USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Reminiscences of Worcester from the earliest period, historical and genealogical with notices of early settlers and prominent citizens, and descriptions of old landmarks and ancient dwellings, accompanied by a map and numerous illustrations > Part 21
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and Samuel Baker of Berlin, judges. Sept. 19, 1776, Joseph Dorr of Ward (now Auburn, ) was appointed judge in place of Jedediah Foster, promoted judge of the Supreme Judicial Court. In 1794, Dwight Foster of Brookfield, (son of Jedediah and grandfather of the present Hon. Dwight Foster of Boston,) was appointed judge, in place of Moses Gill promoted Lieut .- Governor, but not accepting the position, Michael Gill was ap- pointed judge. Elijah Brigham of Westborough was chosen in 1795, in place of Samuel Baker, deceased, who had served twenty years. In 1799, John Sprague of Lancaster was ap- pointed chief justice in place of Gen. Artemas Ward, resigned ; in 1801, Dwight Foster of Brookfield was chosen chief justice in place of Sprague, and Benjamin Heywood of Worcester, judge, in place of Dorr, the latter having served as judge twenty-five years, and Gen. Artemas Ward as chief justice twenty-four years. No other change was made till 1811, when the system of county courts for the Common Pleas was abolish- ed, and the " Circuit Court of Common Pleas" established, the State being divided into three circuits, of which Suf- folk,* Essex and Middlesex counties constituted the Middle Circuit ; Worcester, Hampshire, Hampden and Berkshire counties the Western Circuit ; and Norfolk, Plymouth, Bristol and Barnstable counties the Southern Circuit ; with three judges for each circuit. The first judges for the Western Cir- cuit, including Worcester county, were : Ezekiel Bacon of Stock- bridge, chief justice, and Edward Bangs of Worcester and Jon- athan Leavitt of Greenfield, associate justices ; John Hooker of Springfield taking the place of Bacon as chief justice in 1812, and Solomon Strong of Leominster taking the place of Judge Bangs at the decease of the latter, June 28, 1818, aged 62.
In 1820, another change was made, abolishing the circuit courts, and requiring four judges to be selected from the State at large. Under this new arrangement, Artemas Ward of Newton, who had previously been member of Congress, execu- tive councillor, &c., (son of Maj. Gen. Artemas Ward of Shrewsbury,) served as chief justice for nineteen years till
* In 1813, another Court called the " Boston Court of Common Pleas," was established separate from the Middle Circuit.
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1839, his associates being Solomon Strong of Leominster, John Mason Williams of Taunton, and Samuel Howe of Northampton. David Cummins of Salem taking the place of Judge Howe in 1828. The number of judges of the Common Pleas Court for the whole State was subsequently increased to seven, those from Worcester being: Charles Allen from 1842 to 1844; Pliny Merrick from 1843 to 1848; Emory Washburn from 1844 to 1847 ; and Pliny Merrick again from 1850 to 1853. The chief justices succeeding Judge Ward, were : John Mason Wil- liams from 1839 to 1844; Daniel Wells of Greenfield, from 1844 to 1854; and Edward Mellen of Wayland, afterwards of Worcester, from 1854 until the abolition of the Court in 1859, when the present Superior Court was established in its place. Of the judges of the Superior Court, now eleven in number, those from Worcester have been : Charles Allen, (chief justice,) from 1859 to 1867 ; Charles Devens from 1867 to his appoint- ment to the Supreme Bench in 1875 ; Francis H. Dewey from 1869, and P. Emory Aldrich from 1873, the two latter still of- ficiating as judges. Seth Ames succeeded Judge Allen as chief justice, and Lincoln F. Brigham of Boston has been chief jus- tice of this court since 1869.
THE COURT OF GENERAL SESSIONS.
