USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Lafayette, Rhode Island; a few phases of its history from the ice age to the atomic > Part 15
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The General Assembly of Rhode Island, as early as 1666, had passed an Act requiring every Town, each year, to elect Justices of the Peace, a Town Sergeant, and so many Constables as the Town shall "have Occasion for." With some changes, this proce- dure was followed down to 1886 when the State was divided into districts, and a State-appointed District Judge was designated for each district. He took over most of the functions of the local Justices of the Peace or Trial Justices. Probate matters were vested in the Town Councils, in the colonial times, and the Town Council of North Kingstown still sits as a Court of Probate.
In the olden days, even the State Supreme Court had judges who were not lawyers, and from this ex- ample, minor tribunals of the towns had laymen wield- ing judicial authority in many instances. Back in the time of President Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Lawton was a Trial Justice in the North Kingstown court. He was the great-grandfather of the late Col. Fred B. Lawton, a Lafayette boy. Judge Lawton, as he was popularly known, figured in a number of cases where his attitude and remarks were, perhaps, of more im- portance in the hand-me-downs of tradition, than in' the actual merit of the cases. So anxious was he to de- liver justice, that it was said he would bend backward, in the face of damaging evidence or even a confes- sion, to secure what he considered to be a fair trial for the defendant.
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One of his cases that has become celebrated in legend, was that against Aunt Hannah, a colored handy-woman of the neighborhood, who was well- known for her spinning, weaving, and other house skills so necessary in those days. She had one failing, however, and that was an occasional intimate associa- tion with the demon "Rum." At such lapses, she would become obstreperous and unmanageable, and some- times destructive.
On one occasion, as the story goes, Aunt Hannah appeared in the home of one Deacon Brown, in an inebriate condition. After some argument with the women of the household, and things not being to her liking, she proceeded to wreck the place, breaking dishes and furniture, and threatening to do harm to the Deacon's family. Three or four men were sum- moned from their work in the fields, and they pro- ceeded to eject Hannah from the house, and not too gently deposit her in a bunch of bayberry bushes along- side a stone wall, some distance up the road. She re- posed there for a spell, but finally came to and began to amuse herself by throwing stones through the win- dows of the Brown house. The field workers were again summoned, loaded Hannah into an ox-cart, and carried her off to the Town lock-up. Next morning she was arraigned before Judge Lawton and a curious neighborhood gathering, with the Town prosecutor and various members of the Brown household in at- tendance. Judge Lawton opened the session of his court thusly:
"Aunt Hannah, you are charged with a very seri- ous offense; that of being drunk and of going into the house of Deacon Brown, breaking dishes, sconces
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and furniture, and threatening bodily harm to the persons inside. Aunt Hannah, are you guilty, or not guilty?"
"Ah'm guilty, Jedge," said Aunt Hannah.
"Aunt Hannah, did you break the dishes and the sconces and the furniture and threaten bodily harm to the persons in Deacon Brown's house purposely? And with the intent to destroy Deacon Brown's prop- erty and to wreak bodily harm upon the members of his household?"
"Ah did, Jedge."
"Aunt Hannah, did you throw stones through the windows of Deacon Brown's house with the intention of breaking them and hurting the persons inside?"
"Ah did, Jedge."
"All right, Aunt Hannah," said the Judge. "You set down in that chair. Now, Mr. Prosecuting Officer, if your evidence is ready, we will try this case."
The legend fails to give the result of the trial. Presumably, Aunt Hannah was found guilty, as charged, and the fine imposed was no doubt paid by households in dire need of her services in spinning and knitting, while Aunt Hannah went her way. Anyhow, the tale shows how legal rights were meticulously protected in the old days.
Another Trial Justice in North Kingstown some 70 years ago, was James N. Arnold, famous in our local genealogical history circles, and author of many now valuable volumes such as "The Vital Records of Rhode Island," and "The Narragansett Historical Register." These received State sanction by an ap- propriation for their publication. Judge Arnold had a physical affliction which required the constant use
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of crutches, but he walked many miles a day in search of facts that could not be disputed. He was not a lawyer, yet in his chosen profession as a seeker of historical truth, he was able, as Trial Justice, to sift out the facts in all cases coming before him. During his term as Trial Justice, he presided at the hearing in a rare case where homicide was charged.
