performed its mission of wiping out frauds and introducing reform and retrenchment in officers' salaries, and in 1877, the people went back to the old plan of county organization. The township system did not by any means prove a failure or inoperative, but on the contrary, was the greatest preservative of the people's rights. Notwithstanding the cry of retrenchment and reform, the levies on property of all kinds appear to be growing astonishingly high as the county becomes better developed. Without taxation we cannot have good public improvements. The people of Pettis county are learning that money, properly and judiciously appropriated for public purposes, is not thrown away, but tends in many ways to bring back to them its value increased many fold. The levies for the year 1882 are comparatively light, when we take into consideration the great wealth of Pettis county, her superb natural resources, all estimated to be upwards of $12,000,000. For this year the levy for state and county purposes is $1.05 on the hundred. The school levies in the several districts vary from twenty cents to $1.00 on the hundred, and average about forty-five cents on the hundred. Mr. R. H. Moses, present efficient county collector, collected $150,000 revenue for 1881. This offiee has already become one of immense busi ness. The county poor farm, situated in Flat Creek township, and consists of fifty acres of land, of about the worth its name gives it. Paupers are kept here at an expense of $1.35 per week to the county. CHAPTER VII.-COURTS AND BAR OF PETTIS COUNTY. Law-Its Origin and Authority-The Seat of Justice for Pettis County-Early Courts-Their Authority and Jurisdiction-History of Pettis County Court-History of the Circuit Court-History of the Criminal Court-History of the Court of Common Pleas and Probate--List of Circuit Judges from First-Roll of Attorneys since Organization of County-Present Resident Attorney's Roll--List of Foreign Attorneys--Personal Mention. LAW.-When "the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and God said let there be light,"—that mandate was the first assertion of Supreme authority, and its execution the effect of supernatural power exercised in bringing order out of chaos, and establishing natural laws for the government of the material universe. It was the supernatural operation of physical force upon material things— the creation of a new order of natural tendencies, and in its relation to matter, the beginning of law on earth. The decree of the Almighty that man should have dominion over every living thing, delegated judicial powers and functions to the human race, and the punishment of Adam and Eve for disobedience was the exercise of judicial authority by the Creator, and established a precedent for the guidance of mankind in the enforcement of law. The sages and patriarchs of early ages were the law-givers and judges for their people, but they depended largely upon divine inspiration and guidance in matters of great moment; and upon their representations of the will of the Supreme Being, as revealed to them for the government of mankind, human laws were based, moulded and fashioned. Since Moses delivered the law engraven on tablets of stone to the children of Israel, the Ten Commandments have never been improved upon; and to-day the laws of all civilized nations contain their essence-forbidding what is there prohibited, and permitting only what is there allowed for man to do. From analogy, therefore, we may reason, that the just laws of all civilized nations are of Divine origin-that their vindication and enforcement is by Divine authority, and that the judicial tribunal which is uncorrupted by bribery or uninfluenced by prejudice or passion, as far as human wisdom can go, represents the will and authority of the Divine Being. The reign of law, order, peace and prosperity, or violence, bloodshed, anarchy and ruin, are the lessons of history respecting the existence and enforcement, or the entire absence of just laws in nations of past ages, leaving upon every reflecting mind the unpleasant impression, that man is by nature a rebel and an outlaw, and without the refining influences of civilization is the most vicious and depraved of all creatures. Civilization is the fruit of just laws honestly and intelligently administered, and the moral and intellectual standard of nations and communites may be correctly determined by an investigation of the character of their laws and the degree of impartiality and faithfulness with which they are executed. It is a matter of history, that from time immemorial, lawyers have been the law-makers of the world, and the sole instruments of legal administration; and again, reasoning from analogy, the fact is clearly and conclusively established, that the intelligence, culture refinement and moral worth of every community, are faithfully represented by its courts and bar. No country in the world possesses a better legal code than the United States. The legitimate offspring of the popular will, founded upon precedents and forms of English law antedating the reign of Alfred, and crowned by the eternal principles of right and equal and exact justice, they are equal to every emergency, and meet every requirement. There can be no wrong that they are powerless to right-so far as human power can go in that direction, and no grievance that they cannot redress within the bounds of reason and justice. To day, whatever may be said to the contrary, Missouri is the peer of any of her sister states in the completeness and wisdom of her laws, and in this connection whatever may be said of Missouri applies with equal force and appropriateness to Pettis county. EARLY COURTS.