USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > Historical sketch of Chester, on Delaware > Part 6
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The presumption is that the old jail and workhouse, which stood at the north-west corner of Fourth and Market streets, were built in the same year as the Court House, but we knew that the old Prothonotary's office, which still stands, falling back from the pre- sent building line of Market street, and now owned by Jas. Hampson, was not erected in that year, for at " the private session " of the Court, held at the house of John Hannum, in Concord, December 15, 1724, Joseph Parker petitioned the Court, " setting forth ye great danger ve records of ye county lay in, as well as by casualities of fire, as other accidents;" the Court " allows ye petition to be reasonable, and orders ye clerk to present ye same before ye com- missioners and assessors of ye same county, in order that they may fit a room in ye new Court House for keeping ye said records in ; and when prepared order ye old clerk to transmit all ye said records to ye place so appropriated accordingly, and not to be removed with- out ye Court's direction." Indeed, I much doubt whether that building of Mr. Hampson antedates the Revolutionary war, and my reasons for that conclusion are these : Joseph Parker succeed- ed David Lloyd, as Prothonotary of the Courts, and at his death, in 1766, was succeeded by Henry Hale Graham, who retained that office until March 26, 1777, when Thomas Taylor was appointed to succeed Mr. Graham. Taylor never assumed the duties of the posi- tion, and Benjamin Jacobs was appointed April 4, of the same year.
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
On the 28th of July, the records of the county were still in Mr. Graham's possession, for on that date, the Executive Council au- thorized Caleb Davis-Benjamin Jacobs not having qualified-who was appointed in Jacob's stead, to " enter the dwelling and out- houses of H. H. Graham, take possession of the books and papers of the county, and remove them to a place of safety." Joseph Parker had kept the records in an office alongside his dwelling house-the old Logan house on Second street-and Henry Hale Graham had after that deposited the records in his office, the one- story building on Edgmont avenue, north of Graham street, now belonging to the estate of Henry Abbott, deceased. It seems that in the growth of the business before the county Court, the rooms in the second story of the Court House were necessary for the use of the Grand and Petit juries, and hence the order of the Court of December 15, 1874, had to be disregarded. The Prothonotary's office, I am of opinion, must necessarily have been erected subse- quent to the battle of Brandywine, for it was the dread of the threatened British attack on Philadelphia, which occasioned the alarm of Council as to the safety of the county records, and called forth the order to Caleb Davis.
The old county prison and workhouse, as I said before, were built at about the same time as the Court House. The jail was two-stories high, built of square cut stone, and extended westwardly along Fourth street. In the front part of the building was the Sheriff's house. This was a structure two stories and an attic in height, presenting in the front to the street, the general style of the Court House. Back of the prison and extending along Fourth street was the workhouse, also of stone. (Mr. William Beatty has recently from memory prepared an excellent picture of the old prison and workhouse.) In 1741, the Court House and Jail were repaired and painted, and a well dug in the Court House yard. The old pump, with a heavy iron handle, stood, within the memory of many of our older residents, a nuisance in winter, because of the drippings there- from forming ice and rendering its locality a dangerous one to pe- destrians. Many years ago the trunk was taken out and the well filled in. Part of the old brickwork of the well is under the front foundation of the store No. 404 Market street. During the year just mentioned, the commissioners paid Nathan Worley £10 for
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Court Houses and Prisons at Chester.
planks used in flooring the two dungeons on the east side of the prison, and Thomas Morgan was paid £5 11s. 6d. for 150 pounds of spikes used in laying the dungeon floors. In front of the goal and extending to the Court House doors was a double row of Lom- bardy poplars, which afforded a pleasant shady walk in the summer, and frequently during periods of political excitement, here the ora- tor of the day held forth and saved the nation by his noisy mouth- ings. The old trees at length grew so unsightly, many of their branches having died, that over half a century ago the poplars were cut down and a double row of lindens were planted to replace the ancient trees under whose towering branches our Revolutionary sires discussed, the Boston Port Bill and other measures preceding the actual outbreak of hostilities between the Colonies and the mo- ther country, and within the venerable structure proceedings were had to raise the quota of the Continental troops required from Chester county, as in after years similar meetings were held to pro- vide soldiers during the Rebellion.
In 1728, John and Walter Winter were convicted of the murder of an Indian woman, Quilee, and they were executed July 3, of that year. At the bar of the oldl Court House, in 1752, Thomas Kelly was convicted of the murder of Eleanor Davis, and in less than a month thereafter paid the penalty of his crime. In 1760, John Lewis was convicted of the murder of his wife, Ann, and four years after Jane Ewing was convicted of infanticide. In 1764, Phebe, a slave of Joseph Richardson, was hung for robbery, and her master received £55 from the Colonial treasury, her appraised value. In 1768, Thomas Vaughan and John Dowdle were convict- ed of the murder of Thomas Sharpe; in 1770, Matthew McMahon was convicted of the murder of John McClester; in 1772, Pat- rick Kennedy, Thomas Fryer, Neal McCariher and James Dever were convicted of rape-the three last were reprieved during Lieut. Governor Richard Penn's pleasure-but Kennedy was executed ; the same year Henry Phillips was convicted of the murder of Richard Kelley ; in 1775, James Willis was sentenced to death for the murder of David Culin, and the sentence was duly executed. In 1778, James Fitzpatrick, the noted outlaw of Chester county, was arraigned and plead guilty of larceny and burglary, and was executed on the 26th of September, 1778. While in the old jail,
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
Fitzpatrick attempted to escape and had almost succeeded, when the noise of falling stone attracted attention and he was discovered. The next day he was removed to Philadelphia for greater safety, and returned to Chester jail the night preceding lis execution. At the December Oyer and Terminer of 1785, Elizabeth Wilson was convicted of the murder of her two natural sons, twins, and, while in the cell in the old jail, she made her confession at the solicita- tion of her brother, to Judge Atlee, Attorney General Bradford, Elder Fleeson, the rector of St. Paul's Church, Sheriff Gibbons and her counsel, on which the Executive Council was petitioned to grant her a reprieve for thirty days, in order that the real culprit might be brought to justice. Her sad story lingers in the tradi- tions of our county. Indeed, long years ago the residents of Ches- ter would frequently relate the occasional appearance of a spectral white horse and rider, which on stormy nights could be seen and heard clattering along Fourth street at a headlong pace to the pris- on door, and that reached, the noise ceased and the apparition fad- ed into the darkness. Many of the superstitious people of that day believed that the phantom steed bore the unhappy William Wilson, whose ride to Philadelphia, in January, 1786, to procure a respite for his sister, his return hither, owing to unavoidable de- lays, just a quarter of an hour after she had been executed, crushed out his love for human society. For the last half century no one has been bold enough to assert they had seen the mounted ghost, and many of those who, in former years made such declarations, seem to have entirely overlooked the fact that William, " The Her- mit of the Welsh Mountain," for such Williani Wilson became, did not die until 1819.
In May, 1780, Joseph Bates, who was convicted of burglary, was sentenced to be hanged at the usual place of execution at Cliester, at 2 o'clock, P. M., on the 20th day of that month; and on the 26th of June of the same year, Robert Smith and John Smith were sentenced to be hung on Saturday, July Ist, at the same place where such executions usually took place. The locality where the extreme penalty of the law was enforced, I have been unable to as- certain, although we know the place where Elizabeth Wilson was hung. In January, 1786, Robert Wilson was in jail under sentence of death for burglary, but February 7, the Executive Council grant-
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Court Houses and Prisons at Chester.
ed him a pardon on condition that " he transport himself beyond the seas, not to return to the United States." On June 5, 1786, John McDonough anl Richard Shirtliffe, who had been convicted of rape and were confined in the old jail under sentence of death, were ordered to be executed, but the Executive Council reprieved Shirtliffe, instructing the Sheriff, however, that the fact should not be communicated to the condemned man until he had been taken under the gallows.
At the close of the Revolution the residents of the upper part of Chester county began to protest against the distance they had to travel to reach the county seat, and Col. John Hannum, a brave Revolutionary officer, (during the war he was captured at his house in Goshen township, one night by the British light horse, and taken prisoner to Philadelphia,) who subsequently became a shrewd poli- tician, was the leading spirit in the movement, which assumed de- cided proportion, when the Legislature passed the act of March 20, 1780, authorizing William Clingan, Thomas Bull, John Kinkead, Roger Kink, John Sellers, John and Joseph Davis, or any four of them, to build a new Court House and Prison in the county of Chester, and to sell the old Court House and Prison in the Borough of Chester. The commissioners thus appointed, being composed largely of persons opposed to removal, failed to take any action, and a supplement to the act of 1780 was adopted March 22, 1784, authorizing John Hannum, Isaac Taylor and John Jacobs, or any two of them, to carry the act into execution. The three gentle- men thus named were ardent removalists, and went promptly to work to carry the law into effect. By the wording of the supple- ment they were restricted from erecting the buildings at a greater distance than one mile and a half from the Turk's Head Tavern, in the township of Goshen. This location, it seems, was inserted in the bill through the influence of Col. Hannum, who, with an eye to his personal advantage, believed that it would bring his land within the site designated. In this, however, he made an error, for his premises proved to be more than two miles from the Turk's Head. The commissioners, notwithstanding Hannum's mistake, began the erection of a Court House and Prison adjacent, and connected by a jail yard. After the buildings had progressed until the walls were nearly completed, and while work was suspended because of
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Historical Sketch of Chester:
the cold winter, the people of old Chester succeedled,. March 30, 1785, in having an act passed suspending the supplement under which the new structures were being erected.
To make themselves sure in retaining the county seat in the au- cient Borough, a number of the anti-removalists gathered in Ches- ter under command of Major John Harper, then landlord of the City Hotel, in this city, and provided with arms; a field-piece,-a barrel of whisky and other necessary munitions of war, took up the line of march for the Turk's Head, intent on razing the walls of the proposed Court House and jail to the earth. In the meanwhile Col. Hannum, learning of the hostile designs of the Chester peo- ple, dispatched couriers in all directions, calling on the friends of removal to rally to the protection of the half-completed buildings, and Thomas Beaumont is said to have ridden all night from farm- house to farmhouse in Goshen and Bradford townships, summoning the clan. The forces under command of Major Harper were march- ing toward the Turk's Head, and at night had encamped at the General Green Tavern, a few miles east of West Chester, when Col. Hannum was first apprised of their approach. The latter col- lected his men within the building. The next morning the Chester people came in sight of the fortification, when Major Harper plante:1 his artillery on an eminence known as Quaker Hill, commanding the Court House. The absurdity of the matter dawning on the minds of some of the persons in the ranks of Harper's men, they contrived to. bring about a cessation of hostilities, and the whole affair ended in a jollification, during which the cannon was repeatedly discharged in rejoicing over peace restored. The armistice was based on the agreement of the removalists that they would wait further opera- tions on the building until the Legislature should take action on the matter. Although the removalists desisted from work only un- til the anti-removalists were out of hearing, they were not long de- layed, for, at the next session, Marchi 18, 1786, the following curi- ously entitled Act became a law : " An act to repeal an act entitled an act to suspend an act of the General Assembly of this Common- wealth, entitled an act to enable Wm. Clingau, etc.," and under the provision the buildings at the new county seat were finished. On the 25th of September, 1786, a law was passed empowering Wil- liam Gibbon, the then Sheriff of Chester county, to remove the
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Court Houses and Prisons at Chester.
" prisoners from the old jail in the town of Chester, to the new jail in Goshen township, in the said county-and to indemnify him for the same."
The old Court House and county buildings in Chester were sold on the 18th of March, 1788. to William Kerlin, for £415. After the passage of the Act of September 26, 1789, creating the county of Delaware, Kerlin sold the property November 3, 1789, to the county for £693 3s. 8d., and Henry Hale Graham was appointed President Judge of the several Courts of Delaware county. Judge Graham, who was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1790, died January 23, of that year, in Philadelphia, while attend- ing a meeting of that body, hence he never presided over the Courts of the new county, the first session of which was held February 9, 1790.
In 1817, John H. Craig was convicted of the murder of Edward Hunter, of Newtown. Squire Hunter and Isaac Cochran were wit- nesses to a will which was unsatisfactory to Craig. He believed that if the witnesses were removed the will would become inope- rative, and so believing, he laid in wait to murder them. Hunter was shot in the evening as he was taking his horse to the stable. The murderer concealed himself at the foot of some rolling ground, and the figure of his victim was brought prominently into view by the brilliant sunset back of him. After he fired the fatal shot, Craig's presence of mind forsook him. He threw away his gun in the bushes near by and fled. The gun, found where he had cast it, led to his arrest and final conviction. In his confession Craig sta- ted that several times he had attempted to take the life of Coch- ran, but each time he raised his gun to shoot, the person walking with Cochran stepped to his side in such a way as to interpose him- self between the murderer and his proposed victim. Craig was executed near Munday's run, in the summer of 1817. In the fall of the year 1824, William Bonsall, of Upper Darby, who was ill at the time, was brutally murdered by three men. Michael Monroe, alias James Wellington, Washington Labbe and Abraham Boys, were arrested and tried at Chester for the crime. Hon. Edward Darlington, who is still living at Media, was prosecuting officer of the Commonwealth, and Wellington was defended by Benjamin Tilghman. The jury, which rendered its verdict on Sunday morn-
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
ing, October 29, 1824, convicted Wellington of murder in the first degree, Washington Labbe of murder in the second degree, and acquitted Abraham Boys. Wellington was hanged Friday, Decem- ber 17, 1824, on Mrs. Bartholomew's common, on the Concord road, above the present water works. It is said that five years after Wellington's execution, a convict dying in Sing Sing prison, stated under oath, that he and two other men were the real murderers of Bonsall. The sworn confession being presented to the proper au- thorities, Labbe, who had been sentenced to ten years' imprison- ment, was pardoned, but his long incarceration had so undermined his health, that he died shortly after his release.
In 1824, when Joseph Weaver was Sheriff, a convict named Tom Low succeeded in making his escape from confinement. He had been in the jail yard, as was usual, at a certain time of the day, and, being forgotten, he managed to get possession of a spade, with which he burrowed under the yard wall, coming out about fif- teen feet from the Court House. Ile was never recaptured.
On Tuesday, October 5, 1824, Gen. Lafayette was the guest of Chester. He was accompanied by Gov. Shulze and staff, General Cadwallader and staff, and many of the dignitaries of Philadelphia. The steamboat did not reach the landing until eleven o'clock at night, but a line of boys, each bearing a lighted candle, was formed extending, it is said, from the wharf to the Washington House. Most of the houses in the town were brilliantly lighted, and the windows decorated with transparencies and designs. At one o'clock in the morning the Generel and friends were " regaled with a sump- tuous entertainment " at the Court House, which had been pre- pared by the ladies of Chester. Lafayette remained in the ancient Borough during Wednesday when he reviewed the volunteers of Delaware and Chester counties, and on Thursday, at 7 o'clock in the morning, he started in a coach and four for Wilmington, ac- companied by a suitable escort.
In 1841, Thomas Cropper, a colored man, for the murder of Mar- tin Hollis, in Birmingham township, was hung in the jail yard. Hon. John Larkin, Jr., was Sheriff at that time. Cropper, as the day fixed for his execution drew near, inade several attempts to escape, and in doing so filed some of the bars in the chimney in his cell apart. His hair was crisp and abundant, and he had concealed
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Court Houses and Prisons at Chester.
a watch spring file therein so adroitly that for a long time the au- thorities could not discover the tool with which he accomplished his work. This was the last case of capital punishment in Dela- ware county.
During the forties the old prison was the scene of a practical joke perpetrated on Major Peck, a military magnate of the State, who had been ordered to Chester to review the militia here. . The influence of Friends was such that public opinion was adverse to warlike education, and the visitation of the Major was regarded in no friendly spirit. I apprehend that Hon. John M. Broomall, then a young man, had more to do with the peculiar circumstances at- tending the military hero's visit than he cared to have known at the time it took place. However, several of the practical jokers, who then infested Chester, induced the Major to visit the prison on the pretext that within its ancient precincts were several relics of the long ago, worthy of inspection by a stranger visiting Chester. The plan worked to a charm. After the party had gained admission to the jail and the door was locked behind them, the keys were con- cealed, and all that day until evening the military gentleman and two of the roysters of Chester stood looking through a grated win- dow in the second story, calling to the people below in the street, to procure their release. The keys could not be found until night had nearly come, but several times during the day the imprisoned men lowered strings to the crowd below and drew them up with pro- visions and other refreshments pendant thereto. After his release Major Peck had several other jokes played upon him before he shook the dust of Chester from his feet, never to revisit it.
