Friday, February 26, 2010

Henry Chester's Bad Day

HenryChester
From Rev. T.H. Ball, Encyclopedia of Genealogy and Biography of Lake County, Indiana (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1904).

I don't know exactly when it happened. I don't know exactly what happened. All I know is in or around August of 1887, Henry Chester had a bad day. The evidence of it comes from the Abstract and Index to Lake County, Indiana Circuit Court Docket Book Jan. 2, 1884 – June 12, 1888 in the Lake County Central Library's Indiana Room:


Claim No.: 1333
Attorneys: Youche, J.W.
Parties: Chester, Henry
Kind of Action: Malicious Trespass
Date of Issue: Aug. 12, 1887

Claim No.: 1334
Attorneys: Youche, J.W.
Parties: Chester, Henry
Kind of Action: Drawing a dangerous weapon
Date of Issue: Aug. 12, 1887

Claim No.: 1335
Attorneys: Youche, J.W.
Parties: Chester, Henry
Kind of Action: Drawing a dangerous weapon
Date of Issue: Aug. 12, 1887

Claim No.: 1336
Attorneys: Youche, J.W.
Parties: Chester, Henry
Kind of Action: Drawing a dangerous weapon
Date of Issue: Aug. 12, 1887

Claim No.: 1337
Attorneys: Youche, J.W.
Parties: Chester, Henry; Heck, Charles; Doe, John whose name is unknown; Chester, Charles
Kind of Action: Assault & Battery
Date of Issue: Aug. 12, 1887


Henry Chester was then about 52 years old, and his son Charles, who was somehow involved in the assault and battery, about 16. I haven't been able to identify the Charles Heck involved — nor the John Doe, of course.

But were they plaintiffs or defendants? — complaining or complained of? Is the "Date of Issue" the date it all went down, or the date of the summons, or of the trial, or what?

I've been searching the 1887 newspapers and finding no mention of any affray involving these people.

The Introduction to this Abstract makes it clear that the original records behind the Docket Book have not yet been found and may well have been lost or destroyed. So, barring some miraculous discovery, we will probably never know exactly what happened on Henry Chester's bad day.

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