SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 251 Mr. Warder found Ross Mitchell as bookkeeper in a distillery on Mad River, and offered him a responsible position, advising him to take out life insurance and borrow money on the policy, thereby securing property. The Greenawalt and Schuey factory buildings resulted from the Mitchell investments, and when Asa S. Bushnell became interested in the firm Warder, Bushnell and Glessner, he developed the same business ability. No man associated with the upbuilding of Springfield touched more lives in helpful way than Benjamin H. Warder. It was the Springfield of the past upon which the Springfield of today is built, and some who have been prominent are still leaders in the community ; it is customary to wait until a man is dead before hanging garlands about his memory ; some are active today whose names have not been long in the directory. The 1920 census report based on 1919 figures, gives Springfield 206 manufacturing plants with 15,459 persons employed as compared with 1914, when war was started by the German nation, when there were 253 industries, although only 9,946 persons were employed in local factories. In 1919 local factories paid out $17,679,000 in wages and salaries, and put $67,759,000 worth of goods on the market. Since then the output has been reduced ; war conditions disorganized both manufacturing and agriculture, and now that people are studying the cost of production a conservative period is in prospect ; a slump in agriculture means a general depression since Springfield industries produce implements of agriculture. Economic students say : "Readjustments and reconstruction are not complete ; difficulties embarrass and industrial disturbances threaten ; there is urgent need for work, economy and saving," but in his Thanksgiving proclamation, Governor Harry L. Davis says : "We are passing through a period while coupled with hardships, bids fair to mark the beginning of an era of lasting prosperity." A directory of those engaged in manufacturing is as impractical as a list of those engaged in mercantile pursuits, but many articles are manufactured in Springfield ; the building trade is more active, showing an increase of 30 per cent over 1920, and while some factories are increasing their output, the old law of supply and demand seems to function. While a degree of optimism prevails, most local manufacturers agree that increased activity will be slow for a few years. Women have entered the field of industry ; the publishing industry offers them special opportunity. When the typewriter entered the business world, the woman accompanied it ; stenography and typewriting are relegated to her in many offices, and some women are successful as managers, and hard work seems to sum up the situation whether with men or women. The Springfield Manufacturers' Association holds frequent meetings ; they discuss subjects of mutual interest, and they understand ethical requirements ; it is unethical to interfere with the organization of other manufacturers. While workmen may leave of their own accord, it is unethical f or one manufacturer to offer special inducements to secure an employe of another factory. When a man is efficient he is given advantages, and floaters are not sought at all. The Manufacturers' Association of Springfield does not hold open meetings, and in its effort to stabilize labor it has been interpreted wrong sometimes ; each man sees the business from a different angle, and the meetings are for mutual benefit just as the Springfield Purchasing Agents or any similar organization meets in council. The Manufacturers' Association has its legal advisor who sits in the meetings. The consensus of opinion is : "Spring- 252 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY field is in the front rank of cities ; business and industry are on a sound basis, and are gaining every month." Most Springfield industries have been operated by local capital—"born and raised" in Springfield—showing that the greatest development has been from within, which is of permanent nature. "With this agricultural implement interest as a basis, there have developed here many other important industries," and the labor question partially solves itself when similar industries assemble in a community. When a man leaves one factory, there are others that afford similar employment. The same thing holds true in the printing industry ; by assembling many publications, the Crowell Publishing Company is able to hold skilled labor in Springfield. One local enthusiast says : "I believe Springfield is more universally known than any other American town." There has always been cooperation ; every traveling salesman sent out by one factory has been told to put in a word of recommendation for the goods made by other factories ; every dealer who came to town was taken round to the other shops. Springfield is the best 60,000 city in the United States. CHAPTER XXIX THE OPEN DOOR—THE TAVERN, THE HOTEL An old account says : "Speaking of taverns on the old National Road west of Zanesville, but one tavern was opened in the first decade of this century. Griffith Foos' tavern at Springfield, which was doing business in 1801, prospered until 1814," and the fact develops that when Mr. Foos happened along in March that year, he found a guest in the James Demint cabin. Mr. Demint was a host rather than a landlord, his guest being Col. John Daugherty of Kentucky. He was a Kentuckian and Mr. Foos was a Kentuckian. The three Kentuckians were sheltered there till June when Mr. Foos had a cabin ready to open as a hostelry, going back to Franklinton along the Scioto for his family. He was the first landlord in Springfield. In 1803, Archibald Lowry opened a two-story, hewed log hostelry in Springfield, dividing the patronage with Mr. Foos. While James Demint did not entertain as a means of subsistence, his was an open door in the community and it is said of the tavern keepers of that period, that they were not in business for profit so much as they were community builders. They maintained an open door for prospective settlers, and when the days of the stage coach along the National Road were numbered, the landlord of the past thought he saw an end to the public hostelry. He did not realize that the railroad traffic would greatly increase his opportunities. Every home was an open door in pioneer days, and S. S. Miller tells of a dinner guest who said : "Tank ee, ma'am, my dinner," to his mother when he was leaving, and the children repeated the courtesy among themselves many times. The life along the National Road was very different from that in other counties, there being a continuous stream of people migrating along it ; some of the old taverns are intact, as Buena Vista east from Springfield. In Springfield and in some of the other towns are some of those old wayside places, and only a few years ago others were razed in making way for modern improvements. These taverns were scattered along the way only a few miles apart, and many travelers stopped within the wagon yards who slept in their own shelter, sometimes in the open air along with their weary horses. In winter time the men slept on the floors of the wagon houses ; in summer they carried their own cooking utensils, and in the suburbs of the towns along the road, they would pull their teams out into the roadside and pitch camp, sending into the villages to replenish their stores. Almost every mile of the road's length those wagon houses offered hospitality, and there is mention of a number within the borders of Clark County. Hundreds of people were engaged in freight traffic along the National Road, and in these houses were fireplaces bef ore which they could lay their blankets on winter nights ; there was less of privacy than is demanded by travelers today. Travelers liked the taverns at the outskirts of the larger towns because the rates were lower, and the surroundings were more congenial, especially to the covered wagon type of movers seeking the frontier. These houses were unpretentious frame buildings with watering troughs and barns for the horses ; a hundred tired horses - 253 - 254 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY have been heard munching their corn in a single wagon house yard at the end of a long day. A century later the horse is almost unknown along the National Road. The bar and the fireplace were fixtures, and one account says many of the fireplaces were seven feet in length and nearly as high, with capacity for a wagon load of wood; with a great fireplace at the end of the room lighting up its darkest corners as no candle could, the taverns along the National Road where the stages stopped for the night saw merrier scenes than any of their modern counterparts witness ; and over all their merry gatherings the flames of the great fires threw a softened light, in which those who remember them best seem to bask as they tell about it, and farther east