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F 127 .U4 H7 Copy 1
THE OLD COURT HOUSES OF
Ulster County, New York
AND INTERESTING INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THEIR HISTORY.
An Historical Discourse delivered by CHAPLAIN ROSWELL RANDALL HOES, U. S. N., by invitation, before the Board of Supervisors of Ulster County, convened at the Court House on the 26th of November, 1918, to commem- orate the Centenary of the erection of the present edifice.
THE OLD COURT HOUSES OF Ulster County, New York
AND INTERESTING INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THEIR HISTORY.
An Historical Discourse delivered by CHAPLAIN ROSWELL RANDALL HOES, U. S. N., by invitation, before the Board of Supervisors of Ulster County, convened at. the Court House on the 26th of November, 1918, to commem- orate the Centenary of the erection of the present edifice.
KINGSTON, N. Y. FREEMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY 1918
= 12 7
Gift Author APR 2: 1919
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Board of Supervisors, Daughters of the American Revolution, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is well to commemorate, even in this unpretentious way, the cen- tenary of the erection of this stately edifice. Standing as it does on historic ground, it is closely interlinked with the judicial, legal and civic life of our country, and silently encourages us to recall the scenes of which it has been a witness, as well as to tell the story of its predecessors. Let us, therefore, make the attempt.
Old Ulster is one of the original counties of the Province of New York, and came into being by an Act of the Provincial Legislature passed on the 1st of November, 1683. On the same day "An Act to settle Courts of Justice" was approved which established Town Courts, County Courts of Sessions and Courts of Oyer and Terminer. The earlier sessions of these courts were held in the "Town House" in Kingston, and the first reference to the existence of an edifice for the especial accommodation of the courts, in so far as a diligent search has disclosed, occurs on the 4th of March, 1688/9, when "the commonalty of the Corporation [of Kings- ton] met in the County House to elect new Trustees, a Constable and Assessors." By a singular coincidence, on the same date, a lot of ground on the west side of the present Wall street was conveyed by the Town Trustees to Teunis Elysse* [Van Benschoten] which is described as located "to ye South of ye County House," thus proving beyond question, in connection with other well established facts relating to the contiguous pieces of property, that this County House, or Courthouse, occupied the same site as its successors, including the present edifice. This is an important discovery because, as far as known, there is no recorded instrument by which this property was ever legally and formally con- veyed to Ulster County or to its representative, the Board of Supervisors.
The next reference to the courthouse, thus far discovered, seems to be on the 15th of January, 1701/2, when the Justices of the Peace of Ulster County made an allowance of £6. to Lymen Cool [Cole] for "making the County house," or, as will presently appear, for "worke to ye County house;" and another, on the same day, of £3. to Jacobus Lamaetere [Delamater] "for Labour to the County house." It may readily be seen, therefore, from these items that the building was probably but a humble affair, and doubtless adapted only for temporary use. Be this as it may, two years later, on the 7th of January, 1702/3, at a meeting of the County
*Conveyances of Town Trustees, I., 115.
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THE OLD COURT HOUSES OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Board of Supervisors, "The Supervisors Chosen as aforesd upon the Motion of the Justices for sd County about Repayring the Court house and making the prison sufficient, it is Resolved that after the Justices have Inspected about ye monys due for ye County, and after they have Imployed the mony due yt way, and what falls short upon View of ye Acct. they will take Care to order, that satisfaction shall be made by way of a taxe." This was signed by W. D'Meyer, Thomas Garton, Wessel TenBroeck, Jochem Schoonmaker, Mattys Ten Eyck and Abraham Du- Bois, supervisors respectively of Kingston, Marbletown, Foxhall, Mom- backus, (now Rochester), Hurley and New Paltz. A little more than seven months later, on the 28th of August, 1703, it is recorded that, at a meeting of the Justices of the Peace of Ulster County, "It appeares by ye Record that the County is Charged for Six pounds payd unto Symen Cool for worke to ye County house. The said Symen sayth that hee was agreed wth Coll: Jacob Rutse to Deliver four thousand singles [shingles] for £6.0.0 wch hee hes delivered to Coll: Rutse at Strand [now Rondout], and it appearing that Coll: Rutse hes disposed of part of said singles, It is Resolved that Coll: Rutse is to bee accountable for sd six pounds, and that other singles shall be procured for ye singling of ye County house and prison." On the 20th of the following October the Justices of the Peace "Agreed wth Thomas Van Steenberge & Teunis Tappen to make the singles for ye County house & prison at ye Rate of twelve shillings pr thousand providing their Owne Dyett;" and at the same time it was also "Agreed wth Liftennt Hendrick Schoonmaker to bring a hundred zeader bolts from the Strand to towne for ye wch hee is to have nine shillings."
