on an extensive trade with the Western settlers. In place of the present rapid mode of conveying merchandise and passengers to Pittsburg, he kept large numbers of horses and mules, and every few weeks his caravans set out for the West,' ladened with salt, powder, lead, &c. "The first clergyman established in the town was Rev. Mr. Montgomery, a Presbyterian. His first discourse, it is said, was delivered in the lot where recently stood the ruins of the Presbyterian Church, on a pleasant afternoon in the month of June. The congregation-the entire village-were sheltered by two or three large apple trees and some noble oaks, the primitive growth of the forest. "Chief Justice M'Kean resided here for some time, at least when Congress sat at York. He lived in a substantial one story log house, a short distance above what is now Locust street. He wore an immense cocked hat, and had great deference shown him by the country people and the straggling Indians, who had their village a short distance from the town. When he and the other Judges of the Supreme Court came to the town to hold court, numbers of the citizens would go out on horseback to meet them and escort them to town. Sometimes one or two hundred people would attend on this occasion. And each morning while the Chief Justice was in town holding court, the sheriff and constables escorted him from his lodgings to the court When on the Bench, he sat with his cocked hat on, and was dressed in a scarlet gown." room. FIRST COURT AT HARRIS' FERRY. The first courts in Dauphin county were held by Justices of the Peace, and the earliest record of a court reads: "At a Court of Quarter Sessions holden near Harris' Ferry, in and for the county of Dauphin, &c.," on the "third Tuesday of May, in the year of our Lord 1785," before "Timothy Green, Samuel Jones and Jonathan M'Clure, Esqrs., Justices of the same court." The sheriff of Lancaster county exercised the same office in Dauphin county. The names of the Jurymen were: James Cowden (foreman), Robert Montgomery, John Gilchrist, Barefoot Brunson, John Clark, Rowen M'Clure, John Carson, John Wilson, William Crane, Archibald M'Allister, Richard Dixon, John Pattimore, James Crouch, Jacob Awl, William Brown, Andrew Stewart, James Rogers, Samuel Stewart, John Cooper, Alexander Berryhill. Alexander Graydon was the first Prothonotary; Anthony Kelker the first Sheriff, and Rudolph Kelker the first Deputy Sheriff, The earliest record of a punishment is the account of one inflicted on William Courtenay and Jesse Rowland, who were sentenced to receive eighteen lashes and pay fifteen shillings sterling, on the 18th of August, 1785, between the hours of four and six o'clock in the afternoon. Several records occur in which punishment was inflicted by lashes and "standing in the pillory." An unusually large number of the cases tried during the first term were for horse stealing. CHANGES IN THE NAME OF THE TOWN. The minutes of the second court held in the town are dated at "Harrisburg;" and on the 3d of August, 1786, the following endorsement appears on the docket: "The name of the County Town, or Seat of the Courts, is altered from Harrisburg' to 'Louisbourg,' in consequence of the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth so styling it in the commissions of the Justices of the said Town." On the 16th day of May, 1791, the Docket contains the following note: "The name of the County Town is altered to Harrisburg, in pursuance of an act of Assembly creating it into a borough under that name, passed 13th of April, 1791." George W. Harris, Esq., relates that his father (the late Robert Harris, Esq.) informed him that when the act of Assembly was passed, in 1785, establishing Dauphin county, it fixed the seat of government near Harris' Ferry. The design was to leave to John Harris the privilege of naming the town. But the Chief Justice (M'Kean) and some of the Judges of the Supreme Court conceived the notion that as the county was called after the Dauphin of France, the town should be called Louisbourg, after Louis XVI. At this time the prejudices of the people ran high in favor of France for the aid that kingdom had given America during the Revolution. Besides, Judge M'Kean and John Harris had had a personal difficulty, which occurred about the time the former was leaving Harrisburg, after his residence here; and, perhaps, being influenced by motives of hostility towards Mr. Harris, Mr. M'Kean strongly urged that the town should be called Louisbourg. Accordingly, in the first precept for holding the courts here, the court was directed to be held at Louisbourg. John Harris, however, told the Judges that they might "Louisbourg" as much as they pleased, but that he would never execute a title for any lot in any other name than that of Harrisburg; and his determination prevailed. THE FIRST COURT HOUSES. The building in which the first court at Harris' Ferry was held, was a log house which stood until about fifteen years ago, at the corner of what is now Washington avenue and Front street; and the "pillory," or punishing place, was in that neighborhood. The court was afterwards held in a log house which still stands, [but now weatherboarded] on the south-east corner of Market street and Dewberry alley. From this place the court moved into the present Court House, which it occupied until December, 1812, when it vacated that building for the use of the Legislature, which body occupied it until July 2, 1822, when it took possession of the State Capitol, as will appear hereafter. When the court vacated the Court House it moved into the then partially finished brick building, owned at the time by Mr. Capp, now known as the "White Hall" tavern. While here, the Commissioners of the county erected the brick buildings opposite the "Franklin House," corner of Walnut street and Raspberry alley, into which the court moved, and which it occupied until the Legislature vacated the present Court House, as above stated. The following is a list of the President Judges of the Dauphin county courts since the adoption of the Constitution of 1790. It is derived from the "Executive Minutes," in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth : John Joseph Henry, commissioned December 16, 1793. CURIOUS CASE OF SWINDLING. About the year 1790, there flourished among the poor residents of the western part of Berks county, a noted swindler named George Savin, alias Greene. He was a man of talent, possessed a winning address, and was a thorough master in quick and correct discernment of character, which enabled him for a long time to prey upon the purses of his credulous neighbors with impunity. The following extract from 2d Yeats' Reports will explain the character of his swindling operations: "At Nisi Prius, at Harrisburg-October Assizes, 1798. CORUM, YEATS and SMITH, Justices. ABRAM STOUT against RANDOLPH Rassel. Special action in the case. The plaintiff declared that whereas George Savin, alias Green, was indebted to him in £100, the defendant, in consideration that the plaintiff promised to accept him as his debtor in the room of the said George Savin, alias Green, on the 2d July, 1790, promised to pay him the said £100 within six weeks from that time or sooner, nevertheless, &c. Plea non assumpsit. The evidence on the trial turned out as follows: Savin was an artful swindler, and gulled a number of ignorant persons to deliver him divers sums of gold and silver, under a pretence that he would double the amount by some chemical process in a short period. He first received, as if reluctantly, some small sums, and delivered to the adventurers in his bank, (so called,) a few days afterwards, genuine Spanish dollars, apparently new, doubling the sums paid him. When his fame was sufficiently known, and the avarice of the weak people in the neighborhood highly inflamed, he soon got into his custody considerable sums, and then decamped privately in the night from his haunt—a retired place twelve miles from Reading, and concealed himself in Dauphin county. To his latter hiding place |