History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 147

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150

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594

HISTORY OF. DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Chester, and their name for good work is a sufficient guarantee that the job is well done."

Notwithstanding these improvements, the grand jury in November, 1872, found the jail defective in many particulars, and recommended several improve- ments. Following is their report :

" To the Honorable Judges of the Courts of Delaware County :

"The grand jury, in the performance of the duty enjoined to them, have examined the prison, and inquired into the escape of prisoners therefrom, and respectfully submit the following suggestione to the court: A number of the cells in the prison are unsafe, the arches on the tops being of insufficient strength, from the lightnese of the material of which they are huilt. There should be at least two dark celle, detached from the other parts of the prison, and out of hearing of the inmates thereof. The need of an infirmary is apparent, where prisoners who are sick can be kept separate from their fellows. The windows in the celle should be so altered as to deprive the occupants of a view of the prison- yard and etreets. The pipes used for heating the building are badly out of repair, and the brick pavement in the interior is objectionable on ac- count of the dampness. After a careful examination of the manner in which prisoners have escaped from the jail, the keeper of the prison is not, in our opinion, censurable in any way whatever, except so far es relates to one case, in which his deputy went into a cell without observ- ing the necessary and usual precaution. The management of the insti- tution is such as to reflect credit on those who have it in charge ; the condition of the prison being neat and cleanly, and the prisoners appar- ently satisfied with the care and attention they receive."

Some of the measures advised by the grand inquest were adopted, and in 1877 extensive work was per- formed. The stone wall around the prison was ex- tended and raised by William Armstrong, who took the job by contract. About six thousand dollars was expended on the prison during that and the following year.

In October, 1877, a laborious and determined effort was made to escape by a number of prisoners, who did not appreciate the large outlay of public money upon their quarters. This wellnigh successful at- tempt is thus described by a newspaper of the day :

"On Sunday evening last, as Mr. Campbell, jsilor of the county prison, was making his last round, he reached the cell of William Watere, Jacob Kelley, Neil Mclaughlin, and Thomae Overholtzer, the prisoners who were convicted of the robbing of the stores of I. E. Boston and J. E. Brown, at Rockdale, some time since. Looking into the limite assigned them, be fancied that their bed was somewhat higher than usual, and he requested them to lift it up. On this being done a quantity of stone was found underneath, the result of an excavation made in the wall by them preparatory to their escape, one stone only being left between them and their liberty. The work had been accomplished from time to time with an iron hook, which he found in their possession. They were removed to other quarters,"

In 1878 a new building was erected adjoining the original structure. This was seventy feet in length, forty-seven feet in height, and three stories high, affording six work-rooms and thirty-six cells. It cost sixteen thousand one hundred and forty dollars, in- cluding the heating apparatus, which alone amounted to over four thousand five hundred dollars.

In spite even of the additional safeguards secured during 1877-78, a few prisoners succeeded in gaining the outer world. On March 20, 1878, Daniel Pine, who had been sentenced to six years' confinement for the robbery of the residence of Mrs. Fallon, in Upper Darby, and that of William Rhodes, in Newtown, scaled the wall with the aid of a piece of rope, which he had been ingenious enough to secure.

On Dec. 27, 1879, two colored men made their es- cape by breaking a hole in the ceiling of one of the upper tier of cells, and then making their way from the roof to the ground.

On Feb. 7, 1879, Joseph Williams died suddenly ju the prison on the very day that he was to be released, after eleven months' confinement. He was seized with cramp in the stomach, which terminated in con- vulsions that quickly proved fatal.

Still later, on March 17, 1880, grim death came to the jail, this time under peculiar circumstances. The victim was Richard Neeld, and, straugely enough, he lost his life through the attempt of another inmate to escape. From the evidence at the inquest it ap- peared that Martin O'Harra, who occupied a cell directly over that in which Neeld was confined, had heen working for some days diligently in endeavoring to escape. He cut a hole into the chimney-stack, by which he expected to reach the roof; and in order to get rid of the débris, and possibly with a view to stopping the inflow of coal-gas from below, he threw the refuse into the stack, thus stopping the means of ventilation for which the prisoners on the tier below depended. Two days before Neeld's death one of the prisoners in the cell below was affected to fainting, but subsequently recovered. At about five o'clock on the evening of March 17th, when meals were being served, the cell occupied by John Mulligan and an- other inmate was visited. Both these men were in a stupefied condition, but subsequently recovered. Neeld, in an adjacent cell, was found dead. The ver- dict rendered by the jury was, "Death caused by asphyxia, produced by carbonic acid gas."

