Early Books Of Court Records Always Written Out In Longhand – Show Methods of Early Jurymen Who Did Not Want To Serve
From the 1938 centennial edition of The Times-Register
When this county was formed in 183 the county court was conducted by the justices of the peace, one of whom presided at each court session. It was not until 1870 that a judge was selected to preside over the county court when F. J. Ribble was placed on the bench to commence his duties on August 14 of that year.
From the time that county was formed there was also a circuit court, which was a higher court, but the jurisdiction seems to have overlapped somewhat. While most cases of felony were sent to the upper court we find that in the early forties the county court tried African American people for larceny and for assault and that at least on one occasion the hour in this court considered the death penalty for an African American person. They were not unanimous on sending the man to his death so that he was deported from the county.
Fine Penmanship
The same clerk served both courts. Our second clerk of court was Frederick Johnston who served in that capacity for twenty-seven years and some of the early records made by him show great skill in penmanship. While not all of the court records show a beautiful use of the pen, the index books and the headings show that the writer was an ingenious artist. Some of the headings in the old circuit court docket book were done with a pen in such a way that they appear to have been printed from a most fancy assortment of type. Furthermore few headings show the same design but each one a different kind of shading and shape. No artist today who works for the engraving companies should improve on this work. It is presumed that Frederick Johnston himself made these headings since his signature was a thing of beauty.
Elsewhere in this issue will be found records of the early courts in this county and these records show that the method of conducting court in the old days was considerably different from that of today. Gradually the court changed until it has become what it is today.
In a case before the circuit court on August 23, 1850 we find the first notation that a jury was placed in the custody of the sheriff over night. In earlier cases there were times when the jury had not completed the case at the close of the day but nothing to indicate that they were confined.
Jury Locked Up
In this particular case Deputy Sheriff Robert H. Campbell was sworn by the court to keep the jurors from communicating with anyone concerning the case. This case involved J. M. Hottel who was charged with attempting to kill James McConnell. After being out all night they reported the next morning that they were unable to agree. Then one juror, Garner Francisco claimed to have been too ill to proceed with his jury duties so that a mistrial was ordered. This idea of a juror withdrawing in this manner was common in that day and this leaves a suspicion that the illness was more or less feigned for it happened a little too often to be genuine.
When this jury disagreed the defendant was placed under bond to appear at the next term of court but when the case was called at the next term he failed to appear. As a result each of his bondsmen were ordered by the court to pay the county sixty dollars in cash as this was the amount of the bond. Those who were on the bond were James Diuguid, Powell H. Huff, Andrew Deyerie, August M. Jordan and Joseph Andrews.
In the early court records of this county one notation is invariably found after the names of the defendants in cases of felony, and that designation was “late of this county’.’ Just what this meant is not clear. While it appears at first glance that it might indicate that the indictment took away the defendant’s citizenship this is contrary to English law which always goes on the assumption that a man is proved innocent until proved guilty. Nevertheless, it is such notations as this that make the old records interesting.
– Prepared by Lingjie Gu
