USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume II > Part 35
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THE FIRST JAIL.
At the February term, 1823. the commissioners also ordered the sale of "the jail of Henry County," which, they specify, shall be
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"Of the dimensions fourteen feet square, seven feet between the floors, the logs to be square ten inches, to be dovetailed at each corner and pinned; upper and lower floor to consist of logs squared of the same dimensions, the upper floor each log to be pinned down with one inch and one-half auger, one round of logs above the upper floor fit down, the door to be three feet wide, the shutter to be made of two-inch oak plank doubled, and be well spiked and hung with good and sufficient hinges to open outside with a good and sufficient bar with staples and lock, a cabin roof, the lower floor to be laid on two oak sills, and the house to be built on the top thereof, one window one foot square with four- inch square bars of iron to be sufficiently let in."
This was a very imposing structure to a man outside, but once shut in, say in July or August, especially if there were several of the "four inch square" iron bars across the one window (a foot square), all efforts to escape must have soon become quite feeble. The reader of these specifications (which were doubtless clear enough to the commissioners,) may be a little puzzled to determine whether "the house to be built on the top thereof" was to be placed on the lower floor, or whether the house was to have a second story intended for a jailer's residence or some such purpose. It was subsequently ordered that the jail should be com- pleted before the second Monday in August, and that the clerk should issue a county order to the builder for twenty dollars so soon as the building should be "erected to the height of four rounds." Obediah R. Weaver, being the lowest bidder, undertook "the faithful performance" of the contract for $120.
Although this building was to have been completed in August, 1823, it is found that, in May. 1824. the board refused to receive it, "inasmuch as it considered that the same had not been executed according to contract." The building was subsequently received of Mr. Weaver, and forty five dollars paid in full for the work ; twenty dollars having been previously advanced, when the structure was but "four rounds high." This jail was soon found to be inadequate, and the grow- ing wants of the times induced the commissioners to order the "selling" of
THE SECOND JAIL.
which was also to be built of timber. It was really to be an extension of the old one, the door of which was to be taken away and the space filled with logs. The addition was to be built adjoining the old part, leaving only eight inches between. which was afterward to be filled with timber. The new part was to have one window like the old one, one foot square, and when carried up to the height of the old one, a second story was to be built on, of logs, extending over both, and to be entered from one end by a "strong stairway." and the only entrance to the lower story was to be through a strong trap door, two feet square. "to be made secure with a strong bar of iron and good and sufficient lock, &c. Once let down into one of these "black holes." the most hardened desperado could dismiss all fears of "the dogs biting him" so long as his incarceration continued. On the 7th of January, 1830, Moses Brown, undertook the reconstruction of said jail, for the sum of $97.50, which was certainly cheap enough even in those days.
The rule that all things earthly must pass away seems to have made no ex- ceptions in favor of Henry County jails. In less than five years from the comple- tion of the second jail or "goal." the commissioners ordered a third to be advertised and erected. This time the external walls were to be of brick. The foundation
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was to be set in the ground two feet, and to be twenty eight inches in thickness. Above. the wall was to be thirteen inches thick, and eighteen feet by twenty five in dimensions, and two stories in height. The floor of the prisons or "dungeons" was to be of good oak timber ten inches thick, and, on top of this a floor of good oak plank one and one half inches thick. Just inside the brick walls and on top of the floor, was to be "built a log wall" of "hewn timber, ten inches square, to be laid down half dovetailed," and seven feet high. And this was to be lined with one and one half inch beech plank, and "cross lined" and well spiked on with "cut spikes, six inches in length" and not to exceed three inches distant. The wooden walls were to be continued so as to make two tiers of dungeons, but the upper ones were not required to be so well lined, or otherwise made so strong. The upper story was, doubtless, intended for the more corrigible class of culprits, while the more hardened sinners were to be "sent below." The dungeons in the lower story were to be ready for occupants by the third Monday of October, and the whole structure, by the first Monday in May. 1836.