The Court of General Sessions of the Peace, which original- ly had jurisdiction of criminal cases and all matters afterwards entrusted to the Board of County Commissioners, consisted of all the justices of the peace in the county, including the four judges of the Common Pleas, whose sessions were on the same days, in the months of February, May, August and November, and who took the load in the general business. The Court of General Sessions remained the same in its constitution and powers, from the first organization of the county till 1803, when the criminal jurisdiction was transferred to the Common Pleas. In 1807, the number of Sessions magistrates was limit- ed to six, when the name " General" was omitted, and it was called simply " Court of Sessions," Pliny Merrick of Brookfield acting as chief justice for a couple of years, with Moses White of Rutland, John Whiting of Lancaster, Jonathan Davis of Ox-
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ford, John Spurr of Charlton, and Dr. Abraham Lincoln, Ste- phen Salisbury, Dr. Oliver Fiske, Jeremiah Robinson and John W. Lincoln of Worcester, associate justices with him at differ- ent sessions. In 1809, this Court was abolished, and all its re- maining powers transferred to the Common Pleas. On account of the growing dissatisfaction at this act, the Sessions Court was again revived in 1811 with four justices, consisting of Jonathan Davis of Oxford, Timothy Whiting of Lancaster, Joseph Adams of Uxbridge and Edmund Cushing of Lunen- burg. In 1813, the whole jurisdiction was again transferred to the Common Pleas with two additional justices, termed " Ses- sions' Justices of the Court of Common Pleas," whose power was limited to Sessions matters. The "Sessions Justices" thus acting till 1819, were Benjamin Kimball of Harvard, and Oliver Crosby of Brookfield. In 1819, the separate " Court of Sessions" was again revived with three justices, of whom Seth Hastings of Mendon was chief justice, with Benjamin Kimball of Harvard and Aaron Tufts of Dudley as associate justices. These remained in office until 1828, when this court was abol- ished, and a "Board of County Commissioners" established in its place, comprising four persons, the following persons be- ing appointed to constitute the board : Jared Weed of Peters- ham, Aaron Tafts of Dudley, Edmund Cushing of Lunenburg, and William Eaton of Worcester. James Draper of Spencer was appointed in place of Edmund Cushing in 1832, and the board as thus constituted, continued till 1836, when the law was again changed, making the board consist of three commis- sioners and two special commissioners, the latter to be called upon in case of necessity. Under this new arrangement, Col. John W. Lincoln of Worcester, Ebenezer D. Ammidown of Southbridge, and Gen. Wm. Crawford of Oakham were ap- pointed commissioners, Gen. Crawford taking the place of Col. Lincoln as chairman of the board in 1842, with Davenport of Mendon and Charles Thurber of Worcester as his associate commissioners ; Jerome Gardner of Harvard and Joseph Bruce of Grafton taking the place of Messrs. Davenport and Thurber in 1844. The board so continued until 1850, when the com- missioner's were Otis Adams of Grafton, Bonum Nye of North
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Brookfield, and Asaph Wood of Gardner ; Mr. Nye taking the position of chairman in 1855, with Zadok A. Taft of Uxbridge as the new member in place of Otis Adams. Mr. Nye retiring in 1857, Asaph Wood became chairman, and James Allen of Oakham the new member. Velorous Taft took the place of Zadok A. Taft in 1858, and Gen. Amory Holman of Bolton the place of James Allen in 1859. In 1862, Velorous Taft became chairman, JJ. Warren Bigelow of Rutland then taking the place of Asaph Wood. In 1869, Wm. O. Brown of Fitchburg took the place of Gen. Holman. The board as thus constituted, continued till January, 1876, when Henry G. Taft of Uxbridge took the place of Velorous Taft, (who had served eighteen years) ; and in January, 1877, Henry E. Rice of Barre took the place of Mr. Bigelow, who had served fifteen years, Wm. O. Brown being the present chairman of the board.
THE SUPREME COURT.
From the first organization of the county, there has always been a Court above all those just described, having a general supervision of all their proceedings, called before the revolution the " Superior Court of Judicature," and since the adoption of the constitution of 1780, known as the "Supreme Judicial Court" of the Commonwealth. This court held its first session in this county, in the old meeting-house in Worcester, Sept. 22, 1731, Benjamin Lynde being then chief justice, and Addington Davenport, Paul Dudley, Edmund Quincy and John Cushing, associate justices, who were all. present with fifteen grand jurors, of whom Maj. Jonas Rice of Worcester was foreman ; John Hubbard of Worcester being foreman of the petit jury. This court affirmed four judgments of the Common Pleas' Court on complaint, tried one indictment, and on the 23d adjourned without day, after a session of days.
The chief justices of this court, since the death of Lynde in 1745, have been : Paul Dudley to 1751; Stephen Sewall to 1760 ; Thomas Hutchinson to 1769; Benjamin Lynde to 1771 ; Peter Oliver to 1775; Wm. Cushing to 1789; N. P. Sargent to 1791 ; Francis Dana to 1806 ; Theophilus Parsons to 1813 ; Samuel Sewall to 1814; Isaac Parker to 1830; Lemuel Shaw
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to 1860 ; George Tyler Bigelow to 1868; R. A. Chapman to 1874 ; Horace Gray to the present time.
