Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-12-06
N DUKE WELLINGTON

| I'VE VIII Dullu SIndu RUIN ebAo
bench for the judges at the peni-
tertiary and the judges can go up
/ there on sentence days and dispose
+ of their prisone1s," said one of the
members of the Board of Freeholders
yesterday, In discussing the plan of
amalgamating the county jail and
penitentiary and having the Joint in
stitutlon located at Caldwell.
The statement of the freebooter
was made in reply TO a query as to
how 1t would be possible to bring
thirty or forty prisoners ten miles
from Caldwell to the Court House,
when they are called on TO plead
! before or be sentenced by one of the
county Judges. On pleading days and
| sentence days it frequently happens
that forty persons are brought from
the jail. The number has run as
high as sixty-eight. which, up TO the
present time, Is the record.
It is no easy matter to transport
this number of prisoners even in the
small distance between the. Jail and
the Court House and 1t would be
well-nigh impossible to do SO from
the penitentiary at Caldwell, unless
motor vehicles are furnished.
The idea of having the judges go
to the county penitentiary to SEN
tence and accept pleas is all right if
and that "if'' is mighty big one
the county judges would consent to
the plan, and 1t Is as good as O 100
to l shot that they will not.
The plan smacks OF the Utopian at
fr, q.
terialized to get a real idea OF the
full scope of the proposed plan. This
same freeholder pointed out that the
county now has a house of detention
that could be used for housing per-
sons needed at the Court House, such
as defendants at trials or as wit
nesses or for temporary detention,
where persons expect to get bail In
a short period.
The general idea of the plan is a
good one, as prisoners now confined
in the county jail for short periods
are in absolute idleness, while at the
county penitentiary they could be
used to good advantage in the stone
crushing plant or in other work and
thus be made to pay in part for their
keep by the county while serving
their sentences. At present the jail
Is a sort of winter lodging place for
bunch of Migrants who, as soon as
It becomes too cold to sleep in the
parks and other outdoor places, go to
begging on the streets and are sent
to Jail as Migrants.
A search through some OF the old
records in County Clerk Joseph Nc
Donough's office brings to light some
curious facts of the olden days One
O11 h0nIx &c Afhz Pvo
1724 to 1879. a we'll eserved volume
of trifie over 200 pages in which the
writing is still perfectly distinct, al
though it has faded to a dirty, rusty
brown.
The book fails to state what courts
it covered. although the term "Ses-
sions Court" is mentioned several
times. There is one entry early in
the book stating that court will be
held IN four sessions commencing re-
spectivelv the first Monday In De-
"ember. March, June and September
The writing in the old book was all
done with quill pens and many and
wonderful are the flourisbes that
marked the handwriting of the court
clerks of that fifteen-year period.
There is so much sameness to the
writing that 1t is hard to tell whether
three or four clerks had charge of
the book at different times, but all
the writing is in legible sand. al
though much OF ii is hard to read
owing to the flourishinss and the old
fashioned manner of making some of
the letters. particularly the letters
50 and 'p.'
Some of the interesting entries on
the old book are in relation to the
DnnfantIninU nF LOO. b.
ployers. One entry copied verbatim
from the old book reads as follows:
Saturday. the eighteenth dav OF
December. 1725, ammo 18th. r. r. G
the court met-On complaint of VIII
lam Allarton apprentice to Potter
Weire1v that fhe latter had failed in
his duty in that he was Obliged to
teach the apprentice to read, write and
use him os an apprentice ought to be
used, and we, the justices do find
that the boy aforesaid, tho he is at tho
age of Is years or UPWARDS, and has
served this Keirgly about nine years
can neither read nor write nor knows
not his letters as vet"
Then follows a long decree that the
boy Allarton be taken from Keirglv
and given into the CUSTODY Of others
to he selected by the justices the
names of the justices in the decree be
ing Josiah Ogden. John Cooper and
Samuel Alling. names still prominent
in the social and civic life of Newark
On the same day the same three jus
tees issued a decree in another APP
prentice case. reading as follows:
John johnson. son of John John
son, jr. apprent'ced to Joseph Bur
well, said Burwell having abused him
by not afford'ng him cloathes and
other necessarys fit for an apprentice
the justices do discharge said appren-
tice from his masters service and or
der that the boy repair to his parents
to be taken care of,
The words figures and letters "anno
18th. r, r. g." refer to the twelfth
year of the reign of King George l, of
England, he having assembled the
throne in 17ti. There are many pecu-
liarities in the spelling. In those days
persons giving bonds were not in
debted to the State for the amount of
the bond, but to the crown, a sample
entry for a bond being the following:
September Is. 1925, Hannah White
head for cause is indebted to our SOW
ereign, Lord George of Great Britain
&C.. King, &c, his heirs and success
sors. in the sum of % pounds y
The county justices in those days
had the granting of license for inns
and taverns or ''publick houses for en-
tertainment," as they were called. On
Tuesday, June 4, 1879, three such
licenses were granted to persons bear
ing names still familiar in Newark
and Essex county. the names be ng
John Ward, John Condict and Samuel
Plum. The license ganted to Mr..
Plum reads as follows:
samuel Plum of Newark. having
Gov -