USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Granby > A history of the copper mines and Newgate Prison, at Granby, Conn. Also, of the captivity of Daniel Hayes, of Granby, by the Indians, in 1707 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
On the 6th of November 1782, the prison buildings were once more destroyed by fire; but how, or by what means the fire was communicated, does not appear. No doubt, however, exists that the conflagration was by design, in order to facilitate the escape of the tories who were there in confinement. Dming the progress of the fire, one Abel Davis, who was a sergeant of the guard, opened the hatches and suffered as many of the prisoners, as were so disposed, to escape from the prison. A large number of them did escape, most of whom were re-captured in the neighbor- hood and secured. Davis, who seems to have been vely illiterate, and altogether unfit for the station which he held, was convicted of the offence of aiding in the escape, and sentenced to a fine and imprisomnent in the county jail.
26
NEWGATE PRISON.
The prisoners remaining after this conflagration, with those subsequently re-taken, were removed to the jail in Hartford. The prison was not repaired, nor used again until 1790. Indeed, it would seem that, at this time, the project of keeping up a prison at this place was abandoned altogether. No measures were taken to repair it,- - on the contrary, in May 1784, all the property remaining at the prison and saved from the fire, consisting of iron, timber, clo -. thing, &c. was ordered by the legislatitre to be sold, and the avails paid into the treasury. Little else but disaster bad attended the prison from its establishment. More than one half of all the prisoners committed to it had escaped, and during the nine years of its continuance, the buildings con- nected with it had been destroyed by fire three times. In no respect had the prison been properly constructed or secured. The buildings were of wood, and so exposed as to be easily fired from without. Prison building in those days, as well as prison discipline, was not so well under- stood as at the present time. All the jails in the state were then constructed of wood.
And yet this prison had a reputation abroad for great strength and security. Its fame had spread through the country far and wide. For a long time it was considered the strongest prison in the United States. In 1775, Gen. Washington sent to it some prisoners for safe custody, whom he deemed such " atrocions villains," as to require a stronger place for their confinement than could be found near his camp .* And, in 1781, Congress proposed to make these
* Letter from Gen. Washington, to the Committee of Safety, Simsbury.
Cambridge, December 11, 1775.
GENTLEMEN ;-- The prisoners which will be delivered you with this, hav- ing been tried by a court-martial, and deemed to be such flagrant and atro. cious villains that they cannot by any means be set at large or confined in any place near this camp, were sentenced to be sent to Symsbury in Connecticut. You will therefore be pleased to have them secured in your jail, or in auch other manner as to you shall seem necessary, so that they cannot possibly make their escape. The charges of their imprisomnent will be at the Con- tinental expense.
1 am &c. GEORGE WASHINGTON.
17
NEWGATE PRISON.
mines " a state prison for the reception of British prisoners of war, and for the purpose of retaliation ;" and asked from the Governor of this state a plan and estimates of expense. . Governor Trumbull laid the matter before the General Assembly, who assented to the proposition, and requested him to furnish for Congress the plan and estimates required. What these were, do not appear, but the subject was drop- ped, probably for the reason that soon after this time a ter- mination of the war was anticipated.
Mention has already been made of the confinement of tories in this prison. No person of this description was imprisoned here until 1780, when an Act was passed author- ising the superior court to sentence to confinement in New- gate, such persons as should be convicted of certain specified crimes against the government not amounting to treason, but which consisted of certain overt acts deemed prejudicial to the cause of independence. Courts Martial too, exercised the power of sentencing to this prison persons found guilty of similar offenses. The whole number of persons, called tories, imprisoned, did not, it is believed, exceed forty. At one time there were upwards of twenty in the prison, all of whom, as before stated, escaped on the ISth of May 1781. Among them were persons of some note and distinction. The leader of this rebellion was a Captain Peter Sackett, who had rendered himself notorious, as well as extremely obnoxious, by his adherence to the cause of the British government.
