USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Danbury > History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896 > Part 11
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" Here, Enoch Crosby," said she, "rise and follow me ; say nothing ; hold fast your chains."
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HISTORY OF DANBURY.
Crosby was not at first satisfied whether it were a dream or a reality, but quite willing to make his escape, he rose as he was bid and followed her. As they passed from the room there lay the sentinel extended at full length, dreaming of battles, it might be, but certainly very quiet as to the safety of his prisoner, having been drugged.
"They sleep well," said Crosby, on descending from the cham- ber to the first floor, where he could hear the loud breathing of the captain.
"I hope they'll sleep till morning," rejoined the girl. "Stay a moment till I put the key of your door into the captain's pocket."
" What !" asked Crosby, " does he keep the key himself ?"
"Yes, indeed," replied the girl. "He was determined that you should play no more Yankee tricks, as he said, while under his care."
" He must have thought me a man of some contrivance to take such precaution."
" Oh," said the girl, "I've often heard him call you the-a bad name, at least. He said he believed that you and the old boy understood one another pretty well."
" I wonder what he'll think now ?" said Crosby.
The key being once more safely in the pocket of the captain, the girl conducted Crosby out of the door, and pointing toward a mountain lying to the west, now but just discernible, "Hast- en thither," said she, " and lie concealed till the coming search is over."
"But tell me, " said Crosby, " before I go, how will you escape suspicion ?"
" Oh," said the girl, laughing, "never fear for me. I shall be out of harm's way before morning."
" One more question," said Crosby. "Who put it into your heart to deliver me ?"
"Jay is your friend," said she, waving her head. "Fare- well."
To Crosby the whole was now plain. With a light heart he directed his course toward the mountain pointed out, and before morning he was safely hid in some of its secret recesses.
When Townsend discovered the escape, with the door locked and the key in his own pocket, he was more confident than ever
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that Crosby and the devil were in league ; and he declared that he would hang him forthwith if he should catch him again.
For several days from this time Crosby wandered round the country without any certain object. He greatly wished for an interview with the Committee of Safety, but the attempt he found would be hazardous until the troops in the immediate neighborhood of Fishkill should be sent on some expedition at a distance. Besides, he began to be known, to be suspected ; and the double and treble caution which he found it necessary to exercise made his employment almost a burden. While maturing some plan by which he could effect an interview with the Committee of Safety, he called just at evening at a farm- house and requested a night's lodging. This was readily granted him, and he laid aside his pack, thankful to find a resting-place after the toils of the day. It was not long before two very large men armed with muskets entered the house. One of them started on seeing Crosby, and whispered something to his companion, to which the latter apparently assented, then turning to Crosby, said :
" I have seen you before, I think, sir."
"Probably," replied Crosby, "though I cannot say that I recollect you."
" Perhaps not ; but I am sure you were not long since at Fish- kill. Ha !"'
"The very fellow !" exclaimed the other. "You recollect how he escaped. Seize him !"
In a moment the strong hand of the first was laid upon him, and his grasp was the grasp of an Anakim, and though Crosby might have been a match for him alone, prudence forbade resist- ance. They were two, he was but one ; they were armed with muskets, he had no weapon about him.
"To-morrow," said the principal, " you shall go to headquar- ters, where, my word for it, you'll swing without much cere- mony. The committee will never take the trouble to try you again, and Townsend declares that he wishes only to come once more within gun-shot of you."
Crosby was seldom alarmed, but now he could perceive real danger. Could he be fairly tried he might escape, but to be delivered into Townsend's hands, and perhaps the Committee of Safety at a distance, he might indeed come to harm. He had
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one resort, he could show his pass, and it might save him. Accordingly, drawing it forth, he presented it to his captors.
" Read that," said he, "and then say whether I am worthy of death."
Astonishment sat on the countenances of both while they read the pass. When it was finished the principal observed :
"I am satisfied we have been deceived, others are deceived also. You are at liberty to go where you please. This is the handwriting of Mr. Jay. I know it well."
