USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 3 > Part 8
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"Portsmouth May ye 19th day 1754
"These may Certify ye Town Clerk of Portsmouth that I John Cory have sold my right that I have of Cattle Runing in ye highways unto John Burrington of sd Town as Witness my hand
John Cory."
General laws were later passed by the colony in regard to the care of various animals. In 1698 it was enacted "That all hogs yt any person hath or doth raise he shall not Suffer then to go on ye Comon wthout being yoaked & ringed & if at any time any hogs Shall be found
1Records Town of Portsmouth, 189.
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on ye Comon unyoaked or Ringed they shall be pounded & keept Untill ye Owner hath paid ye Charge of Poundage & doth order ye Yoaking & Ringing & if any Such hogs going on ye Commons unyoaked & Ringed & be taken trespasing in any mans Land ye owner or owners of all Such hogs found Trespassing Shall pay all damages wch upon Refusall ye party Grcived may have his Action of damage & trespass & Recouer ye Same by Law". The towns seem to have felt it neces- sary to bring such acts ncarer to the inhabitants by special vote at times as when on January 17, 1698-9, Jamestown "Voted that no hog nor hogs nor pig nor pigs shall be keep in the highways without a yoak on them". Such regulations in regard to town affairs give many pic- tures showing the development of respect for general public rights.
In Providence lots are set apart for a "training field, burying ground and other public uses", at a town meeting in 1700. More liberal provision is made for the improvement of the highways and town spirit becomes more general. Affairs are entrusted to committees with power to act.
During the first quarter of the eighteenth century there was sometimes a tendency to bring matters that now have a quaint interest into the meetings such as in Providence that "no oyster or shells should be taken or catched up under the bridge at Weybossett" under penalty of a 20s. fine", or the order that if water breaks forth from the cellar of a house upon the east side of the "Towne Streete" the owner "should as soon as he conveniently can make some subtoraneous Passage for sd water by which it may be conveined into the River of this Town". This tendency to elaborate statement appears in nearly all the records to some extent.
A record of a coroner's inquest at Portsmouth in the case of an Indian squaw found dead upon the Island reads, "by the best of our intilligence and according to the best of our understandings we find that She was drownded and that water was the cause of her death".1 An inquest in Providence January 27, 1713-14, contains the engage- ment of the coroner's jury and the finding: "You do Promise true & faithfull alegiance to her Majesty and on the Trust Comitted to you Equall justice & Right to do to all persons both poore & Rich without Partiallity and make Returne in writeing under your hands, that so her Majesty may know how shee came to loose a subject,
"Wce find according to the best of our Judgments & the best informa- tion that wee can gitt, that his time being Come hee died a Naturall death. ''2
An attempt was made to promote the growing of flax and hemp in the colony and a new officer appears under the name of "Hemp and Flax Viewer". This attempt was not successful and the officer was
1Records of the Town of Portsmouth, p. 297.
2Early Rec. Town Providence, vol. ix, 2.
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THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWNS.
appointed only for a few years.1 "Vendue Masters" to have charge of auction sales were ordered chosen by a law of 1719.2
Officers naturally multiplied as the towns increased in size and the business of local government became more complex. Some of these officers become regular salaried agents of the towns. The town clerks and town treasurers have more duties thrust upon them. Other offi- cers like some of those above mentioned have functions which are the result of the special circumstances of the time such as "Corders of Wood, Surveyors and Measurers of Boards and Plank Timber and slitt work and Shingles and Clapboards, cullers of hoop stuff; Viewers of fish, oil and whale-bone; hog wards; field drivers; the watch; Fire Wards ; ctc".
The General Assembly from time to time prescribed duties for the town officers. In 1700, a constable's watch was ordered for each town of the colony.3 In 1703, it was enacted that "If any negroes or Indians, either freemen, servants, or slaves, do walk in the streets of the town of Newport, or any other town in this Colony, after nine of the clock of the night, without a certificate from their masters, or some English person of said family with them, or some lawfull excuse for the same, that it shall be lawfull for any person to take them up and deliver them to a Constable". Apparently Newport did not feel quite certain of the legality of the powers which it had been exercising in town affairs for some of the citizens applied for a charter, and on May 7th, 1705, the freemen of the town were given authority "to consider and act on such prudential affairs in passing acts and orders for the duly governing the affairs only properly needfull and necessary for said town". This was not so elaborate as the charter granted to Provi- dence in 1649 of which that town never seems to have taken much notice. By an act of 1729, the town councils were given power to reg- ulate Indian dances that such dances might not be "prejudicial to the adjacent inhabitants". Local meetings still seem to have been scenes of differences, the General Assembly felt called upon to pass an act to prevent further "great disturbance in town meetings" and to compel moderators to put motions which had been duly made. The colony was obliged to take action in regard to highways in some of the towns. Purely local affairs received less of the attention of the General Assem- bly as general business increases and the larger towns become reluctant to entrust matters concerning themselves to a body in which the rural sections have so great weight.
