RICHARDSON - John - Hanging
Source: 1881 Beckwith History of Fountain County Indiana p 59-60
At the March term, 1830 the first indictment for murder was returned. The title of the cause: The State of Indiana v John Richardson. The grand jurors who found the indictment were: William Cochran, Samuel Trullinger, Alexander Logan, Benjamin Wade, Jacob Bever, Robert Miller, David Sewell, Jesse Osborn, Caleb Abernathy, James Stewart, Stephen Harper, Samuel Garver, Conrad Walters, John Ralston, and Bennet Seibrd. Edward A. Hannegan prosecuting attorney. The defendant was arraigned, and put in a plea of not guilty on the same day the indictment was returned. Next day an affidavit for a continuance was made by Daniel Richardson, the father of the defendant, which was sustained and an order was made for the confinement of the defendant in the Vito County jail until the next term. The case came on for trail at the September term, 1830, before Hon. John R. Porter, president-judge and associate judges Nebeker and Hinton. The jurors were: John Miller, Joshua Sherrill, John Orr, Henry Campbell, John Helms, Asa Smith, Elijah Ferguson, Rhodes Smith, Abraham Gabriel, James Snow, Job Orahood and Hiram Funk.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty on the third day of the term in this language. “This jury had found a verdict of guilty. John Miller, foreman.” The following day the record says: The counsel for the prisoner moved the court for a new trial, which being submitted without argument, was overruled. Therefore it is considered by the court that the prisoner at the bar be removed to the custody of the keeper of the jail at Fountain County, there to remain until the 12th day of next November and that upon that day, between the hours of 12 and 2, the sheriff of said county shall take the said John Richardson from thence to the place of public execution, and there hang him by the neck until he be dead, dead, dead. Signed: John R. Porter Sept 30, 1830.
And on the 12th day of November, 1830, John Richardson expiated his supposed crime upon the gallows, erected near the place where the Crawfordsville road, leading from Covington, cross the Indiana Bloomington & Western railway tracks. How fallible are the judgments, O man! John Richardson tried today in the light of our improved knowledge, would be acquitted of all intentional crime and, instead of receiving the condemnation of the law, would be the subject of its tender care as one with reason overthrown. Yet we cannot censure those who judged him; they were conscientious and were doubtless guided by the law as it was then understood. They did their duty as they understood it and if they committed a mistake, they did no more than men have done in all ages in the most momentous affairs. It has been said that associate judge Nebeker was in favor of granting a new trial in the cause, but the record does not disclose the fact. It is not possible to follow the proceedings of the court through its various terms until this time. To indicate the growth of the business, it will suffice to say that all the proceedings up to September 1834, are recorded in 444 pages of an ordinary sized order book, while the proceedings of two terms require more space than that now.