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 5
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Some serious Whigs who have lost their courage with their fortunes, groan under their present burdens and say, "we fear the consequence of destroy- ing "Congress." I answer, could we be in a worse condition by a change, the bare desire of a change would be a sign of madness. Common sense forbids me to undergo certain misery, for fear of contingent evils; or to let a fever rage because there is danger of taking physic. I am now in prison, where I must infallibly perish if I am not relieved; and shall I refuse deliverance from this darksome dungeon for fear of being confined in some other place? Heaven forbid such madness! Let us remember the rock from whence we were hewn. Had we not ancestors in the last century who preferred liberty and religion in this howling wilderness, to despotism and persecution in Britannia's fertile fields? Are we so far degenerated as to bow down to tyrants and usurpers? Our fathers resisted lions, and killed tyrants without committing murder and shall we submit to wolves and beasts of prey to let usurpers live? No ! let the examples of Ehud, Samson, Moses, and Cromwell, lead us back to glory, virtue, and religion. If America can produce no such heroes, we must exclaim with the children of Israel, " Would to God we had died in the land of Egypt, where we sat by the flesh- pots, and did eat bread to the full ; " for then, as Cicero says, " the quality of our master would have graced our condition as slaves." We have rights of civil society to restore ; we have honor, virtue, and religion to maintain ; let us therefore take the first prudent opportunity to revenge our wrongs, and
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kill those tyrants who are lurking in every corner to spy out our motions, and murder the innocent. Their motto is to destroy or be destroyed. Therefore, let safety rouse us into action, let Fame reward the sacred hand of him that gives the fatal blow; let his name live forever with Cato, and with Brutus. O, how I long to save my country by one heroic immortal action ! but alas! my chains and dreary mansion, where the light of con- science reigns without the light of the sun, of the moon, or the stars! * To you, my virtuous countrymen, who are free of the chains with which I am loaded, I conclude my address. It is now in your power to circumcise, to put down those uncircumcised tyrants, and to restore yourselves to your social rights. You know the action that will do the business, and which shall register your names among the Gods and bravest men. Patriotism warms your souls, and thousands are burning with ambition to join and save your country from Romish bondage. Make haste! for the spirit of understanding causeth me to speak in the language of Zophar, " Let death and destruction fall upon " Congress "because they have oppressed and forgotten the poor; let a fire not blown, consume them; if they escape the iron weapons, strike them through with a bow of steel, for knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment."
And although the devils are come down in great wrath, with power in their mouths, and in their tails ; although their heads reach the clouds, and though they do hurt with their tails; yet their murders, their fornication, and their thefts shall be revealed, and the earth shall rise against them, "to feed them with the poison of asps. The vipers tongue shall pierce them through, and their greatness shall be chased away as a vision of the night. "This is the portion of the wicked."
Finis.
N. B. The notes on pp. 46, 50, and 52, are by the author of the sermon.
THE GOSPEL FURNISHED BY THE STATE.
A few years after the establishment of the prison by legislative act, provision was made for religious services one- half of each Sunday by uniting with the society at East Granby, in paying a stipulated salary to the clergyman officiating. For many years the services were held in the nail-shop, the most refractory of the prisoners being chained to their nail blocks. The seats of the general audience were upon the level ground (without floor) while the elevated platform used by the guards, was improvised as a pulpit, and the choir was
* Vide the History of Connecticut, page 175, published by J. Bew, Pater Noster Row; where is a just description of the infernal prison at Symsbury, 40 yards below the surface of the earth.
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composed of any neighbors who felt disposed to volunteer for the occasion.
It can reasonably be supposed that the nail-shop preaching was a wonderful contrast to the preceeding discourse of the Rev. Licentiate Baxter ; but Baxter's Tory audience in the dungeon considered his preaching sound and reliable, no doubt,-notwithstanding any slight discrepancies in text or argument.
