the year 1875 did there occur any public expression of interest in or solicitude for people of this class; but in that year such an expression was obtained, in response to the following notice of the Board of Supervisors, which was issued at the September term of that year. NOTICE. To the Qualified Electors of Mills County, Iowa: AUDITOR'S OFFICE, Mills county, Iowa. Notice is hereby given that at a regular meeting of the board of supervisors of said county, begun on the 6th day of September, 1875, it was ordered that the question of levying a tax of one mill on the dollar, on the taxable property of said county for the purchase of land for a county poor farm, be submitted to the electors of said county at the general election to be held on the 12th day of October, 1875, and that on the ballots of those voting for said tax shall be written or printed the words "For Poor Farm Tax," and that on the ballots of those voting against said tax shall be written or printed the words, “Against Poor Farm Tax." Glenwood, September 8, 1875. WM. H. TAFT, County Auditor. Pursuant to this notice the election was held. It is a matter of deep regret that so many were to be found in the county so occupied with their own schemes that they not only took no interest in, but actually tried to defeat the will of more liberal-minded and more humane men. But the measure triumphed by a vote of three to one, and the county began properly to care for its poor. Subsequent to the election the following notice was issued: Notice is hereby given that at the general election held on the 12th day of October, 1875, the electors of Mills county adopted the proposition to levy a tax of one mill on the dollar on the taxable property of said county for the purchase of land for a poor farm, by the following vote: Measures were at once taken to provide a suitable home and property, to be used for the purposes named in the question as submitted to the voters of the county. Bids were called for and made. After inquiry into the several farms offered, that of Jesse Miller seemed most eligible. At the October session, 1876, of the board of supervisors the following was transacted: WHEREAS, The board of supervisors of said county, at a regular session begun and held on Monday, the 18th day of October, 1875, after careful and full consideration of the whole subject, decided by a vote in full session at the court house, in Glenwood, Iowa, to purchase of one Jesse Miller, two hundred and ten acres of land in said county, on the following terms and conditions, to which terms and conditions the said county of Mills, through their board of supervisors, and the said Jesse Miller, on his part, and each of said parties consent and bind themselves hereby to perform, viz: The said Miller and said Mills county have this day contracted for the sale and purchase of the following described land situated in Mills county, Iowa, viz: The southeast of section sixteen and the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section twenty-one (21), and ten acres, bounded as follows: Commencing at the northwest corner of the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section seventeen, and running thence east sixtyone and one-half rods; thence south twenty-six rods; thence west sixty-one and one-half rods, and thence north to the place of beginning, all situated in township seventy-two (72), north of range forty-two (42) west, and containing in all two hundred and ten acres. Said Miller agrees to take and accept, and said Mills county agrees to give for said land the sum of eight thousand dollars. There are included with the land one roan cow, two years old past; one Brown corn-planter, two Blackhawk cultivators, and two double harrows. The said personal property is this day delivered by said Miller to Mills county. The said eight thousand dollars is the total amount agreed to be paid for all the above described land and personal property. It is agreed that said Mills county shall pay interest on the said eight thousand dollars from this date at the rate of ten per cent. per annum. Said Mills county also hereby agrees to pay to said Miller on March 1st, 1876, the sum of three thousand dollars; on April 1st, 1876, the sum of one thousand dollars, and on March 1st 1877, the sum of four thousand dollars, with the privilege of paying any sum sooner if said county sees proper to do so. Said Miller agrees hereby to deliver to said Mills county the possession of said premises, together with all improvements and appurtenances thereunto belonging, on the 1st day of December, 1875, save and except the following: Said Miller reserves possession of the bins in the barn now used to store his wheat and oats; also, the cribs necessary to crib his corn on said premises, until July 1, 1876; also the privi lege of turning his stock in the stalk field on said premises until March 1, 1876. Said Mills county also agrees to assume the payment of taxes on said property for the year 1875. On the final performance by Mills county of the terms of this contract on its part, said Miller hereby agrees to make to said Mills county a good and sufficient warranty deed to the land above described, free and clear of any and all incumbrances. In witness whereof said Miller