THE EARLY DAYS OF WARREN COUNTY
Something About Court Houses in General and Williamsport Court House In Particular
Taken From The Warren Review
November 19, 1908
There is one thing the inhabitants of a county most naturally like to talk about, and that is relocating the courthouse. "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown" may be a true saying, but the uneasiness of a crowned head is a state of reverential pain. Compared with the relentless pain that invests the citizens of a county seat as soon a the fact becomes apparent that the building o long their glory and pride has become so dilapidated that it is no longer the building the court house of a prosperous up-to-date county should be. The agitation is not confined to the county seat altogether, for just a soon as the necessity of building a new temple of justice is conceded every town in the county begins to advocate relocating the county seat and to urge vigorously their own claims to the prize until the whole county is in an uproar.
The county seat of Wayne County was relocated three times before it attained a permanent residence. It was first established at Salisbury, the birthplace of Governor Morton, and from there removed to Centerville and finally to Richmond. The citizens of Salisbury formed themselves into an armed mob and forcibly prevented the removal of the records from that place until dispersed by the militia. The comparatively recent court hose agitation in Newton and White Counties is familiar to all.
The citizens of Williamsport have, in the times past, experienced "A Hot Time In The Old Town" and new town both over the "movin" of the courthouse. When the county seat of Warren was changed from Warrenton to Williamsport in 1829 a brick courthouse was soon after constructed. It was quite an imposing building and was shaped something like the present structure, only not so large or commodious, nor so well build. The offices for the various county officials were furnished with fireplaces instead of stoves. The building itself stood in a public square at the foot of the hill opposite the row of brick businesses known as "Boston Block", that still stand s in the old town, a melancholy reminder of the of evanescent character of human enterprise. The old courthouse was the scene of many interesting incidents in the judicial history of Warren but a time finally came when it was plainly apparent to all that the old structure had outlived its usefulness and most be replaced by a new building that would be safer and more suitable for the transaction of the constantly increasing county business. For a long time the citizens of Williamsport hooted at the idea that the court house was not everything such a building should be, and repairs were ordered and the old building fixed up and remodeled, but at last the end came. Judge Davidson became satisfied that it was unsafe to hold court in and condemned it.
Then the storm broke. Every town in the county had reasons, "as plenty as blackberries" urge the favor of locating the county seat within its respective limits. West Lebanon claimed that Williamsport was wretchedly located on a miserable, rocky stony ridge almost inaccessible to the public, while the capital of Pike was splendidly situated in a rich prairie country, and the most prejudiced could discern at a glance that West Lebanon was the only fit and proper place in the county for the court house, and had, in fact, the only creditable site for such a building.
Williamsport retorted by stigmatizing West Lebanon as a mud hole and impassable two-thirds of the time, and ridiculed her pretenses. Carbondale modestly hinted that as it was the most centrally located and as the county seat was sure to come there in the natural course of things it would be great caring of public money to build the new courthouse and end the strife between Williamsport and West Lebanon. Williamsport gruffly gave here to understand that as Carbondale was not a town, not even a trading pint, it had no claims to be considered; that, in short, it wasn’t in it.
Independence had a great deal to say about it beautiful scenery, elegant location and splendid springs and what a perfect love of a place May’s Grove would be for a court house square. . Green Hill was putting up her college building about that time and argued that a town with two such buildings as the college and the court house would be a county seat not to be sneezed at.
Pine Village, with her usual farsightedness and engacity, was satisfied that it would be a waste of nervous energy to may shy attempt at securing the coveted destination, and quietly signified her willingness that the new court house should be built at Williamsport and offered to furnish all the officials that should be needed to fill the new county offices just as soon as they were ready for occupants. Marshville and Rainsville were satisfied that they had real nice places for a court house square which they would willingly donate for such a purpose if desired.
