The first term of the county court was held in the spring of 1808 at the house of Maj. William Russell, near Cowan, where the county business was transacted until the seat of justice was established at Winchester, and a place provided for holding the courts. The courts were first held at Winchester about the year 1814, when the first court house was completed. An act of the General Assembly passed October 16, 1812, provided "that the county courts should be held in the county of Franklin on the third Mondays in February, May, August and November;" and the sessions were accordingly held on those dates until a subsequent act provided that the county courts in each and every county in the Slate should be held "on the first Monday in every month."

The "minute books" of the county court prior to year 1832 have been lost or destroyed. The officers of this court are a county judge and the magistrates of the several civil districts of the county. Prior to 1868 the county court was presided over by one of their number elected as chairman, and since that date by a judge elected by the people. This court continued to hold its sessions up to and including the June term, 1863, when, on account of the war, it suspended action until April, 1865, since which time it has held its regular sessions. J. N. McCutcheon served as judge of the county court from 1868 to 1870, and Judge J. W. Williams, the present incumbent, has held the office ever since.

There are no records of the circuit court in the county prior to the fourth Monday of January, 1824, when the court was held by Judge Nathaniel W. Williams. Nathaniel Hunt, Esq., was then the High Sheriff and James Fulton attorney-general, and Jonathan Spyker clerk. Judge Williams served one year, and was succeeded by Judge Charles F. Keith, who served until 1830, when he was succeeded by Judge J. C. Mitchell, who served a series of years. On the 26th day of January, 1825, Robert L. Mitchell, then seventy years of age, appeared and filed an affidavit, attesting his services in the war of the Revolution. In January, 1829, Samuel Suddarth was tried for manslaughter, found guilty, and sentenced "to be forthwith branded on the brawn of the thumb of the left hand with the letter M in the presence of the court, and that he be imprisoned in the jail of the county six months, and to pay the costs of this prosecution, and to remain in jail until the same be fully paid."

The most dramatic and most lasting of all the historic episodes in the history of Franklin County, was the killing of Tom Taul and the trial of Rufus K. Anderson as the murderer. In this case the sheriff summoned, in all, 168 men to appear in court, all of whom were examined touching their qualifications to act as jurors in the cause, and out of this number "twelve good and lawful men" were found competent to try the prisoner. The killing took place in 1829 and the trial in 1830, but the social and political estrangements which they brought still linger here. Rufus K. Anderson was the son of Col. Wm. P. Anderson, of whom mention has been made in connection with the settlement of the county. The Andersons were wealthy and aristocratic. Thomas P. Taul was the son of Col. Micah Taul, who had been a colonel in the war of 1812 and a member of Congress from Kentucky. Coming to Tennessee, he located at Winchester, and soon took rank among the first lawyers of the State, and he and Hopkins L. Turney were then the leading members of the Winchester bar. Tom Taul is said to have been the most brilliant young lawyer in Tennessee at that time. He married Miss Caroline, the accomplished daughter of Col. Wm. P. Anderson, and sister of Rufus K. In a few years Mrs. Taul died of consumption, childless. On her death bed she gave her property to her husband by a deed. After her death the Andersons claimed that Taul had never been kind to her and that he had coerced the deed. Rufus K. Anderson, a young man of the highest notions of civil life, had gone to Alabama before his sister's marriage and before Col. Taul moved to Tennessee, and had never seen his brother-in-law, Tom Taul. After the death of his sister, he returned to Winchester, and asked to have Tom Taul pointed out to him, which being done, he walked across the street to where Taul was standing, and shot and killed him. The trial came off in less than a year and Col. Taul employed Col. Sam Laughlin, a most powerful prosecuting lawyer, and other lawyers of distinction to prosecute Anderson, who was defended by Hon. Felix Grundy, Hopkins L. Turney and other distinguished lawyers. By the time the trial came on the whole county was divided under the respective banners of the contending parties. The jury returned a verdict of "not guilty." Whether the verdict was just, or whether the jury was led to commit an error, will never be known with certainty.

The State of Tennessee vs. John Farris, was an action brought against the defendant at the June term of 1830, for killing his slave named James. The trial took place at the July term following. One hundred and thirty-four men were brought into court and examined before twelve "good and lawful men" could be found competent to act as jurors. Able counsel was employed by the defendant, and the jury returned a verdict into court of "not guilty." The foregoing causes have been mentioned because of their historic importance. There have been other murder trials, and many important civil cases, which might be mentioned if space permitted.

In May, 1862, the circuit court convened for the last time until the close of the war. In July, 1865, it again convened with Judge Wm. P. Hickerson on the bench, since which lime it has held its regular sessions. Judge J. J. Williams is now the presiding officer, whose term is about to expire.

