The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-06-11
INTERESTING FACTS
IN OLD CITY RECORD
In Early Days of City,
Few Councilmen Attend
ed Meetings.
FIRST ELECTION IN 1889
Charter as Borough" Was
Given by Legislature
That Year.

The oldest known official record of
the days when Richmond was vii
lage is in the office of City Clerk
the city building is the court record
which is dated September 10, 1921.
Complete records of council meetings
from the first one held, May I, 1889,
when Richmond was given a charter
by the legislature to come under the
class of A borough" are on file at
the clerks office, and are in remark
able state Of preservation.
The court record, which contains a
TENDER, 1921, until 1880, is not in the
excellent state of preservation as are
the council records. This book is
stained and yellow, and the writing in
it is scarcely legible. Part of the calf
skin cover has been chewed by mice at
some time within the past 80 years.
One Thousand Cases Recorded
This book however, is full of inter
esting cases, most of which are for the
recovery of money due on notes. More
than one thousand cases are recorded
found any record of where one man
owed another more than the sum of
$40 Most of the suits were for small
amounts, some of them being for less
than 81.
Asked Nine Cents Interest.
1t can be plainly seen in examining
the records that the pioneers of the
city were not disposed to allow their
debtors much time in which to pay
their bills. In one case man sued
another man for 1925, the principal
of a note due Mach l, and demanded
9 cents interest for the five days be-
tween the time the note was due and
March when the suit was entered.
The debtor evidently could not pro-
duce the 1924, as the squire who
tried the case sent him to Jail for from
March 5 until April 3. The names of
the parties in the suit could not be
read as the handwriting was small and
the page of the book was stained.
Charter as "eorough."
The first records of council are even
more interesting than the court docu-
ment. In every case it can be seen
that the city fathers of that time strug-
gled and schemed to finance the city.
The city was given charter as a
borough" in 1888. The borough cleo
tons were held early in the spring,
and the new councilmen met for the
first time in the borough of Richmond
at the home of one of its members.
The first burgess elected was James
w. Borden and the second burgess,
who was an assistant to the first was
Basil Brightwell. The councilmen were
Eli Brown, Robert Hill, Francis Rob-
ertson, William l.. Brady, John H. Hut
ton, David Maulsby, John Sailor, Levi
Keeraus. William Parry, Irwin Reed,
James w. Green, Stephen Swain and
BENJAMIN Fulgham. Jacob Sanders
was elected high constable while Eli
jah Coffin and Samuel Pierce were ell
ected to the offices of treasurer and
assessor, respectively. The first city
clerk was D. P. Holliway.
Used a Good Plan.
The first meeting of council was at
tended by every member. At the sec
ond meeting several were late while
did not appear at the meeting. At the
time it was decided to fine absent
councilmen a small sum unless they
were able to give a satisfactory rea-
son for their absence. The amount of
these fines were not stated but it was
only a short time until the clerk had
quite fund he had collected from abb
sent members. The members of coun-
Gil argued at several meetings what
should be done with this money. The
problem was finally solved by John
Sailor Qater the first mayor of the city
of Richmond) who introduced a mo-
ton to divide the money equally
among the members at the end of the
year.
Owed Money on Canal.
During the next ensuing years, the
ways and means committee of council