dispatched much business.

Court Of Common Pleas

The acts ot 1852 created the court of common pleas. It had exclusive jurisdiction over estates and guardianships, and misdemeanors which did not come under justices' courts. The circuit court retained concurrent jurisdiction in most matters. The first term of this court was held in the first district in the court-house in Evansville on the first Monday in January, 1853. Hon. Conrad Baker, the eminent jurist and distinguished statesman, graced the ermine of this bench uutil December, 18-53, having been appointed to the place and commissioned by Governor Joseph A. Wright.

Judge Baker was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, February 12, 1817. He was educated at the Pennsylvania college at Gettysburg, and studied law in the office of Stevens !& Smyser - the Stevens of this firm being the illustrious Thaddeus Stevens, a member of Lincoln's cabinet. Being admitted to the bar in 1839, he practiced his profession in Gettysburg until 1841, when he came west to Evansville. Four years later he was elected to the legislature, and in 1 856, without his knowledge, was nominated by the republican party for lieutenant-governor, Oliver P. Morton heading the ticket. Willard and Hammond defeated them. He was colonel of the first cavalry (Twenty-eighth Indiana regiment) and served in this command for three years. In 1863 the secretary of war sent liim to Indianapolis to organize the provost marshal general's bureau.

At the expiration of his term of enlistment he was elected lieutenant-governor, with O. P. Morton as Governor. While Governor Morton was in Europe for his health in 1865, Governor Baker officiated in his stead and when Morton was elected to the United States senate, Mr. Baker again assumed the duties of governor. In 1868 he defeated Thomas A. Hendricks in a race for the governorship. On the expiration of his term of office, he became associated with the law firm of Baker, Hord & Hendricks, and lived in Indianapolis during the remainder of his life. He was a man of eminent legal talents and superior executive powers, and his force of character is written in everv movement of his well rounded-out, active life.

On the bench of the court of common pleas in the first district Mr. Baker was succeeded by Asa Igleheart, who served from 1854 to December, 1858. Judge Igleheart was born December 8, 1817, in Ohio county, Kentucky, and in 1823 came to Warrick county, Indiana, with his parents. In that day, in the wild and wooded counti-y, educational advantages were meagi'e, as the schools, then held in rude log cabins, were few and far between and were in session during only a few months each winter.

Judge Igleheart began the study of law on the farm, and was admitted to the bar at the age of thirty-two. In 1849 he came to Evansville and became a member of the firm of Ingle, Wheeler Ar Igleheart.

His love of the law amounted almost to a passion, and he was a close student all his life. His success was a deserved recognition of his diligence and application. He revised "McDonald's Treatise" for justices in Indiana; it later became known as "Igleheart's Treatise. "His work on "Pleadings and Practice" in Indiana was prepared with great labor and carefulness. Other works came from his pen, but "Pleadings and Practice was his crowning labor. He practiced in the federal court and before the supreme court of the United States.

His death occurred February 5, 1886. Judge Igleheart's was a model character; he was a student; a man of no faults; a man of his word; a man of honor, and a man of high ideals. Clearness of conception was his invaluable quality, incessant loftiness of purpose his distinguishing trait, and breadth of view his superior faculty. He was a man just in principle, great in power of analysis, comprehensive in his application of legal principles to points in issue.

Judge Joel W. B. Moore, a citizen of Warrick county, succeeded Judge Igleheart, and occupied the bench until 1860. Judge Moore was a prominent and prosperous member of the Boonville bar. The first judicial district had been composed of Vanderburgh and Warrick counties, but at this time it was enlarged so as to include Posey and Gibson counties also. Judge Moore was succeeded in December, 1860, by Judge John Pitcher, a resident of Posey county, who was reputed to be one of the ablest lawyers in the state. His term of office extended through a period of six years. Judge Andrew L. Robinson presided from 1866 to 1867. Mr. Robinson occupied the bench by appointment. Judge Morris S.Johnson presided from December, 1867, to December, 1871. Judge Johnson was a rare spirit, of fine intellect and noble heart, princely in geniality and hospitality, and notable as a barrister and judge. He was born in Morristown, New Jersey, March 15, 1817. In early life he pursued the study of law, but later devoted himself to business. In 1 844 he began business in Evansville as a wholesale and retail dry goods merchant and later he revived his law studies in the office of General James E. Blythe. Success attended ^ - \ his law practice from the^art. JiiHge'William P. Edson, a distinguished jurist of Posey county, wore the judicial ermine of this court from December, 1871, to September, 1872, at which time he was succeeded by Judge William M. Land. Judge John B. Hanby, of Warrick county, assumed the duties of judge at the January term, 1873, and was the last to preside, the court of common pleas having been abolished by an act of the legislature on March 6, 1873. All matters pertaining to it were restored to the jurisdiction of the circuit court.

