Monroe County, Wisconsin - Chapter 22: The County Seat War, 1912

Wliilo the title '"War" may seem perhaps a little harsh, it is used in the sense that it is commonly used today to designate a contest or a struggle for supremacy; for all along the years, ever since the county was first organized, we timl running through the proceedings of the county board, cropping out at intervals, the disposition on the part of different portions of the county to remove the county seat from Sparta, and the disposition on the part of the inhabitants on the eastern side of the county, particularly, to use every means in their power legitimately to have the county government located at Tomah. This has been a cause of more or less bitterness between the tAvo cities, but this finally has been allayed to a great extent during the last few years as the establishment of permanent buildings has almost made it out of the question that any move of the kind would now be considered. But it has been purely from a sense of loyalty to tlie home location and to the interests of the home town that this spirit has been manifested. This is entirely right and proper and has furnished a good many exciting incidents, both in and out of the sessions of the county board, at various times. It Avas manifested at the very outset in the organization of the county. AVhile the bill was pending before the Legislature the citizens of Leon, which was then quite a little settlement, endeavored to have the county seat estal)lished there in the act wliioh organized the county, and that is where the "war" began. Sparta people were up in arms and representatives were undoubtedly sent to the Legislature by both sides in the interests of the two different villages, but the Legislature in its wisdom finally deeided tliat Sparta was the proper place for the county seat, and the law was passed making it such temporarily. But when it became necessary to spend money for county buildings the disposition to avoid erecting any permanent public buildings in Sparta, and undoubtedly with a hope tliat the future would l)ring some developments along the line of placing the county seat elsewhere, led members of the county board, particularly from Leon and from the eastern side of the county, to vote down appropriations for this purpose and to put obstructions in the way of any such move. At the session of the county board held August 15, 1857, the absolute necessity for a county jail being apparent, the folloAving resolution was introduced by Supervisor Esau Johnson, to-wit :

The amendment was lost by the following vote : Ayes - Huntley, Ringer, Isham, Alice, Stacy. Noes - Foster, Johnson, Miller, Gibbs, Butterfield, Lyon. The original resolution was then taken up and lost by a vote of the supervisors present, all of the members voting "no." W. W. Jackson, of Adrian, then offered the following resolution, to-wit :

"Resolved, That we deem the title to the ground on which the courthouse stands insufficient, and that we are unwilling to appropriate any money to the erection of any more buildings thereon," which was adopted by a vote of nine to five, and this ended the first round.

"Resolved, That the sum of $1,500 be raised by the county to build a suitable jail for Monroe county, no part of said money to be expended until after a vote by the people of the county, be taken on a permanent location for county seat ; ' ' and this resolution on being put to yea and nay vote was lost by a decisive vote.

As has already been narrated elsewhere, the first county building was erected at the moderate cost of $600, in block 4 of Damman's addition to Sparta, and that this site was afterwards deeded back to Mr. Damman and the present block was selected by the county board for county buildings. The necessity for doing something to provide a courthouse came up at the meeting of the county board, which began on the 13th day of November, 1860. A committee on public buildings was appointed consisting of Peter DeCoursey, J. A. Gillman and W. T. Stevens, and the following resolution was presented to the board by Mr. DeCoursey : resolution Avas referred to the committee on public buildings and at a later date in the session the committee reported in favor of the resolution and J. E. Ensign moved that the blank in the report be filled by inserting $5,000. E. A. Rice moved an amendment striking out the figures $5,000 and inserting five mills on the dollar on the taxable property of the county. ]Mr. Rice's amendment was lost and after some parliamentary sparring ^Ir. Gillman offered an amendment that $4,000 be inserted in the blank, which was carried ; and then E. A. Rice moved the adoption of the report, and strange to say it was lost by the following vote : Yeas - J. E. Ensign, ]\lead, ]\Iathews, Gillman. Noes - Hanford, Campbell, Cole, W. T. Stevens, Tolls, Enderby, DeCoursey, Baker, Gary, G. F. Stevens, Haywood, Rowen and Rice, and the committee was discharged. Thus ended the third round. At that time there were nineteen supervisors on the board and the votes in favor of the courthouse came from the towns of Portland. Angelo. Eaton, Little Falls and the village of Sparta, and the votes against it came from Glendale, Wellington. "Wilton, Ridgeville, Leon, LeRoy, Tomah (town), Adrian, Greenfield, Lafayette and, strange to say, the town of Spai-ta. Tt will be seen by the distribution of this vote that several localities still hatl hopes and the combination was quite strong against the village of Sparta. But the need of a courthouse and jail became, as time passed, a great necessity, and a move was made in 186;^ to call a special session of the county board. A re(|uest having been signed by the majority of the board of supervisors a special meeting was called September 4, 1863, and met at the village of Sparta, at which the following resolution was presented by ]\Ir. J. Covey, who was then the chairman of the county board :