there was much gayety among the city folk who went for a social evening to those wayside taverns. THE TYPE OF LANDLORD The old Revolutionary soldiers who so frequently became landlords in New England, did not keep tavern in the West ; only one Revolutionary veteran was landlord along the National Road. It bred and brought up its own landlords who were fit to rule in the early taverns, securing from forest and stream much of the food served to those pioneer travelers over the rough highway ; it was many years bef ore the road bed was what it is today. It was this type of landlord that objected to improving the National Road, fearing that an accelerated means of locomotion would cheat them out of their business, and in time the landlords along the improved roadway had the same general apathy relative to railway transportation—it would deprive them of their means of livelihood. Taverns were always meeting places for the public, and this was particularly true in the West ; the public house was the only place available that would accommodate a meeting. While the Eastern landlord was frequently busy with official duties, the Western landlord engaged in collateral professions which rendered SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 255 him valuable in the community ; the jovial host at the National Road tavern often worked the farm on which his tavern stood ; some of the landlords farther East owned slaves which carried on the work at both the tavern and the farm ; the Western tavern keeper often operated a country store in which he had a bar, selling "strong waters to relieve the inhabitants." Whisky—two drinks for a "fippenny bit," was the "strong water." In this way the National Road bred its own landlords, young men whose lives began simultaneously with that of the road worked upon it in their teens ; in middle life they became teamsters and contractors, and they spent the autumn of their lives as landlords of its taverns, which they purchased with the money earned in working upon it; several well known landlords were prominent contractors, owning their share of the great six and eight-horse teams which hauled freight to the Western rivers. S. S. Miller tells of a meeting in the town hall of New Carlisle in 1848, when a man who owned a farm east of Forgy was seeking an appropriation to complete the road, but by that time the railroad was changing conditions in Clark County ; the grading stopped at the west line of Springfield Township, and recent complaints have been made about that stretch in the National highway. When Clark County local government was established, January 1, 1818, there were three hotels in Springfield : Ludlow, Ross and Norton, and like all other tavern keepers they catered to movers ; they had big sheds and barns and were prepared to care for wagons and teams, many families enroute spending the night in wagons as a matter of economy. As tavern keepers along the National Road outside of Springfield are mentioned the following : Gabriel Cox, John Rudy, Emanuel Mayne and Isaac Chamberlin. In 1835 the Buckeye House was opened in Springfield with a man named Hadley as landlord ; it was built by Pierson Spinning, who was one of the guarantors of the National Road, as an investment, and in 1837, after losing his fortune, Mr. Spinning operated the tavern himself. THE PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE Among the best known taverns along the National Road was the Pennsylvania House which stood about one mile west from the center of Springfield ; it was among the early hostelries. The westward emigration from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia drifted to the Pennsylvania House ; all who traveled by turnpike heard of it, and in time stopped in it. The name of the wayside inn was well chosen ; when Pennsylvania emigrants saw the friendly sign it was irresistible to them. It warmed their hearts, and one of them exclaimed : "The word Pennsylvania is music to our ears ; it is a fresh reminder of `Home, Sweet Home,' " and it was for the entertainment of 'man and beast. It was surrounded by large trees with only enough cut away to allow the immense architectural structure to rear itself ; there was ample yard for the accommodation of wagons and teams. The sign, "Pennsylvania House," was hung on an oak with the top cut off. and when the tree decayed the sign was placed on the house. There was a long porch in front of the Pennsylvania House, and David Snively was the landlord ; near it was the Traveler' Rest, kept by Samuel Shuman, and Sugar Grove, kept by Daniel Leffel. There were hazel thickets interspersing spots of cleared land, and there was a field 256 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY used for muster and it had a race track in it. While there were taverns on either side of Springfield, William Werden who operated the National in the down town district was said to be the most popular landlord in Ohio. When emigrants were passing along the National Road the Pennsylvania House with its barnyard filled with white canvas-covered wagons, laden with all kinds of household goods : washboilers, copper kettles and feed troughs on behind, always attracted them. The wagon trains and the sign, "Pike's Peak or Bust," would interest and amuse the young people of today ; the human part of the caravansary consisted of grandfathers and grandmothers ; men and women of middle age, and children of all ages—babes at the breast, and notwithstanding the chilly nights they slept in the wagons ; they were used to it. In every company were some who sat by the warm fires in the taverns, and told stories of the old homes, and of their hopes and fears for the future. When an emigrant said he had left a good neighborhood farther east, but his growing family needed more elbow room, the landlord assured him he would find good people where he was going; when he told of leaving a community because of the neighbors, the landlord said he would find just as bad people in the new country. "He who is a good neighbor has a good neighbor," and thus it was an ever-shifting panorama unfolded before the eyes of the tavern keeper of the long ago. In one company of emigrants seeking shelter at the Pennsylvania House was John Morgan of Franklin County, Pennsylvania ; he was 100 years old, and his wife was ninety-five ; their friends carried rocking chairs along and made them comfortable in the wagon. They liked it better than the uncertain tavern accommodations ; they went to Centerville, Indiana, where both died f our years later. Because of their age, Landlord Snively offered them rooms at the Pennsylvania House. The well loaded six-horse schooner shaped wagons with jingling bells on the harness were frequently sheltered in this wagon yard. When Daniel Leffel had the Sugar Grove hostelry in the vicinity of the Masonic Home at the west edge of Springfield, it is said that he sold whisky and made the traveling public welcome. While Sugar Grove had its place in National Road history, along in the time of whig party activities, Mr. Leffel changed the name of his hostelry. When whig political meetings were common a delegation wagon was fitted up in a neighboring county, an eccentric whig not versed in the rules of orthography inscribing a banner 011 Korrekt, and it attracted so much attention that Mr. Leffel recognized his opportunity. While "011 Korrekt" was on every tongue, he utilized the initials O. K. on a sign, changing the name of his hostelry. The traveling public soon knew the story, and since then O. K. is unlimited, business receiving an official 0. K. without relation to Springfield history. Gen. J. Warren Keifer who related the story said that when the 0. K. sign would grow dim, Landlord Leffel would touch it up with fresh paint, the hostelry remaining open until of ter the railroads came to Springfield. It was torn down some years ago. SPRINGFIELD HOTELS While thirteen hostelries in Springfield today receive transient guests, the official hotel Red Book only lists five : Arcade, Bancroft, Bookwalter, Heaume and Shawneee as first class, and only the Bancroft, Heaume and Shawnee are absolutely fireproof—a consideration in first class hotels. Only SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 257 the Arcade bears the name by which it has always been known in the community. Hotel Imperial occupied the site of the Shawnee, and before it was the Willis House. The St. James Hotel followed the Imperial, and it was razed to give space to the Shawnee. In the name of this hostelry the Indians once so numerous along Mad River are commemorated. The Lagonda House occupied by the Champion Hotel Company is now the Bookwalter. The Palace Hotel is now the Esplanade. The Buckeye is in the vicinity of the old Pennsylvania House, and still carries that designation by some 'of the older people of Springfield. While the landlord and landlady may yet enter into the social life of Springfield, personality does not seem