1
In some of the towns protection from fire became an early subject for the consideration of the inhabitants. On the Island it was provided as early as March 19, 1641, "That no Fiers shall be kindled by any what-
1Public Laws, 1730, p. 144.
2Public Laws, 1719, p. 111.
3R. I. Colonial Records, iii, p. 424.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
soever to runu at randome, eyther in Medows or Woods; but what by him that so kindled it shall forwith be put out, that it damnifie none. And that if damage shall aeerew, satisfaction to the utmost shall be awarded".1 With the growth of compaet settlements other regula- tions arose leading the legislature to provide that "whereas there is Great oeeasion for severall aets and orders for many Towns wthin this Colony for ye Preventing of fires weh may happen in ye Towns & more Especially in ye Town of Newport where the houses are built neer togeather & Some adjoyning therefore be it Enaeted by this Assembly & ye Authority thereof That ye Under written orders be Duely Ob- served & performed upon ye Penaltys Under written and it is hereby Enaeted That Every person Dwelling wthin ye Limitations Expresed (viz) from ye Place where ye Pound is being at ye East End of ye Town & So Downward to ye harbour as farr as ye Building Doe Ex- tend both northward & southward Shall for every Dwelling house be The owners thereof Duly keept & maintained one Ladder yt will Reach Up to ye Roof of ye house or where ye houses are high then one Long Ladder & an Short Ladder yt may be tied to ye Same or Else to forfiet for one & every months Defeet one Shilling pr Month
Also yt Chimneys be keept Cleare & one person appointed Every three month to view them & if they want Clensing to order them to be Sweept & if any person Shall negleet so to keep his Chimney Cleare hint or them so negleeting Shall for Each weeks Defeet forfeit Six penee for every Chimney
Also Be it Enaeted yt every person yt Layeth or Causeth to be laid in ye Streets any Combustable matter as Straw hay or Chips or Shave- ings &e Shall after he hath warning to remove or otherwise dispose of Sueh Combustable matter & do not Speedily Doe ye Same for Each nights defeet forfeit Six penee".2
Various officers were appointed from time to time to guard against fires. Among the earliest of these were the "Fire Constables". In Providenee the protection of the town from fire does not seem to have been an object of partieular eare before 1754. Then arrangements were made for the purchase of an engine. The destruction of the Court House by fire in 1758 eaused the town to take more deeisive measures. In June, 1759, a fire department was organized with three "Fire Wards" to have the general charge of the department, and eight "Fire Constables" who were more especially the executive offi- eers. "Fire Wards" were also eleeted in other towns. After 1768 in Providenee the "Fire Wards" were ealled "Presidents of the Fire Wards" and the "Fire Constables" were known as the "Fire Wards". The numbers also sometimes vary. Men were also chosen to have charge of the "town engines" and other apparatus. Others were to
'R. I. Col. Rec. vol. i, 114.
2Laws and Acts of R. I. Digest, 1705, p. 43.
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THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWNS.
have charge of the removal of goods and still others were appointed to "pull down buildings" in order to check the spread of fire. These services were almost wholly voluntary. The organization in the same general form continued till 1854. At this time, in accordance with an order of the city council, it was superseded by a paid department, con- sisting of a board of engineers, one chief and five assistants, and four hundred and fifty firemen. The next important change in this depart- ment was made in 1885, when it was ordered that the fire department consist of a chief engineer, a deputy chief engineer, and not exceeding four assistant engineers, to be appointed by the city council and such other officers as should be appointed by the chief engineer, acting under the advice of a committee of five members of the city council, making the chief the responsible head of the department. By him rules and regulations were to be made subject to the approval of the committee. By an act of 1892 the department was reorganized and placed under a Board of Fire Commissioners, three in number, elected by the City Council in convention. There is a "Chief Engineer", a "Deputy Chief Engineer" and two "assistant engineers". Since 1867 three presidents of the fire department have been annually elected under the provision that one shall be the chief engineer, who may give direction for the pulling down of buildings and take like measures for checking the progress of a fire. Officers for this purpose were elected for many years before 1867. In 1881 the office of fire marshal was created. It is the duty of this officer to investigate the cause and extent of fires within the city limits and submit the result of his inves- tigations. Other cities show a differentiation of powers though not gen- erally into so many hands. The modern organization and apparatus is in striking contrast to the provision of two centuries earlier that the owners of houses keep and maintain "one Ladder yt will Reach Up to ye Roof of ye house or where ye houses are high then one Long Ladder & an Short Ladder yt may be tied to ye Same or Else to forfiet for one & every months Defect one Shilling pr Month". The Pawtucket Town Council elected a "Superintendent of Chimnies and Stove Pipes" as late as 1862. The rural towns in some cases elect officers to act in case of fires, in other cases leave such matters to voluntary associations.
