Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

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PIONEER HISTORY OF INGIIAM COUNTY

day of his death, on all occasions of state, he wore the silk plug hat
he had for his wedding.
ALAIEDON NOTES, JULY 3, 1873.
As much attention is being given to anything pertaining to
pioneer days, I will give you a sketch of a circumstance that occurred in this county in 1844 or '45. John Douglas, who then and
now resides in the township of Alaiedon, became involved in law,
and with their crude ideas of criminal jurisprudence it became
necessary, in order to vindicate the majesty thereof, that he be
sent to jail, at least that was the sentence of the honorable court.
Here was a dilemma. There was not a pair of horses on that
side the swamp, and catch old John walking to Jackson (Ingham
county had no jail then) for the purpose of going to jail when he
got there. Never. The constable, Mr. Cooper, was equal to the
emergency. He got two yoke of oxen hitched to a sled (in the
month of July) and drove to Douglas' cabin. He saw them coming and scorning to run backed off to a pair of board bars and
clasping his arms around one of the boards coolly awaited the
result. Cooper and his assistant executed a flank movement,
took the bar out of the posts and with John still hanging to it
put it on the sled and started for Jackson. They came in that
manner to Hiram Parker's between Mason and Dansville, where
they got him and his ox cart and sent the sled back home. In the
town of Bunkerhill the constable pressed the father of the writer
of this article, with his horses and wagon, into service, and carried their prisoner through. Think of that! Taking six oxen,
two horses and four men two whole days to get a prisoner to Jackson. Now the same job can be done by one man in two hours.
I do not believe there was ever a merrier party went to jail. All
were full of fun except the constable, who was apprehensive of
an escape or a release, but John told him he would not leave him
half as soon as he would want him to. They left the prisoner
safely in the hands of the sheriff at Jackson, and started back, but
the first man the constable saw when he got into the "settlement"
was John Douglas. One of the Mason lawyers had got there and