Post by sclcookie on May 31, 2006 2:08:38 GMT -5
Editor's choice; An incarcerated past -- New book offers peek into the state prison of the 1800s
Be warned. You'll annoy your friends and family if you read Milli Knudsen's new book about the state's prisoners, their victims and prison life in the 1800s within their earshot. It's a history so detailed with local names and places you'll be tempted to read pieces of it aloud.
Like this: If 3 years behind bars seems steep for stealing a sheep from Franklin in 1869, it was nothing compared to what they did to smart-alecky kids 200 years earlier: Children cursing their parents could be put to death, just like murderers and arsonists.
By the 1800s, arson, rape and adultery all received about the same sentence, Knudsen tells us: a year in prison. And then there's the prison food (lots of hash) and the cell conditions (no central heat) and Knudsen's list of the state's murders.
Knudsen, 52, of Milford is a retired teacher whose passion for historical and genealogical research has produced a few other books, mostly told through excerpts of old newspapers. She also does research for hire through her business, Rootin' For You. In 2001, a man from Pennsylvania hired her to find information on someone who had committed a crime in New Hampshire in the 1870s.
In helping him, Knudsen discovered a prison roster at the state archives in Concord (where she still volunteers) that listed each prisoner, his offense and a few other details. The 1st roster ran from 1812, the first year the state prison opened, to 1883.
That research background helped Knudsen write her new book, Hard Time in Concord, New Hampshire: The Crimes, the Victims, and the Lives of the State Prison Inmates 1812-1883. But a back injury created the opportunity. While Knudsen recovered from surgery in 2002, Doug Gourley at the archives asked her to convert the prison roster she had used into a computer database. The original roster was frail, and Gourley told her he wanted to protect it by giving researchers the contents in another form. Knudsen was confined to her house, so Gourley sent her photocopies of the roster's pages.
Knudsen thought she was helping the archives' staff. She later found out they were helping her.
"Yes, it was frail, but they didn't need it done then," she said. "I think Doug said, 'What can I do to keep Milli from losing her mind while she is recovering?'"
What Knudsen typed into the new database intrigued her. She began wondering about the details of inmates' crimes and their victims. She pitched a book to her editor: Given 2 years, she thought she could find the story behind all 2,100 prisoners by searching court records, town histories and old newspapers.
The research was addicting; nearly 100 pages of Knudsen's 500-page book is her bibliography. She learned a lot, not only about specific crimes but also prison life. And it took her a little more than two years to write.
One chapter is a chronology of the state's murders and manslaughter cases. About a dozen of them were committed in Concord or the surrounding areas, and the list includes several pages about the 1875 killing of schoolgirl Josie Langmaid from Pembroke. The identity of her murderer wasn't immediately known, and a classmate of Langmaid's tied Joseph LaPage of Suncook to the murder scene.
After LaPage was jailed, townspeople were paraded by LaPage's jail cell window to determine whether they'd seen him in town on the day of the crime. His wife told a newspaper reporter that he tried to assault their own 15-year-old daughter, Knudsen learned. His Canadian sister-in-law testified at his trial, through translators, that he had also assaulted her years earlier.
2 juries convicted LaPage, and he was hanged in 1878. (A death penalty case today would never proceed so quickly.) The night before LaPage died, he confessed to killing 2 girls. Knudsen even found an account in local papers of LaPage's heart pulsations as he died.
But the story didn't end there. Knudsen kept reading local papers and learned from the Concord Monitor that 2 weeks after LaPage's hanging, his body was unearthed by pranksters and suspended from a water pipe on the State House yard.
As is true today, newspapers of the 1800s paid closer attention to murders than robberies. Still, Knudsen found plenty of detail about thieving. William Hodge of Barnstead got 2 4-year sentences in 1835 for stealing 2 horses, 1 from a Barrington man, the 2nd from the man's son. Gideon Silver of Dunbarton died in prison for stealing a heifer in 1869. And the sheep stealer who got 3 years? That was Josiah Wiggin of Sanbornton - after he pleaded guilty.
