NOTES AND FRAGMENTS.

Early Courts of Fayette County.—The following facts relative to early sessions of the district court of Fayette County have been furnished by Mrs. Julia Lee Sinks:

Fayette County belonged to the third judicial district of the Republic. The first term of the district court was held in the spring of 1838. Hon. R. M. Williamson was judge, Jerome Alexander ¹⁰⁶ was clerk, and H. C. Hudson district attorney. There is no record of the name of the sheriff, but inasmuch as John Breeding appears as incumbent of that office during the second term it may be assumed that he held it also during the first.

The names of the jurors who were summoned for the years 1838 and 1839 are as follows:

Alexander, Robert.	Caldwell, William.
Alley, James,	Canby, Thomas.
Andrews, Micah. 107	Chesney, John.
Andrews, Reddin.	Chew, Benjamin F.
Biegle, Joseph.	Chinault, F.
Berman, Henry.	Chodoin, Thomas.
Berry, David. 108	Clift, Jesse.
Birt, S. P.	Conkright, John.
Blair, Jonathan.	Cottle, Lee F. T.
Brazil, George W.	Crisswell, John Y.
Breeding, David.	Crisswell, Leroy V.
Breeding, N. B.	Crisswell, William.
Breeding, Richard L.	Crownover, Arthur.
Brookfield, William.	Crownover, John.
Brown, Alexander.	Cunningham, John C.
Burnham, Jesse. 109	Dancy, Charles.
Burnham, William P.	Daniel, Joseph P.
Darling, Socrates.	Morrow, Aaron.
Davis, J. L.	Morrow, Alfred.
Dibble, Henry.	Morrow, James.
Earthman, Henry.	Nabors, James.
Eastland, William. 110	Niel, Joseph.
English, Henry.	O'Bar, Carson.
Evans, Vincent L.	O'Bar, John.
Faison, N. W. 111	Price, James.
Farquhar, Joseph.	Price, Jerry.
Farris, William A.	Prim, William.
Ferril, Hiram.	Rabb, John.
Fitzgerald, Samuel.	Ragsdale, James.
Fitzgerald, William.	Robinson, Joel W. 112
Graham, Andrew.	Sargeant, Jasper A.
Green, James.	Sarason, Joseph.
Grey, Lee.	Scallorn, J. W.
Harper, Jefferson.	Scallorn, Stephen.
Hill, Asa.	Sellers, Robert.
Hill, Jeffrey.	Simpson, William.
Holman, George T.	Smith, Hezekiah.
Holman, John.	Snyder, Gottlieb.
Hopson, Briggs.	Spier, George W.
Hudson, James P.	Stevens, James.
Ingraham, John.	Stewart, Lyman M.
Jarman, Richard.	Sullivan, D. N. V.
Lester, James S.	Tannehill, Jesse.
Lewis, William.	Taylor, David.
Lyon, George.	Thompson, Thomas.
Manton, Henry.	Thompson, William.
Maxwell, Thomas.	Townsend, William S.
Moore, John H.	Wells, Dr. James A.
Wistzner, Christian. 113	Woods, Norman. 115
Woods, Montville. 114	Woods, Zadok. 116

Mrs. Sinks adds the following notes, written during the years 1876-1879:

Nearly forty years have passed since those jurors were impaneled. Judge, clerk, sheriff, lawyers, and jurors have nearly all gone to the unseen land. Each, as the law provided, was then at least twenty-one years of age, and many of them were older. The youngest would now be near the grand climacteric generally allowed to man. A number of them perished in the flush of early manhood. In 1842 the clerk and several of the jurors yielded up their lives in the sanguinary Dawson fight. One was shot in the decimation of the Mier prisoners, some perished in prison, and some escaped to die peacefully at home. One and all were soldiers when needed, offering their lives to build the foundations of present prosperity. The Red Fork fight, in which the Texans were commanded by Col. John H. Moore and Capt. Tom Rabb, and the fatal Dawson massacre stand eminent as part of the history of the county. Each took his share of the vicissitudes of the pioneer settlement, bearing its privations and bravely standing on its defense, and Fayette may well cherish with pride the memory of her early sons.

There were only two presentments by the first grand jury, one for breach of the revenue laws, and the other for horse stealing. There were but two cases on the civil docket, and both were dismissed at the cost of the plaintiff. A fine of one hundred dollars was entered against each of the six absent jurors, to be made final at the next term of the court, unless satisfactory reasons to the contrary should be given. Thus it will be seen how the dignity of the law was upheld;—four cases, and fines for non-attendance of jurors amounting to six hundred dollars!

At this term of the court two applications for admission to the bar were made and granted, one by Thomas W. Cox, the other by Willard Wadham. The judge appointed as examiners James R. Jenkins on the civil law, John Hemphill (afterwards chief justice) on the common law, and Solicitor Hudson on the criminal law.

The last of these was of Scotch antecedents, and was frequently called among his friends “Sir Jeffrey Hudson.” He prided himself on his intimate knowledge of Scotch literature. The writer still has in her possession a list of all the Scottish clans with their distinctive badges sent her by “Sir Jeffrey” many years ago.

Mr. Cox, together with another Fayette County man, Mr. John Blackburn, was among those Mier prisoners whom the Mexicans failed to recapture after they broke away from their captors at the hacienda del Salado. I well remember the address he delivered in La Grange after his escape from Mexico, and with what eagerness the people flocked to hear his tale of daring. He was a man of much native eloquence, and the graphic description he gave of his adventures made a strong impression upon his hearers. ¹¹⁷