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FINDS LETTER 84 YEARS OLD
ARCHITECT’S INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAINTENANCE OF COUNTY JAIL SET FORTH
[The Welland-Port Colborne Evening Tribune, 1940]
While he was looking over old fyles recently in his offices at the county buildings, Colonel Donald Sharpe governor of the county jail recently discovered a well preserved letter nearly 84 years old. It was written to Jail Governor James S. Lawrence on December 31, 1856, by the architect who designed the buildings, Kivas Tully. Apparently Mr. Tully was worried over a visit and inspection by the grand jury because he gives Mr. Lawrence various orders as how to deal with cold vents, etc., and then says, “the grand jury will inspect the gaol and you will oblige me if you will shew them the ventilation system. Take a silk handkerchief and hold it flat before the holes so that all the jurors may see. And, point out to them the purity of the air. They will find no jail smell there.”
This letter refers to a gallery, and in the old days there was a gallery from which spectators watched the august proceedings of the quarter sessions which are today known as Supreme Court of Justice sittings.
Mr. Tully enclosed a $5 bill with which to hire persons to keep the doors of the county building shut. The doors opening in from the outside, he says, must either have good springs, or, boys must be hired to stand at them during the time of the Quarter Sessions (which were to be held on January 6, 1857) and to close them after everyone who went in or went out. The same procedure, the architect continued, should be carried out with respect to the upper gallery doors.
Mr. Tully gave detailed orders as to the operation of the heating and ventilation system, and among other things warned the governor of the jail to see to it that the cold air reached the county buildings stoves, and that all the valves in the chimneys were wide open. Of these there were 20, including four in the courtroom. Particularly must the authorities guard against anyone closing these four valves in the courtroom. Someone might do so, thinking cold air was coming in through them whereas it was going out.
The first jail governor was James Elliot, who officiated three months. This was early in 1856, James Lawrence followed, and remained eight years. The longest term as jail governor according to the records was that of John Coulson, father of City Engineer C.L. Coulson, who officiated for 13 years, and Colonel Sharpe has already 12 years as jail governor. The first prisoner was brought to the county jail on May 1, 1856, but the building was used long before that, and has been in use according to officials approximately 85 years.
The contractors for the county buildings were Hellems and Bald.
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