Houston County Researchers: For the past 3 years, I have been compiling a book entitled: EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF HOUSTON COUNTY, GEORGIA 1821-1871: Copyright 2000 by William A. Mills. I thought I had this book finished last year, but I keep finding more interesting items to include in it. By the time that I actually print this book, it may be too large to contain in one volume. But, there is no need to keep all of this good info hidden away. I stumbled across an original story written by a man who was born in 1826, and resided in Perry, GA for several decades. This story was supposed to be published right after the Civil War, but I cannot find any evidence that it ever was. I've checked everywhere that I can, and no one has ever heard of it before. ================>>> Portions from Chapter 2: The first court house was built by James H. Killen (brother of the late Judge John Killen, and uncle of Col. S. D. Killen, W. F. Killen, T. M. Killen, and G. W. Killen) in 1824 and 1825, on the site of the present one. Being a substantial, well-proportioned frame building, two stories high, with cornice, doors ornamented, glazed and painted, it was for the times, unique, and its appearance imposing. Indeed, it was better finished and made a better appearance than the one that has taken its place. Its interior arrangements were better, also. The whole of the first floor was occupied by the bar, lobby, and staircase with closets, the former being separated by two large, round pillars near the center, supporting the upper floor, with pickets extending right and left to doors or gates near the wall on either side. The bar occupied the north half; the staircases in the lobby extended half-way up the sides from the east and west doors, and across the south end, meeting at the entrance of a hall on the second floor, on each side of which were the Petit Jury rooms, and at the end, that of the Grand Jury; the latter covering nearly half of the upper floor. The lumber used in the construction of this house, was part hewed and part sawed; the latter with a whip saw. We never saw such a saw, and can give no description of it. The old jail (builder unknown) was located about seventy-five or one hundred yards east of the present one, which was built by Judge Killen. Its walls were of heavy hewn timbers, notched or dove-tailed, weatherboarded and painted by a Mr. Barr who, it is said, did the iron work, and was killed by falling from an upper window of the court house and striking the steps below. The first convict from the county was an elderly man; his offense, larceny. Dejected and alone in his cell, he was truly an object of pity. One bright, beautiful day, the sheriff brought a number of females to town, under arrest. Quite a crowd accompanied the sheriff's posse and the prisoners to the jail, and the excitement, which was increased by the rage and resistance of the prisoners, became intense when they were forced through the doors and locked in. All soon became quiet, however. At another time, a bevy of beautiful girls visiting the jail, were locked in by a mischievous boy, and the whole community was excited and alarmed by their screams, which continued until they were released. These incidents fixed our dislike for this repulsive but necessary place, when a boy. Judge, prisoners, boxes, state prisons and the gallows would associate themselves with thought and sight of it, and now that we are getting old, that dislike extending to its dismal successor, does not in the least abate. Jails and prisons, however, are necessary, and must and will exist as long as there are violators of the law. ~~TO BE CONTINUED~~ _______________________________________ William A. Mills Perry, GA [email protected] Houston Co., GA Publications & Research Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Forum/8795 ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.