By 1814, Arkansas was a county within the Territory of Missouri. Because of its great distance from St. Louis and because of the large area it covered, Congress established a General Court, to meet at Arkansas Post, which would have jurisdiction over the County of Arkansas. The General Court had more jurisdiction than the other county courts. Cases were not appealable from it to the Superior Court of the Territory of Missouri. Judge George C. Bullitt, a lawyer, from Ste. Genevieve, was appointed to preside over this court. Judge Bullitt was the first lawyer-judge to preside at the Arkansas Post.

On July 11, Judge Bullitt ordered the new court clerk, John Dodge, to issue a venire writ to Sheriff Daniel Mooney, commanding him to summon 24 "good and lawful men" of the county to be present at the Post on the first Monday in September. Sheriff Mooney returned the writ stating the names of the grand jurors he had summoned: John McClain, Simon Miller Sr., William Glass, Zacheus Phillips, Sylvanus Phillips, Alexander Kendrick, John W. Hunt, Isaac Harkins, Townsend Webb, John McElmurry, Curtis Wilborn, John Billingsley, William Frasure, Robert Hughes, Edmund Hogan, Simon Miller Jr., Harold Stillwell, James and Hewes Scull, Joseph Bougy, Francois Michel, Joseph Dereaussau, John Larkey and Joseph Darden. Note that the five French grand jurors are added on at the end, as though as a last resort.

Court convened on the 5th of September. Only half of the grand jurors summoned appeared. Absent were Simon Miller, Zacheus and Sylvanus Phillips, Alexander Kendrick, John Hunt, Isaac Harkins, Townsend Webb, Edmund Hogan, William Miller (this must have been either Simon Sr. or Jr.), Harold Stillwell, James Scull and Joseph Dereaussau. In their places were appointed Patrick Cassidy, Seth Dean, Elisha Wilborne, Benjamin Murphy, James Newall, Joseph Stillwell, Benjamin Ross, Christian Pringle, John Webster, Christopher Kauffman, William Smith and John Madox. John Webster, however, was released from jury duty because he had just been appointed a constable.

The same day, the grand jury returned with an indictment of Alexander Puard, whom they charged with murder. The next day the trial took place. Puard was charged with stabbing "Chelish otherwise called the Leggins a Cherokee Indian" with "a certain knife made of Iron & Steel of the value of one dollar" at the St. Francis settlement on August 28. Henry Cassidy was the prosecutor. Puard pled not guilty and was found to be so by the jury, whereupon the court discharged him. Serving on Puard's jury were William Morrison, Peter Lefevre, James Currin, Darwell Rogers, Benjamin Kirkandell, Isaac East, John Bell, John Maddox, Davis Hackenton, Martin Hackenton, Augustus Pinoe, and John McKee. The record book does not indicate that Puard was represented by counsel.

Other crimes for which the grand jury returned indictments included the theft of "a negro woman," hog stealing, and numerous instances of assault and battery.

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