The judges of this court from Worcester county have been : Jedediah Foster of Brookfield from 1776 to 1779 ; Levi Lincoln, in 1824, afterwards governor ; Benjamin F. Thomas from 1853 to 1859 ; Pliny Merrick from 1853 to 1864 ; Dwight Foster from 1866 to 1869 ; Charles Devens from 1873 to March. 1877, when he was appointed Attorney General of the United States.
CENTRAL DISTRICT COURT OF WORCESTER COUNTY.
Wm. N. Green, who had previously acted as police justice for many years, was judge of the Worcester Police Court from its organization in 1848, to its abolition in 1868, a period of twenty years. Hartley Williams was appointed judge of the Municipal Court, which took the place of the Police Court, July 1, 1868, and of the Central District Court of the county, which succeeded it in 1872, the present court comprising with- in its jurisdiction the city of Worcester and the surrounding towns of Millbury, Sutton, Auburn, Leicester, Paxton, West Boylston, Holden and Shrewsbury. The first clerk of this suc- cession of courts, who officiated from 1848 till 1853, was Cal- vin E. Pratt, afterwards a general of the army in the war of the rebellion, and for ten years past judge of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. His successors have been : Maj. Samuel V. Stone, Provost Marshal of this Congressional district during the war, for many years Secretary of the School Committee ; John B. Dexter, Jr., from 1855 to 1858 ; Clark Jillson, who served thirteen years until July, 1871, when he was appointed judge of the First District Court of Southern Worcester county, and has since served three years as mayor of the city of Worcester. The present clerk, appointed Aug. 14, 1871, is Theodore S. Johnson, formerly judge of the Sec- ond District Court of Southern Worcester.
COURT HOUSES.
At the August Session of the Court of General Sessions, in 1732, steps were first taken for the building of a Court House, which was erected the following year on land given by Judge
BRICK COURT HOUSE, 1802.
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Wm. Jennison for the purpose, the sessions of the Courts being in the meanwhile held in the old meeting-house, until the Court House was completed. This building, located near the site of the present brick Court House ; was of wood, 36 feet by 26, with 13 feet posts. It was first opened, at the session of the Court of General Sessions, beginning Feb. 8, 1734, when a dedi- catory address was delivered by Chief Justice John Chand- ler. Less than twenty years afterwards this edifice was sup- plemented by one of larger proportions, erected a few feet north- west of it, measures for which were first taken March 16, 1751. This structure, also of wood, 36 by 40 feet in size, af- ter being occupied nearly fifty years as a temple of justice, was sold and converted into a dwelling, being removed on wheels about the year 1802 to its present location at the junction of Green, Park and Franklin streets, having been occupied for over half a century as a dwelling by the family of the late Geo. A. Trumbull, who owned an extensive tract of land in that vicinity.
THE OLD BRICK COURT HOUSE.
The work on the third Court House, built of brick, (being the present north Court House, remodeled in 1857,) was begun in 1801, being located a few feet north-west of the former one, the corner stone being laid Oct. 1, 1801, by Isaiah Thomas, who with Sheriff Wm. Caldwell and Hon. Salem Towne of Charlton, State Senator, comprised the building committee of the structure, which cost $20,000. Its size, 48 1-2 fect front by 50 1-2 deep, and two full stories in height, well arranged into rooms for the courts and all the various offices, (surmounted by the scales of justice still suspended on its dome,) made it of ample accommodations for seventy-five and fifty years ago. It was first opened Sept. 27, 1803, when the presiding justice of the Supreme Court, Robert Treat Paine, made appropriate re- ference in his dedicatory remarks, to the magnificence of the structure, considering " the grandeur of the building a striking proof of the prosperity of the inhabitants." But this building, even, became insufficient, in the progress of the town's growth, within forty years from that time, for all the purposes for which it was built, and another and far more costly structure of
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granite was erected in 1845. But such was the growth of the county business during the succeeding twelve years, that in 1857 an addition had to be made to the old brick Court House, which was during that year remodeled, moved back about for- ty feet to its present position on a line with the new stone structure, and 16 feet added to the front, making the brick Court House, now have a depth of 66 1-2 feet by 48 1-2 front. The former entrance by a porch on the south side was then closed. The roof was also raised four feet, and the outside cov- ered with a coating of mastic. The dome on the top surmount- ed by the blind goddess holding the scales of justice, still re- mains, as also the small tower in the rear in which used to be a bell formerly rung at the opening of the daily sessions of the court.
THE STONE COURT HOUSE.