Knudsen also learned a bit about prison life. Many inmates were poorly educated and came from single-parent families. And the inmates worked. In the 1800s, they were blacksmiths, tailors and shoemakers. They cut and polished granite blocks for the new State House in 1816.
Groups of 6 men shared cells that measured 10 square feet, and they ate hash (fish and meat) almost every day for breakfast. For supper, they got bread, molasses and coffee. When they were released, they got $3 to start a new life.
Things have improved.
Breakfast in prison today includes eggs (but only three) or one cup of oatmeal, according to Jeff Lyons, prison spokesman. Inmates can have two Sweet 'n Low packets for their coffee. Supper is better, too: Baked meat loaf, tacos, tuna salad or grilled bologna. Today, "gate money" is given only to those inmates who are not released through probation and parole, but it's $100, not $3.
The research for her book was fun but challenging, Knudsen said. She began with the database of inmates and offense dates and then scoured newspapers for references to their crimes. She also relied on court records, when she could find them. "I thought if I was diligent enough, I'd find them," she said. "But that wasn't always true."
Also helpful was a book by an inmate. She didn't know it existed until she lucked onto it at the New Hampshire Historical Society, and a response written by a chaplain who worked at the prison.
You can start where Knudsen did because Heritage Books, the publisher, has included a CD of the prison roster from 1812-83 that Knudsen created. But her book will fill in the blanks.
There's another roster where this one ends, and Knudsen imagines a Volume 2 that will run through 1916. She's also transcribing a book of the county's poor folk from Cheshire County and signed up to do a couple of reference books.
Most authors don't give up a chance to plug their books. Knudsen hopes people enjoy it, but she has a bigger wish. She hopes to inspire people to volunteer at a local historical society or library preserving documents that tell the state's story. She volunteers several days a month at the state archives, office of vital records and the superior court in Keene, where she is organizing old court records.
Knudsen makes 2 dedications on her first page. One is to Susan Talford, a pool-playing friend who died in 1984 and was a victim of domestic violence. The 2nd reads this way: "In memory of all those who have disappeared from the lives of those of us who loved them."
(Knudsen's book and CD sell for $50 and can be ordered at Gibson's and through the publisher at heritagebooks.com.)
(source: The Concord Monitor - Annmarie Timmins)
Be warned. You'll annoy your friends and family if you read Milli Knudsen's new book about the state's prisoners, their victims and prison life in the 1800s within their earshot. It's a history so detailed with local names and places you'll be tempted to read pieces of it aloud.
Like this: If 3 years behind bars seems steep for stealing a sheep from Franklin in 1869, it was nothing compared to what they did to smart-alecky kids 200 years earlier: Children cursing their parents could be put to death, just like murderers and arsonists.
By the 1800s, arson, rape and adultery all received about the same sentence, Knudsen tells us: a year in prison. And then there's the prison food (lots of hash) and the cell conditions (no central heat) and Knudsen's list of the state's murders.
Knudsen, 52, of Milford is a retired teacher whose passion for historical and genealogical research has produced a few other books, mostly told through excerpts of old newspapers. She also does research for hire through her business, Rootin' For You. In 2001, a man from Pennsylvania hired her to find information on someone who had committed a crime in New Hampshire in the 1870s.
In helping him, Knudsen discovered a prison roster at the state archives in Concord (where she still volunteers) that listed each prisoner, his offense and a few other details. The 1st roster ran from 1812, the first year the state prison opened, to 1883.
That research background helped Knudsen write her new book, Hard Time in Concord, New Hampshire: The Crimes, the Victims, and the Lives of the State Prison Inmates 1812-1883. But a back injury created the opportunity. While Knudsen recovered from surgery in 2002, Doug Gourley at the archives asked her to convert the prison roster she had used into a computer database. The original roster was frail, and Gourley told her he wanted to protect it by giving researchers the contents in another form. Knudsen was confined to her house, so Gourley sent her photocopies of the roster's pages.
Knudsen thought she was helping the archives' staff. She later found out they were helping her.
"Yes, it was frail, but they didn't need it done then," she said. "I think Doug said, 'What can I do to keep Milli from losing her mind while she is recovering?'"