Crosby might, perhaps, have stayed where he was through the night, but his feelings were such that he preferred to seek other lodgings. Accordingly shouldering his pack, he set forth in quest of a resting-place, which at the distance of a couple of miles he was so fortunate as to obtain ; but he was destined to other troubles. Scarcely had he laid aside his pack and taken a seat near a comfortable fire before a man entered whom he was sure he had seen before. At the same time the stranger cast upon him an eye of deep scrutiny and increasing severity.
" A cool evening abroad," observed Crosby.
The stranger made no reply, but springing upon his feet darted upon him like a fiend.
"Now I know you !" exclaimed he. "I thought it was you ! You are the villain who betrayed us to the Committee of Safety ! Clear out from the house quickly or I'll call one of my neighbors, who says that if he ever sees you again he'll suck your very heart's blood."
" Ah," said Crosby, quite calm and collected, " perhaps-"
" Leave this house instantly !" vociferated the man, now nearly choked with rage. "But before you go take one pound- ing."
"A pounding !" exclaimed Crosby in contempt. " Come, then," rising like a lion from his lair ; " come !" said he, at the same time rolling up his sleeves and showing a pair of fists which resembled a trip-hammer for hardness.
" Why, we-we-ll-upon the whole," said the man, "I-I- think I'll let you off if you'll never set foot here again."
" I'll promise no such thing," said Crosby. "I'm willing to go ; indeed, I would not stay in such a habitation as this, but I'll not be driven."
Crosby well knew that prudence required his departure, and
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with some deliberation he shouldered his pack once more, and with a " good-by" left the house. At the distance of a mile he found lodgings, where he slept unmolested. On the following morning he ascertained that the Committee of Safety were alone at Fishkill, the troops having gone abroad on some expedition. Seizing the opportunity of their absence, he crossed the river, and was soon at the residence of Mr. Duer. That Crosby was in more than ordinary danger in traversing the country was apparent both to himself and Mr. Duer. He was advised, there- fore, to repair to an honest old Dutchman's, who lived in a. retired place some miles distant, and there wait until further orders. Accordingly, being furnished with a complete set of tools, he proceeded to the appointed place, and was so fortunate as to find ample employment for some time under the very roof of his host. A few days only, however, had elapsed when an express arrived bringing him a letter from Mr. Duer, summon- ing him to Fishkill. On his arrival circumstances existed which rendered it imprudent for him to tarry, and he was directed to return to the Dutchman's and wait for further orders.
A few days from that time Crosby received definite instruc- tions from the Committee of Safety to repair to Vermont on a secret expedition, and as no time was to be lost, he was obliged to bid his host adieu quite suddenly.
* *
* * * * * *
We shall not attempt to follow Crosby on his northern tour, nor to relate the many adventures with which he met during his absence. He proved of great service to the cause of his country, but often suffered much by being taken with Tories whose cap- ture he was instrumental in effecting. At length he returned to the theatre of his former operations, but he was now suspected by the Tories of being a secret friend to the Whigs and opposed to the royal cause. He was, therefore, narrowly watched, and even found it necessary to hide himself at a brother-in-law's in the Highlands. Nor was he even here secure, for on the second night after reaching his brother-in-law's residence a musket was discharged through the window at him, the ball of which grazed his neck and tore the collar of his coat. It was apparent from this circumstance that his retreat was known, but it was ren- dered quite certain a few nights after by the appearance of an armed gang at the door. Crosby heard the coming of the assail-
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ants and sprung to his gun, but before he could reach it a ruffian had snapped a pistol at his head. Fortunately it missed fire, but now a most desperate engagement followed, in which Crosby showed the most astonishing strength and agility, but numbers at length overpowered him, and he was left for dead. Life, however, was not extinct, and after the ruffians had retired Crosby in a measure came to himself, but months passed away before he was able to resume the business in which he had been engaged.
After the Revolution Enoch Crosby and his brother, Benja- min, purchased from the Commissioners of Forfeiture a farm of two hundred and fifty-six acres in the village of Southeast, where he lived during the remainder of his life. For many years he was justice of the peace, was one of the associate judges of Common Pleas in 1812-13, and supervisor of Southeast during these years. He was a deacon in the old Gilead Church, and a worthy member till the day of his death. In person he was tall, being six feet in height and rather slender.