A new Act, more perfect and specific in its details than the former one, was passed in 1790, constituting the caverns at these mines, with a small quantity of land over them, a state prison, denominated, as before, Newgate. The act provided for the appointment of three overseers, who were directed to cause a workshop and a dwelling honse for the keeper to be erected, and to enclose them with a piquet wall or fence,-and to appoint a keeper, with a guard not exceed- ing ten persons, to manage and protect the prison. The expense of rebuilding it was limited to.£750. Persons con- victed of burglary. robbery, horse-stealing, counterfeiting,
2*
18
NEWGATE PRISON.
passing counterfeit money, knowing it to be such, and aid- ing in the escape of convicts from the prison, were to be confined at hard labor in this place for a term of years, or, in some cases, during the life of the culprit. Subsequently, for a few other crimes, the offender was subjected to impris- onment here.
The HIon. John Treadwell, and Roger Newberry, and Pliny Hillyer Esq. were appointed the overseers. A large workshop and a dwelling house, both of brick, were con- structed, together with sundry other buildings of minor con- sequence. Under the west end of the dwelling house was a small room well secured by massive stone walls, from which led the only passage to the caverns beneath. This entrance was perforated through a solid rock, and contained a ladder by which passage to or from the caverns was made. The mouth of this entrance, as was also the one leading into this room from the guard-room above, was well secured by a trap door with lock and heavy bolts. A wooden fence, furnished with spikes on the top, enclosed these buildings with about half an acre of land for a yard.
The prison was finished in October 1790, and Major Peter Curtiss was appointed the keeper, to whom with a guard of ten men was committed its management.
From this time, the affairs of the prison assumed a new aspect. The prison was more securely built, and better managed than at any former period. Escapes from it were rare, and there were no instances of a general rebellion, or an entire clearing out of its inmates as formerly.
The system of discipline and employment, as at first adopted, continued to be followed, with but slight varia- tions, until the removal of the convicts to the new state prison in 1827. As a general rule, the prisoners were lodged in the caveras. At day light, they were taken up and removed to the work shop, where they remained until four o'clock P. M., when they were returned to the cavern .. They took their meals in the work shop. These consisted of coarse food prepared in the prison, which was dealt out to them by rations. Nearly all of them wore fetters strongly
19
NEWGATE PRISON.
rivetted to their ankles. The most refractory, and desperate of their number, were more heavily ironed. In general, when at work, they were chained at their respective blocks in the shop, and a portion of them were secured by an extra chain leading from a band around the neck to a beam in the building.
The punishment for misconduct, or offences committed in the prison, was whipping, short rations, extra ironing, and, in some specified cases designated by statute, an addi- tional term of imprisonment. Each prisoner had a fixed amount of work to perform each day. Those who did extra work had the benefit of it in an allowance on the bills of costs incurred in their prosecutions.
At first, all the prisoners were employed in making wrought nails, the iron for which was procured at Canaan and Salisbury. This business was followed during the whole time of the continuance of the prison at this place, and was, for many years, the chief occupation of the con- victs. A few other branches of manufacture were carried on, though not extensively. After 1820, a large number of the convicts were employed in the manufacture of shoes, wagons and various other articles, by which a greater profit was derived than from the nail making business. Indeed, the manufacture of nails at this place had always been attended with loss to the state.
In 1802, a substantial stone wall, twelve feet high, was built around the premises, having a gate which was never opened except by a sentinel under arms on duty. This wall was built by Colonel Calvin Barber of Simsbury. All the guards when on duty were under arms, and prepared at all times to use their weapons in any conflict or outbreak that might happen. Their number, at first ten, was subse- quently increased to seventeen. The government, as well as the duties of the guard, partook strongly of a military character.
Additional buildings were subsequently erected. About 1815, a two story building, nearly fifty feet long, was put upin the south east corner of the yard. The lower story
20
NEWGATE PRISON.
was appropriated for cells, and the upper one for a chapel in which divine service was thereafter usually held once on each Sunday. Adjoining this on the west, was another building of about the same length, the lower story of which was occupied for a cooper's shop, hospital and kitchen, and the upper story as a shoe maker's shop. In the northeast corner of the yard was ancther building used for making wagons. The cells above mentioned being weakly cou- structed, were not much used. Still Jater, abont 1824, a large edifice of stone and brick was built on the westerly side of the yard, which contained a tread mill, with the usnal appurtenances for grinding grain, -- a mauber of ; trong cells,-apartments for female convicts .- a kitchen, office, Ne. This building was created chiefly In convict laber. The tread mill, however, like all other similar ones, proved a failure-the labor of working it being found too expensive for the state, and quite too cruel for the convicts.