While the court house war was at its height and "Billyport" to quote the Fountain County papers, was getting madder and madder. Attica being a foreign power situated on the other side of the Wabash River, offered her services as a mediator, and actually solely the purest and most disinterested motives submitted a plan calculated to prevent further effusion of gas, harmonious in the disaffected elements and produces a cosseted of hostilities. This was simply to divide the counties of Fountain and Warren Counties at a certain point south of Attica, sop that the portion of the tow counties thus divided would form one large square county, almost as large as Tippecanoe, and to end all the strife among the Warren County towns it was suggested that the county seat of the new county be located in Attica. If Williamsport was hot before, she simply boiled over at this proposition and the liveliest newspaper war occurred between the Attica and Williamsport press that ever took place in this section of the country. Without allowing any more time for debating the question the new court house was ordered to be constructed and was built at a point about midway between the old and the new town of Williamsport, where it remained until 1887, when it was torn down and rebuilt upon the site of the present court house. It was a very creditable and substantial building and would have lasted for many years but for the accidental destruction by fire early Sunday morning, January 20, 1907. The construction of the present courthouse was begun last spring and completed this fall. It is one of the most handsomely finished structures of the kind in the states and a credit to the people of Williamsport and Warren County.
Willow
By: Willow
Once again I find myself wondering where the days have gone. One day we are planning what to do with the summer and then suddenly it is gone.
I don't know why but the older I get the faster the days seem to fly by. I remember as a child I felt I was constantly waiting for something. Christmas seem to take "forever" and my birthdays seem to get farther away every year.
There were days that the clock seemed to be stuck. I always seem to be in a hurry for tomorrow to happen. Then one day the clock unstuck! No matter how hard I try to hang on to the time at hand it seems to get more and more elusive.
Al's mother had a favorite saying - "to soon old... to late smart!" The other day a friend and I were talking and the subject went to the past. I was relating stories that evolved ex's. She suddenly looked at me and said, "you seem to relate to them as if it doesn't bother you. Doesn't the hurt they caused bother you?" I told her no. It was a long time ago. And I wouldn't change nothing in my life. Everything that has happen to me happened for a reason. Those events shaped who I am now and I am very happy with myself.
I got to thinking though - what if I could do it all over again would there be anything I would change knowing what I know now. I still have to say not much. I think I would have paid more attention in History class at school - so much of my family history is connected to that history. But to change my contacts, the circumstances I still have to say NO. I honestly don't think I would be here without those occurrences. They shaped every decision I have made or will make. My only wish is that time would just slow down a little and let me catch up!
Be Blessed
Willow
Garden
By: Willow
Nature never did betray the heart that loved her. Wm. Wordsworth
I know that this week I said I would talk about the preservation of herbs. But in a conversation with a friend this week I was asked what I would do about bursitis. Since this conversation was about another friend of hers and not her I told her I wanted to be sure of my facts so the best way would be for me to write about it. I know you my readers will understand that I feel that herbs preservation can wait. As someone who lives with almost constant pain I felt compelled to do that article this week. But remember this is what I would do. I am not advising anyone to do this without more investigation on their part. Herbs are like medicine and if you are on any prescription drugs or under a doctors care I can't stress enough how important it is for you to discuss this with a qualified medical practitioner. I only write about these things here because it is what interest me and to pique the curiosity of my readers to do more research.
Bursitis is an inflammation of the bursae, small fluid-filled sacs located between the tendons and bone in various parts of the body. The help to promote muscular movement by providing a cushion against friction between bones and other tissues. When inflamed the bursa causes pain, tenderness to the touch of the afflicted body part, limitation of movement and there may be redness and swelling as well.
Bursitis can be caused by injury, chronic overuse, reactions to certain foods, airborne allergies, or calcium deposits. Thigh muscles can also cause bursitis. This condition is most common in the hip or shoulder joints. When bursitis affects the arm it is often referred to as "tennis elbow", or "frozen shoulder". Occupational bursitis is not uncommon, often referred to as "housemaid's knee", "policemen's heel" or the "beat knee" or "beat shoulder" of coal miners. On common foot ailment the "bunion" is another type of bursitis and is actually caused by the friction of an ill-fitting or shoe that is to tight. This causes a sac in the toe joint of the big toe to become inflamed.