and a majority of the members of said board, in actual and open session, have hereunto subscribed their names. Dated October 22, 1875. JESSE MILLER, JOHN BARBOUR, Į Majority of the Members of And thus was instituted the "poor farm," the founding of which should always be a matter of self congratulation for the county. With one of the finest farms in the limits of Mills, and under the able management of Superintendent Smawley, the institution is self sustaining; a circumstance. calling for renewed approval. The inmates, at the close of 1880, numbered fifteen; all seeming contented, though enjoying a home provided by the public at large. THE JAIL. The county has not been without criminals of a dangerous charactermen whose utter disregard for law and order, and the rights of citizens and property has been such as necessitated incarceration, sometimes for lengthy periods. To care properly for men of this class there was erected, in 1853, a substantial log building, to be used for jail purposes. The structure was composed of hewn logs and heavy planks, made doubly secure by heavy spikes driven in at regular short distances. In this structure was confined the early criminals. The jail stood in the rear of the present site of Hinchman's drug store, on the west side of the square. There was nothing inviting in its appearance, and judging from the repeated condemnation of the earlier grand juries, was not at all inviting in its interior arrangements and conduct. The strength of the walls was not, however, sufficient to prevent the escape of prisoners almost as soon as incarcerated. The reports of the sheriffs to the grand juries, and of these last named bodies to the district court, are filled with the names of those who escaped jail. One, in 1857, is remarkable for the closeness of the escape upon the committal. The sheriff says: "James Orton and Silas Woodford, described in the calendar by John Hoynie, sheriff of said county, filed in open court, August 10, 1857, made their escape from the jail on the night of the 10th of August, A. D. 1853, being the same night after the jail first came under my charge, by boring through the wall and digging out." Previous to this, in the September term, 1855, the grand jury reported that they examined the jail and found it defective in the following particulars, to-wit: the walls of said jail are not comfortable for all kinds of weather; no suitable provision made for warming the rooms, the lock upon the outer door is defective." It has elsewhere been noticed that there was, for some years, no proper place to care for the valuable and important records of the county. In this same report the grand jury called attention to this matter in the following language: In the examination of the county records the jury find that there is no safe and convenient place for the keeping of the public records and papers, where they can be secure from fire and other casualties, they therefore recommend that a good fire proof safe be procured for the deposit of such records and papers at as early a day as possible." * * * Previous to the report of the grand jury for the September term, 1857, the county judge and prosecuting attorney, at the February term of the same year, had called attention to the fact "that they found said jail exceeding dirty, the floor was covered with chips and ashes, and the cleanliness of the apartments wholly neglected, that no calendar of the prisoners is kept as required by law, and that the papers pertaining thereto are not to be found.” The gentlemen making this report were O. N. Tyson, county judge, and J. W. Russell, prosecuting attorney. The report was followed by a change in the condition of the jail, as well as by one in its keeper, the former being consequent, it is to be presumed, upon the latter. The old jail was made to subserve the interests of the county until 1869, when it was torn down, and its valuable portions used for other purposes. Measures had been taken in 1868 to provide a suitable jail, when, at the January session of the board of supervisors, the following resolution was offered and adopted: Resolved, That D. C. Briggs, Jas. H.Wing, E. C. Bosbyshell and William Wheeler be and they are hereby appointed a committee to procure a plan and specifications for a jail house to be erected in Glenwood, Mills county; said house, exclusive of cells, not to cost over three thousand dollars, and that they be required to report the same with all the information they may derive on the subject, to this board at its next meeting. At the March session in 1868, the committee appointed at the January meeting on the jail question, reported as follows: MR. CHAIRMAN:-Your committee have had the matter of erecting a jail under consideration, and direct me to report as follows: We would recommend that the plans and specifications reported by your committee appointed at the last meeting of the board, be adopted with such alterations as the jail commissioner hereafter constituted, shall deem expedient, provided that such alterations shall not materially increase the expense of the original plan, to-wit: three thousand dollars, and C. B. Stande, E. B. Sampson, William Wheeler and William Kempton be appointed commissioners to let and superintend the