"At a sale held at the court house," to "sell the building of the goals." Aliles Murphey "bid off the same for $1.100," $500 to be paid January 1. 1836, and the residue in one year. This work was done according to contract, and the structure. with little amendment, stood the racket until about 1850.
The musty records of the board of commissioners showed that the constant bill of expense for guarding prisoners was such that February II, 1851. they ordered the building of another jail. Elisha Clift appears to have been the architect and Jacob Elliott was selected to purchase materials and superintend it under the im- mediate orders of the commissioners. It was two stories in height, and thirty six by forty feet, was of brick with a stone floor, the cell wall being of hewn timber and lined with boiler iron and cost about $3.500. This jail stood until torn down to make room for the present court house.
In locating the site of the last jail, it must be considered that before the build- ing of the present court house ( without the new addition ) the present public square was cut in two by an alley ten feet wide, running through the center of the square, north and south. Only that part of the square east of the alley was occupied for county purposes, the balance, west of the alley, being used for residences, as is shown, in considering the construction of the present court house. This last men- tioned jail stood nearly flush with Broad Street, at the northwest corner of the lot, made by the alley and stood about opposite the present Ward Block. The two preceding jails occupied practically the same ground.
THE PRESENT JAIL.
The present county prison is a fine well built structure, in shape, somewhat like a capital letter "T." with the top of the letter representing the front of the building, which is used as the jailor's residence. The building is complete in all its appointments, is two stories in height, with a cellar underneath, containing a furnace. &c., for warming the whole. Externally the building has the appearance of being all brick, with stone window frames secured with heavy iron rods, behind which are heavy plate glass of such a peculiar make that they do not obstruct the light while they tell none the secrets of the interior. Inside the brick wall is a thick stone one, or rather the wall is half stone and half of brick, and just inside
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
the stone is an iron lining of boiler iron. Next comes a corridor about three feet wide, and then an iron grating, made of heavy iron bars through which pass one and one eighth inch rods of iron. This arrangement extends through both stories. Inside of this formidable grating, is another passage way or corridor entirely surrounding the cells, or strong boxes, which are made of heavy iron grating and boiler iron.
The first floor is of massive stone slabs, about fifteen inches in thickness, and the second floor is of iron. There are eighteen cells in the building, not likely to be all filled at one time.
The structure was built with an eye to the safety of its inmates, and, not- withstanding a mishap or two has occurred, it is not easy to see how a safer trap can reasonably be constructed, and it is the opinion of good judges that, with reas- onable care on the part of the keeper to ward off outside influence, the most ex- pert jail-bird could be kept till doomsday.
The cost of the building was about $40,000. Robert Cluggish, most efficiently superintended its erection.
THE PRESENT JAIL SITE.
The present jail site and grounds occupy lot one and the east half of lot two in block five of the original plat of New Castle. The west half of lot two and all of lot three, thus comprising all the lots in block five, is occupied by what is known as the Jacob Brenneman residence. This block is bounded on the east by Twelfth Street, on the north by Vine Street, on the west by Eleventh Street, and on the south by a continuation of Livery Alley. The county was the original owner of this property. Through its agent, Ezekiel Leavell, on May 8, 1834, it sold lots one and three to Samuel Hawn for five dollars. The center lot, number two, was con- sidered so valueless that the county abandoned the same and accordingly on Au- gust 25, 1834, it was sold for taxes by Wesley Goodwin, collector of taxes for Henry County, 'to the said Samuel Hawn for thirty three cents. Thus the county derived a total revenue of $5.33 from the entire block.
That part of the block occupied by the Brenneman residence has changed hands but few times since Hawn bought it, and as far back as the author of this History can remember, more than fifty years, it was in the possession of Jacob Brenneman and is now owned by his heirs.
The east half of the block underwent many transfers and when the time came for the county to buy it for the purpose for which it is now used, it was owned and occupied by Thomas C. Jordan, now and for half a century, past, a resident of New Castle, the county paying him therefor, on March II, 1868, $1,200. The frame house on this lot was of no particular value to the county and was immediately torn down to make way for the jail. Thus, what the county sold in 1834 for $2.661/2 (one half the price of the block) it bought back, thirty four years later at an advance of $1.197.333.
