USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Carlisle > Early history and growth of Carlisle > Part 2
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"Judgment that the prisoner, Daniel Clayton, be taken from hence to the jail and from thence on Wednesday, the 30th of November next, between the hours of 8 and Io o'clock, A.M., be taken to the common whipping-post, that he stand in the pillory one hour, have both his ears cut off and nailed to the pillory, and then and there receive thirty-nine lashes on his back well laid on, restore the horse stolen to the owner, if not already done, or the value thereof, pay a like value to the President of the State for sup- port of Government, pay costs of prosecution and stand committed until the whole be complied with."
These statistics on the subject of corporal pun- ishment in old Carlisle have never before been compiled or made public, and I am able to supple- ment them with some information concerning the capital punishments at that early time, which has also laid hidden until now. Undoubtedly there were a great many executions here before and during the Revolution ; but as the law required at least one member of the supreme court to preside at trials where the penalty involved was death, the records were kept in that court, and
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there is not even a memorandum of them in the court below. I succeeded in finding in the supreme court-rooms in Philadelphia a criminal docket commencing in 1778,-the older dockets not being there,-which shows that for the nine years from 1779 to 1787, inclusive, eleven men and two women were sentenced in this town to be hanged. One of the women was a slave, designated in the indictment as "Negroe Suckey." Three of the con- demned had been found guilty of murder, three of robbery, two of burglary, two of counterfeiting, one of rape, one of arson, and one of an unmentionable offence.
The mention of Elm Tree on Waggoner's Gap Road Negroe Suckey recalls the fact that there used to be quite a num- ber of slaves in Carlisle. A statute was adopted in 1780 providing for the gradual abolition of slavery
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in this Commonwealth, but in 1800 there were still 228 in this county, and there was one as late as 1842.
It is a singular fact, not generally known, that the early judges of this state, with the exception of the members of the supreme court, were not lawyers. Our county judges were selected from farmers and other laymen and were known as justices of the peace,-the statute requiring that at least three of them should preside at trials. Further, the number holding office at the same time was not controlled by a fixed rule; for instance, in 1750 eleven were appointed ; in 1764, nineteen ; in 1770, twenty-nine; in 1771, twenty- three. Occasionally about a dozen were on the bench at one time, although this was rare, and accomplished advocates were compelled to address their legal arguments to judges who had never read a law-book. For forty-one years after the erection of Cumberland County this strange con- dition of affairs continued, until finally an act of assembly was passed on April 13, 1791, providing that the president judge in each district should be "a person of knowledge and integrity, skilled in the laws." Since that date, the county has had
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thirteen president judges, two of whom have been commissioned twice ; the longest term being that of the Hon. James H. Graham, -from December, 1851, to December, 1871,-and the shortest, that of the Hon. Charles Smith, -from March 27, 1819, to April 27, 1820,-exactly thirteen months.
This narrative having proceeded from Genesis to Judges, it devolves upon other pens to continue the story that will revive memories of the old Carlisle, and strengthen interest in the New.
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Public Square in 1843
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Cumberland Valley Railroad Station
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ARLISLE Old and New"-the words wake to music the chords of memory in countless hearts the wide world over. Many there are, not only of those that still dwell within its borders but of those that have gone elsewhere, who would unhesitatingly name this ancient borough the "spot of earth supremely blest, a dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest." Happy the mother who has such a rich heritage of love and loyalty in the hearts of her children !
