Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-09-24

new Ono Will COST thirty times luot uuCu-
i In A. D. 1918, two brick offices were built
court house by Stacy Bevan for $l05O. The one
on the west was long since destroyed.
In A. D. 1919, the old brick Jail was erected
| by William Brown at a cost of $3040. This was
the third court house, and third jail the county
hsd erected.
In A. D. 1897, the old bell, weighing 2l2
pounds and costing $II2, was suspended in
the belfry.
/ "I've heard bells Ginning,
/ Full many cline in.
Sounding sublime in
i Cathedral shrine;
| While at glib rate
i Brass tongues would vibrate;
1 But all their music
Was naught like thine"
/ The present fre-proof county offices were
built in 1886 by William Askew at a cost Oi
$500; and the present jail in 1912 by Charles
h. Bailey.
When the old court house was completed.
my grandfather, James Alexander, was one OF
the three associate judges who first presided in
its courts, and he was succeeded by two of his
sons-one of them my father.
4 The old court chamber was the scene of many
mental combats, expanding the minds and en-
larging the hearts of the contestants, making
them nobler and greater men.
1t has produced one o. S. senator; two U. S.
Judges, both now holding Office; governor of
of the state and of Kansas territory; minister
representing our government in foreign coun-
try; judge of the supreme court; secretary
of state; eight congressman; fifteen judges, and
railroad magnate.
Well will it be for the people if judges as
pure and impartial, as wise and patient as just
and economical, will preside in the new palace
of justice, as did in the old court house; if at
torneys will be as "learned in the law" as
honorable and as true to their clients as their
predecessors; if jurors will be equally incOrrup-
tible and intelligent, and witnesses as honora-
bic and truthful.
Two hundred large volumes of records attest
the business transacted in the old court house,
and the settlement of thousands of Gtigated
cases.
Every Judge had to exercise his best intellect;
every lawyer suffered if his case was not we'll
prepared and thoroughly understood; every
party learned that ''the way of the transgressOr
is hard" and every witness, after rigid ex-
animation, experienced
'If thou wishest to be wise,
Keep these words before thine eyes;
nat InOu SpeakeSI, anu now, beware!
Of whom, to whom, when and where"
There all public meetings were held; also the
| secret meetings of the mystic clan of the one
thousand and one (I00I). There also the order
of the Great Musadoig, with the Hitimom and
the Hitcetor, oft held high carnival, at nine
O'Clock at sight, and by its power elected the
officers of the town.
AS boys, we looked upon that ancient pile
with awe and veneratiOn. There we saw guilt
surely and severely punished, and heard preach
ed the doctrine of ''good works.
citizen OF Kansas City, but native of ST.
Clairsville. coming here few weeks ago, after
an absence of many years, to see old friends,
looked up al the little ball on the top of the
spire, and said, "When l was a boy, l thought
that ball was the highest thing in the world"
Those balls still show the holes made by Indian
arrows long ago.
The grounds about the old court house were
a common resort for all kinds of boyish sports
There we played "chasing the fox" "sock"
and "hat-ball. Its broad pavements witnessed
many games of prisoners base," and "what
will you do when the black man comesi It's
walls served for GALLEY ball. so hotly contest
ed, the noblest and best of all athletic exercises
Its rooms abound with unwritten histories, and
are rich with traditionary lore.
"Be it a weakness, it deserves some praise;
We love the play-place of our early days.
This fond attachment to the well-known place,
Whence first we started into ljfe's long race,
Maintains its hold with such unfailing sway,
We feel iJ cen IN age ana TO our latest da '. :,
l love the old court house in the center of
the dear old town. l was born beneath its
Ito sDsro H. l.rrIE -
protected the home of my childhood. l saved
it from cOnfagration when fired by an incen-
diary. Ny business-life was spent in it, and
so was my fathers before me-
hate to see it destroyed l plead with the
commissioners to select another site, at far less
expense and larger enclosure. Upon the people
OF st. Clairsville urged the Importance of their
accepting free-will offering from the people of
the county of $4,000 of valuable property.
This property was available for a splendid
town hall, a lyceum, a magnificent public Ii
brary, u mayors Office and police head
quarters, place to hold elections, council
chamber, and buildings which would supply all
the public wants of the village and township
for many years to come
The old court house will, in short time, be
only reminiscence. That old land d-mark, Wis
ible for so many miles around, must make way
LOT more imposing structure, IOr-
"All things must change
To something new, to something strange"
Of it history will soon record
Nothing now is left
But majestic memory"
Rev. Robert Alexander, A. T. Nc
Kelvey, and other speakers were on the
platform, but the storm interfering the
exercises ended, and thus closed the
most eventful day in the history of
st. Clairsvilie for many years.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING.
The new Court House is to be 112x114
feet, three stories high, including base
ment, which is entirely above ground. 1t
will be so feet to the squar of the build
ing and l50 feet to the top of dome. The
building will be in the classic style of |