When the State was divided into District Court jurisdictions in 1886, North Kingstown, South Kings- town, and Exeter constituted one of the districts so formed. Later, the Town of Narragansett, set off from South Kingstown, was included in the district. Sessions of the Court were prescribed at Wickford, Wakefield, and Pine Hill. The first Judge was Nathan B. Lewis who had previously been a Trial Justice in Exeter where he held many Town offices and was well ex- perienced in Town affairs, especially probate matters.
Judge Lewis was a lawyer, had a long term of service as District Judge, and was a prominent figure in North Kingstown (with a residence on the Post Road, near Collation Corners) and later in South Kingstown (where he had a residence at West King- ston). Stephen J. Casey of South Kingstown succeeded him as Judge of this District. For several years he had been a popular and talented practicing lawyer, with an office in Providence. He resided at Wakefield, where he died in the summer of 1948.
North Kingstown has continued to elect Town Sergeants from colonial days down to the present. In modern times, James R. S. Wightman served for many years, part of which time he was also Sheriff of Washington County. He was succeeded by Thomas W. Pierce who, in turn, was succeeded by the present
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incumbent, Elmer S. Edwards. Between the State Po- lice and the Town Police, the local functions of the Town Sergeant have been taken over largely by the newer organizations. Lafayette schoolboys of the older days well remember, however, the stir caused in the village when the Town Sergeant appeared in his Truant Officer capacity, searching for some unlucky wight who had been playing "hooky" too long or too often.
26. The Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company
ONE WRITER, in a book published in 1904, men- tions Wickford Junction as a railroad station "where the New Haven Railroad passengers change for Narra- gansett Pier and Newport." He then adds the com- ment that "it is another sort of place mainly interest- ing because it is upon the way to some other point." Let's see about that.
The original "Wickford Depot," established at the present Junction site by the Stonington Railroad, was at first known as "Huling's Crossing." The latter de- rived from the Huling ownership of land adjoining the railroad's crossing of the Ten Rod Road. It might have inferred, in the early days at least, the rural isolation to which the author alludes. But in 1904,
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when he was writing, it was quite different from that. It had become a beehive of a crossroads where throngs of every grade of American life were in a crowded rush of travel, and where busy marts of trade were centered.
In the beginning, it was the railroad point nearest to the tide-water village of Wickford. A stage coach line from Wickford to "Wickford Depot," three miles away, had been established, to connect with the "steam cars." William W. Congdon, who owned a livery business in Wickford, operated the stages on this line for some 17 years.
Meantime, there had been considerable agitation in Newport for some direct means of connection with the mainland railroad which, by the latter part of 1859, had begun to operate through trains to New York, with car-ferries across the Thames River at New London, and the Connecticut River at Saybrook. The Old Colony had established a rail line into New- port, from Boston via Fall River, and the Fall River Line steamers were running on night schedules be- tween Newport and New York. Nevertheless, this roundabout way by rail to New York, and the long night sail by water (with incidental marine disasters), were not altogether satisfying as the quickest and safest means of getting to and from the metropolis. And Newport had a big material interest in New York people by that time.
A charter had already been granted by the Rhode Island General Assembly for a branch railroad from Wickford to a connection with the Stonington Rail- road. This was in 1864. The action produced some discussion but no practical results, for four or five
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years. Newport, however, made it a handle for a proposed line from that city to Wickford, by steam- boat across Narragansett Bay, and thence, by rail, to a main line connection. Newport voters were asked to approve a proposition based on such a project. They did so by a vote of 246 to III. This was on December 29, 1869.
The name adopted for this new transportation en- terprise was "Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company." Much preliminary work must have been done in anticipation, or on condition, for actual excavation and grading were commenced on the rail section in March, 1870. The steamer "Eolus" was likewise acquired in anticipation, for while the rail section was under construction in the summer of 1870, the steamer carried passengers between Newport and East Greenwich for the mainline rail connection.
