USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine, Volume II, 1875-1900 > Part 13
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BELFAST FREE LIBRARY BY P. R. HAZELTINE
His widow survived him until 1884. Two years later, the amount of his bequest was received by the city, which purchased for one thousand dollars a quarter of an acre of land at the westerly corner of High and Miller streets, as a site for the Library building. This lot was the homestead of Robert Miller, one of the first settlers, and the dwelling house erected by him in 1792, and which was the oldest one in the city proper, then occupied its original position. It was sold for seventy dollars, and was moved to Bridge Street.
By a vote of the City Council, the erection of the building was entrusted to a committee of that board, consisting of Cyrus James Hall, Albert Leslie Mudgett, and Charles W. Rogers, in accordance with plans drawn by Julius Munchwitz, of New York. A contract for the building in the sum of $8775 was
PAUL RICHARD HAZELTINE FREE LIBRARY, ERECTED 1887, AND HIGH STREET
117
BELFAST FREE LIBRARY
awarded to James Thomas Pottle, and the work was com- pleted in November, 1887.
The body of the structure is of red granite, and the finish and trimmings are of Somerville gray granite. The building is one story high with a basement, and has a frontage of fifty-six feet on High Street and of thirty-two on Miller. The rooms are nineteen feet in height. It is estimated that the bookroom has a capacity of fourteen thousand volumes.
Shortly before the Hazeltine bequest accrucd, by the death of Mrs. Nancy Green, the last surviving sister of the late Nathaniel Wilson, which occurred 30 November, 1885, the city became entitled to the bequest made by Mr. Wilson for educa- tional purposes, as is set forth in volume I of the "History of Belfast." The sum received was $31,811.43, which, combined with $9000, the balance of the Hazeltine Fund of $20,000, amounted to $40,811.43, only the income of which, by the terms of the two bequests, could be expended, leaving the principal forever intact.
As legislation seemed necessary for the proper management of these sums, an act, passed in 1887, authorized the selection by the city of five trustees, who should annually determine the means of popular instruction for which the income of the Wilson Fund should be appropriated, and Joseph Williamson, William Colburn Marshall, Albert Cargill Burgess, Ben Hazeltine, and Calvin Hervey were first chosen.
With Miss Elizabeth Maltby Pond as librarian and Miss Annie Veazie Field as assistant, the Library was opened to the public on the 1st day of May, 1888. The number of books was then 2033, of which 620 volumes were the gift of Mrs. Richard Chenery. An oil portrait of the founder was presented by Mr. Charles Bellows Hazeltine.
In 1889, the Library received a donation of books valued at one thousand dollars, from Rev. George Warren Field, of Bangor, in memory of his mother, the late Mrs. Abigail (Davis) Field.
In June, 1898, an oil portrait of Nathaniel Wilson was placed in the reading-room. It was copied from an old daguerreotype, and citizens who remembered Lieutenant Wilson pronounce the features, expression, and coloring as faithful in resemblance. The artist was Mr. Ernest L. Ipsen, of Boston. Including the
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HISTORY OF BELFAST
frame, the portrait cost $232, and was paid for by the accumu- lation of moneys received for fines.1
This year a branch library was established at Citypoint, and maintained for two years.
In 1900, a bequest of two thousand dollars, under the will of the late Rev. George Warren Field, was received, and from his estate a gift of four hundred books. Mr. Albert Crane,2 of Stam- ford, Connecticut, presented, in trust, three thousand dollars, in memory of his friend the late Albert Boyd Otis, of Belfast, to be called "The Albert Boyd Otis Fund"; the income to be annually expended in the purchase of books of history and biography.