Other phases of town life which early received such passing atten- tion as fire protection received, like that grew in importance with the development of the towns. The development of police protection is in many points similar though police regulations were early much more elaborated. The "Constable" was the common officer of early days and often needed in towns made up of men of such divergent opinions. The change from one constable to several and then to an organized police force with differentiated functions was gradual in the thickly settled portions and often a change very reluctantly made. The methods of enforcing order and inflicting penalties were seen in orders
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
to erect stocks, prisons, etc. Portsmouth voted in 1648 to pay "for the yrons for the stockes" and in 1654 "It is ordered that a dippinge stoole shalbe made in this town and sett at the water side by the po ( ) de". Providence ordered "A paire of stockcs" in 1666. East Greenwich on January 10, 1732, "Voted and Ordered, That there shall be a good pair of stocks and a Whipping Post, made at the Town's cost". The records show that these means of enforcing order were used as necessity arose till the days when public punishments came to be looked upon with disfavor.
The towns early made many regulations in regard to the sale of liq- nors. At Portsmouth "August the 26 ( ) 1647 It is ordered that thear shalbe two InCepers Chosen for this towne Ralph Erle is Chosen to Ceepe an Inne to sell beer & wine & to intertayne strangers".1 The early permits have this general form: "mr William Balstotn bein licensed to sell Wine bere & victuals, doe acknowled him selfe acording to the tenor of the law to be bound in the some of tenn shillings, for every defect, to keepe good orders in his howse, and mr John Porter and Richard Bordin according to the tenor of the law stand bound for mnr bostons keeping good orders, in his howse : in the sum of 10 shillings apeece for every defect : taken in Court P me Philip Shearman Town Cler( )". The town also sometimes regulated the price in Ports- mouth as "At a towne meetinge June the 3d (1651) It is ordered that the Clarke of the measurers shall goe once a month to those places in this towne wher breade and beere are soulde, to see that the to peny white loafe way i6 ownces and beere bee sould for two pence a quarte and those that transgress the lawe in those Cases by selling bread that is not wayt and beere Contrary to order shall forfeit 10s for every defect which shall bee taken by destraynt by the Sarjant by a warrant from the heade officer of the towne".2 Sometimes the action is so sim- ple as at Jamestown "Sampson Batty is admitted to Sell Drink". The penalty for illegal selling is shown in a Jamestown record of October 25, 1698, when a certain man "being found guilty for selling of drink ( ) without Lisenced Athority is fined 20 shillings". There were efforts to keep liquors from the Indians, as is shown in the following: "It is also ordered that it shalbe lawfull for any Pson or Psons of thee Inhabitants of this toune if thay meete any Indian within the bounds of this toune with any of the aforesayed prohibited liquors stronge beer or wines to take it from them and to Call ayde if neede bee, and thay that take from the Indians any such liquors beer or Wines with in the bounds of this toune shall haue it for ther paynes". There is no rec- ord showing whether the reward was such as to stimulate the inhabit-
1Records Town Portsmouth, p. 35.
2Ibid, 50.
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THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWNS.
ants to action. In 1661 two men were "Chosen Serchers for prohib- eted wine and strong watars."