to count for so much in this economic age—service the single requirement. Sometimes the landlord's wife is housekeeper, and looks after the comfort of guests ; sometimes she superintends the kitchen and dining room service. The woman who has trouble with a single servant in a private home, would find little pleasure in managing the hotel retinue ; as to the guests, and making them f eel at home—make them comfortable, and leave them alone. The way a guest may find out who is "boss" is to "start something," and he soon learns all about it ; the landlord and hotel clerks have sufficient opportunity to study human nature. While there is cafeteria competition, the Bancroft and Shawnee hotels maintain dining rooms, while the European plan obtains in other Springfield hostelries. In many communities table d'hote days are relegated to the past, the self-service tea rooms and cafeterias having supplanted the time honored dining rooms ; the waiter and the accompanying tip are thus eliminated, and a homelike atmosphere pervades everything. One need not be accompanied by an escort, and one may talk with others without the formality of an introduction. One may choose his own menu, and no one is to blame but himself. In communities smaller than Springfield, where cafeterias are impractical, one may have table d'hote service and leave as much change for the waiters as his better nature dictates—or he may demand food instead of so much service. There are men and women who remember the tavern bell, whether or not the landlord may operate his dining room at a profit. The old hotels had barrooms, and they still talk about the "pitcher and bowl belt," while Springfield's modern hostelries have all sanitary advantages. The war time cost of living struck the hotels, and one who desires shelter had just as well not argue the question. The average landlord knows the traveling public better than he knows the immediate community ; it is to his advantage to be able to speak the names of guests who come again. When they are among strangers all of the time they like to feel that they have met a friend. Springfield is really a Sunday town with commercial travelers ; in 1892, the city entertained the Ohio State Democratic Convention and it had ample hotel capacity ; since then it has been rated as a convention city. It has entertained many state meetings without over-taxing its capacity. The hotel is for the man away from home, and hotel guests of today would hardly comprehend the situation when the National Road brought all of the travelers to Springfield. Some one writing of that period, says : "The wagoners ate at the table with other guests—travelers, ladies, gentlemen, whatnot, for they were just as good as anybody else, but it was unusual for them to occupy either bed or room in the tavern ; they carried their own beds in the form of mattresses, containing all the clothes necessary for warmth Vol. 1-17 258 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY and, being rolled together and strapped, the roll was placed in front of the wagon, the cover being tightly drawn over it. These rolls of bedding were brought into the tavern in the early evening, but stacked in the corner of the barroom until bedtime, when they were unrolled and straightened out on the floor, the places being chosen by pre-emption, "first come first served," and from supper till bedtime, these barrooms were the scenes of frolics. At least the manifestations are different if the pleasures are unchanged, and today hotel managers are again considering the question of how to reach more of the travelers over the National Road ; while railway transportation took them off of it for a good many years, the automobile has brought them back to it. While a hotel's best advertisement is the service rendered its guests, Springfield hotels resort to signs along the highways ; so many pass through en route across the country, and the name along the highway is their first knowledge of the open door awaiting them. How to reach the automobile travel is a matter of concern to landlords everywhere, and automobile tourist camps are being established in many parts of the country. There is one on either side of Springfield, and while the average stay in camp is one night, sometimes people linger a few days enjoying the trips into Springfield. Dr. and Mrs. H. F. Beer opened the camp east from Springfield, and it is provided with water and lighted with electricity ; it is a convenient camp for cross-country travelers. There is a store on the site where travelers obtain supplies, and the profits take care of the expense ; campers do not pay for the privilege only through their patronage of the store. Sometimes in the summer the camp is not large enough to accommodate the tourists, their automobiles being lined up outside along the road. There are camp guests from every state in the Union, and it is a fine advertisement for Springfield. The camp guests sometimes attend Springfield theaters, returning there for the night ; some of them have bungalow trailers, while others accommodate themselves to the close quarters of the automobile. The National Road has come into its own again, as an artery of cross-country transportation. THE OUTSTANDING LANDLORD It was in 1819 that William Werden who became Springfield's best known landlord came into the community ; in his day he welcomed many strangers. Mr. Werden was a native of Delaware. While he had two or three stands before he was permanently located, his sign in front of the National was a stage coach and horses in full speed, and travelers never missed it. It was suspended from a post at the outer edge of the walk, and passersby could not fail to see it. People who remember Mr. Werden also remember his unique sign—his appeal to National Road travelers, and here is the suggestion—Springfield landlords desiring to attract automobile tourists, should utilize the automobile as he did the stage coach and horses. However, nothing is more picturesque than the horse painted on a sign. The office and the barroom in the National Hotel was about twenty feet square, and here travelers mingled ; the entire hostelry was not larger than a house required today by an ordinary family. Some one said : "Werden's tavern was the stopping place for a line of stages, and it was the favorite hotel in all this region of country. When a weary traveler stopped at his door, Mr. Werden was the first to meet him and conduct SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 259 him into the house ; his muddy leggings and boots were removed by a servant, and clean slippers were supplied him. Cleanliness was observed and there was no doubt of the welcome." The frequent attentions of the polite host, and the warm glow of the fire caused the stranger to feel at home. Bountiful meals were prepared under the direction of Mrs. Werden ; there were clean beds and a good night's rest, and why would not travelers come again ? While serving the public as a stage coach landlord, Mr. Werden accumulated sufficient funds to live in retirement, although under President Andrew Jackson he was postmaster in Springfield. In his South Charleston booklet, Albert Reeder says that the old Willis tavern sheltered Tom Corwin and Henry Clay when they were en route to Columbus to lobby before the Ohio legislature ; it was built of rough logs, and in it was one room prepared for lodging prisoners. This room was a veritable jail inasmuch as the doors were bolted and the windows were barred, and many culprits were confined there when being taken to Columbus ; when the roads were muddy these taverns were welcome landmarks to the wayfarer. There was much ado about distinguished visitors in the days of the primitive tavern keepers ; as long ago as July 24, 1830, the man who "would rather be right than be president,' Henry Clay, was dinner guest at Hotel Hunt in Springfield ; it was on a Saturday, and a delegation of Springfield citizens met him six miles out on the Yellow Springs road and escorted him into town. The reception committees in charge of events today may receive an inspiration from that first Springfield delegation doing the honors for Mr. Clay. There were citizens on horseback, and there is no mention of his mode of travel. However, when he had finished his dinner he made a speech, leaving soon after by stage for Columbus ; it seems that he usually went by South Charleston. On June 12, 1833, Daniel Webster had dinner in Springfield, en route by stage to Cincinnati, and on November 6, 1843, John Quincy Adams, covering the same route, was a dinner guest in Springfield. He was three years in advance of the first railroad train, when distinguished citizens more frequently traveled about the country. In 1852, Louis Kossuth, the great Hungarian patriot, was a guest at the Buckeye House, and he made a speech from the porch to the crowd flocking about to see him. In 1852, Gen. Winfield Scott who was the whig candidate for the United