Criminal Circuit Court

The fact that the legislature has so often created, changed, and abolished courts, is an evidence that the legal machinery has never been considered perfect. The criminal crcuit court dates its existence from 1869. Vanderburgh county was constituted the twenty-eighth judicial circuit. The new court opened on the first Monday in June, 1869, with Andrew L. Robinson as judge and William P. Hargrave as prosecutor.

Judge Robinson's force of character and literary and legal attainments, made him a noted man in the judicial district. His acquaintance was far extended and he was a man of great influence. His physique was large and imposing, his voice magnetic, his words truly to the point, and his learning of so high an order as to inspire confidence.

The successor of Judge Robinson was Judge Charles H. Butterfield, who assumed the duties of the office in November; 1870, and served till June, 1872. In many ways Judge Butterfield was a prominent citizen of Evansville. His birthplace was Farmington, Maine, and the date of his birth May 17, 1834. He was graduated from Bowdoin college in 1859. He and the Hon. Thomas B. Reed, now Speaker of the National House of Representatives, were classmates. In August, 1859, be came to Evansville and entered upon his duties as principal of the high school, a position which he filled satisfactorily for three years. Then he answered the call of the government "to arms." In the field he became Lieuteuant-Colonel of the Ninety-first Indiana regiment. After rendering valuable service in the front his regiment made the famous march with Sherman to the sea. He was in the fight at Nashville, when General Thomas crushed Hood. Colonel Butterfield returned to Evansville in July, 1865, and resumed the studj' of law. In 1866 he was chosen superintendent of the public schools of the city, however, he continued to persevere in the study of law as opportunity offered in the office of Hon. Conrad Baker. He was admitted to the bar in December, 1865. He resigned as judge of the criminal court to accept the mayoralty, an office to which he was elected on the death of Mayor William Baker. He served for nearly three years as mayor. After that he resumed his law practice in Evansville. On the adoption of the city charter in 1893, he was made judge of the police court, a position he was occupying at the time of his death on January 13, 1897. He was a man of many fine personal qualities, warm-hearted and generous, (juiet in disposition, forceful in

Judge William P. Hargrave was elected and continued to occupy the bench of the criminal circuit court from the time of Judge Butterfield's resignation until July, 1877. Two months afterwards the business of this court was transferred to the circuit court. Mr. Hargrave was perhaps more of a student than a jurist, and his decisions as a court officer were not characterized by that excellence of learning and fineness of discrimination that mark a man of superior talents in this regard. His legal attainments were not profound, but he was an honest judge and a good citizen. At the expiration of his judicial term he removed from Evansville, and entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. In this capacity he manifested peculiar politeness and grace. He was a man generous to a fault, faithful to the work of his Master all his life. All criminal causes were adjudicated iu this court, save such as belonged to the courts of justices of of the peace.

Superior Court

In March, 1877, a legislative enactment created the superior court of Vanderburgh county. It has concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court except in criminal cases. Its sessions have always been held in the court-house. The first term began on the first Monday in August, 1877. Judge Azro Dyer was appointed to the bench by Governor James D. Williams, and being the choice in successive elections, he continued to serve in this important capacity until 1890. As a jurist Judge Dyer clearly demonstrated his legal acumen and the eminent abilities which fitted him for the bench. He was born at Rumsey, Kentucky, March 12, 1836; His father was a native of Connecticut, and was a leading public- spirited gentleman of Kentucky, a lawyer of long experience at the bar, and a representative and senator for his district in the general assembly at different times. Azro Dyer attended the school of Frank Griffin at Hartford, Kentucky, and later the Rochester university, New York, and was graduated from Dartmouth college in June, 1856. After reading law with Judge J. W. Becker, he was graduated from the law school of Louisville, Kentucky, in March, 1858. He practiced his profession in McLean county, Kentucky, until the adoption of Evansville as his permanent place of residence in July, 1864. He was appointed judge of the superior court in 1877, and was elected by the people thi-ee times to fill the place, each tetm being for four years. He represented the Indiana Bar Association at the convention of the American Bar Association, held at Saratoga, New York, in 187S. He went to the convention in company with General Benjamin Harrison (afterwards president of the United States) and Judge Mitchell (now of the supreme court of the United States.) Judge Dyer is a man of fine literary attainments, having a profound knowledge of the law, a superior sense of equity and justice and splendid executive ability. He was faithful to every trust, patient under all circumstances, prompt in business, and commanding in his superior position. His poplilarity as a jurist attests not only his complaisance and social capabilities, but the impartiality and fairness of the decisions he rendered. His abilities naturally ran to conclusions of the law rather than to impleadings - that is to say, he was naturally a judge, though his abilities as a pleader at the bar were of a high order. Instinctively he apprehended the merits or demerits of a cause, and he was apt in the citation of cases to the issues involved.