The lay-out for the rail link contemplated economy in the acquisition of land. The steamboat landing at Wickford was located on the west side of Poplar Point, across from the foot of Main Street, thereby avoiding the expense of location on the higher-priced land on the village side. From there, the rails were laid on thinly settled land all the way to what is now Wick- ford Junction. The tracks skirted the village on a long curve, thus avoiding street and highway crowding, and the removal of houses and other structures. There were only four crossings of main highways, the Shore Road near the present Town Hall, Prospect Street just be- yond, the Post Road at the present Belleville station, and the Swamptown Road south of the mill-pond at Lafayette. All these crossings were at grade, so no bridges or underpasses were built.
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For water crossings, only one sizable bridge was necessary, that at the upper cove at the southwest of Wickford. A smaller bridge was built over the Shewa- tuck, near the George W. Phillips house just south of the present Junction. An arm of the Old Bog was crossed by a fill over a culvert, and the two waterways from the Lafayette mill were crossed in the same manner, over arched culverts. No large ledges were encountered and only a few cuts had to be made. The swampy land and low spots were filled readily with material from the cuts, and the grades were easy. Very little improvement on the land adjoining the right of way has been made up to this day.
Stations were built at the steamboat landing, at the south end of Wickford, at Belleville, and in later years, a station shelter was built at East Lafayette. The "Wickford Depot" of the main line was to be shared with the new-comer, under the name of "Wickford Junction." When the branch road showed it had come to stay, a new "Wickford Junction" depot was built by the Stonington road in 1873, at a cost of $8000. With some extensions and changes, this is the present station.
A water-tank was built at the Wickford Landing, another beside the track just south of Belleville station, and a third at the crossing of the upper Shewatuck near the George Phillips house. Water was pumped from a well at the Landing, and from the Shewatuck near the Junction. At Belleville, the water was piped from a spring alongside the track, just west of the station. This spring had a good flow, was suitably housed, and the boys of that day had great interest in the three or four trout that inhabited the spring.
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Housewives of the 80's and 90's had a material in- terest in the watercress that grew abundantly along the sides of the overflow from the spring. Turntables and switches were provided (later a siding was built into the millyard at Lafayette), track maintenance crews were assigned (Simeon Gardiner of Swamp- town was track foreman for years), stations and trains were staffed, and all was ready for a gala opening on June 1, 1871.
The first train was powered by the so-called "dummy," a combination of engine, baggage com- partment, and passenger space. The engine was an upright one in the front end. A man named Roberts was an early engineer. He was a very accommodating person, for when he was waiting-over at the Junction, he would toot the whistle, ring the bell, blow off steam, and "choo-choo" the dummy back and forth a few yards while George Brown, of Exeter, and other horsemen, "broke their colts to the cars," along- side the tracks. Clark Nichols was conductor, Capt. Keene commanded the "Eolus," Peleg Wightman was agent at Wickford Landing, while Edward S. Hall acted as station agent at Wickford Junction for both the main line and the branch. On July 1, 1871, the "Eolus" carried 140 passengers bound from New York to Newport, and the success of the line seemed assured.
The "dummy" combination was replaced by a double-ender locomotive, as travel increased, and regu- lar passenger coaches were installed. By 1880, Wagner Palace Cars were being used on the main line. In the summer season, one of these Wagners was reserved for Newport-bound passengers at New York. It was
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switched off at Wickford Junction and hauled on the branch line to Wickford Landing, so that passengers made only one change (that to the steamer) on the New York-Newport run. It was a popular route for many years, and at times, two or three Wagners or the later Pullmans were switched off at the Junction.
In the 80's, the "Eolus" was making five round trips a day between Newport and Wickford, from 7.30 A.M. to 10.30 P.M., connecting at the Junction with all ex- press trains to and from New York. In addition, there was a through train between Wickford Landing and Providence, known as the "Wickford Special," leav- ing Wickford at 5.50 A.M., and returning from Provi- dence at 5.20 P.M. Then there were two or three local runs on the branch, to meet accommodation trains on the main line, and one or two freight runs. So, both by day and by night, Wickford Junction was a hustling, bustling, traffic show-place, with passengers, baggage, freight, mails, and express matter, mixed up with busy trainmen, railroad officials, carriage drivers, express- men, and all those who went to make up a railroad depot attendance. Houses and stores and two hotels sprang up in a cluster of modern enterprises, humming with activity.