States presidency stopped in Springfield, the guest of Mrs. Drum, widow of a captain who was killed while the Americans were taking the City of Monterey, Mexico. His remains lie buried in Greenmount ; it was a military funeral, and attracted many visitors to Springfield. When Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton) visited South Charleston, the tavern keeper carried him on his hand from the stage. South Charleston had many distinguished visitors, since it was on the stage line direct between Columbus and Cincinnati ; for years Dan Johnson had a black bear chained in front of his tavern, and while it was regarded as a pet, the guests were never intimate with it. Smith's tavern, Armstrong's tavern, Shockley's tavern, Miami House were open doors, and the Funston Tavern in New Carlisle—the birthplace of Gen. Frederick Funston is still a landmark there. American or European plan, the traveler is still accommodated who sojourns temporarily in Clark County : "Springfield has no natural boundary limitations," and railway trains and automobiles bring the world to Springfield. CHAPTER XXX CLARK COUNTY OFFICIAL ROSTER—ITS COURT It has been said that civilization is a product of government ; it is the result of man's success in raising himself above the level of the beast ; an increased knowledge of the general plan, and of the details of the system under which Ohio is governed, cannot fail to develop in its citizenry a wholesome respect for its government. The history of Clark County is the history of a manhood and womanhood that, from the days of the first log cabins along Mad River and Buck Creek, have had no superiors ; it is a group of most accommodating officials that is found in the county building, and in Memorial Hall used temporarily for the sessions of the court while the Clark County courthouse is in the hands of the building committee. Since February 26, 1918, the temple of justice had been in ruins until the closing days of 1921, when workmen were restoring the edifice to usefulness. The high price of building material explains why it was a wreck so long. The existence of the Clark County Memorial hall enabled the county board of commissioners to delay their rebuilding program, although it did not prevent inquiry and criticism. The military square elsewhere explained as planned by James Demint for the county buildings has thus been occupied ; the Clark County soldiers' monument graces one of the corners, while the Historical Society occupies the building opposite the present county building, leaving the other corner to the courthouse and the jail adjoining. The building had been in ruins three years when reconstruction was begun, and a news item reads : "The ruins were appropriated by large flocks of pigeons ; now that workmen are moving about the building, they have measureably disappeared," and it seems that the public is not taken into the confidence of the contractors doing the work of repair, one comment being: "At the rate at which the new courthouse construction is progressing, it will take a half century to complete it," and that is another instance of history repeating itself. The first Clark County courthouse was a long time in process .bef ore the county had the use of it. When Champaign County was set off from Green County in 1805, Springfield was temporarily the county seat and the following year a session of court was held ; it is understood that it assembled in the home of George Fythian who lived on the square designed for county use, and Robert Renick was tried for killing an Indian ; he borrowed the gun from the Indian and took advantage of him ; the community was divided in its sympathy, but jurists still recognize that state of affairs. It was a treacherous Indian, and Renick outwitted him ; he had lived among the Indians and knew their methods of warfare. The settlers had suffered extreme cruelties at the hands of the Indians, and there was prejudice against them. Renick was associated in business with James Demint. The next session of court was in Urbana, and none was held in Springfield again until after the organization of Clark County ; while the Ohio Assembly recognized Clark County, December 25, 1817, and local government was established January 1, 1818, for the first four - 261 - 262 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY years court was held in the John Hunt tavern. On March 2, 1819, the Clark County commissioners met and gave public notice that on March 22 they would receive proposals and establish the site of the courthouse ; however, no action was taken until April 12, when a written proposition was filed by Maddux Fisher and others, requesting them to build a courthouse on this military square in the Demint plat ; they pledged themselves to pay $2,215 toward it. Mr. Fisher had already devoted much time in lobbying before the Ohio Assembly in the interests of Clark County ; the sessions were then held in Chillicothe. This military square as seen in Springfield and neighboring towns was designed for palisade purposes, when the Indians were still a menace, and while in other towns it remains an open square, Clark County utilized it by locating the county buildings on it. Col. John Daugherty, who assisted James Demint in the original survey of Springfield, was authorized to locate the point of intersection at the corner of Limestone and Columbia streets, and measuring from the center he located the courthouse on the northwest quarter-square ; it has since been supplemented by office buildings on two of the other corners. one corner utilized by the location of the soldiers' monument—the tribute planted there by Clark County. While a number of Clark County citizens subscribed to the fund for building the first courthouse, Maddux Fisher paid $300 toward it, and the commissioners adopted the plans submitted by him. He was employed as building superintendent with John Ambler acting with him ; he expected this courthouse to last always ; the brick were furnished by Jesse Temple whose kiln was in the east part of the town, and the walls were grouted with liquid mortar ; when the walls and roof were completed, there were no more funds and the building stood for two years. When an appropriation of $3,972 was made finally, some thought it bankrupted the county. In the early history of Springfield this public square and vicinity was designated as Sleepy Hollow, because the trend of business was away from it. While Maddux Fisher was a Springfield business man, and there is a Fisher Street commemorating him, he may be justly designated as the father of Clark County ; he secured its organization and donated toward its improvement ; he gave his time and his money. He was interested in the Sleepy Hollow community, and in 1825 he built a residence property on North Limestone Street ; it had high ceilings, and was the most pretentious mansion in Springfield. Mr. Fisher was a Methodist, and his home was open to the itinerant preacher ; he was generous in his hospitality. While he was of medium height he was not corpulent ; he had dark skin, dark eyes and dark, glossy hair, and he dressed in the straight-breasted black broadcloth worn by men of affairs in his day ; after the strictest sect he was a Methodist. Mr. Fisher's polished silver headed cane was his constant companion ; he carried a silver snuff box in his vest pocket, and used it frequently ; while he had a Southern accent, he was a good conversationalist. Mr. Fisher was born in Delaware, but lived in Kentucky before coming to Springfield. The man who really placed Clark County on the map of Ohio died October 26, 1836, aged sixty-five years. The name of Maddux Fisher is inseparable from the history of Springfield and Clark County. He was a man with initiative and backed his efforts with his money. While Sleepy Hollow had the promise of the courthouse, it would mean little to Clark County without a jail ; why sentence a man to 264 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY imprisonment with no place to incarcerate him, and Old Virginny—the part of Springfield west from Mill Run, guaranteed the expense of building it in order to secure it, and it was located between Main and Columbia on Fisher Street. It was sixteen feet square, built of logs and the people west of Mill Run paid for it. The jail was in advance of the courthouse, being finished in 1818 while court was held in the Hunt cavern ; the first jailer was Abraham B. Mereness, and he chained a black bear near by to intimidate the lawless people in Springfield. When a Negro named Jackson was imprisoned, he tore the door off of this jail and cast it into Mill Run, now an enclosed stream in that vicinity. He did not manifest much respect for the bastile in Old Virginny. The black bear did not influence him in the first jail delivery. The second jail was built on the quarter-square now occupied by the soldiers' monument ; it was made of oak timbers hewed square, and the logs were