Journal Opinion January 24, 2024
This is the first of a two-part series on crime in the area
before the 1950s. The information is from local newspapers, town histories and
online sources. Orford historian Art Pease generously allowed me to use some
examples from his history of crime in that community.
I have not included murder in this series, as I completed a
three-part coverage of that crime in the past.
That is posted on my blog at larrycoffin.blogspot.com under “Murder Most
Vile.”
In this column, I explore some examples of counterfeiting,
horse and auto theft, and violations of alcohol and marijuana
prohibitions.
Before establishing a uniformed state police force in New
Hampshire in 1937 and Vermont in 1947, the county sheriff was the primary
law-enforcement officer. A growing number of local police officers and game
wardens augmented this official. Federal law enforcement officers included U.
S. marshals and FBI agents.
From the 18th century well into the 20th
century counterfeit money was a chief crime.
Counterfeiting of local bank notes added to the mistrust of
currency in early New England.
Counterfeiters not only printed fake bank notes but altered real bills
to manipulate the face value. It was
difficult for the average person to distinguish between the real and the bogus.
Counterfeiters also altered or fabricated replicated
coinage. Sometimes, it was as simple as paring off the silver from the edge of
coins. To prevent this coin clipping, later coins had a reeded or ridged edge
which they continue to have today.
In 1874, the Bradford Opinion carried the story of
Devil John Martin, an early Bradford resident. Using a nearby cave for his
operation, Martin and his gang melted down old teapots and other items to
create coinage. They also counterfeited currency. This may be just a good
story, as I could find no other references to Martin.
While some counterfeiters escaped punishment, others did
not. In 1795, Vermonter Seba Beebe had his right ear cut off and his forehead
branded with a “C” after being convicted of counterfeiting.
In 1804, the Thomas Call gang operated out of a private home
in New Boston, New Hampshire They were
apprehended with as much as $20,000 in fake currency and tried. Call escaped
from jail and was spotted in Lebanon, NH. Soon after, it was reported that he
drowned.
Three other notorious counterfeiters operated locally. The
first, Stephen Burroughs was described as a “most shrewd and accomplished
villain.” In 1806, Orange County’s Sheriff Mica Barron of Bradford traveled to
Lower Canada and apprehended Burroughs.
In 1808, Augustus Bartlett was caught with counterfeit $10
bills and, after a trial in Caledonia Superior Court, was sent to the
newly-opened Windsor Prison. At that time, about one-half of the convicts there
were counterfeiters.
In 1849, counterfeiter William Warburton, nicknamed “Bristol
Bill,” and his partner Christian Meadows operated with their gang out of a
house in Groton. Recognition of a gang member by a local bank employee led to
the arrest of the entire gang, Their printing press and copper plates were
seized.
In 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was created to deal with
widespread counterfeiting. At that time,
as much as one-third of all currency was bogus. The number of newspaper notices
of counterfeiting declined in the late 19th century. But it did not disappear completely.
In 1933, The United
Opinion noted that the Secret Service reported that counterfeiting had
increased due to the rise in unemployment due to the Great Depression. “When we have hard times, we also have more
counterfeiting,” the report declared. “More counterfeit has been seized since
1929 than in any other period.”
In 1937, the newspaper carried the report that a New York
gang that had been operating in Vermont had been apprehended. They were
responsible for one-half of the counterfeit funds in the nation.
Of course, counterfeiting was not the only crime. Throughout
the 19th century there were frequent reports of horse theft. It was a serious
offense as personal horses were both a family’s mode of transportation and
essential to farming and businesses.
Some horse thieves
were accomplished professionals and others quite amateurish. An example of the
latter occurred in May 1856 when a young man from Lyndon Center “helped himself
to a horse in Waterford.” He took the horse to St. Johnsbury and attempted to
sell the horse to Hiram Hill. It turned out that the horse was Hill’s. Despite
a quick getaway across the Passumpic River, the thief was caught and
convicted.
In January 1860, John Leger, “a notorious horse thief” who
had recently been released from Concord State prison, stole a horse and sleigh
in Charlestown, NH. Notice of the theft was sent by telegram to towns up and
down the valley.
Fairlee Police officer Kibey, having received the telegram
about the theft, recognized Leger and arrested him. He held the thief until
officials from Charlestown arrived.
Leger was notorious enough to have his arrest carried in most Vermont
newspapers.
After the 1850s,
Anti-Horse Thief Associations formed in several western and southern states.
These groups developed methods for apprehending those who stole horses and
other animals and lobbied for strict punishments. Despite western stories to the contrary, they
did not lynch horse thieves. I found no evidence of similar organizations in
Vermont or New Hampshire.
Edward Montague, a “noted horse thief,” was arrested for
theft and held in the Grafton County jail in August 1872. He had stolen teams
in both Orford and Lebanon. Montague confessed to having taken 17 horses within
the last year and about 80 in the previous three years’ time. This was not his
first arrest, as he had previously been arrested in New York for obtaining
funds under false pretenses.
In 1896, Frank Emery was captured in Rutland. The
45-year-old man had been stealing horses for most of his life and had spent a
good deal of it in prison. Horse thieves
were getting up to 6 years of hard labor at that time.
In 1894, horse thief Charles Rufus Young was given ten years
at Windsor. He was released for good behavior and again began to steal
horses. He was re-arrested in Rutland in
1903 but died “as a result of injuries received when captured.” In all, he
stole at least 75 horses and spent decades in jail.