His tombstone, near the northwest corner of the old Gilead burying-ground, bears the following inscription :
IN MEMORY OF ENOCH CROSBY, Who died June 26, 1835, Aged 85 years, 5 months and 21 days.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE EXECUTION OF ANTHONY.
THERE have been two executions in Danbury. The first was a man named Anthony, a free negro, living in Greenwich. He perhaps had no other name, as Anthony is alone used in the indictment and the warrant for execution. His crime was committed on March 7th, 1798, and he was hanged in November following.
At ten o'clock on the morning of November 8th, 1799, Anthony was removed from the jail and taken to the Congregational Church, late the Concert Hall building. The church was crowded to overflowing with spectators, as, despite the tragic character of the event, the town assumed a holiday appearance. Anthony was placed at the front, under the pulpit, during the preaching of the sermon. Rev. Timothy Langdon was the pastor, and delivered the discourse. He took for his text the thirty- fifth and thirty-sixth verses of the thirty-second chapter of Deu- teronomy : "To Me belongeth vengeance and recompense ; their foot shall slide in due time ; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the Lord shall judge His people, and repent Himself for His servants." The greater part of the sermon had a general applica- tion, and was the same as the reverend gentleman would have said in treating of the text to his regular congregation. Upon the close of this he personally addressed the prisoner. He said : " Anthony, it is by your request that I speak on this occasion, and this is the last address which I shall ever make to you. From the sentence pronounced upon you by the court, and from the preparations with which you are surrounded, you must see that you have but a very, very short time to live. Your situa- tion is truly deplorable. Whatever your crimes may have been against God and human society, yet seeing your present condi- tion, I pity you as a man, I pray for you as a Christian, and am
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now to address you as a minister of the Gospel. I must there- fore be faithful, and use great plainness of speech."
Then followed a description of the enormity of his sin, com- mitted in the light of knowledge, and after that an earnest ex- hortation to the sinner to repent, to look to Christ, to die " in a Christian temper."
We judge from these words that Anthony was in an impeni- tent frame of mind, and that he was doggedly meeting his wretched fate.
The Rev. Mr. Langdon was an eminently sensible man. In a few remarks to the "brethren and friends" present he said : " What but the sustaining grace of God has made us to differ, in our present situation, from the unhappy prisoner ? What is it owing to but this, that we have not committed enormous crimes ?"
On the close of the sermon the civil authorities carried the prisoner to the place set apart for his execution. This was at the head of Elm Street, near the pond. The gallows was erected on land belonging to Samuel Dibble, and from the fact of this execution the place took the name of " Gallows Hill."
There was a great crowd present, of course, as it was a public execution, and the first ever had here. People from quite a distance were in attendance, and nearly all the town folks were present.
Sheriff Dimon, of Fairfield, was the county sheriff, and he officiated.
At the gallows Rev. S. Blatchford, from Bridgeport, we be- lieve, made a short address, principally dwelling upon the evil of the deed, the need of repentance, the unhappy condition of the prisoner, and the justice of the law, summing up with a warning to those present to avoid sin and to seek after right- eousness.
Amos Adams, the second culprit, was executed on November 13th, 1817. A procession, accompanied by two military com- panies as guards, formed at the jail, and with the prisoner marched to the Congregational Church at the foot of West Street, where religious services were held. These consisted mainly of a full-fledged sermon, which the preacher launched at the congregation for the benefit of the prisoner. The build- ing was filled to suffocation. After the sermon the procession re-
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formed and marched up West Street on its way to the scaffold, which was erected at a point near the head of Elm Street, then an open country.
The crowd of people was immense. They came from a dis- tance of twenty-five miles to witness the execution, and as there were no railroads in that day, we may gather in what esteem a hanging was held by the populace. From the country and the neighboring towns the teams flocked into Danbury from early in the morning, many reaching here the night before in their eagerness to be on time.
The procession moved up West Street, led by fife and drum, and to their music the prisoner and his guards kept step, while the teams of visitors were in the line, and the walks filled with a dense crowd.
The ground about the scaffold was thronged with people, and all the trees in the neighborhood were filled with the more ven- turesome of the crowd. Several of the limbs gave way by the weight, precipitating the contents somewhat suddenly and pro- miscuously to the ground. Here and there were stands for the refreshment of the people, and with the exception of the scaffold, there was nothing to indicate the presence of an awful tragedy.
