CHAPTER VII.

THE COURTS OF EARLY TIMES.

In dealing with the court of Jackson county, it is desirable to give only its history from the beginning to that period when its organization may be said to have been completed, and its rules understood and observed. Therefore, in the succeeding pages the legal transactions of the Circuit Court are summarized up to 1838, after which a roll of the president and associate judges is given, with the names of the clerks of court who entered the proceedings. The county officers being partially connected with the courts, the roll of names and year of election are given, and addeð to this record.

SEAT OF JUSTICE ESTABLISHED.

The Territorial Governor, Hon. Lewis Cass, issued the following proclamation under date Feb. 2, 1831, confirming the action of the commissioners appointed to locate the county-seat of Jackson:

BY LEWIS CASS,

GOVERNOR IN AND OVER THE TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN.

A Proclamation.

WHEREAS, By an act of the Legislative Council, approved July 31, 1830, authority is given to the governor of the Territory to appoint commissioners to locate the seals of justice in the several counties where the seats of justice may not have been located, and to receive their report and confirm the same if he approve thereof. and then to issue a proclamation establishing the seats of justice so located;

AND WHEREAS, Henry Rumsey, Chauncey S. Goodrich and John Allen, Esquires, were appointed commissioners to locate the seat of justice of the county of Jackson, and have proceeded to execute the said duty, and have by a report signed by them, located the seat of justice of the said county of Jackson at the said village of Jacksonopolis, in the said county:

Now, therefore, By virtue of the authority given in said act, and in conformity with the said report, I do hereby issue this proclamation, establishing the seat of justice of the said county of Jackson at the said village of Jacksonopolis, in the said county.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the great seal of the Territory to be affixed. Done at Detroit, on the second of February, im the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, and of the Inde pendence of the United States the fifty-fifth.

By the Governor,

JOHN T. MASON,

Secretary of the Territory.

LEWIS CASS. [L.S

PIONEER COURTS.

The formation of counties throughout the State in 1829 was followed by acts of the Legislative assembly of the Territory, relating

to the government of such counties, their partition into townships, and the establishment of county and circuit courts in each district so organized. These acts were approved June 29, 1832, and among many others relating to this county was one dealing with the courts, in the following terms: "That a county court should be established in Jackson county, possessing all the privileges of the ether county courts in the Territory, a session of which must be held on the first Tuesday of September each year, and the first session to take place at the house of Horace Blackman. The county of Jackson was created one circuit, and a session of the court ordered to be held on the second Tuesday of September each year, the first session to be held at the house of Horace Black

Always prompt in matters of this kind, the authorities appointed Dr. Oliver Russ judge, Samson Stoddard clerk of court, and David Kyes sheriff. The necessary legal notice was extensively posted, and in accordance with the spirit of the act, the first court of justice

Jackson county was proclaimed open on the first Tuesday of September, 1832. A grand jury was impaneled, which comprised almost every responsible man then in the neighborhood. Attor neys John Allen and Olney Hawkins were present, with a few determined litigants ranged in the back-ground. The court-room, -a parlor in the log house of Horace Blackman-was densely packed with the jurors, lawyers, litigants and the curious. The judge sat patiently waiting the time when the multitude would cease their converse, and settle down to hear the lecture to which he was determined to treat the jurors. It came. Sheriff Kyes read the proclamation a second time, and declared the session of the court to have begun. The judge rose from his seat with a good deal of dignity, took a long look at his assembled friends, and then entered on one of those peculiar addresses heard only in the courts, or at the meetings of a people recently settled in a new country. He said:

“Gentlemen of the Grand Jury, Friends and Countrymen: We are just emerging from the barbarous period of our lives, and that is comprised in the few months which have passed away since we left our Eastern homes in search of Western ones. The State has not forgotten us; but, on the contrary, has recognized our courage by bestowing upon us all the forms of government known in much older counties, and above all she has blessed the county by placing me a judge over you. Gentlemen of the jury, I am proud to assure you that your duties at this session of the court will be of the lightest character, but I trust the time is not far distant when intelligent men, such as you are, will be idle in such a cause, or lawyers, such as I see before me, be without a train of clients. The advancing civilization of our time requires that litigation and trouble of all sorts should accompany it, and I must congratulate the State for placing among us, so early in the history of our county, an institution which may, undoubtedly, cause more Krouble and anxiety than it will be ever able to relieve.

