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The first court in the county
was held in the "big room" of Buehler's Hotel, at the corner of
French and Third streets, Erie,
which was then and for many years afterward the central portion of the town.
From there the place of holding the court was changed to the log jail on
Second street, and the quarters in that modest structure being found too
small, another removal was made to apartments in Conrad Brown's building, on
the opposite corner of Third and French streets from Buehler's. These
premises were occupied until the completion of the first court house in 1808.
The latter was a small brick building that stood in the West
Park, at Erie, a little north of the soldiers' and
sailors' monument. The county was too poor to afford the total expense, and
the State generously granted $2,000 toward the erection of the building. On
Sunday morning, March 23, 1823, between the hours of 12 and 3 o'clock, this
court house was destroyed by fire, with all the books, papers and records, inflicting
a loss to the county which cannot be measured in dollars and cents, and the
effects of which were felt for fully a generation after the event. The fire
was caused by taking ashes out of a stove on Saturday, throwing them into a
nail keg and neglecting to move them out of doors. When the flames were
discovered, they had advanced too far to permit the saving of any of the
contents of the building. The ensuing May term of court was held in the Erie
Academy, and that edifice was rented for county purposes and occupied by the
various county officials for two years.
On the 2d of April, 1823, P. S. V. Hamot, Rufus S.
Reed, Thomas Laird, Robert Brown, James J. Sterrett,
John Morris and Thomas H. Sill entered into an agreement to advance $2,000
for one year, without interest, to the county for the purpose of rebuilding
the court house. This proposition was accepted by the Commissioners, who
advertised at once for proposals. The job of filling the cellar of the old
building, and packing it with clay, was let to Abiather
Crane on the 21st of April ensuing. On the 24th of May, a contract for
rebuilding the walls on the old foundation was let to Thomas Mehaffey and Joseph Henderson for $1,950. The carpenter
work and furnishing was awarded on the 14th of January, 1824, to William
Benson and William Himrod, of Waterford, for $2,000. September 7, 1824,
the Commissioners contracted with Thomas Mehaffey
to lath and plaster the building, and on the same day with John Dunlap to
finish the carpenter work, the consideration being $434 in the first
instance, and $100 in the second.
The new building was completed and occupied in the spring of 1825. It stood
nearly on the site of its predecessor, and was a two-story brick structure,
surmounted by a wooden cupola. The entrance fronted the south, and opened
into a vestibule, from which three other doors gave access respectively to
the court room proper and to the galleries. The interior consisted of one
room, with galleries around three sides. For nearly thirty years, this was
the principal hall of the town, being used miscellaneously for religious
worship, political meetings, entertainments, and in fact for almost every
public purpose. The building was long the most elegant court house in
Northwestern Pennsylvania, and its erection was a heavy burden upon the
county. The County Commissioners hesitated for some time about levying a tax
to meet the expenditure, the credit of the county fell to a low figure, and
no improvement took place until a member of the board was elected who was not
afraid to do his duty. In the cupola of the court house hung a bell which had
quite an interesting history. It belonged originally to the British ship
Detroit, captured by Perry in the battle of Lake Erie. From that vessel, it
was transferred to the United States brig Niagara, one of the lake fleet,
where it was in use till 1823, when it was placed in the navy yard at Erie.
On the abandonment of the navy yard in 1825, when most of the material was
sold at auction, the old bell was bought by R. S. Reed, who disposed of it to
the County Commissioners, by whom it was hung in the cupola of the court
house. In 1854, after the arrival of the bell for the present court house,
the old bell was stolen, but was recovered in the course of a few months, and
finally purchased by the city of Erie for the sum of $105.
A little to the west of the court house was a two-story building containing
the county offices.