Local newspapers carried many news items about the theft of
other animals, including cattle and chickens. They were primarily stolen from
backyards or barns. In 1871, three residents of Orford were apprehended for
stealing sheep. Thefts increased during hard times, when food shortages forced
individuals to turn to robbery.
The arrival of the automobile and the decline in the number
of horses after 1913 led to the following editorial in the local newspaper,
“The thief seems to be a permanent member of society varying his field to keep
abreast of the inventions. We used to have the horse thief, then came the
bicycle thief, and now the automobile thief has appeared.”
In 1913, the Opinion
featured several notices warning people to lock their cars. It went on to
suggest, “The auto thief has many things more his way because all he needs to
know is how to drive a car. He can then make a quick getaway…”
Some cars were “simply misappropriated, sometimes by persons
who needed a ride and, sometimes, by joy riders…who left the car after a night
of pleasure.”
It was reported in
the mid-1920s that “about 92% of all stolen cars are recovered, although many
were damaged.” This recovery rate resulted from “organized co-operation and
unremitting effort on the part of automobile clubs and the police.”
As with other crimes, there were organized gangs of auto
thieves. One unlucky bunch was apprehended in Groton in December 1927. They had unfortunately stolen the car of a
retired sheriff in Montpelier, resulting in “an exciting man-hunt.” They were
found with the “loot” from a Bradford break-in and lodged in the Caledonia
Jail.
In the early 1930s, automobile theft rings operated in
Vermont. One gang operated a “stolen car racket” in which they brought stolen
cars from Massachusetts. In August 1931,
one such car was found in Wells River. The FBI reported that 70% of auto thefts
were by individuals under 25.
And then there was alcohol.
“No crime is, perhaps, attended with more evil consequences
to society and individuals than that of drunkenness.” This statement from the
Vermont Council of Censors in the early nineteenth century reflected an
attitude that, as its support grew, led to a state-wide prohibition on the
manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in Vermont in 1853 and New
Hampshire in 1855. In 1918, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
and the resulting Volstead Act extended this prohibition nationwide.
There is no doubt that, despite these laws to the contrary,
liquor was manufactured and consumed in the area, creating a whole group of outlaws.
Prohibition just drove underground what had been widely practiced
beforehand. Except for actions resulting
from public drunkenness, only those who manufactured or sold alcohol were
actually considered lawbreakers.
Several articles about illegal activity appeared in the Bradford Opinion in the summer of 1879.
In the Corinth column was the following, “Several illicit distillers of cider
brandy in Corinth have been arrested.” The following week this notice appeared,
“Our correspondent concludes that West Fairlee Center is getting to be a
dangerous place for peaceable people. Is it on account of cider brandy leaking
down through Bear Notch?”
That August, three businesses in Bradford, including the
Trotter House and the Vermont House were investigated for the sale of
intoxicating drinks. By the time
investigators arrived, all evidence of this illegal activity vanished.
Alcohol sales were legal in Canada, and as a result, Vermont
and New Hampshire were on the frontline of smuggling. The United Opinion carried
news reports of illegal activities and law-enforcement responses almost
weekly.
Elders interviewed by students in my Oxbow history classes
told stories of bootleggers of illegal alcohol hiding “hooch” in innocent
neighbors’ outbuildings. In more than one local community, smugglers of
Canadian alcohol established regular delivery routes. A heavily loaded car would arrive at a
designated time and place, flash its headlights as a signal, and out of the
darkness would come the customers.
While efforts were made to interrupt smuggling at the
border, smugglers made their way along local supply routes to markets south.
Elders told of heavy automobiles speeding along local roads, often followed by
pursuing enforcers.
Some smugglers were apprehended. In May 1927, a car with 375
bottles of Canadian ale was captured at Wells River. The individuals were
brought to court in Bradford and the contents were destroyed by being poured
off the Bradford bridge into the Waits River.
Even after Prohibition came to an end, smugglers, to avoid
federal taxes, still moved large amounts of Canadian liquor through northern
New England. One “rum-running fraternity” operating out of East Barnet and
Lyndonville, used stolen cars.
The other prohibition that received local news coverage was
that of narcotic drugs, including cannabis.
In 1915, Vermont prohibited its sale for recreational use. In the 1930s,
there was increased publicity against marijuana. Several Vermont newspapers
carried the warning that “its most diabolical use has been in the form of
cigarettes which have been sold by unscrupulous peddlers to high school
students.”
Patches of wild marijuana were found in several Vermont
towns and in neighboring New York. Despite the statement by officials that
“though investigations failed to disclose any traffic in the drug in the State,
there was a campaign against this “Devil’s Weed.” This included local programs
to inform citizens.
The 1936 film “Reefer Madness” reflected the image that the
use of marijuana was likely to cause insanity, with its user becoming “a raving
maniac.” The film was shown in Vermont theatres in 1940, including at Barre’s
Opera House.
In 1947, Vermont adopted the Uniform Narcotic Drug Act that
included a mandatory prison sentence of one to five years for the manufacture,
sale or possession of narcotics including marijuana. After the 1960s, the
growing and use of marijuana became a local issue. By the early 1980s, the
region had become “a garden spot for marijuana cultivation.”
The next chapter in
this series will include a section on legislation to deal with Vermont’s opium
epidemic as well as the crimes of arson, assault, robbery, and black-marketing.
Look for it in late February.
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