STRAY PEN.
A stray pen or pound, in early days, was considered an indispensable appur- tenance of every "well regulated" county. Stock was much more given to straying. no doubt, in early times than at the present. The love of home, or faculty of in-
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
habitiveness, was probably not so well developed then as now, while the powers of locomotion were generally much better, especially with the porkers. The time and money lost in looking up lost stock in this or any other new county, seventy-five years ago, notwithstanding the comparatively small amount kept, was much larger than at present, and, doubtless, led the assembled wisdom of our general assemblies to give it more careful thought than they now apparently devote to some of the great question of the hour.
By an act of the General Assembly, 1824. it was made the duty of the "com- missioners in each and every county in the State to cause a pound to be erected at or near the court houses, with a good and sufficient fence, gate, lock, and key, where all stray horses, mules and asses, above two years old, taken up within twenty miles of the court house, shall be kept on the first day of every circuit court, for three suc- ceeding terms, after the same shall be taken up, from eleven until three o'clock in each day, that the owner may have the opportunity of claiming his, her, or their property, and any person having taken up such property, and living more than twenty miles from the court house, shall not be compelled to exhibit it more than once.
In obedience to some such act as this, the Henry County Commissioners or- dered to be "sold" the
"Erecting of a pound, commonly called a stray pen, the said pen to be erected in the southwest corner of the public square, the said pen is to be forty feet square, to be erected at least five feet high, and of good and durable timber commonly called a post and rail fence, with a gate and lock to the same."
Minor Fox undertook this great "public enterprise" for the sum of $12.50 and "gave bond with sureties approved of by the commissioners of Henry County," and faithfully performed the labor within four months in so satisfactory a man- ner that the commissioners accepted it, and made him the first pound-keeper.
The stray pen or pound was located on the public square, immediately in the rear and south of the jail site which locates it in the center of the present public square, the south end extending to Race Street. The "gate and lock to the same" was on the corner of the alley, near the Race Street side of the pound.
COUNTY ASYLUM.
The buildings and belongings of the establishment where the county's poor are cared for ought to be a matter of more interest to the people of Henry than is generally manifested. Caring for those unfortunate persons who have from any cause, become unable to care for themselves, has been accepted by the county com- missioners as a duty, ever since the meeting of the first board, in 1822. and, although the arrangement for the comfort of paupers may have seemed parsimonious at times. surrounding circumstances must be taken into account. It would never do to make the fare, comforts, and general attractiveness of the asylum such that able-bodied. but lazy, shiftless, persons, of whom there are a few in every community, would seek for a residence at the county home, and besides the item, "on account of poor," has ever been a large one in the "budget" of Henry County, and it is largely on the increase.
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
On March 8, 1839, Commissioners Shawhan, Corwine and Ball, purchased of William Silver a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, about one mile northwest of New Castle, for the sum of $2,000. In May following, a contract was made with John D. Fooshee for keeping the paupers as well as the building of a "poor house," and it was also ordered that "all persons who are now, or may hereafter become, a county charge, shall be removed, as the law directs, to the poor house provided for that purpose."
Just what sort of a house this was to be (probably built of logs) or the price paid to the man who bought it the records do not show, but, on the 4th of January, 1844, a special session of the board was called to receive sealed proposals for the building of another house, which was to be of brick with a cellar under one wing. fourteen by thirty feet. The size of said building is not specified, but it was to have a porch on three sides of the same, with fourteen posts and banisters between from which it may be inferred that it was of considerable size. The brick were to be burned on the place, and all the sills, sleepers, posts, and plates were to be got off the farm. The brick work was to be painted red and penciled with white, and the porch painted drab. John Shroyer, Miles Murphey, and Dr. Joel Reed were appointed to superintend the building of the said house. John H. Polsley under- took the work for $1,100, and was allowed, for extra work, the sum of twenty dollars. The superintendents each received twenty dollars for their services.
This building was burned down and the paupers rendered homeless, May 9, 1855, when the commissioners promptly ordered the building of another and more commodious structure at an expense of about $7,000 which is the present county asylum, since considerably remodeled and enlarged.