"Resolved, That the district attorney be reciuested to report to this board in writing what title the county has to the site upon which the building now stands and which is used for a jail :"' and this resolution, upon a vote, was duly adopted, and it was subsequently moved and carried that the district attorney be instructed to put in no defense to the suit of J. D. Damman against the county of ]\lonroe to recover the site on which the jail now stands, and accordingly, as has been related, the county clerk was authorized to deed back the property, and at this meeting of the board a resolution was adopted by which the interests of AV. F. Bard in the public square, opposite the Warner house, were to be purchased and have the same conveyed to the county. Soon after providing for the reconveyance of the old courthouse square back to J. D. Damman and providing for the purchase of the public square, where the buildings now stand, the county board again adjourned without having made any provision for the erection of a l)uilding, but had gone to the extent of procuring a site. But at the regular session of the board that fall, which began on the 10th day of November, the matter was brought up and furnished anununition for considerable debate and parliamentary tactics. ]Mr. J. Covey again offered a resolution, which was as follows :

"While the county of jMonroe for want of proper public buildings has leased annually, at a large expense, a place for holding courts, and often to the very great annoyance of all parties concerned ; that for the punishment of criminals a still greater outlay has been necessary, the present jail being wholly insecure, unwholesome and a disgrace to the age in which we have lived ;

"Resolved, That in order to carry out the foregoing resolution, lessen the burden of taxation that niust necessarily arise from it, the sum of thousand dollars be raised in the year

It will be seen by the vigorous language used in this resolution even in this day the spirit of "reform" was in the air, and "progress" was not to be denied. Supervisor Kendall, in order to settle things, moved to fill the first blank in this resolution by inserting the sum of $22,500. This was seconded by Mr. Covey and the yeas and noes were called for. It will be remembered that at this time the county board system had been abrogated by the Legislature and that the system of county commissioners was then established and the affairs of the county were governed by three commissioners or supervisors elected from the three supervisor districts in the county. The board at this time consisted of E. Kendall J.' Covey and J. Rood. The vote on this resolution was Kendall and Covey in favor and ]\Ir. Rood against it, so that it was declared carried, and then Kendall moved to insert the sum of $7,000 in the first blank in the second part of the resolution, and this was also carried by the same vote. Move was then made by Kendall to put the sum of $8,500 in the second blank in the resolution, which was carried by the same vote, and then also moved to put $7,000 in the last blank. Then the whole

The raising of funds being tlius provided for the building of the tirst real courthouse in the county. A special meeting of the county board Avas called December 16, 1863, at which the bids for the erecting of a courthouse and jail were opened, the matter having been previously advertised. The contract was let to one W. AY. Allis for $20,848.50.

The erection of the combined courthouse and jail, which was a substantial brick building, settled the county seat matter for some years. AYith the increase in population and consequent increase in the number of prisoners, at times, the attention of the county board members was called to the fact that the jail was too small, was "behind the times" in appliances; so that the old spectre which would not down, "Remove the county seat," again raised its head and the trouble began. In 1883 and 1884 there had been considerable fault found witli the oil jail by the State Board of Charities and Reforms, which correspond to the State Board of Control at the present time, and while no direct action has been taken to condemn the old jail portion of the building, still the situation became quite acute as far as the location of the county seat was concerned, and eastern IMonroe county realized that in order to accomplish anything it was necessary that a move be made to call a special election, as provided by the statutes, to remove the county seat from Sparta before any more expensive liuildings were erected, thus making it a permanent location. The citizens of Tomah in 1885 determined to make one grand effort towards getting the county seat removed to Tomah from Sparta, and a committee of citizens was appointed whose business it was to procure names to a petition addressed to the county board asking that an election be called, and tliat the question of the removal of the county seat from the city of Sparta to the city of Tomah l)e submitted to tlie qualitied voters of the county, as provided by law. This Avork was undertaken in the spring and sununer. A thorough canvas was made, particularly on the eastern side of the county, and feeling l)egan to run high with regard to the matter as the time approached for the meeting of the county board. The session in November was made memorable by reason of the fact that this contest was then to be taken up. The members of the county board were at that time as follows:

The session of the board opened with the lines tensely drawn upon this proposition, and it was not until Tuesday morning, November ITtli, in the second week of the session, that the petition for the removal of the county seat was presented by L. S. Benjamin. It was as follows:

"To the Honorable Board of Supervisors of Monroe county, Wisconsin : The undersigned legal voters of the county of Monroe, state of Wisconsin, whose names appear on some one of the poll lists on the last general election held in such county of Monroe, do respectfully petition your honorable body and ask that the county seat of Monroe county be changed from the city of Sparta to the city of Tomah, in said county ; and that the question of the removal of the county seat be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters of ]\Ionroe county, as provided by law." Dated September 1, 1885.

