Vigo County, Indiana - Chapter 9: Old Records and Their Story, 1908

Chapter 9: Old Records and Their Story

Vigo county was organized* by act of the legislature at Corydon, on January 21, 1818, its northern line being the Indian boundary line (now in Parke county), to be known on and after February 15-, 1818, as Vigo county. Five members of the assembly were appointed as a committee to designate a place for the seat of justice of the county, the said committee to convene at the house of Truman Blackman on the third Monday in March for that purpose. It was ordered that the board of commissioners of said county should within twelve months after the location of the seat of government proceed to erect the necessary public buildings. "Until suitable accommodations can be had, all the courts of justice shall meet at the house of Truman Blackman, near Fort Harrison, from which they may adjourn, if they think proper, to any other suitable place near the center of the county, and as soon as the public buildings, in the opinion of the circuit court, are in sufficient state of forwardness for their accommodation, the courts, shall adjourn to the county seat.

"Whenever the seat of justice of the said county shall be estabhshed, the persons authorized by law to lay of? the lots and sell them, shall reserve ten per cent, on the net proceeds of the whole sale of lots for the use of a county library."

Under this act the committee selected the town of Terre Haute as the county seat, and chose as the first officers of the county the following: Curtis Gilbert, clerk and recorder, Truman Blackman, sheriff, Alexander Barnes, coroner, Moses Hqggatt and James Barnes, associate judges, John Hamilton, Isaac Lambert and Ezra Jones, county commissioners.

Court House, Terre Haute

It is of peculiar interest to look back upon the county commissioners of the first years of the county's existence when the pioneers were shaping out the wilderness and prairie of the new county. They did not make the desert blossom as the rose, for the land already was wildly luxuriant but they turned it and made it the storehouse and granary for a populous region. The commissioners who laid out the county, established its roads and bridges, located its dams and mills, and directed its elections, cared for its poor and education, with strict adherence to the limited statutes of the new state and the common law and faith in the future im])ortance of the county and its county seat, administered affairs with scrupulous fairness and ability, and while they were dealing only with hundreds of people antl at most with a few thousand, men of more practical principles and intelligence never have sat on the boards of \'igo county.

C. C. Smith is probably the only man in \'igo county who had frequcntlv seen and known Colonel Vigo, though the former was but a small boy during that acquaintance. Francis \'igo was for forty years a citizen of A'incennes and Indiana. He was born in the island of Sardinia, at that time a possession of Spain, whence came the sobriquet by which Vigo was often known, "The Spanish merchant." Futhermore, as a boy he had enlisted in the Spanish army, but after coming with his company to New Orleans, left the service and embarked in the trade for furs, hides and general merchandise. He became well known along the Mississippi and up to St. Louis and his pleasant manners and fair dealing won the confidence and respect of the Indians. Being asked the secret of his great influence with the Indians, he said, "Because I never deceive an Indian." During the Clark expedition he was captured near \'incennes while on his way to that town to gain information for the American commander, and was Iield on- parole in the fort. After the capture of Mncennes, while the American soldiers w^ere clamoring for their wellearned pav, and Clark urgently needed commissary supplies for his little army, Vigo dealt out his money and credit liberally, cashing drafts, accepting depreciated money at par, and furnishing supplies for which to the value of many thousand dollars, he was not repaid by either \^irginia or the United States during the fifty or more years he lived. In fact it was nearly a century after these sacrifices that his adopted country finally made recompense. The case was brought before congress by numerous petitions and the efforts of successive congressmen, was finally referred to the court of claims, which, in 1875, g^^e judgment, for $8,616 principal and $41,282.60 interest, a total of $49,898.60. Vigo had died a poor man, and this sum went to benefit his heirs.

Vincennes. It had large parlors with high ceilings, imported mantels, floors inlaid with diamonds of black walnut, and was thought very beautiful in its time. The use of the parlors was tendered to General Harrison when he arrived as governor and was accepted. A simple slab of sandstone, inscribed with his name, date of death, 22d March, 1835, and age 96, marks Vigo's resting place in a Vincennes cemetery (but the date is wrong as he died in 1836). He had been to the Revolutionary cause in the west what Robert Morris had been in the east. He had financed General Clark's expedition and was allowed to die a poor man after enjoying a good fortune. Robert Morris, in addition to other aid, financed Washington's campaign to Yorktown, and he spent some of his last years in a debtor's prison. Because of such services Vigo was never, and is not, an overrated man. General St. Clair, while governor of Northwest Territory, said in his report to the secretary of war in 1790: "To Mr. Vigo, a gentleman of Vincennes, the United States are much indebted,, and he is, in truth, the most distinguished person I have almost ever seen." It was with special fitness that one of the richest and most populous counties of Indiana should honor the name of this American patriot and benefactor.