The "Eolus," under later command of Capt. Peleg Wightman, continued a long service until replaced by the "Tockwogh" in 1892. The latter burned at the Wickford dock in 1893. Then the "General" was bought, and continued a run of more than 30 years, proving to be the most popular boat used. Her service ended in 1925, when the steamer connection was abandoned.
Meantime, there had been many changes in the rail
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branch of the Company. Theodore Warren, who had been superintendent for several years, retired in 1886. Later, he was succeeded by Jeremiah B. Gardiner. Wil- liam W. Congdon, long time train conductor, retired in 1886, and was succeeded by his step-brother, Henry S. Congdon. Regular locomotives came to be used on the line, and other equipment was modernized. These changes resulted from the acquisition of control by the New York, New Haven and Hartford, which was taking over most of the transportation lines in southern New England. The branch train personnel which had been largely local, began to include transfers from the main line. Still, a number of local men served for years after the New Haven took control. John Blifford, engineer, Charlie Chase, conductor, and "Late" Willis, trainman, served on the Wickford Special. On the short-run trains, some of the engineers were Jack Shay, Charlie Weeden, and Theodore Adams, while J. H. P. Burdick and Edwin W. Huling served as night con- ductors and as pursers on the "General." When the branch was discontinued in 1925, the engineer was George Hogdon, the fireman Fred Letendress, the conductor Edwin W. Huling and trainman W. J. Ewing.
The coming of the automobile and the building of modern highways began to affect the railroads, just as the "Iron Horse" had affected the stage coaches, 75 years previously. Even the New York traffic to and from Newport slowly changed its means of convey- ance to the new-comer, for which the Bay ferries were enlarged and improved. The Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company succumbed to the inevitable in 1925, after a short trial of a gasoline rail
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bus and a steam locomotive and combination car proved ineffective. Passenger service by both boat and rail was discontinued in that year, and while the branch rail right of way is maintained, it is used only for freight service. The enterprise is only a ghost of its former activity by day and by night. The Wickford Landing is the location of a busy shipyard, the stations are freight-houses, and the rumble of a short freight train over the seldom used rails is only a faint re- minder of the frequent whistling and rattling of the flourishing days of yore. The personnel of dozens has diminished to a petty few.
A bus service over the Ten Rod highway from Wickford to the Junction was established in 1925, following the discontinuance of branch passenger service. This continued for 12 years, when it, too, was discontinued after a steadily decreasing patronage. The private automobile and the taxi had come to stay.
27. A Saga of Swamptown -in the Seventies - and Seventy-five Years Later
TRADITION HANDS DOWN the official descrip- tion of Swamptown as the North Kingstown territory bounded on the north and west by the Ten Rod Road,
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on the east by the Post Road, and on the south and southwest by the road from Allen's Corner to Robber's Corner. This puts the part of Lafayette that's on the south side of the Ten Rod clearly within the Swamp- town area.
The Swamptown Road which now leads up into the country, from its junction with the Ten Rod at the old "Hornbeam" church, was early known by the same name as now. It appears in deeds and road records of the Town in the earliest days. It is mentioned in a lay-out of road districts in 1799, and is one of the bounds in the deed of the Lafayette mill property from Albert Sanford to Robert Rodman in 1847. It was greatly extended by 1870, so that it reached to the Goose Nest Spring, and beyond to the Great Plain, by one fork at the present Sunnyside. Another fork at Sunnyside reached to Slocum, branching off to Oak Hill on the way. However, it was rough going for the most part, through long stretches of woodland, up hill and down dale, and in many places stony or sandy or both.
A trip over it in the 70's took one almost into the primeval wilderness. At the start from the Ten Rod, there was the large Peter Phillips house (destroyed by fire in 1936), the Thomas Phillips house at the river (Shewatuck), now owned by Hazel Tisdale, and the Betsy Thomas house opposite (still standing). From there, clear to the Walker Brown farmhouse and the Rathbun houses in the neighborhood of the Goose Nest Spring, a distance of more than a mile, there was not a single house except the dilapidated old school- house at the fork now called Sunnyside. On the other fork leading to Slocum, the first structures were the
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Arnold Thomas (father of Robert B.) farmhouse, blacksmith shop, and other buildings, deep in the woods. The Oak Hill branch had no houses whatever until that small settlement was reached.