The House of Employment, or the county poor- house, as most readers are aware, was located here long before the town had its beginning, in fact, early in the century. The act "to provide for the erection of a house for the employment and support of the poor in the county of Delaware" was passed Feb. 13, 1804. The site was selected by a committee of seven, named in the act. The farm purchased consisted of one hundred and thirty-seven acres, and cost less than thirty-three dollars per acre. Later additions were made at one hundred dollars per acre. These prices were quite insignificant in comparison with those ob- tained for the same land after Media had been built up, when forty-six acres were sold at two hundred and fifty dollars, and one hundred and twelve at $341.50. The poor-house was completed within two or three years from the time the purchase was made, but we have no knowledge of the details of the work, nor of the early history of the institution, and, indeed, it is of no importance. The house was of stone, in the old English style, and was one hundred feet long by forty in width. A fine barn and other outbuildings stood near it. The following description of the insti- tution, as it appeared in 1845, is from the pen of Miss Dix, who visited it:

"Several miles from Chester is a large stone build-

595

THE BOROUGH OF MEDIA.

ing, clean, well kept, and well directed. The pro- visions are good and sufficient, and the food well prepared. Here were eighty-five inmates the third week in October; of these but few were children. From twelve to fifteen are insane and idiotic; were clean and comfortable, with the exception, perhaps, of wearing chains and hobbles. None were in close con- finement, though such cases often occur. A small wooden building, constructed near the main dwelling, contains six cells, cleanly whitewashed and scrubbed, furnished with a small but comfortable bed, but not

COUNTY HOUSE, MEDIA.

capable of being warmed at all ; accordingly, they are disused during the cold season. Each is lighted by a grated window. There are in the basement of the main building four cells, lined with sheet-iron, which are used for violent patients when necessary. There are no recoveries reported in the poor-house through remedial treatment. 'The most we expect,' said one of the family, ' is to do what we can for their comfort ; we have no means for curing them.' The entire estab- lishment seemed excellently conducted, and, but for the difficulty of managing the insane and idiotic, would afford a quiet home for the aged and infirm. It is estimated that there are in Delaware County about seventy cases of insane and idiotic persons. The poor-house farm is large and productive."

The directors of the poor, after a long discussion, in April, 1854, decided to sell the house of employment and property attached, and to purchase the farm of Abram Pennell, in Middletown, as the site for a new building. It was subsequently sold, and after a time torn down, and upon its site was erected the Halde- man House, which became Shortlidge's Boarding- School.

Of the new poor-house in Middletown, which was completed by April 1, 1857, having been begun a year before, it is scarcely our province to speak in this chapter. The principal contractor was Dutton Otley,

assisted by Stephen Sager, master-carpenter. The tin-work and plumbing was done by Ralph Buckley, of Media.

Incorporation of Media as a Borough-The Temperance Struggle .- The growth, real and pros- pective, of the new town led its people to a general recognition of the desirability of establishing a local or borough government in less than eighteen months from the time that it was laid out. The project, which had been informally talked of during the latter part of 1849, first assumed definite shape at a meeting of the lot-owners, held Jan. 10, 1850, at the public-house of Peter Wor- rall,-the Providence Inn. On this occa- sion a resolution was adopted asking the Assembly to grant a charter incorporating the town as a borough, "with a section therein prohibiting the sale of ardent spirits within the new borough, and mak- ing it a penal offense to sell any kind of intoxicating liquors within said limits."

The fight between the friends and the opponents of temperance, or, more prop- erly, prohibition, which had raged fiercely before, was now renewed with increased fury, and every individual was forced into the ranks of one or the other con- tending parties. On the 16th the Dela- ware County Temperance Society held a well-attended meeting at Hinkson's Cor- ner, and as a result of its deliberations there appeared on the 25th a very spirited, yet well-balanced, address to the people of the county, advocating the prohibition of the sale of liquor in its seat of justice. This was signed by the twenty-four members of the central committee, among whom were J. P. Crozer, William T. Crook, Enos Sharpless, Rev. B. S. Huntington, John C. Beatty, Jonathan P. Abrams, Samuel Riddle, Jonathan Esrey, Samuel L. Leiper, Dr. George Smith, Minshall Painter, George G. Knowles, John F. Taylor, James J. Lewis, John F. Vanleer, William T. Pierce, and Rev. James W. Dale. Several more extremely able addresses were issued during the few months succeeding, and a vigorous agitation was kept up by the press and public speak- ers.

