46 The Financial History of Connecticut. 



that the state give up her claim to "The Gore," for which she had 

 already been paid. The opportunity to make sure of the one million 

 two hundred thousand dollars was too good to be neglected, however, 

 and the assembly, at the May session of 1800, accepted the condition 

 imposed by congress^ and thus renounced all claim to "The Gore" 

 in favor of the United States and the individual states concerned. 

 In this case, the only state concerned was New York. 



This act on the part of the Connecticut legislature wrecked the 

 Gore company which Halsey and Ward had organized. This com- 

 pany had completed the erection of the state house at a cost of be- 

 tween fifteen and twenty-five thousand dollars, had carried on suits, 

 and made many other expenditures necessary to establish their 

 claims. Consequently the shares of the company had cost their 

 present holders about three hundred thousand dollars. This act, 

 at one blow, made valueless the work and expense of this company. 

 In the May session of 1801, the company asked relief from the general 

 assembly and in vain continued to seek redress, until finally, in 

 May, 1805, the legislature granted to the Gore company forty thou- 

 sand dollars, payable in four annual instalments of ten thousand 

 dollars. 2 Thus the ultimate amount paid by the state for the 

 erection of the state house exceeded forty-five thousand dollars. 



The only other expense incurred for the erection of buildings by 

 the state during this period was a sum of four thousand one hundred 



fifty- five dollars for the erection of an arsenal during the fiscal 



years of 1814 and 1815. Repairs and alterations on the 

 Hartford and New Haven state houses cost three thousand eight 

 hundred forty-two dollars more, making a total expenditure by the 

 state, on public buildings, of not quite fifty-four thousand five 

 hundred dollars. 



The figures just stated do not include any money spent on build- 

 ings connected with Newgate, the state prison. Appropriations for 



this purpose are included under the expenses of the prison. 

 Prison Newgate was the remains of an old mine and was first used 



as a prison on December 22, 1773. From 1782 until 1790 

 it was not in use, but in 1790 the general assembly established it 



1 United States Laws, vol. i, 1789-1815, pp. 485, 486. Report (Ms.) 

 made to the general assembly October 1801, by a committee appointed to 

 inquire into the claims of the Connecticut Gore Land Company, p. 15. 



An enquiry concerning the grant of the legislature of Connecticut to Andrew 

 Ward and Jeremiah Halsey, p. 8. P. Canfield, Hartford, 1829. 



^ An enquiry concerning the grant of the legislature of Connecticut to 

 Andrew Ward and Jeremiah Halsey, p. 23. P. Canfield,. Hartford, 1829. 



