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     JUDGE ROBERT McKINNIS

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     JUDGE EBENEZER WILSON

     It is not known at just what time JUDGE ABRAHAM HUFF came to the county, but it was at a very early period in its history.  There seems to be but little known of his history, except that he was an honorable, straight-forward man, of good strong common sense, and was an upright, intelligent Judge.  He was a man of poor bodily health, and left the county at an early day, going to the State of Missouri, in hopes of regaining his health, in which he partially succeeded.

     The following is a complete record of the term of the first Court of Common Pleas held in the county, which was the June term in 1828:
     At a Court of Common Pleas begun and held in the town of Findlay, in and for the county of Hancock, in the State of Ohio, on the third day of June, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and twenty-eight.  Present, the Associate Judge, Abraham Huff, Robert McKinnis and Ebenezer Wilson, the Presiding Judge not being present.  Don Alonzo Hamlin, Sheriff, Wilson VAnce, Clerk pro-tem., Anthony Casad was appointed by the Court to prosecute the Pleas in behalf of the State, for said county for the term of one year, and to be allowed forty dollars for his services."
     "Eliljah T. Davis was appointed Administrator on the effects of Thomas Wilson, late of Findlay township, deceased. Joshua Hedges and Squire Carlin were accepted as his sureties, bonds given in the sum of Five Hundred dollars.  Joshua Hedges, Jacob Poe and Charles McKinnis were appointed appraisers of said effects.  On application ordered that the citizens of Welfare (now Delaware) Township have leave to elect one justice of the peace.  One justice of the peace was appointed for Amanda Township.  The court appointed Wilson Vance recorded of Hancock County for the term

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of seven years, and the Court adjourned without day.

                                                   ABRAHAM HUFF

     The first Grand Jury was composed of the following named persons:  Josepy DeWitt, John P. Hamilton, Jacob Poe, Asa Lake, Charles McKinnis, Reuben Hales, Mordica Hammond, William Wade, John Boyd, Henry George, William Moreland, James McKinnis, William Taylor,  Edwin S. Jones and John C. Wickham  The foreman was William Taylor.
     The first Petit Jury summoned was as follows:  John Beard, Joseph Johnson, John Huff, William Moreland, Jr., John Tullis, John J. Hendricks, Thomas Thompson, James Pettis, and there being no business for a Jury they were discharged without filling the panel.  Rachel Wilson was appointed guardian of Rebecca and Jane Wilson minor children of Thomas Wilson, deceased.  Rebecca was eight and Jane one year old.  When grown up Rebecca became the wife of John Reed, of Liberty Township, and Jane the wife of George L. Poe, of Allen Township.
     On applicaton, a license was granted to William Taylor to vend merchandise at his residence in Findlay, until the first day of April next, he to pay into the treasury two dollars and twenty-five cents for said license.
     At the November term of the Court it "Appearing that there was  no business before the Grand Jury, they were discharged."  At the same term William Taylor was appointed Surveyor of the county,and the Clerk ordered to certify the same to the Governor.  William Taylor, William Hackney and Mordica Hammond were appointed examines of common schools.  It was "ordered by the Court that there be allowed to the Clerk of the Court the sum of ten dollars each year, to be paid one half at each term of Court."  Seven years Clerk of the Court for the magnificent sum of seventy dollars.
     A special session of the court was held on the 19th day of March, 1829, for the purpose of granting letters of administration on the estate of John Patterson.  William Taylor was appointed.  Mr. Patterson was a brother of wife of Mr. Taylor.
     At the April term, 1829, Judge Huff, Wilson and McKinnis were present, also Sheriff John C. Wickham, Clerk Wilson Vance and Prosecuting Attorney Anthony Casad.  The Grand Jury, the second one called and empaneled in the county was as follows:  Robert Long, Amos Beard, Thomas Cole, John Shoemaker, Reuben W. Hamblin, Samuel Sargeant, William J. Greer, Robert Elder, John Hunter, Isaac Johnston, Nathan Frakes, Reuben Hales, Jacob Foster, William Moreland, Jr., Nathan Williams.  The foreman was William J. Greer.  Due notice having been given, William Taylor was licensed to keep a tavern at his house in Findlay, by paying five dollars.  The Grand Jury, at this session, found a bill of indictment - the first ever returned in the county.
     The first case on the civil docket was that of Robert Elder and wife against Asa Lake and wife for slander.  Damages claimed, five hundred dollars.  The action was brought at the November term, 1828, Abel Rawson, plaintiff's Attorney.  A judgment was rendered for the defendants, and the plaintiff ordered to pay the costs, taxed at two dollars and twenty-two cents.  Such a cost bill was that would not go very far towards paying the costs of a slander suit in these days, neither would it make the officers of the court either rich or happy.
     The case of Henry McWhorter against Samuel Sargeant and Abraham Huff was tried at

