The day of execution having arrived, the condemned prisoners were marched in procession through the crowded streets safely guarded by musketeers and constables. The procession included prominent officials and ministers and was preceded by the Marshal of the Admiralty Court carrying "the Silver Oar," his emblem of authority. This was usually about three feet long and during the trial was also carried by him in the procession of judges to the courtroom where it was placed on the table before the Court during the proceedings.
Time-honored custom, and the Act of Parliament as well, required that the gallows should be erected "in such place upon the sea, or within the ebbing or flowing thereof, as the President of the Court … shall appoint," and this necessitated the construction of a scaffold or platform suspended from the framework of the gallows by means of ropes and blocks. When an execution took place on land, that is to say, on solid ground easily approached, it was the custom at that time to carry the condemned in a cart under the crossarm of the gallows and after the hangman's rope had been adjusted around the neck and the signal had been given, the cart would be driven away and the condemned person left dangling in the air. In theory, the proper adjustment of the knot in the rope and the short fall from the body of the cart when it was driven away, would be sufficient to break the bones of the neck and also cause strangulation; but in practice this did not always occur.
When pirates were executed on a gallows placed between "the ebb and flow of the tide," the scaffold on which they stood was allowed to fall by releasing the ropes holding it suspended in mid-air. This was always the climax of the spectacle for which thousands of spectators had gathered from far and near.
Not infrequently the judges of a Court of Admiralty had brought before them for trial a pirate whose career had been more infamous than the rest. A cruel and bloody-minded fellow fit only for a halter, – and then the sentence to be hanged by the neck until dead would be followed by another judgment, dooming the lifeless body of the pirate to be hanged in chains from a gibbet placed on some island or jutting point near a ship channel, there to hang "a sun drying" as a warning to other sailormen of evil intent. In Boston harbor there were formerly two islands – Bird Island and Nix's Mate – on which pirates were gibbeted.94 Bird Island long since disappeared and ships now anchor where the gibbet formerly stood. Nix's Mate was of such size that early in the eighteenth century the selectmen of Boston advertised its rental for the pasturage of cattle. Today every foot of its soil has been washed away and the point of a granite monument alone marks the site of the island where formerly a pirate hung in chains beside the swiftly flowing tides.
What constitutes a crime? It all depends upon the minds of the people and oftentimes upon the judges. Manners and crimes vary with the centuries as do dress and speech. Here are some of the crimes penalized by Essex County Courts before the year 1655, viz.: eavesdropping, meddling, neglecting work, taking tobacco, scolding, naughty speeches, profane dancing, kissing, making love without consent of friends, uncharitableness to a poor man in distress, bad grinding at mill, carelessness about fire, wearing great boots, wearing broad bone lace and ribbons. Between 1656 and 1662 we find others, viz.: abusing your mother-in-law, wicked speeches against a son-in-law, confessing himself a Quaker, cruelty to animals, drinking tobacco, i. e., smoking, kicking another in the street, leaving children alone in the house, opprobrious speeches, pulling hair, pushing his wife, riding behind two fellows at night (this was a girl, Lydia by name), selling dear, and sleeping in meeting. The next five years reveal the following, viz.: breaking the ninth commandment, dangerous well, digging up the grave of the Sagamore of Agawam, going naked into the meetinghouse, playing cards, rebellious speeches to parents, reporting a scandalous lie, reproaching the minister, selling strong water by small measure, and dissenting from the rest of the jury.
With such minute supervision of the daily life of the colonists it can readily be appreciated that it was an age for gossiping, meddlesome interference with individual life and liberty and that in the course of time nearly every one came before the courts as complainant, defendant or witness. There were few amusements or intellectual diversions and they could only dwell on the gossip and small doings of their immediate surroundings. But all the while there was underlying respect for law, religion and the rights of others. The fundamental principles of human life were much the same as at the present day, and men and women lived together then as now and as they always will – with respect and love.
Are the Times Improving?
Edward Johnson's estimate in his Wonder-working Providence supposes in 1643, a population in Massachusetts of about 15,000. There were then 31 towns in the Bay Colony, of which 10 were within the limits of the present Essex County. The population of these 10 towns was probably about 6,000. They were located for the most part along the shore line. The same geographical area in 1915 had a population of about 360,000, or exactly 60 times as great as the population in 1643, 272 years before.