A comfortable chapel was subsequently built, where, each Sunday, the guards with their long muskets, the citizens and the prisoners all assembled in the same room. No Sunday- school nor library for the prisoners' use ever enlightened the dismal precincts of old Newgate; those blessings were reserved for the new prison at Wethersfield.
In 1781 Congress applied to Gov. Trumbull of Connecticut (known by the appellation of "Brother Jonathan"), for the use of the mines as a prison "for the reception of British prisoners of war, and for the purpose of retaliation." The Governor laid the matter before the Assembly, who agreed to the proposition, and requested him to furnish Congress with the estimates, but as a termination of the war was anticipated soon, the negotiation ended.
This place won a reputation for strength and security throughout the country, though there was more strength in its name than in reality. Six years previously, Gen. Wash ington sent several prisoners to be confined in the dungeon, whom he regarded as "atrocious villains." The following letter from him will be read with interest. It is directed to the Committee of Safety at Simsbury :
CAMBRIDGE, Dec. 7th, 1775.
Gentlemen :- The prisoners which will be delivered you with this, having been tried by a court martial and deemed to be such flagrant and atrocious villains, that they cannot by any means be set at large, or confined in any place near this camp, were sentenced to Simsbury, in Connecticut. You will therefore be pleased to have thein secured in your jail, or in such other manner as to you shall seem necessary, so that they cannot possibly make their escape. The charges of their imprisonment will be at the Continental expense.
I am, &c.,
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
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The vindictive cruelty of the Tories is shown in Barber's Historical Collections of Connecticut. The narrative is substantially thus :
On the night following the 14th of March, 1780, the house of Capt. Ebenezer Dayton then residing in the town of Bethany, was broken into and robbed by seven men, who were Tories, and headed by a British officer, Alex. Graham* from Long Island. Mr. Dayton's house was situated nearly opposite where the first meeting-house in Bethany was erected, about half a mile south of the present Congrega- tional church, and about ten miles northwest of New Haven. The particulars of this robbery were obtained from the Rev. Mr. Dayton, son of Capt. Dayton mentioned above. Mr. Dayton, who belonged to Long Island, was, on account of his attachment to the American cause, obliged to leave that island, and bring his effects with him to Bethany. A number of men, some of his neighbors, were obliged to leave the island for the same cause, and brought a considerable quantity of money with them, and for a while resided in Mr. Dayton's house. With these facts the robbers appear to have become acquainted. At the time of the robbery, Mr. Dayton was absent on business at Boston, and the men who had been staying in the house had left the day before, so that there was no one in the house but his wife, Mrs. Phœbe Dayton, three small children, and two colored servant children.
About midnight, while they were all asleep, the window in the bedroom where Mrs. Dayton was sleeping, was burst in at once ; seven armed men rushed in, passed through the room, and immediately rushed into the chambers, expecting (it is supposed) to find the men who had left the day before. While they were upstairs, Mrs. Dayton went to the front part of the house, raised the window, and endeavored to alarm the neighbors. Mr. Hawley, the minister of the parish,
* Graham, it was afterwards ascertained, was a deserter, from the American army and also held a commission from the British general, Howe, to recruit Tories for the British army. On searching him the commission was found in his pocket, to which also he made confession.
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and Dr. Hooker, the physician of the place, both lived within twenty rods distance, both had lights in their houses at the time, and both heard the alarm, but did not know from whence it proceeded. The robbers, hearing Mrs. Dayton, came down, and tearing a sheet into strips, tied her hands behind her, made her sit in a chair, and placed her infant (about six months old) in her lap, while one of the robbers, placing the muzzle of his gun near her head, kept her in this position for about two hours, while the house was thoroughly ransacked from top to bottom. As Mr. Dayton had been a merchant and peddler, a large quantity of goods were found and the most valuable packed in sacks and bundles. Most of the articles were of foreign production,- worsted goods, coats, cloaks, ladies' gowns, silk and linen handkerchiefs, various kinds of linen goods, silver shoe- buckles, a spy-glass, two muskets and their accoutrements, four halberds, (a pike with hatchet near the point), etc., besides four hundred and fifty pounds in gold, silver, and copper coin, and two hundred Continental paper-dollars.