After crossing the Wickford Branch Railroad, down near the brook, the road led up a steep curving hill that had a washout with every rain, leaving a crop of small stones. Thence along the level going on Phillips Hill was a stretch of sandy ruts in summer and deep mud in spring. On either side were deep fields, long abandoned for cultivation, where quail and rabbit hunting was enjoyed in season. The right fork at the old schoolhouse led across the main line railroad tracks at a place known as Walker's Crossing. To the right, before reaching the Crossing, were the decaying trees of an old orchard known as "Codner's Orchard." From this land, the Codner house had been moved down the road to become the Thomas Phillips (now Hazel Tisdale's) near the brook. Beyond the railroad tracks, the road led up over a rocky hill and down through a swampy tract, crossing the Goose Nest Spring brook (the Shewatuck) on a log-timbered bridge. All along this rocky hill were many chestnut trees (later deadened by the blight and then cut down) that yielded a tremendous crop every fall.
After crossing the brook, the road led up a short hill and came out in a clearing where, amid a stretch of rocky fields, the Walker Brown farm was located. Here was the first house since leaving Lafayette. Par- don Arnold lived here many years. The place was noted for its old orchard, home of the Bly apple, famous for years in the fruit markets. It took its name from Daniel Bly, one of the syndicate of 11 men who
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made the Bly, or Swamptown, purchase of 1618 acres in 1709. Daniel settled here at that time. His co- purchasers were: Joseph Northup, John Austin, James and John Highams (Himes), John Wells, John Morey, Stephen Arnold, William Burge, William West, Mar- tha Card, and John Nichols.
Going on past the Bly farm, the road went through a short stretch of woods, in the midst of which was a branch road leading off to the farm of Thomas W. D. Rathbun. Thomas was more than a farmer, for he was skilled in the quirks of land titles, probate matters, wills, deeds, and taxes. He was prominent in Town affairs and was popularly known as the "Swamptown lawyer." His knowledge, services, and quaint tactics in legal matters well earned the title. It is said of him that when the railroad company filled up one of his cattle culverts where his farm stock had for years crossed beneath the tracks, from one of his pastures to another, he sued the company for its action and won the suit. When the railroad gang started to re-open the culvert and sought to use his land on either side for the removal and deposit of the filling material, he compelled it to make the removal "in the same way it had filled up the culvert" . from the tracks above the underpass. He was the father of Clarence Rathbun, now living on the South County Trail, and grand- father of Hazel Tisdale now living at the Tom Phillips house near the lower brook in Lafayette.
It is near the place where this Rathbun road branches off that one of the largest chestnut trees in Rhode Island stood, and yearly bore bushels of nuts. It was more than 5 feet in diameter at the butt, which would give it a circumference of about 17 feet. It towered
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like a giant far above all the surrounding trees, and its lowest limbs, which were of the size of ordinary trees, were at least 15 feet from the ground. It became a victim of the blight and a section of its huge trunk still lies rotting by the roadside in these modern days. It served generations of white men and may have served the Showattuck Indians whose village was near-by.
The main road passed on out into the open once more, where, on the brow of the facing hill, were the homes of Lorenzo Dow Rathbun and Martin Van Buren Rathbun, brothers of Thomas W. D. They were popularly known as "Dow" and "Van" to the folks of that day. Right where the road reached the top of the hill, was a cider-mill which worked over-time from September until Thanksgiving, weather permitting. It was operated by horse-power in grinding the apples into pomace. To the "cheese" formed with this pomace and straw, in alternate layers, pressure was applied by a screw press. The apple juice thus extracted ran down into troughs all around the "cheese" and was drained off into tubs or pails, and then transferred to jugs, barrels, or other receptacles. With straws a-plenty, the young folks of that day (provided they didn't get in the way) were permitted to "suck sweet cider through a straw" to their hearts' and stomachs' content, by dipping one or more straws at a time, into the flowing trough of sweet cider. All the while a cloud of bees hovered around the "cheese" for a chance at the sweetness, but as there was enough for all, there was no stinging.
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