The professional world. (Columbia, Mo.) 1901-192?, 1903-03-20
Do We Need a New Court House?

served as witnesses and grand and
petit jurors can attest: but | desire
to suggest few reasons that per-
haps, to some extent, have been over
looked. There are now on record in
orr Recorders Office 77,CO0 deeds,
dc Is of trdst ard cl at eel i. t.
cages. If these decd recor IS
alone should be destroyed, and if all
the original deeds We're still in ex-
istence and could be found, it would
cost the people $6l $50 to have them
re-recorded. 1t would cost the
couhty $3.50, to buy the blank deed
record books, and Sji7 to buy the
blank Circ lit court record books, a ID
S5,t 4, to buy the County cor t record
boots, Probate record boo s, Sur
veyor's record books, Marriage rec
| ord books, Assessors books, Collec-
tors books. School tax books, Delin-
qrent tax books, License books and
Commission and bond books. In
addition, If the tax books shorld be
burned, it would cost the county
81 800, to have another assessment
made for any one year, to say nothing
of the loss that the county would srs-
tain by reason of the failure to col
lect the back taxes.
surveys recorded on the Surveyors
books; and / am told that $40 each
would be low estimate to put on the
| cost of making and recording the
average survey. There are now
eighty-three plats of towns, additions
and subdivisions on our deed rec
ords. The ground represented by
| these plats, has been surveyed, and
these plats carefully prepared and
recorded. l am informed by COM
peteut surveyor that it would cost
| 81 ,2a5 to bave this work done over
| again; however. there would be dau-
ger of errors if all the plats were
| missing.
| The value of the Circuit court re-
| cords, the Probate records, the Coun-
| ty court records, the Surveyors re-
| cords and the Marriage records can
not be over estimated. Every per-
son interested in the estate OF de-
| ceased relative, every person of
| unsound mind and every minor who
| has any estate would then feel the
embar !assment of trying to arrive at
a settlement with the administrator,
| guardian or curator, with not trace
of what was due and on hand at the
last settlement, nor what was inven.
toried as belonging to said estate.
A dishonest person would then have
| all the advantages, and the loss
would fall on those who could least
afford it. Then, too, the Circuit
court records are of inestimable val
tie III showing against whom, IN
whose favor, the judgments are rem
dered, the amount, when satisfied.
ETC., and also the evidence and all
proceedings connected with the trial.
But to the average individual, their
| greatest value is the record of pro-
ceedings in the partition of real es-
tate, partition sales, and sales under
execution.
| Every person who is interested in
road, school and township matters
would keenly feel the loss of the
County court records; and the coun-
ty as well as great many individ-
uals, would sustain loss if the Off
cial bonds of Notaries, Sheriffs, Con-
stables, Treasurers, Collectors and
| Clerks of courts of record should be
destroyed. How much money due
the county, how much due individu-
ais on judgments, as witness fees,
| juror fees, ETC., would then be mat
ter of conjecture. There is now in
| the possession of our County clerk
seventy-five thousand dollars in
notes and mortgages due the county
school fund; and these papers are
kept in the insecure room (some-
times called Vault adjoining his
office. The loss of these securities,
| together with the loss of the deed
records (Which are kept in an ad-
| joining room) would make Boone
| n ,
cost of the proposed new courthouse.
The Marriage records are not only
| important as showing wnen, where,
by whom and to whom our people
were married, but many times they
form an important link in the title
of real estate; often equally as i'm
pOrtant as the deed records or the
surveyors records. Add to this the
loss of all plated towns, additions
and subdivisions, and it is readily
seen that our damage would be ir-
reparable. Some years ago, the
county clerk was required to and did
keep a birth record and death
record, and these old books are
frequently referred to, and will be
more and more each year that is
added to their age.
If all these records should be or
could be replaced, the cost to our
county and the cost to property
owners would far exceed the cost of
the new court house. But after
spending the above mentioned sums
for replacing our records, after being
put to an immense amount of incon-
venience, after sharing the loss OF
many, many things which can never
be replaced, and after an endless
amount of litigation over titles, we
would then have to proceed to spend
equally as large sum for the court
house building itself. In view OF
these facts, can we afford to lose any
time in placing these priceless re,
cords (sOme of them ninety-tw We
years old) in building with fire
proof vaults, so that our children
and our cblldren's children can see
our wisdom. Let us therefore secure
to coming generations these books
and papers, the benefits of which W,
have enjoyed for so many years; anC
let us, like b. McAlester, William
Jewell, Larkin d. Richardson