166 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI ern boundary of the county. Le Sieur town- ship was to include all the remainder of the county. New Madrid coimty was made a part of the southern circuit at the time the territory was divided into judicial circuits, the presid- ing judge being Hon. Richard S. Thomas, of Jackson. The first session of court in New Madrid county was held in December, 1815, in the house of William Montgomery in Big Prairie. Colonel John D. Walker was sheriff and Greer W. Davis was circuit attorney. The most important case was that of the United States vs. William Gordon, for mur- der. Gordon was convicted and, afterwards, hanged. In 1831 St. Johns township was formed in the eastern part of the county to include the territory along St. Johns Bayou. In 1834 Little Prairie to'S'nship was organized and in 1839 Pemiscot township ; in 1842 Woodland was erected from the south part of Big Prairie township and at the same time Big Lake township was formed from parts of Le Sieur and Little Prairie; Woodland towTiship was divided in 1845, a part of it being attached to Big Prairie and the other part to New Ma- drid. When Pemiscot county was organized in 1851 the size of New Madrid comity was considerably reduced and no more townships were organized until 1874, when Portage township was formed. The court house was destroyed by fire in 1895 and since that time no special building for the use of the courts has been provided by the county. An effort has been made on sev- eral occasions to vote bonds for the erection of a court house and the measure has always been defeated. The last attempt was made in 1911; it failed, however, through the oppo- sition of Lilbourn, Marston and some of the ether towns of the coimtv which desire a change of the coimty seat from New Madrid. At the present time the court offices are dis- tributed in various buildings in the city of New Madrid. We have seen that in 1815 the territorial legislature divided the county of New Madrid and established, out of the western part of that coimty, a new county to be known as Lawrence. Its boundaries were described as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of Little Red river on the line dividing said county from the county of Arkansas ; thence with said line to the river St. Francois; thence up the river St. Francois to the division line between the coimties of Cape Girardeau and New Ma- dried ; thence with said last mentioned line to the western boundary of the Osage pur- chase ; thence with the last mentioned line to the northern boimdary of the county of Ar- kansas ; thence with the last mentioned line to the place of beginning." A commission was appointed to fiix the seat of justice, but in December, 1818, an act was passed which abol- ished this county and created another one. The new county was to include the eastern part of Lawrence county and the southwest part of the county of Cape Girardeau. Its boimdaries were described as follows: "Be- ginning at the southeast corner of the county of Madison running southwesterly on the road which divides the waters of Crooked creek and Castor imtil it strikes the edge of the Big Swamp between Jenkin's creek and Castor; thence west to the river Castor; thence down the main channel of the said river Castor until it strikes New Madrid county line ; thence south so far that a due west line will leave the plantation of Edward N. ]Iathews on the north ; thence west to the Osage boundary line ; thence north with the said line .so far that a due east line would in-