"Gentlemen, in closing this little address, I must not forget to remind you that this is only the beginning of the end. The time will soon be at hand when the juror may lose the curiosity which this court now awakens, and seek a means to escape a visit to the county court-house, that will soon offer us, at least, a larger room to examine and deliberate in. The case of John Doe will come before you; treat it as it deserves.”·

The jurors were satisfied, the crowd was satisfied; but the happiest mortal in all that gathering was the judge himself, who looked with a smile at the following entries, made by S. Stoddard, Clerk of the County Court, in one of the early record books:

John Doe, selling liquor to Indian; damages, $20. Attorney, John Allen.

Thomas Godfrey vs. Daniel D. T. Warner, trespass; damages, $100. Attorney, O. Hawkins.

Fee bill-Summons, 50c.; docketing, 124c.; same, 64c. Date— Sept. 4, 1832. Remarks-Summons issued returnable at next term of court. Returned, served by David Kyes, Sheriff; fee, $1.061.

Under date of Sept. 7, 1832, the fee bill, in the case of Abel Millington vs. Sanford Marsh and Daniel D. T. Warner, comprised a capias, costing 50c.; docketing, 12c.; filing papers, 25c. So Stoddard remarks:- "Capias issued on filing affidavit of E. W. Morgan. Capias returned with bond for defendant's appearance by David Kyes, Sheriff. Fees, $1.50."

The action of Stephen Grant and Trumbul Cary against Elijah Spencer, claiming damages of $1,000, was brought before the court in 1832, and a capias was issued returnable at the next term of the Circuit Court.

The Bank of Michigan vs. John Wickham, H. W. Bassett and H. Blackman, a case noticed under date Dec. 18, 1832, is treated to the laconic remark, "Capias issued returnable at next term of Circuit Court. Returned, served by David Kyes, Sheriff."

All the cases were returned to the Circuit Court, the judge asked three hearty cheers for the stars and stripes, which were freely given, and then, placing one foot on the chair and his hand under his chin, spoke to the members of that grand jury for over an hour, and might have continued for the succeeding 60 minutes had not the last of the fatigued pioneers followed the example of his friends, leaving Messrs. Stoddard and Kyes for the audience.

It is related by one of the surviving first settlers that the judge was very desirous to indite John Doe, then a tavern-keeper in the township, for selling liquor to Indians. In his charge to the grand jury he referred to it; but the jury requested the judge to make out a bill against the breaker of laws, as they were not conversant with legal forms in their adopted State. Russ snatched up a pen and wrote: John Doe to Jackson County, Dr., To selling liquor to Indians, $20.00

What became of this "true bill" is not recorded; but it is handed down in legend that Doe never paid the $20, and that Dr. Russ'

"true bill" is still passed round the judicial circuits of the State, always forming subject for the leisure moments of modern lawyers.

FIRST REGULAR SESSION, 1833.

The first session of the Circuit Court, held in Jackson county June 3, 1833, was presided over by Hon. William A. Fletcher, with Wm. R. DeLand as assistant judge. The commission of Judge Fletcher was issued by Gov. G. B. Porter April 23, 1833. This document appointed him judge of the Circuit Court in and for the Territry of Michigan for four years, or during the pleasure of the Governor of the Territory for the time being.

David Kyes, the sheriff, read this commission, together with that appointing W. R. De Land assistant judge. As the latter named has been so intimately connected with the county, it is well to give a copy of his commission:

GEORGE B. PORTER-Governor in and over the Territory of Michigan.

To all to whom these presents may come, GREETING:- Know ye that reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity and ability of William R. De Land, I have nominated and, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council of the said Territory, have appointed him an Associate Judge of the Circuit Court for the county of Jackson; and I do hereby authorize and empower him to execute and fulfill the duties of that office according to law,-to have and to hold the said office with all the rights, privileges and emoluments thereunto belonging, during the pleasure of the governor of the said Territory for the time being.

The date of this document is contemporary with that of Judge Fletcher's commission.

A commission, under the same date, was issued to Hiram Thompson, appointing him associate judge, though he did not take his seat until the November session.

