USA > Tennessee > Williamson County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 33
USA > Tennessee > Maury County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 33
USA > Tennessee > Rutherford County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 33
USA > Tennessee > Wilson County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 33
USA > Tennessee > Bedford County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 33
USA > Tennessee > Marshall County > History of Tennessee, from the earliest time to the present; together with an historical and a biographical sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall counties, besides a valuable fund of notes, reminiscences, observations, etc., etc. Vol. 1 > Part 33
USA > Tennessee > History of Tennessee from the earliest time to the present , together with an historical and a biographical sketch of from twenty-five to thirty counties of east Tennessee, besides a valuable fund of notes, original observations, reminiscences, etc., etc. V. 1 > Part 33
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In 1846 a charter nominating J. T. Edgar, R. B. C. Howell, J. T.
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Wheat and A. L. P. Green, as a board of trustees, was granted to the school, and the annual appropriations for the next two years was increased to $2,500. The household and domestic department was placed under the control of Mrs. John Bell, Mrs. William H. Morgan, Mrs. Matthew Watson and Mrs. Joseph H. Marshall, all of whom had taken a deep in- terest in the institution from the first. After serving as principal of the school less than two years, Mr. Churchman resigned the position to en- ter upon a broader field of labor in Indiana, and Mr. E. W. Whelan, of Philadelphia, was elected to take his place, which he retained until May, 1849, when he was succeeded by Jacob Berry, also of Philadelphia. In little more than a month Mr. Berry died of cholera, also the matron, steward, and several of the most promising pupils. Mr. Whelan volun- teered in the midst of suffering and death to take charge of the school temporarily. His offer was accepted, and after holding the position a short time he was succeeded by Mr. Fortescue, who resigned in about two months. These frequent changes in the managemant of the school and still more the fatal visitation of cholera within the household, hin- dered its growth and retarded the improvement of the pupils.
In November, 1850, J. M. Sturtevant was engaged to superintend the school. He took charge of it the following January, and for many years very acceptably performed the duties of the office. In 1852 a lot was purchased from the University of Nashville, and an appropriation was made for the erection of a building upon it. By the following January a house sufficiently spacious to meet the requirements of the school was . completed. Additions were afterward made, and the grounds gradually improved until June, 1861, the whole cost of buildings and grounds hav- ing been, up to that time, about $25,000. In November of that year the building was demanded for the accommodation of the sick and wounded Confederates. The trustees refused to give it up, and on the 18th of the month the immates " were summarily ejected." The pupils who had no homes were distributed to private residences, and the furniture was stored away.
After the Federals took possession of Nashville, in February, 1862, they continued to use it as a hospital until November, when by order of J. St. Clair Morton, Chief Engineer of the Army of the Ohio, the build- ing, together with all surrounding improvements, was entirely destroyed. At the close of the war a few of the pupils were collected and the school was reorganized. In October, 1872, Hon. John M. Lea, for $15,000, pur- chased the Claiborne residence with about seven acres of land, for the purpose of donating it to the Tennessee School for the Blind, to which it was conveyed immediately after the purchase. The Legislature of 1873
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acknowledged the excellence of the location and the munificence of the gift by appropriating $40,000 for the erection of a building "commen- surate with the wants of a first-class institution." A competent architect was employed, and it was decided to erect a wing on both the north and south sides of the mansion, giving when completed, an entire front of 205 feet. To do this required additional appropriations. The next Gen- eral Assembly added $30,000 and the Legislature of 1879 set apart $34- 000 for the use of the school, a portion of which, it was provided, might be expended in improvements upon the building. About three years ago provision was made for the admission of colored .pupils, and a sepa- rate department was established for them.
Although there are many larger institutions of the kind in this coun- try, with more costly buildings and grounds, yet in excellence of manage- ment and thoroughness of results, it is unexcelled.
In addition to a literary education the boys are taught some simple mechanical trade, and the girls are instructed in sewing, and bead and other ornamental work. Much attention is also given to music, some of the graduates of that department having become excellent teachers. The school is now under the superintendency of Prof. L. A. Bigelow, and in December, 1884, had an enrollment of sixty-nine pupils, eight of whom were colored.
October 19, 1832, the Legislature passed an act to establish a lunatic hospital in this State, to be located in Davidson County, near Nashville. Francis Porterfield, Joseph Woods, Henry R. W. Hill, James Roane. Felix Robertson and Samuel Hogg were appointed commissioners to pur- chase a site and to erect a building, for which purpose $10,000 were appropriated. A small tract of land, about one mile from the city, was obtained, and the erection of the building begun. From some cause the work progressed very slowly, and the asylum was not ready for occu- pancy until 1840. Three years later there were only thirteen patients in the institution, which up to that time had cost the State over $56,000.
In 1847 the well-known philanthropist, Miss D. L. Dix, visited Ten- nessee, and finding the accommodations for the insane inadequate, me- morialized the Legislature, and aroused the representatives of the people to take action upon the subject. It was decided to dispose of the old hospital and grounds and to erect new buildings on some more favorable site. The old grounds were too small, the water supply insufficient, the location unhealthy, and the arrangement of the building itself not good.
By authority of the legislative act the governor appointed nino com- missioners to purchase a new site. They selected a large farm about six miles from Nashville, on the Murfreesboro pike, one of the healthiest
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localities in the State. Dr. John S. Young was employed as superin- tendent and A. Heiman as architect of the building to be erected. Before entering upon their work they visited various asylums in the North and East for the purpose of perfecting their plans. Butler Asy- lum, of Providence, R. I., was finally chosen as a model, with a slight change in the architecture.
In 1849, with an appropriation of $75,000, the work of erection began, and in April, 1852, the patients were removed from the old hos- pital. Two years later two large wings were added, making the whole building capable of accommodating 250 patients. During the entire process of erection Miss Dix, who has made a study of buildings of this character, lent her aid and assistance, and so highly was this apprecia- ted that a room was especially fitted up for her to occupy whenever she chose to visit the institution .* The Tennessee Hospital for the Insane is of the castellated style of architecture, with twenty-four octagonal towers of proportionate dimensions, placed on the corners of the main building and its wings, while from the center of the main building rises a larger octagonal tower, twenty-five feet above the roof, and sixteen feet in diameter. A range of battlements from tower to tower surrounds the whole edifice, following the angles of the several projections, giving a fine relief to it from any point of view. The extreme length of the main building and its wings from east to west is 405 feet and 210 feet from north to south. There are two airing courts in this area, each about 150 feet square. The height of the main building from the ground to the top of the main tower is eighty-five feet. The center, right and left of the main building are four stories high without the basement; the interven- ing ranges and the wings are three stories high. Its interior arrange- ment and structure are in accordance with the most approved plans. In all the minutiæe of detail, the comfort, convenience and health of the patients have been very carefully studied. The ventilation of the build- ing is a decided feature in its construction. It is carried on by means of a centrifugal fan seventeen feet in diameter, driven by a steam-engine. The air is conducted through subterranean passages to the central cham- bers in the basement, and thence through the steam-pipe chambers into vertical flues passing through the entire building. The quantity of air discharged may be carried up to 70,000 cubic feet per minute to each occupant. Thus a constant supply of pure fresh air may be kept up during the most oppressive weather. The means of heating the build- ing are no less complete. The series of vertical flues before alluded to are constructed in the longitudinal walls of the halls, starting from a coil
*History of Davidson County and the Architect's Report.
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of pipe or hot-air chambers in the basement story, from the halls and rooms of the different stories near the floor. By this arrangement the air supply is constant without reference to any external condition of weather or temperature. Water is pumped by the engine from a reser- voir to a tank in the center of the building, and from thence distributed by pipes to other parts of the institution. Soon after the war suit- able quarters removed from the main building were erected by the State, at a cost of about $25,000, for the accommodation of the colored insane. The grounds now include 480 acres, and the entire property is valued at about $400,000.
This admirably managed charity has been under the superintendency of Dr. John H. Callender for several years, and has accomplished a vast amount of good in extending the most helpful and tender ministra- tions to the suffering insane. In December, 1884, the whole number of patients in the institution was 412, of whom a few were colored. The annual cost per patient for the two years previous was $178.68. In 1883 the superintendent, as he had done in many previous reports, urged upon the Legislature the necessity of providing more accommodations for the insane of the State. At that session $80,000 was appropriated for the East Tennessee Insane Asylum, to be erected near Knoxville upon the property known as Lyon's View, which the State had purchased for that purpose some time before. Agreeably to the provision of the act mak- ing the appropriation the governor appointed R. H. Armstrong, J. C. Flanders and Columbus Powell, all of Knoxville, to constitute a board of directors, who promptly organized and elected W. H. Cusack, of Nash- ville, architect, and Dr. Michael Campbell, of Nashville, superintending physician of construction. The board of directors, with the superintend- ing physician and architect, after visiting some of the most famous asy- lums in the country, adopted a plan embracing the latest improvements, both sanitary and architectural, The asylum consists of nine buildings, including an administration building, chapel, kitchen, laundry, boiler- house and engine-house. The main front is 472 feet long. The wards consist of 174 -rooms that will accommodate from 250 to 300 patients. In 1885 the original appropriation had been exhausted, and an additional sum of $95,000 was granted by the Legislature for the completion of the buildings. The asylum was ready for occupancy March 1, 1SS6, and a transfer of the patients belonging to East Tennessee was made. No more beautiful and desirable spot could have been chosen for an insane asy- lum than Lyon's View. Within four miles of the city of Knoxville, high in elevation, commanding a full view of the river and the adjacent heights with their attractive scenery, the location possesses in itself all the
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requirements that could possibly be desired in an institution designed for the comfort, care and cure of the unfortunate insane .* The asylum itself is one of the most stately and best equipped in the country, and stands an honorable monument to the munificent charity of Tennessee.
Even with these two large asylums it was found that not all of this unfortunate class, who are peculiarly the wards of the State, could be accommodated, and an appropriation of $S5,000 was made for the erec- tion of a similar institution in West Tennessee. John M. Lea, John H. Callendar and W. P. Jones were appointed commissioners to select a site and superintend the construction of the buildings. These commissioners, after spending several weeks in visiting and carefully examining several places, selected a point between three and four miles northwest of Boli- var, in Hardeman County. The structure will be of brick with white stone trimmings. Its length will be 750 feet, with a depth of 40 feet. The central or main portion of the building will be five stories high, and will be occupied by the offices and domestic apartments of the officers. On either side of the main building are to be two soctions four stories high, separated from each other by fire-proof walls. Between the tiers of rooms will be large corridors, and above each corridor lofty flues, all so arranged as to secure perfect ventilation and sufficient light. The building will cost over $200,000, without the furnishing, and will accom- modate 250 patients.
Previous to the adoption of the penitentiary system, the severity of the penal laws of the State tended rather to increase than to decrease the number of crimes committed. As the means of punishment were limited to the whipping-post, stocks, pillory, county jail, the branding-iron and the gallows, the penalties were either lighter than could prove effective, or else in severity out of all proportion to the offense committed. In either case the result was the same, the severe penalty frequently pre- venting conviction. The penalty, as expressed in the following act passed October 23, 1799, is an example of the punishments inflicted for crimes of that character:
Be it enacted, "That from and after the passage of this act any person who shall be guilty of feloniously stealing, taking or carrying away any horse, mare or gelding, shall for such offense suffer death without benefit of clergy."
For some years after the organization of the State many of the penal laws remained the same as before its separation from North Carolina. In 1807 an act was passed by the General Assembly fixing a somewhat lighter penalty for several felonies. For grand larceny, arson and malicious prosecution, the penalty for the first offense was the infliction upon the bare back of a number of lashes, not to exceed thirty-nine,
*Gov. Bate.
-
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imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to exceed twelve months, and to "be rendered infamous, according to the laws of the land." For the second offense, the penalty was death. The penalties for forgery and perjury were even more severe. In the earlier days of civilization such punishments would have been deemed mild, but at the time in which these laws were passed, the growth of humanizing influences rendered their cruelty apparent, and not infrequently the culprit escaped convic- tion more on account of the sympathy of the judge and jury than from a lack of sufficient evidence against him. This fact was recognized, and the successive governors in nearly every message urged upon the General Assembly the necessity of establishing a penitentiary. In 1813 an act was passed requiring the clerk of each county court to keep a subscrip- tion list for the purpose of permitting persons "to subscribe any amount they may think proper for erecting a penitentiary." This plan of raising money for that purpose was not a success, as four years later the total sum subscribed amounted to only $2,173.40, a great part of which the committee appointed to investigate the matter thought could not be col- lected. In 1819 Gov. McMinn again brought the subject before the Legislature. In his message he says: "Notwithstanding some fruitless attempts have been made toward establishing a penitentiary in this State, yet I think it my duty to bring the subject before you, and with an earnest hope that in your wisdom and in your love of humanity and jus- tice you will lend your aid in commencing a work which will do lasting honor to its founders." Nothing more, however, was done until October 28, 1829, when the act providing for the building of the penitentiary became a law. The ground selected for the site of the institution con- tains about ten acres, and is situated about one mile southwest of the court house in Nashville. Contracts for the building were let in April, 1830, and work was immediately begun, under the supervision of the architect, David Morrison. The rock used in its construction was quarried upon the ground, and so vigorously was the work prosecuted that a proclamation was issued by the governor January 1, 1831, an- nouncing the penitentiary open to receive prisoners. At the same time the revised penal code went into effect. The following description of the building as it originally appeared is taken from a Nashville paper issued December 7, 1830: "The principal front of the building presents a southern exposure, is 310 feet long, and consists of a center and two wings. The former, slightly projecting, is composed of brick embel- lished with cut stone dressing, 120 feet long, 32 feet wide, and three stories high. It contains the warden and keeper's apartments, two in- firmaries, an apartment for confining female convicts, and sundry other
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rooms for the use of the establishment. In surveying the front of the center building, the most conspicuous feature that strikes the eye is a large gateway in the center 23 feet high, 14 feet wide, the piers and arch being formed of large blocks of well-polished white stone, and filled by a massive wrought iron port-cullis weighing nearly a ton. The wings are constructed of large blocks of well-dressed lime stone, the wall being 4 feet thick and 33 feet high, pierced with narrow, grated windows corre- sponding in height with those of the center. On the center of the build- ing, and immediately over the gateway above described. rises a splendid Doric cupola that accords with the noble proportions of the whole. In the rear of the building a wall 30 feet high incloses an area of 310 square feet. At each angle of the wall is a tower for the purpose of viewing the establishment." The entire cost of the building was about $50,000. In 1857 the west wing was added at a cost of $36,000, and in 1867 two large workshops, known respectively as the east and west shops, were built. The first prisoner received into the institution was W. G. Cook, from Madison County. It is stated that he was a tailor, and was convicted of malicious stabbing and assault and battery. He
stabbed a man with his shears, and assaulted him with his goose .* He was made to cut and make his own suit, the first work done in the peni- tentiary. In June, 1833, the cholera began its ravages among the in- mates. Its progress was so rapid that in a few days business was entirely suspended, and an extra force of nurses and physicians was employed. Out of eighty-three convicts not one escaped the disease, and nineteen of the number died. The following year the disease again broke out, but was not so destructive in its results as before.
While the number of prisoners was small, they were employed by the State under the supervision of appointed officers, in the manufacture of various articles of trade. In 1833 they were classified under the follow- ing departments: shoe-makers, coopers, stone-cutters, tailors, chair-mak- ers, hatters, blacksmiths, wagon-makers, carpenters and brick-layers. Other departments were afterward added and some of the above dropped, the aim of the State being to employ as far as possible the convicts upon such work as would come into the least competition with private manu- facturers.
This system was employed with more or less success until 1866, when the inspectors reported that for the previous thirty-three years the insti- tion had cost the State an average of $15,000 per year. The Legislature at that session passed an act establishing a board of three directors, who were authorized to lease the prison, machinery and convicts to the high-
*Warden's Report, 1884.
5
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est bidders for a term of four years. The lease was made to the firm of Hyatt, Briggs & Moore, afterward Ward & Briggs, at 40 cents per day for each convict. It was agreed upon the part of the State to provide the necessary guards to preserve discipline. The firm entered upon the fulfill- ment of the contract. In May, 1867, 300 convicts joined in an attempt to escape, and created great excitement. Quiet was restored without bloodshed, but the mutinous spirit was not quelled, and the following month they succeeded in setting fire to the east shops, which were de- stroyed.
A difficulty then arose between the State and the lessees. The latter refused to pay for the labor and claimed damages from the State for this failure to preserve discipline and for the losses occasioned by the fire. The lease was terminated by mutual agreement July 1, 1869, and the matter compromised by the State paying the lessees $132,200.64 for the material on hand, and in settlement of the damages claimed by them. In December, 1871, provision was again made for leasing the prisoners and shops. The contract was taken by W. H. Cherry, Thomas O'Con- nor, A. N. Shook and Gen. W. T. C. Humes, under the firm style of . Cherry, O'Connor & Co. The second lease was taken December 1, 1876, by Messrs. Cherry, O'Connor, A. N. Shook and William Morrow, under the old firm name, with M. Allen as superintendent of the works. The lease system has proven highly satisfactory. Instead of requiring al- most yearly appropriations for its support, the institution now pays an annual revenue to the State of $101,000. The present lease, which is for six years, began January 1, 1884, the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Rail- road Company being the lessees. The headquarters of this company are at Tracy City, where about one-third of the prisoners are worked in the mines, and where a large and commodious prison has been erected. There are also branch prisons at the Inman mines in Marion County, and Coal Creek in Anderson County. A few prisoners are worked in marble works at Knoxville. About 40 per cent of the entire number are at the main prison, where they are worked under a sub-lease by Cherry, Morrow & Co. The firm is engaged exclusively in the manufacture of wagons. The shops are equipped with all the latest improved machinery, enabling them to turn out about fifty finished wagons per day. In the manufact- ure of their wagons they begin with the raw material, making their own bent-work, iron-work, castings, thimbles and skeins. Their goods are sold throughout the South and Southwest, and also in several of the Northern and Western States.
Under the present lease system the State is relieved from all expense of transportation and guarding of prisoners. The only officers connected
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with the institution who are paid by the State are the warden, superin- tendent, physician and chaplain.
The number of convicts in the main prison and branches, December 1, 1884, was 1,323; in 1880, the number was 1,241; in 1870, 613; in 1857, 286, and in 1839, 154. During the late war the penitentiary was converted into a military prison, and at one time there were as many as 2,400 inmates. Two fires, the former quite destructive, occurred within the past five years. December 4, 1881, the various workshops and ma- chinery belonging > the State and the lessees, were destroyed by fire, only the main building and cells escaping destruction. . At the time over 700 convicts were within the walls, and it became necessary to turn them all out into the space in front of the prison; yet, so well were they man- aged, that only six escaped. The shops were immediately rebuilt by the State, and the lessees put in new machinery. On January 12, 1884, the east end of the blacksmith shop was discovered to be on fire, and as the second story was used as a paint shop it threatened to prove very de- structive. It was, however, soon brought under control. The loss to the State was about $3,300, which was fully covered by insurance.
* Many years ago a society for the collection and preservation of his- . torical papers, relics, antiquities, etc., existed in Nashville.+ It did not accomplish much, but its very organization showed the tendency of the minds in the city noted for scholarly attainments to endeavor to rescue from oblivion the history of a people remarkable for patriotism, chivalry and intelligence. After it had ceased to exist for a considerable time several public-spirited citizens met in the library-rooms of the Merchants' Association, to reorganize an historical society. This was in May, 1849, and the organization was effected by the election of Nathaniel Cross as president; Col. A. W. Putnam, vice-president; William A. Eichbaum, treasurer; J. R. Eakin, corresponding secretary, and W. F. Cooper, re- cording secretary. This society did not exist many years, but was again brought to life in 1857, and at the May meeting elected the following officers: A. W. Putnam, president; Thomos Washington, vice-president; W. A. Eichbaum, treasurer; R. J. Meigs, Jr., corresponding secretary; Anson Nelson, recording secretary, and John Meigs, librarian. Contri- butions of valuable manuscripts, newspapers and relics poured in from all parts of the State, as well as a few from other States.
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