To appease their hunger, they ordered the servants to place upon the table in the kitchen the best which the kitchen and pantry afforded; which orders were obeyed in silence under close surveillance of the robbers.
Some of them secured a light and went into the cellar, where they found abundance of liquors which they let out upon the ground after supplying their own needs. What they could not conveniently carry off they wantonly destroyed, breaking in pieces all the crockery, furniture, etc. The whole amount of property carried off and destroyed, including bonds, notes, etc., amounted to five thousand pounds. The robbers left the house about two o'clock, and went to a place in Middlebury, called Gunn-Town, where they were secreted in a cellar by a family who were friendly to the British cause. While they were on their way to Gunn-Town, they met a young man by the name of Chauncey Judd,* of
* The biographer of Chauncey Judd, in describing the sufferings he
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Waterbury, on a bridge, who had been to see a young lady he afterwards married. Fearing he might discover them they took him along with them. In the cellar kitchen where they were all secreted there was a well. Into this well they talked of putting young Chauncey ; but the old lady of the house begged they would not think of it, as it would spoil the water ! They stayed in the house a number of days : afterwards they went to Oxford, where they were secreted for several days longer in a barn ; from thence they went to Stratford, took a whale-boat, and crossed over to Long Island. The people at Derby, having received information of their passing through that place, two whale-boats and crews, commanded by Capt. William Clarke and Capt James Harvey, pursued them to the Island, and were fortunate enough to catch all of them but one, just within the British lines, and recover their booty. They were brought back, tried, and condemned. Graham the ringleader was executed and the others were sent to Newgate; they, however, broke prison, and some of them fled to Nova Scotia.
Among the robbers who plundered Mr. Dayton's house, was a Tory by the name of Henry Wooster, who was sentenced by the Superior Court of New Haven county, to pay a fine of fifty pounds, and to be imprisoned four years in Newgate. From an interesting account written of him by an acquaint- ance of the family, it appears that after his confinement in prison, he made a key which would unlock his fetters in the cavern, being careful, of course, to replace them before
endured while in the hands of the banditti says : "He had endured hard- ships which were enough to crush one much stronger than he. Indeed he was for several days partially insane. The shock to his nervous system from the repeated imminent prospect of death increased by his severe bodily sufferings had completely broken him down. Often would he awake from a sort of stupor and cry "Hurrah for King George !" (having been compelled to say so by his captors). During their flight down the river and across the Sound he had been wholly unprotected from the wind, and had almost perished from the cold, his hands had been frost bitten, and some of his fingers remained crippled for life. He never recovered from the effects of his hardships, but continued in delicate health until his death.
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going up to his work each morning. The writer says :
"One of the first things he attempted was to make thorough exposition of the caverns, to see if there was any possible way of escape. For this purpose he forced himself into one of the drains which discharged the waters of the mine. This, after the use of the mines as a prison, had been carefully built up with stone and mortar, leaving only a narrow channel which was supposed to be thoroughly secured by iron bars. Watching opportunities, he contrived to conceal in his clothes, fragments of nail-rods, and carry them below. With these he picked out little by little, bits of mortar, until the bars were loosened so as to permit their removal; in the same way he enlarged the drain in some of its narrowest places, and after many weeks of hard toil, found himself near the outer orifice. Redoubled exertions followed, in which he was aided as far as possible by other convicts who had the use of their hands. It was a hard and dangerous task. At one time while far within, he gave himself up for lost. A stone overhead which he had partially loosened fell into the drain behind him, effectually closing the passage and debarring his return. Unable to turn round or reach the stone with his hands, he concluded that his last hour was come, and that he must perish in his terrible prison! His cries for help could scarcely be heard by the other convicts, and if heard, it was doubtful whether they could relieve him. With great effort, however, he found he could push the stone a little with his foot. But would it pass the whole distance ? for if there was one single place in the passage too small, he would be inextricably shut in. By bracing himself against the sides and pressing with all his strength, he succeeded at length in pushing the stone to a hollow spot, which would permit him to pass over it. With desperate energy he crowded himself by, and at last emerged into the cavern just before the daybreak bell sounded to call the prisoners to their labor. He had been in the drain all night, and came forth bleeding and nearly exhausted. He was obliged to conceal his suffering condition from the guard, otherwise it would lead to a search and exposure; so replacing with the help of his comrades his irons aud clothing, (for he had gone into the drain naked) he dragged himself up the ladder to his work. If his bruised and haggard condition was noticed at all by the officers, it excited no remark, the evidences of fighting and sleeplessness being too common among the prisoners to awaken any suspicion.