In the basement story of the guard-house, and near the entrance to the caverns, was a strongly built apartment about fifteen feet square, called the "jug." This room was used at first for the sick, and occasionally as a lodging room for that class of prisoners who were known to be well dispo- sed, and from whom no danger of attempting an escape was appréhended. The other prisoners were lodged in the cav- erns, where their beds consisted of two large platforms sup- plied with straw and a few blankets. The novice in crime, and the most hardened villain, were thus promiscuously huddled together withont any restraint, or immediate over- sight by any of the guard during the night season.
The number of criminals in confinement after 1800, varied from about forty-five to sixty, until 1821, when the number of offenses, punishable by confinement in Newgate, was considerably increased by legislative enactments. This, with the increase of crime, and the change about this time of the law relating to the punishment of female convicts, by which they were subjected to imprisonment here in the same manner as, for similar offenses, the males were, caused a considerable addition to the number of prisoners. In
21
NEWGATE PRISON.
1827, when they were removed to the new prison at Weth- ersfield, they amounted to one hundred and twenty-seven.
The prison was never able to support itself from the avails of convict labor. The deficiency, which was paid from the state treasury, varied from five thousand to over thirteen thousand dollars per annum. It would average about seven thousand dollars a year, including outlays for new buildings.
The state having provided a new prison at Wethersfield, all the prisoners were removed so as to commence operations there on the first of October 1827. The old prison, with its buildings and some five acres of land, were sold in 1830, to the Phoenix Mining Company, for twelve hundred dollars.
This place was greatly resorted to by visitors, and espe- cially so during the winter months, when there was sleigh- ing .* Many of them descended into the caverns, and all had an opportunity to inspect generally the discipline and the labor-system of the prison. To those unaccustomed to the scene, a visit to the nail-shop presented a view extremely revolting, and to some even terrific. Here might be seen some fifty men, black and white, and so besmeared as to be hardly distinguishable, chained to their blocks, busily engaged in a noisy employment, and closely watched and guarded by a file of men under arms. Add to this, the appearance of the room with its inmates and implements, as viewed by strong lights proceeding from the various fur- naces, and the continual clatter of hammers used in forging nails,-and some idea of the scene, though necessarily an imperfect one, may be imagined.
-
Besides the revolt under Capt. Sackett, which has already been mentioned, and which was so successfully carried out, there have been several escapes, and attempts to break the prison ; a few of which are worthy of notice.
Shortly before 1800, a number of prisoners made their escape by opening one of the shafts which had been filled
* In a report made by the overseers in 1810, it is stated that the number of visitors to the prison would-average four hundred and fifty monthly.
1
22
NEWGATE PRISON.
up and, as was supposed, well secured by stones strongly bolted together. It was a work of great labor, and must have been a long while in progress.
In 1802, when the keeper and nearly all the officers and guard were sick and off duty, the prisoners, at the time of being returned to the caverns, rose upon the small remnant of guard able to be on duty, and attempted to escape. By the prompt action and indomitable courage of Mr. Dan Forward, a private, and who was indued with great mus- cular strength, the prisoners were subdued and safely secured under the hatches. It is supposed that this revolt was ill matured, or not generally known, for it did not commence until a large portion of the convicts had descended into the caverns. Had it been well managed, it would, probably, have succeeded, as the guard was too weak to quell a gen- eral rebellion on an occasion like this.
There was another rebellion in 1806. Nearly all the convicts employed in the nail shop had been supplied with pewter keys, with which to unlock their fastenings, manu- factured by some very skillful mechanics then in prison. At a given signal, the convicts were to unlock the chains which confined them to their stations, and make a concerted attack upon the guard. The signal was given-the men released themselves-and two of them connnenced the attack by siezing the officer on duty so suddenly as to disable him from using his weapons in defense. A short senfile ensued, during which one of the guard, not on duty in that shop, ran to the place and shot one of the ring leaders, a negro, dead upon the spot. This event so disheartened the rest that they immediately returned to their places and sued for mercy.