APPENDIX A
Building Agreements in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts
Few seventeenth-century agreements to erect buildings in Massachusetts have been preserved. The following, with two exceptions, have been gleaned from court records where originally they were submitted as evidence in suits at law. They are of the greatest interest in connection with present day restoration work as they preserve detailed information of indisputable authority in relation to early building construction in the Bay Colony. The gable window, the second story jet, the stool window and casement sash, the catted chimney and the treatment of the inner and outer walls of the house have much curious interest at the present time. These architectural features long since fell into disuse and only here and there has a fragment survived. Two centuries ago the towns in New England must have presented an appearance most picturesque to our twentieth-century eyes. The dwellings seem to have been studies in projecting angles, strangely embellished with pinnacles, pendants and carved work. The unpainted and time-stained walls, the small windows and elaborate chimney tops, the narrow and curiously fenced ways, winding among the irregularly placed buildings, all contributed to the quaintness of the picture. The following agreements between builder and owner should help to solve some of the debated problems of this bygone construction that now confront those interested in the preservation and restoration of our early New England dwellings.
Contract To Build the First Meetinghouse in Malden, November 11, 1658
Articles of agreement made and concluded ye 11th day of ye ninth mo., 1658, betweene Job Lane of Malden, on the one partie, carpenter, and William Brakenbury, Lieut. John Wayte, Ensigne J. Sprague, and Thomas Green, Senior, Selectmen of Malden, on the behalf of the towne on the other partie, as followeth:
Imprimis: The said Job Lane doth hereby covenant, promiss and agree to build, erect and finish upp a good strong, Artificial meeting House, of Thirty-three foot Square, sixteen foot stud between joints, with dores, windows, pullpitt, seats, and all other things whatsoever in all respects belonging thereto as hereafter is expressed.
1. That all the sills, girts, mayne posts, plates, Beames and all other principal Timbers shall be of good and sound white or Black oake.
2. That all the walls be made upp on the outside with good clapboards, well dressed, lapped and nayled. And the Inside to be lathed all over and well struck with clay, and uppon it with lime and hard up to the wall plate, and also the beame fellings as need shalbe.
3. The roofe to be covered with boards and short shinglings with a territt on the topp about six foot squar, to hang the bell in with rayles about it: the floor to be made tite with planks.
4. The bell to be fitted upp in all respects and Hanged therein fitt for use.
5. Thre dores in such places as the sayd Selectmen shal direct, viz: east, west and south.
6. Six windows below the girt on thre sids, namely: east, west and south; to contayne sixteen foot of glass in a window, with Leaves, and two windows on the south side above the girt on each side of the deske, to contayne six foot of glass A piece, and two windows under each plate on the east, west and north sides fitt [to] conteine eight foote of glass a peece.
7. The pullpitt and cover to be of wainscott to conteyne ffive or six persons.
8. The deacon's seat allso of wainscott with door, and a table joyned to it to fall downe, for the Lord's Supper.
9. The ffloor to be of strong Boards throughout and well nayled.
10. The House to be fitted with seats throughout, made with good planks, with rayles on the topps, boards at the Backs, and timbers at the ends.
11. The underpining to be of stone or brick, and pointed with lyme on the outside.
12. The Allyes to be one from the deacon's seat, through the middle of the house to the north end, and another cross the house ffrom east to west sides, and one before the deacon's seat; as is drawne on the back side of this paper.
13. And the said Job to provide all boards, Timber, nayles, Iron work, glass, shingles, lime, hayre, laths, clapboards, bolts, locks and all other things whatsoever needful and belonging to the finyshing of the said house and to rayse and finish it up in all respects before the twentie of September next ensuing, they allowing help to rayse it.
And the sd Selectmen for themselves on behalfe of the town in Consideracon of the said meeting house so finished, doe hereby covenant, promise and agre to pay unto the sd Job Lane or his Assigns the sume of one hundred and ffiffty pounds in corne, cordwood and provisions, sound and merchantable att price currant and fatt catle, on valuacon by Indifferent men unless themselves agree the prices.
In manner following, that is to say, ffifftie pound befor ye first of ye second mo. next ensuing, And ffifftie pounds befor the first of ye last mo. which shall be in the year sixteen hundred 59, and other ffifftie pounds before the first of ye second mo. which shall be in the year one thousand six hundred and sixtie. And it is further Agreed that when the sd. house is finished in case the sd. Job shall find and judgeth to be woth ten pounds more, that it shall be referred to Indifferent workmen to determine unless the sayd Selectmen shall se just cause to pay the sd. ten pounds without such valuacon.
