Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-11-02
THE "COON BELT
A District in Indiana WhereJustice Was
QueerIy Administered.
Indianapolis Meas.

Indianapolis Meas.
The State library should secure, if hap
ly it yet exists, the docket of an early
Sharpsvllle Justice Of the Peace, with its
simple entries: ''John Smith VS.. Thomas
Jones. l heard this case and gave Smith
judgment for So IS and costs, as witness
my hand. -. p" From the decision
of this court no sutton ever took appeal;
they were final as those of Rhadamanthus
himself. The advocacy of cOunsel learned
in the law was not encouraged by this
primitive Judge. The general history OF
proceedings was much in this wise: The
plaintiff went to the Squire, who heard
his story and made distant and shrewd,
though non professional, crOss-eXanina-
ton Of plaintiff. Often he would say: 81
shan't hear this case. There's nOthin'
rite, and you ought to know it. Ii you
bother me withitI shall give it agin you"
After such an expression of opinion, suit
was seldom brought. But if the Squire
thought there was something rite in it,
he would say: "Fll fix you all right.
You come and take dinner with me at u
O'Clock on Thursday, and get your critter
ted, Well try the case at l O'Clock, you
can leave at 1880, and get home in time to
do your chores before night" When the
day of trial came the Squire (his name
was Wilson would hear plaintiffs testi-
mOnv, and, addressing the defendant,
would say: "Maybe you have some kind
Of lie to tell about this, but L know you
owe the man, just as he says, and l shall
give judgment agin you, no matter what
YOU say" He always did give judgment
in lust the manner indicated. IL the de-
fendant suggested his desire to appeal,
the court always remarked that it would
be more pleasant to go into the back yard
and settle the matter, and if the offer were
accepted the defendants motion for an APP
peal was generally Overruled in two
rounds and one knOck-GOWn. y. w. Hal
lev, who now holds position under the
doorkeeper in the House of Representa-
tives at Washington, yet bears his raven
locks unstreaked by gray, and he remem-
bers the only case in which he failed to
override a motion of this kind. A long
haired and still lOng-armed Tennesseean
had come into ''the settlement" neighbor-
hoods did not appear until after the war J,
and suit was brought against him to re-
| cover 81 % for ''wOrk and labor done at
| his special instance and request" The
/ squire gave Judgment for the amount; the
| Tennesseean asked for a new trial. 'COme
! out il the back yard and get it, right
now" said the Squire. The court and de-
\ PENDANT, accompanied By the plaintiff, the
| constable, the defendants son, and q
| crowd OF spectators, ADJOURNED 70 the
ward. In the first round, says Mr.. HALEY,
/ the gentleman from East Tennessee SIM
! ply stood stOck-stilI and let the Squire
/ hammer at him. A sOc6-dOllager on the
/ right ear, that sounded like the blow of a
| hammer on a single nail, aroused his at
| tentiOn, and giving his hat in charge OF MS
| son. he struck the Squire a left-ha1ded
blow that covered his face with richer
! red than the rays of the setting sun or the
stains Of pOkeberry juice could impart
| The Squire had commenced TO dig well
! in his back yard. The Tennesseean picked
! him of the ground, dropped him the into
! hole. and, turning to his son, said: Jake,
take the shovel and cover him up" "H0ld
| on, mister" said the Squire, that rjudg'
| ment is reversed" From that day the
| Squire was a crushed man. He resigned
his office, and shortly afterward went to
| Kansas. Rude as his decisions were, they
! were generally correct. He was good
Judge of human nature, and, If untitled
for quiddities of law, possessed a clear
perception of equity.
| 1t was a rude era that endured until the
end of the COS in Central Indiana, but 1t
| was an honest one. If a farmer had
! locked his doors he would be laughed at;
| the idea of burglary had not entered the
| rustic mind, clothes were left hanging out
at nights, grain was piled in dO0rless
| cribs, each man new his neighbOr and
! trusted him. We are wonderfully i'm
| proved since then. Old Jack McClanahan
| sat as Squire in fourteen OF the most htl'
/ giOus years of Indiana, and boosted, with
! truth that no decision given by him was
| ever reversed by a Superior Court. On
two occasions the old Common Pleas
Court Oyerruled his decisions, but, appeal
being taken higher, the supreme Court IL
! turn reversed the judgment of the Com
| mon Pleas. One OF his last judicial acts
was to discharge prisoner, arrested I'M
| der the Baxter bill. "Gentlemen," said
! ~
! argue the case before him, you might
talk all the afternoon and do no good; my
| mind is made up. l have read the law,
and it isn't worth shucks; the caption
| don't hold on to the text. Prisoner, 90 in
peace and sin no more; you are as free as
the wind" The matter dropped there, SO
far as Jack was concerned, but circuit
| Judge in another county having convicted
/ a prisoner, the case went up to the Supreme
! Court, and the law was held worthless on
the exact grounds that Jack had LAID
down. He died rejoicing that he "was
/ the first judge who had declared the bill
| unconstitutional. We laugh at the un
/ couth speech OF these early 'SquiTes, but
! many of them were men of keen in
! sight and of intuitiVe clearneSs Of per
Inc new era of Indiana began in 1868
! The WashingtOnian temperance move
ment was its harbinger. No such potent
and lasting reform has ever been effected
by any other agency in the State. 1t il
true that many, perhaps most, of the Origi
nal members of the WashingtOnian So
ciety so far relapsed as to partake of Oc-
casiOnal needless stimulants, but from the
day of the ashingtOnian movement
drinking became discreditable in the rural
districts. Until its advent the adjourn
ment of every term OF court was cele-
I brated by a carOuseI. in which the jury
the lawyers. the chief iitigants. and often
the Judge, were participants. County con
| veutiOns were county DRINKS, and county
( elections were orgies.