Mark Modlin was the superintendent of the county asylum at the time of its destruction by fire. He then moved onto his farm, three and one half miles west of New Castle, the same farm being now occupied by his son, Alcander Modlin, and here under contract with the county commissioners, he kept the county paupers until March, 1860, when the new building was ready for occupancy, and when the unfortunates were brought in and given into the care of the new superintendent, Alvis Haguewood.
For two or three years after the asylum was established, the contract was made with Fooshee to care for the paupers that might, from time to time, be sent to him at the rate of $1.25 per head per week, with some little extra allowance in "extreme cases," he paying $150 for the rent of the farm.
In 1841 the commissioners resolved to turn over a new leaf, and so they let the contract to "board, clothe and feed" all paupers. and "to treat them in a humane manner, and especially to attend to the moral instruction of said paupers," to Samuel Hoover and Mark Modlin, for three years from March 1, 1842, at one dol- lar per capita per week, they paying $125 for rent of the farm. At the end of this time, they called for "sealed proposals" for keeping the paupers, raising the rent of the farm to $150. The position had come to be looked upon as being so desirable that there was strife over it and Mr. Fooshee instituted an unsuccessful suit to secure possession of it, after the contract was awarded to other parties for three vears. In 1844, he was a successful applicant, giving twenty five dollars more than had been previously paid for the use of the farm, and agreeing to take, "board. clothe, feed, and lodge," and morally instruct all paupers, for sixty two and one
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IIAZZARD'S IHISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
half cents per head per week, and bring in no other charge whatever. This was quite a coming down, but, after he had given bond to the satisfaction of the board, he seems to have "flew the track," and Mark Modlin was awarded the prize at sev- enty five cents per head per week, for one year.
Afterward the rent of the farm was reduced to $100 per year, and seventy five cents per week was allowed for keeping the paupers, and to "board, clothe, feed, humanely treat, and morally instruct," &c., which was cheap as dirt.
It is pleasant to know that our late commissioners have turned over still another leaf, and do not let that important charge on the sole condition of economy, and yet there is no loud complaint on this score.
The farm has been enlarged to about three hundred acres, much of the later purchases being first class bottom land. John W. Bell is the present superin- tendent, having under his charge now, about fifty persons nearly equally divided in sex. The annual average cost for maintenance for each inmate is estimated by Superintendent Bell to be about forty dollars. The value of the land without im- provements, is stated by the same authority to be $60 per acre and that the value of the improvements is $12,000, thus making the value of the farm at the rate of one hundred dollars per acre. However, in the opinion of the author of this His- tory, Superintendent Bell's value of the land is entirely too low. The author thinks the land alone, without the buildings is worth $100 per acre. Value of per- sonal property of all kinds is $4,000. The buildings are heated by steam, the county owning and operating its own plant. Mrs. Mary E. Bell, wife of the super- intendent, is the matron of the asylum. The annual salaries paid at the present time, are : superintendent, $500 ; matron, $130, the county paying for the services of extra hands when needed.
SUPERINTENDENTS OF COUNTY ASYLUM.
The following is approximately a correct list of the superintendents of the county asylum and the time for which they served respectively : John D. Fooshee. 1839 to March, 1842: Samuel Hoover and Mark Modlin, March, 1842. to Septem- ber. 1842; Mark Modlin, September, 1842, to May, 1853: Jacob Batdorf, May, 1853. (short time ) : Anthony Livezey, 1853 to 1855 : Mark Modlin, 1855 to March, 1860: Alvis Haguewood, March, 1860, to March, 1867; Joel R. Hutson, March. 1867, to March, 1869: Mahlon D. Harvey, March, 1869, to March, 1878; Daniel Harvey, March, 1878. to September, 1880; John W. Bell. September, 1880, to September. 1885: Daniel Harvey, September, 1885, to September, 1893; Mahlon D. Harvey, September. 1893, to September, 1897; Joel R. Frazier, September. 1897. to September, 1899; John W. Bell, September, 1899. present incumbent.