Judge Peter Maier was elected as the successor of Judge Dyer in 1890, for the term of four years. He was born in Prussia, August 1, 1834, and came to America with his parents in his fourteenth year. Soon after this he started out in life for himself, accumulated a little money, and completed a course in the Ohio Weselyan university, from which institution he was graduated in 1858. He took a legal course in the same college, and was graduated from its law department in 1860. He at once came to Evansville and began his career as an attorney where he has practiced law longer than any other man now before the Evansville bar. Hon. Charles Denby and Judge Thomas E. Garvin are the only attorneys now living who were practicing here when he came, and they are no longer practitioners. Judge Maier was elected judge of the superior court in 1890, and was the first person to hold court in the present imposing court-house, which was opened for business in February, 1891. Judge Maier is a pleasant gentleman, profoundly learned in the law, and a judge of superior excellence.

Judge John H. Foster was elected in 1894 as the successor of Judge Maier. Judge Foster is the son of Alexander H. and Martha (Hopkins) Foster, and was born in Evansville on January 31, 1862. He began his education in the common schools of this city, and was graduated from the state university at Bloomington, Indiana, in 1882, and from the law department of the Columbian university, District of

Columbia, in 1884. He at once began the practice ot his profession in his native city. He was made special examiner in the United States pension office, and at present is on the bench of the superior court, He is filling the place with honor to himself, with earnest application of superior legal ability to his duties, and with promptness and executive power. His decisions show clearness of reasoning, a broad sense of justice, and an understanding of the law.

List Of Attorneys

As will be observed the Evansville bar has nurtured and developed some renowned men - distinguished alike for their extensive learning and gi-eat public services. A list of the attorneys is here presented as nearly complete as practicable. Some of the earlier practioners did not reside here, and only came here to conduct cases at court time. In a very few instances lawyers were admitted to try a single case. The persons admitted in 1818, two years after Indiana had become a state, and the year when this county was organized and the "seat of justice" permanently located at Evansville, were as follows: Richard Daniel, Jacob Call, John Law, Charles Dewey, William Prince, Jas. Hylliar, Willis C. Osbourne, James A. Boitr and James R. E. Goodlett. In 1819: George W. Lindsey, General W. Johnson, Elisha Roberts, Amos Clark, Charles I. Battell, Samuel Leggette, General Robert M. Evans, Samuel Hall. In 1820: David Hart and Philip Triplett. In 1821: Horace Dunham, Jacob R. Everson and James McKinney. In 1823: T. J. Evans. In 1825: John Mosely. In 1829: George W. P. Maxwell and Abner T. Ellis. In 1830: Archibald Dixon, David H. Hylliar, W. T. T. Jones and Eben D. E Edson. In 1832: James Gibbs. In 1833: James M Lockhart. In 1834: John Taylor. In 1835: Lazarus Powell, Sr , and James G. Jones. In 1836: H G Bark well, E. S Terry, Elisha Embree and Thomas Towles, Jr. In 1837: Emory Kinney. In 1838: Charles Moore, Francis E. Walker, Burwell B. Sayre, Edward H. Hopkins and John Ingle, Jr. In 1839: John J. Chandler. In 1840: James Davis and George Wheelright. In 1841: Conrad Baker and James E Blythe. In 1843: Benjamin M' Thoiuas, Alviii P. Hovey and Asa C Mills. In 1844: Samuel Peper, Lemuel Q DcBruler, John M Grimes and William Newton. In 1845: James T Walker In 1846: Thomas F. DcBruler, Samuel R, Hammill, Hugh B Montgomery, Thomas E. Garvin, Nathaniel C Foster and James J. Thornton. In 1847:

Benoni Stinson, Jr., John Eakin, H Q, Wheeler and Andrew L. Robinson In 1848: James R. Harper, William A. AVandell and George H. Todd. In 1349: Asa Igleheart, William F. Parrett, Wm. S. Palmer, Lewis C. Stinson, William P. Hall and Dennison D. Carder. In 1850: Morris S Johnson, Thomas H Bruner, Harrison S. Kiger and Clement B. Simmonson In 1851: William Bar, John R. Garvin, Brackett Mills, William K. McGrew and Alvan Johnson. In 1852: W^ilson Shook, Samuel B Garrett and Theodore Venneman. 1853: Willet E Andrews In 1854: Charles Denby, James L. Allen, James McLain Hanna, G. Allison, Jas Blythe Hynes, Richard A. Clemens, Z. M. P. Carter and William A Jones. In 1855: Lloyd M. Lowe, Royal S Hicks, James S. Collins and G. W. Hardin. In 1856: William G. McDowell, Edmund B. Seymour, Marcellus Emery and Henry C. Bard. In 1857: Jacob Lunkenheimer. Before 1858: John W. Foster, M. R. Anthes, Horace Plummer and James M. Shanklin. In 1858: Alexander C. Donald and William E. Rust. In 1859: Samuel K. Leavitt, George W. Moore, Wm. H. Walker, Jr., A. T. Whittlesey, John E. Gallagher and James Reid. In 1861: George W. Merrill. In 1862: Albert Dennis, James C Denny, J. G. Shanklin, Ben Stiason, C E. Marsh, E. E Law, George W. McBride, Peter Maier. In 1764: Azro Dyer, Robert A. Hill, William Reavis, Napoleon B. Risinger, Andrew J. Fletcher, J. M. Shackelford, George W. Shanklin. In 1865: Charles H. Butterfield, Charles G. Bennett, J. G. Gardner, W. P. Hargrave, S. R. Hornbrook. In 1866: Shelby Harney, William Land, Thomas L. Davis. In 1867 : John Brownlee, John E. Cleland, Charles Potter, John McGrath, William G. Williamson, William H. Beadle, H. C. Gooding, George P. Peck, C. W. Molton, John C. Patterson, James F. Welburn, J. H. Beadle, J. S. Buchanan, William Harrow. In 1868 : Jesse W. Walker, L. T. Harris, Calvin Taylor, James M. Hanna, Clinton Staser, J. B. Rucker, Joseph McClary, David D. Doughty, H., Clark, Patrick A. Curtis, O. F. Baker, Thomas R. Cobb, Henry W. Bippus In 1869 : R. D. Richardson, H. A. Mattison, J. E. Iglehart, Charles H. Mann, D. B. Kumler, Moses Weil, John Schubert, Leroy Williams, James M. Warren, N. F. Malott, S. D. Dial, Luke Wood, J. G. Dailey, George W. Robertson, Curran A. DeBruler, Lee Dinkelspiel. In 1870: Arthur E. Adams, Galen L. Spencer, George K. Amory, Gaines H. Hazen, William A. Traccwell, W. Frederick Smith, William A. Porter, J. E. Williamson, Royal S. Hicks, Edwin R. Hatfield. In 1870 and 1871 : W. M. Blakey, Victor Bisch Cicero Buchanan, John ('. Graham, T. L. Davis, Jacob Herr, J. M.

Humphreys, Harrison R. Littell, Thomas J Mooney, William D. Mayhall In 1872-3: James W. Brown, Wm. Armstrong, William "Fordham, Alexander Gilchrist, A. C. Hawkins, George L. Meddrick, Eane C. Wilkinson, Alfred C. Tanner, Fount S. Gager. In 1874: Edwin S. Albeit, Paris C Dunning, August Brauns, R V. Hodson, George Palmer, William H. Gudgel. In 1875: W. G. Bradley, Adolph Pfafflin, A C Jones, Rudolph Kehr, Julius A. Coleman, S. E. Smith, George R Thompson, Karl F. Thieme, M. V. B. Von Arsdale, C H Wesscler, Bernard Wagner In 1876 : Robert S. Holt, John W. McFarlaud, C. H McCarer In 1877: George W. Dannettell, Elhanan C. Devore, Richard J. Dixon, William M. Hull, Philip W. Frey, A. N. C. Leveson Gower, Harry F.^ Lyon, Isaac S. Moore, Frank L. Mills. In 1878: George A. Cunningham, Morris C. Baum, Charles F. Gould, J. Erian Martin, William W. Ireland, J. G. Winfrey. In 1879: Hugo Legler, James W. Wartmann,. August Pfafflin. In 1880: Duncan C. Givens. Converse Clement, Thomas Hislop, S. B. Vance, Charles L. Wedding, W. R. Shakelford, W. J. Wood. In 1881: William A. Cord, R. C. Benjamin, Henry L. Minor, William Kerlman, Henry S. Slaughter, John Lenihan, Jr., Aaron W. Richards, D. B. Miller, C. S. Roberts. In 1882: Georgs S. Clifford, Theodore Landsberg, H. P. Cornick, O. W. Mitchem, Edwin Taylor, N. E. Talley. In 1883: Graham F. Denby, Thomas E. Crumbaugh, W. S. Hurst. J. F. Parrett, Willis Charles, Daniel H. Patrick. In 1884: James L. Keith, Thomas H. Brown, Alfred H. Edwards, W. J. Vickery. In 1885: John H. Foster, John Coker, Thomas E. Garvin, Jr., Charles E. Johnson, C. B. Harris, A. J. McCutchau, A. L. Wheaton, James G. Owen. In 1887: Louis O. Rasch, J. A. Clippenger, Andrew C. Vance, John C. Briggs. In 1888: Willis Howe, John L. Craig, Walton M. Wheeler, Cyrus F. McNutt, T. S. Harrison, Joshua Jump, Andrew C. Vance, Oscar E. Wood, Findley A. McNutt, W. C. Wilson, Leroy M. Wade, A. C. Harris. In 1889: William E. Cale, Frank B. Posey. In 1890: Andrew J. Clark, James Kilroy, James F. Lisle, James H. Lott, James M. Lynch, William Nelson, George C. Nash, Fred Smith, Daniel H. Hughes. In 1891: G. A. Hoff, John Quinn, George B. Walker, George W. Pillow, W. Z Bennett, Thomas W. Fuller, B. M. Cobb, Louis J. Herman, Charles McKinney. In 1892: W. F. Freudenberg, A. W. Funkhouser, W. A. Helm, Oscar R. Holcomb, Henry Mason, Harry J. Peckinpaugh, Robert Smith. In 1893: Robert H. Smith, Henrv H. Hornbrook, William M.