The corner-stone of the third and present court house was laid on Tuesday,
August 17, 1852, at 2 P. M., an address being delivered on the occasion by
Hon. John Galbraith, President Judge. The building required nearly three
years to complete, the first court held therein being on the 7th of May,
1855. It was modeled upon the court house at Carlisle, Penn., after plans by
Thomas H. Walter, an architect of considerable celebrity. The Commissioners
undertook to do the work without contract, and to that end employed John Hill
to superintend the carpenter work and William Hoskinson
the mason work, both at $3 per day. Daniel Young, of Erie, furnished the
brick; William Judson & Co., of Waterford, the timber and lumber; Levi
Howard, of Franklin Township, the stone; and Cadwell
& Bennett, of Erie, did the roofing. On May 1, 1854, after about $30,000
had been expended, a contract was made with Hoskinson
& Hill to finish the building, put up the fence, grade the grounds, and
do all work pertaining to the completion of the edifice, for $61,000,
deducting what had already been expended. Afterward, there was an allowance of
$2,392 to these parties for extras, making the cost of the building when
accepted by the Commissioners over $63,000. Subsequent repairs, additions and
improvements have increased this sum to about $100,000.
The court house is 61 feet by 132 in size, and contains all the county
offices, each in a separate fire-proof room. The first story, apart from the
entrance hall, is equally divided by a vestibule running the full length,
which is crossed by another in the center. At each end of the two vestibules
is a door, making four in all, opening into the building. On the right hand,
entering from the front, are the Prothonotary's and
Recorder's offices, and on the left, those of the Sheriff, Treasurer, County
Commissioners and Clerk of the Courts. The court room, a large apartment
capable of holding nearly a thousand persons, with high, plainly frescoed
walls and ceilings, is in the second story, being reached by two flights of
stairs beginning in the hall on the first floor and terminating in another on
the upper. The part of the room assigned to the bench and bar, which is at
the north end, opposite the entrance, is railed off from the balance and
neatly carpeted. The seats for spectators rise gradually from the bar to the
door, and are more comfortable and convenient than usual in buildings of this
sort.
Portraits of some of the former Judges and older members of the bar adorn the
walls. The room is an excellent one for the purpose, aside from a defect in
its acoustic properties, to remedy which several attempts have been made
without avail. In the rear of the court room are the grand jury room -- which
is also the receptacle of the law library -- two other jury rooms, a ladies'
room, wash room, etc. A narrow stairway back of the court room is used by the
officers and attorneys and for bringing in prisoners. The building is heated
by steam, lighted with gas, and supplied with water by the city water system.
Taken altogether, with several serious defects, it is one of the handsomest
and most convenient court houses in the State, a credit to the county and an
ornament to the city of Erie.
A tasty brick building for the janitor was erected during the year 1880,
between the court house and jail, at a cost of about $800. The lot on which
the court house stands was purchased for the County Commissioners in 1804 by
Judge John Vincent, who was present at the dedication of the building in
1852. It was upon this lot within the old jail ground that Henry Francisco,
the only person ever executed in the county, was hung by Sheriff Andrew
Scott, in 1838.
The County Jail
The first jail was a small log building, erected soon after the organization
of the county, on the southwest corner of Holland and Second streets. It was
in this modest structure that court was once held, as before stated. A second
jail, of brick, was put up on the site of the present court house in 1830.
The third and existing jail was erected in 1850, and remodeled in 1869 at an
expense of $39,671, under the superintendence of R. C. Chapman. It consists
of a Sheriff's residence and jail combined, both three stories high, fronting
on Fifth street, in the rear of the court house. In a wing on the west side
in the office of the warden, through which all persons have to pass on
entering or leaving the jail. A high stone wall completely incloses the jail proper, leaving a small yard, where the
prisoners are allowed to exercise. The interior of the jail is divided into
six rows of cells, two rows to each story, and each cell is closed with a
heavily grated door. In front of the cells, on the first and second floors,
at a distance of about three feet from the line of doors, runs an iron
grating, which answers the double purpose of keeping the prisoners more
secure and giving them a narrow pathway in which to stretch their limbs. The
cells on the third story do not have this extra grating, and are used for
women and the milder class of criminals. Every cell is alike in its contents,
being provided with two iron frames attached to the walls for bedsteads, a
mattress and blankets, a water closet, and a supply of city water. The floors
and stairways are of iron, the walls are of stone, and no wood is seen in the
building aside from the tables and seats. On the third floor of the Sheriff's
house is the hospital, in which is a bath tub and other conveniences for the
sick.
