USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > East Granby > Newgate of Connecticut : its origin and early history : being a full description of the famous and wonderful Simsbury mines and caverns, and the prison build over them > Part 3
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Although the prison was considered impregnable, the first
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convict which had been put there, John Hinson, had escaped. He was committed, Dec. 2d, 1773, and escaped after a confine- ment of eighteen days, by being drawn up through the mining shaft, assisted, it is said, by a woman to whom he was paying his addresses. On the 26th of Feb. 1774, three prisoners were received; one of them escaped on the 9th of April following, and the two others on the 23d. One committed on the 5th of April took sudden leave on the 9th, having been confined just four days !
After the general escape and recapture, the following report was made by the overseers :
To the Honorable General Assembly now sitting at Hartford :
"We, the subscribers, overseers of Newgate Prison, would inform your Honors, that Newgate Prison is so strong and secure that we believe it is not possible for any person put there to escape, unless by assistance from abroad; yet it so happens that one John Hinson, lately sent there by order of the Honorable the Superior Court, has escaped by the help of some evil minded person at present unknown, who, in the night season next after the 9th inst., drew the prisoner out of the shaft; and we believe no place ever was or can be made so secure, but that if persons abroad can have free access to such prison, standing at a distance from any dwelling house, the prisoners will escape; we therefore recommend it to your Honors, that some further security be added to that prison in order to secure the prisoners : what that security shall be, will be left to your Honors; yet we would observe to your Honors that the east shaft where the prisoner escaped, is about 70 feet to the bottom of the prison, the whole of which is through a firm rock except 10 feet at top, which is stoned up like a well; we therefore propose that the upper part down to the rock be lock'd up, and stones about 15 or 18 inches square and of suitable length, be laid across said shaft about eight inches asunder &c. And as to the west shaft, which is about 25 feet deep, secured with a strong iron gate, about six feet below the surface, we propose that a strong log house be built of two or three rooms, one of which, to stand over this shaft to secure it from persons abroad, and the other rooms to be for the miners, &c. All which is submitted by your Honor's most obedient Humble Servants."
Hartford Jan'y 17th 1774.
Erastus Wolcott, Josiah Bissell, Joh'n Humphrey.
Connecticut at that period held each year two sessions of her Assembly, and at the next session, four months after, the following report was presented by the overseers :
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To the Hon. the Gen'l Assembly now sitting at Hartford :
" We the subscribers hereto, overseers of Newgate Prison, beg leave to represent to your honors, That soon after the rising of the assembly in Jan'y last, three delinquents were committed from Windham, and two others from New London county, whereupon, notwithstanding the severity of the season, we immediately set about making those further securities that your Honours directed, and have built a strong log house 36 feet in length and 20 feet in width, with timbers 10 inches square, divided into two rooms, one of which includes the west shaft, and in the other, which is designed for the miners to lodge in, &c., we have built a chimney, and compleated the whole except the under floor, the planks for which are not yet sufficiently dryed and fit to lay, and some ceiling to secure the miners from the cold winds, which otherwise will pass betwixt the timbers. We have also secured the east shaft where the first prisoner escaped, with iron and stone, and every other place where we thought it possible for any to escape; and we apprehend that said prison is now well secured and fitted to receive and employ those offenders that may be sent there. An account of our disburse- ments, &c., we have ready to lay before your Honours or Auditors, to be ap- pointed as your Honours shall direct. Your Honours must have heard that the prisoners have all escaped that prison; it would be long, and perhaps difficult, in writing, to give a particular and distinct account how this was done; your Honours will excuse us if we only say that they effected their escape by the help of evil minded persons abroad, before the necessary and proposed securityes could be compleated. We would further inform your Honours, that we had engaged two miners to assist the prisoners at work, who were to have been there about the time the prisoners escaped, and one of them actually left his business and came there a few days after the escape; him we have retained, and to this time principally employed in compleating the securities to the prison; the other we gave intelligence of the escape before he left his business, and prevented his coming; but have engaged him to attend when wanted. All which is submitted to your Honours, by your Honours' most obedient and humble servants."
Hartford, May 14th, 1774.