If those who have not had the good fortune to be sons of Carlisle by birth or adoption, or to taste of its hospitality, would know its whereabouts, let them study a map of the Keystone State, and there not far from Mason and Dixon's line, in the fruit-
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ful valley of Cumberland, they will find it. Moun- tains, spurs of the Blue Ridge chain, stretch their protecting arms nearly around it; and yet the val- ley, like the far-off vale of Rasselas, is wide enough at this point so that one feels like throwing back his shoulders and breathing deep and free. Low-lying hills, which bear heavy burdens of wheat and corn, lend unwonted variety to the landscape ; many a grand old maple, oak, chestnut and elm still offer shel- ter from sum- mer's heat and winter's blast; while "apple and peach tree fruited deep" tell of Horse-chestnut on the Lawn of Dr. George L. Shearer homes of thrift and plenty. In the days of '63, when the suns of June had made hill and valley glow with the mellow tinge of harvest, the region looked a veritable Garden of the Lord to
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Hanover Street, Looking Southward
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the tramping squadrons of the Southland, which then came sweeping through field and town. Nor should we fail to notice, as we study the landscape, the gleaming silver of the gliding streams. Small wonder that they are in no haste to join the wait- ing Susquehanna, so pleasant is the land they saun- ter through, one listless stream idling along until it quadruples the distance it needs to travel.
Carlisle was once the frontier town of an advanc- ing civilization. In those far-off days, Fort Low- ther, standing on High street not far from the Public Square, was the place of refuge for the har- assed pioneer when the Indian sought redress for his wrongs. Though at this time and subsequently Carlisle showed its desire to deal justly with the men of the forest and to live in peace with them, in time of war its sons proved themselves men in whose veins ran the red blood of courage. The hostile Indians that met Colonel John Armstrong and his band of men, whom Carlisle had sent to the relief of distressed Kittanning, found foes dauntless and irresistible.
From these early days on to the present, the story of Carlisle is a web of many colors. History has been made here ; romance and poetry have been
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lived here. In fact, the rich variety of life that has always characterized the old town and kept it out of the meshes of the commonplace may, in part, account for the subtle charm that has often brought back to it those children who have traveled far afield. "If you drink of the old town pump, you will wish to live and die in Carlisle," is a local prov- erb with more than a modicum of truth. Many of those who have sought larger fields of action have come back in later days
" To husband out life's taper at the close, And keep the flame from wasting, by repose."
The Old Graveyard
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Others, whose life's sun has set elsewhere, have asked that they might sleep their last sleep beneath the quiet shades of the Old Graveyard or of Ashland.
It is impossible to say when the Old ends and the New begins, in that process of gradual evolu- tion of a slow-growing community that feels at once a reverence for the past and a pride in the present. A few years ago, the citizens of this borough decided to commemorate its anniversary of a life of one hundred and fifty years. Since that date,-October 23-24, 1901,-when a vast amount of local enthusiasm was developed, they have been at the same time looking backward and looking
Sesqui-Centennial Arch, 1901
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Old Corner of High and Pitt Streets
forward, with renewed pleasure in both reminis- cence and anticipation.
A work of ingenuity in honor of that occasion was a map wrought by Captain J. B. Landis, which he named Mother Cumberland's Family, and to which he appended an invitation to come to the family reunion. The unique merit of this diagram was at once recognized by those in charge of the sesqui - centennial celebration, who promptly had it lithographed and distributed large numbers of copies.
In response to the promised welcome, hun- dreds, during those autumn days, entered the
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town through its modern gateway, the handsome brownstone structure now occupying the corner of West High and North Pitt streets. This building was CITY BUS erected by the Cum- berland Valley Rail- road, in 1891, on the spot that will at once Waiting for Passengers be familiar to old friends when recalled by the picture of the previous buildings. Even the grease spots from the heads of loafers have been preserved to posterity by the photographer's art. No adequate idea of this locality could be con- veyed without including Peter Cooke, with his "City Bus", who years ago was accorded a recog- nized part in the local passenger service, invalu- able to the present day.
Ample provision was afforded the temporal wants of visitors on that occasion in pri- vate homes and in the hostelries with which Carlisle has always been amply equipped,
Before the Days of Rapid Transit
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provision far different from that afforded by the hotels of early days. One of these ancient inns, though no longer put to that use, still stands, a reminder of that far-off time when the traveling public did not come via railroad, trolley line, or automobile, but in the lumbering old coach of days agone. This imposing struc- ture bore the proud name of the Eagle and Harp. In 1799 it was conducted by Charles McManus and had previously been a hotel for many years. The mark of the old bar is still to be seen in a corner Old Tavern on East Lowther Street of the entrance room on the first floor.
No part of Carlisle is richer in historic associ- ation, more suggestive of a venerable past and of a prosperous present, than the Public Square, the very heart of the town's life. Standing upon it-
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above which stretched for a few short weeks the double span of the sesqui-centennial arch-one cannot look north, south, east or west without his eyes resting on some spot notable because of the famous men whose feet have trodden it, and be- cause of events of local and even national import. The observer easily judges Carlisle to be what it indeed is, a home of churches, two corners of the Square being occupied by houses of worship.
On the northwest corner, bearing the burden of its years with all grace and dignity, is the First Presbyterian Church, whose walls were built before America declared her independence, and whose fine proportions still command admiration. Gen- eral John Armstrong, a trustee and elder in the church, aided in the work. In the pastor's study still hangs a charter granted by Thomas and John Penn, nephews of the great William. When the fires of love for a new country began to glow upon American altars, nowhere did they leap higher than in Carlisle. Here, in this church dedicated to the God of Nations, the flame was fed. On a July day following fresh acts of oppression enacted by the mother country against the refractory Massa- chusetts Bay Colony, a meeting of the influential
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Public Square and Corner of First Presbyterian Church
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men of the county was held, and resolutions were passed which show that already the spirit was alive that in two more years found utterance in the
Interior of First Presbyterian Church. From 1827 to 1876 immortal Declaration. On the committee then appointed "to cooperate in every proper measure conducing to the general welfare of British Amer-
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ica" we find the names of James Wilson and Wil- liam Irvine, men "on Fame's eternal beadroll worthy to be filed." Venerable is any church in which George Washington worshiped. The First Presbyterian Church of Carlisle bears this proud distinction ; for in the days of the Whiskey Insur- rection, while Washington and Hamilton were on their way to quell the disturbance, they tarried several days in Carlisle and attended divine service here, listening to that eminent scholar, Robert Davidson, D.D. Another preacher who once occu- pied the quaint old pulpit, and whose tones received new resonance from the sounding-board pendent above his head, was the eminent scholar, albeit at times irascible and unwilling citizen, Dr. Charles Nisbet, president of Dickinson college. In the minds of many of the present generation, this church is inseparably associated with the gentle, cultured Dr. Conway P. Wing, who for more than forty years went in and out among the people, the friend of all, and the champion of those who had been held in bondage. Like afterglow at end of day, he lives again in lives made better by his presence.
Face to face with the First Presbyterian, stands St. John's Episcopal Church. Though the present
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St. John's Episcopal Church and Parish House
edifice has not yet reached the century mark, it was preceded on the same site by one which dated its beginning back to the earliest days of the town, it being among the first places of wor- ship within the present limits of the borough. A bell sent from Carlisle, England, as a gift to the
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infant parish, being unaccommodated at St. John's, was placed in the tower of the court-house, and at its sound people of all faiths made their way to their various church homes, until the building was destroyed by fire and its tongue was silenced for- ever. If we may credit a certain legend, the tones of the bell were indeed silvery, the members of the Penn family stipulating that the silver in which their subscription of thirty pounds was paid, should be fluxed with the coarser ele- ments composing the bell. St. John's can boast the rare honor of numbering among its former attendants two signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, George Ross and James Wil- GD -TOP son. Perhaps had the latter, with his multiple fame of signer of the Declaration and framer and defender of the Con- stitution, been able to voice his preference in these
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recent days, he would have asked to be borne to his last resting-place, not from any sister church in the Quaker city, but from beneath the modest arch of St. John's. Another name that not only Carlisle but the entire Commonwealth and coun- try are proud to claim is also associated with this church -that of John Bannister Gibson, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.