In the spring of 1822, nearly all the prisoners, then amounting to over one Indred, concerted a plan to over- power the guard and effect their escape. The time selected for the attempt was during the temporary absence of the keeper and three of the guard ;- the force remaining on dnty being fourteen persons. Their plan was to have a general rising in all the shops at a given signal. The sig-
23
NEWGATE PRISON.
nal was given in the nail shop, when the attack commenced. One of the guard was knocked down and his arms taken from him, and another was seized and mastered. During . the scuffle which ensued, a reinforcement arrived upon the ground. Two of the insurgents were shot at and wounded, though not mortally, which terminated the affiay. There was no outbreak in the other shops-probably the signal was not heard.
On the night preceding the removal of the prisoners to the new prison in Wethersfield, one of the convicts, by the name of Starkey, was killed in attempting to make his escape. The shaft, used for a well, communicated with one of the caverns about seventy feet below the surface of the earth. The top of this shaft was well secured by a hatch, which it was intended should be always fastened down in the night season. On this evening, the well was left open, and, as appearances would indicate, by design. Starkey attempted to ascend by climbing the rope used for drawing water. In making the ascent, the rope broke, by which he was precipitated to the bottom, where he was found dead.
The convicts, while at this prison, generally enjoyed good health. With but a single exception, which was readily accounted for by local causes, no contagious disease had ever occurred here. The caverns, as a lodging place, were generally deemed conducive to health. Those afflicted with cutaneous diseases were often cured. The temperature was uniform at all seasons of the year, being, as indicated by the thermometer, at about fifty-two degrees.
The inmates of this prison formed a motley group. Amongst them might be found rognes of high celebrity- the most hardened and reckless-the cunning and adroit -- and often mechanics and artizans gifted with ingenuity and skill of a high order. Persons well educated, with a large class of the most illiterate and degraded-negroes and whites-young and old-were all to be found here as com- mon associates, and generally as bed-fellows.
Some of the prisoners obtained a high reputation for their
21
NEWGATE PRISON.
rognery. One, by the name of Newman, published an ac- count of his long career in crime and prison-breaking which, if true, would entitle him to the highest rank among vil- lains. He was, at times, quite successful in playing off his ' deceptions. While in this prison, before his pranks were discovered, he avoided labor by feigning sickness. He could at any time raise blood, which his attendants supposed pro- ceeded from his lungs. By feigning other symptoms of a pulmonary decline, he had strongly enlisted the sympathy of the guard, and was exempted from labor. His object was to avert the vigilance of his keepers, and thereby effect his escape. Being foiled in this, he proceeded still further and feigned fits. He contrived to manage these tricks so well, that it was some time before the deception was dis- covered. Succeeding in none of his deceptions practices, he was, after all his trouble, compelled to serve out the term of his imprisonment. In another prison, by counter- feiting death, he came very near effecting his escape ;- at least it is so stated in his memoir.
Another convict, by name Parker, after his release from prison, had extraordinary success in deceiving the weak- minded, by assuming the name and identity of persons who, by long absence from their friends, were supposed to be dead. He passed, for some time, as the long lost son of an aged pair; and, at another time, imposed himself upon a woman as her husband who had been absent many years. Ile also at times pretended to be a clergyman, and had some snecess in this branch of his deceptive career.
A prisoner by the name of Corson, after his discharge, in 1826, published an account of his exploits, from which, it would appear, that his character for villainy was well earned, and correctly bestowed,-and that the safety of the public required a permanent abode for him in some strong prison.
But, one of the most desperate and dangerous of the gang was a convict of the name of Sloan, who, in IS21, was son- teneed for a long term of years for passing counterfeit money, a large amount of which was also found in his possession. While in Hartford jail, before his commitment to Newgate,
1770922
NEWGATE PRISON. 25
he nearly effected his escape by a bold and daring plot. Indued with extraordinary muscular power -- and being reckless and courageous, yet cool and circumspect-be became one of the most dangerous and troublesome prison- ers at Newgate. He was the leader in all insurrections, and was kept in subjection only by loading him heavily with irons. In attempting to make his escape, he struck down one of the guard, injuring him severely, for which outrage he was subjected to an additional term of imprisonment.