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     ANTHONY CASAD

     In 1842, John Ewing, Mordica Hammond and William Roller were appointed, and   

     EDSON GOIT, the first resident lawyer of Findlay, was born in Oswego County, New York, Oct. 18, 1808.  When he was quite small his father died, but, through improving every opportunity during his boyhood years he managed to obtain a fair education and taught school ere reaching his majority.  In 1827 he left his early home and traveled across Ohio until arriving at the village of Fremont.  Here he halted and subsequently taught school in Fremont and Tiffin.  During this period Mr. Goit read law under Rudolphus Dickinson of Fremont, and Abel Rawson, of Tiffin, and July 12, 1832, was admitted to practice.  Learning that Findlay, the then new county seat of Hancock County, had no lawyer he at once concluded to come here and cast in his fortunes with the then hamlet.  Traveling on foot from Tiffin, he reached Findlay on the third day of his journey and went to reside in the home of Dr. Rawson, a practicing physician of the village.  This was in August, 1832, and in September he was appointed prosecuting attorney, which position he held until June, 1836.  The office of prosecuting attorney, however, paid a very small salary during this period of the county's history, and for several months after settling in Findlay Mr. Goit patiently waited for clients that never came.  Discouraged at the poor outlook, he at last made up his mind to leave the town, but ere he had carried out his intention the tide turned and he was engaged to teach a school, being thus guaranteed sufficient to pay his board.  Clients soon began to consult him, hope took the place of despondency and he gave up the idea of leaving Findlay.  While boarding at the tavern of William Talor in 1835, he married Miss Jane Patterson, a sister of Mrs. Taylor, with whom she was living.  In May, 1836, Mr. Goit was appointed auditor, vice John C. Schnnon, deceased, and served till March, 1837.  In April, 1837, he was again appointed prosecuting attorney, but

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Edson Goit - Continued
resigned the office in October, 1838.  The same month he was elected treasurer and that filled that office two successive terms.  Besides attending to the duties of his profession he now launched out boldly into other pursuits.  He accumulated a large among of land and engaged extensively in mercantile business in Hancock, Allen and Putnam Counties.  He, however, got too many irons in the fire; his business was too complex for judicious management, and his large land interests finally became an incumbrance and proved his financial downfall.  From January, 1858, to January, 1862, he again filled the office of prosecuting attorney and this finished his official career.  Mr. Goit possessed unbounded energy and though a fair lawyer, did not devote sufficient attention to his profession to keep up with the times.  HE was a man of fine personal appearance and dignified carriage, and was regarded as a very strong jury lawyer.  Though he lost the fruits of a lifetime of persevering industry he did not, however, "fail" as that term is commonly understood, but paid his creditors to the last penny, no man losing a cent by him, and his every promise being finally redeemed.  Such was his sterling honesty that his principal solace at the hour of his death was the fact that he owned no man a dollar.  His first wife died in the spring of 1863, leaving a family of three sons and one daughter.  One of the sons was subsequently killed in the War of the Rebellion.  Mr. Goit was afterwards married to Mrs. Sarah A. McConnell of 'Van Buren, and in the fall of 1867 removed to Bowling Green, where he died May 29, 1880.  Two daughters were born of the second marriage, both of whom are dead.  No man has ever lived in Findlay who is more kindly remembered than Edson Goit.  He was charitable to a fault and every worthy public enterprise found in him a warm friend and generous support.  Mr. Goit built while living in Findlay what was then the largest block in Findlay.  The Karg Bros. meat-market block block is a portion of the building he erected, although the entire structure was remodeled during the bloom.

