PRESENT COUNTY SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

Under the law the county board of education consists of the county superintendent of schools, who is its head; the presidents of the city and town boards, and the township trustees. Since the abolition of the examinership in 1873 the superintendents have been as follows: A. S. Zook, David Mowry, Piebe Swart, S. F. Spohn, Geo. W. Ellis, A. E. Weaver. Mr. Zook served one year and then resigned; Mr. Ellis served for eighteen years and was suc

ceeded by Mr. Weaver in June, 1907. The term at first was two years, but later was changed to four years.

In 1915-16 the presidents of the city and town boards were as follows: E. G. Crone, Elkhart; Milton Wysong, Goshen ; Dr. W. A. Price, Nappanee; Dr. A. S. Sensenich, Wakarusa, and Dr. B. F. Teters, Middlebury.

The trustees of the sixteen townships are: Herschel P. Dodge, Baugo Township (P. O., Elkhart); James A. Brown, Benton (Ligonier); W. L. Chamberlain, Concord (Elkhart), secretary of the board; W. F. Stiver, Clinton (Goshen); D. W. Neu, Cleveland (Elkhart); Robert E. Chatten, Elkhart (Goshen); Noah Dausman, Harrison (Goshen); Israel Immel, Jackson (New Paris); John E.

Logan, Jefferson (Goshen); C. W. Johnson, Locke (Nappanee); D. S. Blough, Middlebury (Middlebury); Jeremiah Bechtel, Olive (Wakarusa); Fred E. Wilson, Osolo (Elkhart); Henry Mishler, Union (Nappanee); H. W. Kantz, Washington (Bristol); Frank Calvin, York (Vistula).

PRESENT STATUS OF SCHOOLS

A general idea of the condition of the county schools may be obtained through the figures compiled by A. E. Weaver, the county superintendent, which exhibit the following items: Number of commissioned schools, 9; number of non-commissioned schools, I; number of township teachers, 122; number of town teachers, 35; number of city teachers, 152; number of teachers in county, 309; total cost of education in county, $379,419.02.

The qualifications of all the teachers have been of an improved kind since 1907. In that year a law was passed which has had this effect. All our teachers began teaching before the fall of 1908 or else are graduates of high schools and have had from twelve weeks to three years of normal work, or a year or more of college work.

The vocational education law, passed in 1913, has brought about a decided change in the results that schools are striving for. This law requires the teaching of agriculture and domestic science in the seventh and eighth grades of all rural schools, and domestic science and industrial arts or agriculture in the town schools. The plan is not to reduce the amount of academic work required in the past, but rather to supplement it with the prevocational studies. In exceptional cases, however, substitutions are allowed.

The state board of education is increasing the efficiency of the teachers by additional requirement in regard to training, and will ask the next state legislature to pass needed laws to assist them in reaching the goal of greater efficiency.

CHAPTER VII

THE BENCH AND BAR

THE TERRITORIAL COURTS-FEDERAL JUDGE PARKE REBELS Against TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION-CIRCUIT COURT ESTABLISHED UNDER THE STATE-COURTS OF COMMON PLEAS-COURT OF APPEALS ESTABLISHED REVISIONS OF THE LAWS-JUDGE AND JURY IN CRIMINAL CASES-PERSONAL SOURCES OF LOCAL INFORMATION-FIRST MEETING OF THE CIRCUIT COURT-THE COUNTY CLERK AND THE THOMAS FAMILY-BEFORE JUSTICE HAD A HOME COUNTY COURTS AND JUDGES IN THE '40S JUDGE EBENEZER M. CHAMBERLAIN-JUDGE HENRY D. WILSON— JUDGES JOHN H. AND FRANCIS E. BAKER JUDGE JOSEPH D. FERRALL JUDGE JAMES S. DODGE-JUDGE JAMES S. DRAKE— CHARLES W. MILLER-AARON S. ZOOK-WILLIAM J. DAVISLOU W. VAIL-ELMER E. MUMMERT-ANTHONY AND BENJAMIN F. DEAHL-E. A. DAUSMAN-ELKHART SOLDIERS AND LAWYERS-VETERAN GEORGE T. BARNEY-JUDGE JOSEPH D. ARNOLD WILLIAM B. HILE-LOUIS A. DENNERT-YOUNGER LAWYERS OF PROMISE-THE ELKHART COUNTY BAR ASsoCIATION.

