The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1889-03-29
miscellaneous.
The Public Buildings Of Hartford Co.
4 . - = Il 4 IL
By GEORGE W. ARCHER.


On the 18th April, 1887, John Taylor who
was Sheriff of the county in M bonded in
the sum of Il, 200 specie "tO build Il Jail in
Bel Air for 5000, agreeable to the plan filed
in the Clerks office, to be completed on or
before the LIST February, 1882 This contract
was, of course, made under an act of Legisla-
ture, though have not been able to find any
such act. Mr.. Taylor must have failed to
complete the building at the stipulated time,
for on the 18Th September, 1891, john MOOres
executed II bond to the Justices of Hartford
county "to finish the inil Agreeable to plan,
&c, for E2Sj specie" by the second Monday
OF the following August, not quite one year.
An act passed December l3t0, 1872, en-
powered the Levy Court "tO levy not less
than 81 goo to erect Il room within the iail.
wall tor the keeping of criminals, to he bull,
under the direction Of John Moorcs, William
Wilson and Henry Dorsey, TO he connected
with the old jail, or not, according to their
discretion"
February 9Th, 1918, it was enacted that the
lots, streets, &c, OF Bel Air, "be surveyed and
bounded, and that a map be placed in the
Clerk 8 office as an authority for future refer
cnCe." An extension Ofthc town limits was
also authorized by the act. The map so depos-
tied, cannot now lie found. There! i, however,
rough map Of the town among Mr. IIays'
loose papers, which have no doubt isu copy
of the one made in 1918; il bears no date,
but from internal evidence it was madc with.
in few years after 1916. On February 81
of the following year, n supplement to this
act was passed to the effect that "in the case
of any house or porch standing on the public
grounds, or on the street, The Commissioners,
instead Of causing ii to he removed, Shall have
tie ground on which it stands valued, and
the amount collected aud turned into the
county treasury" Certain buildings, the
property Of individuals, stand TO this day, in
whole or in part on what was before the
act, public ground, in the vicinity OF the
jail. From this supplement, however, it
would appear that those WHO had unwilling
ly or otherwise intruded upon the public lot
as originally laid out, subsequently paid for
ii; SO that they, or their heirs or assigns
arc Tie rightful possessors.
In the same year an act was passed requir-
ing that the Sheriff should reside in the iail,
or should keep jailor resident therein, the
penalty being two dollars for every day of
noncompliance with the terms of the act, un-
less the Jail is not in good condition" This
last clause is rather ambiguous
An act of February Sth, 1920 authorized
"A levy not exceeding two hundred dollars,
to make the jail comfortable and secure"
can learn nothing more about the iail
from the county records or the laws OF the
State. From llr. Hays ledger, however, it
seems to have Undergone GSj4-G,) Il pretty
thorough oyorhauling if il was not entirely
rcbailt.
The ledger contains several pages Of entries
against "rhe Building Committee of the
Jail, amounting to $29i, almost exclusively
for hauling sand and lime. If the other
work done (Of which we have no account
bore to the hauling here charged, the same
proportion which usually obtains in building,
the structure, whether repaired or erected,
anew, must have required great deal Of
labor.
From June, 1854, to June, 1856, Mr.. Hays
had hauled siXty-eight mule team loads of
sand Tall the loads were of this size from
some point near Bel Air, eighty-four barrels
of lime and cement and four loads OF brick
from the railroad, four lcads OF plank from
outer Point, and only nine loads of stone.
AS The small quantity of stone hauled bears
about the same proportion to the sand and
lime that Fulstatfs edibcs bore to his pota-
tons, it may be fairly presumed that most
OF the material used in the present stone
jug" was hauled by other parties, OF whose
work we have no account all record of it
having probably been destroyed in 1868.
Indeed, it is quite likely that more stone
were used in the building OF the present iail
Tor its improvement, whichever it wus,) than
is usual on such occasions. | used to hear it
sui !, many years ago, that the building COM
mittre, ut the suggestion of Ohio Scott, Esq,
who believe was one of the board, placed II
continuous layer of large stones almost rocks
in size all around and directly against the
foundation of the jail many feet wide and
several deep, the idea being to miniili4. the
chances of the old Jail rats mining their way
out beneath the wall