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THEC
LIFE OF JAMES WILLIAMS,
BETTER KNOWN AS
Jplr ~~~or Sia,
FOR HALF A CENTURY
JANITOR OF TRINITY COLLEGE.
BY
C. H. PROCTOR,
A MEMBER OF THE CLASS OF'73.
HARTFORD:
CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD, PRINTERS.
1873.








PEDICATED
TO T-HEI ETE3REsTS OFS T0:' X
mar0tt Sftitbor
WHOSE NAME APPEARS ON THE
TITLE PAGE.








say the tale as tas said to  e.SCOTT.
"I say the tale as t'was said to me."-SCOTT.
1*








LIFE OF
"PROF. JIM."
IN tracing out the life of the venerable janitor
whose name is so familiar to the alumni of Trinity
College, we are taken backwards in time to a period
of which few men now living have any remembrance;
chiefly because "Prof. Jim" has advanced beyond
the years allotted to man's portion, and his younger
days were passed amidst scenes which have become
historic.
He does not celebrate his birthday, mainly because
he hasn't the faintest idea of the time of its recurrence, or even of his age at all, but certain data
remain fixed in his mind, and a simple calculation
will give his approximate age. He says, "I distinctly remember wearing a smock-frock and belt,
and playing about the door-yard of my master's
house, when I heard bells a ringin' and cannons a
firin', and I ran in and asked my mother what was




8               BIOGRAPHY OF
the matter, and she said,' Why,Washington's dead."'
Other circumstances connected with his life a few
years later, indicate that Jim was born about the
year 1790.
He was the third of six children, and his mother
was a French Creole, a slave belonging to a retired
Revolutionary officer, one Col. Robert, who owned a
large estate in Yonkers, New York. His father was
a freedman, and did not even live in the same town
with Jim's mother, but in Nyack, and although he
visited his wife frequently, coming up the river in
his own boat, yet he would return again shortly to
his own home; he did not live with his family until
Col. Robert gave his wife her freedom. A number
of years of Jim's early life were passed in Yonkers
and New York city, but as he expressively terms it,
all those places have " outgrowed" him, and his New
York is not the city of this generation.
New York city, according to an enthusiastic writer
of the beginning of the preseit century, was then a
beautiful town about four miles in length, situated
at the foot of Manhattan island.
The principal streets were Pearl street, Broadway,
and Greenwich street. " These run the whole length
of the city, and are intersected, though not at right
angles, by streets running from river to river. Pearl
street, near the East river, pursues a narrow and
devious course through a populous part of the city,
and is the seat of great business. Broadway passes




PROF. JIM.                9
in a straight line over the highest ground between
the two rivers, and is the noblest avenue of the kind
in America. Greenwich street pursues a nearly
straight course between Broadway and the Hudson,
and is wide and elegant. Chatham street is a noble
spaceway leading from Broadway into Bowery road.
Washington street is a splendid avenue near the
Hudson.
" The streets are generally well paved, with good
sidewalks, and every part of the city is well supplied
with lamps.
" The Park is a beautiful promenade of about four
acres, on the south side of Broadway, and near the
center of the city.
" The modern houses in New York are mostly of
brick, and are generally well built; many of them are
elegant.  Among the public edifices are now included more than one hundred churches, which are
occupied by the. various denominations for religious
worship. The steeple of St. Paul's is probably not
excelled by any in the Union. The front of the
new church in Wall street is handsome. The City
Hall, situated at the head of the Park, is a noble
specimen of architecture, and one of the most superb
buildings in the United States.
" The number of houses in the city of New York
in 1800 amounted to about 20,000, and the population to 100,000."
Yonkers was a series of plantations, and the beau



