USA > Rhode Island > Kent County > East Greenwich > History of the town of East Greenwich and adjacent territory, from 1677 to 1877 > Part 2
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On the town records of January the 10th, 1732, is this entry :
" Voted and Ordered, That there shall be a good pair of stocks and a Whipping Post, made at the Town's Cost, and put up at or near the House of Capt. John Drake in said Town and ordered that Robert Easter is appointed to build and put up the above said Stocks and Whipping Post, and to make return of his doings therein to the said Town Council at their next meeting, and the said Council to agree with said Robert, for making the same, and to be paid for the same out of the Town Treasury."
It appears that the crime of stealing at that time, was punished by confining in the stocks, or whipping, according to the value of the article stolen. How strange it sounds in the present time to hear of men being tied up to a post and whipped publicly in the open streets! Yet there are many people now living who have often seen it done in this village, with the still more revolting spectacle of stand- ing men on the pillory and mutilating their ears, and brand- ing their faces with red-hot irons.
The penalty for counterfeiting the currency was cropping and branding, and standing on the pillory. Before this barbarous punishment was abolished by the Legislature our village was frequently the scene of this outrage on human- ity. The pillory was usually erected near the court house, sometimes at the foot of the steps leading to the court house yard, and sometimes at the head of King street fronting
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19
SETTLEMENT . OF THE TOWN.
the county jail. It consisted of a strong frame work, sup- porting a platform eight or ten feet from the ground, and on this platform two upright pieces of timber held aloft two pieces of board with their edges placed perpendicular, so that the criminal could not stand erect, but was com- pelled to remain in a stooping posture, with his head bent down all the time he was standing on the pillory. Holes of a sufficient size to admit the neck and wrists of a person were cut out of the boards, and then the two pieces of board were fastened together with iron clamps.
Whenever a punishment of this kind was to be carried into effect, a great festival was made of the occasion. Hundreds flocked in from the neighboring towns as they would to a military review. The pillory was erected the evening previous, to the great terror of all the little boys who were obliged to be out in the streets after dark, and the punishment usually took place about noon, the criminals remaining on the pillory about an hour. When the time arrived, the criminal, followed by a long procession of men and boys, was led by the sheriff from the jail, usually sur- rounded by a guard of soldiers. After aiding the sheriff and criminal to the platform of the pillory, to which they mounted by a ladder in not a very dignified manner, the soldiers surrounded the pillory, the officers with their swords drawn and the privates with fixed bayonets, for the osten- sible purpose of keeping off the crowd. Now all this was merely for effect, as there was not the least possible danger of a rescue or even of a riot. But the Kentish Guards were always fond of parading themselves, and seized every op- portunity for display. When the sheriff and the criminal had reached the platform, the former would lift the upper piece of board and the latter would place his neck and wrists in the grooves of the lower piece, and then the upper piece with its corresponding grooves would be fastened to the lower by the iron clamps. After the criminal had remained in this situation the specified time, with the branding-iron heating in full view, placed in a brazier of charcoal on the platform, the sheriff cut off a small piece of the lower part of the car, and with the hot branding-iron just touched the cheek so that the letter C (counterfeiter) remained in the form of a slight scar. This scar was always on the cheek where it might be concealed by a heavy beard. But my readers will hardly care for any further recital of these barbarous punishments, and we will not describe the scenes at the whipping post.
20
HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
Previous to 1790 that part of King street where the county jail now stands was an open dock. Here the tide ebbed and flowed, reaching a point now marked by the beautiful railroad bridge which crosses that street. Such is the situation of our village that nearly all the water which runs from the neighboring hills finds its way into the harbor through this street. The consequence was that such a vast quantity of sand was washed down during the heavy rains, that serious apprehensions were felt that the harbor would soon be rendered useless. The Town Council to pre- vent such a calamity granted to some individuals residing in East Greenwich the privilege of filling up the dock and building a wharf for their own use and benefit, as the fol- lowing entry sets forth :
" Whereas it has been represented to this meeting, by sundry inhabitants of this Town, that the Cove in said Town is gradually filling up, occasioned by the sand that washed out of the street formerly called King Street, and that erecting a wharf at the foot of said street upon a cer- tain piece of land called the Town Dock, belonging to said Town, would greatly tend to prevent the filling up of said Cove, and whereas Jeremiah Baily and Benjamin Howland, yeomen, Inhabitants of said Town, are desirous of building a wharf on the same.