Down in the basement of the court house in a long room behind a door which is always locked and which opens on creaking hinges testifying to its little use, are all the records of a century, reaching back to the time when Vigo county officially emerged from the wilderness and was christened. The person who looks through the eaflier of these in search of some particular piece of information will find the hours slipping by unnoticed while he reads on and on and mentally reconstructs the doings of that time.

In 1818 Vigo became a county and in April of that year the circuit court and the county commissioners' court were established and our ofiicial records opened. They consist of two small books with their pages yellow and stained but not one missing. The writing in faded ink is perfectly legible. These old records give an interesting idea of the way our ancestors carried on the business of law and government. At this distance, when there is no longer danger of arrest for contempt of court, it may as well be owned that the whole thing seems more like opera bouffe than like serious legal procedure. They took themselves with entire seriousness, however, and went through their trival business with as much care for form and procedure as though they had been dealing with large affairs of state.

The first court met at the house of Truman Blackman and two judges were appointed. A month later Governor Jonathan Jennings appointed Thomas H. Blake president of the court until the expiration of the next general assembly, "should you so long behave well." Did officials in those days, instead of taking their oaths of office, promise, like small boys who are to be taken to the circus, "to behave well" ? It would seem so.

The first bar of Vigo county then came into existence by admitting to practice in the Vigo circuit, Nathaniel Huntington, George R. C. Sullivan, Samuel Whitlesey, Jonathan Doty and William P. Bennett. The bond of Alex. Barnes, the first coroner, was received, and of Truman Blackman, the first sheriff ; also Curtis Gilbert presented a bond with two sureties, one for $1,500 as first auditor, and one of $2,500 as first clerk of county, holding both these offices. A piece of paper bearing these words "Vigo Circuit Court," attached by a wafer, was adopted as the seal until a seal could be procured.

The first grand jury was called at once and was composed of twenty men. ' After being out ten days, they came into court very apologetically and reported that they had not been able to find any business. One can imagine the disappointment of the court. Here was a whole court, judge, prosecutor, attorneys, clerk and bailiff, all ready and awaiting in their importance to have their first case. And there was no case. There was nothing for the court to do but to file out of Truman Blackman's green front and down between two rows of flowering rosebushes to the street. The term was over.

Either the next grand jury was chosen for its industry or else the legal business was beginning to catch the fancy of the public; this jury succeeded in finding business and proudly came m with one indictment. At last the court had something to do and there was a great bustle. Joseph Earl was arraigned for assault and battery and a petit jury was sworn in. After much hearing of evidence and impassioned outburst of eloquence on the part of the attorneys engaged in the case, Joseph Earl was found guilty and fined $3. This fine and all those which were assessed for many years were to be applied to the building of a county seminary. This seminary was actually built, though not until more than a quarter of a century later.

Early in May the first divorce suit was called in court. Mrs. Garber, who brought the suit, had plenty of cause against her worse half, but divorces were less common in those days and were not to be lightly disposed of. Instead, therefore, of settling the case in half an hour, as could easily be done today, much evidence was taken and the court took the case under advisement. It was the last of July before the decree was finally given.

The petit larceny which fills most of our criminal dockets now is noticeable from this first book by its absence. Either the people were more honest, the town was so small that thieving could not be profitably carried on, or the line between mine and thine was not so closely drawn in those days. For some reason thieving was almost unknown in those days and the common charge in the courts was assault and battery. Indeed, fighting seems to have been the chief amusement of that time, and any man who had a little spare time on his hands went out on the corner and started a fight. The complement of assault and battery in our day, provoke, was unknown ; for if one man called another names he was prepared to hit him, too, so that the other always had something more tangible than provoke to complain of.

