s 97H-.J P 3 S l Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from 'This project is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniacoun35unse % ■ v: INDEX. S Page U V . • ■ 1 f/fi From ... Date,. | BITS OF LOCAL HISTORY. f BITS OF LOCAL HISTORY. Things That Happened in the Time Long A Hostelrie ihat Had a Noted Patriot a Since Passed. a Guest Perhaps a more complete surprise was The march of improvement will soon never given a Chester gentleman than the takeaway onother of Chester’s historical one successfully carried out by Mrs. buildings, making two within a few feet Gray, wife of Dr. William Gray, who ; of each other that are to be demolished lived in the building ac -’Fifth and Market during the coming building season. The streets, new occupied by Lawyers Broom- Lafayette House, which is to be replaced all, Hinkson and others. Dr. Gray pur¬ by a larger and more pretentious building, chased the ground, on which was an .old was built prior to 1700 and as early as house, m 1836, and as he was in poor- 1733 was used as an inn, as mention of health his wife urged him to spend some > tin's fact is made in an old deed. time at the Virginia- Springs, then a The hotel took its name from the fact noted health resort. that the Marquis Lafayette is said to have, The doctor had scarcely got out of had his wounds, which he received at the town before workmen began tearing down Battle of Brandywine, dressed in the innl the house. When he returned to Chester and was nursed in one of the bedrooms. \ he was surprised to find a roomy house, For some years after this marks on the one of the handsomest in the town, built i floor of the room were pointed out as on the site of the old dwelling, and all blood stains from the gallant Frenchman’s furnished for his reception. His wife, wounds. who managed this big undertaking so THE LAST SLAVE. successfully, died a few years ago. A colord woman known as “Aunt Sal- lie” is said to have been the last slave . A MOSS-COVEEED BUILDING. I owned in Delaware County. She The old stone building on the south | died at the old Perkins mansion, which side of Third street below Edgmcnt ave¬ stood on the lawn for many years. She nue, soon to be torn down to make way was the slave of John Flower, of Chester, for Contractor Provost, was the birch- ; but though he gave her freedom papers, place of the Hanley Hose Company. The she declined to leave the house, declaring Kobin Hood restaurant was kept there by that she was one of the family, so she was •‘Jack” Hanley, who discussed the sub¬ permitted to remain as cook, a position in ject and succeeded in getting a number of which* she lorded it over the other men interested in the project. From the colored people on the estate. She claimed result of a meeting held at this restaurant to be a princess and said she was the i the movement received sufficient impetus daughter of an African king a-nd purch¬ to start the company on a prosperous ased by the captain of a slaver from a j career. tribe tflat had captured her in war. The building was afterwards occupied Another claim of the ownership of the 1 by Lewis Cavette, a flour and feed dealer, last slave in Delaware county is also made. who was a well-known politician and ex¬ It is alleged that Judge Crosby owned erted considerable influence upon the the last people to be in bondage and that elections in Chester. they were “Sampson” and “Old Aunt Bose,” his wife. After being freed they AN ANECDOTE OF JEEEV. lived in ajog cabin near Leiperville Jeremiah Stevenson—-“Jerry,” aa he was familiarly called—who died a few months ago, was a well-known resident of Chester for over half a century. He was deputy sheriff under Hou. John Larkin,. Jr., and was present and assisted iu the ! I execution of Thomas Cropper, the last man to be executed for murder in Dela- I ware county. When the trap was sprung, j Cropper’s arms became free by the loos¬ ing of the rope that bound them and the wild clulcfling of the prisoner’s hands was terrible to witness. Jerry quickly step¬ ped forward and bound the murderer’s arms, a merciful act, as it hastened his j end and put a stop to his suffering. CHESTER’S ANCIENT CITY HALL. There is no colonial relic in the vicinity of Philadelphia which attracts more attention from relic beekers than docs the old City hall of Chester, Pa. The Illustrated American, from which tne above picture is taken, savs: This building was erected in 1724, and was the Court- Louse as long as Chester was the county seat. It is the fifth building used for that purpose, anil it is a massive structure that looks as if it would remain iutact fur centuries longer. It has the pent-roof projection over the windows which was the style in those days, and, rs originally built, had a belfry in which hung a bell bearing date 1729. A new b 11 has re¬ placed it, the old one stili doing "uty at the ancient school-house nn Welsh street The first court in the district was held at Pearson’s inn. The second building was a log house on E !g- mout avenue, built prior to the arrival of Penn. The third court-house was built in 1(583, hut was not used limy as ten years later another was constructed, the foundation of which is yet standing. It was followed by the present structure, as already stated. The old county prison and work-house are contemporaneous with the City hall, hut they have been demol¬ ished and replaced by modern structures. Until three years the interior of the building re¬ mained as originally constiucted, wbeu it was modernized and divided into offices for the city -officials.-_pi_" _’_ " ; Fourth and streets, back a short distance, but fa Market. It was a two-story and attic build iDg, the front being used by the Sheriff and his family as a home. O-i The jail in the last ten years of its use was a poor affair. The window bars were rusty and weak and so insecure were the 5) CAjl rYVvc>u/v ~Xi^\aX cells that no criminal with any ingenuity had much trouble in effecting his escape. It was necessary to keep close guard over BITS OF LOCAL HISTORY. the more important inmates of the jail, for they were certain to get away if this( was not done. The prison system, 'too, ie Old Jail that Stood at Fourth and was lax as compared with that of to-day. ftlarkgtStreets.irk A pump stood in front of the jail and Old residents of Chester remember very as this was used freely by the public it distinctly the old jail that once served! became a nuisance in the winter time, as for the confinement oj^ Delaware county’s) the drippings made a small skating park as very perilous to pedestrians, pump was finally removed and the filled in. Part of the old brickwork the well is under Gerstley’s store, 404 arket street. This well was dug in 41. Dining the days of the Eevolution a double row of Lombardy poplars stood in front of the jail and as they formed a 1 pleasant retreat, the citizens held pub¬ lic meetings there, or sat beneath the shade and discussed the exciting questions of the day. Many a windy orator held forth to listening crowds beneath those old poplars and explained what was ab- ^ Little Reminiscence^of* (he Early Days of lutely necessary to save this country. Marcus Hook. These trees were cut down over a half During the last century and part of the century ago, as they had grown unsightly, j present century Marcus Hook was the and were replaced by lindens. shipbuilding century of Pennsylvania. The old jail was sold in 1850 to James I The lumber was cut in the forest close at Campbell, who was the pioneer textile I hand, while the iron was hauled from the manufacturer in Chester. The site of the j noted Sarem Forge, on Chester Creek near building is now occupied by Masonic Hall. I the present Glen Mills. Marcus Hook’s charter was granted by William Peun in 1701. A meeting was held iu 1760 to give vitality to the old 4u>v.i CW\AJ/\A- ^ClvJ charter, but it was permitted to lie undis¬ turbed for many years after that date. Simon CranstOD, a shipbuilder in the cYV\jlCuL^ (pee, old town, who died in 1856, used to relate an incident of the Eevolution that hap pened when he was lad of eight years. .CU-unjJL/ \ Qy V The British fleet, he said, anchored off Marcus Hook during the occupancy of the English troops of Philadelphia, and one Chester Landmark Going.—The day opened fire on the old town, dam¬ ,_ld Laiayette Hotel at Third and Edg- mont streets, ettestaf, is now beiDg de¬ aging a number of houses. His mother molished and a handsome structure will took him and the other children to the be built in its plane.