The cutting of the rope was done by a sword, and Adams dangled in the air, dying easily. He was but twenty-eight years of age.
CHAPTER XXII.
TO THE END OF THE CENTURY.
FROM the war to the close of the century Danbury suffered from no disturbance.
In 1784 Danbury was made a half-shire town by act of the Legislature. The following is the action of the town meeting held in August, 1784, in response to the legislative act. At an adjourned town meeting, held in Danbury, August 9th, 1784, James Seeley, Moderator, it was voted :
" The General Assembly of the State having been pleased at their last session to constitute the town of Danbury a half-shire town, agreeable to the desire of the town, as by their vote and record appears, and directed that the Superior and County Courts for the County of Fairfield should be held one half the time in town, as soon as public building necessary for the pur- pose should there be erected without expense to the County of Fairfield, this meeting taking into consideration the general advan- tages that will accrue to this part of the county in general and to the town in particular by having the act carried into execu- tion, especially as among many other privileges this town will thereby be furnished when the building shall be completed, with a very commodious house for transacting all their town business, of which they now stand in great need, and without any further expense to the town in particular-do thereby give and grant two hundred and fifty pounds, L. M. to be applied to erecting the building aforesaid, and the meeting do grant a rate or tax of twopence halfpenny on the pound on the polls and ratable estate of the inhabitants of the town to be made upon the list of 1783, and to be collected and paid to the treasurer of the town by the first day of November next, to be by him paid into the hands of a committee who may be appointed to carry on the building and to be by them appointed for that purpose. And Messrs. Edmond Washburn and James Clark were appointed
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collectors to collect and pay in the same ; and the whole of the civil authority in this town were appointed a committee to confer and agree with a committee to be appointed by the adjoining towns to inspect the building of the house and the place where to set it, and to join with them in appointing a committee to carry on the building and to set it on any of the town land where they shall think proper."
In the following year, 1785, the court-house and jail were built. In January, 1791, the jail was burned, but rebuilt the same year on the site of the present jail. The second jail was built with the proceeds of a lottery. The first Masonic lodge was instituted in Danbury in 1780. The first Baptist church, in King Street District, was organized in 1785.
In 1789 the first Methodist sermon in Danbury was delivered by Rev. Jesse Lee, in the dwelling of a resident Methodist. Methodism, now having the strongest following of any Protes- tant denomination in Danbury, was bitterly contested on its first appearance here. In 1790 the second Baptist society was formed. This was in Miry Brook District. The society built in 1794.
In 1790 Danbury's first newspaper was printed. The first number was issued in March of that year. It was called the Farmers' Journal. Two other papers were established in the last decade of the century. These and the churches will be spoken of in detail in other chapters.
Another industry located here was the manufacture of paper. The mill was started in Beaver Brook District in 1790. The plant is now operated by the McArthur Brothers, who have built up a large and prosperous business, but there have been no additional mills for making paper established here.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE FIRST BOROUGH CHARTER.
DANBURY commenced the nineteenth century by holding a town meeting, at which the wages of a man and horse to " work the roads" were fixed at 75 cents a day. It is to be hoped that neither the man nor the horse had much of a family.
The population of the town at the beginning of the century was 3180. In the year 1801 there was a great flood, and in that year there was an epidemic of small-pox. In 1804 the General Assembly gave to Danbury permission to hold a public lottery, the proceeds of which were to go to the building of a house for the poor at this end of the county. In 1807 there was an attempt made to dispossess Danbury of its title as a half-shire town, but the effort came to naught. In 1810 comb-making was established in this town, and continued for a number of years, but it died out entirely. In 1820 the population of the town had reached the figures 3783 ; and in 1822 the borough of Danbury was created by an act of the General Assembly.
The application for the charter was made by Moss White and other citizens. The boundaries of the new borough we give below. As the face of many of the localities has changed since 1822, we give herewith some information for which we are in- debted to one of the oldest citizens of Danbury, Frederick S. Wildman.
Middle River is the stream that flows from the Middle River District across Main Street, near the hat factory of Charles H. Merritt. The house of Stephen Ambler stood in that vicinity. The " barn plain" bridge mentioned is that on White Street across Still River. The tannery of Starr & Sanford was at the foot of Liberty Street. At the beginning of the century Main Street was called Town Street. The Episcopal church stood in the present graveyard on South Street.
