HIGH STREET PRISON AND MARKET SHAMBLES. (ILLUSTRATED BY A PLATE.] "The gloomy jail where misery moans,— IN primitive days, when culprits were few, and society simple and sincere, the first prisons were small and of but slender materials. There was at first a small cage for offenders-next a hired house with bars and fetters-then a brick prison on the site of the present Jersey market, fronting towards the old court house, at 100 feet of distance. The facts are these, viz. Year 1682-16th of 11 mo.-The Council ordered that William Clayton, one of the Provincial Council, should build a cage against the next council-day, of seven feet long by five feet broad. 1685-The High Sheriff declared in court, that the hired house of Patrick Robinson, [the clerk of the Provincial Council, &c.] used by him as a prison, was refitting, and that, with the fetters and chains, &c. and his own attendance and deputies, he has a sufficient gaol; and if any escapes occurred he would not blame the county, for want of a gaol, nor for the insufficiency of said house; whereupon, at the request of said Robinson, the yearly rent began this day for said house. It became a matter of curiosity in modern times to learn the primitive site of such a hired prison. No direct testimony could be found; but several facts establish the idea that it occupied the ground on the western side of Second street, between High street and the Christ church-for instance, Mr. C. Graff, the present owner of the house on the north west corner of Second and High streets, (the premises first owned by Arthur Cook) has a patent of the year 1684, which speaks of the prison on his northern line, to wit: "I, William Penn, proprietary, &c. Whereas, there is a certain lott of land in said city, containing in breadth 50 feet, and in length 102 feet, bounded northward with the prison, eastward with the Second street, southward with the High street, westward with a vacant lott, &c."-Then grants the same to Arthur Cook, by patent dated "6 mo. 14th 1684.-Signed William Penn." The foregoing prison is confirmed by some modern facts :-Some years ago, when pulling down an old house which stood upon 1 Second street, on the site on which S. North, druggist, built the house No. 14, north Second street, they discovered the party walls, as they supposed, of the old jail-it was of four inch poplar plank, dove-tailed at the corners. Old Isaac Parrish, who told this and witnessed the disclosure, was pleased to add, that as he was showing it to Judge M'Kean, the latter remarked :-Times are changed indeed-formerly wood was sufficient for confinement; but now, stone itself is no match for the rogues! On searching the original patent for North's lot, it appears to have been granted by Penn on the 1st of December, 1688, and makes no reference to a prison. Mr. North has informed me that in digging along the northern line of his yard he has found, under ground, a very thick stone wall such as might have been a prison wall. As late as the year 1692, we have facts to evince that there was a prison held within a private dwelling-house,-for, at that time it appears in George Keith's Journal, that William Bradford, the first printer, and John Macomb, were then its inmates, for Keithien measures, and they refusing to give securities in their case. Keith says, their opponents pretended they were not so imprisoned, but that he, to make out an affecting story for them, went to the porch of the prison to sign and date a paper of complaint against the Quakers, just as if he had been its inmate! To repel this, he adduces the paper of their Samuel Jennings, to show that he there admits that they, Bradford and Macomb, "signed a paper from the prison, when they signed it in the entry common to the prison and the next house." Thus evincing, as I presume, that in the hired house of Patrick Robinson the prison was held on one side of a common entry, and the family lived on the other side of it. George Keith proceeds to say, that the real facts were, that as Bradford and Macomb were delayed to be brought to trial, the jailer, after some time, granted them "the favour to go home,and, as they were still prisoners, when they wished to petition for their trial at the next sessions, they then went to the prison to write and sign it there; but it happened the jailer was gone abroad and had the key of the prison with him; so, as they could not get in, they signed that paper in the entry or porch!" Such was the simple character and state of the first prison used in Philadelphia. Something more formidable is about to be told of the Prison on High street, viz. It seems that something more imposing than the hired house was desired as early as the year 1685, and was afterwards, from time to time, laid aside, till its execution about the year 1695. In 1685, the Court of Quarter Sessions receives a report on the subject of building a prison, to wit: Samuel Carpenter, H. Murray, and Nathaniel Allen, &c. report that they have treated with workmen about the many qualities and charges of a prison, and have advised with Andrew Griscomb, carpenter, and William Hudson, bricklayer, about the form and dimensions, which is as followeth The house 20 feet long and 14 feet wide in the clear, two stories high-the upper 7 feet, and the under 64 feet, of which 4 feet under ground, with all convenient lights and doors, and casements strong and substantial, with good brick, lime, sand and stone, as also floors and roofs very substantial; a partition of brick in the middle through the house. so that there will be four rooms, four chimnies, and the cock-loft, which will serve for a prison; and the gaoler may well live in any part of it, if need bethe whole to cost 