tance of eight feet from said jury rooms, except so much as may be necessary for the admission of persons in and to the bar and court, which said space is not to exceed three feet; and the said court-room is to be furnished with three windows of fifteen lights each, and two good doors. Said building is to be erected on the southeast corner of the public square of good, substantial frame of a ten-foot story, covered with joint shingles; and said frame is to be settled on a sufficient number of eighteen-inch blocks two feet long."
June 26, 1824, the board of commissioners met and awarded to John Justice the contract for building the above described courthouse, for $345 the structure to be completed by the first of the following November.
Although the commissioners refused to accept this building when Mr. Justice thought he had it completed, it was used for courts and public meetings of all kinds until another was erected, of brick. The county paid Mr. Justice in part; he sued for the balance, and finally recovered it, the Supreme Court ordering the county to pay the full amount and the cost of the proceedings.
In February, 1831, the commissioners had a plan for a new court-house drawn up, and advertised for proposals for furnishing the material with which to build it. James Skinner, being the lowest responsible bidder, was awarded the contract for furnishing the brick, at $3.50 per thousand; and Stephen B. Gardner was promised $2.50 a perch for the stone. Other material was contracted for, and the court-house completed under the immediate supervision of the county commissioners, and was occupied until January 29, 1844, at half past eleven o'clock in the forenoon, when it was partly burned down. The commissioners called a session immediately and arranged for repairing the building. It was fully repaired, and re-occupied during the following summer. This served until 1868, when the present beautiful structure was built.
In June, 1828, the board of commissioners let the contract for the erection of the first jail, which was to be 16 x 28 feet in ground area, two stories high, of hewed timbers, with a partition of twelve feet for debtors' and criminals' room, lower story eight and a half feet in the clear, upper story eight feet, with partition as below, to be built of double timbers 8 x 10 inches thick, or wider if convenient; roof to be of joint shingles, etc., etc. Samuel Hedges was the contractor, who was to receive for the work $369.
In connection with the same building was to be a clerk's office, 16 x 14 feet, one story nine feet in the clear, two fifteen-light windows, one door, etc., etc. For this Mr. Hedges was to receive $116.
This building was erected in due time, according to contract.
The first page of the probate record begins thus:
"Order Book 1. Probate Court, April 16, 1827. Present, the Honorable Jacob Castle-
man and Jacob Andrick, Associate Judges of Vermillion County.
"Court was adjourned to meet at the clerk's office in Newport.
"Ordered, That Phebe Miller be and she is hereby appointed guardian of Matilda miller, of lawful age to choose a guardian, and Eliza Ann, Charlotte, Jothan, Jacob, John, Luctetia and Massey Miller, infant heirs of Joshua Miller, deceased, that she give bond in the sum of $600, and that John Haines and John Gardner be approved as sureties.
"On motion of James Groenendyke, ordered that John Armour, John Tipton and Robert Elliott be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to make a partition of the real estate of John Groenendyke, deceased, among the heirs of said deceased, and report to the next term.
"Ordered, That Sarah Lamphier, administratrix of the estate of Elijah Lamphier, deceased, be allowed the following credits, she having filed sufficient vouchers to that effect: (Here follows a list of expenses, footing up $12.)
"Ordered, That Hiram Shepherd, administrator of the estate of William W. Kennedy, deceased, be allowed a credit of $39 on said estate, he having produced sufficient vouchers for the sum.
"Ordered, That court adjourn till court in course.
"Jacob Andrick.
"Jac. Castleman"
Mr. Andrick's name is signed mostly in German letter, while Mr. Castleman swings a fancy pen in modern style.
The first marriages within the present bounds of Vermillion County are probably recorded at the couty seats of Parke and Vigo counties, as the record at Newport opens with certificates at the rate of almost one a week, or forty for the year ending May 1, 1825. The record here begins with the following, in the order here given:
1. Jesse McGee, Minister of the Gospel, married Moorman Hayworth and Elizabeth Mardick, May 30, 1824; and June 2, same year, Hugh Johnson and Polly Tipton.
2. John Porter, Justice of the Peace, May 10, 1824, married Philo Heacock and Diantha Smith; June 10 following, Joshua Dean and Susan Nolan; June 27, Isaac B. Potter and Semiah Seymour; July 1, Noah Kirkendol and Mary Wallen; and August 12, Ashur Sargent and Delilah Cooper, etc.
Some of the above names are probably wrongly spelled.
The first civil suit brought into the Circuit Court was instituted by Mark Hays against Mary Hays for divorce. The case was continued for several terms and ended by Mark having to pay Mary's lawyers' fees, dismissing and paying costs, and then the twain living together thereafter. "Vermillion County," says M. G. Rhoades, Esq., "has the reputation of settling more lawsuits by compromise than any other county in the State. This effect may be directly traceable to the example set in the case just related."
The first volume of the circuit court record opens thus: "May Term, 1824. Pleas begun and held before the Honorable Jacob Call, President of the First Judicial Circuit in the State of indiana, and Jacob Andrick and Jacob Castleman, Associate Judges for the county of Vermillion, at the house of James Blair, on Thursday, the sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
"State of Indiana vs. Josephus Collett and
Ralph Wilson." This was for assault and battery, although no memorandum of the fact is entered. Then follows the pleas of indictment, which is interesting on account of the heavy wording characteristic of that day. Thus:
"The jurors, for and in the name and body of the county of Vermillion, upon their oaths present that Josephus Collett, late of the township of Vermillion, laboring [laborer?], and Ralph Wilson, late of the same township and county aforesaid, laborer, on the fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, with force and arms, at [in?] the township aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, did, in a certain public place, to wit, the house yard of James, Blair, being a public place, did agree to fight at fisticuffs, and then and there actually did fight, and then and there, in a rude, insolent, angry and unlawful manner, did touch, strike, beat, bruise, wound and ill-treat each other to the terror of the citizens of the State of Indiana, then and there being contrary to the force of the statutes of that case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Indiana.
"George R. C. Sullivan, Pros. Atty."
Among the tantologies and slips of the pen in the above document, is the old familiar phrase, "with force and arms," connected with a case of simple "fisticuffs!" "Arms" were employed, no doubt! -- two by each party.
According to tradition, the whole court were indictable as accessories to the affray, as, while they had no regular business on hand for the day, they "adjourned to see the fun!"
At the second term of the court Mr. Collett pleaded guilty and was fined $2; but Mr. Wilson continued his case for several terms, and was ultimately fined $10, -- for the use of the county seminary. Judge John R. Porter presided at this term of court. His circuit, by the several changes that were made, extended from the Ohio to Lake Michigan.
Of course it is not necessary for us to follow the criminal records further, or even give any statistics of crime in this county. In reading a modern newspaper one often gets the impression that "this section of the country" is awfully addicted to crime, forgetting that it is the province of the paper to gather and publish all that is sensational, though other things be excluded. In reading the modern newspaper, therefore, one is almost constantly looking at the worst side of society.
There has been but one case of capital punishment in Vermillion County, a brief account of which we now proceed to give.
Walter Watson was executed April 3, 1879, for having murdered Ezra Compton at Highland January 10, preceding.
Watson was born in Vermillion County, Indiana, March 20, 1852, and when grown was five feet nine inces in height, weighed about 165 pounds, and had a light complexion and auburn hair. When he was fourteen years of age his mother died, a little before which time he joined the Methodist Episcopal church; but in 1876 he joined the Baptist church, and December 25, 1877, married Mary E. Sharp, a member of the same church. His father kept house but a short time after his mother's death, and he and his brother were consequently left to shift for themselves. He was generally industrious, however working mostly on a farm, and some as a carpenter; he carried mail four months, and was also engaged in numerous other odd jobs, in various places.
Being a creature of high temper he occa-
sionally had a fight, and, according to what he said, was always victorious. The last fight he had was with a man named Lon Clark, in Illinois. They snapped revolvers at each other, but neither of the revolvers fired. The trouble began on the question who should go home with a certain girl. After the revolvers failed, the parties clinched, when Watson gained the victory and marched off with the girl.
Watson never made a practice of getting drunk, but would occasionally drink with a friend. He had such a disposition as one would suppose was developed by being teased and tantalized when an infant; was fretful, suspicious, overbearing and ugly; but in jail he was always kind to his fellow prisoners and to the jailor, Spencer H. Dallas.
January 9, 1879, Watson went to Highland and purchased of Ezra Compton 25 cents worth of soap, on credit. The next day his brother Florence bought an ax at the same place, and in paying for it he handed Mr Compton a $2 bill to change. The latter, not being well acquainted with the brothers, and thinking this was the same who had bought the soap the preceding day, reserved pay for it also, in making the change. Florence asked for an explanation, when Compton said he supposed he desired to pay for the soap also. Then Florence had to explain that it was his brother who obtained the soap, and added that it was all right, and mark that debt cancelled also.
Arriving home, Florence told his brother Walter that he thought it was a "a little thin" to buy so small a quantity of soap and having it charged. Walter denied the charge, flew into a terrible rage and declared he would have satisfaction out of Compton. Seizing his brother's revolver from an adjoining room, he sallied forth, despite the entreaties of his wife, and walked to the village, two miles away, bent on revenge. First he demanded to know of Mr. Compton why he had caused his brother to pay for the soap when he had promised to wait on him till he could get the money. Mr. Compton explained the matter to him, but he was too greatly excited to be reasonable. Even handing back the twenty-five cents by Mr. Compton had no effect in cooling down the boiling caldron. Compton then ordered him out of the store. He withdrew for a moment, but stepping back upon the threshold, he pointed the deadly weapon toward his victim, and exclaimed, "D--n you! I'll shoot you anyhow," and fired the fatal shot, which passed into Compton's body in the inguinal region and lodged in the spinal column. The poor man died the next day.
Immediately after the shooting, Watson started for home, brandishing his revolver and making terrible threats of what he should do if Compton should attempt to follow him. He told several parties in bravado style that he had killed Compton, and had a few more pills left for any of his friends who might sympathize with him. Late that evening he was arrested.
The next month he was indicted for murder in the first degree, and tried during that term of court, Thomas F. Davidson, Judge. The attorneys for the prosecution were Prosecutor A. P. Harrell, and Messrs. Jump & Cushman and R. B. Sears. As Watson was poor and had no means to employ legal talent, Judge Davidson appointed Messrs. Rhoads & parrett and J. C. Sawyers to defend him. The jury consisted of William Collett, T. J. Stark, Solomon Hines, M. J. Rudy, Wallace Moore, William C. Groves, J. S. Shaner, R. C. Jones, J. R. Gouty, J. R. Dunlap, Alfred Carmack and John Van Duyn, who on the first ballot unanimously found the accused guilty. The usual steps for a new trial, com-