Historical souvenir of Greenville, Illinois : being a ... - University Library

40 Historical Souvenir of Greenville, Illinois.
Will J. Brunei' was second lieutenant.
Spanish Hmcrican CHar.
When war with Spain commenced
in 1S9S, E. Trautman organized a
company of volunteers but there
was no call for them and hence
they did not go to the front. Greenville,
however, had many representatives
in the thick of the fray.
Lyman Puller, a grandson of Seth
Fuller, Greenville's early surveyor,
and a son of Lyman Puller, a Civil
War veteran, was with Admiral
Dewey, on his flagship at the battle
of Manila on the memorable first
of May, 1898. Lyman Fuller was
a gunner and was at his post during
the fight, when the Spanish squadron
was sunk and the city of Manila
was captured.
Arthur Rogier was a seaman on
the "Iowa" and participated in the
naval engagements around Santiago.
John Heston, grandson of a Mexican
War veteran of the same name,
was in the navy and was an eye
witness of the Maine disaster in the
harbor at Havana, Cuba.
Harry Williams, now of California,
was on board the "Yale" during
the war with Spain and saw some
service.
Among the boys in the land forces
were Lieutenants L. E. Bennett and
A. O. Seaman, now U. S. A. officers.
Sergeant Major W. H. Boughman,
Harry and Berl Murdock, Charles
Dixon, Orlay Larrabee, Will Foster,
Will Bruner, Charles Rowdybush,
Charles Stearns, Edward A. Stearns,
George N. Koonce, Charles Kingsbury
and many others.
The four last named died of disease
while in the service.
COUNTY BUILDINGS.
GREENVILLE has had four
court houses, all located within
the present public square. For a
year or two after Greenville became
the county seat there was no court
house and court was held in the
dwellings in the west end of town,
and there, also, the county officers
were located.
In 1821 when the sale of lots was
held, the present public square was
covered with a dense growth of
sycamore trees. At a court held
the September of that year, it was
duly ordered that a court house for
Bond county be let to the lowest
bidder and on September 19, when
the bids were opened, Robert G.
White's bid of $2,135 was found to
be the lowest, and he at once entered
into bond for the fulfillment of
the contract, and was paid in notes
of purchasers of the thirty town
lots. These lots sold at an average
of $44.60 each.
The court house was made of a
poor quality of brick and was badly
damaged by storms before it was
completed. The building stood on
a natural mound where the present
one now stands and was practically
completed in 1823. The eight by
ten window panes proved too great a
temptation for the small boy of
that time, and hidden from view behind
tree or bush, he would watch
•with delight the accuracy of his
aim as the stones from his sling
shot crashed through the glass and
sent It flying in every direction.
There was little respect for the
temple of justice and its custodians
were sorely beset for means for its
preservation. In a few years this
Jjrick court house was so shaky that
it was necessary to build a new one.
The same foundation was used
for the second court house, which
was a frame building. The brick
from the old building was used for
flooring. Eben Twiss was given the
contract of putting up the frame
building, on October 9. 1832. It
was completed in September 1833
and was used as a court house for
twenty years. J. T. Pouke, who
came here in 1830, says this frame
court house had a large chimney
and fireplace on the north side and
a brick floor, except on the south,
where there was a plank floor, surrounding
the judge's seat. On the
second floor were four rooms with
low ceilings. The circuit clerk
and the county clerk had the two
rooms in the north part and on the
south were two jury rooms.
This frame court house was too
small for the county's needs ani
was so badly out of repair that on
April 14, 18 53 the contract for a
new one was let. The frame building
was sold by the county at public
auction July 20, 1853, and was purchased
by E. B. White for $193.
Mr. White moved it to the lot east
of Williams' blacksmith shop, where
it was still used by the county until
the new court house was completed.
Afterwards it was used as the home
of the Greenville Journal, a store,
a carpenter shop, livery stable and
marble shop. It was the first investment
in Greenville real estate
made by J. M. Miller, now one of
the city's largest property owners.
The cyclone of 1880 unroofed it and
it was later torn down.
Daniel W. Norris, of Carlyle, was
the contractor who built the third
court house an 1 James Bradford,
Rufus Dressor and M. G. Dale were
the county commissioners, who let
the contract. The building was of
brick on a sandstone foundation, 40
by GO feet, two stories high. The
contract price was $9750 but subsequent
improvements ran the
amount up to $12,000. It was
turned over to the county commissioners
as completed September 1,
1854. In 1SG9 a new roof was put
on the building and a large, shapely
dome took the place of a little hen
coop observatory on the building.
In 1880 the offices on the ground
floor were remodeled and vaults for
the county records were made. The
hallway running east and west
through the building was closed up
and the space thus gained was utilized
for the vaults.
This building was becoming too
small for the county's needs when
it was destroyed by fire on Saturday,
March 24, 1883. A defective flue
probably caused the fire, which
started in the southwest corner of
the attic about 9:15 a. m., and was
first discovered by Ernest Bigard,
who was in an upper room on the
south side of the square. He gave
the alarm and soon the entire populace
was out trying to cope with the
flames. The fire had burned some
time before it was discovered.
There were no water works and a
bucket brigade with State's Attorney
W. A. Northcott, County Treasurer
A. J. Utiger and Robert Donnell
in the attic pouring on water, fought
the flames, but the dense smoke
strangled them and the fight had
to be abandonel. All the records
were saved by the systematic management
of Circuit Clerk T. P.
Morey within fifteen minutes and
then the crowd watched the court
house burn. All day long it burned,
but the walls remained standing.
The loss was covered by $8,000 insurance,
of which $0,981.80 was
paid by the insurance company. The
county officers had their offices
scattered around in various places
until the new court house was completed.
Soon after the burning of the
court house some of the people of
Smithboro started an agitation to
move the county seat to that place,
but it did not materialize. The matter
went so far, however, that petitions
were drawn up, and a paper,
advocating the change, was started
at Smithboro. One hundred eightyfour
of the signers of the petition,
however, withdrew their names by
power of attorney to C. D. Holies
and the court decided the petition
was insufficient to warrant the ordering
of an election on the ouestion.
At the election on November 6,
1883, the proposition to appropriate
$20,000 for the building of a new
court house carried by a vote of