USA > Maine > York County > York > New England miniature; a history of York, Maine > Part 16
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In 1785 the committee appointed "to examine how the escape of the prisoners happens" made report as follows: "The Committee upon examination report that the above escapes hap- pened by means of the insufficiency of the Gaol in part, and part and partly by the aid of persons unknown". The sheriff asked that the yard be enlarged; this request was repeated in several follow- ing years. In 1789 Sheriff Johnson Moulton was granted twelve pounds for "thin iron bars" to be used in repairs of the Gaol. In 1792 the sheriff was permitted to maintain a watch "at and about the Gaol in the night not exceeding two persons at any one time" for the more safe keeping of "divers prisoners in confinement". The sheriff "may also make additional fastenings to the door of the Gaol room".
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The last memorial of Johnson Moulton as sheriff, entered into the record of the session of November 1792, was unusually long and far-reaching. The court was reminded of the Act of Legislature passed in 1785, whereby each county in the common- wealth must provide "sufficient and convenient apartments for receiving and lodging Prisoners for debt, separate and distinct from Felons and other Criminals". The sheriff pointed out that there not only were no such separate apartments but there was not sufficient room for the prisoners. A committee reporting con- ditions in 1792 stated that there were only two rooms in all for every kind of prisoner
. with a fireplace in each and a necessary in one for the
. use of both. There is directly under it a room enclosed with stone, with a fireplace, without a necessary, a small grated aperture at each end. This stone apartment was, prior to the year 1760, the only place of confinement. Since the rooms above it have been provided, this stone apartment has gen- erally been used by the Prison keeper as a place for a store room, and cellar, as the only cellar under the Prison house is a small one under the western room, and the ground being such as not to admit of a cellar under any other part of the buildings. In case a stone apartment of one story in height, and between 16 and 18 Feet square, was erected directly Northward of the present stone room, and adjoining unto it, it might be made a secure place for confining criminals; as the bottom a small distance from the surface has the appear- ance of a solid rock, and a declivity or descent of the rock at the N. West would admit of a necessary directly under the wall. Unto this, there might be a communication from the other store room through the present stone wall, at the place in the wall which has the appearance of being injured by the frost, or some other way since it was first built. Should such a room be erected, there would then be two convenient apartments for the reception of debtors, and one for criminals, remote and distinct from each other, exclusive of the old stone part now improved for a store room and cellar. .. . It will be also advisable to secure the Northeast window of the upper Gaol room with horizontal bars of iron in the manner the Southwest window was secured the last year. . . .
The court ordered the necessary repairs to be made, but no action was taken about the suggested addition.
In 1792, during the term of office of Ichabod Goodwin of South Berwick, there appears a movement to have a new prison built "not necessarily in York". His memorial in 1795 shows
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"that the present state of the County Gaol is such that it is unsafe for the reception of prisoners; as the outer wall on the Northerly side has lately fallen down, and the inside no ways conforming to the requirements by law .. . ". This was at the time when the Court House was also in bad condition, and people from other towns in the county were agitating for the removal of the seat of government to some other town. With both county buildings obviously in dilapidated condition here was a propitious time to deprive York of the advantages and prestige which it had so long enjoyed as the shire town. The struggle was, for York and its supporters in Kittery, a losing cause; opposition towards York may be noted in the words used in the records. But in 1799 jus- tices from the two southernmost towns were victorious in one more sharp skirmish.
When in the April session of court, held in York, the cus- tomary sheriff's memorial on conditions at the Gaol was presented, Ichabod Goodwin asked only for certain alterations that would make available "separate apartments in which those confined for debt can be separated from felons". A committee, appointed to inspect the Gaol and recommend alterations, brought in a report that was a firebrand. "The present Gaol", the report read, "is not in such a place as to accommodate the county and . . . it is realy necessary a new one should be immediately erected . . . ". Only temporary repairs should be made in the existing Gaol, "viz: to have one new window in each department made to give the prisoners more air, and those imprisoned for debt should have the room at the Northeast end of the prison; a door with a good lock between the apartments and said debtors to have the key at com- mand". The report was accepted and two committees promptly appointed, one to petition the General Court to appoint a com- mitte to "view the county of York and fix upon the most suitable place for erecting a new Gaol", and another to make the suggested repairs in the old Gaol.
