You’re Married Now

Friday, March 11, 1881 Happenings around the County

The old Odd Fellows building in Lawrenceville was sold to Barton and Curry for $500. A C. Clippinger took control of the Lawrence County Press published at Sumner. Jim Ryan was going into the rafting business. Mrs. Lib McCleave, 3 miles west of town, was seriously sick with spotted fever. James N Blevins was suffering from an attack of fever and the meat market he operated was closed that week. Sheriff Ryan had been quite sick with an attack of fever. Little Remson Teschmacher, a 5-year-old boy walked 3 1/2 miles last Monday in about two hours. (The questions being, where was he going and did anyone know he was gone?)

In Mrs. Anderson's absence, George Cunningham taught in the Lawrenceville school that week. The paper announced that the Lawrenceville schools would close on March 18 for the term with public examinations, unless it was concluded to continue the school another month.  The majority of citizens seemed to think that would be best.   (No doubt lead by the mothers in the group who could just imagine being home with 8 or 9 kids from March to September when the next school term began.)

The following deaths have been reported: James H Childress of Bond township February 14, 59 years; Elmer H Baker of Lawrence Township February 17, age 17 months and 14 days; Mrs. Bloom of Petty Township February 2, age 23 years;  L Laws, Petty Township February 17 age 55 years;  Lydia M Gowans, of Christie Township, February 8 age 23 years; Carl Whitehall, of Christie Township January 23, age 7 days; John Evans Jr, of Lawrence Township March 23, age 1; John J Brines, of Dennison Township February 13 age 10 years and nine months; Samuel Beal of Lukin Township February 18 aged 48 years of pneumonia;  Fifteen births  were recorded at the county clerk’s office. 

John Newcomb, a fishmonger, from the Embarrass River took a wagonload of fish to Vincennes to sell.  Among them was a mud catfish that measured four and one half feet from the tip of its tail to the end of its nose and weighed 85 pounds.

Prof L G Pittman was the schoolteacher In Russellville.

The Kansas Illinois Sun printed that “somebody needed to go to the snug little town of Lawrenceville and build them a jail” and that kicked off a full‑blown editorial meltdown by Mr. Day, the editor of the Lawrenceville Rural Republican.

The editor basically says (and I am summarizing here because the editorial is a long one): Our county jail is a damp, decaying brick nightmare that grand juries have been complaining about forever, and the Board of Supervisors keeps filing those complaints under “we’ll deal with this never.”

He asks some dramatic questions—like whether anyone would feel safe locking up a murderer in what’s essentially a soggy rat trap, or if the county would like to be morally responsible for inmates dying of fever thanks to bad ventilation. The answer, clearly, is no, but the supervisors still won’t spend the money.

The editor insists the county can afford a proper jail, mocks people who whine about the cost as professional grumblers and ends by declaring the whole situation a public embarrassment. In short: build the jail, stop being cheap, and please don’t make prisoners die just to save a few thousand dollars.

Then since the editor was on a roll, he took off on the Sunday drunks and failure to prosecute. (I had to summarize this one too because it was way too long for this blog.)

According to Mr. Day: Basically, the village is drowning in Sunday drunks, and everyone knows it. People stagger around town, get lightly fined (if at all), escape jail like it’s a casual suggestion, and learn absolutely nothing. The town proudly votes down liquor licenses every year—while everyone keeps drinking anyway. Shockingly, banning saloons does not magically sober anyone up.

The writer’s big idea? Enforce the laws already on the books. If you’re drunk and won’t pay the fine, congratulations—you’re now on the road crew for up to 10 hours a day. Suddenly, sobriety sounds amazing.

Meanwhile, over in Saint Francisville, D W Catt, a saloon keeper, gets dragged through multiple trials for selling four drinks to a man who harmed no one but himself. After some creative jury‑shopping by temperance crusaders, the guy finally gets fined heavily. The editor’s verdict: does the temperance movement need this much trickery to be successful?

It was a weird news week. The clear antics of two young people of some nervous sanities were reported by the Vincennes newspaper. Quite a peculiar wedding took place on Tuesday evening February 22. Miss Belle Petty was the daughter of George Petty, a wealthy farmer living near town, and Mr. Edward Emerick was the son of another well-to-do farmer who lived half a mile from town and the same distance from the Petty farm. The young couple went to town on horseback on the evening in question and stopped at the residence of Reverend J Davis, the Presbyterian minister, and were united in the holy bonds of matrimony. Mr. Emerick then took his new bride to her father's residence, leaving her at the door, and telling her that he would come along and see her on Sunday evening as usual. He then left for his own house. When Sunday evening came, Emerick rode over to the house of his newly minted father-in-law where his new wife was living, and if anyone noticed that their meeting was more cordial or demonstrative than usual, they might have attributed it to the progress that they were making in each other's affections. The parlor was the scene of their courtship on this evening as on former occasions, and at a reasonable hour they bid each other adieu without the old folks being any the wiser, and, in fact, neither the Petty nor Emerick families knew anything of the marriage till they saw the wedding notice in the newspaper.  Just what prompted these young people to indulge in this lark is unknown. No harm was done however as both families fondly anticipated the day when the two loving hearts would be united.  (This is just baffling to me.  A joke on the parents is one thing, but what happened after the parents found out…did anyone tell the young people that they were allowed to  …well, live together as man and wife? How young WERE they?)