10              BIOGRAPHY OF
tiful town with which most of us are familiar, was
hardly dreamed of in those days.
Col. Robert was a hard-working man, and although
one of the wealthiest in that part of the state, and
the largest slaveholder in the neighborhood, owning
nine working hands, yet he worked with his men,
and was very strict, enforcing constant labor " from
sun to sun." He did not depend wholly on his own
household for assistance in the fields, but employed
about twenty men besides during the haying and
harvesting season.
Prof. Jim testifies to the kindness of his master in providing food and clothes for his slaves, and
in supplying comforts to them from his own table;
and after making due allowance for the propensity
of slaves to magnify their master's social position,
we can conclude that Col. Robert was a man of some
distinction. That he was intimately connected with
men prominent in the politics of the day Jim firmly
insists, and declares that he has himself, at his master's direction, driven from New York to Croton
many a time, posting bills and circulating pamphlets advertising the candidates for election in whom
his master was interested. Aaron Burr was one of
these intimate friends of Col. Robert, and it was at
the time he was nominated as candidate for the Presidency in 1800, that Jim was most busy.'He says,
"I'd ride night and day and all over the country
east and west. I've been out carrying papers in a




PROF. JIM.                11
storm from midnight until one o'clock the next day,
to Westchester and White Plains, and then with
change of horses to Croton. I remember coming
one day from Sing Sing at midnight, and being sent
off again to the city, and I'd as lief go anywhere
else as there, for the Commons was where the great
Park is now, and about five miles out of town there
were plenty of robbers and wild cattle."  He remembers the rejoicings and celebrations of this year
at the time of Jefferson's election, and declares that
such a "barbecue " was never seen before at Yonkers as took place then, when an ox weighing fourteen hundred pounds was roasted whole. The snow
was very deep, extraordinarily so for the season of
the year, and, the thousands of people assembled
there were obliged to wade and stumble about in
drifts waist high, and altogether there were so many
things connected with this celebration that were
strange and out of the way, that Professor Jim
thinks that it would be impossible for one having
seen it to forget it.
In the boyish days of our hero, the mischief which
even now occasionally manifests itself, had, we may
be sure, full sway, and he relates several incidents
in which he was a moving spirit, with so much relish
and so many hearty laughs, that one cannot resist
joining him in his merriment.
He declares that his suspicions were often aroused
at the sight of a big black bottle which stood in the




12               BIOGRAPHY OF
closet of his missus' room, and says, "I made up
my mind I'se goin' to see what was in that ar. Ole
missus was asleep, and I was smellin' of the bottle
and found it was gin, and so'gan to want a taste,
and had no sooner got the bottle to my mouf and
smack-smack, when,' Boy, what are you doin' there?'
and she jes' took me out to the kitchen, and my
mother gave me worse than three or four drinks of
gin. Oh! I tell you that thar was music-that thar
was music."
His mother obtained her freedom somewhat in
this way; if Jim's statement is true, the relations
of master and slave, to say the least, were very
peculiar.
Col. Robert in a moment of anger struck one of
the slave children, and Jim's mother immediately
rebelled and flew to its protection; the master's son
upheld the mother, and the master himself at length
yielded; but the mother was not satisfied, and at
length begged Col. Robert to send her away to some
other slaveholder, and finally obtained the requisite
pass, as she supposed it was, to leave her old home
to go to some neighboring land-holder; but she discovered to her astonishment that the paper in question gave her her freedom.
Prof. Jim says that he himself was always a favorite, and to his recollection he was never whipped
by his master but once, and then " after two licks