" And upon mature consideration it. is Voted and Re- solved by this Town Meeting that the said Jeremiah Baily and Benjamin Howland, together with such others as may be admitted by them as partners, their heirs and assigns have full and exclusive right to build a wharf and erect a Store or Stores on said Dock, now called the Town Dock, belonging to said Town, and enjoy the same forever here- after as an estate of Inheritance in fee simple, they or their heirs or assigns of either of them, and paying into the Town Treasury of East Greenwich, Six Shillings per year, for each and every year forever hereafter.
"Provided, nevertheless, it is the true meaning and intent of this Town Meeting, notwithstanding what is heretofore written that to themselves, the exclusive right, at any time after the expiration of Twenty Years, to take said wharf and Stores standing on the Dock aforesaid, into their pos- session, to and for their own improvement only, paying the then owners of said Wharf and Stores that may be then and there standing, and in good repair, the sum or sums the erecting and building cost, exclusive of interest."
21
SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN.
This wharf and other property now belongs to Mr. Thomas J. Hill, and we should like to know if he pays six shillings rental per year, according to the terms of the orig- inal grant. It appears, however, that Jeremiah Baily and Benjamin Howland did not fulfill their agreement, as the following entry will show :
" May 26th, 1792. Voted and enacted by this present Town Meeting and by the authority thereof, it is hereby enacted, that the Town Dock ( in said Town,) be disposed of to the highest bidder, of one hundred feet in length, at the East end of King Street, the whole width of said Street; and the highest bidder or bidders thereof to build a good wharf thereon forty feet wide, and the aforesaid one hun- dred feet in length; and to leave twenty six feet to the South side of said wharf clear of all Incumbrances for a Dock forever for the Town's use, and also to leave eighteen feet upon the South side of said Wharf clear of any build- ings for People to pass and repass thereon ; and the highest bidder or bidders thereof to give a good sufficient bond to the Town Treasurer of said Town, in two weeks after the date hereof to perform the same in two years after the pur- chase is made ( one Thousand Pounds, Current money of New England,) and to pay the purchase money down, to and for the use of said Town, and if the said wharf is not completed at the end and expiration of two years; and upon the non-completion of the same, to deliver up the same with all that is done thereon, peaceably and quietly to the said Town of East Greenwich again; and the purchaser or purchasers so completing and building the wharf aforesaid according to the true intent and meaning of this aforesaid act, and when so completed it shall create in said purchaser or purchasers a good and perfect estate of Inheritance in fee simple to them and their heirs and assigns forever.
" Voted, that the Town Clerk sell the same to the highest bidder immediately, and the same was sold accordingly at Public Vendue, and Charles Andrew was the highest bid- der for the same and to comply with the aforesaid act, which bid was Thirty Pounds (old Tenor) and the money was paid down by the said Charles Andrew."
SURVEYOR.
The first Surveyor of the port of East Greenwich was Captain Thomas Arnold, who was appointed to the office
22
HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
by General Washington ; he was an officer in the Revolu- tionary Army, and held a command at the battle of Mon- mouth, in which action he was wounded, and in consequence lost his right leg. A rather curious incident occurred at the time when the limb was amputated. The wound was caused by a musket ball, which the surgeon was unable to extract. After the leg was cut off the ball was found and sent home to his wife, who had a string of beads made of the leaden bullet, which she always wore afterward as a trophy.
The office of Surveyor was a more difficult and impor- tant one than it is at present. The Surveyor was not only obliged to attend to the duties of the custom house, but had the additional duty of collecting the taxes on carriages, plate and watches. It was also his duty to sell the stamps issued by the general government. At that time no business transaction was legal unless done with stamped paper. The price of the stamps varied from four cents to ten dollars.
