592 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

brick, and with open archways approached from each street; on
the second floor was one large hall, with slate roof. The build-
ing was of oval shape and is said to have resembled somewhat
in appearance the old market house which still stands in the
streets of Fayetteville. Here town meetings, the Superior
Courts, and the General Assembly of the province were held
when they met in the town.

There was no town bell for some time, and a drum was used
to assemble people to all meetings. In 1751 a bell was pro-
cured, and Mrs. Clay was in the employ of the town for over
ten years, to sweep the courthouse above and below, to keep the
windows shut, and to ring the bell on necessary occasions.

In 1790 the building was in bad condition, and its situation
in the street endangering the spread of fire across the street, an
act was passed requiring that it should be rebuilt, on the same
spot, of brick as before, of the same size, shape, and dimensions,
and that it was to be used for no other purpose than a court-
house.

In 1840 this building was greatly damaged by fire, and the
public records were damaged by water, so that in 1845 they
all had to be copied. Many of the deeds and papers were utterly
lost at the time, as blank pages of the records now testify.

The next courthouse was built on what was then called the
new jail lot, on the north side of Princess Street, between
Second and Third Streets. To the west of this new building
stood the “stocks and whipping post,” in open view from the
street, and they remained there till removed after our late War
between the States, an offensive mark of the barbarity of the

times to our now squeamish inhabitants, but no honest man had
fear of them.

More recently a new courthouse was built on Third Street,
between Princess and Market.

The first jail stood where the McRary house now stands, and
the old basement walls of that building are said to be a part of
that structure, which gave reason for the local gossip that under
that house are dungeons. It is now the most historic building
in the city, having been the headquarters of Lord Cornwallis
and Major Craig during the Revolution. The old DeRosset
house opposite, on Market Street, with its quaint chimney
stacks, is also a very old building, and this was the Confederate
headquarters in our late War between the States.

A new jail was built in the forties, at the northeast corner of

Peace Restored 593

Second and Princess Streets. This building still stands, but is
hardly recognized under its new dress and modern tasteful ex-
terior; should one ever probe its massive stone walls, however,
he will find that the heart of the old edifice still stands there.
I recall as a small child its massive doors, its cells, and the

heavy gratings at the openings and at the steps on each floor,
the heavy trap-doors on a level with the floor, the timbers and
boards thick and heavy. In my mind I pictured it as resem-
bling the keep of some ancient castle or fortress.

About 1850, a new jail was built on Princess Street, between
Third and Fourth.

The market house where meat was sold (not the fishmarket,
for that, known as “Mud Market,” was at Second and Market,
along Jacob’s Run, then a considerable stream, where the fish
boats came up) stood in the middle of Market Street, halfway
between the courthouse and the river. This was a long, one-
story brick building, standing there in 1766. The lower end,
towards the river, was rented out by the town as a store, and
was once occupied by DeRosset & Brown. It was from the roof
of this building that the people of Wilmington, after taking
the stamp master forcibly from Governor Tryon’s residence, on
the south side of Market Street, immediately opposite the mar-
ket, placed a rope around his neck and threatened to publicly
hang him if he did not then and there swear not to distribute
the stamps, and publicly to resign his office before the face of
royal authority.1_ This building was taken down when the
courthouse was removed, and replaced by a long shed in the
middle of Market Street extending from Front Street towards
the river, supported by iron pillars and open on all sides. It
was paved with brick and fitted with wooden meat stalls and
timber sawed into chopping blocks. At the upper end was a
Stairway leading to a bell tower. Before the war the bell in this
tower was rung at nine o’clock, one o’clock, and seven o’clock ;
and it rang the nine o’clock curfew, which required all slaves
without a pass to leave the street.

Another public institution was at Market Dock, the ancient
ducking-stool, a chair attached to a long piece of timber which
could be swung around quite easily on a pivot and ducked into

the river, a now forgotten instrument of authority, where the
scolds of the town had their morals regulated.

es

1This tradition doe
publications. S not seem to be in accord with contemporaneous

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