ANOTHER ESCAPE
was attempted by the prisoners, in 1776, by burning the block-house over the shaft. A level had been opened from the bottom of the mines through the hill westward, for the purpose of draining off the water, and the mouth of this level was closed by a heavy wooden door firmly fastened. They had by degrees collected sufficient combustibles, and with a piece of stone and steel they kindled a fire against the door, which burned as well as damp fuel in a damp dungeon naturally would; but instead of making their escape from
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the prison, they all nearly made their final escape from the world; for the dense smoke and blue flame soon filled the apartment and almost suffocated all of them. Search being made, one of them was found dead, and five others were brought forth senseless, but finally recovered.
They were afterwards placed in a strong wooden building, erected for the purpose above ground, in 1777. They set this building on fire the next year, and burned it to the ground. Nearly all escaped, but several of them were after- wards retaken.
In 1780, the block-house, so called, was rebuilt; but prudence by the officers in the management was disregarded. Had they been more careful in adopting safeguards for themselves and the prisoners, they might have avoided the dreadful scene which was soon to follow-
A SCENE OF CONFLICT AND BLOOD !
It appears that the overseers relied for security upon the number of guards rather than upon their proper discipline, as they appointed a lieutenant, one sergeant, one corporal and twenty-four privates, while the number of prisoners was only thirty-thus providing the very liberal complement of about one soldier to each prisoner. The guards were armed with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, and the officers with cutlasses and pistols.
As the war with England now raged with fury, the animos- ity between the Whigs and Tories had grown in proportion, and the seal of distinct party was in many places stamped with vivid impression, so that at this period the number doomed to the prison had amounted to thirty, and many of them were Tories. They were a desperate set of men and scrupled at no means of escape. On the night of the 18th of May, 1781, the dreadful tragedy occurred which resulted in the escape of all the prisoners. A prisoner was confined, by the name of Young, and his wife wishing to be admitted into the cavern with him, she was searched, and while two officers were in the act of raising the hatch to let her down,
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the prisoners rushed out, knocked down the two officers, and seizing the muskets of nearly all the rest who were asleep, immediately took possession of the works, and thrust most of the guards into the dungeon, after a violent contest. One of them, Mr. Gad Sheldon, was mortally wounded, fighting at his post, and six more wounded severely. Said a venerable old lady now deceased : " It was a dreadful sight to see the wounded guards, as they were brought into our house one after another, and laid upon the floor, weltering in their blood! When I came into the room, the faithful Sheldon sat on a bench, his body bent forward, and a bayonet dripping with blood lying before him, which he had just drawn out of his breast-it was a deadly stab !" Many of the prisoners were wounded ; some of them were assailed and gashed by their comrades through mistake, while fighting in the dark- ness of the conflict. Nearly all made their escape; some from their wounds were unable to flee. One was taken on a tree in Turkey Hills, east of the mountain ; and a few others were found in swamps and barns in the neighboring towns.
The foregoing is corroborated by a paper just received, as this work was going to press. It is copied from Riving- ton's "Gazetteer," a Tory weekly paper printed in New York, in 1773. In Nov. 1775, the paper was mobbed by a party of Connecticut men, but when the British gained possession of that city, in 1777, the paper was revived. Rivington styled himself "Printer to the King."
It appears by the following statement that the men were tory privateers, who had been commissioned by the British to plunder the Connecticut towns on the borders of L. I. Sound. It says :-
" June 6th, 1781 .- This day arrived in New York, Ebenezer Hathaway and Thomas Smith, who on the 16th of May last made their escape from Sims- bury Mines after a most gallant struggle for their liberty. These men declare that they were two of eight belonging to the privateer boat Aventure which was duly commissioned; that they were taken in Huntington Bay, Long Island, on the 7th of April by seven rebel whale-boats manned with seventy-three men, and that night carried across the Sound to Stamford, in Connecticut ; that the next day they were carried to what they called head- quarters, before Gen. Waterbury, who, with the air of a demagogue ordered
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them to Hartford Gaol, and told the guard they had his liberty to strip them even to the clothes remaining on their backs; but the captors had left them so bare that all they had about them now was not an object even to a Yankee soldier; there they lay until the 27th following when their trial came on before the superior court; that they were brought before the court and directed to plcad not guilty and offered for counsel Colonel Sention, one of the justices, then on the bench, in order that they might by law bring them in guilty; but aware of their knavish tricks, they declared themselves British subjects and refused to plead either guilty or not guilty, therefore they were ordered to Newgate Gaol, or rather to that inquisition, Simsbury Mines, which from the following description exceed anything among their allies in France or Spain.
