Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-01-13

~ SoAe4NAAOAA
case ever tried in the country, that
of Thomas Bird, who was afterwards
executed at Haggctt's Hill. Judge
Hale described other trials in which
John Adams took n part. and re-
ferrcd 10 the memorable letter writ
! ten by John Adams to Daniel Coney.
of Augusta, at tho time of the sep
aration of Maine from Alassachu-
sotts. in which Adams said that
sometime some ardent politician
would lead Maine from Nassachu-
! sets and leave her a state below
mediocrity in the Union"
! The Earliest Maine Judges
| Judge Hale then gave an account
of the judges under the patent to Sir
Ferdinando Gorges, in the times of
James the First, as early as 1923.
The Court first sat in the dwelling
house of Richard Bonythorn. at Saco,
in 1886. Under the new charter, in
j established with five judges. or
( councillors" as they were called.
They were q court and Il legislature.
They passed the first liquor law ever
passed in Maine, in March, 1886. That
! law was:
TT is ordered that any man that
doth sell strong liquor or wyne, shall
! suffer his neighbor. labOrer or serv-
/ ant to continue drinking in the house,
except mon invited. or Iaborers, upon
| the working day. for one hover at
| dinner. or stranger or ledger there.
/ the said offense being scene by one
; justice of the peace, within his linn
! it's, or COASTAL le or proved by tew
witnesses before a justice of the
peace, such seller of strong liquor or
wyne shall forfeit for every offense
! tenno shillncs."
| This court had character and
significance. Williamson says that
when it became assimilatCd to CO.
! lonial usagcs adopted by Massachu-
sotts in 1891, under the Charter of
| William and Mary.
| The first law suits in Maine We're
| tried in this court OF Saco, in 1910
! One was of great magnitude and in
volved the ownership and possession
of the land which is now Portland.
then called "Cleeve's Neck" or
"Machegonne." which Cleeve held by
patent given by the English Crown in
| 1887. Winter claimed it in behalf Of
| the Trelawney interests on the
ground of his title of 1851. This
patent ran to the "River of Casco."
Cleeve said that this was Casco Bay.
/ Winter said that the "River of
! Casco" was the Presumpscot. which
/ made his patent include what is now
| Portland. out to Martins Point.
i Cleeve prevailed.
! In this provincial court held in a
little house in Saco, nearly three
hundred years ago. an English court
settled compctentlv and forever
questions vitality affecting the terri
! tory and tho history OF Portland
/ Robert Jordan afterwards sat in
! this court. He was the first Episco-
I paIian minister who had career in
Maine: he was a great land owner
! and q politician. and tho precursor of
all the Jordans in New England
! Chief Justice Peters and Chief Jus
! tice Wiswell were his descendants
Robert Jordan was also an ancestor
of the wife and children OF tho wri or
of this paper. Robert Jordan was a
devout churchman and Royalist. and
was never reconciled to the Massa-
chusetts government. He was final
~ compelled to leave Maine. He
established his residence at Great
Island now Newcastle. New Hamp-
shire. BY his will he left brond lands
to his wife Sarah, and to his sons
Domincus. Jedediah and Samuel.
| Judge Hale than drew a picture of
, tho life in Maine when David Sewan
was made judge, in 1888 The popu-
lation was $4,000. Maine was still
provincial and unsettled Portland
was a little country village of 5000
/ people. The State was merely the
secular side of the church. The his
( tory of Maine was the history of
ministers: the annals of the church
were the annals of New England
Harvard was chartered primarily to
supply ministers of the gospel. For
some years after 1900 the towns Of
the State voted on all matters per-
/ tanning to the church.
| JUDGE Sewall's term marks an era
. in Maine. When he began his serv-
| ices Maine was provincial; when he
| left his Office Maine was becoming
| State
| 1t is well to bring before US a pic
, ture of life in Maine one hundred
years ago. There were two hundred
| ana thirty-siX corporate towns in the
State, but no cities. Life was a
strange mixture of comfort and povA
erty. The houses were in the main
poor and small; almost all were cot
tages. Some few We're more pre-
tentious. and the fiuted pillar ap-