Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/230

 170 HISTOKY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI half miles north of the present site of Perry- ville. The judges of the court were: Louis Cissell, D. L. Caldwell and Samuel Anderson. The first elerk of the court was Cornelius N. Slattery. The county was divided into tliree townships: Brazeau, including the territory between the Cinque Homme and Apple Creek ; Bnis Brule, in the northeast part of the comity, and Cinciue Homme, which included the remainder of the coiuity. Robert T. Brown was the first sheriff, and Joseph Tucker was the first assessor. Commissioners were appointed to locate the seat of justice, and they selected the present site of Perryville. Provision for the building of a court house was not made until 1825. Up to this time the courts met in rooms which were rented for the purpose, though a log jail had previously been erected. The second court house was erected in 185!). The court appropriated $8,000 for the build- ing and John E. Lay ton was appointed as superintendent of construction. This court house still stands and is in a fair state of preservation. A jail was erected about 1825 ; it was built of logs. This jail was used imtil 1839, when it was superseded by a brick build- ing 32 feet long and 22 feet wide, which was put upon the public square near the court house. Judge Thomas organized the circuit court of Perry coimty June 4, 1821. There seems to have been but little business transacted by this court for a number of years. The first ease of importance was the trial of Ezekiel Fenwiek for the killing of William R. Bel- lamy; this was March 29, 1824. The circum- stances imder which Bellamy was killed are said to have been about these : Bellamy, who was a constable, had attempted to attach goods belonging to Penwick^ but found the goods on a boat about to be removed across the Mississippi river. Fenwiek resisted the constable's efforts to tie the boat up. A strug- gle ensued between the two men and during an exchange of shots Bellamy was woimded in the arm ; the wound finally resulted in his death. P^'enwick escaped to Cape Girardeau eoiuity, but afterwards surrendered himself on a promise made by Judge Thomas that he would be admitted to bail. It was this prom- ise of Judge Thomas that formed one of the charges in the impeachment case against him. Fenwiek was afterward tried and acquitted. This was the last of the counties organized before the admission of the state into the Union. The coimty was formed after the organization of the state government, but before the proclamation of the President ad- mitting the state into the Union. After the transfer to the United States in 1804 there was very little trouble with the Indians until just before the breaking out of the war of 1812 with Great Britain. About 1811 the British agents in the north and west began to stir up the Indians and induce them to commit depredations on the western and northern frontier. This brought the Indians upon the inhabitants of Missouri in the dis- trict of St. Charles. Every effort was made to induce the Indians to give up their raids and in May, 1812, an assembly of the chiefs of a large number of tribes was held at St. Louis. Later these chiefs visited "Washington and endeavors were made to pacify them. Tecumseh's intiuenee was too strong over them and many of the Indians, including the Sacs, Foxes, lowas, Sioux and some of the Shawnees, decided to go on the warpath. Most of the Shawnees and the Delawares were either neutral or assisted the settlers in Mis- souri. This determination of the Indians caused a very great increase in outrages and