Many cases which sound very odd to modern ears are common enough on this record. Men are tried for challenging each other to duels, and those who carried the challenges were also tried. It is plain, however, that though dueling was against the law, it had the sympathy of the people, for in not one of the cases for dueling was there a conviction. Selling liquor to the Indians was considered a very serious ofifense, and men who were convicted of it were given what was in those days considered a very heavy fine, $12 and costs. When Fort Harrison, two miles away, still stood as the town's only protection against the Indians, and when every farmer slept with his flint lock beside him and every now and then one of them was brought in from his field with a bloody scalp, the man who sold liquor to these menacing red men was regarded as a public enemy.

Man stealing, which the stealing of slaves was called, was also looked on with disfavor by the people of that time, and bound servants who ran away from their masters were severely dealt with. There were many cases where the charge was the playing of unlawful games - betting at cards, or permitting gambling inside a tavern. With these offenses, as with that of dueling, sympathy of the public is evident. A few men were fined for gambling, but mo.st of them were released. The_v were required in many cases, however, to put up a $70 bond as assurance of their future good behavior. The usual fine was $3 and costs, but fines ranged all the way from six and one-quarter cents to $12, this last being assessed only for very serious oiYenses.

The court was removed from place to place, paying rent for its temporary occupancy like any other tenant. In 1819 court convened in February at the home of Henry Redford and paid $10 for the use of his house for the term. Either the house was very small or the court was verv exclusive, for additional accommodations had to be arranged for the jury. Charles Modesitt was paid $5 for a room in his house for five days, occupied by both the grand and petit jury. Whether the two juries joined forces on the occasion or occupied the room in shifts the record does not divulge.

W'hen there was too long a lull and somebody feared that the wheels of justice might get clogged by disuse a suit was started against a public official charging him with not performing his duty properly. Scarcely a single official got through without such a suit being brought, though none of them was ever found guilty. Suit was brought against Curtis Gilbert, the clerk and keeper of records, on such a charge and after the investigation the committee reported that he not only had performed his duties properly but that all his records and papers were in perfect order. Anyone who looks over these beautifully written records can believe that the committee did not overstate the case.

In 1819 the grand jury made a report on the jail which sounds very much like the report the grand jury, has been making every year for the past ten years. The report states that the jury considered the jail to be in very bad condition, too small, dirty and unsafe. Successive grand juries continued to make this sort of a report until 1827, when at last the county commissioners decided that something must be done. They appointed a committee of three men to oversee the building and appropriated for the purpose the munificent sum of $400. Taken in connection with our own recent experience of jail building this is rather interesting.

The commissioners, like those of today, gave most of their time to issuing licenses of different sorts, having roads built and settling the tax levy. In 1818 the first permit to keep a ferry was issued. It was to John Durkee for the ferry which still bears his name. According to the permit he was to maintain a large flat boat of sufficient size to hold a wagon with a team of four horses, a "pirogue" in which to ferry over foot passengers and sufficient men to operate both boats. Then the fare which he might charge was set. For a man and a team in summer the price was 25 cents and in the winter yiVi cents. A horse or a man was 12^2 cents, while cattle and sheep were but half of that price. In the next two years a number of other ferries were licensed, several at the foot of the town,, and the rates were much higher for these. A wagon with a four-horse team cost $1 in the winter and other things were in proportion. It is probable that John Durkee grew dissatisfied and made remarks about discrimination, for in 1823 his charge for a wagon and team was raised to 50 cents, though he never was permitted to charge city prices.

Transportation was very expensive in those days compared with living, and the tavern prices seem ridiculously low. The taverns were licensed and filled the places of both hotels and saloons. A regular scale of prices was set for them. A "meal of victuals" was 25 cents. No menu vv'as required by law, hence it seems that the price was the same whether the traveler dined upon roast wild turkey or bean soup. It is possible that there were ways in those days of dodging the law just as there are in these, and that the traveler who tipped the tavern keeper's wife or daughter found different food before him from that which was served to a man who paid only his 25 cents. A night's lodging was 1214 cents, whether it was one or six in a bed. A half pint of whisky wasi2i/^ cents, rum 373/ cents, gin 18^4 cents, board and lodging for a week $2.50 and a night's lodging and feed for a horse 25 cents.

The tavern keepers seem to have been rollicking, gay fellows, much given to drinking, gambling and fighting. The most interesting of these was Nathaniel Huntington, whose name appears many times on these old books. He was the most prominent attorney at the bar, was prosecutor for a long time, and whenever he was not prosecuting a case he was being prosecuted. Every few months he was sued for assault and battery and in between fights he was before the court for gambling or allowing travelers in his tavern to gamble. He was many times convicted and fined but this never seemed to affect his standing as a citizen or a member of the bar.

There were methods of earning money then which are not open to the ambitious youth of today. In 1827 the commissioners issued a proclamation that they would pay 50 cents bounty for all the wolf scalps over

The commissioners arranged a simple method of taxation which puts our modern method to the blush, and which throws an interesting side light upon the value of land in those days. In 1818 it was like this : First-class land, per 100 acres, 50 cents ; 'second-class land, 43^ cents ; third-class land, 31 1-3 cents; a horse, 37 1-3 cents; a tavern, $20; a ferry, $5 ; town lots, 50 cents for every $100 of valuation. From the valuation on the town lots, first-class land, whatever that is, must have been valued at $1.00 an acre. Men could afford to own land under such an arrangement.

It was not long that this valuation maintained, and already in 1827 taxes were going up. First-class land had advanced to $1.12, and secondclass to 85 cents, while town lots were taxed at 2.Y2 per cent, of their ^-alue. A number of articles were added to the list too. "Two-wheeled pleasure carriages'' cost their owners $1.00: while those on four wheels cost $3.00; clocks were taxed at $2.00 and watches anywhere from 25 cents to $1.50, as thev were pinchback, nickel, silver or gold. Liquor licenses inside the town were $15, and importers of foreign merchandi-se had to pay $25 for the privilege. By this time it is probable that citizens gathered on the corners and discussed the burden of taxation, while the man who had farm land quarreled with the assessor as to whether his land was first-class or second. If the assessor insisted that it was firstclass land while he maintained that it was second he could get around the difficulty of being overtaxed by trading 100 acres for a silver watch. and hiding it under the feather bed the next time the assessor called. Even in those days and with that simple schedule there must have been some way of dodging taxes just as there is today.

The poor were with the early settlers of Mgo just as they have been ever since. But paupers were not numerous in the early days, and a number of years passed before a regular system and separate institution became necessary to care for the destitute and helpless. The early methods of providing for paupers are best shown in some of the first records of the board of commissioners. For example, at the May session of 1820, Daniel Stringham was allowed $44.40 for boarding a pauper sixteen weeks, and at the same time Jacob Ruyger ( ?) was paid S50 for keeping a pauper one year. Those who became dependent on pub- lie charity were so few that it was considered best to place them among individual homes, where they would be maintained at a contract rate. In 1821 a record states that $48.75 was allowed for the boarding of a pauper during sickness, and John Blackson was granted the sum of $18 for taking care of the same person, so that it is clear that a pauper might be passed from one to another. The overseers of the poor in 1821 for Harrison township were Samuel McOuilkin and Louis Hodge. Thomas Pounds and Joseph Liston performed similar duties in Prairie creek and Elisha Parsons and Daniel Barbour in Paris township.

Some of the records of the board of justices are almost cruelly laconic, and the imagination is left to picture many a tragedy. Thus on the same page, we find the sum of $13.75 allowed to Dr. Modesitt for doctoring a pauper, and $6 to Enoch Dole for making his coffin.

In the proceedings of the commissioners' court in ]\Iay, 1819, the viewers make a report on "The Lone Tree Road." This early highway ran from a tree near the house of James Chestnut on Honey Creek prairie to the landing opposite McClure's ferry. It ran in a northwest direction to intersect Fort Harrison street in a town of Greenfield.

During the first ten years of the county's organized existence, sixty roads were established, and most of these in the five years from 1818 to 1823.

In Alay, 1819, Joseph Malcom was granted ferry privilege over the river in township 11, range 10. between what are now Prairieton and Sugar Creek townships.

The commissioners" records show the building of several bridges in 1824. A bridge was constructed in Prairie creek for the state road, and in the same year James Barnes, Joseph Evans and George Martin were appointed to superintend the removal of the old bridge and the building of a new one over Otter creek and intervening bayou as crossing for state road. In the same year Nathaniel Huntington and Henry Markle were authorized to build a toll bridge at Ab. Markle's mill and collect tolls varying from I to 2 cents a head for stock to 25 cents for a heavy vehicle. In the same year is an order for building of a bridge over Lost creek east of Tcrre Haute.

In the winter of 1825-26, "the public convenience requiring another ferry," James Farrington, who owned the land on the west side of the river, was granted a license to establish a ferry from the foot of Wabash street, a condition being that he provide a good safe boat and skiff.

In September, 1818, Elisha Hovey and John Brocldebank were allowed $450 on account for doing the woodwork on the court house. In the following October John M. Colman was allowed a balance due on the foundation of $490.44.

April, ISIS - First elections for justices of the peace held. Robert Patterson, one of the elected, was refused ofBce by the board of commissioners on the ground that he had no constitutional right to said office, and newelection ordered.

Nov., ISIS - Scott allowed $150 for services as sheriff and agent for county, and $25 additional for service in criminal cases. Curtis Gilbert allowed $133.33 1-3 for service as clerk. William Durham allowed $800 on court house. L. B. Lawrence appears as attorney for county (office with Scott).

Feb.. 1819 - C. Gilbert allowed $27.69 for furnishing desk and table and two blank books for clerk's office. John Earle allowed $3.25 for liquors furnished county at the sale of lots in the town of Terre Haute. C. B. Modesitt allowed $25 for clearing off court house lot. William Walker allowed $100 for window and door sills of new court house.

Nov., 1818 - James Barnes and M. Hoggatt allowed $16 each lor 8 days' service as associate judges. John Campbell allowed $6 for services as grand juror in inspecting foundation walls of court house and for viewing a road in Honey Creek township. Caleb Crawford was allowed $9 for viewing a road in Independence township. Allowances of $1.50 each to Lew-is Hodge, William Haynes, James Chestnut. Toussaint Dubois. William Durham, Malcom Mc- Fadden, William JIarkle and others for service on grand jury.

1819 - Tavern keepers were charged $20 for license to sell liquor for the year 1819. James Cunningham was licensed to keep a tavern. In February Curtis Gilbert and C. B. Modesitt established a ferry from the mouth of Ohio street. A road was established from the court house to the south line of the county, passing Lambert and Dickson's mill.

May, 1819 - Daniel Stringham and George Rector were overseers of poor in Harrison township. Tavern licenses w-ere granted to Samuel McQuilkin and Robert Harrison, the latter being "inspector of flour, beef and pork."

August, 1819 - Clerk of election was John Sibley. The progress of the court house appears from an allowance of $250 as last payment to William Walker for stone windows and door sills, and an allowance of $350 to William Durham for brick work, while other allowances for wood w-ork were made to Elisha Hovey and John Brocklebank. Constables for Harrison township were John Bailey, John Britton. Henry Allen, John F. King.

February, 1S20 - Charles B. Modesitt was allow-ed one dollar for issuing a warrant for "apprehending certain fellows in December last," and George Beckwith (?) was allowed a dollar and a half for "pursuing certain fellows."

May, 1S20 - George Hussey allowed ?5 for blankets furnished to jail. Henry Allen appointed "censor" of county in place of Andrew Brooks, who refused to act.

Nov., 1820 - County Agent Scott advised to pay no money to court house contractors, who evidently were not performing their work to complete satisfaction.

1S21 - John M. Coleman one of the commissioners. Thomas H. Clarke appointed county treasurer pro tem. and a few weeks later appointed to the position for a year. Demas Deming was allowed credit for two days' work on public highway in return for his services as judge of elections. Robert A. Gale was allowed a dollar and a half as auctioneed in letting the building of a county bridge at Otter Creek. James C. Elliston was granted a liquor license. Robert Sturgus entered complaint against Adam "Weaver, owner of the lower ferry, who was acquitted. Caleb Crawford was allowed five dollars for holding inquest over body of Isaac W. Ashton, and a dozen well known citizens were each given a dollar for jury service in the same case. John Boord and Robert Sturgis had sawmills in the county.

Isaac Lambert resigned as commissioner in 1S21 and was succeeded in January, 1822, by Moses Hoggatt, the board then consisting of Hoggatt, Tuttle and Linton. W. C. Linton had become a commissioner in August, 1821.

In 1821 the report of the treasurer shows but $332.76 in the county treasury. Of this $193.92% was apportioned as building fund, and the rest was contingent fund.

Notes from records of February, 1S22 - John Durkee and Robert Sturgis, Inspectors of elections. Viewers appointed on petition of Robert Sturgis to establish a road in Sugar Creek. John Kuykendall remonstrates because it would run through his enclosure, whereupon Robert Sturgis, William Durham, Robert Hopkins, Robert Harrison and John Colman are appointed viewers to assess damages. Allowance of one dollar each to Peter Allen and Daniel Stringham for appraising fence of the pound. Caleb Arnold appointed lister with $1500 bond. Several bills allowed to citizens of Vigo county for official service in Parke county, recently organized. Caleb Crawford given $.5 for services as coroner over dead body of E. Staggs. (May, 1822) James Farrington succeeded Scott, resigned, as county agent.

The first meeting of the commissioners in the court house was held August 21, 1822. In one of the records tor December of that year is official mention of a church. A committee was appointed to lay off and open a state road from Evansville to Terre Haute, "from the meeting house near Prairie Creek continued north until it strike the end of Market street on the east side of the public square."

Feb. 10, 1823 - Commissioners met at home of Israel Harris. Thomas Houghton was allowed $5.50 for bookcase in clerk's office and C. Gilbert $1.50 for lock and hinges to same. At August session of 1822, $12 was allowed L. Scott for blankets for jail, and $5 was paid for coffin for a pauper.

Some of the men of this time who deserve mention through their public services in various local offices, such as overseers of the poor, judges of election, road supervisors, etc., all of them offices of necessity in the progress of civic development, were the following, whose names appear frequently on the official records during the first years of the county's existence: William Drake, George Hussey, Benjamin Kercheval, Joseph Malcom, William Walker, Dexter Angel, Jacob Baldwin, J. Colvin, George Clem, (?) James Currey, Eleazer Daggett, William and Thomas Durham, Micajah Goodman, Bradford Heacock, Isaac Laforge, Robert S. McCabe, Robert McCasky, Jer. Rapplye, William McGlone, Elijah Tillotson, Daniel Barbour, John Durkee, Francis Cunningham, Peter Allen, Moses Hoggatt, Elisha Bentley, Jonas Seely, Ebenezer Paddock, James Mansfield, Samuel Ray, William Ray, Mark Williams.

Allowances (May, 1S23) - Israel Harris, $12 for court room, two terms; Demas Deming, $90 for use of room for clerk's office; Robert Graham, $7.93 for depreciation on paper paid him for building Otter Creek bridge; George Clem, $3 as chain bearer on Evansville road.

The first board of justices, which met September 6, 1824, consisted of the following men: Joseph Dickson, Charles B. Modesitt, Ichabod Wood, Mark Williams, Isaac Keyes, Joseph Malcom, Fisher R. Bennett. James Hall, Armstrong McCabe. Nicholas Yeager. Mark Williams was elected president of the board for the first year. Even at that time the court house gave unsuitable quarters, for there is a record during this session that the board adjourned to the house of Israel Harris, where the January, 1825, meeting was also held.

The first job of home printing for official use is that mentioned in the record of the board of justices for 1824 when three dollars is allowed John W. Osborne for blank county orders.

When County Treasurer Campbell presented his report in September, 1825, it showed 43% cents in the general fund, and 13% cents in the jury fund.

In 1827 John Jackson was appointed a commissioner for the draining of ponds, and other stagnant waters in the county, for a term of one year.

Nov., 1827 - Commissioners ordered that bounty of 50 cents be given for wolf scalps over six months old, and 25 cents on those under six months.

The board of justices appear to have had power of appointing county treasurer, since they again appointed John Campbell to that office in 1827.

In January, 1827, Britton M. Harrison, the future major, was appointed constable of Harrison township, with a very substantial bond signed by Rose, Scott, W. C. and David Linton.

In March, 1827, Henry Allen, the county agent, was ordered to oifer tor sale all lots belonging to the county in Terre Haute, with the exception of Nos. 117 and 150, on which were located, respectively, the jail and the pound. At that date the work of building the jail was still in progress.

When Collett resigned as trustee in January, 1826,., he reported $4 received on account of fund. His successor as trustee was John Campbell.

In January, 1S26, the board of justices granted the Masonic society the privilege of using the grand jury room, and also of putting in a stove. Up to that time the grand jury had got along without artificial heat, or on cold days had adjourned to other quarters. The Masons wanted to be comfortable.