CHAPTER XXXIII..

                        FOUR HUNDRED REMINISCENCES.

                        Burning of the Court House.

    On Sunday night, the 30th of November, 1851, the court-house at
Bowling Green was wholly destroyed by fire, consuming all the public
records but those of the recorder’s office. John S. Beem, then recorder,
who was a tailor by trade, kept the books and papers pertaining to this
office in his shop, where they escaped the flames. The origin, or cause,
of the fire, whether accidental or incendiary, was never judicially deter-
mined. However, an investigation was made by the board of commission-
ers at the December term immediately following, as to the prohable cause,
when the statements of many reputable citizens were heard and all the
circumstances duly considered, the board arriving at the conclusion that
“beyond a doubt, the fire originated in the hall on the second story of the
building, and that it is not in the least attributable to the officers nor those
having charge of the house, but was the work of an incendiary.” The
county officers then incumbent were: George Pinekley, clerk; John
Osborn, auditor; John Picard, treasurer; Lot Loving, sheriff, their offices
being on the upper floor of the building.
    At an early hour the following morning, December 1, a man rode up
in front of Robert Baber’s residence, in Lewis township, on the Terre
Haute-Louisville road, and asked for a breakfast and horsefeed. While
eating he inquired of Baber if he had heard that the court-house at Bowl-
ing Green was burned. On being told that he bad not heard it, the man
said further : "Yes, it is in ashes this morning and all the court and other
records are destroyed.” The mans horse looked jaded and worn, as
though he had been hard ridden.
    At that time a man named Riley Sexton, whose home was in Sullivan
county, was confined in the jail at Bowling Green, awaiting trial for the
murder of Alfred Pitts, a Greene county man whom be shot and killed
in an altercation while at work on the construction of the Wabash & Erie
canal, at a point near the present crossing of this old water—way by the
Brunswick-Howesville road. In those days  there were no revolvers nor
hip pockets, nor was it known that any employe on the work carried a
weapon, until Sexton drew from his pocket a small brass—barreled pistol
and fired upon Pitts, the discharge taking effect immediately above the
eye.
    As the records were burned there remained no indictment against
Sexton, nor was it ever renewed and re-instated As the sequel, the pris—
oner was afterward released and escaped punishment for the crime. The
man who called at Baber's for breakfast on the morning succeeding the
fire was Isaac Sexton, father of Riley Sexton, who was said to be of half

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