Vigo County, Indiana - Chapter 11: The Court House and Its Activities - Early Court Sessions and Politics, 1908

It would be a quaint,, curious picture of Terre Haute that would show the village when its first court convened - a group of one-story log houses and a few two-story buildings clustered near the river, no church nor school house, and open land where the court house stands and for squares around.

The old court house was an institution more closely associated with the real life of early Terre Haute than the splendid building that now adorns the square is identified with the modern city. Sunday school and church were commonly held by some denomination in the old building. Mormons even preached there. The old ceilings have echoed the merriment of dances when the generation now passing away was young. Up till war times speeches and other services were usually announced "at early candle lighting," as the phrase then went, and in the flickering glow of tallow candles many an orator has carried conviction to the minds of the audiences. Tallow candles were also used, as one record tells us, in the trial of three burglars, when the proceedings were carried, on long after the regular hour of adjournment.

The first court house was in process of construction early in 1818, at which time the commissioners' records show the payment of money to the contractors. In May, 1818, William Durham was allowed $400 on account for building walls of the court house; Elisha Hovey and John Brocklebank, $300 for work on court house; John M. Colman, $350 for building foundation walls and piers of court house. It was a long time before the building was finally completed. During 1821 numerous sums were allowed by the commissioners to Hovey and Brocklebank for construction of the court house. Among others who as subcontractors or otherwise helped build the first court house were Samuel

McQuilkin, Henry Redford, Luther Hammond, Bela O. Smith, D. Deming, Macomb McFadden, Gershom Tuttle, Qiauncey Rose, Peter Allen. As the previous records show, the court house was occupied as early as 1822, but not regularly, since occasional meetings were held in private houses or taverns. After meeting at the house of Israel Harris in February and May, 1824, the commissioners met in the court house in August. The care of the court house for the preceding year must have involved few duties, since William Mars was allowed but five dollars for that service from May to May, 1823-24.

Two upper rooms of the court house were not finished for occupancy. Sealed proposals were invited in November, 1824, for lathing and plastering the southwest upper room. The condition of the building finds further notice in the records of May, 1825, when Enoch Dole contracted to repair the roof and deck of the court house "by patching, corking and pitching." and to lath and plaster the two remaining unfinished rooms and to lath the outside of the rooms ($80 for the rooms and a reasonable amount for the roof).

The line was not strictly drawn between official and private use of the court house. For a consideration it was found convenient to let certain rooms to occupants for private or business uses. Thus in 1826 we find a record stating that S. S. Collett was given the liberty of occupying the upper room in the southwest corner (next to the one occupied by Mr. Farrington). The southwest room was the official quarters of the board of justices, and r\Ir. Collett might use the room when not required by the board, provided he would furnish a stove and wood to heat the room. Heating the court house was evidently a problem. In the November term, 1826, when the weather began to get cold, Enoch Dole, the carpenter, was called in to "fix a stove pipe," and the board of justices allowed him fifty cents for the job. By 1828 the court house had cost nearly $1,000 in repairs.

Brocklebank. one of the court house contractors, died in 1827, his heirs being given a judgment against the county for money due on the court house contract.

There was a little difficulty with the contractors in the building of the first court house. It was settled by arbitration at the March term of court, 1822. Peter Allen, Abraham Markle and John Brocklebank had the contract for the building of the court house. Some matters of dispute arose between the contractors and the county commissioners, law suits followed, which probably were the cause of the slowness in the erection of the court house. Finally the contending parties submitted the matter to arbitration, binding themselves in sum of $18,000 to accept the award. John Durkee. Luther Franklin and Michael Potter were the arbiters. The commissioners at the time were Gershom Tiittle, W. C. Linton and Moses Hogg'att. The arbiters "for settling amity and friendship" between the parties made award : The builders should deduct $619.50 for failing to finish and complete the court house; the commissioners should allow sixt}- dollars for extra work and pay $2,787.58 for balance due. And this was to put an end to any matters or differences relating to the court house, "touching or concerning the premises aforesaid from the beginning of the world to the day of the date of the aforesaid obligation."

The final word in the building of the first court house seems to have been said when William Durham was allowed $106.44 «is final payment for construction work and his bond cancelled in May, 1824.

