Putnam patriot., 1921-08-05
History Stories of
Connecticut
Ne~Eate Prison

stand the erumbling walls Of the once
widely famed and greatly dreaded
Newgate Of Connecticut.
Why was this place 50 famed and 50
dreaded?
Because il was prison and a dun
geon Of horrors. Within its under
ground eayerns. in the cid colonial
days, robbers. burglars, counterfeit
ers. and criminals Of all types paid
penalty Of their misdeeds. Here. too.
IN the days Of the Revolutionary War
Torres were sent by the Connecticut
Committee Of Safety to punish them
Tor opposing the patriots and helping
the British. Washington. also. while
eommander-in-ohief Of the American
army at Cambridge. found among his
men some fragrant and atrncious vii
lains' whose conduct proved them I'M
NJ TO remain in the army and unsafe
to be given their liberty. Accordingly
he sent them 10 Newgate for eonine-
ment in It's dungeons
When the war was over Connect
cut for more than a third Of a century
used these same dungeon caverns as
her state prison.
How did IT happen that Connecticut
had such dungeons TO use for such
purposes?
II We are to answer this question
we must first 20 back TO the year
1907 At that time large number of
men who owned farms in that part of
the old town Of Simsbnry which is
now the town of East CRANKY. formed
a company to dig for copper which
had recently been discovered in the
rocks of Ialeott Mountain The spot
where they began to dig has ever since
been known as Copper Hill On the
summit of this hill they dug two deep
wells or shafts. These shafts went
down through solid rock One was
thirty-five feet deep and the other
nearly eighty. From the bottom Of
these wells the miners dug and blasted
great caverns or chambers extending
in all directions.
The broken rock which was taken
out Of these chambers contained cop
per. This ore was taken TO the shafts
and drawn 10 the surface of the
ground by means of windlasses and
buckets. The next step was to smelt
the ore and thus separate the pure
copper from the rock Though the
mine was never very profitable it be-
came famous both in America and
Europe. and when the first company
stockholders decided 70 turn the work
men ready to take their places. Many
companies were formed one after an
other % try their fortune IN the mine
at Copper Hill. These companies
were organized in Boston. New York
London, Holland, and elsewhere
/ Skilled miners were brought ovel
from Germany. but conditions made il
impossible for the owners 20 max,
much money out Of the mine.
To begin with the ore was of suet
I
separate the copper from the rock
In the second place the laws of Eng
land forbade the company to smell
the ore in this country. Large guam
titles Of II were hauled 10 Hartford
and shipped TO New York and in turr
reshipped TO England TO be smelted
One by-product of the mine proved
even more famous than the mine IL
self This was the production OF
CRANKY Coppers. Small coins were
very scarce and an ingenious black
smith, named John HigIey, who re
sided in the town of CRANKY. began Il
make copper pennies from the meta
obtained at the mine A few of tbs
coins made by him still exist and ar,
eagerly sought and highly valued bs
coin collectors. Some Of these coini
have upon one side figures of sledp,
hammers with crowns above them q
show the loyalty Of their maker 20 tn,
English king. These figures are en-
circled by a motto which reads: Il an
good copper Tht reverse side Of
the coin bears the inscription, "Valu,
me as you please"
When the Revolutionary War brok,
out the Connecticut patriots needed ,
J prison in which 70 eonhne those sup
porters Of the king whose ssntimenti
and influence were harmful TO Che
+ patriot cause. These people wers
called Tories The people thought
I that the caverns in Copper Hill were
lust the place to hold the Tories ane
keep them from doing harm. As rap
+ idly as the patriots discovered Tories
who were using their influence TO hell
+ the king they sent them 10 these dun
geons. which they named Newgat'
+ Prison after celebrated prison Of
/ the same name in London. England
/ At this underground prison greater
efforts were made to subdue the Tor
/ les than at any other place in all th'
thirteen colonies Those in eonfine
ment made desperate efforts to es
cape. Their friends who were at lib
erty plotted to aid them one afte
another three blockhouses placed owe
the entrance 10 the main shaft wer'
destroyed by fire. A guard o.
twenty-four men armed with musket
and bayonets and three officers witt
cutlasses and pistols were needed u
maintain order. Even this guar,
sometimes failed for they were at
I,.eked several times BY the prisoners