bolted ; it was all wooden and there were several thicknesses of the floor, the ceilings not quite so thick ; it was two-story and enclosed in brick veneer with an extension later to accommodate county offices, and it was used until 1869, when the spot was dedicated to the purpose of a soldiers' monument. In 1850, the third jail was begun on the site of the Federal Building on Spring and High streets ; it was of stone and brick, the labor performed by the day with the county commissioners watching the progress as building inspectors ; it was completed in 1852, and was pulled down in 1880, the material being used again in the present jail structure adjoining the courthouse on the northwest quarter-square of the Demint military square designed for the use of Clark County. Like the people confined in it, the jail has been migratory. As a resume of jail history : the first log structure was finished in July, 1818, and in March, 1819, an order on the Clark County treasurer was issued by the county commissioners in favor of Walter Smallwood, James Norton, Henry Rogers and Waitsel Cary for the sum of $80 which they had expended in building the Clark County jail. There is no record that Maddux Fisher and others were reimbursed when they advanced money in building the courthouse. When the second jail was built, the old one was sold at auction, bringing $24, but there is no record of the use that was made of it further than the statement that it was sold to William Wilson. With the door on Mill Run, it was in need of repair. Deliveries have been part of jail history, an attempt being thwarted A. D. 1921, when saws were found in the possession of prisoners. While work on the first Clark County courthouse was begun in 1819, with Maddux Fisher who had its success at heart in charge of the building program, it was not completed for several years ; from 1818 to 1822, court was held in the John Hunt tavern, and while Jesse Temple furnished the brick, it is related that a fifteen-year-old boy who lived with Griffith Foos hauled the sand. On April 17, 1821, the commissioners met to consider plans for completing the courthouse ; the walls and the roof were in readiness. A contract was let to John Dallis to lay the floors and make the windows, and with other inside work the money secured amounted to $1,498 ; for some unknown reason he "dillydallied," and the building was not completed until 1827, but it is a different generation that has figured time against the repair contractors A. D. 1921, a news item reading : "Rumblings of discontent are being heard over the slow progress being made by the Prescott Construction Company SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 265 in the rebuilding of the Clark County courthouse." However, January 1, 1923, is the time limit of the contract, and all the commissioners can do is to protect the county against further expense. The Clark County court history seems to be one expense after another, the amount of $4.50 having been paid Nathan Adamson in 1827, for drawing the plans for a cupola ; it was a piecemeal affair, Charles Stewart building it and receiving $480 for it ; when workmen were razing the present structure, they unearthed part of a metal eagle now in the rooms of the Historical Society which may have adorned this first cupola. When the courthouse was finally enclosed in 1827, through John Ambler the Clark County commissioners granted the privilege to the Presbyterian Society, and other religious organizations, of using the structure, reserving the right to plaster it at any time ; there was still another expense in prospect. A lock was provided, and the key was given to Mr. Ambler as custodian. In 1828, a bell was purchased for the Clark County courthouse, and on Saturday, October 25, it was rung for the first time ; it was the first bell in Springfield. The jailer rang it every morning at 5 o'clock, and again at 9 o'clock in the evening. While curfew is a later story, this courthouse bell was the signal by which many arose and began their daytime activities ; the citizens appreciated it. When the first courthouse was finally completed, it had cost Clark County taxpayers $7,500, and The Western Pioneer, a Springfield newspaper, said : "We have a courthouse which in point of neatness and convenience, will not suffer in comparison with any other courthouse in Ohio." In 1868, the Clark County commissioners erected the east county building supplemental to the courthouse, and the county offices were there until 1904, when they were removed to the west county building ; the Clark County courthouse was never large enough, the second one which is now being remodeled being of the assembly type and not planned for utility purposes ; when it is open again, the interior arrangement will be different. The departments now housed in Memorial Hall, and the Farm Bureau housed in the basement of the Mad River Bank will be restored to the courthouse for shelter. At the time of the fire, February 26, 1918, the improvements on the four quarter-square corners represented an expenditure of $200,000, and at the high cost of building material the repair alone was awarded to the Prescott Construction Company at $214,421.50, the amount being in excess of the original investment. The burned courthouse had become a specter, and the community was on tiptoe awaiting developments. It is remarked that the old saying : "When in Rome do as the Romans," should be controverted—should read, when in Washington do like George, and thus integrity would be preserved, but there is a superfluity of "nuts," in otherwise perfectly good political machinery. While some officers of the law would go through fire in the discharge of their duties, still they are criticized for laxity ; they are condemned when they should be commended, and such treatment hardens them. When the old time town meeting gave way to the march of population, the machinery of democratic government lost something ; group antagonism is one of the problems of civilization, and talking things over face to f ace is a method of preventing discontent ; more often than is realized, history turns on the friendly debate of the question. 266 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY Prior to the 1920 Clark County election when women voted for the first time, the "hard cider" campaign of 1840, stands out in history. Maddux Fisher had something to do with naming the first county officials, and Clark County voters always have exercised their prerogative ; they have conducted some exciting campaigns, but on Thursday, June 18, 1840, the citizens of Springfield and Clark County built a log cabin on Main Street, in honor of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." Meetings had been held and speeches had been made, and since Gen. William Henry Harrison was expected in Springfield that day, between 15,000 and 20,000 people were out to hear him. It was a fine day except for a short rain storm, and "Everywhere and especially on Main Street, 500 flags and banners flapped in the morning breeze ; all was excitement, and the whole scene was greatly enlivened by the inrush of coaches, wagons and horsemen with flying banners from all points of the compass." It was a big day in Springfield ; there were long processions marching, and a table was spread 1,000 feet in length ; food was furnished for all, and at 1 P. M. the crowd journeyed east on the National Road to meet the distinguished visitor. When the general who was candidate for president reached Springfield he heard of the death of his son and injury to a grandson, and immediately began his homeward journey, others supplying his place on the program that afternoon ; in 1921, Gen. J. Warren Keifer formally returned the visit of General Harrison by going to North Bend to address an audience assembled to honor him by unveiling a monument sacred to his memory. At the time General Harrison visited Springfield, a pole was raised in South Charleston, and a keg marked "hard cider" was mounted on top of it ; there was a sign beneath the keg : "To Kinterhook, 500 miles." Martin Van Buren lived in Kinterhook, New York. Springfield has been the storm center in a number of campaigns, but when "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too," was the watch-word, music entered into the campaign plans extensively. Both the Eighteenth and the Nineteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution figured extensively in the 1920 presidental campaign, and Article X in the League of Nations was analyzed in every political gathering ; for the first time the women aroused themselves to the duties and privileges of citizenship ; they were face to face with ballots saying nothing of bullets, and they had their political headquarters with campaign literature adapted to their requirements, their campaign of education was carried on so extensively that there was no way of determining who had cast the discarded ballots. The women