The jail was completed about 1821. ,A.t one of the meetings of the commissioners in that vear Henry Redford was allowed $243 as balance due him for construction of the jail. The first county jail was little suited for its purposes. In 1826 is a record showing that the sherii? of Knox county was given a sum of money for keeping S. W. Angin in jail at Vincennes. In March, 1827, county orders to the amount of $400 were issued to contractors for building a jail. William Durham, Tohn F. Cruft and Thomas Parsons were the committee with powers to erect the jail on ariv lot in Terre Haute belonging to the county. The plans called for a two-story structure, of good white oak timber, rooms to be eighteen feet square, one room to each story. The lower room was to be ten feet high and the upper one nine feet. A good stone foundation was required, and separated by a six-foot passage from the jail proper was another house of the same size, under the same roof, which was to be used by the jailer.

On the ground now included as the court house square, at the date of organization of the county, trees were standing that were three feet in diameter at the butt. One of the men who helped clear of? the square, James Lee, testified to this fact at the old settlers' meeting in 1877. In August, 1821, the president and trustees of the town were authorized to inclose and improve the public square in such manner as they deemed most beneficial to the town.

The first jail was made of smooth, hewn logs, with door of the same, and small grated window. One person confined in it was "Black Dan" for stabbing Bill, another negro. He escaped by digging away a rotten log in the floor. This jail stood on Swan street (another account says Oak) on the south side. The grand jury in .\pril, 1821, reported that they found the jail in a miserable and filthy condition, and entirely unfit for the confinement of prisoners.

allowed to certain prisoners, held for debt and other charges, and in o-iving bonds and pledges the "boimds" were considered to them an extension of the prison walls.

The "prison bounds'" of the county were variously established during the early years. In July, 1818. the court ordered that the limits of the town of Terre Haute as then existing should be the prison bounds of \'igo cotmtv. In October. 1821. thev were extended the whole length of Terre Haute to the low water mark of Wabash river. In April, 1825. the court ordered that a distance of 600 yards in every direction from the jail should constitute the area of prison bounds.

The panel of the i)etit jury for May, 1819, included the following names : Jacob Balding, George Cline, Eli Chenowith, William Phillips, M. Brouillette, William Drake, William Durham, John Blockson, James Chestnut, Nathaniel F. Cunningham, Henry Irish, Pierre Laplante. Elisha Parsons, Abraham Markle, George Rector, Ebenezer Paddock, Jr., Thomas Puckett. Henry Redford.

The grand jurv at the same date were the following: Peter Allen. Joseph Liston, William Paddock, David Barnes, John Jenckes, M. Mc- Fadden, Robert Sturgis, Daniel Stringham, Gershom Tuttle (of Tuttle's mill), C. B. Modesitt, John Earle, Joseph Malcom, Deming Seybold.

In 1819 the May term of the circuit court was held in the house of Robert Harrison in the borough of Terre Haute. Hon. Jonathan Doty, president of the first judicial circuit, presented his commission from Governor Jennings. In taking his oath before Judge Blackford of the supreme court. Judge Doty had sworn, among other things, that he had not "since January i, 1819, either directly or indirectly, knowingly given, accepted or carried a challenge to any person in or out of the state to fight in single combat with any deadly weapon," and that he would not know^mgly do so during his continuance in office. The practice of dueling still had some vogue, since it was thus necessary to protect the judiciar\ against its taint. Thus, also, when Mr. Deming was sworn in as associate judge, in 1820, he bound himself against the practice of dueling.

In the September term in 1819, Nathaniel Huntington resigned the office of prosecuting attorney. That office holding did not escape criticism even at a time when the pay was nominal ( in case of prosecuting attorney it was thirty-three dollars for each term of court) is indicated b\- Mr. Huntington's explanation to the honorable judges. "Permit me to say," as he tendered his resignation, "that I am unwilling amongst the complaints of even a few individuals to occupy an office of more toil than profit to the exclusion of any person who might do more justice and honor to the situation," etc.

One of the first lawyers and prosecuting attorneys was Lewis B. Lawrence, who died about 1820. His services to the county had not been paid for at the date of his death, and L. H. Scott, who settled his estate, collected $150 from the county for the deceased. On the resignation of L. B. Lawrence as prosecutor in 1820, George K. C. Sullivan was appointed his successor.

One of the early cases tried in the circuit court, in Jilay, 1820, was that against Archibald Davidson, who was indicted for administering a voluntar)' oath. He was tried before a very respectable jury, on which appeared such well known men as Daniel C. Brown, Thomas Puckett, John Blockson, James Chestnut, Edward Listen, George Keeter. On being found guiltv and fined six and one-quarter cents, the defendant demanded another trial, but the motion was overruled and he was ordered to contribute the amount of the fine to the seminary fund and be committed until fine and costs were paid.

