USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc > Part 37
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THE COUNTY JAIL.
The first jail was a small log building, erected soon after the organization of the county, on the southwest corner of Holland and Second streets. It was in this modest structure that court was once held, as before stated. A sec- ond jail, of brick, was put up on the site of the present court house in 1830. The third and existing jail was erected in 1850, and remodeled in 1869 at an expense of $39,671, under the superintendence of R. C. Chapman. It con- sists of a Sheriff's residence and jail combined, both three stories high. front- ing on Fifth street, in the rear of the court house. In a wing on the west. side is the office of the warden, through which all persons have to pass on en- tering or leaving the jail. A high stone wall completely incloses the jail proper, leaving a small yard, where the prisoners are allowed to exercise. The interior of the jail is divided into six rows of cells, two rows to each story, and each cell is closed with a heavily grated door. In front of the cells, on the first and second floors, at a distance of about three feet from the line of doors, runs an iron grating, which answers the double purpose of keeping the prisoners more secure and giving them a narrow pathway in which to stretch their limbs. The cells on the third story do not have this extra grating, and are used for women and the milder class of criminals. Every cell is alike in its contents, being provided with two iron frames attached to the walls for
286
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
bedsteads, a mattress and blankets, a water closet, and a supply of city water. The floors and stairways are of iron, the walls are of stone, and no wood is seen in the building aside from the tables and seats. On the third floor of the Sheriff's house is the hospital, in which is a bath tub and other conveniences for the sick.
The regular bill of fare for the prisoners is as follows: Breakfast-a loaf of bread and cup of coffee; dinner-meat, potatoes, and sometimes other vege- tables; supper-a cup of tea and the balance of the bread left from breakfast and dinner. The meals are handed in to the prisoners through a narrow open- ing in the wall between the jail and the Sheriff's kitchen. To the above is frequently added some palatable dish, through the kindness of the Sheriff's family, and on holidays the prisoners are usually treated to roast turkey. The average of inmates is about twenty. This number is generally doubled two or three weeks before the Court of Quarter Sessions, and correspondingly re- duced after they adjourn. Prisoners of the worst class are sentenced to the Western Penitentiary at Allegheny City; young men who are convicted of the first offense, to the Allegheny County Work House; and boys and girls to the State Reform School at Morganza, Washington County.
The first jailer was Robert Irvin, who was succeeded by John Gray, James Gray, William Judd, Robert Kincaid and Cornelius Foy. John Gray held the position, off and on, for many years. The first Sheriff who acted in the capacity of jailer was Albert Thayer, who was elected in 1825. For some years past the Sheriff's duties have been too onerous to allow of his taking im- mediate charge of the jail, and the institution has been in care of a warden, acting under and responsible to that officer. No employment is given to the prisoners, and they spend the day time in reading, chatting, mending their clothing and concocting mischief.
THE ALMSHOUSE.
In the year 1832, while John H. Walker was a member of the Assembly, he procured an act ceding the third section of two thousand acres of State land in Mill Creek Township, west of Erie, to the borough, the proceeds to be used in constructing a canal basin in the harbor. It was stipulated in the act that one hundred acres should be reserved to Erie County on which to erect an alms- house, the land to be selected by three commissioners appointed by the County Commissioners. The latter officers, on May 7, 1833, named William Miles, George Moore and David McNair, who chose the piece of ground on the Ridge road, three miles west of Erie, which has ever since been known as the "poor house farm." The original tract was increased to about one hundred and thir- teen acres including the allowance by the purchase of a small piece from Mr. War fel in 1878.
Soon after the selection of the farm, an agitation began for the erection of a county almshouse on the property. A proposition to that effect was submitted to the people in 1839, and, after a hard fight, was voted down by a majority of 154. The friends of the measure claimed that the question had not been fairly treated, and it was again brought before the people at the spring elec- tion of 1840, when it was carried by the close vote of 1,599 in favor to 1,594 in opposition. Three Directors of the Poor were elected the same year. Con- tracts were soon after let for the construction of a building, and by the fall of 1841 it was ready for the reception of the paupers. Before that, each borough and township took care of its own poor, under the supervision of two overseers elected by their citizens. The original building was of brick, and for the time, was one of considerable magnitude.
