Perth being the seat of Bathurst District the town was given a courthouse and jail. Opening in 1821, The original building was two storeys high with the courtroom on the second floor and five cells on the main floor along with the jailer’s two room apartment. The cells were often filled with brawling Irish loggers from the Ottawa River. The building was rebuilt in 1841 following a fire. A provincial inspection in 1862 counted 27 inmates including 16 women. Charges ranged from murder and assault, to vagrancy and concealing the birth of a child. The most common offence was found to be “breach of indentureship” by leaving one’s master. On may 23, 1851, Francis Beare, who was convicted of killing William Barry was hanged in front of a crowd that was assembled in front of the courthouse. Five executions were carried out here but few inmates in the Perth jail were there for criminal acts. Most were housed there for shelter for vagrancy until the House of Industry or Refuge (Perth Community Care Centre) was built in 1903. –Perth Remembered

A generation later a similar number of Lanark county occupants of the jail at Perth, mostly “tramps sent in from Smiths Falls and Carleton Place”, included such prisoners as a man charged with stealing a horse and buggy, and “a boy twelve years old, a boot-black and a very cunning youngster, awaiting trial for stealing a gold watch and fourteen dollars.” (July 1898).

Perth Courier, October 6, 1876

Death in Goal—Last Wednesday an old woman named Sela Klyne, confined in the Perth Gaol for vagrancy was found dead on the cell floor in a pool of blood. Her death was caused by the rupture of some kind of abscess in the lungs or throat.

Return of Convictions for the quarter Ending 11^th September, 1894

Nonpayment of Wages:

Patrick Burke, $14.50

Assault on Margaret and George Poole: David Love, $5

Assault:

William Leclair, $1

John McEwen, $5

Joseph Waler, $1

Larry Byrnes, $2

Beach of the Liquor Act:

John Gemmell, $20

Selling Liquor During Prohibited Hours

David Dowlin, $20.00

Emma Hunter, $25.00

William J. Leach, $25.00

Peter P. Soulter(?), $25.00

James Lee, $25.00

Assault and Battery:

A.R.G. Peden, $5

Intimidation:

Nathaniel Brownlee, $1

Shouting at Insectivorous Birds:

J. Scott, $1

Wantonly and Cruelly Beating and Abusing Two Calves

George Easton, Jr., $1

Drunkeness:

David Patton, $2.00

Allowing Sheep to Wander on the Street:

J.Jones, $2

Grossly Insulting Language:

A Shalt, $1

Drunk and Disorderly:

John Black and Patrick Hogan, $3 each

Vagrancy:

James Ayer, six months in gaol

Catharine Kelly, six months in gaol

Rosanna Jamieson, six months in gaol

Grace Martin, six months in gaol

Insane:

Thomas McMahon, Jr., committed to gaol

Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum-Early version of our jail cell window by M.J. Lancaster… which is on the outer back wall of the museum

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