building of said jail, and that said commissioners be directed to procure four iron cells and place them in the building for the safe keeping of prisoners; and that the clerk be directed to issue orders on the jail fund on the order of said commissioners. In accordance with these resolutions and plans the contract for building the jail was let. Before it was completed the grand jury, August 21, 1869, made the following report, looking toward the proper safe construction of the building then in process of erection: "We, the grand jury of Mills county, recommend that the jail of said county be fixed as follows: that the floor, ceiling and walls be lined with boiler iron, and that the locks on the doors leading into the room where the cells are, and the locks on all the cell doors should be fixed more permanent and safe by putting on a harp of sufficient length at the sides to receive two bolts, well screwed in at each end, and that there be a piece or strip of iron at least one half inch thick, on the side opposite the harp, so that the bolts fastening the harp may screw through it solid, and then cut the screw bolt off solid on both sides. A. R. WRIGHT, Foreman Grand Jury." In accordance with these suggestions the building was further strengthened. The site of the jail is almost directly east of the position of the old log jail, though across the square and in the rear of the court-house. The cost of the building as first erected was $5,599, which sum, included the cost of the iron cells, doors and window frame, which were made in Cincinnati, Ohio, and purchased by a special committee sent to that city by the board of jail commissioners. The building has been subsequently enlarged to nearly double its former capacity. The enlargement was not suffered to go under contract, and cost the county less than one thousand dollars. THE WATKINS DITCH. Among the other improvements in the county, affecting largely the interests of its citizens, or a portion of them at least, should be mentioned the Watkins ditch, so named for the gentleman mainly instrumental in securing its establishment. The facts in the matter may be best presented in the petition, and the legislation consequent thereon. The object was to recover to farming purposes a large area of land annually flooded by Keg creek in the Missouri bottom. The petition was as follows, and was filed July 5, 1878: To the Board of Supervisors of Mills county, Iowa: GENTLEMEN-We the undersigned, represent that the low lands on the Missouri river bottom, and south of Pacific City, are frequently inundated by the freshets of Keg creek, damaging and destroying crops on cultivated lands, and preventing the tillage of large quantities of uncultivated lands, otherwise good; therefore, in order to protect the public health, to preserve our crops and to enable us to improve other lands, we pray your honorable body to cause the waters of Keg creek to be restrained by ditches and levees, constructed of a proper capacity and in a substantial manner as provided by law; said improvement to be made as near as practicable on the following route, namely: south side levee to commence at a practical point east of the William's mill dam, and run southwest to where the north levee will commence at the creek below the dam, at the southwest corner of section twenty-two (22), township 72, range 43; thence to run in a course southwest, to a point near the southwest corner of section 32 of same township; thence westerly to intersect the present channel of Keg creek in said section 32, and thence with said channel to the Missouri river. Signed by H. C. WATKINS, and fourteen others. The petition came before the board for a hearing at the August term, 1878, at which time the following proceedings were had: In the matter of the drainage of the Missouri bottom, now on this 12th day of August, 1878, it being the time set for hearing in this matter, it is made to appear by the return of James S. Hendrie, sheriff, that due, legal and truly personal service of the pendency and prayer of this petition was by him made in Mills county, on the following named persons as parties, across or over whose land the ditch is proposed to run, namely: H. W. Brown, J. A. Donelaw, John Johnson, Geo. Gilleard, C., B. & Q. R. R., B & M. R. R., E. Jones, J. W. Summers, W. G. Summers, J. J. Swain, Hannah Swain, Benj. Gunsolly, W. H. Fague, George Morrow, J. D. Wright, David Deffibaugh, Jacob Crawson, C. L. Epperson, Jasper Cook, and the K. C., St. J. & C. B. R. R., and it is further made to appear by proof, that the said notice was published for two consecutive weeks in the Mills County Journal, a weekly paper published at Glenwood, in said county, the last publication being made August 3, 1878, by which it appears that due and legal service has been had on the following named persons who do not reside in Mills county: N. Hill, J. S. Wright, Jacob Dishong, B. C. Birdsall, and Giles Dowles; and it further appears that claims for damages on account of the location of the ditch or drain, has been made by the following named persons, and none other, namely: H. W. Brown, E. R. Arrison, C. L. Epperson, Benj. Gunsolly, David Deffibaugh, F. H. Dashner, E. Jones, Geo. Gilleard, K. C., St. J. & C. B. R. R., |