Masis Leider
289
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
The present large and imposing edifice was commenced in 1870 and sub- stantially completed in 1871, though the finishing and furnishing continued until 1873. Its cost, as shown by the requisitions upon the County Commis- sioners from 1869 to 1873, was $118,000. A further sum of $10,000 was voted in 1874, of which, perhaps one half was applied to the improvement of the building and grounds. About $3,000 of the balance are understood to have been used in building the barn, and nearly $2,000 in putting down gas wells upon the farm. The building for insane male persons was added in 1875, at a cost of about $2,000.
The almshouse stands on a rise of ground between the Ridge road and Lake Shore Railroad, facing the former, with which it communicates by a wide avenue lined on both sides with young trees. The main building is of brick, four stories high, 188 feet long by 44 to 46 wide, with a cupola in the center and another at each end. Extending from the center on the north side is a three-story brick wing, 86x30 feet, and a short distance to the west is the small two-story brick building above referred to, for the care and safe-keeping of insane males. On the first floor of the main building are the Steward's office and family apartments, the men's sitting room, store room, bath room, etc. The three other floors are divided into sleeping rooms, except that a large space at the west end of the second story is used as the female hospital. The north wing contains the paupers' dining room and kitchen on the first, the women's insane department on the second, and the men's hospital on the third floor. The capacity of the building is for about four hundred inmates. All the cook- ing for the paupers is done by steam. The heating is effected mainly by steam generators, in part by natural gas from wells on the farm, which also supply the light. The water is pumped from a spring to a tank on the fourth story, from which it is distributed over the entire building. Attached to the building is a medical depository and a small library, the latter the contribution of Hon. Henry Souther.
The food supplied to the inmates is clean and abundant, though plain. Breakfast is made up of beef soup, meat, potatoes, bread and tea or coffee, as the parties choose. For dinner, they are furnished coffee with sugar and milk, one kind of meat, potatoes or beans, wheat bread, and frequently soup, turnips, beets and other vegetables. To this bill of fare is added on Sundays ginger cake and some kind of pie. Supper usually consists of bread, coffee and cold meat, with occasionally a bowl of rice. Each pauper is given a pint of coffee and helps him or herself to the other articles on the table unless incapable by weakness or deformity. The hours for meals are: Breakfast at 7:15, dinner at 12:30, and supper at 5:30 or 6. Every inmate is obliged to be in bed by 9 o'clock P. M., and to rise by half past six in the morning. Those who are over thirty-five years of age are allowed a certain quantity of tobacco each week. Few of the paupers are able to work and those who are have to make themselves useful, the men by helping in the garden or on the farm, and the women by sewing or doing household service.
The sleeping apartments are plain, but comfortable. Each inmate is pro- vided with a cheap bedstead, straw tick, two sheets, either a feather or straw pil- low, and in winter with two comforters. They generally sleep a dozen or two in one large room. Great care is taken to keep the bedding clean, in order to prevent the spread of disease.
The poor house farin is one of the best in the county, and has generally been kept under fine cultivation. A few rods north of the buildings is a large spring, which will furnish an ample supply of water for all the needs of the institution to the end of time. The barn is of the modern style, with base-
16
290
HISTORY OF
ment stable. A little to the east, inclosed by a neat fence, is the new pauper burial ground, which already contains the bodies of about 100 unfortunates. Each grave is marked by a stone and a number corresponding with the one in the death book.
The charity system of the county is in charge of three Directors of the Poor, one of whom is elected annually. They employ a Steward of the alme- house, a Secretary and Treasurer, an Attorney, a Physician for the almshouse (who also attends to the Erie poor), and one physician each at Corry, North East, Union, Waterford, Albion, Harbor Creek, Edinboro, Mill Village, Gi- rard, Wattsburg, Middleboro, Springfield and Fairview. The subordinate em- ployes at the almshouse are one engineer, two farmers, one keeper and one nurse for the insane men, one keeper of the hospital, one janitor at the office, two keepers for the insane women, and four female servants. Only those who are thought to be incurably insane are kept at the institution. Those for whom there is still bope are sent to the State hospital at Warren.
The number of paupers in the almshouse on the 1st of January, 1881, were- white male adults, 136; colored male adults, 1; white female adults, 77; colored female adults, 1; white children, 5; colored children, 1; total, 221; of whom 81 were natives and 140 foreigners. Of the above there were- insane males, 20; insane females, 21; total, 41; natives, 26; foreigners, 15; 2 males and 3 females were blind, and 2 males were idiotic.