Between three and four months later, on the 28th of January, 1703/4, at a meeting of the County Justices of the Peace, a charge of £24.0.1. was allowed "ffor Repayring ye County house & prison." Early in the following year, (8th of February, 1704/5), a county charge of £3.6.6. was allowed to Colonel Henry Beekman "ffor Rum, Cedar Wood & nayles to ye County house," and also fifteen shillings to Jacob Peers, [Persen], "for 3 days Worke upon the County house and dyett." At a meeting of the County Supervisors on the 24th of the same month it is recorded that "It appeares by ye Acct. Computed by ye Supervisors the Last Yeare that there was raised by a County Rate for Repayring the County house & prison the summe of twenty four pounds sixteene shillings and one penny and the Charge thereof amounts to thirty one pounds, four pence & three fardings besides what was allowed to Coll: Beekman the 8th day of this Instant, and upon View of ye particulars the Supervisors doe allow Every article mentioned as by ye acct. produced ffrom the treasurer John Cottyn doth appeare."
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THE OLD COURT HOUSES OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
The only remaining reference to the courthouse, thus far discovered, before the aid of the Provincial Legislature was invoked, was the action of the County Court of Sessions, held on the 3d of September, 1707, when an indictment was presented by the grand jury against a negro named Pierro for a deadly assault upon Catrina, the wife of Hendrick Cortreght, [Kortright]. He plead guilty and threw himself upon the mercy of the court, which sentenced him to "bee publiqly Whipt upon yee naked back at Every Corner of ye towne of Kingstowne Tenn Strokes, and at ye County house likewise Tenn Strokes and yt the sd Pierro pay all cost and to Continue in Custody untill Such time ye sd cost bee payd." Poor Pierro, he doubtless deserved his fate, but the magistrates certainly were in no very merciful mood that day, and the slave's experience suggests that it is not always expedient to plead guilty and throw one's self upon the mercy of a court!
An Act of the Provincial Legislature, passed on the 21st of July, 1715, required the Justices of the Peace of Ulster County, or a majority of them, within forty days after the publication of the Act, to appoint by a majority vote "two able and Sufficient Freeholders of & Inhabiting in the said County to be Managers and Directors" for repairing the courthouse and prison, "now standing and being," within twelve months after the publication of the Act. In order to defray the "necessary charges" involved, the Act provided that such an amount of money as the Managers and Directors might deem necessary, not exceeding "Two hundred and fifty Ounces of good Mexico pillar or Sevill plate," (i e., silver), should be raised by county tax within the ensuing six months, and paid to the Managers and Directors.
To what extent the courthouse and jail were repaired does not appear, but the structure evidently failed to satisfy the necessary require- ments of the county, and the portion of it devoted to the jail became in time so inadequate that the county sheriff in November, 1729, and Novem- ber, 1730, protested to the Court of Sessions "against ye Comon Goal, as not being Sufficient;" and the same official took similar action before the Court of Common Pleas in May, 1730. The sheriff renewed this pro- test at a session of the latter court in November, 1731, and action was no longer deferred, for, at the same session, "The Justices present in Court on Behalf of The Inhabitants of this County Doe apply Themselvs To ye members of ye Genl. Assembly Of This County praying that they make Application To ye Next Generall Assembly To Procure an Act of Genl. Assembly for building a new Court house & Goal for this County, and To Raise a Sum not Exceeding five hund. Pounds on ye Inhabitants of This
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THE OLD COURT HOUSES OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
County for That Use and To have Leave To Sell ye Old Court house & Goal & Lot of Ground To be Applyed for ye Use Above said."
