The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1881-02-03

state OF Michigan SILL nlG .hifi fBi1
| An inauisition aien at -Pkashnt Plnins
| township. la said Daniy. on the .sth dny "
Z" Justices of the f-a", ,sni ~ sud ssmiy, upon
F, the view OF the body Of T. ID. BROWN, thcrv ~
In dead; by .hs oai., oi ti,a jurS j w,,1Sg .,,'g
sworn to inquire In behalf OF the people OF tins
siate, when, IN what manner, and by what
! upon their oaths do say that the dee ased
came TO his death In the jail at baldwin, in
said county, ON the 2stl dny OF Janunry, iSsl.
smoke from fire Then nnd there In said jul;
but that the cause or origin Of said fire, atter
due and careful inquiry, is unknown 70 ibis
say that the sheriif ofsaid county, being the
ail-isccper therein and having charge OF said
blame for said fire, and tliis jury whol y exon
crate him nom biame on censure In the prem
ises.
In testimony wiIerco the sail Justice Of the
Peace ana the jurors of this inquest have
hercunte set their hands the day and year
aforesaid. tiifH hWNl2 Ifhs l.il T.
aII,1. EpaAR cAMrnELLc, -,
g. r. DICKENS, l l h9},,pus
W. III. DKrAMArER, ~ rf a"'
a. Il. GtEEN, Jurors. ti
PETER MILLER, a., f .,
j NJ. SLocUM,
The deceased had no relatives In this
locality; and at first 1t was not known
where they were, II, indeed, any were,
living. Brown had been quite well ed
ucated, was hm excellent penman; and
we learn at one time held responsible
position as book Keeper for u Chicago
firm. Fer a number Of years past he
has heen employed IN various lumber
camps in this vicinity; but we lcarii
that of late it had been almost inipo,-
sible for him to obtain, employment,
OH account of MS ecccntricities and pro-
pensity for drinking liquor. The body
was turned over by the Coroner to G..
X. Radcliffe, one of the Srpcrinten-
dents Of tho Poor, who had the remains
properly prepared for burial. At half
past ten, Sunday morning, funeral SER
vices were held III Court House Hall,
Rev. w. T.. SILENCE deliverhigu touch
ing discourse OF the terrible effects of
the liquor traffic, to quite a large conr
grcgatiOn. Tie remains were then
taken to the "Potter's Ficld' in Pleas
ant Plains cemetery aud buriel; only
enough men to handle the coffin ne
companying il 10 the grave. On Tues
day last, we learned that the father of
the deceased, j. NJ. Brown, lives ut
Waukegan, H.; but in greatly reduced
circumstances. I }4Ni r..tf is,f
There are a number who knew the
deceased ready to aver that he has not
been fully in his right mind for years;
but was simply annoying, not violent
or dangerous in his demonstrations. '7H
The origin of the fire il, tl,e Jail is ~
mystery. From the fact that the main
room is charred tn Il much greater cx-
a. 4. I,., l,..H hYn
i'm through window, or had started
from II partially burnt cigar in III over
coat which We understand WAS taken
M hv p..-.; - .,f,1.."',
T.. :. n,nin part. I1r ourselves, Low
;vcr, VIC consider lhc theory or the coat
Improbable. Again, il is 'tiicushtstiat
Rrown started Il fire with some straw
in tlIe southeast corner of his cell ,.lid
there being cracks letween ii.e lilnl,ss
IN The partition, and the draft oulwarl
from The close cell tn, the circulation Cl
air in tie main part had drawn tile
flames mostly to tic latter room. II
some one threw fire in at the window,
ii is probable that they did SO without
knowing that amy one was confined
inside. Ii Brown STATED the fire, he
no doubt did SO expecting that lie could
control it, and That his cries would
bring some one to ms relief We un-
derstaiid that he had OH separate Occa-
siOns, started fire i'm both the l,udinE-
ton and Pchtwatcr lOckups. From dif-
ferent sources we learn that threats Of
burning the Jail had been made 10y men
who had been inccnscd at the confinc-
mcnt OF. themselves or friends therein;
and il maybe that some of them put
their threat into execution last Friday
evening. ai,. ..',.s,.t ~. n, !, ,,.,.
In amy event, we hold that the, pre-
else manner In which the fire originat-
ell does not lessen the terrible error IN
constructing such u building, and then
combining prisoners there, with no one
TO look after them III case OF accident
or sickness. We do not want to cry
ave told you sop but In view of the
feeling eBgendered in tho minds Of the
better class of citizens Of our communi-
ty by the awful occurrence 1ef Friday
night, we will say that ON ono occasion
at least, the attention of our county au-
thorities was called in public print To
the danger from such Aplai of ofin,pris-
June 14th, 1877, speaking Of the release
Of the woman Mrs. 1'ayfor charged
with uttering forged paper, and of the
then recent Jail l.l,reukmg, appeared the
following: "Anotlier poipti In this
matter is that the Jail, as such, has
proven a. failure. 1t is worth just as
much to board prisoners hcreasin Her
sey; aud the fiet that tile lcalaboose Is
u structure withno turnkey or jHilor at
hand In case of accident, or sickness Of
prisoners, renders the responsibility of
the county greater than II should be-"
At later date, the Board Of Superyi-
sors made the matter worse by cont
structiny u tight, high fence off heavy
plank around the Jail, athus 1essening
the chance for pussers by To htalru cries
of distress or witness accidents which
might occur at'ai,y time .i',ts W, - sslsn'
We do not know what VIII be done
about the question If another Jail; but
I'm the name ofcivilization aud human
ity we ngain protest against the COLI
struction Of any more such "n,ahutrnps"
as tile one destroyed, last Friday eve