During the quarter ending on the 31st of December, 1880, the Directors gave outdoor relief to 214 families, located as follows: ' Erie, 157; Corry, 20; Union, 10; North East, 3; Wattsburg, 5; Edinboro, 1; Lockport, 2; Girard, 5; Conneaut, 4; Elk Creek, 4; Le Bœuf, 1; Washington, 1; and Waterford, 1. From the 1st of January to April 1, 1881, the number of tramps kept over night was 149. They were given supper, lodging and breakfast, and then obliged to "move on." Their lodging room is in the basement. The Directors of the Poor furnish the coal for the tramp rooms in the police sta- tions at Erie and Corry, as well as the crackers and cheese which are given the tramps to eat.
The keeper of the City Hospital at Erie is paid by the Directors of the Poor, who also furnish the coal for the building. The regular pay of the keeper is $22.50 a month. In case he has a small-pox patient this is increased to $3 a day.
By way of showing how pauperism has increased since the war for the Union, some figures for 1860 and 1880 are taken from the official reporte:
1860-Population of Erie County, 49,432. Inmates of the almshouse at the beginning of the year, 107. Total expense for the support of the poor of the entire county, including some old debts on building, $7,629.
1880-Population, 74,573. Paupers in the almshouse, 221. Total expense for the whole county, $28,659. Increase of indoor paupers, double; of ex- pense, nearly four times.
AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE.
The following statement from the Erie Dispatch of October 20, 1882, de- serves a place in this connection:
" Yesterday there died at the almshouse one of the most notable cases on record, a case which has caused a vast amount of discussion among the differ- ent physicians under whose observation it has fallen from time to time. The deceased's name is Clara McArthur, who was born in Tionesta, Venango County, fifty-six years ago. When a girl, she was very bright and active until twelve years of age, when she lifted her sick mother from the bed, then imme .. diately picked up a large kettle of hot water which she placed by the bedside.
291
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
While in the act of raising the latter weight some chord, in her own words, appeared to give way, and in consequence of the strain, which affected the heart, she was unable to take a dozen steps or sit up more than a few minutes - at a time until her twenty-seventh year. During these fifteen years the heart almost ceased to throb, and any effort to walk or take a sitting posture brought on an attack of fainting.
"While in her twenty:eighth year, she recovered sufficiently to be taken to church, and while sitting in the pew met a friend she had not seen for many years, who carried a child in her arms. Miss McArthur, forgetting her con . dition of weakness, lifted the child into her own lap and fell to the floor un- conscious, the exertion having proved too much for her strength. Since that unfortunate moment, the poor woman was nnable to sit up longer than an hour at a time for more than six years, after which time, the malady growing worse, this change of position had to be discontinued. Lying helpless from that time on she was admitted to the almshouse sixteen years ago, and has not occupied any position other than reclining on the back to the hour of her death. The pulse could scarcely be detected by the most delicate touch, and in consequence of the heart's feeble action she was so keenly sensitive to the slightest breath of chilliness that artificial means for keeping any degree of warmth in the body were continually employed. For months at a time she was unable to speak. Dr. Lovett, the county physician, believed she would have died in a very short time if compelled to assume a sitting or standing attitude.
"Miss McArthur was very intelligent and passed the hours in perusing relig- ious tracts, periodicals and the Bible. A Christian more devout never lived, and an unwavering trust in the Creator enabled her to bear her affliction with resigned patience, an expression of cheerfulness never being absent from her face. Amiable in disposition, she never had a complaint to make, and was a favorite with every inmate of the building, while those to whom she was in- trusted took pleasure in administering to the wants of the helpless woman."
REQUISITIONS OF THE DIRECTORS OF THE POOR, FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE POOR, EXCLUSIVE OF BUILDING FUND, ETC.
Year.
1845.
$ 5,000
1870 $20,000
1850.
1,500
1873. 38,000
1855.
4,500
1875
45,000
1860.
8,000
1878.
35,000
1863
8.500
1880 20,000
1865.
11,000
1883. 35,000
1867
30,000
The following are extracts from the report of the Board of Public Charities of Pennsylvania, of January 1, 1883:
CRIMINAL BUSINESS OF THE COURTS OF ERIE COUNTY FOR THE YEAR 1882.
Persons charged with crime.
295
Bills laid before the grand jury.
144
True bills
Ignored . . . . 22
98
Bills tried
30
Acquitted.
49
Convictions.
62
Nolle proseques.
19
Plead guilty.
12
In prison, September 30, 1882.
11
Recognizances forfeited.
$900
Amount of recognizances.
102
Presentments made.
56
Year.