These poor unfortunate victims, relate that they were taken from Hart- ford Gaol and marched under a strong guard to Simsbury Mines distant about seventy-four miles. In approaching this horrid dungeon they were first conducted through the apartments of the guards, then through a trap- door downstairs into another upon the same floor with the kitchen, which was divided from it by a very strong partition door. In the corner of this outer room, and near the foot of the stairs, opened another large trap-door, covered with bars and bolts of iron, which was hoisted up in two guards by means of a tackle, whilst the hinges grated as they turned upon their hooks, and opened the jaws and mouth of what they call Hell, into which they descended by means of a ladder about six feet more, which led to a large iron grate or hatchway, locked down over a shaft of about three feet diameter, sunk through the solid rock, and which they were told led to the bottomless pit. Finding it not possible to evade this hard, cruel fate they bade adieu to the world and descended the ladder about thirty-eight feet more, when they came to what is called the landing; then marching shelf by shelf till descending about thirty or forty feet more they came to a plat- form of boards laid under foot, with a few more put overhead to carry off the water which keeps continually dropping. Here, say they, we found the inhabitants of this woful mansion who were exceedingly anxious to know what was going on above. We told them that Lord Cornwallis had beat the rebel army and that their money was gone to the d-1, with which they seemed satisfied and rejoiced at the good news.
They were obliged to make use of pots of charcoal to dispel the foul air, which in some degree is drawn off by the means of a ventilator or auger hole which is bored from the surface through at this spot, said to be seventy feet perpendicular. Here they continued twenty days and nights, resolved, however, to avail themselves of the first opportunity to get out, although they should lose their lives in the attempt. Accordingly on the 18th, eighteen of them being let up to the kitchen to cook, found means to break the lock of the door which kept them from the foot of the ladder leading to the guard-room. They now doubly resolved to make a push should the door be opened; which fortunately was the case about ten o'clock at night, (to let down a prisoner's wife who had come there and was permitted to see him.)
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Immediately they seized the fortunate moment and rushed up, but before any, except one, got out, the door was slammed down on the rest, and he, the brave Captain Hathaway, who commanded the adventure, scuffled with the whole of them for a few minutes and was wounded in three different places when he was nobly assisted by his trusty friend, Thomas Smith, and afterwards by the other eight. They then advanced upon the guard con- sisting of twenty-four in number, and took the whole prisoners. This was no sooner accomplished than they brought their companions out of the bottomless pit and put the guard down into their roon, then marched off with their arms and ammunition, but were soon afterwards obliged to disperse."
A Committee was appointed by the Assembly, then in session, to repair to Newgate and inquire into the facts respecting the insurrection. They reported the evidence in the case, some of which it is curious to notice in their own words, as follows :-
"Jacob Southwell was awakened by the tumult, took a gun and run out of the guard-house, and durst not go back for fear they would hurt him. N. B. A young man more fit to carry fish to market, than to keep guard at New- gate. Nathan Phelps was also asleep-wak'd but could do nothing, the prisoners having possession of the guard-house (a small lad just fit to drive plow with a very gentle team.) He went to Mr. Viets's and stayed till morning (poor boy) ! Abagail, the wife of Jno. Young, alias Mattick, says that the first night she came to prison, she gave to her husband 52 silver dollars-her husband told her after he came out that he had given Sergt. Lilly 50 of them in order that he may suffer the prisoners to escape-that he told her the Sergt. purposely left the door of the south jail unlocked- that Sergt. Lilly was not hurt-that she borrowed the money of a pedler- that she heard Lilly say, it was a great pity such likely men should live and die in that place."
Nov. 6th, 1782, the wooden buildings of the prison were again destroyed by fire, and doubtless by design, in order to aid the escape of the Tories in confinement. This was the third time the prison buildings had been burned in nine years, since its first inauguration, and more than one-half of the whole number of convicts had escaped by various means. The authorities probably by this time began to change their opin- ion that "it would be next to impossible for any person to escape," and that as a Yankee once said, it was "dangerous being safe."