Accordingly, the first courthouse having outlived its usefulness, an Act of the Provincial Legislature was passed on the 14th of October of the following year, (1732), which, after reciting in its preamble the fore- going request and declaring that "the Court House and Goal in the County of Ulster is not only to Small, but much out of repair," empowered the Justices of the Peace, or a majority of them, to collect by taxation the necessary £500., "to the end so usefull and Publick a Designe may be promoted"-namely, the erection of a new courthouse and jail. In order that there might be no delay in building them, the Act provided that the money collected should be paid "from time to time" to a superintendent appointed by the Justices of the Court of General Sessions, and expended by him for material and labor. It also provided that this superintendent should give bonds for the proper disposition of the money coming into his hands, and authorized him to retain for his labors a sum not exceeding ten per cent of the funds collected for the purpose specified. The Justices of the Peace, moreover, were authorized to appoint a committee from their number to determine "how and in what manner the Goal and Court House aforesaid shall be made," as well as to examine and audit the various accounts for workmanship and materials, and to issue warrants to the superintendent for the expenditure of the funds in his hands. The Act also gave discretionary power to the Justices of the Peace to erect the new courthouse and jail on the site of the old one, or to sell the latter and the land on which it stood and to erect the new edifice on "a more Commodious Lott of Ground in Kingston." It may here be stated, by the way, that after mature deliberation the new courthouse was erected upon the site of the old one, where the present courthouse now stands.
This Act also contains a provision relating to an incident of a startling and sensational character-one, it is to be feared, in no way creditable to the county. "And whereas," reads the Act, "in the year one thousand seven hundred and thirty a negro man Called Jack being convicted of Burning a barne and a Barrack with wheat in the said County was Condemned to be burnt for the same, but the Justices not being able to procure an Executioner to performe the sentence at the rate Limitted in an Act Entituled an Act for the more Effectual Preventing and punishing the Conspiracy and Insurrection of Negroes and other slaves, for the better regulating them and for repealing the Acts herein Mentioned relating thereto were obliged not only to hire one at a much greater price but Likewise to pay the price so agreed for and the same being as yet not
THE OLD COURT HOUSES OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
raised by the said County. BE it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that the supervizors of the said County shall at their next meeting or at their first meeting thereafter raise and Levy together with the other necessary and Contingent annual Charge of the said County such sum of mony as has been Actually payd by the said Justices in and about the Execution of the Said Negroe, and order the same to be payd to the Justice or Justices who so Payd and advanced it as aforesaid." The only known data throwing additional light upon the horrible execution of this negro is contained in the manuscript of a gentleman,* many years de- ceased, who expended much time and patience in collecting incidents relat- ing to the early annals of Ulster County. His exact words are here quoted, but upon what authority they are based diligent research fails to reveal. They are as follows: "About two o'clock in the morning of August 25, 1730, Jack, a negro belonging to Albert Pawling, set fire to the barn and barracks of Captain Richard Brodhead of Marbletown. He confessed the crime, saying, 'when he first came from Wawarsing he went to the cook- room of Richard Brodhead and fetched fire and tried to set the barn afire, but he missed that time, but the second time he took a brand from the house and burned the buildings.' He was burned 'To death and then to ashes' on the 29th of the same month at Marbletown by London, a negro slave of Johannis Low, who was executioner. The expense was twenty shillings."
The sentence of Jack, although so brutal and inhuman, was legally justified by an Act of the Provincial Legislature which provided that negroes guilty of such and certain other crimes should "suffer the pains of Death in such manner and with such circumstances as the aggravation or enormity of their Crimes in the Judgment of the Justices of those Courts aforesaid, or as in the judgment of Seven of the said Justices and ffreeholders they shall merit and require."
As though to stimulate the Justices to speedy action under the pro- visions of this law, the Sheriff, on the 8th of November, 1732, twenty- five days after its passage, protested to the Court of Common Pleas "against the Common Goal for the Insufficiency thereof;" and, meeting with no apparent success, renewed his protest before the same court at its following session, on the 2d of May, 1733. Action followed, after only a brief delay, and the Justices of the Peace at the next session of their court, held on the 7th of November of the same year, ordered that £200. be "Levied On the Inhabitants, freeholders & Sojourners In the
*Jonathan W. Hasbrouck. (See biographical sketch in "Olde Ulster, January, 1905).
