Inside the Courthouse	Mariposa Courthouse	The Old Pot Bellied Stove

The courthouse, constructed in 1854, is the oldest courthouse continuously in use West of the Rockies. Learn from Paul Beard, a retired school teacher, at Stop #5 about the most famous trial held in the courthouse: John C. Fremont vs The Merced Mining Company. Hear, too, the story of the sheriff and his prisoner who "jumped out the courthouse window" to escape a "lynch mob" that didn't want to wait for a jury verdict. See photos and learn of the bell tower, its mechanism, the Judges' Bench which accommodated three judges, cattle branding and rustling (still being done today), a courtroom which looks like something out of the past with lanterns on the walls and ceiling, the "unique" circumstances under which the jury meets (even today) to deliberate, and an original "pot-belly" stove.

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review of this Stop.