James Boyd, Perry County, Indiana

In 1843 James Boyd, a Scotch-Irishman of Boston, who had just become a shareholder in the company (American Cannel Coal Company), erected a large store building on the river-front close to the north bank of Casselberry Creek, and somewhat later built his residence in the block below, between Taylor and Washington Streets; a long, low structure which stood until the early seventies, shaded by a picturesque weeping willow tree harmonizing with its cottage type of architecture. This house is shown in a lithographic view of Cannelton, of which only one copy is known to exist, reproduced from a pencil drawing made about 1850-52, from the cliff back of Hawesville by a Louisville artist whose name is not preserved, although Captain Joseph W. Carlton, of Hawesville, who was a lad with him when he made the sketch, recalled the circumstances with perfect distinction sixty years later.

The burning of Boyd's store by incendiaries led to an indictment for arson against William Ritchey, who was brought for trial before Judge Embree in Rome at the May term of court, 1844, James Lockhart as prosecutor represented the state, Samuel Ingle, of Evansville, appearing for the defendant, who received a two-year sentence upon conviction. An appeal to the Supreme Court was taken by Ingle, on the ground that no value of the store burned had been alleged in the declaration. A reversal of decision was handed down, followed by a re-indictment and a second trial which resulted in Ritchey's acquittal.

Close to the former site, or at the south-east corner of Taylor and Front Streets, another store was erected, of such durable materials as to be practically fire-proof, its massive rock walls and slate roof - with the inscription "Built by James Boyd, 1844" deeply carved into the stone lintel of the central doorway - remaining a landmark along the river-front for three-score years, or long after its disuse as a business house. In 1904 the Cannelton Flouring Mills put up their modern four-story manufacturing edifice on the Boyd corner and a portion of the original stonework is now comprised in the walls of their boiler room.