Bursitis can affect anyone, any age. but, older people, especially athletes, are more likely than others to get bursitis. It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between bursitis and tendentious, the inflammation of a tendon. Bursitis is usually characterized by a dull, persistent ache that increases with movement, whereas tendentious usually causes a sharp pain with movement.
I suggest that anyone suffering with these contact a herbalist for detailed treatment or other medical practitioner. This can be treated with vitamins and minerals as well as herbs.
Calcium is needed to repair the connective tissue, amino acid complex helps healing a digestive aid is needed, such as mulitenzyme. vitamin A, for tissue repair, Vitamin E & C as an anti inflammatory. As well as zinc and then cooper to balance the zinc. Boran is needed for better calcium absorption, Coenzyme Q 10 for circulation, Vitamin B complex is important to cellular repair and Vitamin B 12 should be administered by injection for proper digestion and absorption of foods and for the repair to nerve damage.
Horsetail extract supplies silica, a from of the trace mineral silicon, which is necessary for tissue repair.
As you can see this is a condition that expert advice is needed. Treatment can also include rest to remove the cause of the problem, clearing up any underlying infections that can cause the problem to flare again.
Al has had excellent results in his association with the Herb House in Covington. These folks are trained in the treatment of such problems and in my opinion to avoid father injury professional help should be sought.
The vitamins and minerals I talked about here have specific dosages and integrals of administration and I am not qualified to list these.
Though I do say that professional help should be sought I don't believe that surgery should be necessary in all these cases. I have known many people with bursitis and a regiment of vitamins, herbs and minerals accompanied by rest and clearing up any infection has worked for all those that have changed their "evil ways".
Hahaha
Be Blessed
Willow
According To Big Al
"Listen to what I mean... not what I say."
The Lost Chainsaw
We have a rather nice front yard with about 20 black walnut trees and about 10 red cedar trees and a few others, including a majestic white pine that is getting into trouble with the power lines. All these trees are on a one acre lot with our house and garage. There has been one problem tree on our homesite and that is a scraggly, ugly, dirty old sycamore. Every time it storms or the wind blows, some of it's dead limbs falls to the ground and needs to be cleaned up. The limbs of a sycamore seems to have been designed by an ugly old witch, because that is what it resembles to me. I called it our witch tree. The huge leaves of the tree resemble a small umbrella. The only redeeming quality of the tree is the fact that it was the home to a squirrel that lived in the hole in the tree about 20 feet up. Well this summer one of our cats killed the squirrel, so it was time for the tree to come down before a good wind blew it over into our house.
I began the surgery to the tree by cutting off all the limbs of the tree that I could safely reach with a 20 foot ladder. I did this alone, and cut up the limbs one by one until I had all the wood stacked up under one of the cedar trees. Then I calculated how I was going to drop the tree. I figured if I tied a good stout rope to the tree as high as I could reach and attached the rope to my trusty old blue truck, I could persuade the tree to fall where I wanted it to. I didn't figure this was a one man job however, because I needed someone in the truck to keep steady tension on the tree while someone ran the chainsaw to cut the tree. My next door neighbor volunteered to help me but I was a little nervous about this and besides my brother was coming to see me and he cuts firewood to supplement his regular work of raising pigs. I called him and asked him to help me take this tree down. He and his girlfriend arrived early Tuesday morning and I met them at Duck's restaurant for breakfast. When we got back to our place we surveyed the job in front of us. I already had the 20 foot ladder against the tree and I got my 100 foot rope out of the truck and attached it about 25 feet up in the tree. I attached the other end to the front of my truck so I could pull in reverse so that I could see what was going on. In the meantime my brother was busy getting his chainsaws ready. He wanted to do the sawing and I didn't object because of his experience. He brought his own chainsaws with him, he is very particular about the condition of his saws.
