Jasper County, Missouri - Chapter 2: Civil and Political, 1912

The Original Jasper County - First Township Organizations - Commission to Locate County Seat - Court House Built - First Carthage Houses - Early Provision for Good Roads - No Snap to Hold Office - First Session of the Circuit Court-^-Conspiracy OR Riot Case - ^A New Court House Built - Early Political History - County Officers, 1841-61.

The bill authorizing the organization of the county passed January 29, 1841, contained the following general provision: '*A11 that territory included within the following described limits, to- wit: Beginning at the southwest corner of section one, in township twenty-seven, of range twenty-nine; thence running parallel with the line dividing townships twenty-seven and twenty-eight, westwardly to the western boundary of the state ; thence north on the line of the state to the line dividing townships thirty-three and thirty- four; thence east on said line to the northwest corner of section one, in township thirty-three of range twenty-nine; thence south to the place of beginning, is hereby created a separate and distinct county, to be called and known by the name of Jasper county.''

It will be noted that the original limits of the county contained all the territory now in Barton county but did not extend as far south as the present southern limits, the base line dividing townships twentyseven and twenty-eight being the southern limit.

Pursuant to the provision of the above bill the Hon. S. M. Cooley, Jeremiah Cravens and Samuel B. Bright, who had been appointed members of the county court, and John P. Osborne, who had been appointed sheriff, met at the residence of George Ilornbaek on Spring river, took the oath of office and entered upon their duties.

Elwood B. James was appointed county clerk and the bonds of the sheriff and clerk were approved. The court then adjourned to meet :\rarch 8, 1841.

At the meeting of the county court on ^larch 8th, the following officers were appointed: Assessor, John Haskins; public administrator, Chas. Robinson; treasurer, George Hornback and county surveyor, John Chenault.

At the meeting of the county court on March 8th the county was divided into three townships: North Fork township, which included all of the territory north of the North and Dry forks of Spring river; Spring River township, the east half of the county south of the Dry fork and Center Creek township, which included the western half of the county south of the North fork. Officers for the townships were also appointed. On March 14th North Fork township was divided, the western half being designated as Newton township. On November 3rd of the same year Marion township was organized and included in its territory the east half of Center Creek township and the west half of Spring River. No further changes were made in the township limits until August, 1847, when a portion of the North Fork and Spring River townships was stricken off and Jasper township organized. Marion township was divided into a north and south township, the southern township being called Robinson. On March 29, 1848, the name of Robinson was changed to Jackson. In 1854 McDonald township was carved out of the northeast portion of Spring River township and the northern part of the county (now Barton county) was organized as Barton township. It remained thus until after the war, except that township (Barton county) was stricken off of the northern part of Jasper county.

John Plummer, George Barker and Abel Landers, all of the county of Newton, were appointed commissioners to select the permanent seat of justice for the county. The bill provided that the said commissioners should make their location as near the center of the inhabitable part of the county as practicable, without a survey, due regard being had to the situation. Abel Landers and George Barker qualified as commissioners to select the permanent seat of justice and after making a most thorough canvass of the situation chose the site where now stands beautiful Carthage, for the future county seat. Mr. Landers was paid twenty dollars a»d ^fr. Barker fifteen dollars for their services as commissioners.

tion as the county seat a part of the public domain, being then unsurveyed by the government. In 1844 a survey was made by the government and the comers regularly located. The county court then appointed George Homback as commissioner to enter and perfect title to the land for the county, and the section where the town was being built was bought from the United States for the county at the regular price, one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and thus the deeds which had already been made by the county to purchasers of lots were made good.

At a meeting of the county court April 10, 1842, Pelig Spencer was appointed commissioner of the seat of justice and superintendent of public buildings and as such was authorized to contract for the building of a suitable court house which was to be paid for as follows : Ono hundred dollars when the building was completed and the balance in bonds received in payment for the lots sold in the town of Carthage.

The commissioner was also authorized to employ a surveyor to lay oflf the new town. The plat of the future Athens of southwest Missouri was exhibited to the court May 15th and formally approved and ordered placed on record.

