Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-05-09
JUDICIAL HISTORY.
An Interesting Resume of Old
Time Legal Proceedings as
Presented Before the
Western Pennsylva-
MIA Historical
Society,".

At recent regular meeting of th'
Western Pennsylvania Historical So
ciety, the evening was devoted to thu
Hon. Judge White in lecture on th'
Judiciary of Allegheny County.
He began with the first court helc
west of the Allegheny mountains, il
Bedford, April l6, I'LL. Two years
later Westmoreland was formed out O
o part of Bedford, and embraced all
the province west of the mountains
The law directed that the court should
be held in the house of Robert Hanna
three miles north of the present site
of Greensburg. Hannastown was
formed and afterwards burned in 1882
but for fifteen years court was still
held there A low Jail was erected
near Hanna's house. William Craw-
ford was the first Presiding Judge
He served for nine years, and died a
horrible death at the hands of the In
dians, in the fatal expedition against
the Sandusky villages. The Justices
of the Peace in the county formed the
court, both civil and criminal.
Three of them formed a quorum,
with one acting as president judge.
Later in l777 they were appointed and
commissioned. Edward Cooke, Esq,
was the first appointee. In 1885, John
Moon, Justice of the Peace, was
commissioned as the first resident
president judge west of the mountains.
The Pittsburgh courts, up till 17S8,
were held at Hannastown. The Jail,
a log pen, was not for Imprisonment as
a part of the sentence, but a place
where prisoners were kept pending
trial. The penalties were usually fines,
whipping, standing in the pillory stocks,
and clipping of ears. The whipping
post was stout sapling with cross to
which the prisoners were tied. The
pillory allowed the prisoners head to
be exposed, at which, at common law,
each passing citizen was allowed to
cast stone.
THE FIRST EXECUTION.
The records of those days show
many sentences to each mode of pun
ishment Sometimes the whipping
post. the pillory and the ear-clipping
process were combined The first
person convicted of murder west of the
mountains was an Indian Of the Della
ware tribe. In 1855 he, while drunk,
killed one OF the Smiths on the Allie
| gheny side of the river. He plead
guilty before Chief Justice Mexican.
While in jail he was twice allowed to
| go to the woods, once for roots to
cure sick child of the jailor, and
once for roots with which to paint HIM
self on the day of the ezepution. The
rope broke once and the whole mat
ter was bungling affair. He died
like a warrior. The first courts held
within the present city limits were
under the laws of Virginia in l775,
under the authority of Lord Dunmore
Pennsylvania and Virginia both claim
ed the territory, and the organization
OF Westmoreland county in 1878 rous-
ed Virginia to an active assertion ct
her claims. lord nunmofe appointed
DR.. John Connolly his agent here to
urge virginia's claims A Westmore-
land county justice threw Connolly
into prison. When Connolly came out
he.put the Westmoreland county justice
in jail. When the Revolutionary War
broke out, Virginia abandoned her
claims, Lord Dunmore and DR.. Con.
molly both fleeing the Tory headguart.
ers. In l7f6 the territory was
DIVIDED INTO THREE COUNTIES,
called Ohio, Yohogania, and Mononga-
hela Pittsburgh was in Yohogania
county, comprised of the present terri
tory in Allegheny and part of Wash
ington counties. The courts were
held regularly until 1880. sometimes at
Pittsburgh, sometimes near the pres
ent site of Washington, but oftener on
the farm of Andrew Heath, on the
Monongahela River, near tho line be-
tween Allegheny and Washington
counties. A 'dpckipg stool was built
at this point to punish scolding wives.
1t was q large see-saw arrangement
with chair near the end Ie4t toe
water, in WHICH the victim was lash
ed, and her virulent temper cooled by
repeated tilts into the cold water.
Two thousand dollars Continental cur
rency, worth two cents on the dollar,
were expended on a whipping post
and stocks in the court house yard on
Heath's farm The following sched-
ule of prices was decreed by the
court in l777 for tavern-keepers
l