The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1916-03-05
Records Of First Session Of District
Court Show That II Convened
February Fl,
-.
1e4s.
|SOME FAMILIAR NAMES
Jurist and Jurors and Court OFFICERS
Are Familiar to Many
Of the Old
Timers.

Anent the discussion OF the PROPOSE
| ton to have only one court house. 1t
| might be interesting to loo over
| some of the records Of the court
house at Keokuk. The first court was
held here in 1S48, according to the
| records. George Williams was Judge;
r. w. Albright, clerk and Peter Miller,
| sheriff. Feb. 81, 1S4S was the date OF
| the opening of this court.
The first case on docket No. 1. is
that of A. F. w. Webb against Frank
lin Hall. No grand Jurors were pres
ent and by order Of court the sheriff
| rounded up new grand jury by 2
o'clock as follows: Samuel B. Ayres,
William A. Johnson, Peter Lemon,
Clark Johnson, Benjamin F. Messen-
ger, John Gillespie, Samuel Walker,
John w. Patterson, H. Taylor, r. p.
Creel, John Mccormack, James w.
Johnson, e. M. Brooks, Edward
Beech, Harry Fulton. Lyman McKain.
John Barney, William Ingersoll, M. F.
Collins, Jesse Wickersham, Jacob
Cruel, P. W. Potter and y. p. Foster.
AS an after thought the clerk inter
lined, good and lawful men" after the
list Of names in the record Samuel B.
Ayres was appointed foreman and
George w. Wyrick their bailiff.
On the first day, George Montgom-
cry was admitted to practice as an at
torney and counselor, on motion of ].
M. Beck. The next day George w.
Hawley was examined by Phillip
Viele and Daniel Miller and admitted.
On motion of l.. e. II. Haughton, it
was ordered by the court that pen
atty of five dollars be imposed upon
anyone found cutting or in any wise
defacing the seats or pews Of this
church during the session Of this
court"
First Criminal Case.
The first criminal case on the
docket is that of the state against
Clark tombstone for riot. The first
the clerk to produce the papers by the
next day; the next day the clerk
showed cause against that order ''for
that there is no law nor order of this
court which commands or even per;
mits him. to bring records or tran
scripts from Fort Madison and place
them in this court. The clerk made
the same pleading in the cases OF
William Tessman, William Nash,
Charles Humans, Theodore Humans,
Jonathan Humans and Troval Lau-
mans, indicted for malicious mischief
at Fort Madison the previous Septem-
Der, 1S47. The court decided for the
clerk
The first petit jury panel was COM
posed Of Caleb Brooks, Smith Hamill,
H. Bassett, I. McCrady, A. Kerr. Will
liam Shepard, Joseph Niekume, George
Watkins, R. NJ. G.. Patterson, William
Jeffries, William Stott, George Mar
dis, James T. Cochran, G. S. Moore, nj.
D. Wright, David E. Edgar, John
Beach, D. H. Hogan, William Foster,
Samuel Stare Hugh Martin, Charles
Hunt, Austin Eaton and S. p. Martin.
Again the clerk forgot to call them
good and lawful men" until after the
record was written out.
NaturaIized Citizens.
On the third day. James Hirst,
Thomas Oft, James Burrows and Will
liam C. Stripe were naturalized as
citizens Of the United States, having
been natives of Great Britain.
The term closed March 4, and the
next term began September IS, 1913.
At that time P. H. Babcock was clerk,
and Joseph Holman was prosecuting
attorney, Judge Williams and Sheriff
Peter Miller holding over.
On the first day Of that term John
w Rankin, licensed to practice in
Ohio, was admitted to practice in
Iowa.
The court ordered the sheriff to
( procure three constables to attend
this court at this term, as that num-
Der appears to be necessary"
At that term the chief indictments
were for gambling and suffering gam
ing-the later was not betting, more
than a hand was worth, but allowing
gambling to occur on ones premises.
/ The first trials resulted in acquittals,
and the states attorney dismissed the
others.
And so the docket runs on with it's
continued story of right and wrong.
The above is a sketch of the begin