PROF. JIM.               13
with a dry alder, the stick broke, and that was
enough."
" But did your mother never whip you?"  "Oh,
jolly! if my mother once got hold of me, then I tell
you I saw stars."
Aaron Burr was a frequent visitor at Col. Robert's
house, and a room was always- ready for him, as he
might stop at any time orl his way from Albany to
New York, or back again. The establishment of
Burr seems to have made a strong impression on.
Prof. Jim's mind, and he describes with admiring
tones the enormous carriage drawn by six horses,
and the retinue of outriders and footmen which always accompanied him. Burr himself, Jim describes
as a short, rough, and ugly man, who swore and
cursed constantly, but who in ladies' society was
very polite and exquisite.
(By the way of parenthesis we would like to add
that a prominent gentleman in New York sees fit to
deny Jim's assertion respecting the profanity of
Aaron Burr. He says that after a long personal acquaintance with Burr, he was led to suspect nothing
of the kind, and in his opinion this story should be
taken cum grano salis.
In reply, we would say, we do not like to contradict Professor Jim's statement, when we find such
authorities as Parton and Davis declaring plainly
that the reason for the break between Washington
and Burr, and the loss to Burr of his position in the
2




14               BIOGRAPHY OF
army, was simply owing to his inordinate use of
foul and profane language.)
At the time of the duel between Burr and Hamilton, Jim was at work in the fields at mail time, and
his mother was sent on horse-back for the batch of
papers which was due. She gave the letters, on her
return, to her master, and he had scarcely read the
first one he had opened, when, all hurry and excitement, lie shouted, " Get a room ready quick, for
that little devil is coming."  When afterwards he
learned that Hamilton had been killed in the duel,
the excitement illcreased.
A moment's digression here to the statements of
history will be serviceable in ascertaining how far
Prof. Jim remembers this event. None of the several historians whose works were at our disposal,
mention Burr's whereabouts immediately after the
duel. AlU agree that lie stayed somewhere near the
city of New York, and it is conjectured that he remained at his family residence, Richmond Hill.
"On Wednesday morning, the 11th of July, 1804,
Burr and Hamilton met on the heights of Weehawken, and the duel was fought. On Thursday, the
12th, General Hamilton died, and on Saturday, the
14th, he was interred with military honors."
Burr writes to Joseph Allston, Esq., from New
York, July 13th: " Gen. Hamilton died yesterday.
I propose leaving town for a few days, and meditate
also a journey for some weeks, but whither is not




PROF. JIM.               15
resolved. Perhaps to Slatesburgh. You will hear
from me in about eight days."
The next letter with any date is from Philadelphia,
July 29th.
Parton, in his life of Aaron Burr, says that immediately after the duel, Burr went to his home in New
York (Richmond Hill), and for eleven days stayed
at or near this place, writing, under cover of friends
in Philadelphia, to his daughter and to his son-inlaw. Jim's statement, as will be seen, becomes an
important one in the history of Burr's life, inasmuch as the missing link in the broken chain of
circumstances connected with his history from just
before the duel till some weeks after, is here supplied. The interest attached to the account of the
events in the life of our aged janitor increases, when
we find ourselves able to verify his statements by
means of the accepted statements of historians.
We find as we proceed in this biography, that more
than once we are able to refer to standard works for
a verification of statements which, taken by themselves, might seem to the incredulous creations of
Prof. Jim's fancy.
Now Jim says, " Burr went first to his own house
in New York, Burr's Woods they called the place,
near the old State's prison on West Broadway. The
next day, between three and four in the afternoon,
as we were putting up a new yard fence, there appeared a great cloud of dust away down the road;




16              BIOGRAPHY OF
some one said that it was somebody riding, for the
day was so quiet it could not be the wind. By-andby a man came up and gave a note to master; that
said he was coming. Pretty soon he came up himself in his four-horse coach, and drove into the yard
and came out of the coach. His head was bowed
down, and he didn't say a word; but then his head
was always bowed down. He caught right hold of
my master's hand, and they went into the house,
and we didn't see him again till the next evening.
The day that Hamilton was buried was a bad day
for him, and he didn't eat any dinner, nor go out for
his walk along the river, but he walked to and fro
along the corridor up stairs, with his hands behind
him. We could hear the funeral guns sounding up
from New York.
" Burr kept his servant in the room with him night
and day, and he had a case of pistols and a sword
in his room with him. He stayed with my master
some time, and practised a good deal at target shooting down by the river bank, and I myself have seen
a white birch tree where there were twelve balls in
a space as large as my hand. He left Yonkers for
New York in a row-boat piloted by an Indian.
" I saw him several times after this in the city,
when I went there to live, and he would often recognize me."
It seems that one time while Burr was at Yonkers
he narrowly escaped being seized, for he was with