The following is too rich in orthography to be omitted. It is recorded as written in 1783 :
.?
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To the Hon. General Assembly, The humble petishen of Able Davis- whare as at the honerable supene court houlden in Hartford in December last I was conficted of mis Deminer on the count of newgate being burnt as I had comand of said gard and was orded to bee confind 3 month and pay fourteen pounds for disabaing orders, I cant read riten, but I did all in my power to distingus the flame, but being very much frited and not the faculty to doe as much in distress as I could another time and that is very smaul, what to do I thot it was best to let out the prisners that war in the botams as I had but just time to get the gates lifted before the hous was in flames, and the gard bein frited it twant in my power to scape them. I now pray to be Deflehaned from further in prisment, and the coust of said sute as I hante abel to pay the coust, or give me the liberty of the yard as I am very unwell as your pitishner in duty bound will for ever pray. Abel Daveis.
Hartford Goal, January 14th, 1783.
The struggles at this prison to subdue Toryism, were doubtless greater than at any other place in any of the Col- onies. Many of those in confinement were men of talents, spirit, and wit; and they occasionally indulged their pro- clivities by making poetry in derision of the measures which were carried on by the patriots against England. The following is a part of some rhymes (referring to the patriots) composed by them, and sent to their keeper :
" Many of them in halters will swing, Before John Hancock will ever be king."
John Hancock, being one of the most ardent friends of the Revolution, was particularly obnoxious to the British, and a price was set on his head; this raised the spirit of the col- onists, and they at once elected him President of Congress, which drew upon him the special odium of the Tories.
The following is from the original now in the possession of the author :
"Mr. Viets: If you have any meet cooked, you will much oblidge me by sending a dinner, for I suffer for want. " Peter Sackett."
This man was one of the thirty who were engaged in a bloody contest with the guard, and he made his escape at that time. The imprisoned Tories were not without sym- pathizers, and spiritual comforters. The Rev'd Roger Viets, an Episcopal clergyman, a resident of Simsbury, and previ- ously alluded to, occasionally expounded the gospel to them,
=
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and taught them the gospel precept, " Honor the King." Ilis reverence was a noted good liver among the people, and besides what was given him in donations, he received annually forty pounds from the established Church of England. After Independence was acknowledged by Great Britain, the salaries of the clergy were discontinued, but the Church "Propagation Society" of England offered to continue the stipends to such of the American Clergy, as would remove to the British dominions where parishes were assigned them. Mr. Viets among others, considered it prudent to accept the offer, and emigrated to Nova Scotia, where his descendants now reside in respectable circumstances.
A TORY CLERGYMAN IN NEWGATE.
The choicest specimen of black-hearted treason under the cloak of priestly sanctity, was exhibited in the person of a Tory of the name of Simeon Baxter, who was confined in the caverns. From which of the thirteen colonies he was sent, is not ascertained, but he must have been regarded by the people as a real champion of Toryism. He preached a sermon to his companions in prison, in 1781, which was printed in London soon after. On account of its novelty of conception, acrimony of spirit, ability, and pungency, it is here published entire, with its title in full, as it was printed. It will be observed that the text, as he quotes it, varies from the precise phraseology of the scriptures; the words "having descended " being surreptitiously employed, probably because he considered them an improvement on the scriptures as applicable to his situation, he being com- pelled to descend into the caverns. Whatever may be thought of his sentiments, the ability with which the dis- course was written proves its author to have been a man of powerful intellect and of considerable research, zealously determined to incite his companions to deeds of blood. It is indeed wonderful that Gen. Washington or the Continental Congress escaped assassination, when such vindictive charac- ters boldly advised a resort to the dagger in order to exter- minate the friends of liberty.
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" Tyrannicide proved Lawful, from the Practice and Writings of Jews, Heathens, and Christians : A Discourse, delivered in the Mines at Symsbury, in the Colony of Connecticut, to the Loyalists confined there by Order of the Congress, on September 19, 1781, by SIMEON BAXTER, a Licentiate in Divinity, and voluntary Chaplain to those Prisoners in the Apartment called Orcus :
Having descended, he preached to the Spirits in Prison .- 1st Peter, iii, 19. Regnabit sanguine multo-ad Regnum quisquis venit ab Exilo. Whoever comes to his kingdom from exile, he will rule with much blood .- Suetonius's life of Nero.