140£. The late aged Miss Powell, a Friend, told me her aged mother used to describe to her that prison as standing once in the middle of High street, eastward of the court house on Second street. On the 3d of February, 1685-6, the Grand Jury then present the want of a prison. In 1702, the Grand Jury present the prison-house and prison-yard, as it now stands in the High street, as a common nuisance. In 1703, the Court of Quarter Sessions appoints four persons to report the cost of a new prison and court house. In 1705-July-the Common Council order that Alderman Carter, and John Parsons, do oversee the repairs of the old cage, to be converted into a watch-house, for present occasion. They had before ordered, in December, 1704, that a watch-house should be built in the market place, of 16 feet long, and 14 feet wide. In September, 1705, the same Alderman Carter is continued by the Council to see the repairs of the watch-house, and is also appointed to take care of the building a pair of stocks with a whipping post and pillory, with all expedition. In 1706, a petition of 44 poor debtors, (some of them imprisoned) all wrote in their proper hands, in good easy free style, is offered to Governor John Evans, stating their great objections to the fee bill for debts under 40 shillings, creating an expense, in case of Sheriff's execution, of 17 shillings each, which was formerly, when in the Magistrate's hand, but 3 shillings; and "some of your poor petitioners (say they) have been kept in the common gaol until they could find persons to sell themselves unto for a term of years to pay the same, and redeem their bodies!" See act of Assembly in the case. It might surprise many moderns, who see and hear of so many, now a days, who "break" with indifference, to learn, that fifty years ago it was the custom to sell single men for debt; and it had then a very wholesome restraint on prodigals-few then got into gaol, for then those who saw their debts burthensome would go betimes and seek a friendly purchaser, and so pay off their debts. In 1707, the Grand Jury present the gaol of this city, in that the upper and middle windows of the said gaol are not sufficient. And they present the want of a pair of stocks, whipping post, and pillory. In 1712, the Grand Jury present "as a nuisance the prison and wall standing in the High street, and the insufficiency of the county gaol not fit to secure prisoners." This latter clause might seem to intimate two characters of prisons at once. The words "common jail" in the following paragraph might intimate some one different from that of "county gan In 1716, the Grand Jury "present the common gaol as insufficient, and concur and agree with the County Grand Jury that the same be removed from the place it now stands upon; and we do all concur with the County Grand Jury, in laying a tax of one penny per pound, to be assessed and levied on the inhabitants-April 4th, 1716. Two years after this the act for a big prison, on the corner of Third and High Street, was passed. In the year 1717, sundry persons offered large subscriptions for erecting a new prison at the new site. The Grand Jury present at this time (1717) the great need of a ducking stool, saying, that whereas it has been frequently and often presented by several former Grand Juries, the necessity of a ducking stool and house of correction for the just punishment of scolding drunken women, as well as divers other profligates and unruly persons, who are become a public nuisance, they therefore earnestly pray the court it may no longer be delayed. I have never understood that it was adopted. In 1719, the Grand Jury present "the prison and dead walls in the street." In 1722-April-It was ordered by the Common Council "that the old prison be sold to the highest bidder," &c. Perhaps there are houses at this day in the use of part of those materials! At or about the year 1723, the new prison, at the south west corner of Third and High streets, was finished, and about the same time the Grand Jury present "the old prison much in the way and spread over the street." As appurtenant to the High street prison there stood the market shambles, on the site of the present Jersey market. They were at first moveable, and were not placed there in the line of the prison till about ten years after the town had erected the permanent brick market at the western end of the court house. The facts are these, to wit: In 1729-January-The Common Council agreed to erect twenty stalls, for the accommodation of such as bring provisions from the Jerseys to be erected between the court house and the river, at 100 feet eastward from the court house, and In October, 1740, the Council agreed to place moving stalls on the east side of the court house as far as Lætitia court, and it is ordered that the middle of the street, from the pillory to the said Lætitia court, be forthwith posted and gravelled, to the breadth of twenty feet. Mr. Davenport Merrot, an aged person, told me the permanent Jersey market, when finally built about the year 1765, was many years without a foot-pavement on the inside of it. In May, 1763, the Common Council, having put the Market street, eastward from the Second street, under regulation and pavement, the former wooden stalls of the " Jersey market" being ruinous, they order that they shall be pulled down, and their place supplied with stalls, brick pillars, and roofed-the eastern end to serve the purpose for greens and roots, as a "" green market," and also at the end thereof an Exchange, and that the sum of 500. be applied out of the " Exchange Stock," to defray the expense. The latter, however, was not attempted-but the fund was applied afterwards to the City Hall. |