The regular bill of fare for the prisoners is as follows: Breakfast -- a loaf
of bread and cup of coffee; dinner -- meat, potatoes, and sometimes other
vegetables; supper -- a cup of tea and the balance of the bread left from
breakfast and dinner. The meals are handed in to the prisoners through a
narrow opening in the wall between the jail and the Sheriff's kitchen. To the
above is frequently added some palatable dish, through the kindness of the
Sheriff's family, and on holidays the prisoners are usually treated to roast
turkey. The average of inmates is about twenty. This number is generally
doubled tow or three weeks before the Court of Quarter Sessions, and
correspondingly reduced after they adjourn. Prisoners of the worst class are
sentenced to the Western Penitentiary at Allegheny City; young men who are
convicted of the first offense, to the Allegheny County Work House; and boys
and girls to the State Reform School at Morganza,
Washington County.
The first jailer was Robert Irvin, who was succeeded by John Gray, James
Gray, William Judd, Robert Kincaid and Cornelius Foy. John Gray held the
position, off and on, for many years. The first Sheriff who acted in the
capacity of jailer was Albert Thayer, who was elected in 1825. For some years
past the Sheriff's duties have been too onerous to allow of his taking
immediate charge of the jail, and the institution has been in care of a
warden, acting under and responsible to that officer. No employment is given
to the prisoners, and they spend the day time in reading, chatting, mending
their clothing and concocting mischief.
The Almshouse
In the year 1832, while John H. Walker was a member of the Assembly, he
procured an act ceding the third section of two thousand acres of State land
in Mill Creek Township, west of Erie, to the borough, the proceeds to be used
in constructing a canal basin in the harbor. It was stipulated in the act
that one hundred acres should be reserved to Erie County on which to erect an
almshouse, the land to be selected by three commissioners appointed by the
County Commissioners. The latter officers, on May 7, 1833, named William
Miles, George Moore and David mcNair, who chose the
piece of ground on the Ridge road, three miles west of Erie, which has ever
since been known as the "poor house farm." The original tract was
increased to about one hundred and thirteen acres including the allowance by
the purchase of a small piece from Mr. Warfel in
1878.
Soon after the selection of the farm, an agitation began for the erection of
a county almshouse on the property. A proposition to that effect was
submitted to the people in 1839, and, after a hard fight, was voted down by a
majority of 154. The friends of the measure claimed that the question had not
been fairly treated, and it was again brought before the people at the spring
election of 1840, when it was carried by the close vote of 1,599 in favor to
1,594 in opposition. Three Directors of the Poor were elected the same year.
Contracts were soon after let for the construction of a building, and by the
fall of 1841 it was ready for the reception of the paupers. Before that, each
borough and township took care of its own poor, under the supervision of two
overseers elected by their citizens. The original building was of brick, and
for the time, was one of considerable magnitude.
The present large and imposing edifice was commenced in 1870 and
substantially completed in 1871, though the finishing and furnishing
continued until 1873. Its cost, as shown by the requisitions upon the County
Commissioners from 1869 to 1873, was $118,000. A further sum of $10,000 was
voted in 1874, of which perhaps one half was applied to the improvement of
the building and grounds. About $3,000 of the balance are understood to have
been used in building the barn, and nearly $2,000 in putting down gas wells
upon the farm. The building for insane male persons was added in 1875, at a
cost of about $2,000.