In the year 1794 Congress made a law imposing a tax on carriages, the collection of which was a part of the duty of the Surveyor. It appears that the owners of carriages were obliged to make returns to the Collector every quarter. Here is a copy of one of the returns :
"No. 40. I, Paul Greenc, of the Township of Warwick, in the County of Kent, do hereby make entry with Thomas Arnold, Collector of the revenue of said County, of one Riding Chaise to be drawn by one Horse, with a Top, and having two Wheels, agreeably to an Act of Congress of the United States, passed on the 5th day of June, 1794.
PAUL GREENE."
" Dated at East Greenwich the 30th Day of September, 1794."
The taxes on coaches was $15; on chariots, $12; on phætons, $9; on curricles, $6; on chaises, $3 ; and $2 on all carriages on four wheels without springs. It appears from an abstract of returns made in 1797 that there were no coaches in the county at that time, and but one sulky, which be- longed to Dr. Peter Turner; and of chaises owned in the Town of East Greenwich there were only nine.
Another source of revenue to the general government was the license law for the sale of spirituous liquors. At that time the Collector had the right to grant licenses, which now belongs to the Town Council alone, and with
23
SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN.
the difference, that the revenue arising therefrom was appropriated to the general government, instead of the town. The people of those days were not very strong ad- vocates of temperance as is evident from the number of licenses granted during the year 1794. In this year the number of licenses taken out amounted to eleven. Only imagine it, eleven places where rum was retailed in one small village of about eighteen hundred inhabitants. It would seem, however, that the business of selling rum was not considered very immoral or disgraceful in those days, or at least public opinion had not set its face against it, for out of eleven licenses granted that year, three of them were for women. The following document is a copy of an ap- plication :
"I, Anna Cozzens, Widow Woman, of the Township of East Greenwich, in the County of Kent, in the District of Rhode Island, Retailer of foreign distilled spirits hereby make Application at the office of Inspection, of Thomas Arnold, in the fourth Division of the first survey of Rhode Island, for a License to retail foreign distilled spirits, fol- lowing the 30th day of September 1749, at my store in King Street. ANNA COZZENS.
Captain Thomas Arnold while Collector, did not find the office always an easy onc. East Greenwich at that time carried on an extensive trade with the Dutch Colony of Surinam. The officers of the vessels engaged in the trade, always managed to arrive in the harbor during the night, and no small amount of smuggling was practiced, as the Collector's infirmity (the loss of a leg) kept him within the house at that hour. A brig once arrived so late in the night in consequence of a fog down the bay, that it was broad daylight before the vessel reached her moorings. Now Captain Arnold had a son named Isaac, who was brim- full of mischief, and the very person for such an emergency. He of course was consulted to know what could be done. His advice was that the old gentleman should be kept at home until the articles subject to duties were removed, adding that he knew how it could be done. In the morn- ing when the captain arose his wooden leg was missing, and could not be found until the brig was in perfect order for the Collector's visit.
Captain Arnold lived to extreme old age, and held the office of Surveyor until the infirmities of increasing age prevented him from performing the duties required.
24
HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
He left a large number of descendants, among whom is Thomas Arnold Pearce, Jr., the popular station agent of the Stonington Railroad at East Greenwich.
There is no place in Rhode Island where people in mod- erate circumstances can live so well and easily as in East Greenwich. Those who have learned to save money, can build a house and receive the profits of a good investment that pays from ten to twelve per cent. interest. It is to this we owe, in a great measure, the comfortable circumstances of our middle classes, and that unexceptionably prosperous condition of our poor men. Indeed, we claim that here, as in few other villages, small tradesmen and mechanics, fac- tory operatives, street laborers, and even small market gar- deners, by exercising economy for a few years, are able to live in their own houses, and finally gather small compe- tences.
To this enumeration of some of the advantages of East Greenwich as a place of residence, we may add fitly two attractions which we have always offered, but which have come of late to be of especial prominence and importance ; these are our healthful situation and our cheap and good markets. Our fish and clams cannot be equalled. We are also fortunate in another particular; among other natural advantages of our .town may be mentioned our enjoyment of the purest water.