The superintendent of buildings contracted with Levi H. Jenkins to build the court house, the contract price being three hundred and ninety-eight dollars and fifty cents. It was a one-story, one-room building, on the north side of the public square. The door faced the south and at the north end of the room was a large old fashioned fireplace.

The first sale of the lots took place on the 13th day of June, 1842, and twenty-eight lots were disposed of, ranging in price from $10.50 to $44.00. The highest priced lot was No. 24, the comer where now stands the Harring^n Hotel. The first man to pay for his lot was William Kerr who purchased lot 3 on the east side of the square, paying $18.50 in the coin of the realm.

The court house was completed and formally turned over to the county, June 29, 1842, and the oflScial records were ordered moved to the new county seat.

The first house built within the present limits of Carthage was erected by Henry Pierce in 1833 near the Big spring by the old woollen mill, this was of course in the days of squatter sovereignty. The first house erected in Carthage after it became the county seat was by Dr. Gabe Johnson in 1842 on the lot just east of the Harrington Hotel. George Homback built the next house, a two-story frame, situated on the north sid^ of the square which served as a residence and store combined.

At the first session of the county court after the court house was completed that body transacted a large volume of business, one of the most important acts being the taking of steps toward establishing a system of roads.

A commissioner was appointed in each township to map and plat the county roads necessary for the public travel, and the court also took steps leading to the building of three great roads, one leading from Carthage to Springfield, another leading from Carthage to Qreenfield, and the third from Carthage to Neosho.

This was a most important act and showed that the members of the first county court were far-seeing in their judgment for good roads, and convenient modes of transportation are as essential in the building of a state as a system of education.

The reports of the several offices for 1842 show that it was no snap to hold a county office in that day - ^that is, as far as remuneration is concerned.

The total revenue collected from tax on property was $437.47, for state and county purposes, of which sum the county received twothirds or $291.62. The amount received for merchants' licenses was $20.00, thus bringing into the county treasury $311.62.

The sheriff and county clerk fared a little better, however, as they were paid in fees, and the sheriff made about $100 out of his offijee and the clerk about $75.

The bill providing for the organization of Jasper county also made provision for the organization of a number of other counties, and another bill passed at the same time to redistrict the state into judicial circuits, Jasper and other southwest Missouri counties being in the Thirteenth judicial circuit. On February 8, 1841, the governor appointed Hon. Charles S. Yancey as the judge thereof.

The opening of the court was both unusual and romantic and shows how easily the pioneer overcomes what at first seems to be an insurmountable difficulty.

It will be readily seen that the one room was somewhat crowded with the family, but this was nothing to the pioneer; and so when the morning of the 25th of February (the day set for the opening of the court) dawned clear and bright it found some twenty-odd men at this hostelry to participate in the opening. At the hour set for the opening of the court, His Honor, Judge Yancey, ordered the sheriff, J. P. Osborne, to formally open the court, and that officer stepping to the door of the house, after taking a large quid of tobacco from his mouth, said, **0h yes, Oh yes, the Honorable Circuit Court of Jasper County is now in session."

The following gentlemen were empaneled as the grand jury: George Homback, foreman; Henry H. Zackery, David Hawkins, Daniel Smith, James Homback, John Oxford, David Brochus, Thackery Vivion, Thomas J. Mills, Daniel M. Hopkins, Samuel Teas, John F. Mills, Dubart Murphy, Levi Dickerson, Leander Messit, William Laxon and Robert Neal.

Aft^r the jury was charged, for the want of a jury room retired to a large log in the yard and there entered upon their deliberations, after listening to the testimony returning a true bill against David Lamaster for forgery. At the trial the case was nolled for some irregularity in the drawing of the indictment.

At this session of the court John C. Price, afterward a distinguished lawyer and later circuit judge, was admitted to the bar. Court was held at this place until June, 1842, when the new court house at Carthage was ready for occupancy.

At the October term of the court Robert W. Crawford, the acting prosecuting attorney, and John R. Chenault, afterward judge of the circuit court, engaged in a heated war of words over some matter that came up during a trial and concluded the argument with a rough-andtumble fight, which was with great difficulty ended by the sheriff.