The number of accessions of new books, the circulation, and the number of registered persons entitled to the privileges of the Library, since the institution was organized, is shown by the following table: -
LIBRARY RECORD
Year ending March 1
Whole number of volumes
Increase by purchase
Increase by gift
Number of books loaned for home use
Card Registration
1888-89
2843
2455
388
17,411
1154
1889-90
4131
413
875
21,637
1425
1890-91
4731
501
99
21,039
1625
1891-92
5253
522
19,469
1633
1892-93
5712
414
45
18,568
1893-94
6220
442
66
21,136
1894-95
6640
432
24
22,526
1734
1895-96
7100
437
23
23,951
1833
1896-97
7747
565
82
25,092
1963
1897-98
8266
369
150
23,227
1898-99
8766
445
55
22,852
876
1899-1900
9449
485
198
24,026
1261
1900-01
10,377
437
490
22,987
1307
Bulletin and Finding Lists were issued in 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, and 1892.
' 1 A portrait of Judge Williamson, painted in oils by Richard N. Brooke, of Washington, D.C., in 1902, was hung the same year in the reading-room. Its cost was $100, which was, as in the case of that of Lieutenant Wilson, defrayed from money received from fines.
2 Mr. Crane also presented to the Library a bas-relief of Albert Boyd Otis in bronze, by Dallin.
PAUL RICHARD HAZELTINE 1800-1878
119
BELFAST FREE LIBRARY
In 1896, the first General Catalogue, comprising 155 octavo pages, was published.
Lists of the more important new books received have ap- peared semi-monthly in the local newspapers.
Miss Field resigned as assistant librarian in March, 1897, and Miss Georgia Thomas Burrows was chosen as her successor.
The principal of the Library funds, as credited in the last report of the City Treasurer, is $44,559.36; its estimated value, $52,844.36, producing an income for 1900-01 of $1835.04, exclu- sive of the Field and Otis funds.
CHAPTER XX
LAW AND THE COURTS
System of Courts, 1875 - Officers - Municipal Court - Police Court restored - Bar Association - Law Library - Portrait of Chief Justice Peters - Court-House - Its Extension - Crimes - Boys convicted of Arson - Mrs. Lydia Larrabee convicted of Manslaughter - John W. Mitchell tried for Assault - Conviction of Mrs. Martha M. Crockett for Murder - Trial of Lewis Brewster for Murder - Mob - Edmund Elliot convicted of Assault with Intent to Kill - Infanticide.
"N 1875, the system of courts was substantially as at present, three terms of the Supreme Judicial Court being held each year on the first Tuesday of January, April, and October, re- spectively. Questions of law were heard by the law court, com- posed of five or more of the judges, sitting at Bangor, for the eastern district, in June.
The County Commissioners were Darius K. Drake, then of Jackson, Stephen Strout, of Freedom, and Albert B. Clark, of Winterport.
Wakefield Gale Frye was clerk of both tribunals. Samuel Norton filled the office of Sheriff, and William Henry Fogler was County Attorney. The examiners of candidates for admission to the Bar were Joseph Williamson, William Henry Fogler, and William Henry Mclellan; the former, with George Edwin John- son and William Pitt Thompson, constituted the board in 1900, when under a new law their duties were transferred to a state examination.
The officers of the Probate Court were Asa Thurlough, of Monroe, Judge, and Bohan Prentice Field, Register. No change in the terms has since been made.
Of the Police Court, George Edwin Johnson was Judge from 1872 to 1877. Emery Boardman succeeded him. By a legislative act passed in 1878 the name of the court was changed to that of the Belfast Municipal Court, with essential modifications and enlargement of powers, having a judge and a recorder and juris- diction in civil matters to the extent of one hundred dollars. It provided for the continuance of Judge Boardman till the expira-
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LAW AND THE COURTS
tion of his official term. The following year was passed an act to establish the Police Court of the City of Belfast, and to abolish the Belfast Municipal Court. The substituted court was without a recorder, and had less jurisdiction than the former. James Bowdoin Murch was appointed Judge, and held his first term in April, 1879, in the room then recently vacated by the Belfast National Bank. Judge Boardman claimed that the ex- istence of the old court, under which he was commissioned, con- tinued, and refused to surrender the scal and records to the new incumbent. A test case, which may be found in volume 70 of the Maine Reports, decided to the contrary. Upon the resig- nation of Judge Murch, in 1881, by reason of ill-health, Judge Boardman was reappointed, continuing until 1887, when he was succeeded by Reuel Wilford Rogers, who has since continued in office.
