Botetourt 250th Celebration facts and a pretty good story!
Welcome to Celebration Facts for the 250th Anniversary of Botetourt County.
Botetourt County once stretched all the way to the Mississippi River.
Fincastle was the county seat that encompassed parts of 6 present- day states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Kentucky was the only state to be wholly part of the county.
On February 13, 1770 four Justices were established to hold civil court. Six were named to be justices. There were 13 justices of the peace. They included Andrew Lewis, Robert Breckinridge, William Preston, Israel Christian, Richard Woods and James Tremble.
The first Sheriff named was Richard Woods and his deputies were James McDowell and James McGavock.
So begins our story. In the courthouse which is closed due to Covid-19, there is a story in court records and I wrote about it in my Fincastle Herald column, “Roadside Ramblins” some 15 years ago give or take.
Fincastle was once the wild west of the frontier. While the genteel want to talk of sweet Fincastle things like healing springs, visitors from down south, Thomas Jefferson designing the courthouse and sip tea on the porch, much more went on here!
Jockey Alley was a haven of sorts of goods and services and basically ran along current day Back Street in the town of Fincastle. While a hub of economic activity, some illegal activities like a little gambling and cheating and perhaps other things of ill repute also took place as evidenced by court records. Our tale is all about cheating, maybe swindling is a better term.
A gentleman from the territory purchased a horse for twenty dollars in Jockey Alley. He walked it up town from down near the Big Spring to the center of town, where it collapsed dead on the spot. A distance of perhaps 300-400 yards.
Obviously, that was a huge sum of money in those days, especially for a dead horse. He swore out a warrant for the arrest of said salesman who was known to be a man from the Ohio Territory.
Well the Sheriff didn’t have the time to find him, but a bounty hunter did. So he left for the Ohio Territory. After five months he captured the miscreant and brought him back to Fincastle for trial. The result. Full restitution to the victim. Costs for the Sheriff/Bounty Hunter and 10 days on display in the stocks.
You know the stocks. The thing you put your head and hands in down at Busch Gardens for a cool picture!
–Cathy Benson, The Botetourt Bee
Sources Court Records and the 1970 Bicentennial Magazine