The towns were also anxious that order should be kept on Sunday even though not desiring any union of the religious and secular au- thorities. So early as 1679 it was possible for the towns to agree upon a general law as follows: "Be it Enacted by ye Goverer Councill & Representatives in This present Session Assembled & by ye authority of ye Same be it Enacted yt if any Person or Persons wthin this Iuris- diction Shall Imploy his Seruants or hire & Imploy any other mans Servant or Seruants & Sett them to Labour on ye first day of ye week ye Person or Persons So offending Shall upon Proofe thereof made pay for every offence by him or them Comitted five Shilings in Mony to ye use of ye poor of ye Town or place in wch ye offence or offences are Comitted wch sd five Shillings if ye person offending refuse upon Conuiction before one Majestrates to pay, a warrant under ye hand of one majestrates directed to ye Serjant of the town where ye Offence was Comited Shall be his Sufficient Warrant to take by distraint So much of ye Estate of ye offending Party togeather wth two Shilings for his Service therein And be it Further Enacted by the authority aforesaid
"That if any person or Persons Shall presume to sport game or play att any manner of game or games or Shooting out of any gun or Shall Sett tipling & drinking in any Tauern alehous Ordinary or Vitling house one ye first day of ye Week more than Necessety Requireth & Upon Examination of ye fact it Shall be Iuged by any Justice of ye Peace & ye Person or Persons so offending as aforesd Upon Conviction before one Justice of Peace Shall by ye sd Iustice of ye Peace be Sen- tenced for every ye aforesd offences to Sett in ye Stocks three houres or pay five shillings in money for ye use of ye Poor of ye Town or place where ye Offences was Committed".1
The development of the system for the care of the poor shows that although individualistic in a high degree, the towns were not unwilling to take a reasonable care of the poor and bear a reasonable tax for the support of the unfortunate ones who were properly their charges. The towns of Rhode Island were of necessity obliged to exercise great care that those who belonged elsewhere might not be thrown upon them for support, for in the neighboring colonies there was the opinion that any one would be received in this colony. The number of those who had found a refuge here when expelled from other colonies gave some ground for this opinion. The care of the poor in the beginning was determined by the conditions prevailing in the respective settle- ments. This is seen in such a case as that of the care of one "John moatt" or "John Mott" who seems to have been in part supported by
1Laws and Acts of R. I., Digest, 1705, p. (31).
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
the town of Portsmouth from 1644 to 1656. The first town order in regard to this man is in part illegible, but apparently Mr. Baulston is to have "a pound A year" for the care of "John Moatt". The next record implies that the town will support him or become bankrupt in the attempt: "Janiwary the 25th 1648. It is Voated and Concluded that ould John Mott shall be provided for of meate drinke & lodging & washing by George Parker at his howse and Georg Parker shall haue 5s a wecke payd him monthly out of the treasurie by mr Boston so farr as the treasurie will goe".1 In 1650 "Mott" is put in charge of the overseer of the poor. In 1651 ten pounds were allowed for his sup- port. The price advances and in 1652 it is "11 lb and the 5 bushels of corne & the use of the Cowe". In 1654 the town agrees "to pay ould John motts passage to the Barbades Iland and back againe if he Can- not be receined there, if he liue to it, if the Shipp owners will carrie him". His son also seems to have contributed to his support five bushels of corn annually and a cow. As the towns developed the ordering of the care of the poor often devolved upon the Town Coun- cils. While the Town Councils usually guard carefully against re- ceiving any into the town who may become chargeable to it, yet the towns care for such as are in destitute circumstances. This care is exercised by the overseer of the poor, an officer very generally elected from the beginning of the eighteenth century. A work house was also early established in Providence, with an overseer to have it in charge. In the latter part of the eighteenth century a town hospital was found necessary. With the establishment of cities these duties in regard to the care of the poor usually pass to the Boards of Aldermen.
Thus in all departments the differentiation of function and the appointment of special officers went on until the once simple meeting of neighbors for consultation was superseded by an elaborate system of administrative machinery.
In 1729 a new local unit was introduced into the Rhode Island sys- tem by the division of the colony into three counties in order that the "remote inhabitants" might not be "put to great trouble and diffi- culty, in prosecuting their affairs in the common course of justice, as the courts are now established".2 For other than judicial purposes the county in Rhode Island has never been an important political division. At the time of the establishment of the counties, the judicial system was ontlined in detail.3
REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
The eighteenth century till the days of the Revolutionary War was a period of steady growth among the Rhode Island towns. The
1Records Town of Portsmouth, p. 39.
2R. I. Colonial Records, iv, p. 427.
3Public Laws, 1730, p. 1888, ff.