The judicial system through which justice is administered in Elkhart County has been created by legislative enactment of the Indiana commonwealth, although before its territory became a part of the American domain it was legally subject to the laws both of France and England. Such jurisdiction, when the country was Old World property, had no effect upon its people, their customs or their institutions, for the very logical reason that there were no settled white populations to be affected. As settlers did not commence to arrive until about 1827, the first courts to actually have

jurisdiction over the affairs of its people were constituted by virtue of the State Constitution of 1816.

THE TERRITORIAL COURTS

It is of historic interest, however, to briefly trace the connection between the territorial courts and those created by the state. Under the Ordinance of 1787 the governor and judges of the Northwest Territory were authorized to adapt existing laws of the original states to the new domain. But when the three judges met at Marietta, Ohio, they tried their hands and heads at original lawmaking, against the advice of Governor St. Clair. The latter ignored the Marietta code as illegal, and in 1795 the governor and judges met at Cincinnati and promulgated a number of adapted laws, as authorized by the ordinance. In 1799, however, the Territorial Legislature adopted the laws devised at Marietta, and in 1800 Indiana Territory was created, with Gen. William Henry Harrison as governor. But the laws that had been enacted at Cincinnati were in force in the new territory until they were superseded by others adopted by its special court.

William Clark, Henry Vanderburgh and John Griffin were appointed judges of Indiana Territory. What follows, in explanation of the main lines along which the courts have been developed to the present, is from William Henry Smith's well known "History of Indiana," to which the author is much indebted. The governor and territorial judges met in Vincennes, in January, 1801, and passed ten laws on various subjects, one of which was to establish courts of general quarter sessions of the peace in the counties of Knox, Randolph and St. Clair. The first court held legally in Indiana began its first session on the 3d of March, 1801. A grand jury was impaneled and the machinery of the territorial government was fully set going. In 1807 all the laws of the territory were revised and reenacted by the General Assembly, thus making those of doubtful validity legal. According to this revised code, treason, murder, arson and horse stealing were punishable with death. Whipping was recognized as a sufficient punishment for a number of smaller crimes and misdemeanors, such as hog stealing, bigamy, burglary, larceny, and disobedience to parents.

FEDERAL JUDGE PARKE REBELS AGAINST TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION

When the territory entered upon its second state of political existence, Benjamin Parke, James Scott and Waller Taylor had been appointed judges of the general court of the territory by the President. In 1814 Congress authorized the Territorial Legislature to lay off the territory into five districts, each of which was to elect a member of the Territorial Council. By this time the question of the jurisdiction and powers of the various courts which had been established began to be troublesome. In January, 1814, the General Assembly of the territory had attempted to reorganize the judicial system. By this law the state was divided into three judicial districts. One of the judges appointed by the President was to act as presiding judge in each of these districts, and provision was made for the appointment of three "associate" judges in each county, who were to sit with the presiding judge in the trial of all causes. This did not suit the judges appointed by the General Government, and was in conflict with the powers conferred by Congress on the court. Benjamin Parke, one of the judges, and one of the ablest jurists Indiana has ever known, soon after the passage of the act referred to, addressed the following letter to Governor Posey: "By an act, entitled 'An act reorganizing courts of justice,' passed at the late session of the Legislature, the Territory is divided into three districts, in each of which a circuit court is established-the court to consist of one of the judges appointed by the government of the United States for the Territory, as president, and three associates, commissioned under the authority of the Territory, and to have jurisdiction in all cases, at law and in equity. The first circuit, comprising the counties of Knox, Gibson and Warrick, is assigned to me. The Legislature is empowered to make laws, in all cases, for the good government of the Territory, not repugnant to the laws of the United States. In the delegation of power, that which is not expressly given is reserved. Implications cannot be admitted further than to carry into effect the power given. The laws of the United States being paramount to the laws of the Territory, if they are found in conflict, the latter must yield to the former. Congress has defined the jurisdiction of the judges appointed by the general government, and made one judge, in the absence of the others, competent to hold a court. The judges are co-ordinate, and their jurisdiction extends over the whole Territory. They are judges in

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