History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 15

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 15

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In the October sessions of 1773 we have the first record of the whipping-post. James Brigland, ar- raigned for a felony, pleading guilty and submitting to the court, was ordered to receive ten lashes at the whipping-post the next morning between eight and ten o'clock, and, besides, to pay twenty shillings to the Governor, and make restitution of the stolen property, paying the costs of the prosecution. For another larceny he was to receive twenty lashes the next morning following. On the same day Luke Picket received twenty-one lashes on the bare back, while Patrick John Masterson came off with five fewer.1

1 This is the record :

" The King V

Luke Picket Felony. (true bill) Defendant being arraigned pleads non Cul de hoc Att'y Genl. Simile- ter & issue

" And now a Jury being called came to wit, James Kincade, William Lyon, John Armstrong, Henry Martin, William Linn, Robert Meeks, James Carnanghan, Joseph McDowell, Lewis Davison, William Davism, John Wright & Alexander Duglass who being duly impannelled, re- turned, elected tried chosen sworn and upon their respective Oaths do say that Luke Picket is Guilty of the Felony whereof he stands Iudited.

"Judgment that the said Luke Picket be taken to Morrow Morning . (being the 8th Instant) between the hours of eight & ten to the Public Whipping Post and there to receive 21 Lashes on his Bare Back well laid on, that he pay a fine of £32 .. 1 .. 0 to his Honour the Governor that he make Restitution of the Goods stolen to the Owner, pay the Costs of Prosecution and stand committed till complied with."

This is the way they went about aiding the temperance cause:

" It appearing to the Court that John Barr one of the Tavern keepers of this County keeping a disorderly House It is ordered by the Court that the said John Barr is not to sell any Spirituons Liquors for the fu- ture in the Township of Mount Pleasant & that he pay a fine of forty Shillings."-Jun, Sess., 1774.

Return of Grand Inquest, April Sess., 1775:

" Westmoreld County ss.

" We the Grand Inquest for the Body of this County Being Called upon by the Sheriff of the County To view the Gaol of this County and upon Examination we find the said Gal is not fit nor sufficient to con- fine any Person in without Endlancering the life of any Person so con- fined.

w Josephi Beelor, foreman."

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The first mention of the pillory is in the January sessions of 1774. William Howard, the earliest re- corded one who suffered this indignity, was, on an indictment for a felony, sentenced to receive thirty Jashes on the bare back, well laid on, and afterwards to stand one hour iu the common pillory. This in January weather was no doubt as great an inconven- ience as prisoners now suffer at that season in the damp cells of our county jail. During these seavions of 1774 and 1775 there are many instances of con- victs suffering like Oates suffered in England alinost a hundred years earlier, under Jeffreys, for a species of treason. In the October sessions of 1775 one Elizabeth Smith was ordered out to receive fifteen lashes on the bare back. She had, no doubt, com- mitted a trifling offense, for her fine was only eigh- teen shillings five pence and costs, which, as she pleaded guilty and submitted to the court, could not have been great. And in this case we see some of the worst features of the administration of the law in its comparatively crude state, in a rather primi- tive age. Elizabeth Smith was servant to James Kinkaid, and the master losing the services of this servant during the time she was awaiting trial in the jail, made application to the court at a private ses- sion held at the house of Charles Foreman four days after her legal whipping for compensation, setting forth that he had been put to great charge and ex- pense, and that he had lost the services and labor of his servant for the time. The court, consisting of Hanna, William Lochry, Cavett, and Samuel Sloan, considering his application, ordered that the said Elizabeth Smith should serve the said Kinkaid and his assigns for the space of two years after the ex- piration of her indenture.

A man might wonder if it were possible that the men who drew up the Resolutions of May, 1775, at Hannastown, alone, with nature and the world, with the God of Christians and the spirit of Pantheism looking down from the sky and out from the rocks at them, were of the same men that lashed helpless women on the back, and then rubbed salt into the cuts to make them smart; that bought negroes and their unborn offspring, and that treated their galley-slaves worse than the average Southern planter treated his blacks! What is conscionable in one man is uncon- scionable in another. Adam Poe showed a spirit of liberal Christianity when he subscribed one pound sterling to the Rev. Smith's salary when he was first called by his congregation, but the encounter with Big Foot perhaps made him forgetful, for he never paid it. The subscription is yet open.1 But when killing Indians was a virtue, Adam Poe, like many another whose head was anointed, and whom the arrows of the Amorites could not harm, lived vir- tuously, died happy, and went with the saints of all the ages to glory everlasting.