The annals of Newgate furnish many incidents of an interesting character. Some of them, depending on tradi- tion, are so intermixed with fiction as to become nearly val- neless, and will soon pass into oblivion. A larger portion, resting on better authority, remain, and fornish a mass of information worthy of preservation.
As a place for criminals, this prison never fully answered the purposes intended by the government. The guilty were indeed punished-but rarely over reformed. The free intercourse among all classes of offenders, allowed during the night season, was well calculated to make all adopts in roguery, and better fitted than ever for a new career in crime, when, at the termination of imprisonment, they should again mix with the world. No system, aiming at the reformation of an offender, could be worse than this. Under such a schooling, reformation could hardly be expected ;-- it cer- tainly was never realized to any considerable extent. Few, if any, left the prison better men, or more favorably dispo- sed to regard the rights of society, or obey its laws. As a general rule, the convicts left the prison more hardened, and more disposed than ever to engage in new criminal enterprises, and with a better know ledge of the manner both of committing offenses, and evading detection.
The state having erected a new prison at Wethersfield, which was completed in September 1827, all the prisoners remaining were removed from Newgate to this prison on the 30chi of that month ; - a few of them having previously been taken ont to work on the new prison.
persons appointed overseers of the prison, from its
-2
26
NEWGATE PRISON.
first establishment, were,-Erastus Wolcott, Josiah Bissell, Jonathan Humphry, Asahel Holcomb, James Forward, Matthew Griswold, Roger Newbury, John Treadwell, Pliny Hillyer, Samuel Woodruff, Martin Sheldon, Reuben Barker, Jonathan Pettibone Jr. and Thomas K. Brace.
Keepers :- John Viets,* Peter Curtiss, Major Reuben Humphreys, Col. Thomas Sheldon, Salmon Clark, Charles Washburn, Elam Tuller, Alexander HI. Griswold and Andrew Denison.
* Mr. Viets, who was appointed by the General Assembly, resigned in 1776. From this time, until 1752, the office was held by a number of per- sons,-the keeper being the chief officer of the guard for the time being. Under the new act of 1790, the keepers were appointed by the overseers. Mr. Curtiss was the first one appointed after this time.
CAPTIVITY OF DANIEL HAYES,
BY THE INDIANS.
IN the fall of 1707, DANIEL HAYES, at the age of twenty- two years, was taken by the Indians and carried captive into Canada. He resided at Salmon brook, now the central part of Granby, which, being at that time the northern point of settlement in the town, was peculiarly exposed to sudden invasions by the Indians. The circumstances attending this transaction, as preserved by tradition, are as follows .*
Some two or three years before Hayes was taken, he was at a house-raising in Weatange, when, very inconsiderately, and out of mere wanton sport, he cut off the tail of a dog belonging to an Indian, who, a stranger and entirely unknown, happened to be present. The master of the dog, though he uttered no complaint, manifested such emotions of ill will and revenge, that Hayes, before they separated, deemed it prudent for himself to attempt to pacify him. He sought therefore a reconciliation, by proposing to drink together, and offered, moreover, reparation for the injury. But the Indian rejected all overtures, and left the ground, evidently in a surly and unreconciled mood of mind, and,
* The materials from which this account is compiled, were obligingly com- municated to the author by Samuel H. Woodruff and Ardon B. Holcomb Esi'ts, of Granby. Of the general correctness of the narrative, no reasonable doubt can be entertained,-as the facts have been derived, not only from the descendants of Mr. Hayes, but also from several aged people, all of whom concur in their statements regarding the main and important features of the transaction.
28
CAPTIVITY OF DANIEL HAYES.
probably, with malice and revenge deeply impressed upon his heart. Nothing afterwards being heard of the Indian or his dog, the cireminstance, in a short time, if not forgot- ten, became unheeded. But, the events which follow were supposed to result from this affair .*
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.