On September 27, 1894, a rule of court was adopted here that all applications for admission to the bar, unless for a temporary purpose should be referred to a committee, whose duty it should be to inquire into the character and fitness of the applicant. A favorable report of a majority of a committee of five was sufficient to admit him.

The force of this rule is observable, when it is remembered that the constitution of the state, adopted in 1852, provided that any reputable citizen might be admitted to practice as an attorney in the circuit courts. Under this provision a great many persons have been admitted who never formed a part of the Evansville bar proper. It is not claimed that this list is exhaustive. Many, of the names above are of attorneys who never resided in the city, and who were admitted to transact business perhaps for only the one occasion

Judge Hanby and John A. Brackenridge were citizens of Warrick county, and Eben D. Edson and John Pitcher were of Posey county. Ex-Governors Powell and Dixon and Judge Towels, of Henderson, Kentucky, were prominent practitioners in this court in an early day.

Only one lady has been admitted to practice in the courts here, and that is Miss Tamar Althouse. She is a resident of this city, and is well-versed in all that pertains. to her profession. She was admitted in 1893.

Present Bar

The following list contains the names of those who are at the present practicing law in the courts of Vanderburgh county : Edward G. Adank, Louis I. Ahlering, William M. Blakey, John R. Brill, John Brownlee, Jacob S. Buchanan, DeWitt Q,. Chappeli, Andrew J. Clark, William E. Cole, Robert M. Cox, Samuel Crumbacker, Thomas E. Crumbaugh, George A. Cunningham, James T. Cutler, Curran A. DeBruler, Graham F. Denby, George Knox Deuton, Edgar Durre, Azro Dyer, Walter F. Freudenburg, Philip W. Frey, A. F. Funkhouser, A. W. Funkhouser, Thomas E. Garvin, Jr., Alexander Gilchrist, Duncan C. Givens, Frank C. Gore, Charles F. Gould, William H. Gudgel, Charles B. Harris, Louis J. Herman, S. R. Hornbrook, Wesley S. Hurst, John E. Iglehart, William W. Ireland, Alvah Julin-