Anticipating any lors that might arise from the de- struction of the official records, we have turned into print a part of them belonging to the criminal side of the administration of public justice. It will be noticed that the " king" is the public prosecutor, and all indictments on pleas of the crown ran in his name. After the Declaration of Independence indictments were drawn in the name of the "Commonwealth," "Republica," or " Respublica." They now are drawn in the name of the "Commonwealth." . . . An old gentleman from the country districts being once shown these records as curiosities, and not being familiar with the obsolete forms of the English processes, re- marked that this man " king" must have been a very quarrelsome man, for he had a case in every court.

We observe that from the reputation of the two individuals, both of them being celebrated "char- acters" in the history of Westmoreland, the following entry has some curiosity attached :

" (October Seen., 1771.)

" The King

ra.

(True Ball.)

&wwwou Girty. Precisawarded. Jamed."

But prosecutions were not confined to such infamous characters as Girty, for the names of some of the an- cestors of very highly respectable persons of Western Pennsylvania are to be found in the Quarter Sessions dockets of this date.

The following will show how punishment was meted out, and may help to illustrate a phase of social life with which we are practically unfamiliar :

"JULY SEasIoxs, 1:73.

" The King Ammult and Luttery. (True Bill.)

r .. Defendant being arraigned, plande guilty and submits

Julin Fisher. to the Court.

"Judgment that he pay a fine of one ponnd ait ten shillings to lais Honor the Governor, jmy the costs of prosecutions, mint stand committed till complied with, and likewise give good orcurity for his good behavior to wil his majesty's leige subjects for use your and day su flu."

" JANY. SEXS., 1774.

" The King Felony. (Trne Dill.)

Lx-ft. being arraigned, pleads guilty and oul maits to the

Hnene West. )

Court.

"Judgment that he be taken tomorrow morning between the hours of 8 nud 10 to the Public Whipping Pust, and there to receive 15 lashes on his bare back, well laid on, that he pay a Que of 20 shillings to his Honor the Governor, pay the costs of prosecution, make restitution of the goods stolen, and staud committed till complied with."

This defendant, found guilty of having stolen goods, was, on another sentence, ordered to be taken on Saturday, the 9th instant, between eight and ten o'clock in the forenoon, to the public whipping-post, receive fifteen lashes, etc., and to pay a fine of £5 to the Governor.

In the April sessions of 1782, James McGill was found guilty of felony, of which he stood indicted, and was sentenced in the following terms :

"That the said James McGill be to-morrow morning taken between the hours of 10 and 12, to the public whipping-post, and there receive -- lashes on his bare back well laid on; that he thence be taken to the common pillory, and there to remain; and that he have his right ear cropt; that he be branded on the forehead; that he pay a fine of -," etc.

1 " Old Redstone."

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FIRST JAIL-EARLY PUNISHMENTS-SLAVERY IN 1781.

There is, however, no evidence that this inhuman sentence was carried into execution, for it is noted that on motion a new trial was granted.

But it was reserved for the times of the Common- wealth to have recorded the most infamous sentence and conviction that disgraces the records of our courts :

"APRIL SERSIONS, 1783.

Felony.

" Commonwealth v8. John Smith, the prisoner at the Bar, being ar- John Smith. raigned pleads guilty and submits to the court. "Judgment, that the said John Smith, the prisoner at the Bar, be taken to-morrow morning, between the hours of ten and twelve in the forenoon, to the Public Whipping-Poet, and there to receive thirty-nine lashes on his Bare Back, well laid on ; that his Ears be cutt off and nailed to the Common Pullory ; that he staud one hour in the Pillory ; that he make restitution of the Goods stolen; that he pay a fine of twenty pounds for the use of the commonwealth, and that he stand committed untill this sentence is complied with."

If John Smith had been one of the justices, or a relation of one of them, he probably would have gotten off quite easily, for while assaults upon the justices-and they appear to have been rather fre- quent-were punished with severity, any ordinary. offense by an officer of the court, as appears by these same records, was condoned, and the offender plead- ing guilty, was usually slightly reprimanded for form's sake, and then discharged upon the payment of a nominal fine. At the April sessions, 1779, " David Sample, Esq., in his proper person comes into court and confesses himself guilty of an assault and battery on the body of Samuel Lewis," for which offense the sentence was that "the said David Sample, Esq., for his offense aforesaid, be fined a sum of twenty shillings lawful money of this State."

