Noot-so-good old days

In this column on April 19, we presented an account of conditions of seafarers in 1850. Our further research brought forth this Oxford Democrat's editorial/news item from five years earlier, on May 13, 1845:

Cruelty in the Navy

We find the following in a late number of the Old Dominion, and we ask with amazement if the charge can be true? Without the present efficient Secretary, ascertain the facts in the case?

It is said that Capt. Voorhees, on leaving the Capes of Virginia, at the commencement of his cruise, had the whole crew assembled, and made the following proclamation:

"I wish every man to understand that if he is reported, I will punish him whether right or wrong — for I believe that I can place confidence in my officers, that they will not report a man without cause."

This fact we have vouched to us by one, with reference, to two other petty officers of the ship, whose names shall be given whenever the Secretary may demand them for the purpose of having justice delt out to the offender. On our stating this order to a distinguished Naval officer, who ranks high on his country's annals, and asking his opinion, he said it was equivalent to declaring that his ship should witness perpetual punishment.

Under this brutal policy, as developed in the order above set forth, punishment was perpetual, and the charge as badly made that more than one sailor or inferior person was whipped to death.

This we do know, that the officers of that ship did not dare to stay with and mingle with the men, but hurried themselves off at the earliest moment; for threats of vengeance were loud and deep against them, and we have no doubt had the men been discharged, serious scenes could have been witnessed in the town. It is the duty of the Government to interpose its power between the Commander and his victim, and we call upon the Secretary in behalf of justice and humanity to have this matter thoroughly probed.

We have no idea if the lives of sailors improved as a result of the editor's opinion, but eventually, we are told, the treatment of enlisted personnel by the noncommissioned officers has eased up considerably. One retired Marine drill instructor told us, he couldn't even punch a "boot" anymore. That development seemed to sadden him. Meanwhile, back in 1845, life ground on, as always, with frequent calamities that the Democrat dutifully reported. That same May 13, 1845, issue of the paper noted:

Fires

The dwelling house of Levi Houghton, Esq., in this town, took fire on the roof last Friday, at about noon, but was soon extinguished without doing much damage — Bath Inquirer

The store in Gorham village, occupied by Mr. John Jones, and owned by S. Longfellow, Esq., of Portland, was entirely consumed on Tuesday night last, with all its contents of West India and other goods. Mr. Jones was fully insured. We have not learnt of any insurance on the building. The office of the Mutual Insurance Co. was on the chamber of this building. The Iron safes containing their books, &c. fell through, and was knocked out from the burning pile below, without injury to its contents, save a partial discoloring of the papers.

A fire broke out in the Woolen factory of S. T. Thomas in Saccaraopa about 4 o'clock on Friday last, which was entirely destroyed. The building, owned by Warren and Walker, and to be worth $3000 — no insurance. Mr. T. lost his stock and machinery — no insurance. The machine shop of Mr. E. Gammon, was in the same building, which was also destroyed.

The total loss will not fall short of $15,000.

We learn that the dwelling house of Mr. Daniel Weymouth, in Webster, was destroyed by fire one day last week.

Great Fire in Nobleboro — On Saturday night last a most dreadful fire occurred in Nobleboro (Damariscotta Bridge) in this county. It broke out at 9 o'clock and destroyed twelve stores, the custom house, three doctor's offices, three lawyer's offices, three blacksmith's shops, two tailor's shops, a milliner's shop, blockmaker's shop, jeweler's shop, rigging loft, a large workshop to the ship yard of Austin & Cotter, together with a large number of out-buildings. A schooner of about 120 tons on the stocks, partly finished, we learn, also destroyed. She was owned by Mr. Benj. D. Medcalf.

It's not mentioned how many people were left unemployed as a result of the big industrial blazes. Considering that there was no such thing as unemployment compensation, the economic impact on the communities must have been huge.

As is our custom, we try to exactly reproduce the grammar, spelling, punctuation and style of the original. Commas might appear where least expected and remain absent where we’d expect them if the item was written nowadays. On the other hand, consistency was not considered of utmost importance, so variations of a spelling might appear within one story. In addition, some words were abbreviated differently than today.

Where brief explanations of terms are considered necessary, they are presented in brackets [] within the quote. Otherwise, explanations appear at the beginning or at the conclusion, without quotes. Parenthesis () used in a quoted passage appeared in the original.