The almshouse stands on a rise of ground between the Ridge road and Lake
Shore Railroad, facing the former, with which it communicates by a wide
avenue lined on both sides with young trees. The main building is of brick,
four stories high, 188 feet long by 44 to 46 wide, with a cupola in the
center and another at each end. Extending from the center on the north side
is a three-story brick wing, 86x30feet, and a short distance to the west is
the small two-story brick building above referred to, for the care and
safe-keeping of insane males. On the first floor of the main building are the
Steward's office and family apartments, the men's sitting room, store room,
bath room, etc. The three other floors are divided into sleeping rooms,
except that a large space at the west end of the second story is used as the
female hospital. The north wing contains the paupers' dining room and kitchen
on the first, the women's insane department on the second, and the men's
hospital on the third floor. The capacity of the building is for about four
hundred inmates. All the cooking for the paupers is done by steam. The
heating is effected mainly be steam generators, in part by natural gas from
wells on the farm, which also supply the light. The water is pumped from a
spring to a tank on the fourth story, from which it is distributed over the
entire building. Attached to the building is a medical depository and a small
library, the latter the contribution of Hon. Henry Souther.
The food supplied to the inmates is clean and abundant, though plain.
Breakfast is made up of beef soup, meat, potatoes, bread and tea or coffee,
as the parties choose. For dinner, they are furnished coffee with sugar and
milk, one kind of meat, potatoes or beans, wheat bread, and frequently soup,
turnips, beets and other vegetables. To this bill of fare is added on Sundays
ginger cake and some kind of pie. Supper usually consists of bread, coffee
and cold meat, with occasionally a bowl of rice. Each pauper is given a pint
of coffee and helps him or herself to the other articles on the table unless
incapable by weakness or deformity. The hours for meals are: Breakfast at
7:15, dinner at 12:30, and supper at 5:30 or 6. Every inmate is obliged to be
in bed by 9 o'clock P. M., and to rise by half past six in the morning. Those
who are over thirty-five years of age are allowed a certain quantity of
tobacco each week. Few of the paupers are able to work and those who are have
to make themselves useful, the men by helping in the garden or on the farm,
and the women by sewing or doing household service.
The sleeping apartments are plain, but comfortable. Each inmate is provided
with a cheap bedstead, straw tick, two sheets, either a feather or straw
pillow, and in winter with two comforters. They generally sleep a dozen or
two in one large room. Great care is taken to keep the bedding clean, in
order to prevent the spread of disease.
The poor house farm is one of the best in the county, and has generally been
kept under fine cultivation. A few rods north of the buildings is a large
spring, which will furnish an ample supply of water for all the needs of the
institution to the end of time. The barn is of the modern style, with
basement stable. A little to the east, inclosed by
a neat fence, is the new pauper burial ground, which already contains the
bodies of about 100 unfortunates. Each grave is marked by a stone and a
number corresponding with the one in the death book.
The charity system of the county is in charge of three Directors of the Poor,
one of whom is elected annually. They employ a Steward of the almshouse, a
Secretary and Treasurer, an Attorney, a Physician for the almshouse (who also
attends to the Erie poor), and one physician each at Corry, North East,
Union, Waterford, Albion, Harbor Creek, Edinboro,
Mill Village, Girard, Wattsburg, Middleboro,
Springfield and Fairview. The subordinate employees at the almshouse are one
engineer, two farmers, one keeper and one nurse for the insane men, one
keeper of the hospital, one janitor at the office, two keepers for the insane
women, and four female servants. Only those who are thought to be incurably
insane are kept at the institution. Those for whom there is still hope are
sent to the State hospital at Warren.
The number of paupers in the almshouse on the 1st of January, 1881, were --
white male adults, 136; colored male adults, 1; white female adults, 77;
colored female adults, 1; white children, 5; colored children, 1; total 221;
of whom 81 were natives and 140 foreigners. Of the above there were -- insane
males, 20; insane females, 21; total, 41; natives, 26; foreigners, 15; 2 males
and 3 females were blind, and 2 males were idiotic.