The first steps taken toward the erection of the present stone Court House, were at the February session of the court of- county commissioners, in 1842, when it was voted to build, and at the June session, 1843, the full board, consisting of Wm. Crawford of Oakham, David Davenport of Mendon, and Charles Thurber of Worcester, with Stephen Davis of Oxford and Jerome Gardner of Harvard, special commissioners, voted unanimously to accept of the plans, prepared after the Corinth- ian order of architecture, by Ammi B. Young, architect, of Boston, July 27, 1843, a contract was signed by the commis- sioners with Horatio N. Tower, carpenter and builder, and David Woodward, stone cutter, of Worcester, for the construc- tion of the building according to those plans, the contract be- ing $65,600, although the whole cost of the structure in its en- tire completion amounted to about $100,000. Its location is on the site previously occupied by the spacious mansion of Isaiah Thomas, removed to the rear, now owned and occupied by Walter H. Davis. Work upon the building was immediate- ly begun, and it was completed during the summer of 1845, being first occupied at the fall session of the Supreme Judicial Court, when a dedicatory address was delivered at the opening of the court, Sept. 30, 1845, by Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw. This was considered one of the most elegant and costly court
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houses in the State, its material being Quincy granite, and the style after that of the Custom House in Boston, then just erect- ed, being a variation from that of the Grecian "Tower of the Winds" at Athens.
A further description is given in the language of the architect.
" Size of the building, 56 2-3 feet wide and 108 feet deep from the front of the upper step to the base at the rear end. The base is 3 1-2 feet high, the columns and body 30 feet high, and the entablature 7 1-6 feet high, making the whole height from the ground to the eaves 40 2-3 feet, and to the apex of the pediment 48 2-3 feet. The pediment is 8 feet high. The front and two sides of the building, the portico, steps, and three feet return at the rear end are of hammered stone, also the door and window caps, sills and door posts, and steps of the rearend, (the remainder of the rear end being rough stone-work laid in courses as ashlar work.) The six columns having shafts in one piece, 3 1-2 feet in diameter above the scope of the base, 2 feet 11 inches in diameter below the scope of the neck, and 25 feet high. Their capitals 3 3-4 feet high, and 5 feet 5 inches square at the ab- acus, also each in one piece. The bases 1 1-4 feet high, 4 1-3 feet in diam- eter, in one piece. The columns have twenty elliptical plates with twenty fillets. The entablature extends on three sides of the building with proper returns at the rear end. Full pediments in front, with crotera at the eaves, and ridge, and raking cornice at the rear end. The base of the building, piers on the sides, and antæ of the portico, of ashlar work in courses gen- erally three feet in height."
The six huge granite pillars in front, twenty-five feet long and three feet in diameter, each weighing nineteen tons, were trans- ported by rail from the quarry at Quincy to the freight station at Washington Square, whence an ox and horse team conveyed them, one at a time, through Summer street to their destination on Court Hill, the wooden bridge then spanning Mill Brook on Front street, not being considered safe for so heavy a load, and the bridge at Lincoln Square being a stone arch. Arrived at the foot of Court Hill, ascension was too steep from the north- ern declivity, and when the foot of the southern declivity was reached, the street was not wide enough for them to turn round so as to go up, and the teams had to proceed up Main street as far as the City Hall in order to find room enough to turn round, which done the teams went north again and de- posited their heavy burden without further difficulty.
COUNTY JAILS.
At a meeting of the Court of General Sessions, Sept. 2, 1731, a prison was ordered to be built for the confinement of 29
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malefactors, and previous to its erection, in 1733, arrangements were made with Judge Wm. Jennison for the use of a part of his dwelling (see page 57) as a temporary jail'; a suitable " cage" for the purpose being built in the rear part, with the liberties of the yard extending twenty feet on the south side and east end. At the February Session of the Court, in 1732, it was ordered, that " in lieu of the prison before appointed, the cage, so called, already built, be removed to the chamber of the house of Dea. Daniel Heywood, innholder, (see page 30) and be the gaol until the chamber be suitably finished for a jail, and then the chamber be the gaol for the county, and the cage remain as one of the apartments." Here the prisoners were confined until they were put in the building erected in 1733, in the west side of Lincoln street, several hundred feet north from Lincoln Square. This first jail building was 41 feet long by 18 wide, with 8 feet studs ; the prison part was 18 feet square made of white oak timber set with studs, four inches thick and five inches broad, and floored, roofed and ceiled with two inch planks spiked together. A stone dungeon was under- neath. The north end of the structure, finished as a dwelling, afterwards became part of the old " Hancock Arms" and Brown and Butman tavern, (alluded to on page 57) which was burned Dec. 23, 1824. In 1753, a new jail was built a few rods south of the former one, 38 feet long by 28 wide, with 7 feet joists, the south end being studded with joist six inches square, set five inches apart, and filled with stone and mortar. The top, sides and floor are described as covered inside and out with plank fastened with a profusion of iron spikes, and the doors, windows and partitions protected with heavy iron gratings.