     ARNOLD F. MERRIAM was the second lawyer to locate in Findlay.  He was born in Brandon, Vt., Dec. 17, 1811, and was there educated and began the study of law.  In early manhood he removed to Zanesville, Ohio, where he completed his law studies and was admitted to practice.  He soon afterward started for Vinton County, where he intended to locate.  During his journey he met Wilson Vance, who induced him to change his mind and come to Findlay.  HE arrived here in the spring of 1835 and entered into partnership with Edson Goit.  In June, 1836, he was appointed prosecuting attorney, which office he filled till April, 1837, when he resigned.  On the 27th of May, 1837, he married Miss Sarah A. Baldwin, who bore him one son and two daughters.  In January, 1838, Mr. Merriam started the Hancock Republican, the first Whig paper published in the county, which he published about a year.  He then removed to Mansfield, Ohio, sold the press and subsequently went to Kentucky where he died in July, 1844.  His widow returned with her family to Findlay, and afterward married Judge Robert Strother. The lady lived here for some few

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years, the venerable Mrs. S. A. Strother whom everybody loved and revered.

     JOHN H. MORRISON

     JACOB BARND

     JUDE HALL

     HON. CHARLES W. O'NEAL

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     ABEL F. PARKER was born in Cavendish, Windsor County, Vermont, May 11, 1800, and died in Findlay, May 31, 1881, in his eighty-second year.  In early manhood he settled in Genesee County, New York, where he removed with his family to Blanchard Township, this county, two years later locating in Findlay.  He read law under Edson Goit and was admitted to the bar in 1842.  The same year he was elected prosecuting attorney and served one term.  In 1846 he was again elected prosecutor and re-elected in 1848, but resigned the office in 1849.  Mr. Parker also filled the office of postmaster of Findlay.  His first wife died in 184, leaving a family of one son and two daughters.  In 1852 Mr. Parker married Sarah A. Robinson, who bore him two sons and one daughter.  His two daughters, Misses July and Dora, resided in this city many years, and his son, Judge Robert Parker, resided in Bowling Green.  Though Mr. Parker lived to the ripe old age of more than four score years, he nevertheless continued in practice up to within a short period of his decease.  He loved his profession and was highly respected by his associates of the bar.

     EZRA BROWN

     ELIJAH WILLIAMS was also a student in the office of Mr. Morrison and was admitted with Ezra Brown in July, 1842.  He practiced in Findlay about eight years, when he removed to Portland, Oregon, where he died a few years ago.  He is remembered as a sharp, shrewd, but diffident lawyer.

     HON. MACHIAS C. WHITELEY was born May 24, 1822, and died several years previous to 1901.  He came of Scotch-Irish parentage and was born at East New Market, Dorchester County, Md.  His paternal grandfather was a patriot of the Revolution and his father served in the War of 1812 against the British.  In

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1832 his parents, Willis and Elizabeth Whiteley, removed their family to Baltimore, Fairfield County, where the subject of this sketch worked on a farm and attended the common schools of the neighborhood.  He subsequently learned the harness trade, which he followed until coming to Findlay in 1840.  For two years he worked in the clerk's office, devoting his spare time to reading law with Goit & O'Neal and then returned to Fairfield County, where he continued his law studies with Medill & Whitman, of Lancaster.  On the 4th of July 1843, he was admitted to the bar at Tiffin and immediately opened law office in Findlay where he gradually attained lucrative practice.  In 1847 Mr. Whiteley married Miss Sarah A. Henderson, native of Wayne County, Ohio, and daughter of William L. Henderson, leading surveyor of Hancock County, and one of its earliest settlers.  Nine children were born to this union.  In 1848 Mr. Whiteley was elected to the legislature and re-elected in 1849.  While in the legislature he took part in the election of Salmon P. Chase to the United States Senate and secured the charter of the Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne and Chicago Rail road.  In 1856 he was delegate to the Democratic National Convention which nominated Buchanan and Breckenridge for president and vice-president of the United States.  The same fall he was elected judge of the court of Common Pleas, for the Third Subdivision of the Ninth Judicial District, and was re-elected in 1861, serving on the bench ten years.  In 1864 Judge Whiteley was nominated on the Democratic ticket for supreme judge, but with the balance of the ticket was defeated, the state going largely Republican that year.  Upon retiring from the bench in 1867 Judge Whiteley resumed practice in Findlay and continued in active practice almost up to the time of his death.  He was one of the most prominent attorneys of northwestern Ohio and Democrat of Democrats, but absolutely refused to vote when the registration law went into effect.

