The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-04-15
THE
HOOLIGAN
CLAIM

By H. A. CRAFTS


The plan was suggested by Commits
sioner Boyd, who was something of
crank. However, his worst enemies
admitted that he had good idea now
and then. Mr.. Boyd in his lifetime
had seen rock quarried from the noun
tains at an immense expenditure of
labor, transported long distances,
shaped into blocks by much tooling,
and then laid up into masonry walls.
Seeing that the town of Graycliff iut-
ted up against fine, large ledge OF
limestone he did not see the utility of
quarrying out a great mass Of stone
and shaping 1t into Jail, while the
same amount of labor would quarry
Jail into the ledge just as well, and
the Jail would be so much stronger
that there would, be no comparison
whatever with the ordinary Jail.
The ledge had given the town its
name 1t was in fact cliff with its
perpendicular face fronting the east,
and it's crest towering at least hun
bred feet above the level ground that
formed the town site of Graycliff.
When Commissioner Boyd unfolded
his scheme before the board, it was re-
ceived with but slight favor. Ehe
other members smiled at first then
shook their heads slowly and sagely.
The plan was so novel that the mind
of an ordinary county official was
hardly capable of absorbing it. But
Mr. Boyd expatiated so brilliantly
upon the many advantages Of the plan
that he finally brought his fellow
commissioners over to his way of
thinking, and by some iudicious sound
ing OF public opinion it was found
that the citizens of the county were
also favorable to the plan. The i'm
mense superiority of such Jail over
one constructed in the usual manner
was at once recognized, and the board,
fortified by the almost universal APP
pr0val of their constituents submit
ted Mr.. Boyd's plan to the county
attorney. That official returned an
elaborate opinion, to the effect that
the cliff was clearly portion of the
public domain, but could not very well
be filed upon as agricultural land, as
there was not foot of arabic soil
upon it. He accordingly suggested.
and was duly authorized by the board,
to file mineral claim upon it, run
ming to John Smith, the then acting
sheriff of Carbonate county.
The rock which composed Graycliff
was found upon trial to be easily quar-
RED. At first circular room about
ten feet in diameter was excavated.
This was called "the Rotunda," and
for time it served for the incar-
ceration of such indicators as found
themselves ensnaredN within the
meshes of the law in Carbonate coun-
ty. Then, as the demand for room
increased, Corridor No. / North" was
started, and as this progressed cells
were excavated one after another as
they were needed The cells were To-
Gated between the corridor and the
outer face of the cliff, the walls on all
sides being left at thickness Of two
feet. An opening between each cell
and the face OF the cliff, about
two feet square, was cut, in order
to admit light and air. These were
heavily grated with steel bars in
order to make them secure. The
entrances from the corridor were
Jail became all that Mr.. Boyd's feryid
Imagination had pictured for it. 1t
was convenient and secure. and no
culprit once incarcerated within its
adamantine walls, had ever escaped.
This class of individuals were face
tiousIy called "cliff-dwellers. 2
The cost of construction was great
ly reduced by the large amount of
penal labor expended upon it. While
the law did not impose hard labor
upon the involuntary inmates of Gray
cliff jail, those who expiated their
crimes within its walls were permit
ted to shorten their time of service
by a little wholesome muscular ex-
ercise, and as 1t happened that many
miners and quarrymen were numbered
among them, much skilled labor was
secured without expense to the coun-
ty. Whenever there occurred an ex-
ira demand for cells, contracts were
made with professional stone work
ers. and executed with due diligence.
Among those who had more than
once suffered duress in this substan-
tial bulwark of the law was an in
corrigible named Tim Hooligan, bur
Iy son Of the Emerald Isle Tim was
a miner and, when not in the clutches
Of the law, worked in the mines in
distant part Of the county. In a brawl
he had knocked down a man and was
now serving a sentence of six months
in expiation. Tim was tractable
enough when in jail but, like the ma
jority Of his kind, was "agin the gov
'ment,', and always went around with
chip upon his shouder While
suffering Incarceration. Tim always
sarred work to idIeness': not that
Is particularly DESTROYS of short
his term of service. but be-
the ennui Of prison life became
unbearabIe unless he had some
IatiOn SO he was set 70 work