Temples Of Justice

When Cok^uel Hugh McGary purchased what is now the site of Evansville, on March 27, 1812, a tribe of the Shawnee Indians dwelt in a village at or near the mouth of Pigeon creek. The territorial legislature, by an act approved March 9, 1813, organized Gibson and Warrick counties, the latter county lying west of Harrison county and south of "Rector's base line," including the present counties of Perry, Spencer, Warrick, Vanderburgh and Posey. Seats of justice were established by the same legislature. On June 14, 1814, the commissioners, selected for that purpose, chose McGary's place as the county seat. This was so far to one side of the district, sparsely inhabited with settlers scattered all along from Harrison county to this point, that after the formation of Posey county, in the same year, the county seat was removed to Darlington, near the mouth of Little Pigeon creek, a point some thirteen miles eastward, on fractional section number seven, in township seven south, of range eight west, " the place at first selected by the commissioners appointed tor the purpose by an act of the legislature at its previous session." But Mc- Gary, by liberal donation of lots and money, revived interest in his location. He was an associate judge, and his house was so popular with the president judge and attorneys that court was frequently held at his house instead of that of Daniel Rhoades, which was the courthouse at Darlington. Subsequently an act of the legislature was passed to render valid judgments given under such circumstances. Then Vanderburgh county was organized in 1818, and the future of Evansville rendered quite stable. For two years afterwards the house of Hugh McGary was used as a court-room. His log cabin stood forty feet from Main street and twenty-five feet from Water street, with its cud toward Water and fronting Main, looking up the river. It wa.s in the midst of a primeval grove. In front of this cabin, cornering on Main and Water streets, Hugh McGary erected, for a trading post, a two-story frame building fronting on Main street. The down stairs was composed of two rooms conveniently divided by a hall. The second story was used as a residence. The early history of Vanderburgh county is closely connected with this building. A popular vote in 1819 decided to incorporate the village - 29 votes for and none against. The lots that had been donated to the county were at once offered for sale, in order that funds might be secured with which to erect public buildings. By November the county agent had realized from these sales $4,142. Definite plans for the erection of a court-house were adopted February 15, 1819, the building was at first to be located in the center of Main and Third streets, in the midst of the way. This was altered finally to the south quarter of the public square. The public square comprised the four quarter-blocks on Main and Third streets. In June, 1818, the square was cleared, at a cost of $55.75. On the north quarter in 1820 a pound or stray-pen was erected, consisting of white-oak posts and rails, about four rods square. On the west quartersquare stood the market-house, facing Maiu, for many years. Behind that, on the alley, stood the brick school-house.

The new brick court-house, on the south quarter-block, was built of bricks burnt on the quarter-block diagonally across Main street, on the north, and was probably the first brick house in the town. It was a heavy looking affair, with thick walls, strong timbers, stone foundation three feet thick, 34x46 feet in size, two stories high, oaves twenty feet from the ground, shingles heavy and scalloped, battlements at either end, painted a Spanish brown and penciled with white lead. Above there were five windows on each side and two in each end. Below was the same fenestral finish, except in place of a window there was a door in the end fronting on Maiu street. The lower floor was of brick, except about the bar ia the end fartherest from the street, where it was composed of heavy, foot-wide, four-inch thick timbers. Elisha HarrLsou and Daniel F. Goldsmith received the contract in April, 1819, and in May, 1820, the building was ready for occupancy. The building was paid for in oi'ders ou an empty treasury, and the interest on these orders (for some of them were not paid for more than ten years aflerwards), made the building more expensive than it should have been under favorable circumstances. The old building still stands, now used as a place of merchandise. The county records were kept at the house of James Newman previous to

1837, when a fire-proof brick office was built, in size 18x30 feet, about twenty feet south of the court-house, for $818.50. This court-house was finished in 1833 in a better style. It was painted a deep green.

But as the county business increased, the building was insufficient for the demands, and in Jiine, 1852, a contract was let to James Roquet, a French architect and contractor, to build a new court-house, jail and jailer's residence. The court-house was to occupy the north corner of Main and Third streets. It was to be finished by March 1, 1854, but unavoidable delays occurred. The original cost was to be about $14,000. Just before its completion, on the day befoi'e Christmas, 1855, a fire began in the lumber yard and cabinet-shop of Robert Fergus, northeast of the court-house, and destroyed the building. Some of the offices were occupied, but the records were nearly all saved. In March, 1856, a contract to rebuild was let to Francis D. Allen for $14,300. It was completed in 1857. It was a two-story brick, crowned with a dome. The main entrance led into a paved corridor, on either side of which were the offices of the auditor, clerk, sheriff, recorder and treasurer. A lofty portico at the entrance was supported by heavy columns, after the Greek style. The second floor contained the court-room, the commissioners' rooms, the jury rooms, and the judge's office.

But in time this building became too small to hold the records, accumulating in mathematical progression as the population increased. In 1886 it was decided, after much discussion by the public which lasted nearl}' two years, to build a greater building, one that would be an honor to the people. In 1873 Union Block was purchased for $54,000 as a site for a new court-house. This was the old Wabash and Erie canal basin - bounded by Fourth and Fifth streets and Vine and Division streets. In September, 1887, the contract for the new structure was let to Charles Pearce & Co. for $379,450. The courthouse, the jail and sheriff^s residence, and the fixtures and furnishings of the buildings reached in the end nearly $650,000. The new courthouse was completed and opened for business in February, 1891.

