New pamphlet tells of Pike's judicial history

A story now entering its third century, By Nick Troiano MILFORD — Pike County historian George Fluhr began a five-year journey through 220 years of local judicial history after former Judge Harold Thomson asked him about the men pictured in unlabeled portraits that hung on the walls of the county’s Milford Courthouse. The result is a concise but fascinating new pamphlet that profiles each of the 25 men who held the position of president judge in the jurisdiction that includes present day Pike County. Among those who were previously known but in dusty newspapers and now-unfamiliar photos are interesting characters of history such as Jacob Rush, Thomas Burnside and James Porter. Rush (1791), brother to a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a physician credited with stopping a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. Burnside (1816) was a member of 14th US Congress and later died while serving as an Associate Justice on the PA Supreme Court. Porter (1854) was the former Secretary of War under President Tyler and a colonel in the War of 1812. Fluhr also details the history of the court system itself. When Pike County was formed in 1814, $1,500 had to be raised for the construction of a new courthouse in Milford if it was to become the county seat. By 1815, about double that was raised and what is now the Pike County Sheriff’s office opened as a government building with the court residing on its second floor until 1873. It was on this floor where Pike’s first and only execution took place in 1897. Milford became the hub for judicial activities, and business thrived at places like the Vandermark and the Dimmick Inn. “In those early days, if you lived in Lackawaxen or Shohola and had to go to Milford for court, it was always an overnight stay because you could not get back easily,” Fluhr said. Fluhr recalled reading a story about a man who was released from the jail in Milford one afternoon, but asked to stay another night because he did not want to take the long journey back to Blooming Grove on foot after nightfall. This era was also marked by now-unthinkable behavior of local judges. Some enjoyed their favorite bottle of liquor while on the bench. Others enjoyed a good sense of humor. In the early 1800s, Fluhr says, when a petty criminal was before Associate Judge Dingman (1814) for a repeat offense, the judge, with his bare feet upon his desk, sentenced the defendant “to get off the face of the Earth.” When asked just how he could do that, the Judge replied, “Swim the river and go to Jersey.” As time passed, the system changed and grew. “It took from 1814 until 1982 before Pike County got its own judge, but only twenty years more for it to get a second,” he said. Judge Thomson was the first president judge solely for Pike County, followed by Judge Joseph Kameen in 2003. According to Judge Kameen’s recent “State of the Court” report, which can be downloaded at court.pikepa.org, the court’s docket has increased 50% between 2004 and 2008. In 2007, Gregory Chelak was elected to a new judgeship created to help meet increasing strains on the system. In sum, Fluhr said, “The whole business of crime and punishment has become much more complicated.” “Pike County’s President Judges and Judiciary” can be purchased for $3 at the County Administration building.