On Jan. 30, 1850, Mr. James J. Lewis, the repre- sentative from Delaware County, read before the House a bill to incorporate the borough of Media. Only two days before this, on the 28th of January, at a meeting held at Providence Inn, it had been re- solved, on account of the temperance clause, to aban- don for the time being the attempt to secure a char- ter, and a communication was forwarded calling for a postponement of the bill. It was destined, however, to pass, and that, too, with the prohibitory clause. When the decisive time came, on February 13th, the House of Representatives declared in its favor by a vote of 52 to 21. It passed the Senate March 7th, re-

596

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ceived the signature of the Governor on the 10th, and thus became a law.

The boundaries were described in the act as follows :

" Beginning at the corner of lands of Edward Lewis, Isaac Cochran, Andrew T. Walker, aod John Hill, on the south side of the Philadel- phia and Baltimore State road, in the township of Upper Providence ; thence due south twenty-five perches through land of John Hill ; thence eastwardly to a point two hundred and fifty fast on the eastern side of the road leading through Providence to Chester, and fifty perches south of the State road aforesaid, in the town of Nether Provi- dence; theuce northwestwardly parallel with and at the distance of two hundred and fifty feet eastward of said Providence road to & point opposite the intersection of the said Providence road and a road leading from the Rock House; thence southwestwardly across said Providence road, and through land of Joseph Rowland to the most northern point of land held by the directors of the poor of said county ; thence south westwardly along the northwestern boundaries of said land aud lands held by the county commissioners of said county, and by Andrew T. Walker, to the place of beginning."

The prohibitory clause (iii. 60) was as follows :

"It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to vend or sell vinous, spirituous, or other intoxicating liquors within the limits of said borough, except for medical purposes, or for use in the arts ; and it shall not he lawful for the Court of Quarter Sessions to grant any license or licenses therefor to any inn or tavern in said horough. If any person or persons shall within said borough veud or sall, or cause to be vended or sold, any vinous, spirituous, or other intoxicating liquors to any persons (except as provided for in this section), such per- son or persons so vending or selling, shall be liable to indictment, and on conviction thereof shall forfeit and pay for every auch offense a sum not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars, at the dis- cretion of the court : Provided, That it may be lawful for the Court of Quarter Sessions of said county to license inns or taverns in said borough without permission to vend or sell intoxicating drinks: And provided, Such license may be granted without the publication of any previous ootice, as is required for other taverns." 1

Isaac Haldeman, Joseph Rowland, and John Hill, who were authorized by the act to call an election for the purpose of choosing borough officers, on March 15th issued a notice to the citizens to meet on Tues- day, the 19th of the same month, at the public-house of Peter Worrall, to exercise the right of franchise as the law directed. At this election Isaac E. Price and David Hardcastle acted as inspectors. The officers chosen were as follows: Town Council, Dr. George Smith, Dr. Joseph Rowland, Isaac Haldeman, Nathan Shaw, Thomas T. Williams, and John C. Beatty ; Town Clerk, Thomas Richardson; Treasurer, Charles Palmer; Assessor, Robert Rowland.2 At the meeting of the Council March 27, 1850, the members drew lots to determine the length of time they should remain in office, with the result that Messrs. Williams and Smith should continue members for one year, Shaw and Rowland for two years, and Haldeman and Beatty for three years. Isaac Haldeman was chosen presi- dent of the board. Dr. Smith tendered his resigna -. tion on May 1st, and Joseph Edwards was appointed to fill the vacancy thus caused. At the succeeding meeting Mr. Edwards declined to serve, and Charles R. Williamson was elected to the position thus vacated.

At the meeting of the Council on May 8th the first borough tax was ordered to be laid. This was for the repair of roads within the borough limits. On June 5th a committee was appointed to attend to the grad- ing of the streets and their improvement otherwise, and Jacob Smedley was appointed at the same time borough surveyor. At a subsequent meeting Joel Evans was paid fourteen dollars for running the southern boundary line, and it is probable that he acted as substitute for Smedley. At the meeting of July 3d, Charles D. Manley was appointed borough solicitor. Thus the organization of the local govern- ment was gradually perfected and put in working order.

At a meeting held Jan. 1, 1851, the assessor's re- turns were examined and corrected, and on motion a tax of three mills on the dollar was laid on the valu- ation of the assessment. A court of appeal was or- dered to be held at the public-house of Peter Worrall on the 25th of the month, and John C. Price was ap- pointed collector of taxes.

The meetings of the Council, which from the begin- ning had been held from house to house of those who were its members, were, in August, 1851, transferred to the Charter House, of which we shall presently give the history. It was resolved to make that the perma- nent assembly-place of the municipal body, and a committee was appointed at the meeting of Novem- ber 5th to make arrangements with Mr. Hawkins for the use of a room, which was subsequently secured for ten dollars per year.