Various new courts had been established by law to assist the circuit court in transacting tbe geometrically increasing business, and places had to be secured for holding such courts. Criminal court was instistuted in this county in 1869. To provide a place for this court, a brick building was rented located on Locust street, between Second and Third streets, near where the Lottie hotel now stands. The building bad been used for a church, and was commonly known as the Locust street Methodist church. It was first leased for a year, the lease be- ginniug May 15, 1869. The building, not having been erected for that purpose, lacked many conveniences. The county, however, purchased the building at public sale for the consideration of $8,000, the deed of conveyance being made by J. P. Elliott, the author, on May 10, 1870. The superior court was created as an aid to the criminal court in 1877, and thereafter this building on Locust street was also used as a superior court-room, and was so occupied until the completion of the present new court-house, where large commodious court chambers had been prepared. The postoffice was in the lower part of this Locust street building, and the city council and courts met in the rooms above.

The Jails

Plans for the first jail in Vanderburgh county were adopted May 11, 1818. It was built on the east quarter of the public square, back from the street. It was twelve feet square in the clear, and its walls were double, built of oak, and one foot apart and filled between with heavy oak timbers set on end and reaching three feet below the floor into the ground. In the style of the architecture of the times the logs were notched at the ends so as to interlock. The lower floor was double, the timbers crossing each other and passing through the inner wall and abutting against the upright oak timbers. The second floor was of heavy oak as was the ceiling above. The stairs were against the building without, and admitted to two separate apartments, one of which was a dungeon, 4 x 12 in size, with two very small iron-grated windows - a place for the vilest law offenders. The other room was twice as large, one window, 12 x 15 inches - a place for debtors. Hugh McGary built this jail for $875. It was finished February 15, 1819, and was used about ten years. It was sold in September, 1829, for $19.37 1-2. After that a ball and chain secured the culprits, who were guarded at some tavern by a deputy sheriff. On September 26, 1832, a contract for a new jail was let, to be erected on the old site. It was finished in two months, and cost $350. It was two stories high, 18x22 feet in size, stone foundation, floors of hewn timber covered with plank, double walls with stone between in the lower story. The upper story had a single wall. When James Hoquet built the court-house and completed it in 1855, he also built a jail, which was used for nearly forty years - up to the time the present jail was occupied which was in 1891. This structure completed in 1855 was of stone, two stories high, had sixteen cells, and a capacity of forty pris- oners. A sheriff's residence was built at tlie same time, of brick, just in front of the jail, and faced on Tliird street. The present jail and sheriiTs residence stands on Fourth street opposite the court house.

In Court

When referring to the primary significance of the words freedom and liberty, the former word always reminds one of the free doom of the race of Teutons while the word ?i6e;'<_(/ suggests the Roman forum where laws were prescribed for the purpose of i-egulating/ree doom. A man's personal privileges were more or less perfectly defined and his relations to civil society pointed out. Law, then, would signify limitations as well as protection. No lawgiver, before or since the time of Moses, of whom any account is given, so well understood the restrictive as well as permissive rights of men toward each other as did the slayer of the Egyptian and the rescuer of a wonderful race of intellectual people from the thralldom of the barbarous Pharaoh. That human passions, under given circumstances, will break all bonds of law and trespass upon the personal rights of others is only a plain corollary of all legal enactments.

Some very remarkable and notable cases have been tried in the Vanderburgh courts, first and last. At the second term of the circuit court, held in May, 1818, the first cause for murder came uj). Jesse McGary was charged with the crime of killing his wife Catharine. McGary was a rough backwoodsman living in what is now Scott township, near the Gibson county line. He entered a plea of not guilty, and his trial was postponed. His bond was fixed at $10,000. At the March term, 1819, he was tried before a jury and found "not guilty." The acquittal was secured on a singular plea. McGary and his wife had had trouble of some sort, and one day as Catharine was entering the cabin door, Jesse shot her through the heart with his rifle. On trial he declared he had shot at a dog, not knowing his wife was at that moment about to enter the house, and that he had accidently killed her instead of the dog.

An ii^teresting civil case was a suit in chancery or equity brought by Joseph M. McDowell et al. vs. John J. Audubon et al. The subsequent career of the principal respondent in the suit causes greater interest to attach to the case than would, perhaps, otherwise belong to it. This Audubon afterward became the celebrated ornithologist. He was a Frenchman, who had previous to the suit established a steam sawmill at Henderson, Kentucky, and failed in the enterprise. Later he moved to Louisville. McDowell charged in his complaint that Audubon and others had sold some land - 569 acres in fractional sections 2 and 3, township 7 south, range 11 west - to the plaintiffs for $300. Jacob Gall had effected the sale. It was charged that Audubon's interest in the tract was obtained surreptitiously and fraudulently. Audubon answered that Gall had signed portions of the land to him previous to the sale to secure or indemnify him against loss of money loaned to Gall. The case was finally determined in the October term, 1822. The decision went adverse to the complainants, and they were also forced to pay the costs of the suit.

The first judicial execution was the hanging of John Harvey for the murder of a man named Casey, near the old McDowell farm in Union township. The trial was heard before Judges Goodlett, McCrary and Olmstead by a jury whose names were Joseph Wilson, Joseph McCallister, Jesse McCallister, Samuel Kenyon, ElishaDurphey, Lewis Williams, Jno. Fickas, Henry James, Elijah Waters, Benjamin F. Barker, Vicissimus K. Phar, and Robert Gibson. After a brief deliberation the jury returned a verdict of guilty. A motion for a new trial was denied; a motion to arrest judgment was overruled, and on June 7, 1823, he was sentenced to be hung on the 27th of the same month. Near the center of the west quarter the gallows was erected. The militia under General Robert M. Evans and Colonel Hugh McGary was on the grounds four abreast, in the form of a hollow square around the gallows. When Sheriff R. N. Warner shook the hand of the condemned man in eternnal goodby, the officer cried openly. The trap was sprung, and after the body was cut down the soldiers marched away. The dead criminal was buried near the foot of the gallows. Years afterward when excavating for a building the bones were dug up and afterward wired by Dr. Isaac Hutchinson. Some doubted his intentional guilt, as it was said a woman was back of it all.

Since physical prowess was regarded in those times as an evidence of manhood, many cases of assault and battery were tried and against some of the very best men. Hugh McGary was indicted for obtaining money under false pretenses, and again for adultery, but was acquitted in both cases. Ezekiel Saunders, a preacher, was fined one cent on a preferment of usurpation. Many indictments were presented for extortion, taking up horses, larceny, counterfeiting, selling liquor or practicing medicine without license, adultery, disturbing religious meetings, gambling, betting, man-stealing, for not keeping the peace, and every manner of wrong doing. S. W. Hammond was impleaded for challenging to a duel, but the jury rendered a verdict of "not guilty." This by no means exhausts the list. In 1836, General Robert M. Evans and F. E. Goodsell staked $500 on the electoral vote of Indiana, General Evans wagering that Harrison would get the vote over Van Buren. Both men were indicted, and fined. General Evans in the sum of one cent and Goodsell the amount of $30.52. In 1830, Daniel Rose, of Armstrong township, was charged with manslaughter, having killed his wife by brutal treatment when she was in a delicate condition. The charge was not sustained on trial, in September 1832. Thomas Barnett, Sr., was acquitted in 1839 of the accusation of manslaughter. Delila Leach and her four children were set free in Mississippi on the death of their master, and they came to Evansville. Dr. William Trafiton claimed they were not set free in accordance with the laws of Mississippi, and asked their custody, but the court discharged them from the power of Dr. Trafton. Some famous land cases, and will contests, and partition suits have gone through the courts and excited at the time no little public attention. A complete record of even the most interesting cases of the courts could not be condensed into a single volume.

It may aid the i-eader to know that Vanderburgh county, at different times, was a jJart of different judicial circuits. From 1818 to 1852 it formed a part of the fourth judicial circuit of Indiana. In April, 1852, it was made a part of the third judicial circuit and afterward was joined to the fifteenth judicial circuit. In 1873 Vanderburgh and Posey counties were erected into the first judicial circuit, and it so i*emains at this time.

Only two legal executions ever took place in this county. One has elsewhere been noted ; the other was the hanging of Ben Sawyer, a big, burley, ignorant negro, lor the murder of his wife, Lizzie, on February 2, 1871, on board the steamer G. W. Thomas, as she lay at the wharf just below Vine street. Lizzie was a chambermaid on the Thomas, and Ben was a deck hand on another boat. They had parted, and Lizzie refused to go back and live with him. She was ironing in the wash-room of the steamer, and he beat her head almost to a pulp with a smoothing-iron. The trial occupied two days, and the jury returned a verdict of guilt on February 18, 1871. The trial was conducted before Judge Charles H. Butterfield. The condemned man was born a slave in Virginia, and was about thirty-seven years old. He paid the extreme penalty of the law on Friday, May 26, 1871, on a scaffold erected in the jail yard on the north quarter of the public square, by the sheriff, Adolph Pfafflin.

The early associate judges were not men versed in law, and indeed were not required to be. They were farmers as a general thing, honest men, but poor judges when it came to measuring the worth of facts by the test of law. In order that courts might be more in keeping with the noble profession of the law, this order of things was done away with in time and a new system of courts adopted, as described heretofore.