The progress of time demanded increased accommodations and more effectual protection and security against the escape of prisoners, and at the December session of the Court in 1784, provision was made for the erection of what was then consider- . ed a massive granite structure, 64 by 32 feet, three stories in height, on the south side of Lincoln Square, the appropriation of &500 being granted therefor. This was completed Sept. 4, 1788, and considered a great affair. The lower story was di- vided into four arches crosswise, forming four rooms for the
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safe custody of persons convicted of or committed for gross crimes. The second story was divided in the same manner into four rooms, but not arched with stone ; these were for the keeping of debtors who had not the " liberty of the yard," and for persons committed for small offences. The upper story had an entry or walk from end to end, and was divided into eight convenient rooms for the use of prisoners for debt, who had the liberty of the jail yard. This yard extended so far as to in- clude the jailor's house, on the east side, and the meeting-house of the second Parish (First Unitarian Church.) The house built for the keeper of the jail was the property of the county, and described as a " handsome, well finished building."
The estimation in which this structure, built of stone from millstone hill, was considered at that time, is seen in the fol- lowing from the Massachusetts SPY, written by Isaiah Thomas, at the time of its first occupation :
" This is judged to be at least the second stone building of consequence in the Commonwealth ; none being thought superior to it, except the stone chapel in Boston ; that is built of hewn stone ; the stones of this are mostly as they were taken from the quarry. The master workman, John Parks of Groton, has acquired great credit for the ingenuity and fidelity with which he has executed the work. A great saving must be experienced from the new building, as without some convulsion of nature, it is not probable that it will need any repairs, excepting the roof, for two or three centuries. The capaciousness of the building will make it answer for a work-house, and save the county the expense of erecting one."
But the progress of crime and improvements of prison dis- cipline soon afterwards outgrew even these accommodations. In 1819, a House of Correction, of brick, 53 by 27 feet, includ- ing the appointments for a work-house, was erected on the site of the present Jail and House of Correction on Summer street, being the nucleus of the present commodious and elegant brick structure extended to its present large dimensions by succes- sive additions and remodelings since. In 1832, the whole in- terior of the first structure was rebuilt, after the plan of the State Prison at Charlestown, and forty cells put in, 7 by 3 1-2 feet in size, with three other rooms for closer confinement in the basement. In April, 1835, a part of this building was ap- propriated for the county jail, and the two upper stories of cells, with the rooms above and below the kitchen, were oc-
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cupied for the jail, and the prisoners transferred thereto from the old stone jail on Lincoln Square, which was then torn down.
The last and most extensive remodeling made in the present Jail and House of Correction, amounting substantially to an entirely new structure, as far as appearances are concerned, was made in 1873, at an expenditure of some $200,000.
When the old stone jail was torn down in 1835, the material was used in the construction of the stone block soon after built by Capt. Silas Bailey, stone mason, on the north side of Front street, just west of the old canal, and now about a rod west of the viaduct. It has recently been remodeled, and a brick front put up, but the ends and rear of the block show the old material, which for so many years formed the prison walls of the old jail.
The saddest of all the melancholy reminiscences connected with the old stone jail, used for the incarceration of poor debtors as well as criminals, is the fact, stated in the records, that the patriot Col. Timothy Bigelow, committed there on an execution for debt, Feb. 15, 1790, died there, March 31, fol- lowing-the entry reading " Discharged by death, April 1."
JAILERS AND KEEPERS OF THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION.
The first regular jailer was Luke Brown, (see page 58,) keeper of the old " Hancock Arms" tavern on Lincoln street, from 1746. He was succeeded by his son Luke, and the lat- ter's son Samuel followed. After the completion of the new stone jail in 1788, the first keeper of it and of the jail tavern connected therewith was Lemuel Rice. He was succeeded by Dea. Nathan Heard in 1798, and the latter by his son, the present Gen. Nathan Heard, in 1812. The latter was succeed- ed by Asahel Bellows in 1824, who continued until the demoli- tion of the old stone jail in 1835, and the transferrence of the prisoners to the House of Correction on Summer street, since which time the jail and House of Correction have been in the same building.
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