demonstrated their efficiency at the polls, even though they left umbrellas and powder puffs in the voting booths. On the threshold of their new life, Clark County women were alert to their opportunity. While handling the ballot had hitherto been regarded as a man's job, and "Votes of Women" placards had always inspired mirth, to the women of Clark County as well as others it was a pleasant reality. Tariff vs. Free Trade was not the campaign issue ; there were free silver republicans and gold standard democrats ; the wets and drys were not limited to any one political party, and why should those 1920 first voters commit themselves? The League of Nations was the political bone of contention, and like their husbands the women were divided on the question ; all of the winds were blowing—pitiless publicity was promised, and in the face of the franchise for women platform orators were at a loss, they had no precedent, and did not know just where SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 267 to place the votes cast by the women. In addressing voters and voteresses, citizens and citizenesses, the spell-binders all stumbled over I, thou, he, she, it, we and they in an effort to befog the issues, and sometimes the "pettyfoggers" succeeded in doing it. It was urged by the femininist that she did not wish to think only along sex lines, and when women entered politics they demanded from "mere men" the same degree of welcome they had been accorded in their research clubs ; the average woman desires true equality ; she is inclined to investigate, and to vote with an understanding ; she wishes to mingle with men—not on a sex basis, but a basis of mentality. The illiteracy reports from the World war aroused the womanhood of the country, and they said they would foster education as well as promote reform legislation. While compulsory education may result from their franchise, the womanly women will retain their womanly graces while exercising the prerogatives of citizenship. Equal suffrage disclosed the fact that in many instances from time out of mind, women had influenced the family vote ; in Clark County some houses were divided, and in some precincts it was simply more ballots without changed results. There had been no precedent, and all was uncertainty ; the ward-heelers did not know where to fortify ; they did not know how many republicans had democratic wives, and one man attending a democratic meeting alone, saying it was not his wife's day, was seldom an isolated example ; while there were few parades in the 1920 campaign, there were many political meetings. Older voters remember the delegation wagons when flag poles and torch light processions made everything spectacular. In 1844 the whigs, who supported Clay and Frelinghuysen, reared a flagstaff 120 feet long at High and Market streets, and in 1888, a similar staff was raised on the Mound at Enon, which was "bored" down the following night because an auger made less noise than a saw ; the women themselves were the "spectacular" feature, and through some influence the use of intoxicating liquor was eliminated, and prohibition may be credited to the American women. There are two sides to every question ; the name of Vallandingham was once heard in Clark County ; there were Knights of the Golden Circle, and there were abolitionists before there were prohibitionists ; law and order has always been in the ascendancy. It is urged by some that government begins in the home ; that it expands to the state and nation, and that finally the church is the controlling influence ; however, in a community where not all of the citizens are identified with the church, there is some question about it. The government of the family, school, state and nation must be vested in some recognized authority, and here is where politics enters into consideration. STATE RECOGNITION Clark County has furnished one governor for the State of Ohio, Gov. Asa S. Bushnell having been elected in 1896, and served four years ; it has furnished the state three supreme judges ; William N. White serving from 1864 to 1881, a period of seventeen years ; Augustus N. Summers from 1904 to 1911, a period of seven years, and since 1911, the incumbent is James G. Johnson. John F. Oglevee was state auditor from 1881 to 1887 ; R. F. Hayward has been sergeant-at-arms in the State Senate, and Thomas L. Calvert has been secretary of the State 268 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY Board of Agriculture; in 1921, T. L. Calvert was elected state assemblyman. In the whirligig of time, and through the Gerrymander system, Clark County has been in the Tenth, Fourth, Eighth, Seventh, Eighth again ; repeated in the Fourth ; a third time in the Eighth Congressional districts, finally remaining in the Eighth District through several different county combinations ; in 1890, the county was in the Tenth again remaining only two years when it was thrown again into the Seventh, and since 1892, Clark County has been in the Seventh District, grouped with Madison, Fayette, Logan, Champaign, Union, Greene, Warren and Clinton-there being nine counties associated in one Congressional District, maintaining a representative has been in the United States Congress ; sometimes the Representative has been a Clark County citizen. It has secured its quota whatever the combination ; in 1835, Samson Mason ; in 1861, Samuel Shellabarger ; in 1877, Gen. J. Warren Keifer ; in 1897, W. L. Weaver ; in 1905, General Keifer again ; in 1911, J. D. Post, and through the Gerrymander it has both gained and lost in the passage of the years. General Keifer reflected honor upon his constituency by being speaker of the House of Representatives when he was in the United States Congress. STATE SENATORS While Clark has had to share senatorial honors with other counties, it has sent the following to the Ohio Assembly in Chillicothe and later in Columbus ; in 1818, George Fithian ; in 1822, James Cooley ; in 1826, John Daugherty ; in 1829, Samson Mason ; in 1831, Abraham R. Colwell ; in 1833, Charles Anthony ; in 1835, John H. James ; in 1841, Alexander Waddel ; in 1848, Harvey Vinal ; in 1852, John D. Burnett ; in 1858, Saul Henkle ; in 1862, S. S. Henkle ; in 1868, Gen. J. Warren Keifer ; in 1874, Alexander Waddel ; in 1880, Thomas J. Pringle ; in 1886, T. J. Pringle ; in 1892, D. W. Rawlings, in 1898, John L. Plummer and in 1904, Orrin F. Hypes. STATE REPRESENTATIVES The Clark County representatives in the Ohio Assembly have been : in 1817, Reuben Wallace ; in 1820, John Daugherty ; in 1823, Samson Mason ; in 1825, James Foley ; in 1826, J. A. Alexander ; in 1829, Charles Anthony ; in 1831, Ira Paige ; in 1833, W. V. H. Cushing ; in 1838, Alexander Waddel ; in 1840, Aquilla Toland and S. M. Wheeler ; in 1842, John M. Gallagher and Isaac Houseman ; in 1846, Samuel B. Williams ; in 1848, Jesse C. Phillips and Henry W. Smith ; in 1849, John D. Burnett ; in 1850, James Rayburn ; in 1852, Samuel Shellabarger ; in 1854, William Goodfellow ; in 1856, John H. Littler ; in 1858, Andrew D. Rogers ; in 1860, John Howell ; in 1862, R. D. Harrison ; in 1866, Henry C. Houston ; in 1868, Perry Stewart ; in 1870, J. K. Mower ; in 1872, Benjamin Neff ; in 1876, J. F. Oglevee ; in 1880, N. M. McConkey and. E. G. Dial ; in 1882, Jahn H. Littler; in 1886, George C. Rawlins ; in 1890, John F. McGrew and D. W. Rawlins ; in 1894, George Elder ; in 1896, Chase Stewart ; in 1898, W. B. Rankin ; in 1902, 0. F. Hypes ; in 1904, Earle Stewart ; in 1906, James Hatfield ; in 1917, T. A. Busbey and in 1921, Charles S. Kay. While some of the sons of Clark County have served their constituency in the halls of state and nation, others have been content SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 269 with local honors ; while the literary world is rife with published books calling themselves "Mirrors" and "Looking Glasses," purporting to be revelations in political and society circles, both in Europe and America, the great danger confronting Clark County is the fact that so many good citizens seem indifferent about voting; while a Law Enforcement League has been organized, it is more important that law-abiding citizens have their part in selecting the officials. While the majority of people read something of the national and international news, when it comes to vital questions at home some are ignorant; they do not know the legal requirements at the hands of those whom they elect to positions of trust and responsibility. However, when it comes to expressing a personal preference at the ballot box, the United States leads the world; the 1920 census indicates a population of 60,886,520 persons who have attained to their majority—are voters ; of these, 31,403,370 are males and 29,483,150 are females, and the lethargy of voters is about the same in different localities. In 1884, when James G. Blaine was a candidate for president, the people of Clark County rallied to an unusual degree, the plug hat brigade