During the quarter ending on the 31st of December, 1880, the Directors gave
outdoor relief to 214 families, located as follows: Erie, 157; Corry, 20;
Union,10; North East, 3; Wattsburg, 5; Edinboro, 1; Lockport, 2; Girard, 5; Conneaut, 4; Elk
Creek, 4; Le Boeuf, 1; Washington, 1; and
Waterford, 1. From the 1st of January to April 1, 1881, the number of tramps
kept over night was 149. They were given supper, lodging and breakfast, and
then obliged to "move on." Their lodging room is in the basement.
The Directors of the Poor furnish the coal for the tramp rooms in the police
stations at Erie and Corry, as well as the crackers and cheese which are
given the tramps to eat.
The keeper of the City Hospital at Erie is paid by the Directors of the Poor,
who also furnish the coal for the building. The regular pay of the keeper is
$22.50 a month. In case he has a small-pox patient this is increased to $3 a
day.
By way of showing how pauperism has increased since the war for the Union,
some figures for 1860 and 1880 are taken from the official reports:
1860 -- Population of Erie County, 49,432. Inmates of the almshouse at the
beginning of the year, 107. Total expense for the support of the poor of the
entire county, including some old debts on building, $7,629.
1880 -- Population, 74,573. Paupers in the almshouse, 221. Total expense for
the whole county, $28,659. Increase of indoor paupers, double; of expense,
nearly four times.
An Extraordinary Case
The following statement from the Erie Dispatch of October 20, 1882,
deserves a place in this connection:
"Yesterday there died at the almshouse one of the most notable cases on
record, a case which has caused a vast amount of discussion among the
different physicians under whose observation it has fallen from time to time.
The deceased's name is Clara McArthur, who was born in Tionesta, Venango County, fifty-six years ago. When a girl, she was
very bright and active until twelve years of age, when she lifted her sick
mother from the bed, then immediately picked up a large kettle of hot water
which she placed by the bedside.While in the act of
raising the latter weight some chord, in her own words, appeared to give way,
and in consequence of the strain, which affected the heart, she was unable to
take a dozen steps or sit up more than a few minutes at a time until her
twenty-seventh year. During these fifteen years the heart almost ceased to
throb, and any effort to walk or take a sitting posture brought on an attack of
fainting.
"While in her twenty-eighth year, she recovered sufficiently to be taken
to church, and while sitting in the pew met a friend she had not seen for
many years, who carried a child in her arms. Miss McArthur, forgetting her
condition of weakness, lifted the child into her own lap and fell to the
floor unconscious, the exertion having proved too much for her strength.
Since that unfortunate moment, the poor woman was unable to sit up longer
than an hour at a time for more than six years, after which time, the malady
growing worse, this change of position had to be discontinued. Lying helpless
from that time on she was admitted to the almshouse sixteen years ago, and
has not occupied any position other than reclining on the back to the hour of
her death. The pulse could scarcely be detected by the most delicate touch,
and in consequence of the heart's feeble action she was so keenly sensitive
to the slightest breath of chilliness that artificial means for keeping any
degree of warmth in the body was continually employed. For months at a time
she was unable to speak. Dr. Lovett, the county physician, believed she would
have died in a very short time if compelled to assume a sitting or standing
attitude. "Miss McArthur was very intelligent and passed the hours in
perusing religious tracts, periodicals and the Bible. A Christian more devout
never lived, and an unwavering trust in the Creator enabled her to bear her
affliction with resigned patience, an expression of cheerfulness never being
absent from her face. Amiable in disposition, she never had a complaint to
make, and was a favorite with every inmate of the building, while those to
whom she was intrusted took pleasure in
administering to the wants of the helpless woman."
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Requisitions of the Directors
of the Poor, For the Support
of the Poor, Exclusive of Building Fund, etc.