In the September term of 1822 appears the first serious criminal case with sentence to the penitentiary. Daniel Troxel was tried for larceny, was found guilty, and besides being fined fifteen dollars for the benefit of theseminarv fund and sentenced to ten days' imprisonment in the Vigo countv jail, was also sentenced to a term of hard labor in the state prison at Jefifersonville. The sheriff or coroner was ordered to safely convev him to state prison. At the following March term Patrick McBride, for similar crime, was also sentenced to a term in Jefifersonville. The members of the Terre Haute Company had come into court each term with claims against Henry Redford, which by May, 1819, had grown to $1,228, with interest from October, 1816. At this term of court the second divorce case was tried. For his services as prosecutor during this term Nathaniel Huntington was allowed thirty-three dollars, the usual sum. Attorney Huntington appeared for one Mary Daniels to ask that her indenture as apprentice to Eleazer Aspinwall be annulled, but the court ordered the apprentice to return to Aspinwall's service.

In the A'igo circuit court in September, 1819, was decided a case of much interest to the residents of what was then northern Vigo county, and involving several well known citizens. Through their attorney Lewis B. Lawrence, Moses Robbins, Chauncey Rose and Andrew Brooks had applied for a writ of ad quod dainnum to ascertain the damages that might result from the applicant erecting a dam and water mill on their quarter section of land on Raccoon creek near Roseville (which was still in Vigo^ county). A jury of twelve fit and lawful men examined the situation and reported that with a dam of not more than nine feet in height "neither the mansion houses, nor houses, offices, curtilages, gardens, or orchards of any individuals will be overflowed or injured.

neither will fish or passage or ordinary navigation be obstructed, or the health of the neighbors be annoyed by the stagnation of the waters."

In the records of the September term of 1823, the educational fund was increased by several fines. Abraham Markle paid fifteen dollars into this fund as penalty for playing unlawful games. William Linton was fined three dollars on his plea of guilty of an assault and battery charge. In a case of State vs. Ab. Markle on assault and battery charge, the jury found the damages as one cent, which was turned over to the seminary fund. Nathaniel Huntington was also tried for permitting unlawful games at his inn and also for betting on cards, but was adjudged not giiilty, though it was in his tavern that the gaming occurred for which Markle was indicted. In a case of about the same date, when Levi Tillotson was fined fifteen dollars for playing unlawful games, he was required to furnish bond of $140 for his good behavior during the subsequent year. At the September term of 1823 James Kelsey, born in Drumbridge, "in the Kingdom of Ireland," and now owning allegiance to George IV, having arrived at Baltimore in 1821, declares his intention of becoming a L^nited States citizen. In April, 1824, a Canadian, W. Osborn, aged twenty-two, filed his intentiom of citizenship.

In the case of State vs. John Earle on the charge of vending liquor to the Indians, a motion to quash the indictment was presented in behalf of the defendant. This motion was written on a scrap of paper three by six inches in size, and recited two reasons for the proposed action : First, The indictment uncertain in not stating the kind and quantity of liquors and to whom sold. Second, The force and execution of the law depend on certain conditions which are not stated in the indictment to have taken place.

"Tlie state of Indiana to the slierilf of Vigo county: We command you to take John Campbell, if he may be found In your bailiwick, and .... safely, so that you may have his body before our judges of our circuit court to be holden at Terre Haute in our said county on the fourth Monday of April next, then and there in our said court to answer unto an indictment found against him by the state of Indiana for selling liquor to Indians, and have there this writ. Witness Curtis Gilbert, clerk of our said court at Terre Haute, this 31st day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen. "Cuetis Gilbebt, Clerk C. C. V. C."

The indictment presented the fact that "John Campbell, late of Harrison township, merchant, on the 20th day of July did * * * vend, sell, give and permit to certain Indian or Indians then and there being strong and intoxicating liquors against the peace and dignity of the state of Indiana." this being signed bv J. Doty.

An interesting item from the circuit court record of one of the iirst years of the county's existence is the cost bill in the case of the county vs. Hovev and Brocklebank. It is as follows :

{1820 1 C. and T. Bullitt and others get judgment from William Aliddleton and Abraham Alarkle for $700 due since October, 1816. Evidently the town company had difficulty in collecting on its sale of lots.

(1820) Caleb Crawford was granted in 1820 the privilege of constructing a mill and dam on Otter creek, which had been denied at a previous session of circuit court.