marking the campaign, and again in 1896, when voters were journeying to the front porch on Canton, and in 1920 many went to the "front porch" or to "Trail's End" again. Harking back to 1840 again, S. S. Miller tells of the enthusiasm injected into the campaign by residents of New Carlisle who used the slogan : "Keep the ball rolling." It was a wooden ball ten or twelve feet in diameter—a wonderful specimen of the cooper's art, and it attracted much attention when rolled through the streets. In every campaign there is some outstanding feature, and the effort is to arouse all the voters—and voteresses. COUNTY OFFICIAL ROSTER It is understood that the judge and the prosecuting attorney are the terror of evil-doers in any community ; however, the judgeship is regarded as the honorary elective position in county history ; in 1818, when court was held in the Hunt tavern, there were three judges—one chief and two associates ; it is said the grand and petit judges were inherited from English custom, and in the early days the Clark County Circuit Court was served by non-resident Common Pleas judges : Orin Parish, Joseph H. Crane, George W. Holt, Joseph R. Swain, Baldwin Harlan, James M. Smith and Moses Barlow. The Clark County Common Pleas judges in their turn are: in 1845, James L. Torbert ; in 1852, William A. Rogers ; in 1856, William White ; in 1875, James S. Good ; in 1885, Charles R. White ; in 1890, F. M. Hagen ; in 1891, John C. Miller ; in 1901, J. K. Mower ; in 1906, Albert H. Kunkle ; in 1912, F. M. Hagan and in 1914, Frank W. Geiger. COURT OF APPEALS The Clark County Court of Appeals has only been in existence since the 1912 change in the Ohio constitution ; it was organized in 1913, and is one in a group of eleven counties : Franklin, Fayette, Madison, Greene, Clark, Champaign, Miami, Montgomery, Shelby, Darke and Preble, this group of counties being known as the Second Ohio Appellate District, and court is held twice each year in each county. 270 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY All Courts of Appeal are composed of three judges who sit together; they serve six years, one retiring each second year, and senior honors are accorded always to the judge whose term expires soonest. Naturally the more populous counties have more business, but the business of each county is transacted within its own borders. The Court of Appeals is really a continuation of the old Circuit Court except its change of name, and its increased or enlarged jurisdiction. The judges in the Second Ohio Appellate District are: Albert H. Kunkle of Springfield ; H. L. Ferdening of Dayton and James I. Allread of Columbus. PROBATE JUDGES Under the first Constitution of Ohio, 1802, the associate judges of the Court of Common Pleas in each county had jurisdiction in matters of probate, according to Section 5, Article 3, of the Constitution, and only since the adoption of the second constitution have there been Probate judges. Under the Constitution of 1851, a Probate Court was established in each county, according to Section 7, Article 4, and the Clark County incumbents are : in 1852, James S. Halsey ; in 1857, James L. Torbert ; in 1859, John H. Littler ; in 1870, Enoch G. Dial ; in 1876, John C. Miller ; in 1891, William M. Rockel ; in 1897, J. P. Goodwin ; in 1903, F. W. Geiger ; in 1914, George W. Tehan and in 1921, Harry G. Gram. JUVENILE COURT The law provides that the affairs of the Juvenile Court may be administered by the Probate judge, Common Pleas judge or an insolvency judge ; because the Clark County Juvenile Court was instituted by Judge F. W. Geiger while he was Probate judge, when he was elected Common Pleas judge he transferred it from Probate to Common Pleas jurisdiction ; with him it is a missionary service. Judge Geiger is the Ben B. Lindsay of Springfield, and criminal offenders under eighteen years of age are dealt with in separate court, therefore not becoming hardened from association with adult criminals. The Detention Home opened in June, 1908, is operated in connection with the Juvenile Court. Miss Carrie B. Hershey is probation officer, and she deals with youthful Clark County delinquents. The Juvenile Court operates in conjunction with the State Board of Charities, and juvenile records are frequently suppressed in the interests of the future of the offenders. Boys and young men are sentenced to the Boys' Industrial School at Lancaster, and the Mansfield Ref ormatory. Girls are sent to the Industrial School at Delaware and the Woman's Reform School at Marysville. There is an Ohio Council of Child Welfare, and there are many local charities promoting it. The Juvenile Court is a safeguard for youthful offenders. All who are connected with the Detention Home come under civil service regulations. PROSECUTING ATTORNEY While the construction placed upon the statutes seems to be a matter of personal opinion of some particular officer of the law, taken as a whole the Clark County official roster is made up from good, honest citizens. Sometimes the fault is in the law itself, and yet efficiency SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 271 prevails in the administration of local affairs. While the manner of transacting business is not specified in the constitution, some things of an administrative character are implied ; men elected to official position have little difficulty in construing the law governing the conduct of their particular offices ; the Board of Clark County Commissioners is the real governing body, always assuming authority in emergencies. Intimately associated with the judge of the court is the prosecuting attorney ; in order that the judge may hold court he is a necessity. Until 1835, prosecuting attorneys in Ohio were appointed by the state ; since then they are elected by the people, and those who have served in Clark County are: Hiram Bacon, Zepheniah Platt, George W. Jewett, Samson Mason, Charles Anthony and James L. Torbert, all of whom are mentioned in older histories without time limit; in 1848, William White ; in 1854, John S. Hauke ; in 1858, James S. Goode ; in 1862, John C. Miller ; in 1864, Dixon A. Harrison ; in 1868, Thomas J. Pringle ; in 1875, Walter L. Weaver ; in 1877, George C. Rawlins ; in 1881, Walter L. Weaver ; in 1889, Chase Stewart ; in 1895. H. W. Stafford ; in 1901, John B. McGraw ; in 1907, Lawrence Layborn ; in 1913, Charles E. Ballard; in 1917, Thomas E. Hudson and in 1921, Donald Kirkpatrick. CLERK OF THE COURT The clerk of the Clark County court is required to keep the docket, and all proceedings in books provided for such purposes ; in their order of succession, they are : in 1818, John Layton, although the first court records are signed by D. Higgins as deputy, and without chronology are mentioned Thomas Armstrong, Saul S. Henkle and James Halsey ; it seems that when a man had served the county in one capacity, he was always willing to serve it again ; some of the names in the official roster seem stereotyped, recurring in several different relations. When once a man allows himself placed in the "hands of his friends," the habit grows upon him ; he is still willing to serve them. In 1851, Harvey Vinal was elected clerk, and Absalom Mattox served time bef ore 1873, when the clerk was Edward P. Torbert ; in 1881, James H. Rabbitts ; in 1891, D. H. Cushing ; in 1900, J. B. Clingerman ; in 1906, Fred Snyder and in 1917, Mont C. Hambright. In an effort to supply some missing data, Mr. Hambright looked over the old records without results. While he found the signature of D. Higgins, he was unable to find that of Layton. COUNTY SHERIFF The sheriff is the chief executor and peace officer of Clark County ; he is provided with a domicile in connection with the bastile ; his residence and the county jail occupy the lot adjoining the courthouse ; it is his duty to preserve the peace ; to prevent riots, lynching and all violent disorders ; the incumbents of the office are : in 1818, Cyrus Ward ; in 1819, Thomas Fisher ; in 1822, Thomas Armstrong ; in 1824, John Alexander ; in 1826, William Sailor ; in 1830, William Berry ; in 1842, Absalom Mattox ; in 1846, Daniel Raffensverger ; in 1848, Henry Hallenback ; in 1852, Joseph McIntire ; in 1856, John E. Layton ; in 1860, James Fleming ; in 1864, Cyrus Albin ; in 1868, E. G. Coffin ; in 1872, Cornelius Baker ; in 1876, E. G. Coffin ; in 1880, James Foley ; in 1884, William B. Baker; in 1888, A. J. Baker ; in 1892, T. E. Lott ; in 1896, Thomas Shocknessy ; 272 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY in 1900, Floyd Routzahn ; in 1904, William Almony ; in 1908, D. D. Lawrence ; in 1912, Stephen Funderburg; in 1916, James L. Welsh and in 1920, David T. Jones. The migratory history of the county jail has been detailed, but it appears that James Foley who was a county commissioner and later a sheriff was instrumental in locating the jail near the courthouse, and while new jails have been built several times, accommodates thirty-eight