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Year
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Year
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1845
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$ 5,000
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1870
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$ 20,000
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1850
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1,500
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1873
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38,000
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1855
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4,500
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1875
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45,000
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1860
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8,000
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1878
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35,000
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1863
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8,500
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1880
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20,000
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1868
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11,000
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1883
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35,000
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1867
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30,000
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The following are extracts from the report of the Board of Public
Charities of Pennsylvania, of January 1, 1883:
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Criminal Business of the Courts of Erie County
for the Year 1882
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Persons
charged with crime
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295
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Bills
laid before the grand jury
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144
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True
bills
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102
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Ignored
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22
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Presentments
made
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98
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Bills
tried
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56
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Acquitted
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30
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Convictions
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49
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Nolle proseques
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62
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Plead
guilty
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19
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In
prison, September 30, 1882
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12
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Recognizances forfeited
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11
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Amount of recognizances
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$900
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Nature of offenses for which convictions were had: Aggravated
assault, 2; arson, 2; assault, 1; assault and battery, 3; assault to kill,
2; burglary, etc., 4; disorderly breach of the peace, 2; false pretense, 2;
fornication, etc., 2; larceny, 13; misdemeanors, 2; robbery, 2; vagrancy,
6; violation of the liquor law, 6.
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Statistics of the Erie County
Prison
for the Year 1882
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Maintenance
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$3,318.00
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Salaries, wages, etc.
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400.00
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Fuel and light
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432.00
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Clothing, etc.
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160.00
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Repairs
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98.00
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Transportation
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1,000.00
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Other expenses
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169.00
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Total expenses
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5,578.00
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Average number of inmates
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28.00
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Annual cost of provisions and clothing per capita
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125.00
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Weekly cost per capita
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2.41
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Erie County Convicts in
Western Penitentiary During 1881
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Whole number
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40
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Average number
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24
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Received during the year (all white)
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7
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Could read and write
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6
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Days supported
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8,751
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Value of convict labor
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$2,177
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Charged to county, being deficiency of support by labor
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$788
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Commitments From Erie County
to the
Reform School at Morganza
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Boys, 8, girls, 3
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11
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Illiterate
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4
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Read imperfectly
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3
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Read and write imperfectly
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2
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Read and write well
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1
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Read, write and cipher
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1
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Number of inmates from county at the end of the year
(boys, 16, girls, 4)
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20
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|
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|
|
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Work House
The number from Erie County in the Allegheny County Work House, for the
last quarter of 1880, was thirteen. This is not a State institution, and
the prisoners from Erie are kept under a special contract between the
Commissioners of the two counties.
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Miscellaneous
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Indigent insante from Erie County at Dixmont, Sept. 30, 1882
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2
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Indigent insane in the State Hospital at Warren (males, 39,
females, 30)
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69
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Inmates of the Training School for Feeble Minded Children from
Erie County (boys, 3, girls, 2)
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5
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|
|
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|
|
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Statistics of Expenses for the
Support of the Poor
of Erie County for the Year Ending September 30, 1881
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Whole number in almshouse
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182
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Sane (men, 81, women, 57, children, 2)
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140
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Insane and idiotic (men, 21, women, 19, children, 2)
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42
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Blind (men, 2, women, 1)
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3
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Natives
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70
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Foreigners
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112
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Hospital cases (men, 17, women, 8)
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25
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Expenses for 1882 (total in-door)
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$29,925
|
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Expenses for 1882 (total out-door)
|
7,159
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Expenses for 1882, provisions
|
8,092
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|
Expenses for 1882, salaries, wages and fees
|
6,973
|
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Expenses for 1882, fuel and light
|
2,200
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Expenses for 1882, clothing and bedding
|
727
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Expenses for 1882, insane in hospitals
|
4,471
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Expenses for 1882, repairs
|
1,453
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Expenses for 1882, extraordinary
|
4,568
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Expenses for 1882, all other
|
1,618
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Receipts
|
2,744
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Net
cost of almshouse and out-door relief
|
34,140
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