Diagonally opposite, once stood the old court- house, erected in 1765-66. The interior was wholly occupied by the court-room and galleries, no rooms having been provided for officials. This made necessary the annex, constructed in 1801-02; in this were deposited court books and papers. The town hall faced High street, not more than fifteen feet away. The apparatuses of the three fire companies occupied the first floor, while the borough council-chamber occupied the second. About one o'clock on the morning of Monday, March 24, 1845, this building was fired by an incendiary, and was destroyed with all its contents, involving the very serious loss of the town records. The engines and hose-carriages had been tied together and could not be drawn out. The fire spread to the court-house and annex, destroying
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both, but not before the county books and papers had been removed to a safe place.
The present court-house was erected the fol- lowing year on the same site, and already is regarded as one of the town's landmarks. The fine
Cumberland County Jail
Corinthian pillars at the front of the building command admiration, though they have suffered violence in both peace and war. One of them bears a scar received from a shell in '63, and all four, in some moment of mistaken zeal for civic improvement, were treated to a coat of whitewash,
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which soon gave way to more enduring paint ! When we remember that the pillars are of solid sandstone, these acts seem akin to painting the lily or throwing a perfume on the violet !
From this building, too, many a culprit has walked to his temporary home-or, in some cases, his doom- in the brownstone structure not far away. But such un- fortunates find themselves in no mean dwelling, the walls being among the handsomest in town, built in fine architectural style in 1854, at a cost of more than fifty thousand dollars.
Close to the court-house stands the soldiers' monu- ment, erected in memory of the sons of Cumberland
Soldiers' Monument
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County who fell in defence of the Union. It was a prompt tribute to these noble dead, who number seventeen officers and three hundred and twenty- five private soldiers, having been erected only six years after the close of the war.
This reminder of days of strife stands exposed to the storms of every passing season. Not so those other relics of civil and international strife seen in the following picture. Torn to shreds by the dogs of war, they are guarded now as price- less treasures. In 1817, at the time of rejoicing that again "the British yoke was urged upon our sons in vain," the Carlisle Guards, a company which had aided in the protection of Philadelphia during the war, assembled on the Public Square to help in the general rejoicing. After the usual mili- tary evolutions, they were drawn up by Captain Joseph Halbert to receive the "Standard of Col- ours" seen at the center of the illustration, a gift from the women of Carlisle. The background is of richest blue silk, the various devices on it bespeaking two qualities for which Carlisle's daughters of every generation have been dis- tinguished, -- skilful fingers and loyal hearts. The gift was accepted in the following fitting words: "I
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receive this standard, the offspring and evidence of female taste and patriotism, and shall trust its preservation to that native gallantry and disci- plined valor which will be marshaled around it." Its almost perfect condition, after nearly a century, speaks in loudest terms of this "gallantry and valor." At the right of this is a veteran of two wars. In the days when Carlisle was sending forth troops for the preservation of the Union-four full companies made up her noble offering-its silken folds were fashioned by Mrs. Alexander, wife of General Samuel Alexander, and fastened to a staff which had seen service among Carlisle troops in the days of the Revolution. Thus mounted, it was presented to Company A, of which the late Judge Robert M. Henderson was the undaunted captain. Each broken thread, could we make of it a tongue, could tell sad tales of Baltimore streets stained with Massachusetts blood, for this was the first banner to be carried there after the mob had done its work; it could tell also of Bull Run, of South Mountain, of the Wilderness. But the story of this flag, however fully told, is of soldiers who fought with faces ever to the foe. It is still the palladium of its same old company, and is in the care of the
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"Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son "
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gallant Captain John I. Faller. Oddly enough, it was photographed for the present sketch in the home in which it was made, that of Mr. William M. Henderson, North Hanover street, grandson of Mrs. Alexander. From the flag at the left the blue field has gone, save just enough to hold the one star remaining of the many that once studded it. This banner belonged to one of the two com- panies of cavalry furnished by Cumberland County -the Big Spring Adamantine Guards. The cap- tain of this company being mustered out after a year's service, his place was filled by Captain Wil- liam E. Miller, of Carlisle, the present custodian of the flag, a man in whose keeping the American colors are always safe.