     WILLIAM M. PATTERSON

     HON. JAMES M. COFFINBERRY

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     CHARLES S. COFFINBERRY

     AARON H. GIBLOW

     JOHN E. ROSETTE

     HENRY BROWN

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     WILLIAM GRIBBEN

     AARON BLACKFORD

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     HON. WILLIAM MUNGEN

     ANDREW COFFINBERRY

     JOHN F. CAPLES

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     DANIEL B. BEARDSLEY

     WILLIAM C. BUNTS

     COL. JAMES A. BOPE

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of Civil war obscured the National horizon.  In July, 1862, he enlisted as a member of Company D, Ninety-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made captain and in which he served until July 10, 1864, when he was appointed acting inspector general in the brigade commanded by Colonel P. T. Swaine.  In the battle of Atlanta our subject was severely wounded and was sent home by General Schofield, presumably never to return to the front or even survive his injuries.  He, however, recovered and rejioned his command in North Carolina.  He was made lieutenant colonel and was placed in command of the Ninety-ninth and Fifteenth Consolidated Regiments of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which capacity he served until the close of the war, being mustered out in July, 1865.  He was an active participant in all the engagements of his command from Perryville, Ky., to the end, including the battles of Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, and from Dalton to Atlanta.  He had received several minor wounds prior to being incapacitated by his injuries at Atlanta.
     After being mustered out Colonel Bope returned to Findlay and resumed his interrupted professional work in which he gained marked precedence and representative clientage.  For more than decade he was retained as counsel for the Findlay city council and thereafter served for four years as city solicitor.  He devoted his attention principally to corporation law, having nothing in the line of criminal cases in connection with his professional work, though he proved strong advocate, versatile and thorough and learned in the minutia of the law.  He was attorney for number of important corporations, including leading banking institutions, and attorney for the Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cleveland and the Big Four Railroad and also for the Bowling Green Southern Traction Company.  His political allegiance was given to the Republican party of whose cause he was ever stalwart supporter and advocate.  In 1861 Colonel Bope was united in marriage to Miss Martha J. Meeks, daughter of Rev. J. A. Meeks, and their home was ever center of gracious hospitality.  Colonel Bope died Oct. 25, 1908.

     ABSALOM P. BYALL.  Few, if any, of the men living in Hancock County today, have been so closely connected with the progress and official affairs of the county as has the Hon. Absolam P. Byall.  Mr. Byall was born in Stark County, Ohio, on the 19th day of June, 1821, and moved with his father's family to Findlay, arriving on the 6th of September, 1833, when a lad of twelve years of age, and has been a continuous citizen of this county to the present day.  The family settled on a forty-acre tract of land on the east side of Main Street, extending from Sandusky Street to Lima Street, building a house on the site of the grounds at present occupied by the fine residence of George P. Jones.  At that date the land was covered by the primeval forest.  Mr. Byall with the help of the subject of our sketch, cleared up this land, making for himself and family comfortable home.  In 1840 the father died, and Absalom being the oldest of five children, took upon himself the dutiful task of the support of his mother and the four younger children.
     In September, 1845, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Youngkin, and to this

