Was the punishment inflicted on Pybourn barbarous? Yes; but the court had warned him of the wrath to come, and had first made him flee to the forest for safety—better had he gone to the Indians—and had then given him permission to return to his home, on condition that he would reform and behave himself. The only entry found in the whole of the records to soften in the slightest degree the harsh and (it may be said) inhuman punishment meted out to Pybourn, is one that suggests the horror that came over one Joseph Culton, when he discovered, after he had emerged from a single combat with Charles Young, that the latter had bitten off one of his ears. Culton of course regretted the loss of his ear, and was still more annoyed to be thus disfigured for life; but these were the least of his troubles—somebody thereafter might think that he had been “cropped” for crime. What was he to do? He appeared at the November term, 1788, of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, whose jurisdiction knew no limits as to venue, time when or subject matter, and the following entry was made for his relief and protection from suspicion:
Joseph Culton comes into Court and Proved by Oath of Alexander Moffit that he lost a part of his left Ear in a fight with a certain Charles Young and prays the same to be entered of record. Ordered therefore that the same be Admitted Accordingly.
It is not probable that any one ever examined this entry, and demanded to see the page whereon the lost ear had been formally entered of record; but it is certain that Joseph Culton carried with him constantly a certified copy of the entry which attested that he had been maimed in honorable combat, and not as a punishment for violation of law.
This wonderful county court, before and since which there has been none like it, adapted or adjusted its jurisdictional powers and methods to all matters, questions and conditions that could be brought in any way to its notice. When a stranger came into the community, it did not content itself with letting him alone, no matter how quietly and orderly he might conduct himself; it had him interviewed, as the entry here quoted will prove:
The Court Order that Wm Clary a trancient person give security for his behavior, and return to his family within five months, as the said Clary is without any pass or recommendation and confesses he left his family and have taken up with another woman.
The most that the average detective could have gotten out of Clary would have been that he came from—where he started, and was going—where he went; but the court found out more than this about him, and they must have got it from his own mouth, as the order, after reciting facts that they could have gotten from him only, concludes by setting forth a very damaging confession which he had made, and which, all will agree, justified the court in requiring security of him for his behavior while he might remain in their midst, and peremptorily ordering him to return to his family within a stated time.
By the time of the meeting of the August term, 1784, the court had pretty well purged the country of traitors, horse thieves, “trancients,” etc. At this term the court seems to have turned its attention to the ugly habits of some of the very respectable; for, on the first day of the term, as the record shows, fines were imposed and paid as follows: “Eml. Carter three prophane oaths 8s. 10d. pd: Pharoh Cobb four prophane oaths 10s. 8d. pd: Buckner Nantz One prophane swearing Oath prays mercy Granted: Valentine Sevier for prophanely swearing 4 Oaths fined 10s. 8d. pd: Mark Mitchell for swearing One prophane Oath fined 2s. 8d. Patrick Murphey One Oath, Michael Tylloy Two Oaths.” This treatment seems to have been effective; for, no fines being recorded after the first day, it is reasonably sure that no “prophane oaths” were indulged in, during the remainder of the term—at least in hearing of the court.
As a result of the many battles with the Indians, and the numerous Indian massacres which had occurred, numbers of children were left without fathers or mothers. They had no orphan asylum, but the records of the court show that homes were provided for these wards, nevertheless, by the Watauga and King’s Mountain heroes. They had no county asylum for the poor; but the county court, whose jurisdiction could be extended to meet all emergencies, “ordered” some citizen by name to “take and keep” the person named therein for the time specified. These orders contained no recital that they were made by the consent of anyone—they emanated from the inherent power and duty of the court, as it believed, to provide for the poor.
The entries and orders selected from these old records are given, in order that those who wish to know something of the views, characters and abilities of the very earliest pioneers of Tennessee, may read for themselves the views and opinions which they placed in solemn form on court records, in reference to the various matters, questions and conditions on which, as they thought, the vicissitudes of the times made it necessary for them to take action. I wish to give, at this place, two more orders of the court, before closing this chapter. At the November term, 1784, the following was entered on the record:
The Court recommend that there be a Court House built in the following manner, to wit: 24 feet square diamond corners and hewed down after the same is built up, 9 feet high between the two floors, and the body of the house 4 feet high above the upper floor, each floor to be neatly laid with plank. The roof to be of joint shingles neatly hung on with pegs, a Justices bench, A lawyers and a Clerks bar, also a Sheriffs box to sit in.