Returning to the Square, we find its remaining corner occupied, unfortunately, by the market- house,-unfortunately, for the place is thus over- crowded and lacking the beauty of the ideal park- way of a colonial town. The first market-house of which we have any record was built in 1802, and must have been a frail structure, since it was blown down in a windstorm. Its successor was built in 1836 and did service for forty-two years. The pictures of it are interesting, as showing not
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only the location of the building, but as being a study of buyers and sellers at the Carlisle market forty years ago.
But the old Square itself is redolent, every foot of it, with the memories of generations. Here has stood in public shame the pilloried culprit, with what thoughts of remorse or of revenge, who can tell? When the time was fast approaching for the American people "to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them," men from all over the Cumberland valley assembled here to confer upon the great events with which the air was rife. Then was written a chapter in the Square's history that makes one's blood quicken, as when he reads of Pizarro and his sword line in the tropical sand. In the one case as in the other the command was, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Those that would fight for freedom were bidden come to the northern side of the Square; those that would still bear the British yoke, to the south- ern side. To the undying honor of the sons of Cumberland, it is told that the southern side at that hour was empty; three or four, hesitant, went
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Old market house, High street entrance
Public Square, 1860
Market day, Hanover street entrance
Showing First Presbyterian Church, and old Henry Glass hotel, on the corner now occupied by the handsome building of Mrs. Walter Beall
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neither way ; and the northern part held every soul besides. Nor did their zeal slacken when the time for action came. Company after company from Carlisle went to their country's defense, until it was finally feared that there would not be suffi- cient men remaining to guard the safety of the inhabitants. Not only did this spot resound to the tread of the patriots' feet in these days, but not a few of the British also marched across it when. sent here as prisoners of war. Among these were the ill-fated Major Andre and Lieutenant Despard. The ashes of the former find an honored resting- place in Westminster Abbey, while the latter lived to go back to England only to die as a traitor because of the democratic ideas he had imbibed in America. As the house assigned them was but a block away, on the corner of South Hanover street and Church alley, and they were allowed on parole throughout the town, the Square must have been often enlivened by their gay uniforms.
In the days following the framing of the Con- stitution, while its adoption by the necessary number of states was still pending. Federalist and Anti-Federalist celebrated on the Square many a barren victory. Even James Wilson, now proudly
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claimed as a son of Carlisle, was burned in effigy, together with Chief Justice Mckean, another defender of the Constitution.
During the Whiskey Rebellion, this spot was outraged by the erection upon it of a liberty pole bearing the illuminated inscription, "Liberty and No Excise, O Whiskey!" Though this was promptly cut down, it was followed by another with the Gallic sentiment of those times, "Liberty and Equality." These were sorry days for the old Square. Rioting and deeds of violence profaned it, insurgents patrolled across it, and now and then the air rang to the sound of bullets. It was at this time that Colonel Ephraim Blaine, great-grand- father of the distinguished statesman of our own times, was fired upon because so staunch a friend of good government, but happily escaped injury. On the other hand, how proudly the Square wel- comed the coming of the Father of His Country ! Four thousand men accompanied him, together with his cabinet. Crowds gathered to do him honor. However profound their enthusiasm, it is said that their admiration was silent. The presi- dent's home while on this visit was but a stone's throw away, as he was the guest of Colonel Blaine,
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who was then living but a half block distant. Everything during this visit was done by the towns- people in a way befitting the presence in their midst of "the best of great men and greatest of good men."
Though the Square has never seen the imperial purple, it has witnessed the coming of one who afterward was adorned with it. While exiled from France and traveling incognito from New York to New Orleans, Louis Philippe, accompanied by two brothers, passed through Carlisle. During their tarry here, one of the brothers, the Duke de Montpensier, had the misfortune to be upset in a runaway, but was not so seriously injured as to be unable to minister to his own needs. This he did by robbing himself of some of his own royal blood at the tavern where the party was enter- tained. So impressed were the spectators by such a manifestation of knowledge and skill that he was at once urged to become a permanent practitioner in their midst.
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