In 1845 began the agitation of the removal of the county seat to a more central location, and in November of that year a meeting was held at the Black Horse Hotel, in Middletown, to consider the topic. The Grand Jury at the November Court, as had been done by a former Grand Inquest, recommended the building of a new jail, and the removalists were anxious that no steps should be taken to- wards that end umtil the people had an opportunity to consider the mooted point, and hence they petitioned the Assembly to enact a law that the question should be submitted to a vote of the people. In 1847 the Legislature passed an act to that effect and after a bit- ter struggle, the election held October 12, 1847, resulted in a ma- .
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
jority of 752 in favor of removal. The question of the constitu- tionality of the law being raised, the Supreme Court in 1849, sus- tined the statute, and Media was selected as the new county seat. Thus Chester, after being the seat of justice of Delaware county for sixty- two years, was again shorn of its honors. Court was held in the old Court House for the last time by Judge Chapman, Presi- dent, and Leiper and Engle, Associate Judges, May 26, 1851. The session continue i until Friday, May 30, 1851, when the Crier, for the last time in the ancient building proclaimed the Court adjourned sine die. The records were removed to Media in June 1851 On August 25, of the same year, Court was held at Media for the first time. During that session Robert E Hannum, Robert McCay, Jr., and Charles D. Manley, Esquires, were appointed Examiners on the application of Thomas J. Clayton, to be admitted as an at- torney of the several Courts of Delaware county. Twenty-three years later Mr. Clayton was elected President Judge of the county, which position he now holds.
After the change of the county seat was settled beyond cavil, the old buildings and grounds in this city were sold December 9, 1850, in three lots. The Court House and two lots were sold to the Bo- rough authorities for $2601, the Prothonotary's office and lot ad- joining it on the north, to James Hampson, for $1525, and the jail and lots adjoining to James Campbell, for $3520.
Previous to the purchase, Mr. Campbell, who had been a success- ful manufacturer at Leiperville, saw the natural advantages of Chester, and had determined to locate here. In The Delaware County Republican of April 5, 1850, appeared the following local :
" PIONEER FACTORY .- The new manufacturing establishment projected in the Borough by Mr. James Campbell, of Ridley, was put in partial operation last week, and the puffing of the steam en- gine and the music of the shuttle are daily heard in our midst, causing us increased wonder why a town, possessing so many and rare advantages as our own was not years ago converted into a great manufacturing mart. Mr. Campbell is about to extend his buildings, and in a short time will have one hundred looms in ac- tive operation. The machinery used is handsomely finished and of a superior kind. We have examined a specimen of the goods made by it and predict that they will find a ready sale in whatever mar- ket they may be offered."
In this article Mir. Walter alludes to the old bowling alley which
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Court Houses and Prisons at Chester.
stood on the north side of Fourth street, where part of the Market House is now located. The Republican failed to record an incident which happened when the first loom was started in the Pioneer mill, by the late James Ledward, then in Campbell's employ. A number of citizens of Chester were present when the machinery first began to move, and as they saw it in motion, all present broke into a cheer, and afterward, they one and all sang " Hail Coluni- bia." Many who were then employed in the first manufacture of textile goods in Chester, will recall this incident to memory. Af- ter Mr. Campbell purchased the jail and workhouse, he tore down the northern wall of the old structure and built' out in that direc- tion, so that his mill, retaining the name " Pioneer Mills," extend- ed over to and included the prison yard walls. In the new addition he kept the Jacquard looms, and thereon were woven quilts and fabrics of a like character. The great difficulty he had to contend with was the scarcity of water, and to meet this want he expended thousands of dollars in sinking wells in the yard. The new enter- prise, which had required a large outlay of means, was getting well established when the panic of 1856 came upon the country, spread- ing ruin in all directions and crushing down industrial establish- ments by the thousands.
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