Congress hall; . ell, nor ThompsonWestcott who made a thorough search of the newspapers andmost other sources of contemporary information, was able toascertain. Some further light can now, however, be the printed report of the trial, in 1809, of General MichaelBright, before Judges Bushrod Washington and Richard Peters,in the Circuit Court of the United States, an important casewhich involved a question of jurisdiction between the State ofPennsylvania and the United States Government, and whoseevents of a very warlike nature caused the house at the north-west corner of Seventh and Arc
Congress hall; . ell, nor ThompsonWestcott who made a thorough search of the newspapers andmost other sources of contemporary information, was able toascertain. Some further light can now, however, be the printed report of the trial, in 1809, of General MichaelBright, before Judges Bushrod Washington and Richard Peters,in the Circuit Court of the United States, an important casewhich involved a question of jurisdiction between the State ofPennsylvania and the United States Government, and whoseevents of a very warlike nature caused the house at the north-west corner of Seventh and Arch streets to be known as FortRittenhouse, upon page 201, there appears an affidavit ofThomas Passmore, an auctioneer of the city. He deposedthat, on Sunday last, the 30th of April, ultimo, between fiveand six oclock in the afternoon, as he was standing near thedoor of the County Court House, at the corner of Sixth andChestnut streets, he heard some voices calling from the balcony 28 30 o ?v I O HO 33> •o I. of the Court House, Corless, thats wrong. Upon lookinground this deponent saw Matthias Corless, who this deponentunderstood was one of the jurors in the case of the UnitedStates against Bright and others, passing from the said CourtHouse across the street towards the Shakespere Hotel, atavern situate at the northwest corner of Sixth and Chestnutstreets. That court was therefore sitting here in 1809. Thedirectory for 1809 says that the Orphans Court then sat onthe third Friday of every month at the County Court jurisdiction of the Orphans Court was at that time ex-ercised by the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, who werealso the judges of the Courts of Oyer and Terminer and of theQuarter Sessions. It is probable, therefore, that the UnitedStates Courts and the Common Pleas, with its accessories,commenced their sessions here soon after the building wassurrendered by the Congress, and presumably the CommonPleas continued to hold its sessions in the building un
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidcongresshall, bookyear1895