After going over our game plan as to how we were to drop the tree, Richard started to cut the wedge of the tree. After the wedge was cut. I got in my truck and put a little tension on the rope attached to the tree. While Richard was cutting I kept an eye on the treetop. When I seen it was starting to move a little, I increased the tension and called out to Richard. When it started to fall I put a little more tension on the rope and it came crashing down in front of the truck and lo and behold it fell exactly where we wanted it to. How about that for an eventful development? Sometimes things go exactly as you plan them.
I then got my chainsaw running and we started cutting up the branches. It didn't take too long before we had all the branches and the tree cut up into fire sized wood lengths. Then came the time consuming task of cleaning up the leaves and residual branches. We loaded them into the back of my truck and took them down to the back part of my property where we would let them dry for later burning. After about 3 trips, we had most of the yard cleaned up. Richard was anxious to keep cleaning up, but I said we could cut down some more trees in the back of our barn for firewood. This pleased my brother who wouldn't want to fell trees instead of cleaning up?
After we got the sycamore cleaned up we decided it was time for something to eat so we got into the S-10 Chevy truck and went and got something to eat. The girls had left earlier and were not back yet. Richard was unaware that they had even left. So me and Richard had a nice lunch together. Sorry girls.
We then got into my truck and I put my 18" chainsaw behind the window and the toolbox of my truck and headed out to survey where we would cut down the next tree. We knew that we had an old oak tree that was in need of falling. The area behind our barn is about 2 or 3 acres of woods and it has some pretty tall grass and weeds growing in the trails. We stopped near the dead old oak tree, but it was too far gone to make any useful firewood. We noted another oak nearby that was a candidate to fall. We got back in the truck and continued our survey. We located another oak that was a good candidate and was in a better position to get the wood out afterwards. We decided this would be the tree to fall next so we got back into the truck to get Richard's chainsaws. When we got back to the house, we couldn't find my chainsaw that had been behind the rear window. We retraced our steps in the truck, both of us keeping a sharp eye out for the chainsaw. After making 2 trips retracing our steps we still didn't located the missing chainsaw. Were we blind? How could we miss an 18" chainsaw? We reasoned that it had to fall out when we were on the incline behind the barn – wrong. We finally realized we needed to walk the trails to find the missing saw. After over an half an hour Richard had located the missing saw in a place we least expected.
We then got down to the business of falling the oak tree. This didn't take too long. I never fail to have an exalted feeling every time I hear the thunderous sound of a tree falling down. I know that my brother does too from the look in his eye when a tree falls. We cut a few branches off the oak and I said to Richard that I would like to drop a maple tree that was deformed and diseased. He was happy to grant my wants and in a few minutes there was another thunderous sound of the maple tree falling. Now I had plenty of would to cut up, split and dry for my wood burner. We cut up most all of the maple because it was in the shade of the forest and not in the sun like the oak that we cut down.
When we got back to the house, it was nearly supper time, so we took the girls to the Crossroads for dinner. When we got back home we had 3 games of cutthroat euchre, each of us winning one game. We figured that was a good time to call it quits to avoid any arguments, so we settled back and had some berries and ice cream to top of a real productive day.
P. S. Tuesday I got 400 gallons of propane for just under $1,000 dollars – Incentive to cut some wood yeh?
PPS Thanks to everyone who came to the VFW Sunday to hear me play.
Big Al
APOLOGY- The fact that there was no paper last week was due to a matter beyond my control. It was an electronic problem with the supplier of the ink for my Riscgraph that is used to print the paper each week. The ink was ordered in plenty of time, and the order was immediately placed by my supplier for drop shipment. That is where the problem began. The order was placed by e-mail for drop shipment to me and it wasn't until the day the shipment was suppose to be received by me that the company was informed of the e-mail problem. The company doing the drop shipment had failed to notify anyone that they were having e-mail problems until it was to late for delivery in time. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and my supplier has assured me that this problem has been solved. From now on all orders by e-mail will be followed by a phone call of confirmation within the hour of sending.