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union was born one son and three daughters, all of which are still living.  Mrs. Byall died May 21, 1865, just at the close of the civil war.  In 1867 Mr. Byall was again married to Miss Sallie Mavety, and to this marriage were born two children, a daughter, who at the age of two and a half years met with the sad fate of death from drowning by falling into a well, and a son George F. Byall the well known and progressive agriculturist.  His second wife died Feb. 13, 1897, since which time Mr. Byall has remained single, living in his beautiful residence by the most handsome grove in the county, plnated by his owns hands.  In his early life he cleared land, chopped cord wood and did farming, besides attending to different official services that fell to his lot.
     In 1842, Elisha Brown of Amanda Township was elected sheriff of Hancock County, but the amount of business in the office not justifying  Mr. Brown's removal to Findlay, he appointed A. P. Byall, then a young man of twenty-one, as his deputy, and the business of that office was ably and promptly attended to until the close of Mr. Brown's term.  Owning to a split in the Democratic party in 1844, Elisha Brown failed of re-election, the opposite party taking the office; but in 1846, A. P. Byall was nominated and elected to the office of sheriff of Hancock County, which he held for about a year and a half when he resigned to accept an appointment as clerk of the court, as under the constitution of 1802 this was an appointive office by a president and three associate judges, Judge Good, of Shelby County, was president, and Hammond, Roller and Ewing were associates.  The last three were residents of this county.
     The new Constitution of 1851 terminated the appointment, and made it an elective office, thus terminating Mr. Byall's term.  At that time the duties of clerk of the court were not arduous, and Mr. Byall employed his spare time in reading law, with C. W. O'Neal and M. C. Whiteley, and was admitted to practice by Judge Thurman of the Supreme Court of Ohio, his office having terminated by Constitutional limitation in 1852.  In 1857 he located on farm north of town and for time gave his entire attention to practical farming, in which, as in all other things he engaged in, he was successful, as he put his own hands to the plow and did not look back.
     In 1860 he took the census of the west half of the county with the exception of Orange and Van Buren Townships.  In 1861 he removed to Findlay for the purpose of better educating his children, and bought the property on the east side of Main Street north of Front Street, built in an early day by Wilson Vance, and now owned by Mrs. Wilhelmina Traucht, and occupied by her for residence and milliner store.  In 1868 he sold this property to Gen. M. B. Walker, and bought farm on the Lima Road about mile from Main Street, and after some years built fine residence and embellished the grounds with groves and shrubbery, until it is one of the handsomest homes in Hancock County.
     In 1847 while sheriff, he took jury of six men along the route of the “Branch Road” from here to Carey, to appraise the lands in anticipation of the building of the railroad from Findlay to Carey, the first railroad built in this county.  In 1872 he was elected Justice of the Peace, but finding that it interfered with the work of managing his farms, he resigned after holding the office for year and half.  In 1873 he was elected member of the Constitutional Convention that convened in Colum-

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bus, O., and held sessions until the breaking out of cholera in August of 1873, when it ad journed and reassembled in Cincinnati December 1st of the same year, and remained there until the 15th of May, 1874.
     He was President of the Hancock Agricultural Society for fifteen years, and the society grew strong and prosperous under his management.  In 1883 he was elected as member of the House of the Ohio Legislature, and was reelected in 1885.  Here it was that Colonel Byall - for by that name was he known to the members of that body - displayed great strength of character, and many important measures were intrusted to his care in their passage through the House, not only from his own county but from others as well.  His well known integrity and steadfastness called forth the confidence in his honesty and influence to carry bill to favorable termination in that body.
     Col. Byall has most wonderful memory of events that have occurred in his life, and those of public nature, and his recital of them is both instructive and entertaining.  Hour upon hour can be pleasantly spent in conversation with him at his splendid and commodious home on Lima Avenue.  The beautiful “Byall Park,” located on the southwest border of the town, at the head of Hurd Avenue, and used as camp meeting ground, was largely the gift of Mr. Byall and embellished by the society who hold annual meetings is considered an attractive spot, and well deserves to be named in honor of so noble and charitable gentleman.

     HON. JOHN M. PALMER was born in Clinton County, New York, July 5, 1814, learned the cabinet maker's trade in Portland, Vt., and worked at it in that state.  In 1837 he came to Ohio and attended Granville Seminary.  He studied law with Hon. Henry Strausberry, of Cincinnati, and was there admitted to practice in 1841.  In 1843 he was married at Lancaster, Ohio, to Miss Ellen Weaver, and located in practice at Somerset, Perry County.  In 1846 he removed to Defiance, where he followed his profession until 1852 when he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas.  While still on the bench Judge Palmer removed to Putman County, in which county he had considerable land interests and township of which was named in his honor.  In June, 1858, he settled in Findlay, and resumed the practice of law in partnership with John Maston.  From 1861 to 1863 he was commissary in the army with the rank of captain, but resigning the office, remained in the south for some time.  Returning to Findlay he again took up his practice and followed the profession up to the illness which resulted in his death Nov. 29, 1876.