In witness whereof the partys to these presents have Interchangeably put their hands the day and year above written.
William Brackenbury,John Sprague,Joh. Wayte.
Witness,
Joseph Hills,
Gershom Hills.
Note. This contract for building the first meetinghouse in Malden is copied from the Bi-Centennial Book of Malden, 1850, pages 123-125. The original document then in existence has since disappeared. The contract provides for the construction of a building of the type almost universal in New England at that time, of which an example still exists at Hingham – the "Ship Meeting House," so-called. The square meetinghouse with hip roof surmounted by a "territ," and at a somewhat later date supplied with "lucomb" (dormer) windows in the roof, was the type of public building in the Massachusetts Bay Colony that prevailed well into the eighteenth century, especially in the country towns. The "territ" or belfry seems to have been common, but only the larger towns were supplied with a bell. The bell was rung from the central aisle, the bell rope coming down in the center of the auditorium.
In the Malden meetinghouse, the "territ" was built as provided in the contract, but for some now unknown reason the bell was not hung in it but placed in a framework erected nearby, below a large rock which thereby obtained its name – "Bell Rock," a name that has continued until the present time.
Malden was able to afford the luxury of plastered walls surfaced with lime, but the ceiling showed the joists and boarding. In shingling the roof a distinction was made between long and short shingles. The lower windows were made up with "leaves," i. e., they were double casements, and each opening contained sixteen feet of glass, thereby indicating sash about twenty-eight by forty inches in size. The single casement windows placed high, just under the coving, also were about the same size and undoubtedly were fixed sash, i. e., were not hinged. Two smaller windows on the south side, placed just above the girth, supplied additional light on either side of the pulpit. The deacons' seat at that time was located in front of the pulpit and faced the congregation. The possible use of brick for the underpinning is a surprising feature, especially in a country town. In fact, the use of underpinning at that time seems to have been uncommon.
Contract To Build a Minister's House At Marlborough, Mass., in 1661
This indenture made the fifth day of Aprill one thousand six hundred and sixty one and between obadias Ward, Christopher Banyster and Richard Barnes of the Towne of Marlborough on ye one party; And the Inhabitants and all the Proprietors of the same Towne on ye other party Witnesseth That ye said obadias Waed, Christopher Banyster and Rich'd Barnes hath covenanted, promised and bargained to build a fframe for the minister's house, every way like to ye fframe yt Jno Ruddock hath built for himselfe in ye afores'd Town of Marlborough, the house or fframe is to bee a Girt house thirty-seven foote Long, eighteen foote wide and twelve foote (between Joynts) and a halfe, the studs standing at such distance that A foure foote and a halfe Claboard may reach three studs; and two ffloores of juice [sic] and foure windows on the foreside and two windows at the west end and two Gables on the foreside of ten foote wide; and eight foote Sparr, with two small windows on the foreside of the Gables and they are to ffell all the tinber and bring it in place and do all yt belongs to the fframe only the Towne is to helpe raise the affores'd fframe and all this worke is to bee done and ye fframe raised within a ffortnight after Michll tyde; And this being done the Town of Marlborough doth promise and engage to pay unto them the sd obadias Ward, Christopher Banyster and Rich'rd Barnes the sume of ffifteene Pounds in Corne within fourteen daies after the house is raised the one halfe of it and the other halfe some time in March; the whole paye is to be one third in Wheat and one third in Rie and the other third in Indian Corn, the halfe in Wheat and Rie to be paid fourteen daies after the house is up in Wheat and Rie and the other halfe in Rie and Indian some time in March; wheat at four shillings and sixe pence a bushell and is to be pd at Sudbury betweene Petter King's and Serient Woods house in the streete. —Marlborough, Mass., Town Records.
