The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1884-01-03
THE NEw COURT TsOAss IN
ASHES
Undoubtedly ,i,e WORK ofan In
cendiary.

| On last Monday morning gEout half-paSt
3 o'clock the alarm of fire was sounded
over town, and our citizens rushed out in
TO the rain and inty dBrkhess to discover
that the dcvOuring llamos we've fast con-
Stunning the Ttew county court bouse. The
/ fire had undoubtedly been kirdled in the
Office Of Chancery Clerk by an incendiary,
and when the first of our citizens arrived
upon the SCENE the entire contents of this
important Office were envelOpcd in destruc-
tionsnd tie flames were licking their fiery
tongues out at the windows and door
and making their way into the rest of the
building, 1t was too late ~ save the
court hOU<h, rs all saw at Il glance, and
the only thing left was to remove the con
tetts Of the other offices. By quick aud
daring efforts, this was quite cficctually
dOncj and most of the books, papers, etc.
belonging to the Circuit Clerk, Sheriff and
County Superintendent of Education, were
thus saved, though in d confused aud
somewhat damaged condition owing to
the heavy rain which was 1T the TIME fall
ing.
LOSSES.
Cllancefy Clerk Martin has given us
close estimate of the total loss to the conn
ty, and we are glad to say, it will not cx-
ceed Sll 900. This includes the building,
the furniture, cvliiity library, Chanccry
Clerks TtCbtds, blanks and stationery on
hand, etc. Everything appertaining to
the Chan"ery Clerks office was lost except
deed book IN" which MI. Martin had car
ried h0r;c to do sdtiir copying from. The
records Of the Board of Supervisors and of
the ChanceTy cgutt, the official bonds of
the county Ulcers, etc, are all gone. All
of the new'y elected county officials had
filed their bonds, and in consequence some
OF them are now having to hustle around
right lively i'll order t" get them duplica-
ted in time to qualify next Monday.
"Uncle" Jesse Warren says lie had Sl25,-
000 in notes OF hand which he had been
holding ever since befote the war,
stuck away in Il little private drawer III
his office, which were overlooked and left
to burn Tie loss of this vast amount of
claims which was for cash loaned, WIS not
as mncb, however as one might suppose.
He says if some fellow had come along and
offered him % trade dollars for the
whole package, he would have thought
twice before refusing the offer.
Sheriff Mikell has S46S missing in county
and school warrants, which had been paid
in for taxes and we're not Cancelled. He also
lost some important office papers.
Superintendent Spencer says he lost all
of the county school records piior to last
year and some other papers belonging to
his office.
WHAT THE PRISONERS IN JAIL SAY.
There were three negro prisoners in rhc
iire-proof tail hard by the court house. and
they were the first to give the alarm ot'tirr.
They stated to Sheriff MlkeT and others
after the fire that the incendiary, whoever
Ire was, first tried to break III through the
windows of the Circuit Clerks office, but
they being aroused by the noise cOmlnenc-
ed to boiler, when h. left off there and went
arGuiia to one of the windows nfthc Chan
Gerry Clerks office, ut the same time telling
them in prOfane and gruff lhnGuagr that if
they did not "dry up" he would ''sct the
Jail afife and burn them up" Shortly
alterward, they saw the. glare of flames
and then began to l'oller III earnest. We
simply give. this story for what it il worth.
Judging from the way these'negrocs were
crying for help, mouaning and groaning
when this writer and few others first
reached the court yard, they evidently
thought the threat repeated above was
about to I've carried ont. They. in fact,
would hive received decided baking,
since while the Jail did not burn, the walls
became. intensely hot but were soon freed
from their pcrilouS position by MT. Joe
Chrisman and others.
There are various coniecturcs and ans-
piciOns as to who the iiccndiary is, but it
is about unanimously agreed that he is
some man in the county Interested fnan-
ciafN or otherwise in the destruction Of the
court records Every effort will be made
to find him out. and if caught ho will no
doubt be punished Is the tnll cNtelit of the