| THE JASONVILLE STORY CONTINUED.... |
| Chapter IV In the October term of court in 1823 two men charged with the axe slaying of Isaac Edwards were scheduled for trial. Petitions for separate trials were filed by attorneys for the defendants and granted by the court. This first murder trial in the county attracted widespread attention throughout the countryside. It was widely discussed among the settlers and many had fixed opinions as the the guilt or innocence of the accused. For this reason if was necessary to examine 81 prospective jurors before 12 were accepted to try the case. This would be a simple matter today, but in those days it took a lot of horse back riding to summon 81 settlers who Iived as far apart as from Jasonville to Owensburg, some 45 miles. The first defendant tried was acquitted and the case of the other continued until the next term of court. A jury found this defendant guilty of manslaughter and he was sentenced to the state prison for a period of four years. In September, 1850 Hiram Bland was indicted, charged with the murder of William Walker. He was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged on the 15th day of November 1850. After sentence was passed he broke jail, but was retaken and hanged on the 13th day of June, 1851. This was a public hanging and a large crowd gathered in Bloomfield to witness the execution. The gallows was erected near where the old B and B depot later stood in the South part of Bloomfield. At the June term of court in 1829, Affey Harrington was granted a divorce from her husband. Ezekial Harrington. This same Ezekial Harrington had at an earlier term been divorced from a former wife. He, thus, could claim the dubious title of having been the first citizen of the country to divorce a wife and in turn to be divorced by wife. This was not the last breach in Mr. Harrington�s domestic tranquility as a few years later he was divorced by still another wife. Delving into these old records and listening to the voice of another day, it seems to almost come from another world, so greatly have conditions changed. But the cries heard are ever the same, slander, trespass, assault, larceny, broken marriage vows and even murder. With human habitation so widely spaced, and the need for companionship and neighborly aid so urgent, it seems almost unbelievable that the settlers should be beset with this array of crimes and misdemeanors. It is a sad commentary on our vaunted civilization that with the miraculous advancement made, contributing to our ease, comfort, pleasure and physical well being generally, little, if any, progress has been made in our application of the Golden Rule. On the back of the first leaf of Court Docket Number One is boldly inscribed, �Fiat Justica Ruat Coelum� (Let Justice Prevail Though the Heavens Fall). What a shame that this end cannot be accomplished in our daily lives, man to man, without resorting to the courts. In the early days taxes and tax collectors were most unpopular, as they have been to this day, and probably always will be. The first tax rate of Greene County (1821) was as follows: 100 acres of first class land-$1.50; 100 acres of second class land-$1.00; 100 acres of third class land-.75; (this was not the amount per acre but taxes in full for the whole 100 acres.) Poll tax-.50; Each horse, mule or jack-37 �; Each ox-.25; Each gold watch-.50; Each silver watch-.25; Each pleasure carriage-l.25. Taxes always being a year behind, there was no income from county taxes in the first year of the county�s organizations. When listening to folks complaining about taxes, and we all do complain, I often recall incidents of my boyhood when people would vociferously denounce the spendthrifts in county offices and aver that the mounting tax rate would put everyone in the poor house. Taxes were only a fraction of what they are today. One hundred and thirty four years ago when substantially the above tax rate prevailed, the settlers heaped bitter vituperation on the head of the tax collector and threatened him with dire comsequences for his �robbery�. So intense did this feeling become that in 1824 they could get no one to accept the office. The board of Commissioners ordered the sheriff to give public notice throughout the county that if anyone in the county would accept, to appear with his bondsmen at the county seat and he would receive the appointment. Here was the perfect example of the oft quoted phrase, �The office should seek the man, rather than the man seek the office.� The county treasurer has today assumed the duties of the tax collector, but taxpayers now rightly vent their ire on those who spend the money, rather than on the collector. John W. Wines finally accepted the office of collector and during that year collected $355.98�. If permitted to rewrite a well known axiom I would put it thus, �Nothing is certain but death and taxes (and the fact that we will ever complain about taxes�). The added phrase, from, the incidents recited herein, seems to be as true as the original. Since writing the above, John Frye called at the office with original tax receipts written out in long hand and bearing the genuine signature of the tax collector. They were in an excellent state of preservation, having been enclosed in a glass covered frame. They were issued to Nathaniel Gadberry, a resident land owner of Wright township, and receipted for taxes in full as follows: 1827-17% cents, 1832- 62% cents, 1835 and 1836, $1.17. He also brought in an assignment bearing date of October 18, 1860, writing and signed by Jason Rogers. The writer acknowledges with thanks valuable aid from Mrs. Okie Liston, Mrs. Margaret Stalcup, Mrs. Elsie Bissell, Mrs. Mary Stwalley, Mrs. Ruby Strickler, librarian of Worthington, Mrs. Ruby Letsinger, librarian of Jasonville, Floyd Buckallew and John Strait. |
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