"A few nights afterwards, having somewhat recovered from his bruises and sufferings, it was deemed practicable to escape, and Wooster with several others who were able to unfasten their fetters succeeded in crawling through the passage and fled to the woods an hour before day. Their escape was soon dis- covered and the alarm given. Nearly all were re-taken and brought back to prison. Wooster more tricky, hid himself in the top of a dark hemlock upon the mountain until the next night, when he began his flight, and finally succeeded in reaching the coast near New London, and made his way on board an English vessel, where he enlisted in the British service. * * *
* Four years after the termination of the war, one day in the dusk of the evening, a traveller came to the house of Henry Wooster, Sen., in Derby, and asked permission to lodge there that night. He was weary and footsore, he said, and could go no further. Hospitality in such cases was a habit of New England, and his request was granted. Mrs. Wooster was then engaged in preparing a kettle of hasty pudding for the family supper, and at her invitation the traveller partook of the repast. In the course of it, he contrived to turn the conversation upon
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her own family, and especially of her absent son. She recounted with a mother's partiality his amiable qualities, his manly strength and agility. Won by the interest he seemed to manifest in her story, she bewailed the sad occasion of his falling in with a stranger who had persuaded him to go off on a foolish expedition as she said, against a piratical Yankee, and that in consequence, he got into Newgate prison, but after a while he with others broke out, since which she had heard nothing from him and presumed he must be dead.
"At length, after hearing the sad story of the good woman the traveller assumed his natural speech and manner and announced himself as her missing son ! At first she was incredulous, and unable to recognize him, till opening the bosom of his shirt he showed her a mark on his breast. This well-remembered mark convinced her of his identity. She fell on his neck and like the father of the prodigal, wept tears of joy over her long-lost boy."
OLD NEWGATE PRISON.
"With flickering candle down the dread descent, To darkest depths I slowly make my way ; The aged ladder creaks from many a rent, And spirit-voices of a former day In murmuring whispers warn of dangers there ;
Of unseen Furies who with silent tread Will lead me on to labyrinthal snare
Where none escape, but number with the dead."
Newgate was at this time used by the State for the con- finement of criminals, and they were kept chiefly at work in making wrought nails. It was not until 1790 that it was established permanently as a State prison. It is said to have been the design to employ the convicts in working the mines, which for a while was practiced, but it was soon found that they must necessarily have for that work, precisely the right kind of tools for digging out, and they several times used them for that purpose. This reason, with the consequent necessity of keeping so strong a guard, both day and night, finally induced them to abandon the employment. In 1790 an act was passed constituting Newgate a permanent prison, and providing for the erection of the necessary buildings.
The expense was limited by legislative act to seven hun- dred and fifty pounds. The overseers were authorized to make the works very secure ; to appoint a keeper and a guard not exceeding ten persons-which number was afterwards increased to seventeen. After this a better system of management was pursued until the convicts were removed to the new prison at Wethersfield.
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A wooden palisade, mounted with iron spikes, was con- structed, inclosing half an acre of ground, within which, workshops and other buildings were placed, and a deep trench was opened on the western side. The wooden enclosure remained until 1802, when a strong stone-wall twelve feet high, was laid in its place, which is now standing. A brick building was erected in the centre of the yard for the officers and privates, in the rear and lower part of which a stone apartment was afterwards constructed directly over the month of the cavern, and in this room the most quiet pris- oners were occasionally kept. This was denominated the " stone jug."
