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Fort Wayne Sentinel, The (Fort Wayne, Indiana) > 1899 > June > 19
Porter County's Primitive Temple of Justice Torn Down
.. demise of Hoosierdom's oldest and mot uniquie building, ..first temple of justice,
took place in the business center of Valparaiso in broad daylight not long ago. .. first
session held in October of 1836 a the home of John Saylor , just across the street from
the present courthouse. .. was built in 1937
In this building John Pelton , the only man ever sentenced to death in Porter county, was
tried and convicted of murdering Francis Stanes and was hanged in 1838 from a tree on the
site of the Valparaiso high school building . Pelton's was the first legal execution
of record in Northern Indiana.
ROAK
Alicia