Contract for the Frame of a Boston House, August 20, 1679
Articles of Agreement indented made and Concluded the twentieth day of August Ano Domi One thousand six hundred Seventy and nine. And in the thirty first yeare of the Reigne of King Charles the Second over &c. Betweene Robert Taft of Brantery, in New England housewright on the one part and John Bateman of Boston in New England aforesd shopkeeper on the other part are as followeth —
Imps The sd Robert Taft for himselfe heires Execrs and Admrs doth hereby covenant promiss and grant to and with the sd John Bateman his Execr and assignees in manner and forme following (that is to Say) that the sd Robert Taft his Execror assignees shal and will erect set up and finish for the sd John Bateman his Execrs or Assignes the frame of a new Tenemt or dwelling house to contain thirty foot in length and twenty Seven foot or thereabout in breadth according to the dimentions of the Cellar frame of the sd house two Storey high besides the garrett and each roome seven foote high betweene the Sumer and floare and to make the sd house to jet at the first storey in the front Eighteen inches and to make and place frame for the Cellar according to the present dimentions thereof and place the same and to build three floares of Sumers and joise and to make and place in the front of the sd house two gable ends to range even with the Roof of the sd house and also two gable ends on the backside to range as aforesd and to make and place in the front of ye Second Storey two large casement windows and two windows in the garett and in the end next the Mill Creeke three windows Vizt one large Casement window in the low[er] Roome and one large Casement window in the Second Storey and one window in the garrett and on the backside one large Casement window in the low[er] Roome two large Casement windows in the second Storey and two windows in the garrett and to make & send to Boston the frame of the Cellar within Six weeks next after the date hereof and to rayse the same in place within one week then next following (provided the cills of the sd Cellar be cleare) and to finish the frame of the sd house on or before the first day of march next and rayse the same with all possible Speed after it is brought to Boston. In Consideration whereof the sd John Bateman for himself his 3 heires execr and Admrs doth hereby covenant promis and grant to and with the sd Robert Taft his Execr and assignes to pay for the transportation of the frame of the sd cellar and house from Brantery the place where it is to be framed to Boston and also to pay or cause to bee paid unto the sd Robert Taft his Execr Admrs or Assignes the full and just sum of thirty pounds Vizt one halfe part thereof in lawfull money of New England and the other halfe part thereof in English goods at money price and to pay the same in manner and forme following (that is to Say) five pounds in money and five pounds in goods at the time of Ensealing hereof and five pounds in money and five pounds in goods when the frame of the Cellar is laid down and the floare of the cellar is laid and five pounds in money and five pounds in goods when the whole worke is compleated and in every respect finished in matter and forme aforesd. And for the true performance hereof the sd partys binde themselves their heires Execr and Admrs each unto the other his Execr and Assignes in the penall Sume of fifty pounds of lawfull money of New England well and truly to be paid by virtue of these presents. In witness whereof the partys above-named to these present Articles interchangeably have Set their hands and Seals the day and yeare first above written.
John Bateman. [Seal]
Signed Sealed & Delivd in presence of
John Hayward scr
Eliezer Moody Servt
Owned in Court p Bateman 27 April 1680 p Is Addington Cler
Vera Copia Attestd Is Addington Cler
– Suffolk County Judicial Court Files, No. 1916.
Note. This contract provides for the frame of a house and not for a complete building. But it is of unusual interest for it supplies proof of the existence in Boston of a house having two gables on each side of the roof, i. e., six gables on a rectangular building twenty-seven by thirty feet in size.
Robert Taft, of Braintree, an ancestor of ex-President Taft, delivered the frame, but before he had completed the work Bateman entered into possession and set his carpenters at work to finish the building. Taft brought suit to recover payment for the frame and the Court gave a verdict in his favor, from which Bateman appealed. From the testimony it appears that on the ground floor there were two rooms, one of which was eleven by twenty-four feet, and a space nine by eight feet had been left in which to build the chimney. The "articles of agreement" required that Taft provide for fourteen windows but he put up "six more than my Couanant was." Bateman, on the other hand, claimed that the frame was "the weakest slenderest and most dozed timber that hath been Seen … most of the timber Wany & on many of the Sumers the Bark left on to make it square and wch Indeed was the Occasion of all this Trouble."
This house was built for a "shop keeper" and probably the long front room on the ground floor was to be used for a shop. It was located at what is now the southeasterly corner of North and Blackstone streets, the canal to the mill pond being on the northerly end of the house and the harbor behind it.