prisoners ; it has two cells for women. While the prisoners are allowed the freedom of the corridors in daytime, they are locked in separate cells at night ; one prisoner hanged himself with his suspenders rather than face earthly justice. For fourteen years John Showers, a Negro, has been turnkey at the jail and custodian of all prisoners. In that time Mrs. Showers has been cook for the sheriff's family and for the prisoners. While the family has a private dining room, the meals are served the prisoners on a sliding table which is pushed through the wall, and when the victuals are removed the table is pushed back again. Some improvements are asked at the jail, but with the courthouse repair moving so slowly, there is sentiment against it. The prisoners are utilized in necessary work about the jail. Much of the material used in building the jail was taken from the old prison on the site of the Federal building, which was torn down in 1880, and in 1881, when the courthouse was built, it was used again. Prisoners sometimes dig through the walls, and every precaution is taken to prevent communication with outside friends who supply them with tools. It has been suggested that while the courthouse is being remodeled a prison should be placed on top of it, so that jail deliveries would not be such an easy matter. Improvements are promised, and a shower bath will supplant the bath tub, as a sanitary measure. When a prisoner is admitted a bath is the first thing. When he comes from a home of refinement he does not exactly relish a bath in the tub used by all the others, and the shower would be more satisfactory. COUNTY AUDITOR The Clark County auditor keeps all of the accounts of the county commissioners ; the auditor is the Clark County bookkeeper, and a warrant or order from him is necessary before the county treasurer pays out any funds at all. The auditor prepares the annual tax duplicate from the transfer books. In their turn the Clark County auditors are : in 1818, John Daugherty ; in 1819, David Higgins ; in 1821, William Wilson ; in 1826, James S. Halsey ; in 1836, S. M. Wheeler ; in 1838, Reuben Miller ; in 1856, John Newlove ; in 1871, John Oglevee ; in 1875, Quincy A. Petts ; in 1881, 0. F. Serviss ; in 1891, E. T. Thomas ; in 1893, L. F. Young ; in 1899, A. K. Hahn ; in 1905, James A. Linn ; in 1909, Albert K. Hahn ; in 1915, M. J. Peirce ; in 1919, R. W. McKinney, who resigned in favor of William C. Mills. COUNTY TREASURER The Clark County treasurer receives all taxes paid for the support of the state, county and township ; he is held to a strict account for the safety and proper application of such funds. The incumbents are : in 1818, John Ambler ; in 1828, Cyrus Armstrong ; in 1846, William SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY - 273 Berry ; in 1847, S. B. Williams ; in 1855, William C. Frye ; in 1859, Theodore A. Wick ; in 1863, Thomas R. Norton ; in 1867, T. A. Wick; in 1871, Richard Montjoy ; in 1872, William S. Field ; in 1873, William C. Frye; in 1875, John W. Parsons ; in 1879, W. S. Wilson ; in 1883, J. W. Parsons ; in 1887, George W. Collette ; in 1891, J. J. Goodfellow ; in 1895, J. M. Todd ; in 1899, P. M. Stewart ; in 1905, C. W. Arbogast; in 1909, Ralph B. Miller ; in 1913, Frank A. Crothers ; in 1917, W. C. Trumbo and in 1921, R. A. Goodf ellow. COUNTY RECORDER The Clark County recorder is charged with the safekeeping of all records, deeds, mortgages and other instruments affecting the title to lands ; the incumbents of the office are : in 1818, David Kizer ; in 1825, Saul Henkle ; in 1835, Isaac Hendershott ; in 1842, Isaac Lancy ; in 1847, Saul Henkle ; in 1848, Robert Beach ; in 1853, John H. Thomas ; in 1856, Isaac Hendershott ; in 1862, H. S. Showers ; in 1863, W. S. Miranda ; in 1864, Ashley Bradford ; in 1883, S. A. Todd ; in 1891, M. M. McConkey ; in 1897, Joseph W. Allen ; in 1903, Frank Mills ; in 1909, Rooney W. Jones and J. W. Allen ; in 1911, Grover W. Fleming and in 1913; Fred G. King. COUNTY SURVEYOR The surveyor of Clark County establishes all lines and boundaries ; because of the irregularities of the original surveys, it is a complicated requirement ; he marks corners and records the surveys. The incumbents of the office are : in 1818, William Wilson ; in -1830, Reuben Miller ; in 1836, William A. Rogers ; in 1837, Samuel Harvey (Mr. Harvey was the author of an arithmetic) ; in 1838, John R. Gunn; in 1842, Thomas Kizer; in 1860, J. Douglas Moler ; in 1863, Thomas Kizer ; in 1866, William Brown ; in 1870, J. Douglas Moler ; in 1872, Thomas Kizer ; in 1878, Chandler Robbins ; in 1880, Frank P. Stone ; in 1882, William Sharon; in 1897, S. Van Bird ; in 1911, R. J. Netts ; in 1913, S. Van Bird and in 1917, W. H. Sieverling. COUNTY CORONER The coroner of Clark County is a conservator of the peace ; while the office is usually filled by medical doctors, it is one political preferment that seeks the man. Sometimes coroners are elected who do not qualify, and court bailiffs or other available persons are sworn in temporarily to perform urgent duties. The powers and duties of the coroner are identical with those of the sheriff, when it is necessary to arrest offenders or suppress riots ; under certain conditions the coroner may take charge of the county jail, and arrest and imprison the sheriff himself. However, the prime requisite of the coroner is to hold inquests where deaths result from unnatural causes, or where the cause of death is unknown ; the coroner takes charge of all valuables or money found on the body of such person, disposing of them according to law. The incumbents are : 1818, John Hunt ; in 1828, William Needham ; in 1834, Harvey Vol. I-18 274 - SPRINGFIELD AND CLARK COUNTY Humphreys ; in 1838, John Hunt ; in 1854, Morton Cary ; in 1863, Cyrus Albin ; in 1864, Isaac Kay ; in 1865, James Fleming ; in 1866, Reuben Miller; in 1868, W. B. Hoffman ; in 1870, Oscar F. Bancroft ; in 1872, Biddle Boggs ; in 1874, E. G. Coffin ; in 1876, James Finney ; in 1878, J. L. Coleman ; in 1885, J. M. Bennett ; in 1889, J. G. Webb ; in 1891, J. M. Austin ; in 1895, Henry L. Schaeffer ; in 1899, J. M. Bennett, in 1905, J. D. Thomas ; in 1909, H. H. Austin and in 1921, A. H. Potter. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS While the board of Clark County commissioners is the real governing body, its duties are varied and of much importance to taxpayers ; the board has control of all public property ; it may even sell the courthouse. While all other county officials have their duties outlined by statute, the county commissioners have latitude. They use their own discretion, usually having legal advice when uncertain about things ; the county auditor is ex-officio member of the board, and he keeps a record of its proceedings ; the sheriff preserves order. The original board of Clark County commissioners : John Black, James Foley and Enoch B. Smith assumed the duties in 1818, and upon them devolved the public improvements necessary. While John Heaton became a member of the board of Clark County commissioners in 1820, the records do not indicate the retiring member : in 1826, John Layton and Pierson Spinning ; in 1827, John Whitely ; in 1830, William Werden ; in 1831, Elnathan Cory ; in 1833, Oliver Armstrong ; in 1834, William Holloway ; in 1840, Melyn Baker ; in 1841, Adam Shuey ; in 1842, Robert Turner ; in 1847, William Whitely ; in 1849, William Black and Adam Baker ; in 1851, Ezra D. Baker; in 1852, James F. Whiteman ; in 1856, Samuel S. Sterrett ; in 1857, Daniel 0. Hieskell ; in 1858, D. L. Snyder ; in 1861, L. B. Sprague ; in 1863, David Hayward ; in 1864, E. B. Cassilly ; in 1865, Perry Stewart ; in 1867, William 0. Lamme and Jacob Seitz ; in 1868, William D. Johnson ; in 1870, N. M. McConkey ; in 1872, H. C. Miller ; in 1874, J. H. Blose ; in 1875, George H. Frey ; in 1876, Edward Merritt ; in 1877, Mark Spence and John Scarf ; in 1879, Leon H. Houston ; in 1880, Jonathan S. Kitchen ; in 1881, D. C. Cory ; in 1882, D. W. Rawlings ; in 1884, W. H. Sterrett ; in 1886, C. E. Gillen ; in 1889, R. N. Elder ; in 1890, J. H. Dale ; in 1891, J. B. Trumbo ; in 1895, Milton Cheney ; in 1896, Aaron Spangler ; in 1897, Jacob Hinckle and J. B. Crain ; in 1901, S. S. Twitchell ; in 1903, J. H. Collins ; in 1905, J. E. Lowry and Henry Wright ; in 1906, N. M. Cartmell ; in 1907, J. E. Lowry; in 1911, Frederick Hertzinger, C. E. Grube and F. H. Mills ; in 1913, J. Quincy Smith, Charles 0. Neer and C. F. Stewart ; in 1917, H. S. Mellinger; in 1921, James L. Welsh and Frank E. Funderburg. (Commissioners who died in office : Mark Spence, Aaron Spangler and J. H. Collins.) COUNTY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT The office of county school superintendent was created by Act of the Ohio Assembly in revising the school code, and August 1, 1914, it became effective ; the requirements are that the superintendent act as clerk of the board of education ; have charge of the public schools ;