Some of the prominent citizens of the early day who at various times appeared in circuit court to answer charges of assault and battery were Robert Harrison, Joel Bankrupt (acquitted), George W. Dewees (fined three dollars), Abraham Alarkle, Hugh Cannon, Robert McQuire, and Nathaniel Huntington.

A case of man-stealing came up in the circuit cotirt in Fdbruary, 1821 - State of Indiana vs. John Bailey, John J. Stewart and .-Vdam Weaver. Each of the defendants was released on $1,000 bail, and the case continued till next term.

Hon. General Washington Johnston was commissioned December 25, 1816, the first president of the tirst judicial circuit, his commission running for seven years. His associates for \'igo county were Moses Hoggatt and James Barnes.

.\ case of dueling that came before the circuit court was that against C. L. Cass, which, after being called for hearing at three successive terms, was finally dismissed, the prosecuting attorney refusing to proceed with the case.

In the April term of 1820 Samuel Home appeared in open court and deposed that he was born in the island of Great Britain in county of Derby in the year iyS(\ had arrived in Philadelphia in 1819, and was now a resident of \'igo and that it was his determination to become a citizen of the United States and "to renounce all allegiance to every foreign prince, potentate or power and particularly towards the King of Great Britain," who at that time was George IW

Abraham Markle's fiery French Canadian temper was illustrated b\' the frequent indictments against him on the charge of assault and battery, and his regular contributions to the cause of education.

A divorce case that was decided in 1823 cost the litigants seventyone dollars, the sheriflf's fee being forty dollars, the clerk's ten dollars, bailiffs eighteen dollars and three dollars for jury room.

The first session of the circuit court held in the new court house was in June. 1822. But for some reason the March term in 1823 was held at the house of Israel Harris.

The common pleas court was established by act of the legislature in 1852. Vigo county was one district, and the salary of the judge $600. This court took all probate business, and also had concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court in cases involving not more than one thousand dollars and with the justices of the peace courts in cases of not less than fifty dollars, and also in criminal cases not punishable by death.

That politics began to be stormy at an early date is indicated by the action of the members of one of the early grand juries (in the late twenties ) in assuming the functions of a nominating convention and recommending candidates. They issued the following address through a local paper : "The undersigned citizens of the county of Vigo, having disposed of the business before them as grand jurors, having been induced, by the solicitations of many respectable voters from almost everv part of the district to nominate a citizen calculated to represent them in the next general assembly, have, with a view to prevent the division and contention which have hitherto existed in relation to our elections, conferred with each other, and after looking around the district do recommend James Farrington as a man qualified to serve in that capacity with credit to himself and distinction. They are also pleased to have it in their power to state that Mr. F. has consented to place his services at the public disposal."

After this judicious address and excellent selection the grand jurors turned their attention to congressman, with a view to selecting a man who should promote internal improvements, "the continuation of the National Road, the connection of the waters of the lake with those of the Ohio through the Wabash, and the immediate improvement of the navigation of the river Wabash, demand the most serious attention of the people at large ; Resolved, That the many distinguished services rendered by T. H. Blake, Esq., in the legislature of the state and particularly his relation to the important subject just mentioned entitle him to our decided preference at the approaching August election to represent the first congressional district in the nineteenth congress of the United States."

The jury without regard to politics pledged itself to unite in supporting and securing his election. The names of these high-minded and sober juror citizens are of interest : Mr. Durham, Isaac Lambert, Daniel Justice, Benjamin Baily, C. B. Modesitt, Joseph Mark, John Dickson, William Cook, Isaac Chenowith, Matthew Riddle, John Blockson, George Webster, John Jackson, James Evans, Joseph Evans, Daniel Durham, Caleb Crawford.

The figures of the vote for two offices on an old ticket of 1833 afford some data for comparisons, and also name some of the candidates then before the people. Knox county was then in the congressional district. For congressman the vote of Vigo county was as follows : W. C. Linton, 704; John Lane, 98: John W. Davis, 13; John Emory, 56; George Born, 227; Hugh L. Livingston, 3. For representative the vote was: James T. Moffatt, 214; Ralph Nelson, 304; E. M. Huntington, 541 : Septer Patrick, 43.