" Deer Hill Lane" is Deer Hill Avenue. The road leading
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from the Danbury Court House to Ridgefield is Wooster and West Wooster streets.
The other road spoken of in this connection is West Street. The Presbyterian meeting-house was the building of the First Congregational Church, later Concert Hall, which stood where is now the soldiers' monument. Blind Brook is the stream that crosses Elm Street, near River. Mr. Green lived in that vicinity. The Methodist " meeting-house" was then on Franklin Street.
"Beginning at a point on the Middle River, thirty rods west of the bridge, near the dwelling-house of Stephen Ambler, thence following said stream to barn plain bridge ; thence southwardly to the tannery of Starr and Sanford ; thence following the line passing down the east side of the town hill lane to the south end thereof ; thence in the same course across town street, leading eastwardly from the Episcopal church to a point fifty rods south- wardly of the line passing on the south end thereof ; thence in a straight line to the south end of deer hill lane ; thence north- erly following the line passing on the west side of deer hill lane to the road leading from Danbury court-house to Ridgefield, thence westerly following the line passing on the south side of said Ridgefield road to the place it intersects with the road leading from the Presbyterian meeting-house to said Ridgefield, near the dwelling-house of Eli Wildman ; thence northwardly following the line passing on the west side of last-mentioned road to the dwelling-house of Hawley Wildman ; thence in a straight line to the blind brook bridge near the dwelling-house of Dorastus Green ; thence to the Methodist meeting-house, in- cluding the same and the land whereon it stands ; thence in a straight line to the place of beginning."
THE BOROUGH ENLARGED.
The next year the charter on its southern limits was changed. In that time the elevation on which now stands the Liberty Street school-house was called Horse Island. In the following year the Legislature granted a change in the limits, as herewith expressed :
" That the limits of the borough of Danbury shall hereafter be on its south limits as follows, any law or resolution to the con- trary notwithstanding-viz .: Beginning at the present line of the same, at the north side of horse island lane near the tan works
ELIAS S. SANFORD. L. STARR BENEDICT. CHARLES H. REED.
ALFRED GREGORY. EZRA B. STEVENS. ALBERT SCOTT.
E. R. WHITTLESEY. MARTIN II. GRIFFING. JARVIS P. HULL.
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of Starr and Sanford, those running south to the south side of said lane ; thence along the south and west side of said lane to the road leading from Bethel to the Episcopal church ; thence westerly to the north side of the highway leading across the south end of the town street to deer hill lane ; thence northerly on the east side of said deer hill lane within twenty rods of the corner easterly of Andrew Beers' dwelling-house ; thence west- erly across said deer hill lane to the highway leading south from Alfred Gregory's dwelling-house, twenty rods south of the cor- ner ; thence northerly to the bridge by Dorastus Green's."
At a meeting of the Electors composing the Borough of Dan- bury, held at the Court House in said Borough on Wednesday, the 20th day of June, 1822, the following officers were appointed to the following offices-to wit :
Darius Starr was chosen Clerk, and sworn in by S. H. P., Esq.
Daniel B. Cooke, Warden.
Samuel Tweedy, Moss White, Elijah Gregory,
David Foot,
Burgesses. L
Samuel Wildman,
William Patch,
Alanson Hamlin, Treasurer.
Matthew Curtis, Bailiff.
EXTENDING THE LIMITS.
In 1846 the Legislature took another hand in the borough boundaries, and enlarged them as herewith set forth :
"SEC. 9. That the boundaries of the borough be altered and the limits thereof extended, and that instead of the present limits and boundaries the following be, and hereby are estab- lished as the limits and boundaries of said borough-to wit : Beginning on the Clapboard Ridge road, so called, fifteen rods west side of the hat manufactory of Hoyt, Tweedy & Co .; thence following said road to the bridge near said shop ; thence follow- ing the centre of the river eastwardly and southwardly to the bridge across said river, on the highway leading from Danbury through Pembroke to New Fairfield ; thence southwardly to a point in the boundary line between Henry Benedict's land and
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