The following will show of what stuff these consti- tution-makers, law judges; law expounders was made of. At the October session of 1773, William Thomp- son, Esq., was held in bond in £200 "to appear at the Supreme Court to be held at Philadelphia, to an- swer a Bill of Indictment for Assault and Battery, etc., found against him;" and David Sample, Esq., was held in £100 to give evidence on His Majesty's behalf against William Thompson in said assault.

Anent the civil troubles of 1774, of which here- after, we see that in July term, Common Pleas, 1775, Robert Hanna brings suit against John Connolly. Capias case; to take bail in £20,000. Defendant appeared and accepted, etc.1

At the first courts, under the forms of their prac- tice, witnesses were sometimes held in bond, condi- tioned that they should not depart the county until the next term of court, to testify on behalf of His Majesty.

As such a species of enforced labor as Elizabeth Smith had to undergo is a species of slavery, we may, in this connection, see how far human slavery did act- ually exist in Westmoreland. There were at first two

classes of servants besides those held as slaves. The first were ordinary indentured servants, or those who worked for a term; the other class were those for- eigners who, being in poverty, paid for their passage to these golden shores by indenturing themselves at a certain rate till their obligations were paid by their own labor. These were called redemptioners." The better off sort of our early people purchased the services of these. The condition of these servants was some- times but little better than the condition of negro slaves, for it is observable of this class, who were for the time being masters, that although in their con- nection with each other they had high pretensions and integrity unswerving, yet in the treatment of those beneath them they were too often tyrannical. This in part must be attributed to the age and not en- tirely to their disposition. The custom law, not yet repealed by statute, allowed men to beat their wives with a stick provided it were not thicker than the judge's thumb. Wife-beating, indeed, like fist-cuffing and gouging (as it was ruled in the courts of Ken- tucky), was part of the common law.3

Vestiges of the aristocratic feeling in the gentry, which in England was but a step from the nobility, had not yet been eradicated. While Bancroft, with the feelings of a Puritan and a New Englander, point- edly asserts that slavery did not hold with its ener- vating influences those brave settlers in the West who followed Clarke to the capture of Vincennes, he evi- dently overshot the mark. The versatile Hugh Henry Brackenridge, in a chapter on "Modern Chivalry," a rare work, after presenting in the guise of pleas- antry all the arguments for and against slavery; cuts sharply into the fact that in our own county some held slaves who would not for a cow have shaved their beards on a Sunday." That human slavery did exist in our own county, but in a mitigated form and to a limited extent, the record shows.

James Annesly, true heir of the estates of Lord Altham, in Ireland, was, when a lad, spirited away from Ireland by the connivance of his unele and a sen-captain, brought to Philadelphia and sold as a " redemy" tioner," or " slave," as Reade calls him. His accidental discovery at the house of his master, in Lancaster County, by two of his countrymen who had been tenants on his father's estate, and who passing by happened to stop there, and then recognized him, their voluntary and successful efforts to take him back to Ireland and institute legal proceedings, the ultimate determination of which reinstated the much-wronged heir,- these are facts well known. This remarkable story, the text of which is taken from the law-books, is the ground-work of Charles Reade's novel, "The Wandering Ileir." The romantic incidents in the career of this heir have also furnished the plot for " Guy Mannering," " Roderick Random," and " Florence Macarthy," popular novels in their day.

3 Judge Poindexter; quoted in Parton's "Life of Andrew Jackson," vol. iii.

4 One of the most striking cases of misplaced confidence of which we have ever heard was of a prominent church elder, & Scotch-Irish justice and a militia captain, declaring in confidence to an old and very esteemed friend of ours that he was the identical person Brackenridge took to make the character of Capt. Farrago, and that the lawyer owed him a grudge from an old court action. What made the resemblance so strik- ing to him was the fact of his having a redemptioner as near like Trague, the captain's servant, as two cherries, so that one would go for the other. The satire all through is a remarkable one, in that it is true not only to nature but to facts.

1 At No. - , Common Pleas, George Washington was plaintiff in a suit against John Johns. I have seen the records, but cannot now recall the number and term.