Judge Yancey promptly fined the belligerents ten dollars for contempt of court. Mr. Crawford paid his fine, but Mr. Chenault made a motion that the fine be set aside on the ground of self-defense, but Judge Yancey overruled the motion. Mr. Chenault appealed the case to the supreme court, but for some reason it was never reached and the case was finally dropped.

The most important case tried while the sessions of the court were held at the Homback residence was the famous Conspiracy or Riot case, as it was called. A man by the name of Skidmore had incurred the displeasure of the community on account of gambling, horse-racing and other irregularities, and one night some eleven men constituted themselves a committee to wait on him and inform him that he was not wanted in the county. Mr. Skidmore concluded to stand his ground and the committee returned and gave him a severe horse-whipping and again ordered him to leave. Skidmore stood his ground and defied the committee. A few nights later they returned and Skidmore opened fire, killing one of the besieging party ; after which they retired leaving him in full possession of the fort.

Skidmore then had the entire party arrested, but for various reasons, inability to secure an impartial jury, absence of witness, etc., etc., the case dragged along for several terms ajod was then dismissed.

By the close of the 'forties the business transacted by the county had grown to such proportions that the one-room court house at Carthage would not accommodate the county oflScers and on July 29, 1849, an architect was employed to draw plans for a court house which was built in 1851.

The new structure was a two-story brick building, the lower part being used for the circuit court and other oflSces and the upstairs being set apart for county and jail purposes. This building served as a hospital for the wounded soldiers of both the Union and Confederate armies after the battle of Carthage, and in 1863 was burned during one of the frequent raids that took place in the county.

When Jasper county was organized in 1841 the first officers were appointed by the governor and at the first election in 1842 political lines were not closely drawn, the voters usually voting for the friend or neighbor they most liked, but at the election of 1844 the people began to divide into the two great parties of that day, the Democratic and Whig. The Democratic party was that which advocated the doctrines of Jefferson and Jackson; the Whig, the Hamiltonian theory of government. Both parties were well organized in 1844 and made a hard fight for victory, but the Democrats were mostly successful.

In the campaign of 1852 the American, or Know Nothing party, made a vigorous campaign and elected a few of its candidates. The American party was so called because it opposed the holding of office by foreign-bom citizens. This party spread its doctrines largely by means of lodges which were organized in nearly every community. It unsettled both of the old parties, but drew most of its strength from the Whigs.

The anti-slavery agitation, which began with the organization of the* Republican party, made a new political alignment in the county and at the election of 1856 found three contestants - the Democrats, the Benton Democrats and the Know Nothings.

The Republican party made no showing in Jasper county at this time, but the men opposed to slavery supported Thomas H. Benton for governor. The greatest political gathering of this campaign was at Sarcoxie, then the leading town of the county, where the distinguished ex-senator and silver-tongued orator spoke on the issues of the day. The occasion was a great event in the county and brought to the place people for miles around, and it is told by the old settlers who attended the meeting that it was the largest assemblage up to that time that had ever gathered in southwest Missouri.

At the election of 1860 party lines almost completely went to pieces, and the voters again lined up at the battle of the ballots as Breckenridge Democrats or those whose sympathies were with the slave-holding interests; Douglas Democrats, or those who opposed the further extension of slavery; the remnant of the Whig and American parties, who called themselves Constitutional Union men, and the Lincoln Republicans. Lincoln received seventeen votes in Jasper county.

This was a bitter campaign and arrayed in many instances brother against brother. Old friendships were severed and a bitterness was engendered which was not healed over until years after the white

We append herewith a list of the county oflScers from the organization of the county to the breaking out of the Civil war, when the county was for a time in a chaotic condition and without local government.

County Clerks: - Elwood B. James, 1841; A. Ferris, 1841 (died after serving one month) ; Elwood B. James, 1841-59; Stanfield Ross, 1859-61. The county clerk was ex ofKcio recorder and circuit clerk prior to the war.