-Owing to the incompleteness of the early records, it is not possible to give as complete a history of the courts of Pettis county as we had contemplated, but we have succeeded at the cost of much labor and money, in obtaining very satisfactory information from old settlers, and can therefore give such facts as are of primary importance to the legal fraternity, and of especial interest to the general reader. The early courts were of the most primitive character, and judicial procedure in accordance with the simplest forms, unburdened by the complex technicalities of the present day. The proceedings in court trials partook largely of the character of courts-martial, being arbitrary and strictly in accordance with both letter and spirit of the law. Jury trials were conducted according to the simplest forms-the jury, as a matter of fact, acting merely as a board of arbitration. The court dockets were not cumbered with long lists of causes, based upon theoretical law points, for the judges promptly declined to consider causes not strictly within the bounds of equity. The result was that the business of the courts was dispatched with rapidity and promptness, and conclusions reached by the shortest and simplest methods. THE SEAT OF JUSTICE.-By act of the legislature of Missouri, January 26th, 1833, Pettis county was organized, comprising all the territory within the present eastern, northern and western boundaries, and extending south to the middle of the Osage river. The house of James Ramey at St. Helena, now known as Pin Hook Mills, situated eight miles north and one mile east of Sedalia, was designated as the place where the courts should be held, until the tribunal transacting business for the county. should establish a temporary seat of justice. The act also created a county court, designated the times of its meeting, and empowered the governor to appoint temporary judges. By act of the legislature, December 3d, 1834, the temporary seat of justice for Pettis county was continued at St. Helena, until the permanent seat of justice should be selected and established, and Joseph S. Anderson of Cooper county, John Stapp of Lafayette county and John Rucker of Howard county, appointed commissioners to select a site for permanent seat of justice. By authority of the act above mentioned, the business of the county was transacted at St. Helena, until 1837, when by act of the legislature Georgetown, three miles north of Sedalia, was selected as the permanent seat of justice for Pettis county, and a large substantial brick building was erected for the accommodation of the courts and county officials. The frame work of the building consisted of massive beams of hewn timber framed together with great care and skill and firmly anchored in the walls. Forty-three years that grand old building stood there,-breasting the storms-unshaken; and the children, who played within the shadow of its walls had become mothers and fathers, with gray hair and time-furrowed faces. Forty-three years—nearly half a century—and the men who had laid its foundation and reared its walls, who had framed its massive timbers and fashioned such parts into a symmetrical whole, were bowed with age, or had passed into another life. A generation had been born and had passed away, and a wilderness had been transformed into a country teeming with human life and energy, and then the walls of that historic temple of justice, that through all these years had looked down upon scenes of festivity and gloom, of joy and woe, of peace and war; that had echoed to the tread of armed men and the eloquence of orators pleading for justice were dismantled and leveled by ruthless hands, and carried away to Sedalia, to be used in the construction of a stable. Imperial Czar dead and turned to clay, O, that the earth which held the world in awe Georgetown remained the permanent seat of justice for Pettis county from 1837 to 1865, when by act of the state legislature it was removed to Sedalia, its present location. THE COUNTY COURT.--The act of the legislature of Missouri, January 26, 1833, which provided for the organization of Pettis county, and the establishment of a temporary seat of justice, also created the county court, and empowered the governor to appoint judges therefor, to serve until the general election in the county, which was ordered to be held in 1834. As before mentioned, the place selected temporarily for the transaction of the business of the county, was St. Helena, and times for holding the county courts, the third Mondays in February, May, August and Novem ber. In compliance with the above act, the governor appointed James Ramey, Elijah Taylor, and Wm. A. Miller judges of the county court, and the first session was held on the third Monday in February following. ROSTER OF THE COUNTY COURT.-From its organization to the present time (1882), including the above named, and the years of service, the following changes have occurred in the personnel of the court: In 1833 three judges were appointed, viz: Thomas Wasson, elected 1838, served until 1842. *Resigned. †Deceased. |