“So there is a final Issue of the Whole Affairs”

Yesterday I shared a letter from 1773 describing how a Barnstable goldsmith named Elisha Gray publicly whipped fifteen-year-old James Paine Freeman as punishment for a prank.

One of my questions was why Gray reacted so angrily to that boy’s joke at a local dance. The man’s life isn’t well documented. It looks like he was born in 1744, married Mary Crosby in 1769, and had small children soon after.

In 1771 the selectmen of Barnstable attested that Gray was a suitable person to take in a little girl from the Boston almshouse called Jane Wiseaker. The Boston Overseers’ paperwork for that transaction can be viewed here.

Perhaps it was exactly because Gray saw himself as a respectable luxury craftsman, a budding paterfamilias, that he reacted so strongly to young James making him look silly at a community event. James, son of a merchant, might have been from a slightly higher social class than Gray, who still worked with his hands, but was also a mere boy who deserved correction.

As recounted yesterday, Gray’s assault on James caused him to be convicted of breaching the peace and fined. But it was common in colonial New England for people to sue their assailants for monetary damages even after criminal cases.

In this case, Elisha Gray actually sued James Paine Freeman first, employing the young Barnstable lawyer Shearjashub Bourne. The boy’s uncle and guardian, Edmund Hawes, went before magistrate David Gorham to represent his side. Hawes reported the outcome to his cousin Robert Treat Paine:

The Proof was that one Witness Saw James tie the Button to the Chair & two Saw it was tied but did not know who tied it upon which the Justice Made up Judgment that James Should Pay Six shillings Dammage & Costs which was 17 Shilings more

Hawes appealed that judgment, but he also decided to get lawyers of his own. He called Paine in on the case. First, he wanted legal advice “whether I had Best Carry it to the Inferiour Court or Stop it where it is now.” In addition, he asked:

I Desire You to fill up a Writt for April Court for Elisha Gray Goldsmith of Barnstable for this Great Assault upon James Paine Freeman & State the Sum at your Discretion And Send it to Me in a Letter before the time of Service for sd. Court is Out. Also Please to Write me word if you Expect to Come to Barnstable at April Court or at the Superiour Court & I will Satisfy You for your Trouble.

Paine sent his cousin the writ he wanted. Hawes also consulted Pelham Winslow of Plymouth. Following those counselors’ advice, he convinced Gray to submit the mess to arbitration by three local gentlemen.

On 12 Apr 1773, Hawes reported to Paine:

it was Try'd & the Award Brought into Court at April Court & they found for Gray to Pay me three Pounds & for Each to Bear his Own Costs at Law & to Pay the Charge of the Arbitration Equally Between them: & so there is a final Issue of the Whole Affairs.

Elisha Gray died in 1776, leaving a widow and young children.

James Paine Freeman served most of that year in the Continental Army, standing guard on Dorchester Heights and participating in the retreat from New York. He returned to Barnstable, married twice, had children, and died in 1833, more than sixty years after being beaten on the streets of the town for tying a man’s button to a chair.

“Waited for This Oppertunity to Whip Jame in my Absence”

On 23 Feb 1773, Edmund Hawes (1738–1831) wrote from Barnstable to his cousin in Taunton, Robert Treat Paine, seeking legal help.

Hawes was uncle and guardian of a fifteen-year-old named James Paine Freeman. Years before, that boy’s father had worked as a clerk in the counting-house of Paine’s father.

Hawes’s letter described how that lad got into an altercation with a local man:

Now Acquaint you of an Unhappy Affair Desireing your Advice & Assistance therein. Novr. the 2nd: 1772 On Monday Evening James Paine Freeman was at Husking Corn to Mr. Thomas Annables. Elisha Gray Goldsmith of this Town being there, after Husking they had a Dance the said Gray being Tired Danceing Sot Down in a Chair

And it is Said that the sd. James tied the Button of the Sd. Gray’s Coat to the Chair with a Large Twine & when Gray Jumped up to Dance the Chair follow’d Him & Gray to Get Clear of the Chair Puled of his Own Button which was all the Dammage that was Done:

He Gave out that he would whip James for what He had Done: all which I was not Acquainted with by any Body on Saturday the 7th: of sd. Novr. I went to Eastham and Tarry’d there Exactly a Week. The sd. Gray have’g Waited for This Oppertunity to Whip Jame in my Absence.

On Thursday the Twelfth Day of sd. Novr. at About Eight O Clock in the Evening the sd. Elisha Gray Assaulted the sd. James with a Stick About as thick as one’s thumb as the Witnesses Say and Beat him with Great Violence till the Stick Broak to Pieces then Josep Hinckley haveing heard the Blows at a Distance Ridd up to Se the Affray. The sd. Gray Pull’d his Horse Whip out of his hand & whip James with that till the Lash Came off Then Bid James Down on his knees & Begg & then a Second Time which he Did as Once would Not Satisfy his Wicked Revenge. This was Done between My House & the Bridge.

Then Job Howland the Sheriff who Stood at Lawyer [Shearjashub] Bourns Shop Door Hearing the Blows Came & found James Laying on the Ground & sd. Gray Standing Over him: & would not leave him till the Officer Pull’d him Away By main force and Bid James Get up & Gray should not strike him again: and when He Got up he was much Beat and Bloody. All which I Prov’d Before Col. [James] Otis & I hope I Can Again.

On Thursday follow’g I had sd. Gray Before Col. Otis for the Kings Part and he was convicted of a Breach of Peace & Fine’d.

In a postscript Hawes added, “The Marks of James’s being Whip’d was Plain to be Seen Before Col. Otis as His Honour together with Others Can witness the which was allmost a week after he was whip’d.”

But that local criminal case (“for the Kings Part”) wasn’t the end of the dispute. People could also sue for assault and win damages.

TOMORROW: Back to court.