Prior to the session of the board the Tomah committee had circulated their petition over in the towns of Little Falls and New Lyme, procuring a goodly number of signatures. This paper mysteriously disappeared, or rather, was never presented to the board with the other petitions. A petition was also circulated in Glendale and Wellington and vicinity, under the charge of Leonard Johnson. AVhen Johnson brought it to the board session the paper had been badly water soaked, Johnson claiming he had fallen in the mill pond with it in his pocket. The names on this paper were in many instances undistinguishable, and the committee, after working with microscopes, were compelled to discard a large number of names which were not legible. This, together with the petition that never was presented, discounted the number of names to such an extent as to make the action of the board, which followed, possible. No report was made by the committee upon this petition until the next to the last day of the session.

ami tlicn it came up for the final struggle in the shape of a majority and a minority report. Tlic itia.joriiy i-('])(U't of the committee was as follows:

"To the Honorable Board of Supervisors of Monroe county, Wisconsin - Gentlenu'n : AVe, the connnittee to whom was referred the petition for the removal of the county scat of ]\lonroe county, do report as follows:

"That of sucli number the names of 2.107 appear on some one of 1li(' ])oll lists of the last previous general election held in said county on the 4th day of November. 1884, being more than two-fifths of the legal voters of said county of ]\Ionroe as dcteimined by the poll lists of said last previous election.

"That under the law by reason of the said petition it is the duty of the county board of supervisors of Monroe county, to sul)- mit the question of the removal of the county seat of ]\Ionroe county to the city of Tomah, to a vote of the qualified votei's of said I\Ionroe county at the next general election,

The minority of the committee, during Ihe lime whieli elai)si'd between the introduction of the resolution and the handing in of the majority report, had evidently l)eeii busy endeavoring to find a loop hole in the {)roceedings. The minority of the committee consisted of one man, that doughty old warrior, L. S. Fislu^-. who nuide the minority report to the petition as follows:

"To th(> Honorable County Board of Supervisors of .Monroe comity, AVisconsin : The minority of the committee upon The petition for the removal of the county seat would respectfully report that they have carefully examined the ])etition and find on it Ihe names of 2.107 persons whose names appear on the j)oll lists of the several towns and cities in Monioe county for the election oi" 1884.

"Tlie minority of your committee would further report in favor of a postponenuMit of the subject of the removal ol* the county seat for the following reasons:

"2. There are a large number of names appearing on the petition which have been counted ])y your committee in order to make the total number 2,107, not less than 300 in all that were not signed by the persons they represent.

"3. There are a sufficient number of names on the petition that have been counted that did not agree with the names on the poll lists to reduce the total number below the aggregate required by law.

"4. That if an election is ordered it would be void for the foregoing reasons and subject the county to unnecessary costs and probably expensive litigation.

]Mr. Fisher then moved that the report of the committee on petitions and elections be referred to the district attorney, and it was so referred with the understanding that the district attorney should report on the following morning.

''AVhereas the petition signed by 2,604 of the legal voters of Monroe county, of which number the names of 2,107 appear on some one of the poll lists of the last previous general election held in said county on the 4th day of November, 1885, said last mentioned number being more than tw^o-fifths of the legal voters of Monroe county, as determined by the poll lists of the said last previous general election, said petition asking the change of the county seat of IMonroe county from the city of Sparta to the city of Tomah ; therefore, be it

"Resolved, That the question of the removal of the county seat of Monroe county to the city of Tomah be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters of said county at the next general election, to be held in said county on the 2nd day of November, 1886." _

The board then adjourned until the next day and on the morning of November 25th the district attorney gave his opinion in writing upon the petition presented for the removal of the county seat. AVhile the records of the meeting of the board do not contain the opinion, it undoubtedly was in favor of the minority report, for we find that Mr. Fisher moved that the opinion be received and placed on file, and then came the tug of war.