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The following bill of sale from Valentine Crawford to John Mintor will show how the business was usually done :

" Know all men by these presenta, That I, Valentine Crawford, of the County of West Augusta, in Virginia, for and in consideration of the com of fifty pounds, lantul money of Virginia, to me in hand goed by John Mintor, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknow ledge, miel myself the re- with fully satisfied, have largained and cold unto the said Julen Mintor a certain negro woman tobest Sell, which mid negro woman 1. the wild Valentine Crawford, will forever warrent and defend to the said John Mintor, his heirs and assigns together with increase. In witness where- uf I have bereuuto set my hand nud seal this 12th day of April, 175G."

Then follow the signature of Crawford, the seal, and the acknowledgment.'

The following records are inserted as bearing upon the subject of indentured servants : From the record for July session, 1773:

"On Motion of Mr. Wilson on belinif of John Campbell setting forth that His Servant Man Michael Henny had been committed to Gnol un Suspicion of Felony, and that he had been at onmiry expenses about the wune to the amount of £2 17 .. and 1d., and likewise his lums of time, And praying the Court would adjudge the mid Michael lleany to serve him a reasonable time for the saure, It is adjudged by the Court that the said Michael Heany do servo his maid Master Julin Campbell fonr months and a half over and above the time mentioned in his In- deuture."

At the same term :

"On motion of Mr. Wilson in behalf of George Paul to the Conrt setting forth that Margaret Butler his servant girl has a Mulatto Bas- tard Child Born during her servitude and Praying the Court would ad- judge her the said Margaret Butler to serve him a reasonable time for her loss of time and lying in charges. It is adjudged by the Court that the mid Margaret Butler do serve her said Master Grunge P'ani one year and six months over and above the time mentioned in her'In- denture."

At the same term :

"On motion of Mr. Robert Galbraith to the Court in Wwhalf of An- drew Gutchell, setting forth that Joseph Quillen his servant not doing his duty as a servant and praying the Court would grant him auch relief as to thom would seem meet, It is ordered by the Court that Joseph Quillen is to be under their custody untill the next messiotuand likewise that Summons's be issued against Robert Meek, Alexander Bowling and William Bashers to be and appear at the next Sessions to give sufficient reasons to the Court why they sold the said Joseph Quillen as a ser- vant."

At the April sessions of 1779:

"On motion of Michael Huffungle, Esq., on behalf of George Godfrey that he had been bought as a servant by Edward Lindsey and by him . mold to Edmund Price and by him sold to William Newell and that the term of his servitude is expired, nud the onid William Newell not attend- ing to show cause to detain the snid George Godfrey, The Court on hearing Te-timony on this matter do order that the mid George Godfrey be dis- charged from the further service of the said William Newell."

July sessions, 1788:

" Upon the petition of Sammuel Sample setting forth that Jane Adam- son a servant woninn belonging to him the said Samuel Sample hath had a bastard child during the time of her servitude, and praying that

1 Of record in Book " A," Recorder's Office, p. 328: following is the Jurat :

" Westmoreland County ss. Personally appeared before me the sub- scriber, one of the Commonwealth's justices of the peace for said County, Charles Morgan, and made oath on the Holy Evangely of Almighty God, that he saw Valentine Crawford acknowledge the within Bill of sale to be his act and deed, nud for use as within mentioned. Sworn and sub- scribed before me this 1 May, 1783.

" CHARLES MORGAN, " PROVIDENCE MONTS. [L. S.]"

the tingt w. all all much fortter tom to send the Form of her Iuse denture no mont be there, let a bustier stile roomapplication for the Loss and Ihomogen which he smolatua boy tramon of her bearing each Hastard

too. tong the pe. med out letoget chel of the truth the trad. Under that One Your te a tiled to the time mentioned in the said Indenture as a compensation for the Images and lime ou colataed by the end has uel &.le."

In 1780 slavery was abolished in Pennsylvania. Thus it is seen that in a relative degree only did the evil exist with us, but nevertheless its presence is as well authenticated, and even better, than the proceed- ings at Hannastown at her immortal declaration of independence. By the act which abolished slavery every one who held negroes or mulattoes as slaves was obliged to deliver to the clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions of the county in which he resided his or her own name, and the names, number, sex, and age of all slaves holden by him.