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THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOWNS.
population increased rapidly in Providence and Newport and both towns became important commercial centers. It was thought by many that Newport was destined to be the great port of the English posses- sions in America. The towns asserted with renewed force their indi- viduality as the dangers of the war drew nearer. Providence at the beginning of the Revolutionary period was a prosperous town of about . four thousand inhabitants with a considerable publie spirit, as had been shown in its effort to bring within its borders the Rhode Island College, now Brown University, toward which it had agreed to make larger contribution than any of the other towns. When the British authorities attempted to levy a tax by means of force the town at the head of the Bay at once manifested the spirit which a month later at the meeting of the General Assembly was voiced in the instructions to the Commissioners who were appointed to confer with the commission- ers from the other colonies. The inhabitants of Providence in the Town Meeting of August 13th, 1765, declare that "As a full and free enjoyment of British liberty and of our particular rights, as colonists, long since precisely known and ascertained by uninterrupted practice and usage from the first settlement of this country down to this time, is of unspeakable value, and strenuously to be contended for, by duti- ful subjects of the best frame of government in the world, any at- tempts to deprive them thereof, must be very alarming and ought to be opposed, although in a decent manner, yet with the utmost firmness". The towns of the whole colony were ready to claim and to defend what they considered to be their charter rights and at once took measures to do so. The inhabitants of the town of Scituate in 1777 maintain in the following remarkable instructions that the charter of the colony became void through the Declaration of Independence :
"Instructions for Job Randall & Timothy Hopkins Esqrs. Deputies to represent ye Town of Scituate at May Sessions of Assembly 1777.
"The Freemen of ye Town of Scituate legally assembled in Town Meeting, taking into their most serious Consideration the Situation of their political Affairs consider themselves injured in the Several In- stances hereafter pointed out in these Instructions, and enjoin their aforesaid Deputies to use their utmost Endeavors at ye Sessions of Assembly and at all future Sessions so long as they are Members to obtain a Redress until ye same is effected in manner hereafter pointed out.
"Ist: Our Forefathers emigrating from Europe settled themselves in this State then mostly uncultivated among wild Beasts and Savages more Cruel, without ye Blessing of ye Laws of Society, or any Aliance with any One civilized Power to Protect them, after mature considera- tion & Deliberation had, for their own Peace Quiet and Protection : Petioned the King of Great Britain as a free People to take them under his Care & Protection as a King and Common Father which he
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
readily accepted and granted a certain Charter which was to be oblig- atory and binding both upon ye King and People in every Clause Par- ragraph & Article therein contained. In which Among other things it was Ordained that ye Town of Newport should send to ye General Assembly six Deputies, Providence four, Portsmouth four & Warwick four each other Town in ye State two: the four Towns aforesaid being at that time all ye Towns of Consequence in ye State by Reason of Infancy : Since which time ye King of Great Britain not in ye least acting ye Part of a King & Father but of a cruel Enemy and a Tyrant hath Sent his Flects and Armies and Infested Many of our sister States, and into the Heart of this in Particular in a hostile manner carrying Fire and Sword before them, upon which ye People being justly incensed declared themselves free and Independant of any Power on Earth either foreign or domestic. Upon which ye Charter aforesaid we humbly conceive became to all Intents & Purposes void. Since which time we conceive there hath not been any Legal Form of Government cxisting in ye State; as it appears that at ye time our Ancestors Petitioned ye King of Great Britain to take them under his Protection, the Power of Government to be vested in ye People and by them legally Vested in ye King by which he was cloathed with Author- ity to grant said Charter and upon the Declaration aforesaid ye Power again vested in ye People, where we are convinced it still Remains, as we do not find ye People have since that time either by any Person legally Authorized by them or themselves fixed Any settled form of Government. Yet the Charter is void as it Appears to be is held up as a Form of Government, notwithstanding Since ye granting said Char- ter many Towns have been incorporated in ye State, and some of them not only obliged by their Number of Inhabitants to Send more Men into ye Field but pay a Larger Share of ye Public Tax than Some of ye Towns Named in Said Charter, and ye Town which you have the Honor to represent is One and yet are not allowed to Send more than two Members to ye General Assembly which we conceive altogether injurious and Uncqual to Your Selves & Constituents; Therefore ear- nestly recommend to You that You Use Your Utmost Influence to Cause an Act to be Drawn up Settling ye Form of Government having Particular Regard that each Town in this State be equally represented having Regard to Number of Inhabitants and Value of Estates in Each Town in ye State. The list when drawn up to be Published in ye News Papers in the State before it be Passed into a Law; and that ye Free- men in ye Several Towns be called together to give their Assent & Dissent to ye same as they shall think Proper, and to Point out Such Alterations as they shall think necessary : In order that ye Good People of ye State may be Satisfied therewith when passed into a Law. We would Still further recommend a Deminution of ye Number of ye Deputies in those Towns that shall be found to have more than their Proportion, before an Augmentation in those that have not their Proportion.
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