There were exciting times over politics in this county in the forties judging from the following article taken from the Wabash Courier of date May 30, 1842 :

"Some persons on Monday night last destroyed a fine large tent, standing in the court house yard, designed as a covering for the Terra Haute Band at the Tippecanoe celebration. The tent was pitched for the night, with two others, and, in the morning, it was found burned to ashes, having been fired by means suitable for the purpose. The unrighteous deed was perpetrated about midnight, an hour well suited to the work of an incendiary. The American flag, waving at the head of the staff on the prairie, was also stolen, carried away or destroyed, probably by the same gang of political fanatics. The friends of Harrison were necessarily excited at the outrage, but, as yet, no certain clue has been found as to the individuals guilty of the outrage. The Harrison boys can stand a few hard knocks from their opponents, in a political way, but when they find their tents assailed, and the honored flag of the Union, with the stars and stripes, desecrated, it would not be good for the vandals who committed the outrage to be too daring. General Harrison and his brave soldiers slept many a cold night on the ground in the Wabash campaigns, without a tent to protect them from the winds and blasts, and his and their friends can get along one night without the tent thus destroyed, but a meaner or more contemptible act of outrage was never committed than the one to which we now refer. The glorious flag of the country was never furled by old Tippecanoe in dishonor ; and it was reserved for loco focoism thus to tear it down, and refuse the breezes of heaven to fan the noble and inspiring folds. The desperation of the loco focos is so evident as to leave but little doubt of the result of the presidential contest.

"Since the above was written we hear of another outrage by a couple of locos. As the steamboat Fox passed up with a number of delegates to the convention a petticoat was discovered suspended to a pole on the west bank of the Wabash, three miles above this place. It was done to insult the delegates, and, what was worse, to perpetuate a slander on the military fame of the gallant Harrison. On being discovered the boat was rounded to, and a gentleman sent on shore to cut down the emblem of Van Burenism. The loco made an attempt at defense, but the Harrison man wrested his weapon from him, threw it in the river and cut down the lying banner."

A number of Terre Haute men heard one or more of the famous debates between Abraham Lincoln and Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Among the few survivors who hold those historic days as precious memories are Dr. Stephen J. Young and Isaac N. Pierce. Mr. Pierce went over to Charleston, III., accompanied by Joseph O. Jones, and in spite of the enormous crowd which was drawn by the great debaters, secured a favorable position from which he could plainly see and distinctly hear 'Sir. Lincoln and Senator Douglas. Judge Pierce's sympathy was with Lincoln, but, waiving that, he was deeply impressed and enthralled by the eloquence and logic of Lincoln, who, he thought, simply butchered Senator Douglas and cut his argument to pieces.

During the debate, which was opened by Lincoln with an hour's talk. Douglas replying for an hour and a half, and Lincoln closing in half an hour, the former made a telling retort to the senator in what was an amusing incident, as related bv Judge Pierce. Douglas charged

Lincoln with liaving; voted while in congress against even' measure in support of the Mexican war. -\ prominent Democratic lawyer, who had been a colleague of Lincoln's in congress, sat near him on the platform. Lincoln turned to him, caught him by the collar and dragged me and know how I voted. Did I not vote on every war measure as vou voted ?" The lawyer, who was not very comfortable, said in a thin, ]3iping voice, "Fellow citizens, I am a Democrat and I am a friend of Judge Douglas." Lincoln pressed him for an answer and he said: "Candor compels me to say that Air. Lincoln voted the same way I did on every war measure." The crowd cheered until the welkin rang in its delight at the adroit and eiTective manner in which Mr. Lincoln had turned the tables on Douglas. It was as stinging as another rejoinder made on a previous occasion when Senator Douglas twitted Mr. Lincoln with having sold licjuor when he clerked in a grocery store. He replied by restating his rival's case, as his custom was, apparently conceding all that was charged, and then said that it was true he had sold liquor, as Douglas said, but he wished the people to know that while he sold liquor he stood on one side of the bar and Judge Douglas stood on the other side.

Judge Pierce has one other delightful memory of that memorable debate at Charleston, which is a lovely, haunting picture in his mind. As he stood about fifty yards from the platform, while Douglas was making his opening speech, he casually glanced around and saw not far off the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his life. He shifted his position a little to be able to look again at this lovely woman. She stood a little raised b\' a plank so that she could see the speaker, and watched him intently. She wore a gown of confederate gray and held in her hand a tin\- watch, at which she would occasionally glance and raise her hand, as if signaling the time to Douglas. It was Mrs. Stephen A. Douglas, who, as Miss Cutts, was one of the most admired and beautiful of the belles of Washington.

An old .'ballot shows the Republican ticket presented at the polls in the fall of i860, when the officials were elected who were in office at the beginning of the war :