The conflicting boundary claims of the two colonies not yet settled occasioned a special act in 1782, by which the time of taking the registry in Westmore- land and Washington Counties was extended.' The list made in pursuance of this act is yet to be seen in the office of the clerk of the courts. It contains the naines of three hundred and forty-two inales and three bun- dred and forty-nine females, and four whose sex is not stated, as slaves. Eleven are called mulattoes. The names of the slave-owners are of those who were most prominent in social standing, and of course of those reputed as the more wealthy. Among them are the names of two clergymen, and the greater portion were members of the rigid Scotch Presbyterian Church. It was confined especially to the southern portion of the county, along the rivers and about Pittsburgh. Rev. Joseph Smith, of Washington County, states that at least six of the early ministers, and almost all their elders, were slaveholders.3 After the passage of the law some removed to Maryland and Virginia, choosing to carry their slaves thither rather than manumit them at the command of the law. This act, both in its phraseology and in its sentiments of be- nevolence and civil liberty, no less than in its reme- dial benefits, stands out prominently as one of the noblest, one of the grandest statutes on the rolls."

? By the act passed 13 April, 1782, to reddress certain grievances in Westmoreland and Washington Counties, on account of the trouble be- tween the lines, and from the complaint that they could not get a true account of the number of slaves, owing to the fact that they had no opportunity of entering or registering their slaves, and that a number of the records and papers containing the proceedings of the county courts of Youghiogheny, Monongahela, and Ohio were yet in the hands of the late clerks, who were not authorized to give exemplified copies of them, It was provided that all negroes and mulattoes who had been held as slaves in that territory were freed ; and the registers of deeds of West- moreland and Washington were empowered to call ou the clerks of the other counties for all stich papers as related to the oath of allegiance, probates of wills, granting letters of administration, and the registry of deeds or other indentures.

We have not found any records or papers bearing upon this subject matter among the archives of Westmoreland County.

3 " Centenary Memorial." Sec also " Old Redstone" and " Life of Rev. Macurdy."

4 See Appendix " A."

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OLD HANNASTOWN, THE COUNTY-SEAT.

CHAPTER XII.

OLD HANNASTOWN, THE COUNTY-SEAT.

Trustees appointed to locate a County-Seat-Robert ITanna's Settlement -They fix on Hanna's Town-Difference of Opinion as to the expe- dienoy of locating the County-Seat there-Description of the Old Town-Opposition to its Location by the People of Pittsburgh-Cor- respondence on the Saliject-Reports of the Trustees-Various Acts of Assembly relative thereto-Troubles at the Place in 1774-75.

THE trustees appointed to locate and erect the pub- lic buildings were Robert Hanna, Joseph Erwin, John 'Cavet, Samuel Sloan, and George Wilson. Of these Robert Hanna appears, in this instance, to have been the most influential. He was a north-county Irishman who had located on the great Forbes road at the place afterwards called Hannastown. Here he had erected a log house, used by him as a residence. The place being favorable, he converted it into a public- house. He entertained travelers ; and near him other emigrants settled a year or so before the organization of the county. In 1773 Hanna's was the chief place between Ligonier and Pittsburgh. In anticipation of the county-seat being fixed here, he, after his appoint- ment as one of the trustees, rented his house to Erwin to carry on the tavern business, and these two, with Sloan, who was a neighbor, being a majority of the committee, made their report favorably to this place for the permanent location of the county build- ings and the seat of justice. They represented that it was the most central, the most convenient, and the most desirable to the people. Nor did it seem unrea- sonable or unapparent. The minority, with St. Clair as their spokesman, reported in favor of Pittsburgh for the county-seat, and put forth the apparent prob- ability that in no long time Pittsburgh would be a place of consequence; and, in addition, represented the fact that it was a matter of policy in the govern- ment to fix upon this place, owing to the claims of Virginia and the notoriety of the pretensions of her Governor. St. Clair states in a communication to Governor Penn that Hanna and Erwin were moved to fix upon Hannastown for the reasons we have men- tioned. St. Clair himself, with the true fidelity of a public servant,-a fidelity which he never transcended for mercenary interests,-was favorable to Pittsburgh, although at that time the bulk of his property was nearer Hanna's. The report of the trustees was never fully accepted by the executives; and it is doubtful whether, even had affairs gone on smoothly, it would ever have been fixed upon as the place at which to erect the county offices after the true bounds of the Prov- ince had been satisfactorily ascertained. But, as it was, the court continued to meet regularly at Robert Hanna's house until, towards the end of the Revo- lution, the place was destroyed. After the burning of Hannastown other trustees were appointed, who selected Greensburg, then unnamed, and just laid

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 15

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: