Connecticut Historical Collections

The lands upon which this jirison stands, and in the vicinity, were claimed by the original proprietors of the town, in which they were once situated ; but on arcoimt of their supposed value from the copper ore which h;\,d been foimd, and as gold was supposed to abound in the mine, it caused a contention about the title, which was long contirmed. To quiet this, the General Assembly in 1753, appointed a committee to investigate the subject, and conllrmeil the right and title of the original proprietors, and set oJFto them the land or mine. At this time copper ore had been found ; the ore was considered very rich, and it \vas also supposed that it contained gold. Piom these circumstances, the fame ti 11 A N B Y . 95 of these mines soon reached Europe, and a company was formed in pjugland ill 1760 for the ]uu'pose of working them ; soon after a numher of persons in the e^iiploy of ihis company arriverl from Enghmd for this purpose. But the company was ohhged principally to employ men who resided in the neighborhood, who were not acquainted with the business ; from wliich circumstance and others, the work proceeded slowly, and with great difiiculty. The company, however, was ena- bled to freiglu two vessels with ore, (as they diti not calculate to work the ore here, but in England;) these vessels were both lost — one was taken by the French, and the other sunk in the Channel. These losses were so great, and tlie whole business having hct-n little more than a continuation of disasters and sacritices, the company became discoura- ged and abandoned the undertaking. The uiiners, in iligging and ex- ploring, sunk numerous wells or deep excavations. The jirincipal one was upon Copper hill, so called, and is now remaining within the walls of the prison. These caverns were first occupied as a place of confine- ment about the time of the Revolutionary war. There being at that time no prison in the state besides the county gaols, and the number of convicts increasing, arrangements were made for occupying these cav- erns as a place of confinement, but no permanent buildings were at this time erected ; it is not probable that at first it was contem[)latcd to convert these caverns into a state prison ; their occujiatlon fur this purpose was regardetl as a temporary thing. The confining of con- victs having begun, it was continued ; and this being found inconven- ient, the General Assembly in 1700 passetl ?n act, establishing IXewgate prison as a permanent state prison, and provided fur the erection of suitable buildings. The following is from KendalTs travels in the norlhcj-n parts of the United States. lie visited Aewgate pii;on in 1S07. " On bein;; aiiiniiiiU iiil.j llK'i^^a>'l 3'iu>l, I ['..miiil ;\ --cmryuhikr a^^J^ uiiLia iheg.iie, and ei^hl suldiors liiawi) iij' in a line in (Vonl ol' (lie gauior'a liousc. A Ijcil suunnuii- in^' ilio jin^i'Ui'is to work liail nlrcaily niii:^; and in a IVw inomenrs ihey began lo ijialce iheir apiicarance. Tliey came in irrcf,'"bii numbers, suiiulinics two ur ihree together, and hoiiielinics ii single one alone ; luit whenever one or moie were abont to cross the yard to tiie .stnitlicry, the soMiers wcTe ordered to present, in rcatliness to fire. The juisoners were heavily ironed, and sreuied both by handcnlJs and letters ; and being iherelore unable to walk, coidd only make their way by a soit oljnmp or a hop. On entering the sinilhery, some went to ilie sides oC the Ibrges, where collars, dejiendent by iroaehains rmm llie roof, wei'e lastened round their iieelcs, ami otheis were ciiained in |>aiis to wheelbarrows. 'I'he ntimber ol" pri.soners was .a,boia forty ; ami when thev weie all disponed of in the maniiei- lieseiibed, sentries Ayere placed within the bull(lmLr^ wliii;h cunlainril tliein. jMier viewing thus lar iheeci^numy of this prison, 1 Idi it, piopuMii;; \n visii the cell.sat a later hour. " This csiahlislimenl, as I hasesaul, redesigned to be, from all ih; ananL'-emenls, an object of teiror ; ami e\erv thinj- is aci:ui'diir_;l\- (amlri. ed, \n i;ial>i_ the lile endured in it as bnrdensc/ine and misi ralilo as p,i.-,i!.h.v' In riiiilurmily u illi llus idea, ilicidace chosen for the prison is no other than ilie m.aiili uTa |nr-.a';iii ri,|i|,i_a niiiie,..! s', hieh ihe exeavaliuiis are lanplnyi'd as cells. They are descended li\' a shall, w lii' h is sronicd by a trap door, wiihiu the prison Imus,,-, or gaoler's house, w hich slainl,^ ujnui the mine. " The liai)(b)or being lilied ii|i, 1 went down aii iron ladder, pe: |jendieularly li.Ke(tr lo the de|)th of about hiiy feet, from the foot of the ladder a rough, narrow, and low passage descends still deeper, till it terminates at a well of clear water, over which is an air shaft, seventy feet iij height, and guaiiled at its mouth, which is within the gaol yard, by a hatch of iion. The cells are^iear the well, but at ditferent depths beneath the surface, none perhaps exceeding sixty feet. They are .srrjall, lUgged, and accom- modated with wooden berths, and some straw. The straw was wet, and there was much hamidiiy in every part of this ob-caie legion; but I was as-'ured J on,^ht to at- 96 O R A N B y . tribute this only to tlie remarkable wetness of the season ; that the cells were iu geuc- ral dry, and that they were nut found nnfavoiahle lo the health of the ]iri>oners. " Into these cells (he prisoners are dismissed at four o'clock in the afternoon, every da}^ without exeefiiion, and at all seasons of the year. They desceiul in their fetters and handcutls, and at four o'clock in the morning they ascend the iron ladiier, climl)- ing It as well as they can by the i)id of their fettered limbs. It is to be ob,''erved that no women are coahneil heie ; the law providing that female convicts, guilty of ciime^ (d' whieli men are to he conlined in Newgatejirison, are to be sent only to liie eountv gnals. " Going again inlu the workshop or smiihery, 1 fuund the aiiendanis ol the pi isuii delivering jiickled poi Ic for the dmner of.the prisoners. Pieces were given separately to the parties at each forge. They were thrown upon the lloor, and lelt to be washed and boiletl in the water used for cooling the iron wrought at the lorges. Meal had been distributed iu like manner for breakfast. The food of tlie prison is regulated for each day in the week ; and consists in an alternation of pork, beef', and peas, -with which last no flesh meat is allowed. Besides the caverns or excavations below, autl the gaoler's house above, there are other apartments prepared for the prisoners, and particularly a hospital, of which the neatness and airiness atforil a strong contra^t lo the other parts of the prison. It was also satisfactory to find that in this hospital there ■were no sick. " Such is the seat and the scene of punishment provided by (I'uimeciient Air crinun- als not gtiilty of murder, treason, or either of a few ulher' capital oircuees. "What judgment the reader v.'ill pass upon it 1 do not venture to anticipate ; but I'or myscll', I cannot get rid of the impression, that without any extraordinary cruelty in its actual operati(Hi, there is something very lilce cruelly iu the tleviee and design." Ill the southwestern part of the town are two remarkable hills, called Barn door hills, which rise to an elevation of four or five huntlred feet. Tliese hills have the appearance of having been separated by some vi- olent convulsion of nature, as the two sides correspond with each other. A road about half a mile in extent passes through the chasm nowsejia- rating these two hills. AV^ere this chasm closed up by bringing the hills together, the hill or mountain would present the appearance of a cone. If we were to credit but a small proportion of what has been related and believed by many persons to be true, this town has been the theater of the most extraordinary transactions. It is stated that about ten or twelve years since, in the west part of the town, in an old house near the Ilartland line, the crying of a child, and many other unusual noises, were many times distinctly heard by persons who were in the house, although there was no child near, nor \sa3 there any apjiarent cause I'or any noise to be heard in the vicinity. Soiuetimes the crying of the child was very loud and distinct, and appeared to be but a lew feet from the persons who heard it. (It ought to be mentioned, that in this house a foul crime is supposed to have been i^erpetrated.) Two young men, who were possessed of the usual share of courage, supposing the whole to be a kind of " ghost story," determined to sleep all night in the room where these noises were heard, and find out, if possible, the cause. Some time after they had gone to bed, in the dead of the night, some- thing appeared to come with a kind of gust against the house ; then something appeared to rush through the window, although nothing was seen ; next the chairs were thrown about in great disorder, next there was a noise heard at the fire-place with the shovel and tongs, although there were none in the room, and finally the noise appeared to go olT down the ash-hole. Some forty or fifty years since a number of fami- lies in the West society were affected in a strange and unaccountable manner. The persons composing these families would often run about like persons distracted ; and according to their statements, heard strange noises, saw sjiirits in the air, &:c. HARTLAND, H ARTLAND. 97