292
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Nature of offenses for which convictions were had: Aggravated assault, 2; arson, 2; assault, 1; assault and battery, 3; assault to kill, 2; burglary, etc., 4; disorderly breach of the peace, 2; false pretense, 2; fornication, etc., 2; larceny, 13; misdemeanors, 2; robbery, 2; vagrancy, 6; violation of the liquor law, 6.
STATISTICS OF THE ERIE COUNTY PRISON FOR THE YEAR 1882.
Maintenance. $3,318 00
Salaries, wages, etc. 400 00
Fuel and light. 432 00
Clothing, etc. 160 00
Repairs. 98 00
Transportation 1,000 00
Other expenses 169 00
Total expenses. 5,578 00
Average number of inmates. 28
Annual cost of provisions and clothing per capita .. 125 00
Weekly cost per capita.
2 41
ERIE COUNTY CONVICTS IN WESTERN PENITENTIARY DURING 1881.
Whole number.
40
Average number. 24
Received during the year (all white). 7
Could read and write .. 6
8,751
Value of convict labor. $2,177
Charged to county, being deficiency of support by labor. $788
COMMITMENTS FROM ERIE COUNTY TO THE REFORM SCHOOL AT MORGANZA.
Boys, 8, girls, 3. 11
Illiterate.
4
Read imperfectly. 3
Read and write imperfectly 2
Read and write well 1
Read, write and cipher. 1
Number of inmates from county at the end of the year (boys, 16, girls, 4) ..
20
WORK HOUSE.
The number from Erie County in the Allegheny County Work House, for the last quarter of 1880, was thirteen. This is not a State institution, and the pris- oners from Erie are kept under a special contract between the Commissioners of the two counties.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Indigent insane from Erie County at Dixmont, Sept 30, 1882 .. 2
Indigent insane in the State Hospital at Warren (males, 39, females, 30) 69
Inmates of the Training School for Feeble Minded Children
from Erie County (boys, 3, girls, 2). 5
STATISTICS OF EXPENSES FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE POOR OF ERIE COUNTY FOR THE YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1881.
Whole number in almshouse. 182
Sane (men, 81, women, 57, children, 2) 140
Insane and idiotic (men, 21, women, 19, children, 2). 42
Blind (men, 2, women, 1). 3
Natives.
70
Foreigners.
112
Hospital cases (men, 17, women, 8).
25
Expenses for 1882 (total in-door) .. $29,925
Expenses for 1882 (total out-door) 7,159
Expenses for 1882, provisions. 8,092
Days supported. .
293
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Expenses for 1882, salaries, wages and fees
6,973
Expenses for 1882, fuel and light .. .
2,200
Expenses for 1882, clothing and bedding 727
Expenses for 1882, insane in hospitals. 4,471
Expenses for 1882, repairs .. 1,453
Expenses for 1882, extraordinary.
4,568
Expenses for 1882, all other
1,618
Receipts .
2,744
Net cost of almshouse and out-door relief.
34,140
CHAPTER XVIII.
PERRY'S VICTORY AND THE WAR OF 1812-14.
A FTER submitting to a galling train of annoyances and indignities for a period of twenty-nine years, war was declared for the second time by the United States against Great Britain on the 18th of June, 1812.
At that time the Canadian territory bordering the lakes and the St. Law. rence was far in advance of the opposite side of the United States in popula- tion, commerce and agriculture. The British were also much better prepared for war, having kept up a series of military posts from Niagara to Sault Ste. Marie, which were well supplied with men, arms and provisions, and being provided with a "Provincial Navy," which gave them the mastery of the lakes. They were on the best of terms with the Indians on both sides of the water, whose co-operation they artfully managed to retain dur- ing the progress of the war, and whose reputation for cruelty kept the Amer- ican frontier in a constant state of terror whenever their warlike bands were known or supposed to be in the vicinity. On the American side, the popula- tion was sparse, the settlements were small and widely scattered, and the mili- tary posts were few, weak, and either insufficiently defended or left without protection of any kind. There was no navy or regular army. The military of the several States were poorly organized and without suitable equipments, and, to make a bad condition worse, the Indians were everywhere hostile, treacher- ous, and ready at the expected signal to combine for the purpose of driving the white men out of the country.
ERIE'S DEFENSELESS CONDITION.