In 1852 the tax levy was reduced to two and one- half mills on the dollar. John C. Price, at the meet- ing of June 2d, rendered his account as tax collector, from which it appeared that the whole amount of borough tax turned over was $156.66, and the dog tax $20.00, making a total of $176.66.

On Jan. 5, 1853, an ordinance was brought up for the removal of the place of the borough election from the public-house of Peter Worrall to the Charter House. It was passed on February 2d, and the next election, that of March 18th, was held at the newly- designated place.

Passing for the present, and reserving for separate consideration, the various measures for street improve- ments, we present a roster of the leading civil officials of Media borough from 1850 to the present time (with the exception of the school directors, whose names will be found appended to the section of this chapter de- voted to educational matters) :

BURGESSES.

1850-51. William T. Peirce. 1852. Charles D. Manley. 1873. N. F. Walter.

1874-77. H. C. Snowden.

1878-79. William Eves, Jr.

1860-61. John M. Hall. 1862-63. D. R. Hawkins.

1864. Peter Worrall. 1865-70. John J. Rowland.

1871-72. George W. Ormsby.

1853-54. Jesse Bishop. 1855-56. John C. Price. 1857-59. D. R. Hawkins. 1880. Samuel Dutton. 1881. William Campbell. 1882. Albin P. Ottey. 1883-84. Henry Green.

1 Delaware County Digest.

2 Ou tha Friday preceding the election ahove referred to, March 15th, there was a township election for Upper Providence township for officers to serve for it and for the new borough.

597

THE BOROUGH OF MEDIA.

COUNCIL.

1850. George Smith, M.D.1

Joseph Rowland, M.D.

Isaac Haldeman.

C. D. Manley.

Nathan Shaw.

1868. George E. Darlington.

Thomas T. Williams.

John C. Beatty.

1869. Charles R. Williamson. H. Jones Brooke.

1851. Ellis Smedley.

1852. John C. Price.

Thomas T. Williams.

1853. Isaac Haldeman.

John C. Beatty.

1854. C. R. Williamsou.

1872. Charles R. Williamson .. Lewie Palmer.

1855. Clayton Smith.

D. A. Middleton.

1873. H. Jones Brooke. John J. Rowland.

1856. Isaac Haldeman. Nathan Shaw.

D. A. Vernon.

1857. Joseph Iliff.

1874. Jacob Weaver. D. A. Vernon.

H. J. Brooke.

C. R. Williamson.

1875. Charles R. Williamson.

Lewis Palmer.

B. F. Baker.

1876. J. J. Rowland.

Thomas J. Haldeman.

H. B. Fussell.

1860. C. R. Williamson.

A. K. Scholl.

T. J. Haldeman.

William T. Innes.

1878. Charles R. Williamson. Lewis Palmer.

1861. Samuel P. Rush.

H. Jones Brooke.

1879. Henry C. Howard. Terrence Riley.

1862. Isaac Haldeman. Isaac Worrell.

1880. Samnel W. Hawley. Winfield S. Worrall.

1881. Charles R. Williamson.

John M Hall.

1882. Henry C. Howard.

Terrence Riley.

Samuel P. Rush.

1883. Wiofield S. Worrall.

Isaac Worrell, Jr.

Horace P. Green.

1866. C. R. Williamson.

1884. C. R. Williamson.

Lewis Palmer.

TREASURERS.

1850-51. Charles Palmer.

1852-57. J. Hardcastle.

1857-64. George G. Fell.

1882-85. Charles D. M. Broomall.

TOWN CLERKS.

1850-54. Thomas Richardson.

1863. Thomas J. Kitts.

1854-58. Charles W. Shaw.

1864. James C. Henderson.

1858-59. J. Lawrence Haldeman.

1865-67. Samuel P. Derrick.

1860-61. Joseph Addison Thomson.

1868-79. A. P. Otley.

1862. James G. Cummine.

1879-84. Townsend E. Levis.

Benjamin F. Baker.

1884, William H. Tricker.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

Date of Commission. .April 13, 1852.

Oliver E. Strickland

April 11, 1854.

Nathan Shaw. .April 16, 1858.

Isaac Sharpless. .April 14, 1857.

Thomas I Litzenberg ... .. April 10, 1860.

James McMullin. 9,1861.

April

George H. Righy .. April 26, 1864.

Benjamin F. Baker May

1, 1865.

Willianı Russell.

April 11, 1867.

William H Howard

.April 10, 1869.

William Russell.

.April 15, 1872.

