THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 21 



cunious debtors, and others more criminal, were often incarcerated. 

 A prisoner on one occasion sent word to the sheriff that if he did not 

 make better fires and keep the place warmer he would leave. 

 Another prisoner, named David Springstead, burrowed under the 

 logs and escaped temporarily, and was thenceforth named "the Fox." 

 Here an incident worth relating occurred at an early day. Three 

 brothers named Young were accused by a prisoner confined in the 

 jail of having killed a man, whose body, he said, he saw them deposit 

 in the interior of a burning charcoal pit. The brothers were arrested, 

 but after an exciting trial were acquitted. Upon gaining their liberty 

 one of the number named John, proceeded to the United States and 

 succeeded in finding the party whom they were accused of murder- 

 ing. Both returned together, and the wretch who had endeavored 

 to have three innocent men executed was sentenced to three months' 

 imprisonment, during which he was to stand three times in the 

 pillory, two hours each time, on which occasions he was pelted un- 

 mercifully with stale eggs. The log jail gave place in 1828 to a stone 

 jail and court house combined, on the site of the present court 

 house, to which it also gave place in 1877. 



The venerable bell which now rings out the alarms of fire from 

 the high tower at the Central fire station with such promptness, 

 making the faithful firemen and horses spring to the call of duty, 

 has quite a history. It was purchased from a manufacturer in Troy, 

 N. Y., in 1836, for ^100, and one of the first four debentures ever 

 issued by the corporation of the town of Hamilton was given in its 

 payment. Therefore, it would seem appropriate to designate the 

 old bell as the father of the city debt. It first swung from the bel- 

 fry of a wooden church on John street, a little south of Rebecca 

 street, where the Gurney company's foundry now stands. In 1840 

 it was removed to a tower on the roof of a building on King William 

 street, which forms part of the present central fire station, which 

 building has been in turn town hall, lock-up, police court, and lastly 

 fire station. About 1874 the bell was removed to the clock-tower 

 on the old market house and city hall, and finally in 1888 it was re- 

 moved to the present fire-tower at the Central station. 



We have seen from what small beginnings and within a single 

 lifetime, Hamilton has risen from a few scattered log shanties, 

 where industrious and hardy settlers were heroically shouldering 

 back the crowding forest, to this beautiful city, filled with so many 