The first records found of the chancery court are its proceedings in 1834, when L. M. Bramlett was chancellor. For a number of years following, this court was held at Winchester, for Franklin and Coffee Counties. Bloomfield L. Ridley, was chancellor from 1843 up to the late late, civil war, as shown by the records. Only one session of this court was held between 1861 and 1865. At the August term, 1865, John P. Steele presided as chancellor, and served as such until 1870, since which time Hons. A. S. Marks, John W. Burton and E. D. Hancock, have filled the office of chancellor, in the order named.

A few persons have been hanged in the county by due process of law, but a greater number have probably been hanged without it. It is believed that the first hanging which took place in the county, was that of Adkinson or Adkins, who killed his wife with a shoe last. This occurred about the year 1821. Just after the close of the late civil war. Roily Dotson, a noted bushwhacker, murderer and desperado, was taken from the jail by an organized body of men and hanged to a tree in the court yard until he was dead. Henry Huddleston, colored, was hanged to the same tree in 1882, for committing a rape on a white woman. In 1871, three Negroes were hanged under the bridge of the Boiling Fork, at Winchester, for burning a church at Hawkerville. All these, excepting the first, were without process of law. Other hangings, both legal and otherwise, have taken place within the county.

Perhaps no county in the State has ever had, according to its population, such an able bar as Winchester has produced.

The eminent jurist, Judge Nathan Green, came from Virginia when he had reached middle life and settled on land owned by his uncle, John Paris. He was plain in dress, and not known for two years as anything but a farmer. No little merriment took place one day when Mr. Farris brought Green into court to take charge of and conduct a law suit in which the former was involved. The trial made the lawyer-farmer famous, and he at once stepped to the head of the bar and in a short time became chancellor, and soon thereafter a member of the Supreme Court, where he so long distinguished himself. This was the home, for many years, of Tom Fletcher, one of the greatest criminal lawyers the State has ever produced. He, like Green, came to the bar in middle life, after failing as a merchant. He was the author of a paper anonymously written in 1824, styled "The Political Horse Race," which attracted much attention in the race between Jackson, Clay, Adams and Crawford.

Maj. Edward Venable, who in 1857 was appointed Ambassador to Guatemala, and died immediately after reaching that country, was also a prominent member of the Winchester bar. Frank Jones the gifted stumper and brilliant congressman, lived here and was the most popular man of his day. Thomas and Isaacs, brothers-in-law, both marrying the daughters of Col. Bullard, and both at times, in turn, representing the district in Congress, lived here and were men of rank. Judge Isaacs was among the ablest lawyers the State ever had. Forrester, a man who made his mark, and was several year's a member of Congress, lived here. James Campbell was a man of great legal reputation with an unblemished life. He also married a daughter of Col. Anderson, and practiced a number of years at the Winchester bar, then went to Nashville, and about 1847 made a visit to the Winchester Springs, where he committed suicide. Hopkins L. Turney, father of Judge Peter Turney, was a self-educated man, and for many years one of the leading members of the Winchester bar. He was a man of fine personal appearance, kind and affable, influential and popular. As a jury lawyer he was rarely equaled. He served in the Legislature, in Congress, and in the United States Senate. Micah Taul, of whom mention has been made, was a man of great learning and eminent as a jurist. While he and Hopkins L. Turney were the leading members of the bar, they were generally employed on opposite sides of the principal trials in litigation. Frank Estill was a very prominent member of the Winchester bar for many years prior to his death, which occurred only a few years ago. A. S. Colyar, now of Nashville, began the practice here about the year 1844. He was a close student, and a man of great firmness, and devoted to his client's cause, and it is too well known to need further mention. To him acknowledgement is made for much valuable information compiled in the foregoing concerning the Winchester bar and the trial of Rufus K. Anderson.

Judge Peter Turney, who was colonel of the First Tennessee Confederate Infantry, and who since the war has served sixteen years on the bench of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, lives here, and was for many years a member of the Winchester bar. Many other prominent lawyers have been members of this bar, and Felix Grundy, in his day, practiced here. The present members of the bar are ex-Gov. A. S. Marks, Capt. Tom Gregory, T. A. Embry, John Simmons and Estill and Whitaker, whose biographies appear elsewhere in this work. .Other members are Scott Davis, Burt Russey, J. B. Ashley, Nathan Francis, Mr. Curtis, Brannon and Thompson, John H. Martin and James Taylor. Senator Isham G. Harris was born, reared and educated in this county. The old log cabin in which he was born is still standing a few miles from the town of Winchester.


Source: History of Tennessee, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1886

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