William Silver, who sold the first land purchased by the county for the county asylum farm, was a pioneer merchant of New Castle, and Judge Martin L. Bundy, being requested to give his personal recollection of Mr. Silver, says :
"William Silver came to New Castle in 1830 from Warren County, Ohio, and opened a dry goods store. He was then a young married man. He subse- quently purchased the lot on which now stands the Shroyer Building and he built thereon a frame building for a store room and residence and continued his busi- ness until 1838, when he removed to Pendleton. The carpenter who did the work was Dr. James V. Wayman, then a young man.
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
"At the time Silver came, Judge Jehu T. Elliott and Miles Murphey were young men and both applicants for a clerkship in his store. Silver chose Murphey because he had $160 which he could lend him and Elliott had no money. This circumstance made Murphey a merchant and Elliott a lawyer in life time bus- iness.
"Silver owned and sold to the county, the present poor farm or asylum. Prior to this, paupers were auctioned to the person who would take them for the least price."
THE FIRST ORPHAN'S HOME AT SPICELAND.
Miss Susan Fussell. of Chester County, Pennsylvania, in March, 1877, vis- ited a county home conducted by a family named Johnson at Danville, Indiana, for the care of the county children of Hendricks County, and having under her charge certain soldiers' orphan children, was impressed with the plan employed in Hendricks County. In April of the same year she moved to Spiceland, Henry County, with five of the soldiers' orphan children, these alone remaining of the ten children of whom she had assumed charge in 1865, after the war. The plan for a home similar to that in Hendricks County was formed in her mind.
"In September. 1877, she applied to the county commissioners of Henry county, Cyrus Van Matre, William D. Cooper and Ithamer W. Stuart, for the children then in the county asylum, offering for the sum of twenty five cents per day per child, to feed, clothe, nurse, and educate them, until suitable homes could be found for them.
"The proposition was kept before the commissioners at every session of their court for almost three years before they acceded to it, and then it was accepted on condition that Miss Fussell receive twenty three cents instead of twenty five cents per day for each child.
"So thoroughly convinced was she of the practicability and excellence of the plan, and of the great need of something being done to give these children a chance for an independent and honorable life that she consented to the terms, March, 1880, rented a suitable house at her own expense and at the same time contributed $500 to the institution which was never repaid to her, and received into the home on June 8, 1880, the nine children sent her from the Henry County Asylum."
It was largely due to the efforts of Miss Fussell and others interested in the work that the General Assembly, April 7, 1881, passed a law authorizing the county commissioners in each county to appoint as matron. a woman of good moral character, and judgment, and suitable age, having experience in the care and training of children and to put in her care, at some suitable and convenient place not connected with the county asylum, all pauper children of sound mind between the ages of one and sixteen years. The matron was to be paid not less than twenty five and not more than thirty cents daily for each inmate. Accordingly. after the passage of this law, the commissioners paid Miss Fussell twenty five cents daily per child instead of twenty three cents.
The law made it the duty of the commissioners to appoint a "committee of three competent persons * to examine into the condition of the home and the
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
manner in which the children therein are kept and treated by the matron at least once every three months and report to the board the result of their examin- ation. L
The commissioners, June 1882, appointed Mrs. Martha A. White, of Spice- land: Mrs. William M. Ewing, of Knightstown, and Mrs. Sarah A. R. Boor, of New Castle, to serve on this committee, the duties of which in a more limited sphere, were very similar to those of the present county board of charities. Later, Mrs. Ewing, removing to Kansas, Mrs. Maggie Watson, of Dunreith, was ap- pointed to fill her place. When, April 1, 1887, Miss Fussell having become inca- paciated through illness and age to act as matron and carry on the heavy duties in- volved, resigned. Mrs. Watson gave up her place as a member of the committee to permit the appointment of Miss Fussell, who lived near the home and was so familiar with the work. Miss Fussell served faithfully as did the other two ladies, until her death, July 19, 1889, when her sister, Ada Fussell, succeeded her. The committee as constituted. continued its service unbrokenly as long as the Spice- land Home was maintained.
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