Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1881-05-19

under the circumstances and ended by
pronouncing the pair "man and woman
instead of imam and wife, However, il
answered the purpose.
There was one lively establishment in
New Castle in those days, and that was
the old foundry, in which large force
was kept constantly employed under the
superintendence Of Mr.. Dobb, who, it will
be remembered, died from the bite of a
mad dog some two years ago. A great
many locomotives, excellent in their day,
We're built there; indeed, the brand they
bore-N. c. Mfg. Co.-was as famous
then as that of the Baldwin Manufactur-
ing Company is now and among the
foundrymen were many wild young fell
lows, who delighted in getting tight and
tearing through the streets yelling and
singing till after midnight.
Charley Ward was one of the charac-
ters of New Castle in the days of my
early childhood. He was generally re-
garded as crazy, and many children were
afraid of him, although he was perfectly
harmless. He wandered about the streets
homeless, sleeping in the open air in
summer, and in the market house or
somebody's barn in winter, and begging
his victuals. He died, think, about
1850.
Down OH the river shore, short dis
tance below the long coal wharf, stood
then the ruins of fort built in the days
of the Revolution. Within my recollec-
tion this fort was in good state of preser-
walton. The parapets, about three feet
high above the wharf on which 1t was
built, which was called "Blunt's wharf"
and the battlements commanding the
river channel, were essentially intact.
The region adjoining Potter's field was
known as Battle Hill, from tradition
that Revolutionary skirmish took place
there. Every one who has visited the
old Potter's field graveyard, which has
been reduced One-half in size during the
last 30 years by the constant encroach-
ments of the river, has noticed a large
depression, in which it was said that the
bodies of those who fell in this skirmish
We're buried. Somewhere about 1S4S
colored woman died in this part of the
town at a very advanced age. She was
said to have been about ia years old,
and professed to have witnessed this
skirmish.
Up to 1850, or thereabout, executions
anu "hiPpiiSo III tuis uouuly were puUllC
in the fullest sense of the word. When
criminal was to be hanged, the gallows
was erected alongside the Hare's Corner
road, about half mile out of town, and
throngs of people hocked to the scene.
Perry Baily, a colored man, suffered the
extreme penalty of the law there in 1S49.
The whipping post stood on the green
between the end of the jail and arsenal
and the Sheriff swung the cat with Wig
or now unknown, often making the blood
flow freely. Twenty lashes thus admin
istered were severe punishment; most
men would begin to writhe and howl at
the tenth or twelfth stroke. Colored
women, as we'll as men, were thus whip
ped on the school green prior to 1858.
In addition to whipping it was custom
ary to sentence colored criminals to be
sold for term of years proportioned to
the grade of the offense. For trivial
larcenies they would be sold sin the
State;" for greater crimes, "out of the
State" The selling was generally mere
farce, however. Nobody cared much to
buy a convicted negro, and they were
often knocked down to bidders of SO
cents or some such nominal sum, who
told their purchases to go about their
business
To be continued.