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THE OLD COURT HOUSES OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
County of Ulster," pursuant to the Act passed on the 14th of October, 1732, "To be Employed Towards furnishing Materialls for the building of a Court House & Goal In sd County. Ordered that Jacob Ten Brook be appointed To be Mannager of Said buildings. Ordered that Coll: Abraham Gaasbeek Chambers, Coll: WIl. Ten Brook, Majr. Coenraedt El- mendorph, Mr. Cornelis De La Metre, [Delamater], Mr. Johannis Jansen, Mr. Christophel Tappen, Capt. Albert Pawling, Mr. Thomas Jansen, Capt. Zacharias Hofman, Mr. Moses De Puis, [Depew]; Or any five of them be a Committee for the Ordering & Directing the Said Jacob Ten Brook how & in What Manner the Goal & Court house afore Said Shall be made. Ordered that the Said Money be Collected So That it may be paid to the Said Managers, at or before the first Day of May Next."
There seems to be nothing to show whether these orders resulted in any speedy action; but in the following Spring, (8th of May, 1734), the County Sheriff, alert as ever, again "protests Against the Comon Goal its being Insufficient." The following month, (22d of June, 1734), an Act of the Provincial Legislature was passed "for the better Explaining and rendering Effectuall" the Act of the 14th of October, 1732, by the provisions of which it became "Lawfull for the said Justices of the Peace or the greater number of them at any time after the publication of this Act to raise levy and collect * * * a Sum not exceeding the sum of five hundred pounds according to the Assessment last made by the Assessors for the said County or on any assessment by the Assessors of said County to be made to be levyed for the uses aforesaid."
But serious obstacles seemed to present themselves, and apparently the provisions of this law and its immediate predecessor were not exe- cuted. Meanwhile, time dragged along, and the vigilant sheriff in the Autumn of 1734, the Spring of 1735 and the Spring and Autumn of 1736, made his usual protests to the Court of General Sessions that the jail was "Insufficient." At the latter date, (4th of November, 1736), the court took the following action: "The Justices in Court have Issued their Warrants to the Respective Assessors in this County to Make An Assess- ment of all the Estates Real and Personall of All the ffreeholders Inhabi- tants Residents And Sojourners within their Respective Towns Mannors & Precincts, Returnable the first Day of December Next Ensueing. Whereas by Virtue of An Act of General Assembly passed in the Sixth Year of his present Majesties Reign Entituled An Act to Enable the Justices of the Peace in Ulster County to build a Court House and Goal for the Said County &c., the Justices were impowered to Raise a Sum not Exceed- ing 500 Pounds and Whereas about 200 Pounds is Already Raised,
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THE OLD COURT HOUSES OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Ordered that the Remainder of the 500 Pounds be Levied on the Said Assessment."
This action of the Justices was subsequently given an impetus by the Provincial Legislature, which, after protests from the Sheriff against the "insufficiency" of the jail, made to the Court of Sessions on the 6th of May and 4th of November, 1737, enacted a law, approved on the 16th of December of the same year, which afforded additional aid. Its preamble recited that the courthouse and jail were in course of erection, but that in consequence of "disputes" that had arisen "concerning the manner of Raising the money" hitherto authorized by law, only £200. had been collected. The Act empowered the Justices of the Peace, or a majority of them, to raise by taxation for the completion of the courthouse "So much money," not exceeding £78. over and above the £500. already author- ized by the Legislature," as Shall appear to them already Lay'd out & un- paid." The Act provided, moreover, that £12. of this £78. should be used to defray the cost of the "Carriages for Five Great Guns which had been made by order of the Justices. In order to enforce the assessment and collection of this sum. the law provided that any assessor neglecting to fully perform his duties under the statute should be fined £5. and that in case of any refusal to pay the required assessment the amount should be collected by "Distress & Sale of the offenders goods."