F. Gardner Preston

March 24, 1x72.

William H. Howard.

March 24, 1874.

Nicholas F. Walter.

March 4, 1879.

George H. Righy. March 27, .879.

F. Gardoer Preston (to fill vacancy)

Aug. 20, 1881.

F. Gardner Preston.

.April 10, 1882.

Name .- Both before and after the incorporation of the borough, when the name Media was bestowed upon it in lieu of Providence, there was a lively dis-

cussion carried on as to the most suitable name for the county-seat. One writer argued strongly in favor af " Pennrith," explaining in his newspaper commu- nication that Penn in the Welsh language meant a hill, and "rith" John, so that the two together would signify John Penn, which was the name of William Penn's father, and, at the same time, "Penn," signifying a hill, would be descriptive of the locality. Some of the citizens were in favor of "Numedia,"-that is, New Media, -in contradistinc- tion to ancient Oriental Media, but the majority fa- vored Media, after it had been suggested by Minshall Painter. This name was vigorously combated by the friend of "Pennrith," who signed himself "John o' the Hill." He wrote as follows : "To say that it was called after the ancient country of Media would place us in a purely ridiculous position. To derive it from the Latin adjective, converting it into a noun, as the name of a place, would give it, if it were etymologi- cally defensible, an origin so feeble as to ally it very closely to contempt." The name had, however, been adopted at a meeting held at the Providence Inn, Jan. 10, 1850, and "John o' the Hill's" communica- tions failed to induce a change. For a number of years several newspapers and many of the people, among them the borough clerk, spelled the name Medea, as if they supposed the town named after the Asiatic queen, but gradually the present spelling was substituted for the old, and thus the word became what it was no doubt at first intended to be, a term significant of the central location of the place to which it was applied.

The Charter House .- This house, one of the nota- ble institutions of Media, is at once a place of happy entertainment for "the wayfarer and the stranger," and a monument to those zealous friends of temper- ance who triumphed after a hard fight and made the prohibition of the liquor traffic one of the provisions of the town charter. It is, therefore, properly treated in this connection, for it followed as a result of the borough charter, and is deserving of more than a passing notice. The story of the building of this ten- perance hotel is briefly as follows : Only a few months after the incorporation of the borough, on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 1850, at a temperance harvest-home held at Media, it was resolved, at the suggestion of Rev. James W. Dale, to raise subscriptions to build a temperance hotel. This was an immense assemblage, the largest of the kind (according to the newspapers of the day) ever held in Delaware County. The people were flushed with the victory they had obtained in securing a charter which contained a prohibitory clause, and hence it was not strange that the sum of four thousand dollars should have been subscribed on the spot for the purpose of raising a tangible memorial of the battle which had been won. It was decided that the pros- pective building should be called the Charter House, and that it should not cost over five thousand dollars.

At a meeting held in Temperance Hall, Sept. 9,

1 Smith declined; Charles R. Williameon elected to fill vacancy.

1867. Samuel B. Thomas. William Eves.

1870. William Eves, Jr. John C. Beatty.

1871. Isaac Worrell. Samuel B. Thomas.

1858. I. R. Morris.

1859. Isaac Haldeman. Joseph Iliff.

1877. Jacob Weaver.

1863. C. R. Williamson.

Joseph P. Campbell.

1864. John G. Haddock.

Lewis Palmer.

1865. Isaac Haldeman.

H. Jones Brooke.

- 1865-78. George G. Fell. 1878-82. Lavis Miller.

1864. Joseph Iliff.

Isaac Cochran.

Charles D. Manley.

598

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

1850, of which John P. Crozer was chairman and John C. Beatty and Ellis Smedley secretaries, the Charter House Association was organized and arti- cles of government drawn up and subscribed to. The officers elected were. President, William Eves; Vice- Presidents, John P. Crozer, John M. Sharpless, John Hill, Edward Garrett, Daniel M. Leiper, Abram L. Penrock, John Dunwoody, and William T. Cook ; Secretary, William B. Lindsay; Associate Secretary, Benjamin Brooke; Treasurer, Abraham Pennell. Eighteen managers were also elected, as follows : Levis Miller, John C. Beatty, George G. Knowles, Joseph Rowland, M.D., George Bishop, Isaac Thomas, Thomas Pratt, James W. Vale, J. D. White, I. P. Abrahams, James Lewis, Nathan Shaw, John Sellers, James Barton, Robert M. Thomas, John F. Taylor, D. T. Hawkins, Enos Williamson ; the members of the building committee were John C. Beatty, George G. Fell, and William Eves.

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 147

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150