     ELIJAH T. DUNN was born in Knox County, Ohio, June 20, 1840. His father was farmer and tobacco grower.  In 1844 he removed with his people to Wood County, Ohio, in what was then known as the “Black Swamp,” where. with three terms of winter school, his early education was finished. At the age of thirteen he entered the office of the Herald of Freedom, at Wilmington and became an expert printer.  He taught several terms of school in Clark and Hancock Counties, pursuing in the meantime the study of law.  On the breaking out of the Rebellion he joined with the Union army, while yet minor and did service for short time as member of the Twenty-first Ohio Volunteers.  Becoming unable to perform duty as soldier he held for while clerkship in the quarter turning to Findlay he completed his law course master's department at Nashville, Tenn.  Re-

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and on the 2nd of August, 1862, was admitted to the bar.  He was then twenty-two years of age.  He then settled down in Findlay and has ever since been creditably identified with the legal profession here.

     The following is a list of the attorneys, who are practicing their profession in this city:
     Axline & Betts, O. A. Ballard, Charles V. Bish, J. C. Bitler, Blackford & Blackford, E. V. Bope, W. F. Brickman, N. W. Bright, Burket & Burket, R. K. Carlin, W. L. Carlin, W. W. Chapman, J. J. Cole, R. D. Cole, R. Clint Coe, S. J. Williams, J. N. Doty, E. T. Dunn, B. L. Dunn, M. G. Foster, Franklin Franks, John Franks, A. G. Fuller, T. F. Gillespie, Alfred Graber, J. M. Harrison, C. E. Jordon, A. E. Kerns, T. W. Lang, Thomas Meehan, G. F. Pendleton, G. H. Phelps, Poe & Poe, J. E. Priddy, G. W. Ross, M. C. Shafer, John Sheridan, John D. Snyder, Hiram Van Campen, B. W. Waltermire, R. J. Wetherald, Albert Zugschwert.

HANCOCK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION.

     In pursuance to call which had been circulated among the attorneys of Findlay, upwards of thirty members of the legal fraternity met at 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon, Mar. 11, 1899, in the Circuit Court room.  On motion Mr. Aaron Blackford was chosen chairman and Silas E. Hurin secretary.  Mr. E. T. Dunn offered motion to the effect that it was the sense of those present that bar association should be formed.  After remarks by several of the attorneys, Mr. Dunn's motion was adopted.
     Mr. George W. Ross then moved that the chair appoint committee of five to formulate constitution and by-laws.  The motion being carried, Messrs. J. A. Bope, E. T. Dunn, George W. Ross, Jason Blackford and Harlan F. Burket were named as the committee.  A constitution and by-laws having been adopted, meetings were held from time to time, and to day the association is one that will compare well in the matter of qualifications, clear-mindedness and capability, with any that can be produced in this state.

MURDERS AND MURDER TRIALS

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     WILLIAM TRANKNER was indicted for murder in the first degree, having stabbed one Frank Ricksecker, Sept. 7, 1889, from the effects of which wound the said Ricksecker died the next day.  Upon trial, Trankner was found guilty of manslaughter, and was sentenced to served a term of seven years in the Ohio Penitentiary.  Jas. A. Bone, prosecutor.  Dunn, Meehan & Doty, attorneys for defendant.

     JOSEPH DONOVAN was indicted for murder in the second degree, having killed one John McManness, Nov. 3, 1889; was tried and found guilty.  He was sentenced by Judge a. B. Johnson, to five years in the Ohio Penitentiary.  Harlan F. Burket prosecutor, assisted by Jas. A. Bope.  E. T. Dunn attorney for defendant.

     JAMES LAWSON was indicted for first degree murder and was found guilty of manslaughter at the October term of court, 1892.  He was sentenced to three years in the Ohio Penitentiary.

     GEORGE KARG for the killing of one Abraham Wise was indicted by the Grand Jury, at the September term of court, 1895, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to the penitentiary for a period of ten years.  Theo. Totten prosecutor.  E. T. Dunn and C. W. Bente, attorney for defendant.

