Mt. Pulaski Cemetery

 


Turley Cemetery

 


Mt. Pulaski Cemetery

Cast Iron Tombstone Trials

Mount Pulaski Courthouse 1854
Lincoln Courthouse 1857

 

Lincoln in 1857.  Davis

Principal participants:
     Abraham Lincoln - 8th Circuit Lawyer:  1839 - 1840; 1850 - 1859
     David Davis - Judge of the 8th Circuit Court, which covered approximately
           450 miles through 14 counties in the 1850’s.  Trials were heard in most of
          these county court houses in the Spring and Fall sessions of each year starting
           in 1839 and continuing into the 1890’s.  Logan County was formed in 1841.

      This trial is only one of three known trials held in the Mount Pulaski Courthouse (Logan County Seat) during the mid 19th Century [1848 – 1855].  All paper work of all the other trials and judgments that were written in Mount Pulaski’s courthouse were destroyed in the 1857 courthouse fire in Lincoln, Illinois.  All records from the Mount Pulaski courthouse had been transferred to this new location in December, 1855, after the county seat was voted to be moved from Mount Pulaski to Lincoln (election of Nov., 1853).  Abraham Lincoln and his law partner, William Herndon, defended Reuben Miller in two cases (N. M. Whitaker versus Miller and M.E. Young versus Miller) alleging that there was no fraud, drunkenness, or worthlessness in the patent right.  The Horological Cradle Case and the 1854 George W. Turley hearing for the non-transfer of the county seat to Lincoln - were the other two Mount Pulaski trials that are known.  The Honorable Judge David Davis (Illinois 8th Circuit Court Judge: 1848 - 1862) was appointed to the Federal Supreme Court by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862.             

       Due to lack of a court transcription, our re-enactment of this Cast Iron Tombstone Trial – while a true historical and documented case - has been edited for entertainment value.  We will guide you through this trial and then our jury will make their judgment.  We will conclude by revealing both Cast Iron Tombstone Trial judgments that occurred in 1854 and 1855.  We will allow for some questions from the audience.