The Waldo County Bar Association and the Trustees of the Law Library in the County of Waldo are two distinct organiza- tions which hold annual meetings each January. The following are the present (1900) officers of each : President, Joseph William- son; treasurer, George Edwin Johnson; clerk, James Sumner Harriman; committee on buying books, John Riley Dunton, Fred Waldo Brown, Franklin Atwood Greer.
In 1894, the Bar procured a portrait of Chief Justice Peters, which now hangs in the new Library room.
COURT-HOUSE IMPROVEMENTS AND EXTENSION
Stone steps leading from High Street to the eastern entrance of the Court-House were provided in 1876, and the next year, two small wooden structures on the Church Street side of the county lot were removed. In 1887, the building was first sup- plied with steam heat. The next year, the law library was removed from the Clerk's office to a room in the second story, which the Bar furnished at its own expense. A water-supply in 1888, a new ceiling in the court-room, and the substitution of electricity for gas in 1889, constituted the principal improve- ments until the recent ones.
In the year 1898 the Waldo County Bar Association, at a special meeting, called for that purpose, petitioned the County Commissioners to take some steps toward enlarging the Court- House, stating that its capacity was inadequate to the needs of
122
HISTORY OF BELFAST
the county, and, furthermore, that the valuable records of the Probate and Register of Deeds Office were endangered by not being properly protected from fire. The Commissioners did not feel authorized to grant the prayer of the petitioners, and on the 24th day of February, 1899, Joseph Williamson, William Henry Mclellan, and George Edwin Johnson petitioned the Supreme Court to issue a mandamus, compelling the County Commission- ers to grant the request, urging as a reason that, the county being out of debt, and having over $21,000 in the treasury, it was in financial condition to make the necessary addition. After the usual legal technicalities had been gone through with, at the April term of court, Judge S. C. Strout, presiding, issued an order of mandamus commanding the County Commissioners, "to provide in the shire town of the county, a fireproof building of brick or stone, for the safekeeping of the records and papers belonging to the offices of the Register of Deeds and Probate and the Clerk of Courts, with separate fireproof rooms and suitable alcoves, cases, or boxes for each office."
The Commissioners decided to enlarge the Court-House by extending an addition toward High Street, and connecting it with the rear of the building. Plans were made by Architect E. F. Fassett, which were accepted, and the contract for the extension was let to J. S. Randall, of Portland, Maine, for about $16,000, which, together with the fittings and furnishings brought the cost of the structure to about $20,000. The exten- sion was completed during the winter of 1900, and the records of the various offices were at once moved into it, where they are at present safely housed.
CRIMES
During the past quarter of a century, as in previous years, few crimes of a high and aggravated nature have been committed or tried in Belfast.
In 1876, William Barnes, aged seventeen, was convicted of an attempt to wreck a train on the Belfast Branch Railroad, near Unity Pond. His alleged object was to see how cars would look running off the track.
For hauling lime on Sunday, a citizen of Lincolnville was con- victed by the Police Court, in 1878, and fined.
At the April term of the Supreme Court, in 1881, two boys,
123
LAW AND THE COURTS
Joseph F. Patterson and George F. Patterson, pleaded guilty to an indictment for arson in setting fire to the house of John Camp- bell, near the East Bridge. The former was sentenced to the state prison for life, and the latter to the reform school during his minority.
In 1886, Mrs. Lydia Larrabee, of Jackson, was convicted of manslaughter in causing the death of her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Helen M. Larrabee, and received a sentence of six months in jail.
During the fire which burned Phoenix Row, June 11, 1887, John W. Mitchell, a temperance reformer and school-teacher, interfered in an altereation which had ensued between George E. White and Thomas Haugh, and being pursued, wounded the latter by shooting him with a revolver. The affair created intense excitement. At a hearing before the Police Court for an assault with intent to kill, Mitchell claimed that he acted in self-defense. He was bound over to await an investigation by the grand jury, which, however, did not find an indictment against him.
At the January term of the Supreme Court, in 1887, Mrs. Martha M. Crockett, of Swanville, was convicted of murdering her husband, Reuel Crockett, by poison, and in October was sentenced to imprisonment for life. It was proved that she had mingled "Rough on Rats," the principal ingredient of which is arsenic, with his food. The alleged motive of the murder was the expulsion from the house of one William E. Harvey, her son by a former marriage. The trial lasted seven days, and was con- ducted by Hon. Orville D. Baker, Attorney-General, and Reuel Wilford Rogers, County Attorney, for the State, and by Colonel William Henry Fogler, for the prisoner. Its expense to the county, including the preliminary hearing, was about $2500. Mrs. Crockett died in the state prison, November 29, 1891, aged about sixty-two years.
In Volume I, it was remarked that there is no instance of a trial of any person for a capital offense alleged to have been committed in Belfast. This record of nearly a century and a quarter was broken in October, 1891, by the trial of Lewis Brewster, of Belfast, for the murder of Charles A. Brown. Brown, an alleged tramp, had displaced Brewster, in his farm home, on Belmont Avenue. He was the co-respondent in divorce proceedings which the latter had instituted against his wife. It was claimed that Brown first assaulted Brewster, on the 25th
124
HISTORY OF BELFAST
of August, and the latter, acting in self-defense, shot him with a revolver, inflicting a wound which proved fatal. After a trial of two days, the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, and at the next term of the court Brewster was sentenced by Judge Whitehouse to imprisonment in the county jail for ten months. The sympathy of the jury was with Brewster, who sustained a good character and who, it was claimed, had been grossly abused by Brown. William Pitt Thompson and Robert Franklin Dunton were assigned by the court to defend the prisoner. Charles E. Littlefield, Attorney-General, and Fred Waldo Brown, County Attorney, represented the State.
In March, 1892, occurred an inexcusable violation of law by a mob. Excitement having arisen from the marriage of Mrs. Anna J. French, an eccentric widow of some wealth, and nearly eighty-five years old, to one Horace C. Penney, fifty years her junior, and reputed to be an adventurer, a large crowd invaded her house on Bell Street during the evening, breaking the win- dows, terrifying the inmates, and threatening to ride the husband on a rail. Penney was found secreted, but after keeping the crowd at bay was captured, handled roughly, and released only after money had been extorted from him. He and his wife soon left town, and no arrests for the disturbance took place.
At the term of the Supreme Court held in January, 1898, Edmund Elliot was convicted of an assault with intent to kill by shooting Mrs. Harriet E. Leavitt in a house on Cross Street, November 11, 1897, and was sentenced by Judge Emery to four years in the state prison. Mrs. Leavitt recovered from her wounds, but died the following March.
The dead body of an infant was found on the east shore of Belfast Bay, near Patterson's Point, November 11, 1900. After a long investigation, the coroner's jury found that death was caused by strangulation, "whether by accident or otherwise, is to the jury unknown."
CHAPTER XXI
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF LAWYERS
Lawyers in 1875 - Lawyers sinee deceased or who have removed from Belfast - Lawyers established or admitted to the Bar here after 1874.
A T the commencement of 1875, the following regularly admitted lawyers resided in Belfast, viz. : Nehemiah Abbott, Hiram Orlando Alden, Emery Boardman, William Henry Burrill, William George Crosby, Jonathan Garland Dickerson, Bohan Prentice Field, William Henry Fogler, Wakefield Gale Frye, James Sumner Harriman, Willard Pope Harriman, Philo Hersey, George Edwin Johnson, Albert Gallatin Jewett, James Young McClintock, William Henry Mclellan, William Colburn Marshall, Seth Llewellyn Milliken, James Bowdoin Murch, William Maxfield Rust, George Edmund Wallace, and Joseph Williamson. Messrs. Alden, Burrill, Dickerson, Field, Frye, McClintock, Marshall, Milliken, and Rust were not in active practice. Of the whole number, eight survive, viz .: Messrs. Fogler, James Sumner Harriman, Hersey, Johnson, McLellan, Marshall, Wallace, and Williamson. Messrs. Harriman, John- son, Mclellan, and Williamson remain in the exercise of their profession. Of the lawyers mentioned in this chapter, a fuller account of some will be found in volume I of this History; the present sketches only continue the account of these down to their deaths or to 1900.
NEHEMIAH ABBOTT, who began the practice of law in Belfast in 1840, continued in business until a short time before his death, which took place 30 July, 1877, at the age of seventy- three years. Mr. Abbott was in the best sense one of those whom President Lincoln called "the plain people." In his social as well as in his professional intercourse, he was affable and genial. For a quarter of a century he was the leading advocate on one side or the other of nearly all the important cases tried in Waldo County. At the October term of the Supreme Court following his decease, tributes to his worth and character were paid by
126
HISTORY OF BELFAST
Judge Dickerson and by his other professional brethren, who passed the following resolution: -
Resolved, That by the death of the Hon. Nehemiah Abbott, this Bar deplores the loss of a member distinguished during his long and active career for honor and integrity, for untiring industry, and for scrupulous fidelity to all the interests committed to him. As a lawyer, he was quick in apprehension, sound in practical judgment, forcible in argu- ment, eminently fair towards opponents, and popular, successful, and effective in his management of cases both before juries and courts. As a citizen, his upright life, public spirit, and courteous demeanor secured him the confidence and esteem of the community in which for nearly forty years was his home.
HIRAM ORLANDO ALDEN. After retiring from the Bar in 1849, Mr. Alden continued to reside in Belfast, although business interests called him away for a large portion of the time. In 1876, his failing health induced him to resign the presidency of the Maine Telegraph Company, which he had held for twenty- eight years. His letter of declination gave an interesting history of the early struggles of that corporation, and the directors passed a resolution recognizing the value of his long and faithful services. Mr. Alden died 15 April, 1882, at the age of eighty- two. His wife, Emily Bingham Alden, died in. 1870. Their children were Walter Bingham, who died in 1893, and Miss Emily H., both of Belfast; Hiram Orlando, Jr., of Pueblo, Colorado, who died in 1898; Mary, who married Captain Ansel Lothrop White, of Brooklyn, New York, and Edward, of New York City. A son of the latter, Carlos Coolidge, is a professor in the New York University Law School.
An elaborate work by James D. Reid, entitled "The Tele- graph in America - Its Founders, Promoters, and Noted Men," published in 1879, contains a sketch of Mr. Alden.
EMERY BOARDMAN, son of Isaac Miller Boardman, died 15 August, 1899, aged fifty. He was City Clerk of Belfast from 1873 to 1876; City Treasurer in 1884; and Judge of the Police Court from 1877 to 1887. In 1873-74, he edited the "Belfast Weekly Advertiser," and from 1888 to 1890, the "Belfast City Press." A vigorous writer, he was well versed in history, litera- ture, and current events. After retiring from journalism, he resumed the practice of law, and in his leisure hours prepared a little volume entitled "Winning Whist," which was published
JONATHAN GARLAND DICKERSON 1811-1878
HIRAM ORLANDO ALDEN 1800-1882
WILLIAM HENRY BURRILL 1812-1884
ALBERT GALLATIN JEWETT 1802-1885
NEHEMIAH ABBOTT 1804-1877
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF LAWYERS
in New York, in 1896. Judge Boardman married Miss Caro A. Kaler, of Belfast, 13 June, 1878. They had no children.