The first grand jury was composed of the following persons: Solomon Brill; Lemuel Blackman, Russell Blackman, Jacksonburgh; Wm. H. Pease, Wesley W. Laverty, Elizur B. Chapman, Ezekiel T. Critchet, John Laverty, Jacksonburgh; Zenas Fuller; Jotham Wood; Wm. T. Worden; Charles Henington; Wm. D. Thompson, Jacksonburgh; Samuel Wing; Hiram Austin; Nathan Russ, Jacksonburgh; Abel Benett, Wm. Pool, Nathan Z. Lattimore, Caleb Chapel, Ira Kellogg, Timothy Williams, James Jacobs. Solomon Brill was appointed foreman and authorized by the court to administer oaths to such witnesses as might appear for examination.

The petit panel comprised the following: Nathaniel Boyn, Moses Boyn, George Woodworth, Edward Morrell, Aaron Evans, John Daniels, Josephus Case, Alexander Laverty, Isaac Carrier, Joseph Sutton, John Eames, Ethan Allen, James Fifield, Jeremiah Marvin, David Riley, Orrin Gregory, Leander M. Cain, Sanford Marsh, William Worth, Stephen Rowan, Martin Flint, Major D. Mills.

The court ordered that Olney Hawkins, of Ann Arbor, be appointed district attorney. Those preliminaries being completed, the case of Millington against Marsh and others was called, when Attorney Hawkins moved for judgment of nonsuit, owing to some

informality in the procedure of plaintiff; but the motion was overruled at the adjourned meeting, June 4, and the plaintiff allowed to file a declaration within 30 days.

A nonsuit ensued in the case of Thos. Godfrey versus Daniel D. T. Warner by consent of plaintiff's attorney, John Allen, and Olney Hawkins, the defendant's attorney.

The little difficulty between Harvey Austin and Calvin H. Swain was simply settled by the failure of defendant to appear before the court, or, as Dr. Samson Stoddard, then county clerk, reported, "The defendant being three times solemnly called comes not, but makes default.'

The United States against Wm. Savacool was almost a cause celebre. Savacool was indicted for larceny. He denied the crime, not wisely, but too well, and was requested to sojourn for three months in the hospitable jail of Washtenaw county, and instructed to stay there until the costs of the prosecution be paid. All this kindness, resulting from the stealing of property valued at $2.25, was fully appreciated by the prisoner. The jurors who tried this terrible man were Sanford Marsh, Wm. Worth, Geo. Woodworth, Orrin Gregory, David Riley, Aaron Eames, Moses Boyn, Isaac Curier, Major D. Mills, Jeremiah Marvin, Edward Morrell and Martin Flint.

SECOND SESSION, 1833.

The session of November, 1833, was held under President Judge Fletcher, with Associate Judges Hiram Thompson and W. R. De Land. Alexander Laverty proclaimed the court open, after which the commission of Judge H. Thompson was read. The grand jury panel was called, when the following answered to their names: O. Gregory, J. Wood, A. F. Bolton, J. Valentine, J. S. Love, A. B. Gibson, O. Russ, A. Trip, J. McConnell, A. Eames, C. M. Chappel, N. Russ, N. G. Lattimer, J. Tunnicliff, J. Daniels, C. Harrington, C. Harrington, Jr., J. N. Swain, W. D. Thompson, D. Laverty, E. Allen, J. H. Otis, C. Smith. Abram F. Bolton was appointed foreman, and directed to swear any witnesses who might come up for examination, and O. Hawkins, district attorney, pro tem.

Attorneys E. W. Morgan and Jewett appeared at this session, but the docket was so light, showing only five unimportant cases, that they manifested their disapproval by leaving the village the evening of the first day's sitting. On the 12th a jury appeared consisting of S. Brill, R. Davis, J. S. Fifield, Lyman Pease, Hiram Austin, J. Marvin, A. Barrett, W. Laverty, J. Laverty, Sam. Roberts, Stephen Rowan, M. Bean, N. Bean, E. B. Chapman, J. Case, R. Updike, Ed. Morrell, J. T. Durand, J. Wellman, M. D. Mills. This jury was immediately discharged, as there did not appear any necessity for its further attendance, and subsequently the court adjourned without naming a day for the next session.

A session of the court was held June 5, 1834, with the judges named hitherto presiding. A jury was impaneled, and the docket