Erie, then a mere handful of rude buildings, from its position near the center of the lake and the excellence of its harbor, was regarded as one of the most important of the Western military posts. On the east, there was no village of any size nearer than Buffalo, and the country between scarcely contained ten families to the square mile. Westward the greater portion of the region remained an unbroken forest, the only settlements along the lakes worthy of a name being those which surrounded the military posts at Cleveland, Sandusky, Toledo and Detroit. The latter was then the chief town of the "far West," the center of barter, commerce and political influence, and was naturally looked upon as the principal strategic point of the frontier. So utterly defenseless was Erie at the outbreak of the war, that it could and probably would have been easily captured by the British had they known its actual situation. The only semblance to a fortification was an old, almost ruined block-house on the eastern part of the peninsula, built in 1795, which was without a soldier, a
294
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
gun, or a pound of ammunition. The most formidable instrument of war in the town was a small iron boat howitzer, owned by Gen. Kelso, which was used in firing salutes on the Fourth of July, and other patriotic and momentous occasions.
FIRST STAGES OF THE WAR.
Although war had been dreaded for several years, when hostilities did act- ually commence, they were so little expected on the frontier that Capt. Daniel Dobbins, Rufus Seth Reed and W. W. Reed sailed in a trading vessel for Mackinaw soon after the opening of navigation, confident that they could make the venture in safety. The first knowledge they and the people of Mackinaw had that peace was at an end, was the landing of a body of British and Indiane upon the island, who demanded the surrender of the post and of the vessels in the harbor. The Erie party thus found themselves, much against their will, pris- oners of war. Their vessel, the Salina, with the others captured by the ene- my, was made a cartel to convey the prisoners and non-combatants to Cleve- land, but on reaching Detroit was taken possession of by Gen. Hull, and fell again into the hands of the British, upon the disgraceful surrender of that officer. Through the influence of a British military man with whom Capt. Dobbins was acquainted, they were allowed to depart, and reached Cleveland in open boats by crossing from island to island. At Cleveland, they fell in with a small sloop bound down the lakes, which Capt. Dobbins navigated to Erie.
Previous to the war, a small military company had been organized at Erie, under the command of Capt. Thomas Forster. The members immediately ten- dered their services to the President and were accepted for the time being. In anticipation of the conflict, Gov. Snyder, who was a warm friend of the ad- ministration, had organized the militia of the State into two grand divisions -one for the east and one for the west. The western division was uuder the command of Maj. Gen. Adamson Tannehill, of Pittsburgh; the brigade of which the Erie County militia formed a part, was commanded by Brig. Gen. John Kelso, and the Erie County regiment was under the command of Dr. John C. Wallace. Among the officers of the regiment were Capts. Andrew Cochran, Ze- lotus Lee, James Barr, William Dickson, Robert Davison, Warren Foote, John Morris, - Smith and -- Donaldson. Capt. Barr and his men volunteered for the campaign, were ordered to Sandusky, spent the winter of 1812-13 there, and returned in the spring. Robert Moorhead was a Sergeant in the company and accompained them through the campaign. The estimation in which these and the other Pennsylvania troops, in what was then the " far West," were held by their commanders, is shown by an extract from a letter sent by Gen. Harrison to Gov. Snyder: "I can assure you," he writes, "there is no corps on which I rely with more confidence, not only for the fidelity of undaunted valor in the field, but for those virtues which are more rarely found amongst the militia-patience and fortitude under great hardships and deprivations- and cheerful obedience to all commands of their officers." Capt. Cochran's Springfield company kept guard along the lake for some months, and was fre- quently called out at later stages of the war. The company commanded by Capt. Foote, was assigned, in the beginning, to " keep sentry at the head of the peninsula, three by rotation to stand a tour of twenty-four hours." In giving special mention to these parties and others that may be named hereafter, no discrimination is intended against others who rendered as much or greater service. The writer can only relate such matters as he knows to be authentic, and the records are very meager and uncertain.
295
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
ASSEMBLING THE MILITIA.
Before the close of June, Gen. Kelso ordered out his brigade for the de- fense of Erie. This was quickly followed by a general call for the Sixteenth Division, the State having by this time been apportioned into more numerous military districts. The brigade rendezvous was on the farm of John Lytle, upon the flats near Waterford. Great excitement was caused by a rumor after Hull's surrender that the enemy were coming down the lake to take all the important places, as also by the news that a large British and Indian force was being organized on the opposite side of Lake Erie, whose special object was a de- scent upon Presque Isle. The whole Northwest was aroused, and very soon upward of two thousand men were collected from Erie, Crawford, Mercer and the adjoining counties.
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