Great bodies, the High Sheriff of the County alone excepted, moved slowly in those days, and in the Spring of 1738 the latter official presented his now customary protest to the Court of Common Pleas against the condition of the jail that formed a part of the courthouse: and in the first week of the following May, (1739), the Court of General Sessions "Ordered that Captn. Edward Whitaker, Majr. Johannis Harden- bergh, Gerradus [Gerardus] Hardenbergh, Wessel Brodhead, Anthony Sleght, James Stringham, Peter Conteyne, [Cantine],Abraham Haasbrook and Johannis Vernoy Esqrs. or any five of them, [all Justices of the Peace], be a Committee pursuant to an Act of the General Assembly Entituled an Act to enable the Justices of the Peace in Ulster County to build a Court House and Goal for Said County &c.," passed on the 14til of October, 1732. At the next meeting of the same court it was "Ordered that Mr. Jacob Ten Broeck," who had been appointed "manager" of con- struction of the courthouse and jail by the Legislative Act of 1732, "the first Tuesday in June Next be Accomptable with the Justices yt was appointed Yesterday to be Committee or any five of them as to what Sum of Money he had laid out towards building the Court House and Goal in sd County." In the Spring of 1740 and of the following year,
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THE OLD COURT HOUSES OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
and on the 3d of November, 1742 the Sheriff renewed his protests against the condition of the jail before the Court of General Sessions, and at the meeting of the same court, held on the following day, "By order of This Court Mr. Tobias Van Buren, Abraham [Van] Steenbergh, Tunis Swart & Marinus Chambers, Carpentr. have This Day Viewed The Court house and Goals To Compute The Charges what the finishing The Same will amount To who all agreed That It was Necessary To Lay out for mater- ialls & workmanship the Sum of one hundred and fifty pounds. Ordered the Supervisors of This County be Desired To Raise That Sum for the use afore said and That they appoint Some person or persons To procure The Necessary materialls and Workman [sic] To finish The Same or Leave The Directions To the Justices of This Court or the major part of Them To Employ Such person or persons To find the said materials afore said and That the Clerk of the peace Serve The Supervisors with a Copy of This order." This action was followed eighteen months later, (3d of May, 1744), by the stereotyped protest of the Sheriff before the Court of General Sessions against the condition of the jail, which was repeated before the Court of Common Pleas on the 10th of the following year, when the "Court Orders the high Sheriff if he finds any Insufficiency in the Goals to order it to be Mended, and that he must Charge the County for the same."
The various amounts hitherto authorized by the Provincial Legisla- ture proved, after all, insufficient for their required purposes, and, either through indifference, neglect, inability, or, let us hope, some better cause, the completion of the courthouse and jail dragged along on its usual uncertain course until the 29th of November, 1745, when an Act of the Provincial Legislature was passed which gave the undertaking more impetus. After relating the Acts referring to previous appropria- tions, it authorized the County Supervisors to collect by tax as large a sum of money as, in their judgment, had been "already laid out & Expended & unpaid towards the Building the said Court House & Goal," not to exceed £100. Penalties were also prescribed for assessors neglecting their duties and for parties refusing to pay their assessments, similar to those prescribed in the Legislative Act of the 6th of May, 1737. Nearly a year again passed and, on the 18th of September, 1746, the faithful Sheriff, still refusing to be suppressed in the prosecution of his discouraging task, again protested against the condition of the jail to the Court of General Sessions, and repeated his action to the same court in May and September 1747, May 1748, September 1749 and May 1750.
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THE OLD COURT HOUSES OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
But, alas, other troubles impended! The course of the Ulster County courthouses and jails, like "true love," was destined never to "run smooth." "Accident by fire" caused the part of the courthouse devoted to the jail to become "insufficient for the Safekeeping of prisoners." Accordingly, an Act of the Provincial Legislature, passed on the 24th of November 1750, empowered the Justices of the Peace of the county to require the Supervisors to raise by taxation a sum not exceeding £100., or as much of it as the Justices might deem necessary, for its restoration; and any Supervisor, Assessor or Collector refusing, neglecting or delay- ing to perform his prescribed duties under the provisions of the law was to be fined forty shillings for each offense and vacate his office.
Fifteen years passed and the courthouse and jail faced additional troubles, for alterations and repairs had become necessary, and additional money to defray the expense was required. Recourse was accordingly made to the Provincial Legislature which, in an Act passed on the 23d of December 1765, stated that "the County House and Goals are in want of Repair," that the Justices of the Peace of the county had ordered the courthouse to be "altered and completed," and that these same Justices "stand Engaged for the payment of what is or shall be Expended by altering and Compleating the same, in Expectation that the charge thereof shall be Defrayed by the said County." The Act then required the Super- visors to order a sum not exceeding £100, "over and above the Annual County Charge," to be raised by taxation and paid by the county treas- urer into "the Hands of such Person or Persons as the Justices of the Peace for said County or the Major part of them shall appoint as man- agers," who were empowered therewith to repair, alter and complete the county building .*
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