Madison* From 1844 to 1852
Henry Deputy was a large man, of dark complexion and with black hair and beard. He was affected in his voice and manners and very particular in his dress. He wore shirts with ruffled fronts and was seldom on the street with hands ungloved. He was long in the service of Sheriff Rea, first as clerk and barkeeper in the old hotel that stood on the south side of the public square, and afterwards as deputy sheriff.
The late Dr.Cross used to tell a good story on Mr.Deputy. He said he was in the hotel one day when a Kentuckian entered, and addressing Mr.Deputy, said: " How is it that every time I come here Right Rea has a new barkeeper. What is your name, sir? " "My name, sar, is Deputy, sar." "Then, Mr.Deputy, sar, will you please , sar, hand me a cigar?" "With pleasure, sar." and he handed the Kentuckian a cigar, accompanied with a lighted match. " I tell the tale as it was told to me, " and without vouching for its truth, but it is entirely consistent with Mr.Deputy's character and manners. If there was a Beau Brummell in Madison, it was he, and if he was not a Chestrfield it was for the want of ability rather than desire.
While he was deputy sheriff he was the keeper of the jail and live in the front rooms of the jail building. One night the prisoners made an effort to escape, and had almost succeeded before they were discovered. When Mr.Deputy reached the cell door and found them engaged in picking the wall, he called out in his blandest tones: "Gentlemen, gentlemen, desist from your operations, or I shall be under the disagreeable necessity of putting hand-cuffs upon you." The "gentlemen" desisted, but whether it was the polite and persuasive manner of the officer or the fear of handcuffs that stayed their hands, is not written in the chronicles of these days.
Poor, Deputy! He afterwards became penniless, but his pride did not forsake him. I remember that on a cold day, several years after the time of which I am speaking, he came to me in the Court house an asked for money to buy a load of wood. His clothes were seedy and threadbare, and as he sat in a chair before the fire, he drew the tail of his well worn overcoat over his knees to hide the rents in his clothing. It was the ruling passion, strong in death.
Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana, by William Wesley Woollen . Indianapolis. Published by Hammond & Co. 1883. Pages 523 to 525.
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=-hIVAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PR1
* Madison is a city in Jefferson County, Indiana, along the Ohio River.
