Chapter 18 cont. On motion of Gilbert C. R. Mitchell, Rufus Harvey, of Rock Island, Illinois, was admitted to practice at the Scott county bar, the first to be admitted before the local court. On motion by the same Simeon Meredith was also admitted, and there being no district attorney, he was by the judge appointed to that position pro tempore. Jonathan W. Parker was also admitted to practice. On motion of the district attorney the venire for the original grand jury was set aside and a venire de novo for a grand jury was awarded and made returnable forthwith.  The sheriff reported as follows:  Wheeler Hedges, W. B. V. Franks, Samuel Hedges, Alfred White, M. J. Lyman, J. M. Robertson, John R. Spicer, Isaac Hawley, W. L. Cook, L. S. Colton, John Forrest, L. M. Strong, John Work, John Robinson, Ephriam Knapp, James Thompson, A. J. patten, W. H. Patten, Cheney Munger, Seth F. Whiting.  Wheeler Hedges and W. B. V. Franks were excused from attendance.  The jury as impaneled were sworn in, with Samuel Hedges as foreman.  The jury was charged and retired to consider business. The first term of the Scott county district court lasted for three days.  On the third day the venire which was placed in the hands of the sheriff on the first day for a petit jury was returned.  The names of those selected were as follows:  Roswell H. Spencer, A. J. Patten, James Mackintosh, Walter B. Warren, Jacob Heller, Ephraim Lane, John Lewis, Andrew J. Hyde, William H. Baker, Caleb A. Cardner, Robert Mackintosh, Daniel Wilson, Richard Peace, John Squires, M. A. Harrington, James Hall, Cheney Munger. Why there were but eighteen is an open question.  The jury was returned October 6, 1838, but on examination of the records of the county commissioners we find that on the 4th of the preceding May a panel of twenty-four was announced as "the petit jury of the first term of the district court of Scott county."  There are no records of such a term being held, and no one now living can give any account of it.  The records of the commissioners show that of the twenty-four called by the board only eleven came. The jury impaneled October 7th was discharged on the same day and the proper allowance of per diem and mileage allowed. The first case docketed in the district court was that of  J. A. Birchard, Jr., administrator, vs. Horatio G. Stone, C. C. Applegate, William Stacy and Alfred White, in which leave to file declaration was granted. The second was that of Paul Fullmer, vs. Martin W. Smith, and Philip Suiter.  The defendants were the owners of a mill, just below the present city of LeClaire.  Various cases followed, in which Elias Moore, Jacob Parlin, Benjamin W. Clark, William Gibbons, Otis Bennett, Philena Brown, Smith Mounts, John Henning and various other parties were mixed up in the meshes of the law.  The most interesting one, probably, was that of Alexander W. McGregor vs. John Wilson.  In speaking of the case the Democrat, of Davenport, says:  "Now the plaintiff was a lawyer, or had been before his coming west.  He came with a considerable stock of goods, which he soon disposed of and then settled on a farm in the lower part of the township.  As all men are liable to be elected to places of honor, so was McGregor elected to the territorial legislature which then had its sessions at Burlington.  Men had axes to grind in those days as well as in this more advanced generation, and John Wilson had a dull implement of that sort in connection with a coveted ferry franchise between Davenport and Rock Island.  The story goes that Wilson induced McGregor to lend him a helping hand in this ferry job.  In fact, it is said some notes of hand were passed - the consideration of which had to do with able services to be rendered in Wilson's interest.  There is a tradition among the old settlers that the labor was duly performed; but somehow Wilson became a defendant in court, the bone of contention being these promissory notes already alluded to.  The suit was brought before John Forrest, justice of the peace, who after hearing the testimony and looking up the law points, satisfactorily, decided in favor of the plantiff. "It is pretty generally noticed, even in this day, that when a party in a law suit loses his case he thinks the judge, or jury, or the attorneys haven't done their duty by him, and he wants to appeal.  If he has property to stand the racket of the law, there are plenty of good attorneys who will stand by him to the end - the end of the cash balance anyhow.  Wilson's pocket was thrifty and his blood up.  He would appeal.  But the justice could see no use in that.  He had decided the case just right, as he verily believed, and he would hear to nothing of the sort.  But the records of the court show Judge Williams' order, that the inferior court have all the papers and proceedings thereof touching the McGregor-Wilson case brought before him by the opening of the court the next morning, or be attached.  It is probable that the papers were forthcoming. To be cont. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L