Mr. Cassels, of the town of Tomah, moved that the majority report of the committee on petitions and elections be adopted. Mr. Fisher moved that the minority report be substituted for the majority ropoi-t. and upon llic call of ayes and noes it was carried by the following vote: Babcock, Boyington, Ileiser, Hanehett, llohson, Atchison, Scott. Ilaimkee, Adams, Fulmer, ]Moss, Wells, Childs, Huntley, Fisher and Lee, a total of sixteen ayes. Noes - Stevens, Anthony, Johnson, Gill, Sweet. Spooner, Rogge, Cassels, Rice, GnewikoAV, Bartels, Benjamin and Fish, a total of thirteen. ]\Ir. Fisher then moved the adoption of the minority report, which was carried by the same vote precisely, sixteen to thirteen. It will be noticed that the votes which were against the petition came from Angelo, Byron, Jeflferson, Lafayette, Leon, Little Falls, New Lyme, Portland, Ridgeville, Sheldon, town of Sparta, "Wells and city of Sparta; the votes in favor of the petition came from Adrian, Clifton. Glendale, LaGrange, Lincoln, Greenfield, Oakdale, town of Tomah, AVellington, AVilton and the city of Tomah, so that the votes were lined up Avith regard to location principally, only that George A. Boyington, of the town of Byron, did not vote with the eastern side of the county.

And after some other matters of business this board adjourned, and thus closed another chapter of the struggle over the county seat. It does not appear that the citizens of Tomah attempted in any way to invoke the aid of the courts or to make any further move at that time in the matter.

The proceedings were instituted under the provisions of section 655 of the revised statutes, and we tiiul in the session of the Legislature of the year 1887 an amendment to that section was passed known as chapter 35 of the laws of 1887, which was, no doubt, a part of the plan to for all time settle the controversy as to the removal of the county seat in this or any other county. The amendment provided that where the county seat had l)een established for a pei-iod of fifteen years or more and that the county has erected permanent buildings of the value of not less than $10,000, that the same should not be removed nor should any application for the removal thereof be submitted to a vote of the electors of the county unless a petition signed by at least one-half of the resident freeholders of the county, as evidenced by recorded deeds in the office of the register of deeds of the county, in favor of such removal shall be presented to the county board: and it furthei- provided that no election to change the county seat should be held for a period of five years after the year in which a courthouse or other county buildings costing $3,000 or more shall have been built and occupied for county purposes. In the provisions of this law it is not diflficult to see the

"fiue Italian hand," to use a slang phrase, of that staunch friend of Sparta, Hon. J. j\I. IMorrow, who was at that time one of the "third house" in the Wisconsin Legislature and a prominent man in the affairs of the state. It can very readily be seen that a petition of this character cannot be obtained in the county of Monroe or any other county without great difficulty in searching records and procuring names qualified to sign such a petition.

The old controversy, however, would not down, and in 1890 the State Board of Charity and Reform, after considerable fault found heretofore with the old jail, issued an order condemning it as unsanitary and unfit for use for the purpose, and this caused the revival, somewhat, of the old feeling over the county seat. In order to bring it to a head a petition was circulated in the spring of 1890 and signed by a majority of the county board, calling a special meeting of the board on May 7, 1890. At that session the county clerk read a notice served upon him by the State Board of Charity and Reform regarding the jail, and on motion of Supervisor J. M. IMorrow, a committee was appointed consisting of Supervisor Morrow ; Earl, of Tomah ; Gill, of Greenfield ; AVells, of Wells, and Abbott, of Sheldon, and this committee on the followmg day rendered this report:

"To the County Board of Supervisors of IMonroe County: The undersigned members of your committee, to whom was referred the official notice of the State Bard of Charity and Reform relating to the condemnation of the Monroe county jail, etc., have had the same and matters connected thereunto under consideration, and do report that in our opinion, and for the reasons stated in said notice, and the law in relation to the duties and obligations of the county under such circumstances, it is necessary to provide for a new jail, and to accomplish such purpose in a seasonable, proper and economical manner we have prepared and report herewith an ordinance providing for the construction of a jail upon the courthouse square, and providing for the means to pay for the same with such other necessary details as seemed to your committee required to be provided for the action of this board, and we recommend the adoption of said ordinance, which is respectfully submitted.

