Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1857-07-16
FROM the Indianapolis Journal
Early Indiana Trials.
"REMINISCENCES ny HON. o II. SMITH.

noun Nv gaining up his recoilectlonS OF
the early trials Of important eases in Indi-
AHA. which may be- Interesting. at least to
some OF cur pi"ueer settler, who are vet
living witnesses Of The truth ct his remin-
is;eacrS. lie proposes 10 ccniine himself
10 the third judicial Cir.uii ct tho State.
AL 70 TIA, tim, whoa III, Hon Miles G..
IS5i iton WIS Pfc,i Ing .Iuiga of the Cir
"Gli. The this Judicial Circuit includin.,
what was thin known Il, tn White Water
country, ant eS.ended from the county Of
'lc.icrsonnoth 10 the State OF Michigan.
some two hunlre mics in length. aal from
the Ohio lin, or the East Ia VI l,itr River,
aomo seventy five miles Wet The com
Try was new, sparsely settled, an being on
the western frontier. thu towns and villages
were iille,i with ln,lianS, trading their pei
tries, wild gam, and moccasins ornamen.
tel with the quilts of the porcupin,, with
ihe settlers for calicoes, whiskey, powder.
lead. bcdls and such other articles as met
their fancy The population oftlo country
embraced blythe Circuit was a har,iy, fear
loss and generally honest, but more or less,
reckless people, such as are usually to be
found advancing upon the frontiers from
more civilized life. and consequently thore
were more collisions among them. more
crimes committed. calling for the action Of
the Criminal Courts than is common in
older settled and more civilized parts of the
older States.
The judiciary system ~ the time referred
30 was, like the country, in its infancy
The Circuit Court was composed Of pres.
iient judga. elected by che Legislature. who
presided in ali the Courts in ths Circuit.
and two associate judges. elected in each
comfy b. the people. These "side judg-
O." rs they were then callcl, maleno pre-.
tensions to any particular l,nowlolg, of
the law, but still they hal the power to ..
vorrule til, presiding judge. and give tn
opinion the Court, ant sometimes they
even "out.sucSscl" the president, giving
the most preposterouS reasons imaginable
Tor their decisions. rs, in one instance, that
writ OF Scire fa joS to revive Judgment
would not IL, unless it was suel out with.
in a year and day The decision of the
ASSOCIATES was affirmed in the supreme
Court. for other reasons Of course The
Court Houses were either frame or log
buildings, arranged 10 hold the Court in
one end and th, grand jury in the other
The petit jury being aceomm0l lated in some
ncgboring building, use for kitchen
of the noiglboring inn. during vacation
The clerks had ycyy little qualifications for
thcir duties. Still they were honest. anil
most OF them could write more legibly than
Rufus Choatc OF William II. Potter Uni.
til State Senators. The Shcriis were g.
lcctcd by the people, as they are now. and
seemed 90 have been selected as candidates
on account Of their fine voices to call the
Jurors and witnesses from tho woods. from /
the door %. tine court building, and their
ability 10 run down and catch offenders. -
The mort important pfrsonagcs in the
country, however, were the young lawyers,
universally Gale "sauircs" hy old aud !
young. mule AMI female. Queue, were
much in fashion, aud nothing was more
common than 10 500 one of those young
Secures. with wltel rorum hat that I
had once boon .tiicnc with glue in It's brt.
ter days, upon u heal, from the back part
ofwhich hung queue three feet long. tie
from heal To- tip with an eel skin. walking
in evident superiority, in his own cstima
ton. among the people in tho courtyard,
sounding the public mind ~ to his pros.
pcccts a. u candidate for the Legislature.
There were no caucuscs or conventions then.
Every candidate brought himself ont AMI 4
ian upon his own hook. II he got beat.
~ the most ofthcm did, h, haa nobody To
blame but himself for becoming canli-
dat. .gill he generally charged It upon his
friends 70. not voting for him, AMI the next
season found him once more on the track.
sounding his own praises.
The cour, rooms in those LAYS were pre-
pared aud furnished with much simplicity,
anl ye, they seemed 10 answer all the pur
poses absolutely necessary 10 the due al.
miniNtration OF justice. The building. as ! /
have stated, generally contained two rooms /
the court room being the largc,t-at
one end OF which there was platform ele. /
vatel some three feet, TO- the Judge. I
with long bench TO seat them These
benches were very substantial in general, |.
sufficient 10 sustain the most wcighty judy. /
ss, yet on one occasion the bench gave
way. and down came three fat aldermany /
judges on the floor. One OF them was
quite wag. AMI seeing tho "squrcs''
laughing,y iemarkel-"G Gentlemen, this is I
mighty weak BENCH The bar had their
I4|hA tLS idbIt VI lltt t4t. IS
and the crowd was kept back by Il long pole
fastened with hickory withcs at the ends.
The crowds at that day thought the
holding OF court was 6 great affair. The
people came hundreds Of miles to sec the
Judges. and hear the lawyers plead" as
they called it. On one occasion there
came on 10 be tiici before the jury AMI in
dictment fox an assault and battery against
man for pulling the nose Of another who
had insultcd him. The court room was
filled 10 sufiocatioll. Tn, two Associate
Judges were on the bench. The evidence
had been heard, anil public expectation
was on tip-toc. All was silent as death
when ny yo.ng friend. th,n Squire" a.
forwards Judge Chas. II. Test, rose and
addressed the Court: IF the Court
please. he was here interrupted by Judge
Winchel from the bench 'Yes, we do
please; go to the bottom OF the case. young
man. The people have come in to hear the
lawyers plead" The young Squire. en-
couraged by the kind response Of the Judge,