What Knudsen typed into the new database intrigued her. She began wondering about the details of inmates' crimes and their victims. She pitched a book to her editor: Given 2 years, she thought she could find the story behind all 2,100 prisoners by searching court records, town histories and old newspapers.
The research was addicting; nearly 100 pages of Knudsen's 500-page book is her bibliography. She learned a lot, not only about specific crimes but also prison life. And it took her a little more than two years to write.
One chapter is a chronology of the state's murders and manslaughter cases. About a dozen of them were committed in Concord or the surrounding areas, and the list includes several pages about the 1875 killing of schoolgirl Josie Langmaid from Pembroke. The identity of her murderer wasn't immediately known, and a classmate of Langmaid's tied Joseph LaPage of Suncook to the murder scene.
After LaPage was jailed, townspeople were paraded by LaPage's jail cell window to determine whether they'd seen him in town on the day of the crime. His wife told a newspaper reporter that he tried to assault their own 15-year-old daughter, Knudsen learned. His Canadian sister-in-law testified at his trial, through translators, that he had also assaulted her years earlier.
2 juries convicted LaPage, and he was hanged in 1878. (A death penalty case today would never proceed so quickly.) The night before LaPage died, he confessed to killing 2 girls. Knudsen even found an account in local papers of LaPage's heart pulsations as he died.
But the story didn't end there. Knudsen kept reading local papers and learned from the Concord Monitor that 2 weeks after LaPage's hanging, his body was unearthed by pranksters and suspended from a water pipe on the State House yard.
As is true today, newspapers of the 1800s paid closer attention to murders than robberies. Still, Knudsen found plenty of detail about thieving. William Hodge of Barnstead got 2 4-year sentences in 1835 for stealing 2 horses, 1 from a Barrington man, the 2nd from the man's son. Gideon Silver of Dunbarton died in prison for stealing a heifer in 1869. And the sheep stealer who got 3 years? That was Josiah Wiggin of Sanbornton - after he pleaded guilty.
Knudsen also learned a bit about prison life. Many inmates were poorly educated and came from single-parent families. And the inmates worked. In the 1800s, they were blacksmiths, tailors and shoemakers. They cut and polished granite blocks for the new State House in 1816.
Groups of 6 men shared cells that measured 10 square feet, and they ate hash (fish and meat) almost every day for breakfast. For supper, they got bread, molasses and coffee. When they were released, they got $3 to start a new life.
Things have improved.
Breakfast in prison today includes eggs (but only three) or one cup of oatmeal, according to Jeff Lyons, prison spokesman. Inmates can have two Sweet 'n Low packets for their coffee. Supper is better, too: Baked meat loaf, tacos, tuna salad or grilled bologna. Today, "gate money" is given only to those inmates who are not released through probation and parole, but it's $100, not $3.
The research for her book was fun but challenging, Knudsen said. She began with the database of inmates and offense dates and then scoured newspapers for references to their crimes. She also relied on court records, when she could find them. "I thought if I was diligent enough, I'd find them," she said. "But that wasn't always true."
Also helpful was a book by an inmate. She didn't know it existed until she lucked onto it at the New Hampshire Historical Society, and a response written by a chaplain who worked at the prison.
You can start where Knudsen did because Heritage Books, the publisher, has included a CD of the prison roster from 1812-83 that Knudsen created. But her book will fill in the blanks.
There's another roster where this one ends, and Knudsen imagines a Volume 2 that will run through 1916. She's also transcribing a book of the county's poor folk from Cheshire County and signed up to do a couple of reference books.
Most authors don't give up a chance to plug their books. Knudsen hopes people enjoy it, but she has a bigger wish. She hopes to inspire people to volunteer at a local historical society or library preserving documents that tell the state's story. She volunteers several days a month at the state archives, office of vital records and the superior court in Keene, where she is organizing old court records.
Knudsen makes 2 dedications on her first page. One is to Susan Talford, a pool-playing friend who died in 1984 and was a victim of domestic violence. The 2nd reads this way: "In memory of all those who have disappeared from the lives of those of us who loved them."
(Knudsen's book and CD sell for $50 and can be ordered at Gibson's and through the publisher at heritagebooks.com.)
(source: The Concord Monitor - Annmarie Timmins)