Here again appears the same old split, but this time the majority of the committee were in favor of the Avestern side of the county, and again we ha-ve the minority report by one man, "Watson Earle, of the city of Tomah, who made a minority report as follows:

"The minority of your committee would respectfully report that in his opinion the effect of the improvements made in the jail last fall should be tried. The Board of Health, although they knew that the improvements were contemplated, could have no knowledge of what the effects of these improvements could be. That the condition of the jail is l)etter than it has been at any previous time in twenty years. That tlie present condition of the farming portions of this county makes it advisable not to increase the burden of taxation without absolute necessity. For a number of years the crops have been wasted by drought, and now in the fall the markets are almost worthless by reason of low prices. Under these conditions the addition of >1^5,000 a year on this county's tax for three successive years is a grievous burden that ought not to be lightly laid. That the course of the present hasty action in tliis matter is purely visionary, being based not on the present condition of the jail, but on the assumption that at some time in the near future, perhaps, eastern ]\Ionroe county may demand the removal of the county seat; and that the number of prisoners Avhicli for the past year averages three and onethird per cent neither calls for nor justifies such expenditure."

And again the old struggle was before the county board in this form, and again it was Supervisor Fisher who moved the adoption of the majority report this time. Supervisor AYood. from the city of Tomah, moved to substitute the minority report for the majority report, and this brought on a test vote. The motion was lost by the following vote : Ayes - Stevens, Reynolds, Swanets, Lyon. AYoodland, Coome, Rogge, Gehrke, Cassels, Gnewikow. Earle, Tormey and AYood, thirteen; and nayes, Leverich, Gill, liarry. Jones, Atchison, Hoard, Hannkee, Abbott, Beckler, Alarsden, AYells, Alorrow, Huntley, Fisher and Brandt, fifteen. The localities voting in favor of the minority report were these: Adrian, Byron, Clii'ton, Glendale, Lincoln, LaGrange, Oakdale, Ridgeville, town of Tomali. AYilton and the city of Tomah, and against it were Angelo, Greenfield, Lafayette, Leon. Little Falls, New Lyme, Portland, Sheldon, town of Sparta, AYellington, AYells and the city of Sparta, so that we find the alignnu'ut of this vote almost what it was as far as territory is concerned, when the vote on that famous county seat resolution

Mr. Wood, of Tomah, then moved that the consideration of the majority report be postponed and an adjonrnment taken for two weeks so that the members of the board might have an opportunity to confer with their constituents, and upon a call for the ayes and noes this motion was lost by practically the same vote, thirteen ayes and sixteen noes. This time H. H. Cremer, it appears, voted with the noes. It was then moved to adopt the majority report, which was carried by the same old vote, sixteen to thirteen. An ordinance providing for the building of the county jail was then passed by the same vote, sixteen to thirteen, and the following committee, on motion, was appointed by the chair as required by the ordinance passed, as the building committee, to-wit : N. AV. Huntley, of Sparta ; H. H. Atchison, of Little Falls; J. H. Gill, of Greenfield, and AA^illiam Hannkee, of Portland. Subsequently the building committee carried out its instructions in full, contracts were let and the present county jail and sheriff's residence w^as erected. As time went on the old courthouse building became more and more insufficient for the uses of the various county officers and courtrooms, and again the matter of additional county buildings was presented at a session of the country board. In 1894 an ordinance was introduced by Supervisor J. R. Lyon at the November session of the board providing for the building of a new courthouse in the city of Sparta to cost not to exceed the sum of $50,000. It was apparently a hopeless task on the part of the supervisors from the eastern side of the county to prevent the passage of this ordinance, and it was carried by a vote of twenty-five to five. Supervisor Coome being excused from voting. Later in the session, under the provision of the ordinance, the chairman of the county board appointed the following building committee : Supervisors N. AY. Huntley, of Sparta; J. R. Lyon, of Glendale ; H. H. Cremer, of Jefiferson; H. Gnewikow, of AYilton, and D. AY. Sowle, of Lincoln.

In pursuance of this ordinance the present Courthouse was constructed and furnished. The county was fortunate in having it erected at a time when building materials were cheaper than at any time since so that for the sum of between $50,000 and $60,000 it has a commodious and substantial building, completely I'urnislied.

The erection of these permanent buildings of such great value has probably ended for all time any effort to renew the '^county seat Avar." The eastern side of the county has now become reconciled to the situation, as was very appropriately expressed by a member of the board at the time the building of a new jail was voted, the boys in Tomah concluded that "they couldn't get the courthouse tlirough the Tunnel anyhow," so they gave up. ]\rany interesting incidents undoubtedly happened outside of the recorded procedure in this famous struggle during all these years M'hich are now lost, but on the whole the record itself furnishes many dramatic climaxes which are lacking in the present day sessions of the county board.