April’s retrospective is devoted to highlighting a selection of cases involving crimes and the sentences meted out for them by the New Haven County and Superior Courts. In recognition of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month, we also include cases involving animals.
Please note that this compilation is not comprehensive. There are several cases involving or mentioning crime, punishments, and animals in the New Haven County and Superior Court records. This retrospective is meant to serve as a starting point for future researchers and investigators, giving a glimpse into the information these records contain.
Report for Rex vs. John Leach, November 1772. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
Given that New Haven was a Puritan colony, the legal system was modeled on Biblical law. In addition to cases of debt, trespass, property disputes, theft, and slander, people could be prosecuted for crimes of “sin” such as premarital sex, illegitimacy, lascivious carriage, swearing, drunkenness, and profaning the Sabbath. Punishments for such offenses could include fines and whippings. In this post, we examine a trio of interesting, unusual, and outrageous Rex cases discovered in the County Court records.
Digitized case documents (Rex vs. Sarah Humervile)
Digitized case documents (Rex vs. John Leach) [in progress]
Digitized case documents (Rex vs. Ezekiel Porter Belden and Isaac Baldwin) [Please note that when you visit this link, you will need to scroll down and click on the Parent Item link to see all documents for this case.]
An illustration from The Black Prince of John Naimbanna berating a man in England for beating his horse, by J. Evans, 1820. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
In colonial and early American Connecticut, there was little concept of animal rights. People generally viewed animals as livestock, food, and property to be utilized and exploited, or nuisances to be contained and destroyed. Given that the colonists were dependent on animals for food, labor, and travel, it was not uncommon for animals to be at the center of legal disputes.
Animals in Colonial and Early American Connecticut
Digitized case documents (Jess Austin vs. Jonathan Lewis)
Digitized case documents (Susanna Hotchkiss vs. Samuel Starr Fairchild)
Bail bond for Lizzie Howard, August 1873. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.
According to the New Haven Superior Court records, Emily Pierce, Georgie Merton, Lizzie Howard, and Louisa Jennings of Hamden were charged with conspiracy in August 1873. But according to the New Haven Register (then called the Evening Register), they were charged with intoxication. What actually happened? We delve into this mystery.
Superior Court Finds, Part I: Conspiracy or Intoxication?
Digitized case documents in progress.
In addition to the blog, we profiled several cases highlighting crime, punishment, and animals in colonial and early American Connecticut on Instagram:
In 1716, Jacob Robinson sued Joseph Tuttle for slander, alleging that Tuttle called him a “whore master” in front of several people at Thomas Smith Jr.’s house.
In a petition to the New Haven County Superior Court dated July 5, 1732, John Rogers requested exoneration after he found himself in a heap of trouble for attending the “wrong” prayer meeting.
In 1744, the New Haven County Superior Court prosecuted Roger Martin of Wallingford for counterfeit, a serious crime that carried punishments including branding, whipping, being committed to a workhouse, and forfeiting all property to the colony.
In 1762, Nathaniell Meigs of Guilford claimed that Joseph Hilliard and Gideon Allen of Killingsworth set fire to two of his ships in a case of arson—an offense that could mean the death penalty if the men were convicted.
A sheriff’s bill for the hanging of Joseph Mountain, a Black man who was executed on October 20, 1790 for the rape of Eunice Thompson of New Haven, “a Maid of the Age of thirteen years,” starkly demonstrates the financial impact of capital punishment.
Colonial Connecticut enacted brutal punishments for burglary. For this crime, Matthias Collen, John Hinson, and Isaac Frasier received sentences including branding, whipping, having an ear nailed to a post and cut off, being sent to a workhouse or prison—and even being put to death for repeated offenses.
Burglary continued to be punished harshly after the American Revolution. In November 1818, the New Haven County Court sentenced William Dawson to pay a fine and be “whipped Six stripes on his naked body publicly.”
In January 1824, the State of Connecticut prosecuted Yale medical student Ephriam Colburn for grave robbery and sentenced him to pay a fine and serve nine months in Old New-Gate Prison.
While animal rights were nearly nonexistent in colonial Connecticut, there is evidence that animal cruelty was unacceptable in certain circumstances. In 1727, Captain William Dudley of Guilford successfully sued Nathan Palmer of Branford for taking two of his mares, tying a plank to their tails, and turning them loose into the wilderness.
Another point of legal contention among the Connecticut colonists was property damage caused by other people’s animals. In 1719, Benjamin Brockett of Wallingford sued Warham Mather of New Haven (a cousin of Cotton Mather) for damage that Mather’s ox wreaked in Brockett’s cornfield.
Given that the colonists and early Americans were dependent on animals for food, labor, and travel, it was not uncommon for people to file lawsuits seeking recompense for animals that were “unfit for service” due to illness, injury, or attack. In November 1811, Chauncey Cooper of Oxford sued Henry Hartley of New Haven regarding a horse that he’d purchased from Hartly, which he later discovered “had an Incurable disease called the consumption.”
As noted in a previous post, the records for these cases, as well as several of the cases previously profiled in this blog, are currently in the process of being digitized. They will eventually be available for public viewing at the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA).
This project is made possible through funding from the Historic Documents Preservation fund of the Office of the Public Records Administrator. We also recognize the past support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
Connecticut State Library | 231 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106 | 860-757-6500 * Toll-free 866-886-4478
Disclaimers & Permissions | Privacy Policy | State of Connecticut Home Page
The State of Connecticut is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.
0 Comments.