| "Fulton
County Court House" | |
 Bell Tower
the future holding of school in the building. Obviously, the courthouse did a lot more than serve justice in the early years of the county. In the spring of 1812, one of the most famous trials ever to be held in the courthouse was held. Alexander Sheldon, a former Speaker of the State Assembly, had charged that one Solomon Southwick of the Town of Charleston had attempted to bribe him to vote in favor of incorporating the Bank of America in New York City. Southwick retained Aaron Burr as well as three other lawyers to defend him. By that time, Burr was one of the best known men in America, having served as an officer in the army during the Revolutionary War, as a senator and as the Vice-President of the country. Additionally, he had killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804 and been tried (and acquitted) of a charge of treason in 1807. There was a great public interest, and a large |
crowd attended the trial. One spectator, described Burr when he entered the Court Room as a small man with a large head, neatly dressed, with his powered hair in a queue, and followed by a black servant carrying an armful of books. Despite Burr's unsavory reputation and a somewhat theatrical efforts of the prosecution, Southwick was acquitted of the charge. A year after the Southwick - Sheldon case, four slaves were publicly sold in front of the courthouse, bringing but $450.00 for their lives. In November of 1836, the Sheriff of the county was directed to refuse further use of the property for any meeting to discuss or lecture on slavery, "believing that such discussions are calculated to disturb the public peace." Thankfully, that did not end discussions of the matter in the county; however, it properly took such discussions from the seat of impartial justice. The first recorded mention of a separate building to house the County Clerk occurred in a resolution of the Board of Supervisors adopted on October 22, 1813, appointing a committee to apply to the legislature for authority to erect a fireproof county clerk's building at the southeast corner of the courthouse at a price not to exceed $600. (Building costs, you may note, have risen somewhat since those days.) In the fall of 1814, the Supervisors authorized the purchase of furniture and a stove for this new structure. And, in 1817, the Board authorized the purchase of a "dye and impression to stamp the seal of the county and court upon the process and proceedings thereof." On October 6, 1826, the Sheriff was directed to purchase and install |
 The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York | |
