Taylor County, Iowa 1881 History: pp432

TAYLOR COUNTY COURTHOUSE

(Page 432)

June, 1863:

The chairman of committee on public buildings offered the following:

Resolved, First, that the clerk be authorized to let a contract to build a court-house according to the plan accompanying this resolution; on Thursday, the 11th day of June, 1863, at 4 o'clock p.m., of said day, at the door of the clerk's office, in Bedford, to the lowest responsible bidder:

Provided, First, that the cost does not exceed $2,000;

Second, That the contractor give a bond for $5,000, with at least five sureties for the fulfillment of the contract, to be approved by the clerk and the chairman of the committee on public buildings;

Third, To be built under the supervision of the chairman of the committee on public buildings, and in his absence or inability the clerk is to have supervision of the same:

Fourth, To be paid for as follows: $400 when the first story is up; $400 when roofed, and $600 when finished, and the balance in eight months, with 6 per cent interest.

The resolution was adopted by the following vote: Yeas - Cobb, of Benton, Cobb, of Ross, J. Litteen; O. Jenks, Jesse Orine, John King, John McLean, Jas. Gartside, J. B. Campbell and D. W. Hamblin. Nays - Wm. Merideth and Vincent Beall.

Here then was a proposition to build a court-house suited to the needs of the county, with proper offices, and court chamber, for a sum of money less than could profitably be expended on a single vault and insure its being proof against burglars and fire! And this action was taken only eighteen years ago when the necessities of the county required a building of at least decent capacity. To any person viewing the building, the thought invariably comes, how foolish! Further records than the above none exist. How was the building paid for? Elsewhere is given an account of the sale of some of the best land the county possessed for almost nothing, and the proceeds of that sale are supposed to have built the house, but somehow this supposition does not explain the draft upon the county treasury for certain sums to pay the contractor, and somewhere there is something that needs a little explanation. The court house was built. The building is of stone, quarried near the city of Bedford; is nearly square, and two stories in height. The lower floor is devoted to the various county officials, such of them as can be there accommodated, all not finding room in the building. The second and upper story is used as a court-room; in that narrow and usually crowded box-like apartment the various attorneys for the past eighteen years have endeavored to persuade juries that all other attorneys save themselves are ignorant of the law. All the years that have intervened since the day the first court was held in the building have witnessed many trials of human skill and ingenuity, technically called law, but never (page 433) properly justice. Fortunes have been lost, liberty taken away or restored, petty injuries righted, and sometimes - must it be said? - great wrongs have been perpetrated. But here, too, have infamous wrongs been righted and villianous projects defeated. Here have been tried cases that cover all the range of legal sin from petty larceny to murder. Legally the old court-house is the historic ground, and the wrongs it has righted in the past are but a little of what remains, perhaps, to the future. Could the walls of the jury-room speak what has been uttered within them, the legal fraternity would, no doubt, be astonished at the legal acumen which has often been displayed. And, too, they would tell of arguments that almost came to blows before the "twelve intelligent gentlemen of the jury" were able to decide the rights of the litigants; but should these associations hold the building sacred against a needed replacement? Should the time-honored but false "it's good enough" longer withhold the county from providing a place of justice which the facts imperatively demand? The question must be decided on its merits, and decided ere many more years shall roll their slow length away. It is an unfortunate circumstance that petty rivalries between various towns should be allowed to influence a matter of so much moment to the general public; and until this matter is decisively ended by, in some way, quieting the disturbance relative to the county seat, no suitable building will ever be erected.