Hi,
I'm researching an individual who owned much of my hometown in Texas in the
late 1880's and early 1890's. The strange thing about this man, whose name
was Bemm (or Bem or Ben or Benjamin) Scott, is that during much of the time he
owned my hometown, he was a prisoner in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan
City in nearby La Porte County. I was able to find his prisoner record from
the Indiana State Archives and it said that Mr. Scott was imprisoned for
committing murder in St. Joseph County, Indiana. I know nothing else about
the crime, other than he was convicted in 1889 and sentenced to five years in
prison and he was eventually pardoned in 1892. This is written on the
prisoner record.
I would very much like to know the details of this crime. I tried writing
to the courthouse there, but they said that they don't do searches for that
sort of thing anymore. I thought perhaps there was a record of the trial, a
transcript, or some other kind of record that would give me more information
about why Mr. Scott was convicted, why he was pardoned, who he was accused of
murdering, etc. Can anyone help me out with this? Does anyone do lookups at
the courthouse there? If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it very very
much. Thanks.
Duston Brooks