We are in the midst of a small fruit-growing region. Some growers scarcely without our borders furnishing the best for the summer market. Farmers come daily into our village with their products. Consumers are thus brought face to face with them, and are enabled to secure fresh vege- tables and fruits. No steamer running three or four times per day to Newport carries off the best of these products, to be sold at higher prices than those that prevail in our · home market.
These are our attractions for the multitudes who are seeking an escape from the crowded city and heavy taxes : salubrity, pure water, superior markets in point of variety, freshness, quality and cheapness; excellent railroads and cheap communication, and beautiful suburbs ; lower taxes than are paid in other towns in the State; institutions of academic, musical and common school education, for each sex, and all of established reputation.
With all these pressing invitations for accession of popu- lation, what we need is a comprehensive view of our future
25
SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN.
needs, and a resolute determination to meet them. The improving our streets and other public work must be promptly and faithfully done. Our plans must be such as will meet the demands of the future. Small houses at cheap rents will be required by new population. Then they who own land on well graded and attractive streets will hold a fortune.
A few years more must bring us an opportunity which should not be neglected. Our railroad facilities at present are all we can ask for, but will in a few years be vastly improved, and made the very best possible. These will bring to our village a population worth having. We need only welcome them to retain them, and make them inter- ested in common with us. Our point, then, is that here is a chance for real estate operators, and here is the best place for people who wish for pleasant summer residences of easy communication with the city ; for people of small capi- tal to invest in land; for people who wish to become traders, and for poor people who wish soon to get into comfortable circumstances.
Neither is all this incompatible with our other promise for the future. We are to be a manufacturing town. Our village is so situated that we shall not become a murky, dirty place of factories. We have ample room and verge enough for factories in the lower part of the village, while leaving room for business places enough to satisfy our local demands. Beautiful for situation as is our village in the view of the suburban resident, its advantages as a manu- facturing town are to the man of business equally conspic- uous.
We enter the lists, then, in the close contest which is coming for population, growth and wealth, with full confi- dence. We have the actual advantages of beautiful situa- tion, fine suburbs, and healthy climate. Our station is one of the most important on the Stonington Railroad. Our communication with Providence is more direct and frequent than any other place on the line. We have no expensive bridges to keep in repair. Our town taxes are as low as any other town in Rhode Island, and we have a leading claim to the vast numbers who are to settle down within a circle whose centre is the City of Providence, and whose radius is twenty miles.
Fifty years ago East Greenwich was only a small collec- tion of houses, generally unpainted, and not half a dozen
26
HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
shade trees adorned our streets. It contained no manu- facturing interests beyond the useful trades of carpenter and blacksmith, to which might be added the indispensable vocations of cobbler, hatter and tailor. A few grocers eked out a meagre traffic by retailing gin, West India rum, or the New England "staple," to thirsty customers, for which process no license was required in those halcyon days. Its limited commerce was confined to shipping once in a year horses, mules and dried fish to Surinam and the West Indian ports for a return cargo of sugar and molasses. If there was any excitement in the village at that time it was about the wharves, when a few coasting sloops plied to Providence, Newport and Nantucket; or fishermen, then as now, went across the bay to Jarvis's Rocks, or the muscle bed, in pursuit of shelly or finny prey, and usually return- ing with the proverbial luck of that uncertain calling the . world over.
A tri-weekly mail supplied all the demands of correspond- ence. One physician introduced youthful strangers when they came to town, or prescribed for unlucky patients when they left it, without being harrassed by the jealously of ill- natured rivals. One lawyer espoused the cause of the party that earliest sought his advice, leaving the other party to almost certain defeat before the tribunal of the scales of justice. Fifty years ago no peremptory bell called the early toilers to their monotonous tasks among the hum- ming spindles. No iron horse careered through our village, or wakened with its shrill whistle the drowsy echoes of the hill-sides.
Fifty years ago the compact part of the town did not ex- tend southward beyond the junction of Elm and Main streets, and along the entire length of Elm street. There was only one house on the eastern side of the street. The hill be- tween the railroad and the cove, crowned by the ancient rope- walk, was destitute of a single dwelling, while now, more than fifty houses stand there. Since 1840 the number of houses in the villiage has more than doubled, and the popu- lation has increased in a similar proportion. The construc- tion of the Providence and Stonington Railroad, with its beautiful and costly granite bridge, the erection of the Orion Steam Mill, the Bay mill, the Woolen Mill, and a Bleachery where the Narragansett Print Works now are, gave an activity which increased the growth of the village in a wonderful manner,
27
SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN.
Fifty years ago the mail service was performed by a stage coach, which carried passengers from Kingston to Providence one day, and returned the next. A public school house which would accommodate about eighty pupils, who were governed by a single teacher, supplied all the de- mands for free education. It was situated on the " heater " piece of land, near the corner of Duke and King streets, and at the periods of violent rain and consequent flood the unfortunate pedagogue was obliged to convey the scholars to dry land on his back. On such occasions the school was suspended sometimes for a week or more, as there was no regular ferry. Now, more than two hundred pupils receive instruction at a graded school, from five teachers in a school house of four departments. Four mails are now received and made up at the post-office daily, and eighteen trains of cars arrive at the depot and depart during the twenty-four hours.
An academic institution of learning, second to none of its class in New England, with an accomplished faculty, has the best of accommodations for over two hundred students. Spacious dwellings tastefully adorned have sprung up here and there, and no village in New England is protected and adorned by finer shade trees.
Formerly, if the people were devoutly inclined, they wor- shiped either with the Friends or Presbyterians; but now the religious devotee must be able to find among the con- gregations of the Methodists, Baptists, Friends, and Epis- copalians, at the Marlboro Street Chapel, or beneath the cross of the Roman Catholic Church of "Our Sister of Mercy," or within the plain Lutheran Church on Spring street, some form of worship that will meet the require- ments of his creed.
Fifty years ago the rural districts supplied the village with fuel from their forests, and no mineral coal was used; now more than ten thousand tons of coal are landed an- nually upon our wharves. The manufactories of cotton cloth and calico alone furnishes employment and support to more than one thousand persons.
The natural beauty and local advantages of East Green- wich have already been noticed. No town is better sit- uated for the pursuit of any domestic manufacture, for freight can always be forwarded either by water or by rail. It may be safely predicted that the next fifty years will show far greater changes than those that have marked the
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HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
past ; when the crowded denizens of our overflowing city shall enjoy its salubrious air, and its delightful hill-sides shall be dotted with the mansions of wealth, or with the neat cottages of industry.
The entire population of East Greenwich in 1774 was 1,663, divided as follows: Whites, 1,563; Indians, 31; Blacks, 69. We append as an item of interest the popula- tion of the town at the dates from 1708 to 1870 :
1708
240
1776
1,664
1840 . 1,509
1730.
1,223
1790.
1,824
1850
. 2,358
1748 1,044
1800.
. 1,775
1860 2,882
1755 1,167
1810 1,530
1865 2,400
1772
1,609
1820 1,519
1870. . 2,661
1774 1,663
1830 1,591
1876 . 4,000
CHAPTER II.
EARLY LEGISLATION.
THE following document is the agreement subscribed by the early settlers in East Greenwich :
" Know all men by these presents, that we the subscribers, whose hands and seals are hereunto affixed, being inhabi- tants of Warwick and East Greenwich, in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, having purchased a tract of land in the Narragansett country, being part of the vacant lands belonging to this Colony, and the com- mittee appointed by said Colony to dispose of said vacant lands, a Refference being had to the deed of saile bearing date eaven the same with these presents, said land being butted and bounded as follows :
" We, the subscribers, do covenant and agree upon the following : First,-that we will take in as many partners as will make the number of fifty or sixty partners including ourselves in said number; And the said land shall be divided into as many parts or shares, and if one man will not take a whole share, there may be so many taken in as will represent a whole share, in behalf of that share for the rest that are taken in said share.
" Secondly,-that in all matters that relate to the well management and ordering of said land aforesaid, the major part of the partners present votes shall be valid and bind- ing to all the partners, to stand to both to them that are in the Deed as well as them that are taken in for partners, who are to be equal with those who are in the Deed, in all respects with ourselves.
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