In other sessions of the court, the consideration of the Gaol would have been completed at this point, but this time the debate was only getting under way. Instead of an hour or less spent on the matter, it used up a whole week. More than twenty justices were on the bench when the session began, but by the third or fourth day some sixteen were present. By that time, "the subject fully and lengthily debated", the court had progressed so far as to reconsider the vote to petition the General Court and to dis- charge the committee, and to reconsider the vote to repair the old
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Gaol and to discharge that committee also. Then by vote of "a large majority of the Court" the report in favor of building a new jail was accepted.
What took place after that point, both during the session and in the months to follow, brought about the appointment of a committee of investigation which reported to the court at the August session, held at Waterboro. Taking up the story from where it is stated that on Saturday of that week in April the court adjourned to Monday "to complete the unfinished business as usual at the close of the Court", the report is here quoted :
On Monday the Court proceeded to compleat said business, and continued their session through the principal part of the day. Before an adjournment took place, the Clerk of said Court was interrogated whether any other business remained that demanded their attention. The Court were by him informed that nothing remained except to receive the report of a committee which had been previously ap- pointed to enlarge and designate the limits of the prison yard, the acceptance of which requiring no argument or de- liberation, the Justices then present, some of whom lived at a distance, tho't it unnecessary to continue their session for the reception of the said report only, as the Justices residing in the vicinity might without any inconvenience attend for the purpose.
Under these impressions, and for that special object, the Court was adjourned to the Monday following. In the meantime it appears that particular application was made by Daniel Sewall and William Frost, Esqrs. to several Jus- tices in the towns of York and Kittery, and to none others, to appear on the day of adjournment: at which time His Honor Edward Cutts, John Frost, Daniel Peirce, Daniel Sewall, John Kingsbury, William Frost, Joseph Bragdon and Joseph Tucker, Esquires, appeared accordingly and took their seats, and proceeded to reconsider, reverse, rescind and nullify all the orders and proceedings of the said Court be- fore recited, and then further went on and appointed John Frost, Daniel Sewall and Joseph Tucker, Esquires, a com- mittee to consider the expediency of making additions and repairs to the present Gaol, who reported that it was expedi- ent to make an addition thereto of twenty feet long by sixteen feet, so as to make it square with the other addition and the roof to be carried up even with the other part: - which would greatly accommodate the gaoler and the prisoners that may be confined there, which report was accepted. And thereupon Daniel Sewall, Joseph Tucker, Esqrs., and Ed- ward Emerson Jr, all of the town of York, were appointed
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a committee to carry the last mentioned report into effect, and have proceeded therein so far as to have expended the sum of seven hundred & eight-five dollars and fifty-eight cents. ... Your committee further report that altho it ap- pears by the records of your Honor's Court that the several orders on said day passed unanimously by the aforesaid eight justices; yet that the said Edward Cutts, Esq. did not concur therein.
Nothing more about the Gaol was done in this August session, except to vote 18 to 3 to accept the report.
This addition appears to comprise the so-called "dining room", the rest of the first floor "so as to make it square with the other addition" (the second dungeon or vault), and the rooms above on the second floor, built in order that "the roof be carried up even with the other part".
In the November term of court, held in Biddeford, two votes were passed; one, to appoint a committee to petition the General Court to find a suitable place for a new jail, and the other, to order all the bills for materials and wages accrued for building an addition to the York Gaol to be paid.
In 1800, on petition of Simon Fernald, deputy gaol- keeper, a committee was ordered to enlarge the limits of the prison yard so that they would extend a quarter mile each way from the middle of the Gaol House to make it half a mile square. A description of this yard has not been found; probably this order proved to be impracticable.
In 1805, on petition of Simond Fernald, the court ordered "an additional cellar to the Gaol House to be built", and Sheriff Goodwin was instructed to build it. In April 1806 Sheriff Good- win presented a petition "setting forth that the repairs on the York Gaol & the additional cellar with the building over it. . . . are completed". This would appear to show the time when the little ell at the southeast corner of the Gaol was built.
The main purpose of the petition was to ask for instructions in regard to the use of the newly constructed jail at Alfred. Goodwin informed the court that although the new jail was said to be fit to receive prisoners, he would not move any from the York Gaol until a committee gave approval. What report was made on conditions at Alfred is not known, but the committee found "the Gaol at York secure and in good order, except one of the vaults which wants some repair. ... the new part should be
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painted with Spanish brown & fish oil .. . ". Apparently the York Gaol was preferred to the new one at Alfred.
This extended account is intended to show that the old Gaol was not completed to its present form until 1806.
The care and feeding of prisoners was the duty of a deputy-variously referred to as the underkeeper, the jailer, or the turnkey, who usually lived with his family in the Gaol after the wooden part was added. But the responsibility of the Gaol was the sheriff's. If a prisoner escaped he might be held liable to the plaintiff for such damages as the court imposed. Accounts of lawsuits appear in the records carrying the charge that the "escape" was due either to negligence or to conspiracy on the part of friends of prisoners. One such escape in 1750 and the subsequent court action, which dragged on after the death of the sheriff and of the plaintiff, brought forth a description of details in the construction of the Gaol. The case involved the escape of a shoemaker who had been allowed by Sheriff Joseph Plaisted to work in his cell at his trade while imprisoned for debt. Using his tools and sticks of firewood to pry out the bars of the cell window, he escaped, with two other prisoners.
Abiel Goodwin of Lower Town was called in to make repairs, and five years later testified by deposition :
Upon Examining the Breach found it was at One of the Windows where the Wall ... was about Two Feet & an half thro'. The Window was Double Grated with Iron Grates placed into Iron Bars One set of Grates and Barrs being placed in the Inner Edge of the Window & Secured in the Oak Plank with which the walls are cealed. The other set of Grates and Barrs was about Midway of the Wall and se- cured in the same. ... The prisoners first got out the Inner Set of Grates and Barrs. ... one of the Grates was broake with the help of which. ... they Picked out the Stones and Lime between the Oak Cealing aforesaid & the next pair of Grates (the Stones being in the Middle of the Wall some- thing Small) and made such a Way as to Slip the Barrs into which the Grates were placed on end and so made to creep out.
By law, only those who could furnish bonds were allowed freedom of the yard; other prisoners might on good occasion go out under guard with the consent of the jailer. Definite bounds for prisoners' liberty were set and gradually extended. The last rules of the court as written inside the cover of one of the record books which is still in the Gaol, read :
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Court of General Sessions of the peace at York July 1785. In pursuance of a Law of this Commonwealth passed Feb 1785 the Limmits of the Gaol yard in Yorke afsd are now stated as follows vizt beginning at the stone wall at the NE corner of Moses Saffords [originally Hugh Holman's] land and adjoining the lands of Mrs. Prentice a few rods southeasterly of the present Gaol House & from thence ex- tending NE by the fence as it now stands to the highway then across the same highway in the same direction of the said fence to Mrs. Prentice Garden fence to the SW corner of Mrs. Prentice land there at a large Elm Tree thence north- erly to the SE corner of the town house and to include the sd town house and from the SW corner thereof to the SE corner of the Meeting House to the end Persons having the Liberty of the yard may attend Publick Worship & from the SW cor- ner of the Steeple or belfry to the NW corner of the burying yard then SE by the same burying fence including that Pump or Well of Water of Edward Emerson & Emerson Hous to the NE corner thereof thence by the sd Hous yard and bury- ing yard fence untill it comes Opposite to the NW Corner of Moses Safford Stone Wall then by sd stonewall to his NE corner first mentioned.
So far as is known, not many abused their yard privileges. Though at times there were murderers and counterfeiters, most of the prisoners were jailed for debt. From the available records few stayed longer than three months, and not many were there at any one time.
Evidences of possible favoritism may occur to skeptical students. The departure of Peter Weare has already been men- tioned. Widow Anne Card, held for debt about a year, simply kept on walking, one day, when she reached the limits of the yard. A few others "escaped" in similar fashion, thereby prompting the creditors to complain that they were by reason thereof "damnified".
Mention is made of the maintenance of a House of Correc- tion, of which, usually, the jailkeeper was also the master; its chief use seems to have been to imprison women found guilty of dis- orderly conduct.
The sentences handed down by the courts appear to have been tempered by consideration of the intelligence of the guilty parties. Time was when theft was punishable by death, but no such stern decree appears in the records. But the symbol of capital punishment was sometimes meted out, as for example, by putting a noose around a prisoner's neck, as he sat for hours under a
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scaffold, and tossing the other end of the rope over the gallows. A witless person might be whipped for his crime, while a person thought to have some sense might be given the choice of paying or working out a fine in lieu of baring his back for the lash. The ducking stool was prescribed for punishment of one having a scurrilous tongue, but some offenders were obliged to apologize in public on court days or in church on a Sunday. Recompense for theft usually included a return of threefold the value of the goods stolen. Stocks were intended to ridicule a person for drunk- enness or for being idle or disorderly-something like ordering a child to stand in a corner for being naughty. A person who com- manded a little respect might be placed under bonds to keep the peace. Keeping prisoners in cells for years was rarely if ever prac- ticed. Even when Nathaniel Parsons was found guilty of making and passing counterfeit coins and of possessing tools and dies (which, by tradition, he threw into Tonnemy Pond) he was sent to State Prison at Thomaston for only three months on each charge, a total of six months in all.
But the old-time forms of punishment were in some few cases revived at a surprisingly late date :
Sarah Booker of York, singlewoman and spinstress at York with force and arms, on May 19, 1779, the . . dwelling house of Jonathan Perkins Jr. ... feloniously did break and enter with intent to steal 14 lbs of coffee at $4, 2 lbs brown sugar 30 c 12 lbs flour 48 c, 2 lbs butter 30 c, 1 pillow and pillow case 70 c 3 skein linen yarn 50 c.
Ordered that Sarah be set on the gallows with a rope about her neck and one end thereof cast over the gallows for the space of one hour, be publickly whipped on the naked back five stripes: pay to Jona. Perkins Jr. $15 which is treble the value of goods & if Sarah doesn't pay within 30 days then said Perkins may dispose of her in service to any person whomsoever for the space of six months & she also to pay costs of $13.49 & stand committed.
And for good measure, her relative Jacob Booker, con- victed of receiving the stolen goods, was sentenced to receive twenty stripes on his naked back, pay Perkins fifteen dollars within thirty days or be sold for his services for four months, and pay $24.78 costs of court.
Quaint phraseology in the writs also persisted much later than one might suppose. Here is one as late as 1824 when Maine was already a state:
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of York, a minor and spinster, not having the fear of God before her eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil at York on May 25, 1824 with force and arms a certain dwelling house of one Samuel Staples there situate feloniously, wilfully and maliciously set fire to and the same dwelling house then and there by such firing & aforesaid feloniously wilfully and maliciously in the daytime did burn and consume against the peace of the State aforesaid, and contrary to the form of the Statute in such cases made and provided.
Ownership of the Old Gaol was vested in the county, but the land on which it stands has always been church property. In 1812 (Deeds 88-5) the inhabitants of the First Parish gave to the county
the land on which the Gaol House, outhouses and buildings thereon stand, bounded by land near the corner of the store built by Edward Emerson Jr., [The bank build- ing now stands on the site of Emerson's store.] beginning at the road at the corner of land in occupation of Moses Safford [Hugh Holman House] and running SE by said Moses' land to Abiel Sargent's, thence NE to the store 5 feet distant there- from to the SW corner thereof, thence NW passing the SW corner of the shop built by Moses Safford,-for 100 years and as much longer as the same shall be occupied by the County.
In 1868 the county sold the interest in the land and building to Washington Junkins, and in 1869 he conveyed the property to the town.
As town property the Old Gaol, having served as a prison for two centuries, was used as a lockup, a merchant's warehouse, a schoolhouse, and a private dwelling. For several years Mrs. Henry Abbott was the resident in charge of the old building, having been appointed deputy jailer in 1859 to succeed her husband in the office. Besides her returns for feeding prisoners she derived some income from fees she charged "to view the dungeons". This marks the first use of the Gaol as a museum. In Me. Hist. Soc. Coll., Series II, Vol. IX is a report of an annual field day of the society in which Moses Safford stated that the group was admitted without charge.
In 1878 and 1879 John B. Fernald was appointed the first Chief of Police of York with power to use the Gaol for a lockup and to appoint ten policemen, who were to receive no
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other pay than what they could collect, and were also to serve as tything men. In 1880 a twelve-member force was authorized, with authority to call further aid as should be needed.
By 1886 the Gaol was not used by the town, for Wilson M. Walker, a merchant, was paying ten dollars rent for it for one year. John Todd and his family were tenants before 1898, under conditions which must have been trying, since the interior was at all times dark, and there being no well on the property, all water had to be fetched up the rocky hill either from the well in front of the Wilcox House or from the one behind Walker's store across the street.
William Dean Howells, author, editor of the Atlantic Monthly, and one of the York Harbor colony of summer residents, is credited with having been the first to suggest that the Old Gaol should be restored and used as a museum. Under the leadership of James T. Davidson, president of the Old York Historical Society, formed in 1896, funds were solicited for this purpose. "The opening of the Jail took place on the afternoon of July 4, 1900; quite a large number were present". (Junkins Diary) The town leased the Old Gaol to the Society in 1903 for a period of twenty- five years, again in 1928, and again in 1953. Maintenance far into the future is assured by a most generous endowment set up by the will of Miss Elizabeth B. Perkins. By dint of careful plan- ning and devoted service, particularly that of women having the interests of York at heart, the first stone jail in Maine has been repaired and restored, and has become a source of attraction to students of history, for it is generally conceded that it is the oldest English government building in existence in the United States.
The other county building, the Court House, was erected after the First Parish was formed in 1731 and the church was no longer available for secular uses. The existence of petitions by Moses Ingraham for payment for use of "house, firewood, candles, and attendance" suggests that the various courts were held in his tavern from 1731 until the new house was ready in 1735.
The first vote taken at a town meeting held December 5, 1733, was to appoint a committee to join with a committee of the county in planning to build a courthouse. In 1734 the citizens voted to bear half of the charge of building provided that the town might have use of it for holding town meetings and for keeping the grammar school.
As finally completed late in 1735, after some revision of the original plans, the specifications were 35 feet in length by 28
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feet in width, with 20 foot studs, the lower floor 81/2 feet high and the upper, 71/2 feet high; the interior plastered, whitewashed, and finished with joinery work. It was built on parish land, a few feet westerly of the roadway to the east of the present town hall. The town paid a hundred pounds and the court charged seven other towns to make up the other half.
But errors and omissions were discovered directly in 1735. "Whereas the Court House at York doth want sundry things for the making it more convenient and lasting as Spouts and Trunks and Window Shutters for the lower story, a Frontice Piece over each door and a pair of Stairs to go up into the garret and Con- venient Rooms to be made in the Garret for the Jurors .. . " these "several particulars aforesaid" were ordered. A man was paid to toll the bell for the sessions, and one to sweep the Court House.
The building committee-Samuel Came and Jeremiah Moulton-was instructed to negotiate the purchase of a Coat of King's Arms "now belonging to John Woodbridge provided that the price exceed not Five Pounds and in case they purchase the Same that they send it to Boston to be new painted and gilded". The committee did not suceed in buying from John Woodbridge in 1735, but in 1770 the court spread on the records:
Whereas Mr. Paul Dudley Woodbridge of York in said County has made a PRESENT of the KING'S ARMS to this Court in behalf of the County aforesd whereupon the Court appointed Mr. Jotham Moulton to receive said Arms of Mr. Woodbridge and return him the THANKS of the COURT therefor and cause the said Arms to be affixed in the Court House in York over the president's Seat in a handsome manner, .
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