The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1852-06-24
EBENSBIRG, TIiIRSDiY, JINE "A, 1852.


eter who had resigned his seat on the bench to
| accept the office of Governor, was again appoint
ed justice The remaining seat was filed by
| Caleb Ellis, of Claremont, a young but distin-
| guished member of the bar This nominal
change in the courts was made, as the republi-
can party contended, for the sole purpose of
getting rid Of the old court, and was unconstitu-
tional A warm controversy ensued, and both
courts sat and claimed a right to administer the
! public business was thrown into confusion, by
! the jurors and witnesses sometimes obeying the
summons to attend one court and sometimes the
! other. In consequence Of the confusion resul-
! ting from this unsettled state of things Gov.
John Gilman, then Chief magistrate of the State,
convened the Legislature on the 9th day of &C.
tober, several weeks earlier than the day TO
which it had been adjourned. At an early pc
riod of this session. Josiah Butler sheriff of the
county of Rockingham, and Benjamin Pierce,
sheriff of Hillborough, were removed by address.
! Pierce, however was elected four years success
J lively to the Governors council, and ultimately
again appointed sheriff of Hillsborough county.
( While holding that Office an event occurred,
which strongly marked his character and erect
ed for him enduring monument in the hearts
of the people. 1t was in the year 1873 at the
/ time when the enormous abuses of the creditor
over the debtor were exciting the attention of
the people, and calling forth execrations from
| the philanthropic and liberal everywhere. In
some instances the father of a poor family, was
/ for years immured in a dungeon for the amount
of the prison charges, and his family, mean
while, were reduced to pauperism and beggary.
| No age, no condition was exempt. The poor
( and decayed veteran whose best years had been
spent in the service of his country, was often
confined with felons, and year rolled on after
! year, leaving him in hopeless Imprisonment
In Amherst Jail there were three aged prisoners,
one of whom had groaned in confinement almost
four years. When Pierce was appointed sheriff,
he gave these prisoners notice that they were to
be released, and appointed day for their de-
iverance, the Goth of November, 1873 the more
grateful to the prisoners that it was to occur
just at the coming on of winter The inhabi-
tants thought the occasion worthy of public de-
monistrations, and when they had assembled to-
gether at the prison to witness the release, the
sheriff, Benjamin Pierce, having opened the
prison door, thus addressed the three prison
ers
''Moses Brewer, Isaac Lawrence and George
Lancy-By the return made me by Israel w.
Kelly, Esq, my predecessor in the Office of sher-
if for the county of Hillsborough, it appears
that you Moses Brewer, was committed, Decem-
Der IS, 1914 and you, Isaac Lawrence, was
committed, December 27, 1915; and you, Geo.
Lancy, July ,, 1917.
s.AIy unfortunate fellow citizens The feel
ings excited by view of your situation are in
expressible That those heads, silvered by age
and hardship, and those hearts throbbing with
kindly emotions, should be held for this long
period of time by their fellow citizens, without
, the imputation of a crime, in a capacity unpar-
allied even in the annals of the French Bastile,
or Algerine slavery, always viewed by with
i sentiments of inexpressible horror, is moro thar
4 my nature is able to endure. To be immured
, in dungeon, standing on the very soil of Iiber
ty and in the midst of men boasting its high pri
viIeges, is in my mind, with which the ideas and
/ the value of freedom are closely interviewer, in
initely worse than to be enslaved in a foreign
, land by enemies and barbarians, from whom no
thing better could be expected. But as an of
fcer of the country, have duty to perform
l must either be governed by the law and suffer
} you still to remain, the devoted victims of una
u yoidable misfortune and honest poverty, shu
out from the genial light of heaven and the vita
air, Gods equal gift to all to endure, perhaps
perish under the privations incident to your sit
f uation and the stern ravages of approaching
I winter forlorn and destitute, with no friend Il
: comfort, society to cheer, no companion t.
e console you-or must be directed by the pow
erful impulse of humanity, pay the the debt my
e self, and bid you leave this dreary and gloom,
abode.
e '.My unfortunate fellow citizens-NIy duty t,
/; myself will not suffer longer to remain here al
e old companion in arms, who fought for the liber
x ty Of which he is deprived, for no crime bu
il that of being poor. My duty to my country
5 whose honor is deeply implicated by your suffer
t ings-and it is one of my first wishes that
f should be untarnished-and my duty to my God
n who has put it into my power to relieve, ire
:. sistibly urge me to the latter course This
y am sensible, takes from me a large sum of mo
G ney however, the liberal and generous people
o among whom it is my happy lot to reside, ma.
It participate if not, none but my children vii
If have any right to reproach me !; and am con
n ident they will do more than say their faith
2, er was generous to q fault. Ia this view, go