     On the 3rd day of August, 1896, Amos Decker shot and killed one George Miles.  He was indicted by the Grand Jury for first degree murder.  At the close of the evidence offered by the State.  Decker tendered a plea of guilty of manslaughter, which was accepted and he was sentenced to serve a term of twenty years at hard labor in the Ohio penitentiary.  Theo Totten, prosecutor.  E. T. Dunn and John Poe, attorneys for defendant.

     On the 20th day of February, 1898, while attempting to capture and arrest Frank Carmen and Edward Pratt, who were burglarizing storehouse of the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company, Police Officer William Holly was shot and killed.  The two men were taken and indicted jointly for murder in the first degree.  Separate trials were had for these men which resulted in the acquittal of Pratt and the conviction of Carmen of manslaughter.  Carmen was sentenced by Judge Charles M. Melhorn, to the Ohio penitentiary for term of twenty years.  Charles E. Jordan, prosecutor.  John Poe, attorney for defendants.
     As the result of drunken brawl, John Sherman met his death at the hands of his brother in-law William Teal, May 9, 1907.  Teal was indicted by the Grand Jury, June 3d, 1907, for murder in the second degree.  His trial began on the 7th day of October, that year, and the jury returned its verdict of guilty of manslaughter, on the 11th day of the same month.  Ten days later he was sentenced by Judge William F. Duncan, to serve term of ten years in the Ohio penitentiary.  Prosecutor, William L. David.  Attorney for defendant, E. T. Dunn.
     As the result of quarrel over game of craps, Arthur White, colored man, met his death at the hands of one, Richard Drake, also colored.  White died July 12, 1904, just seven days after having been stabbed by his assailant, who was later indicted by the Grand Jury upon charge of murder in the second degree, was tried at the September, 1904, term of court, found guilty as charged, and sentenced to five years in the Ohio penitentiary.  Drake's attorney, Charles V. Bish, prosecuted error to the Circuit Court and succeeded in reversing the judgment of the Common Pleas Court, secur-

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ing new trial for his client.  Upon the second trial, Feb. 4, 1905, Drake was acquitted of the charge.  Prosecuting attorney, William L. David.  Counsel for defendant, C. V. Bish.
     There were few other indictments found for felonies of the kind treated of in this chapter, but the parties were never put on trial under the indictments.  In 1854, Philemon P. Pool was indicted for an assault with intent to kill.  Samuel Ramsey was indicted for stabbing Nicolas Oram with intent to kill.  Dr. R. J. Haggerty was indicted for the killing of Dr. Mansfield at Mt. Blanchard, and Levi Chain was indicted for the killing of his son at Findlay, by stabbing him with his pocket knife.  All these cases were disposed of on pleas for lesser offenses.

FIRST JAIL AND COURTHOUSE

     In July, 1830, the county commissioners determined to build jail, and it was ordered that said jail should be “sixteen feet wide, and twenty-four feet long, with partition in the center.   The timber to be white oak, twelve inches square, with two doors and three windows.”  The jail was built on the Public Square, its site being about midway between the present Court House and “old white corner store" - now the Buckeye National Bank Corner.  With this location it seems that some of the citizens of the county were not well pleased, for in December of the same year, it is recorded that petition was presented by sundry citizens praying for the removal of the jail from the Public Square in the town of Findlay.  But the commissioners rejected the petition, thinking no doubt that the sight of such an institution would have restraining effect upon the some what wild community.  It was not, however, a formidable looking structure, and that it had neither beauty nor strength to recommend it.  The prisoners used to amuse themselves by burning down the door, or removing the iron bars from the windows, and after escaping, report themselves to the sheriff, who would conduct them back to the place whence they came.  But the old log jail was finally superseded by structure more in keeping with the wants of the county, and providing for the better security of the prisoners.  (The first building south of the Post Office, now owned by B. Webber), and this in its turn has since been replaced by structure magnificent in its proportions, and of ample security.
     Previous to the year 1831 the courts had been held in the old log schoolhouse, but now increased facilities had become necessary.  The minds of the people had been prepared for a  building such as was needed, and the financial condition of the county was such as to permit its erection.  Whereupon the county commissioners at their December session in 1831, ordered as follows:
     “That advertisements be posted up in three public places, for constructing, putting up and furnishing frame in the village of Findlay, the building to be 24 feet by 36 feet, two stories high.  Lower story to be nine feet in the clear, and the upper story eight and half feet in the clear.  Lower story to have hall or entry eight feet in the clear.  Lower story to have hall or entry eight feet wide, through the center, with good partitions on either side of planed boards.  The one end to be divided by partition through the center, dividing it into equal parts.  A good substantial flight of stairs to be put up in the entry.  One front door, one back door to said entry, both to be of panelled doors, the front one to have four lights over it.  Four twenty-light windows in front, and two back of twenty lights each in lower story, and five twenty-light windows in front in upper story and three same size back.