Printed in America; London, Reprinted for S. Blandon in Pater-Noster Row, MDCCLXXXII."
" To General Washington, and the Congress styling themselves Governors and Protectors of Thirteen Colonies belonging to the Crown of England : "Gentlemen, That you may have the honour of dying for the people, instead of their dying for you and your allies, was the design I had in preaching and publishing this discourse; and should it produce the desired effect, I shall think myself paid for all my trouble and expence. If you can bestow one generous deed on your ruined country, adopt the act of Suicide to balance the evils of your lives, and save the virtuous citizens of America the glorious trouble of doing justice on you.
" Remember Judas was not a patriot till he hanged himself for betraying his Saviour and his God. Go thou and do likewise and you will prove yourselves real Saviours of America, and like him, hold a place in the temple of everlasting Fame. Should your courage or your virtue fail in so meritorious a deed, sacred Religion stands on tiptoe to inspire all her children by some hidden thunder or some burnished weapon, to do it for you, and to save themselves from Nimrod's paradise. When you are dead, your grateful countrymen will not let your Honours lie in dust, but will raise you to some airy tomb between the drooping clouds and parching sands : then your exaltation will make islands glad; Peace with new-fledged wing, shall fly through every state, and echo happiness to weeping willows; nay, the mourning doves shall forsake the wilderness to chant your praises ; and the mope-eyed owls, in open day, shall view with wonder your patriotic virtues. The Author."
"To the Protestant Rebel Ministers of the Gospel in the Thirteen Confederated Colonies in America :
" Gentlemen-The bloody part you have acted in obedience to your cred- itors, the merchants smugglers, both in the pulpit and the field, with your spiritual and temporal swords, entitles you to the second class of patriots, who disgrace religion with hypocrisy, and humanity with barbarity. Spec- tators with great justice have decided, that you are the successors of him who went to and fro seeking whom he might devour, and not of him who went about doing good. Inasmuch as you began rebellion because your King would not persecute, but tolerate his faithful catholic subjects in
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Canada, and to support your rebellion, you have since joined yourselves unto idols, and made alliance with the Papists of France to root up the protestant religion,* for which our fathers bled and died, inasmuch as you have out-acted the Pope, discarded and abjured your rightful king, neglected to visit those in prison, and forbid the exercise of that charity to the miser- able, which hides a multitude of sins, I must take leave of you in the words spoken to your predecessors by the Saviour of all penitent sinners, 'Go your way for I know you not.' The Author."
SERMON.
Then three men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? and what is this that thou hast done unto us ? And he said unto them: As they did unto me, so have I done unto them .- Judges xv. 11.
"In the beginning of this chapter we are told that the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, for which they were delivered into the hands of the Philistines forty years ; a heavy judgment to fall under the power of any people without law, justice, or mercy ! yet God has considered such a calamity as due to idolaters, and the enemies of common sense. Whatever nation is governed by a set of men like the Philistines, without any fixed rules of right, is controlled by a set of beasts, with sharp horns, arrogance, and pride. Israel being thus in bondage, God raised up Samson to deliver them, who went down to Timnath, and took a wife of the Philis- tines, of whom he was unjustly robbed, without hopes of any legal redress. After this outrage, Samson had a just opportunity to make war upon them, which he did, though unassisted and opposed by his servile countrymen. The men of Judah, like modern politicians, were alarmed at the war which threatened them, and sought peace with the Philistines by joining against their deliverer, and accosted him in the words of the text. "What is this that thou hast done unto us?" Samson answered, and justified his conduct upon the law of nature : " As they have done unto me so have I done unto them,"-a good defence against the Philistines, who acted upon private principles, and trampled under foot the laws of God and civil society. Had the case been otherwise, Samson, who judged Israel twenty years, and whom the Lord blessed, would have sought justice from the decision of an impartial judge, instead of redressing himself by the natural law of retalia- tion. There are but two ways of deciding differences ; the one is by law, the other by force. The first is the rule of men formed into civil societies ; the second of men and beasts in the state of nature.
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