Contract To Build the First King's Chapel, Boston July 21, 1688
Memorandum it is agreed by and between John Holebrook of Weymouth in the county of Suffolk, housewright, Stephen French of the same place, housewright – and Jacob Nash of the same place housewright of the one part and Anthony Hayward Esq of the other part as followeth (that is to say) Imprimis the said John Holebrooke, Stephen French & Jacob Nash doe Covenant pmise and agree to and with the said Anthony Heywood his heires Admrs and Assins and Also in the consideracion herein after mencioned that they the said John Holebrooke Stephen French and Jacob Nash or some or one of them shall & will by or before the last day of November now next ensueing Erect sett up and build on such spott of Ground as the sd Anthony Heywood shall for that end assigne of good sound timber well & workmanlike wrought one frame of building of the Dimensions following (that is to say) in length fifty four feet in breadth thirty six feet studd twenty feet with five windows in the front five windows in the rear and two windows at each end of such dimensions as are sett downe in a platt of the same made by Mr. P. Wells Surveyor and the same frame shall clapboard fill with brick & seale with lime and hair & white washing and the roofe thereof with board & shingles make tight & stanch and shall & will on the west end of the sd frame Erect, build & sett up One Belfry of ten feet square twenty feet above ye roofe of the sd frame and of sufficient strength for a bell of five hundred weight and the said entire frame shall finish & complete with Masons and smiths worke and sufficiently glaze all the sd windows with good square glasse & iron casemts and the same building see completed and finished as above is Covenanted & locked with sufficient locks to the doors thereof shall deliver with the keys thereof in to the sd Anthony Haywood In Consideracion whereof the said Anthony Haywood doth cove't pmise & agree to pay or Cause to be paid unto the said John Holebrooke Stephen French Jacob Nash the sume of two hundred & Sixty pounds (that is to say) One hundred & thirty pounds thereof in Goods & merchandize at the price for which same shall be then sold for money Sixty five pounds in money & sixty five pounds in goods perform'd as the said frame shall be raised and remaining Sixty five pounds in money & sixty five pounds in Goods when the sd building shall be finished as above is Covenanted. In witness whereof all the sd partyes have hereunto to sett their hands and seales and Consent that the same shall remaine in the hands ye sd Anthony Haywood this one & twentieth day of June Anno Dme 1688.
John HolebrookSteph FrenchJacob NashAnthony Haywood
Sealed & delivered in the presence of
Benja Bullivant
Will White
Thaddeus Mackarty
– Suffolk County Judicial Court Files, No. 2598.
Note. The foundations for the first Episcopal Chapel in America were laid in Boston in October, 1688, following a long controversy between the local authorities and the representatives of the King and their followers. Little has been known as to the details of the construction of this building. Judge Sewell records in his Diary, under date of Oct. 16, 1688, "The ground-sills of ye Chh are laid ye stone-foundation being finished." The records of the Church preserve no information and any contemporaneous documents seem to have disappeared with the exception of this contract for the construction of the building which is now printed for the first time. The exact size of the building heretofore has not been known. Rev. Henry Wilder Foote in his Annals of King's Chapel, Boston, 1882, supplies no information although he states that the Chapel was built at a cost of £284.16.0, an amount that probably represents the total cost including furnishings. In the Annual Report of the Boston Cemetery Commissioners for 1902-3, an attempt is made to show by a plan, partly based upon grants of land by the town, the several enlargements of the Chapel made at various times. Here, the size of the first building is shown to have been forty-six by sixty-four feet, proportions quite at variance with the correct size – thirty-six by fifty-four feet, as shown in the contract here printed.
The windows, probably of generous proportions for the time, were to be supplied with iron casements filled with "square glasse." Iron casement sash probably were rare in Massachusetts at that time. One is mentioned in the inventory of the estate of Edward Wharton, of Salem, in 1678, valued at six shillings. Square glass is most unusual. It probably was cut to size at special order as diamond-shaped glass was in common use. In January, 1752, and probably much later, "Diamond Glass, and 6 by 4" were still sold in the shops in Boston. These glass windows were a source of constant expense to the church wardens because of the popular dislike of the townspeople and the antagonism of the Puritan small boy. The first service was held in the Chapel, June 30, 1689. Four moths later the church records show a payment of £5.10.0. "for mending church windows." On November 5, 1691, was taken "A Colecktion for mendin ye church winders" and a few days later £7.0.0. was paid out for the work. The next March, six shillings was paid for "24 Squ: glas."