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Glass to be eight by ten, and well puttied in.  The upper story to be ceiled with three-quarter boards, planed, tongued and grooved.  A good joint shingle roof to be put on.  The building to be underpinned with a good, rough stone wall, laid in lime and sand mortar, raised eighteen inches above the surface.  With plain door into each room, all the doors to be hung with three-inch cast-iron butts, the lower floor to be laid out of white ash boards, not to exceed six inches in width.  The upper floor to be of white or blue ash boards of the same width; both floors to be tongued and grooved, and joints broken, and well nailed.  The sills, posts and sleepers of the frame to be of white oak, the studding not to exceed two feet from center to center, joists same distance apart.  Good sufficient locks on all the doors, and plain latches and handles.  Plain eave-troughs and cornice.  The front to be weather-boarded with poplar, planed, and the remainder with black walnut rough.  A washboard and chair-board upstairs and down, a plain bannistering to the stairs, together with substantial bannistering at the top of the stairs."
     The commissioners met on the 16th day of January, 1832, the time appointed for opening the bids for the above work.  Two proposals were handed in, one from Mathew Reighley for $750.00 and one from William Talor, Frederick Henderson and Jonathan Parker for $700.00, which last bid was accepted.  In June, 1833, the commissioners met and received proposals for plastering the court house, when the bid of Parlee Carlin was accepted, the price, however, was not named.  Whereupon, Parlee Carlin entered into a bond to lath and plaster the several rooms in the Court ouse in a durable and workmanlike manner, and complete the same by the first of the following November.  The building was erected on the southwest corner of Main and Crawford streets, the site now occupied by the Jones Building (First National Bank), and was used as a court house, school house and church until the completion of a brick structure court house in 1841.  The old court house has since been removed to the south part of Main Street, just north of the First Presbyterian Church, (now the Donnel Block), and was occupied by Jacob Carr and family residence.  After having served as a court house it was for many years used as a hotel.  The county commissioners were very solicitous about the good usage and the authorized occupancy of this new structure, and passed not a few orders touching the matter, and prescribing the terms on which it could be occupied.
     The Court House was examined and accepted by the commissioners in March, 1833.  At their December session, 1834, it was "ordered that the auditor do cause to be erected in the Court House a suitable seat for the Court.  Also that he do procure two sets of chairs for the Court room."  At a session of December, 1836, "Ordered that all religious societies be prohibited from holding meetings in the Court House after the 1st day of January, 1837."  But the authorties soon relented, if indeed they ever attempted to enforce the order, for at their very next session, that of March, 1837, the records show this action:  "Ordered that the Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the town of Findlay, each pay into the treasury of Hancock County, the sum of seventy-five cents per month for the time they occupy the same, for the use of the Court House for religious purposes, to commence from this date."  At the same session it was "Ordered that the Directors of School District No. 1, in Findlay Towship, pay into the county treasury at the rate of eleven dollars for six months, for the use of the Court room for a district school."
     But everything in time outlives its useful-

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ness, and in March, 1840, it was ordered by the commissioners "that the auditor of the county of Hancock offer the lot that the old Court House stands on, including said building, at public sale, one third of the purchase money in hand, the balance in two equal annual payments, on the third Saturday of May next, advertising the same thirty days previous to the day of sale."  The property was sold to one Jacob Barne.

END OF CHAPTER IX -