The existence of the WMson Co courts and many of the officers connected therewith, as well as the courts and officers of the old county of which Wmson once formed a part, have already been recited, but the crimes, for the suppression and punishment of which these tribunals of justice have been created, are yet to be related. The task is an unpleasant one, but the historian having "no friends to favor nor foes to punish, " should endeavor to give the facts without prejudice and without unimportant details and unnecessary comments. In general the greater the crimes and incidents will only be mentioned. The reader, however, will bear in mind that the taking of the life of one's fellow man is not always a crime, especially when the act of killing is an unavoidable accident or done in defense of one's own life or that of a near relative.
In 1813, Thomas Griffee shot and killed an Indian, while both he and the Indian were trying to shoot a bear out of a treetop that stood where the old courthouse burned down in Marion. The following year a man by the name of Elliott, partially colored, was working for Griffee, when a man by the name of John Hicks quarreled with, stabbed and killed him. Hicks then made his escape, and the next morning Griffee and John Phelps started in Pursuit and captured him at the Odum Ford. They then took him to Kaskaskia, where the nearest justice of the peace resided, and he was there "whipped, cropped and branded, : and then released. In 1818 the body of a man, supposed to have been murdered by the Indians, was found at the Stotlar place on Herrin's Prairie. In 1821 Henry Parsons, in Rock Creek Prec, shot and killed an unknown hunter, and afterward gave as an excuse for the shooting that the Indian had murdered his father, in consequence of which he had resolved to kill everyone of them he could find, and that he mistook this man for one of them. Parsons was a very bad man and made a business of lying around Davis' Praiaire and killing Indians; and no one knew how many he killed to avenge his father's death. In 1823m he bought Parson Crouch's improvement on the Crab Orchard, and was to ave possession as soon as convenient, but, becoming in a hurry, he notified Crouch to vacate the place by Saturday night. Crouch went to Equality that week, and upon his return, and when only a quarter of a mile from home, he was shot and killed by Parsons who then went to D Odums and demanded a horse, which the latter, through fear, gave him, and he left the country. The citizens collected and went in pursuit but failed to capture him.
In 1833 James Youngblood, while at a stone quarry on the Saline, was shot through the breast by Gideon Alexander who was on the bluff above him. Alexander then ran to Youngblood, assisted him to his home, took care of him and paid his bills, and claimed that he saw nothing but a white spot through the foliage, which he mistook for a deer's tail. Youngblood lived a few years and then died from the effects of the wound.
In 1841 Jeremiah Simmons got into a fight with JG Sparks in Marion. Wm Benson, constable, interfered and stopped it. Simmons then commenced on Benson. The latter started home, Simmons ran after him with a knife. Andrew Benson came up at the time, ran up to Simmons and asked him to stop. Simmons looked over his shoulder, saw who it was, and stabbed backward, striking him in the abdomen from which he died. Simmons made his escape, but was afterward arrested in Iowa and brought back to Marion, where he was tried and acquitted. He was defended by Gen. Sheilds and Gen. McClernand. In 1854 John Moseley and James Burnett quarreled over a dog-fight and the former struck the latter on the head with a club killed him. MOseley ran away but was captured in Missouri, brought back and tried and sentenced to 6 years in the penitentiary. After serving 1 year he was pardoned. In 1859 George Ramsey and Jack Ward got into a quarrel about a horse race, which resulted in the shooting and killing of the latter by the former. Ramsey then ran away and has never been apprehended. The same year John Furgerson, a youth, shot and killed Ellen Reed, with whom he claimed his father was too intimate. He then ran away, and after a few years returned home and died soon thereafter. Also the same year an unknown man was found hanging dead near the Crab Orchard, south of Marion. The facts of this matter never were made public. In 1861 RT McHaney, living four miles east of Marion, shot and killed an unknown Irishman who had insulted his wife. He was tried and acquitte on the ground of defending his family.