1824.] HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 355 



long, tliey set forth the fact of the effort of Radnor to be at- 

 tached to Montf^omery County ; the dihipidated condition of the 

 jail ; the insalubrity of the air at Chester to persons from the 

 upper parts of the County ; the danger of the records from at- 

 tack by an enemy ; the badness of the water, &c. " And finally," 

 they sa}', " to satisfy the Legislature that nothing is asked for 

 by the petitioners which would throw any unreasonable expense 

 on the County, assurances are given by one of the inhabitants — 

 perfectly responsible and competent to the undertaking — that 

 he will give an obligation to any one authorized to receive it, 

 conditioned to erect the public buildings upon any reasonable 

 and approved plan, for the sum of fiftfen thousand dollars, to be 

 paid in seven years by instahnents — if the convenience of the 

 County should require credit — and to take the present buildings 

 and lot at Chester at a fair valuation as part pay." 



This petition was drawn up by Robert Frazer, Esq., then a 

 prominent lawyer, residing in the upper part of the County, and 

 was signed by 912 citizens. The number who signed the remon- 

 strance is not known, but as a matter of course with both repre- 

 sentatives opposed to removal, no legislation favorable to that 

 measure was obtained, and it is only wonderful that the remo- 

 valists should press the matter under such circumstances. What 

 is remarkable, the people of Radnor appeared to relax their 

 efforts to obtain legislation to authorize the township to be an- 

 nexed to Montgomery County. 



At the next election, John Lewis and William Cheyney, both 

 removalists, were elected members of the Assembly, but from 

 some cause they failed in obtaining the much-desired law 

 authorizing the seat of justice to be removed to a more central 

 situation. The question after this effort, appears to have been 

 allowed to slumber for a time. It was, however, occasionally 

 discussed, and the removalists maintained a strict vigilance to 

 prevent any extensive repairs being made to the public buildings 

 at Chester. 



In February, 1822, a remarkably high freshet occurred in all 

 the streams of Delaware County, chiefly caused by the rapid 

 melting of a deep snow. The mill-ponds were covered with a 

 thick ice at the time, which was broken up and occasioned con- 

 siderable damage in addition to that caused by the great height 

 of the water in the creeks. 



In 1824 one of the most brutal murders on record was com- 

 mitted at the residence of Mary Warner, in L^^pper Darby, upon 

 a young married man named William Bonsall. The family con- 

 sisted of Mrs. Warner, Bonsnll and his wife. Three men entered 

 the house late at night with the object of committing a burglary, 

 and although Bonsall was sick and made no resistance, one of 