WILLIAM HENRY BURRILL, who relinquished practice in 1849, died 8 October, 1884, aged seventy-two. He preferred a quiet life to the turmoil of politics, and after being Representative to the Legislature in 1872, declined to accept any other public position. He was closely identified with all local enterprises, and was largely interested in shipping. Of a retiring disposition, he was conscientious, reliable, and straightforward in all his dealings. Although childless, his kind impulses drew him towards children, and he took many to his household, who loved him as a father. His wife, who was Miss Rebecca Atherton, of Port- land, died in 1894.
HON. WILLIAM GEORGE CROSBY passed away at his residence, the Crosby homestead, in Belfast, 21 March, 1881, aged seventy- five years. He was the son of Hon. William Crosby, and was born in Belfast 10 September, 1805, and graduated at Bowdoin College, in the class of 1823, receiving the degree of A.M. in 1826. Mr. Crosby was married in 1831 to Miss Ann M. Patterson, daughter of Captain Robert Patterson, 4th, a son of one of the first settlers of Belfast. Their children who survived infancy were: Anne Maria, who married (1) Colonel Alfred Waldo Johnson, (2) Colonel Richard Chenery; Sarah Frances, who married John Hitchcock, Esq., of Boston; William, George, Frederick, and Horace. (These have all passed away, 1912.)
In the death of Governor Crosby, the community lost one of its most valued and beloved citizens. During the continuation of a long professional life, devoted to the practice of law, his eloquence and skill as an advocate rendered him a leader at the Bar, while by his sound judgment and learning, he became equally distinguished as a safe counselor. Before as well as after he retired from active business, his cordial sympathy, amenity of manners, charm of conversation, and readiness to impart advice or instruction bound him closely by ties of regard and attachment to all who shared his acquaintance, and the news of his death was received with deep significance and regret. In politics, Governor Crosby was always a Whig. Contrary to his wishes, he was a candidate for Congress from Waldo and Kennebec District in 1838; an honor he declined in 1840. He was a delegate to the National Convention of 1844, which
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HISTORY OF BELFAST
nominated Henry Clay. Two years later, he was chosen Secre- tary of the Board of Education of Maine, which position he held for three years, visiting all parts of the State, and lecturing in the principal towns. To his recommendations we are indebted for the best features of our public schools. In 1850, Mr. Crosby was unanimously nominated for Governor by a large Whig con- vention, and received a heavier vote than had been given any Whig candidate, since Governor Kent. He received a second nomination in 1852, and, although Belfast was then a strong Democratic town, his fellow citizens honored him with a majority of over two hundred. There was no choice by the people, as the Democratic party was divided, and after a pro- tracted contest in the Legislature, he was chosen over Governor Hubbard, the regular Democratic nominee, and Anson G. Chandler, who represented the Anti-Maine Law division. His election was repeated by the Legislature in 1854. During these two years, his constitutional advisers, as well as many members of the House and Senate, were men of ability and public confi- dence. In the council were: Franklin Smith, Amos M. Roberts, Albert Pilsbury, Horatio Huntington Johnson, Theodore C. Woodman, and Samuel P. Shaw. While the Legislature con- tained George M. Chase, Shepard Carey, William P. Fessenden, Artemus Libbey, Henry W. Paine, Freeman H. Morse, John B. Hill, George P. Sewell, Alfred Waldo Johnson, and Lot M. Morrill. His messages were able, practical, and acceptable, and his various appointments to office were judicious and satisfac- tory. Upon the disruption of the Whig party in 1856, Governor Crosby acted with the Democrats, although taking no promi- nent positions. In 1866, he was appointed collector of customs for this district, which was the last public position he held. He received the degree of LL.D. from Bowdoin College in 1870. For several years he was connected with the government of that institution, and always cherished for his Alma Mater a warm interest and regard. He was a member of the Maine Histor- ical Society from 1846 to the time of his death. He became a Mason in 1844 by joining Phoenix Lodge. When Timothy Chase Lodge was formed, he left Phoenix, and was one of the incorporators of the new lodge, and was master for 1868 and 1869. After leaving the gubernatorial chair, Governor Crosby resided for a few years in Boston, where he engaged in
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