“When I got there the fire hadn’t reached the chancery clerk’s office but it was full of smoke and fumes.” Ches Ellard, Pittsboro, recalled of the fire that destroyed the Calhoun County Courthouse 40 years ago.
Mr. Ellard, who was chancery clerk at the time, saved five abstract title books from the fire, which have been the basis of all land deeds prior to 1922.
The first entry in the abstract books Mr. Ellard salvaged from the fire was a deed from E. Gaston to the Board of Police, dated 1852, giving them 160 acres where the town of Pittsboro was located with the consideration that they located the county seat there.
The building was erected in 1856, the first for the county. A temporary building at Oldtown or Hartford served as a center for county transactions before the move was made to the present site.
The brick building with concrete columns was somewhat similar to the present building, with the courtroom upstairs and four county offices on the ground floor. It was located in the center of the present square.
Recalling the fire, which was discovered around three o’clock on the morning of Dec. 22, 1922, Mr. Ellard said the weather was clear and cold.
Joe Sheffield or Judge Bates gave the alarm, he said. “But the building was almost destroyed when we got there.”
“I went in a window to try to get to the deed records, but the smoke kept me out,” Mr. Ellard said. “The abstract books were in a case by the window, so I started throwing them out--five in all!”
“I like to got burned up,” he said. “The room, I guess it was the gases, exploded and burned the back of my head and almost all my hair. I quit breathing and jumped out the window, followed by a burst of smoke and fire.”
“The fellows outside didn’t see me for the smoke, and thought I was trapped inside for a few minutes,” he recalled.
The origin of the fire has always been a mystery, to some people, anyway. Witnesses said the fire either started in the circuit clerk’s office or in the courtroom above the office, but there were no fires left in the building and court had not been in session, he said.
Looking at the first entry in the chancery clerk’s record books are Mrs. Starks, office deputy, J.E. Williams, Jr., chancery clerk, and Mr. Ches Ellard, who was clerk when the courthouse burned in December, 1922. Mr. Ellard saved five of the abstract books from the flames, the only records not burned. They now are in the fire-proof vault in the new clerk’s office.
“Most speculation is that some fellows with liquor charges filed against them in the circuit clerk’s office set the fire to destroy the indictments,” Mr. Ellard said.
The floors of the old building were made from heart pine, and were kept oiled, “so it really burned in a hurry,” he said.
The offices were set up in various buildings in Pittsboro for several months. The county purchased Bruner’s store and the bank building, at the site of the present court house, in 1924. The buildings were rebuilt by the WPA in 1938-39.
Officials at the time of the fire were Sheriff Charlie Young, Deputy Sheriff Sam Smith, Circuit Clerk Ben Bennett, Superintendent of Education Henry Hannaford. The board of supervisors Wash Hughes of Dist. 2; O.Y. Parker, 1; W.H. McGuire, 3; S.O. Simpson, 4; Wes Edmondson, 5. A.T. Patterson was attorney for the board.
Mr. Ellard who was serving a regular term from 1920-24, had served as deputy clerk from 1916-20 under Andy Sims. He later, in 1932, was office deputy for Jack Yancy, and served as office deputy for Sheriffs Tom Williams and Scott Hardin.
John Williams Jr., present chancery clerk, in discussing the fire with Mr. Ellard, said that abstract books are still frequently used in title searches. “They have been worth thousands of dollars to property owners in the county,” Mr. Ellard said.
“Sometimes they are not too happy when they get back to the abstract titles, though,” Mr. Williams added.
The present vault at the chancery clerk’s office contains around 300 volumes, about the same amount that were in the old office, Mr. Ellard said.
But it would take more than a fire to destroy the books now for the vault is protected from fire with steel and concrete. A solid sheet is overhead, and the walls are solid concrete.
First published on June 16, 1977