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The first trials and the first juries in Circuit Court in Butler County were in the second term of the Court, September 13 and 14, 1850, almost one year after term, September 15, 1949, at the house of Thomas Scott.
This second term was in the Town of Poplar Bluff which had been born in the spring 1850 and was the first term of Circuit Court to be held in the county seat of Butler County. The location of the house or building in which Court was held is not known to us, but it had to be in a privately owned building as the first Court House was not built until 1852. On the first day of this term, Judge Hough presiding, the Court heard its first case in Butler County, and appeal from a Justice of the Peace Court. The cause of dispute is not recorded. The case was dismissed with the defendant to recover his costs of the suit from the plaintiff.
The first grand jury of Butler County reported its findings to the Court on the second day of the term. The jury members were: W.R. Griffith, foreman; William Hill; R.L. Brown; David Gower; Louis M. Buis; Hamilton Scott; Jesse A. Gilley; William Ellison; William Whittington; Shelby R. Rutherford; Christopher White*; Lemuel L. Burgen; Exum C. Scott; Charles Applebay; James Craft; and John L. Davis. The jury returned nine indictments, three for selling liquor without a license, three for failing to work road, one on a morals charge, one for assault with intent to kill and one for forgery. A very interesting side-light on this grand jury is that it indicted one of its own members for selling liquor without a license.
The first jury trial in Circuit court in the county was on the second day of this term. The charge was "Failing to keep road in repair." The defendant was found guilty and fined ten dollars. The jurors were: David Gower, Jacob Jonas, G.W. Young, Francis Whittington, Thomas Honeycutt, Eli Hillis, Robert Hillis, Wm. Sutton, S.B. Kittrell, Wm. Crunk, T.C. Hasten and William Bledsoe, "twelve good and lawful men."
On the morning of the second day Court convened at seven-thirty o'clock. Evidently Judge Hough believed in early rising.
*Goodspeed's History of Southeast Missouri gives the name of this juror as Chris. Wright.
Note: Harrison Hough, first Circuit Court judge in Butler County died in 1864 on his farm in Wolf Island Township, Mississippi County Missouri.
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