About the year 1815, a building nearly fifty feet long, was erected on the southeast corner of the yard. The lower story was occasionally used for cells, and the upper one for a chapel, where services were usually held once a day on Sun- days. Another building adjoining next west, the lower story of which was used as a cooper shop, hospital, and kitchen, and the upper as a shoemaker's shop. In the northeast corner of the yard, another building was used as a wagon-shop. Eight or nine years later a large building of stone and brick was put up on the west side of the yard, and a tread-mill, for grinding grain, was constructed in it, principally by labor of the convicts. Cells were provided in this building for female prisoners, and rooms for officers, &c.
The passage down the shaft into the caverns, is upon a ladder fastened upon one side, and resting on the bottom. At the foot of this passage commences a gradual descent for a considerable distance, all around being solid massive rock or ore. The passages extend many rods in different direct- tions, some of them even leading under the cellars of the dwellings in the neighborhood. In two of the passages are deep wells of water, one of which is eighty feet from the surface; they served for a free circulation of air to the inmates of this gloomy place, and were sometimes used for shafts through which to lift the ore, when the business was carried on. On the sides and niches of the cavern, cabins were
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built of heavy planks, within which straw was placed for their beds. The prisoners were locked in them each night, but frequently in their carousals, they would break or un- fasten the locks and tear their cabins to pieces. The horrid gloom of this dungeon can be realized only by those who pass among its solitary windings. The impenetrable vastness supporting the awful mass above, impending as if ready to crush one to atoms: the dripping water trickling like tears from its sides; the unearthly echoes responding to the voice, all conspire to strike the beholder aghast with amazement and horror. These caverns and their precincts, from their antiquity, and the dramas which have been performed in and around them, will long be considered a classic place.
The caverns have generally been extremely favorable to the health and longevity of the occupants, which is attributed to some medical quality in the mineral rock. It is a curious fact, that many of the convicts having previously taken the itch, or other loathsome diseases, while confined in the coun- ty jails, which were very filthy, on being for a few weeks kept in the caverns at night, entirely uncovered ; and it is perhaps still more strange, that those who came apparently in health, generally had for a short time cutaneous eruptions, which appeared to work out of their blood.
A writer upon the subject observes :
"From the various windings and other causes, it is not cold there, even in the severest weather; and strange as it may seem, it has been satisfactorily ascertained, that the mercury ranged eight degrees lower in the lodging apart- ments of the prisoners in the warmest days of summer, than it does in the coldest in the winter. This phenomenon is attributed to the circumstance of the cavities in the rocks being stopped with snow, ice, and frost in the winter, which prevents so free a circulation of air as is enjoyed in the summer. On the 18th of January 1811, at eight o'clock A. M., the mercury stood in the cavern at fifty-two degrees; and in the open air, as soon after as it was practicable for a person to get up from the cavern (which could not have exceeded five minutes), it fell to one degree below 0."
A newspaper correspondent relates his adventures in the caverns as follows :-
" The wall with its brick bastion and guardhouse, 6x6, and 12 feet high, the latter seated like a marten-box on the former, peeped through the trees suddenly. It has stood almost three-quarters of a century. On the stone above the gate
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that looks east at the black curtain of the mountain, are engraved the syllables, "Newgate, 1801."
The sentry-box and bastion I have described project so as to command the grated windows in the south wall. The enclosure is square and contains about two acres. It stands square with the sun. On the west the mountain is terraced up to the prison, yielding three precipices of 25 feet in height, and rendering escape possible only by three desperate break-neck leaps after scaling the main wall. On the west a deep moat doubles the danger. To the south wall clings the long stone building occupied by the guards and the workshops, whose guns commanded the whole length of masonry on the east. The wooden roof and the floors are warped and shrunken, but the iron rings and staples in the wall have rusted very little since desperate men set them clanking with every stir of their ankles.
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