PROF. JIM.               17
Col. Robert on one side of a garden hedge while
two horsemen stopped on the other side in the main
road, and remarked that " Burr was in Albany, and
they were after him," and but for the expostulations
of Robert, Burr would have shot at these men, and
thus have declared his hiding place.
This is Jim's story of his connection with Burr,
and throwslaside entirely the number of little romances that students have delighted in; but as we
have Jim's own word for the statement as given, we
are per force obliged to give up the " carriage story "
and that of his own presence on the field at the
meeting of the duellists.








II.
"The sundry contemplation of my travels."
-AS YOU LIKE IT.








Soon after the duel between Burr and Hamilton,
Col. Robert died, and about a year afterwards, with
the settlement of the estate, Jim went to live with a
daughter of the Colonel, to whom he'had been given
by will. She lived in New York city, at No. 10 Dey
street. His sister was a maid and he a servant for
several years in the family of Miss Robert. They
did not remain in the city the entire year, but during
the summer months the family was broken up, part
of them going to the " Springs" in a sort of caravan, for it was unsafe in those days to travel except
in large companies, and stage coaches and private
"establishments" were the only means of getting
about the country, and the remainder spending the
season in Yonkers.
The first summer, while the family were at the
Springs, Jim was put out to work on a farm, and on
the return of the family in the fall he went back
again to his place as servant at Miss Robert's house.
The various stories he heard from his sister, who of
course traveled with her mistress, and the accounts
he often received from a sister of his late master, of
the beauties of the places which they had visited




'22              BIOGRAPHY OF
during their summer trip, incited Jim very much to
go off by himself and prove the reality of these
wonderful stories.
The thought worked upon his mind so much that
before the next summer had arrived he was fully
decided to see the world. When the family had determined to leave the city they placed Jim in the
wholesale grocery store of Robert B. Lloyd, Esq.,
on Broadway; but Jim had his mind prepared for
travel, and he seized the first opportunity, and with
his bundle under his arm, ran away, managing to
possess himself of sufficient money to pay his steamboat passage to New London, Conn. He says this
steamboat was the Fulton.
He managed to get employment as liostler, for he
had had some experience with horses while he lived
in New York; but he was not satisfied, this wasn't
the part of the world he was very much interested
in, or at least he hadn't a realizing sense of its beauties, and the first instant he could get away, he
shipped on board a West India trader, with a Capt.
Fox.
On his return from this voyage he landed in New
York, and went immediately on board an American
ship, the Eliza Gracie, bound for Liverpool. From
this voyage dates the adventurous part of Jim's life.
On the day that they were about to land, having
crossed the ocean, a rough, suspicious-looking
schooner came along side the Gracie, and with




PROF. JIM.               23
scarcely any warning, boarded her with half a dozen
men, armed with broadswords. They seized Jim,
with three other men, and pressed them into service,
carrying them off to the British sloop of war, the
Shepherdess, which lay at anchor in the channel.
" For over three years," says Jim, " I didn't put my
foot ashore; I always had a. hard time, and once I
hit an officer."
The Shepherdess cruised about the American
coast, generally in the Southern waters, and then
again re-crossed the ocean and cruised about the
shores of Africa in the Mediterranean, and again in
the South Atlantic. At one time they sailed for six
days up the Congo river, and the weather was so
extremely hot that the crew suffered intensely. It
became necessary to soak their shirts in oil several
times a day, and even to rub their bodies with oil,
to keep their flesh from burning.
The Captain of the Shepherdess had undertaken
this voyage -up the Congo from mere curiosity, and
he almost lost his vessel by the rapidly running
tides, which, in one instance, nearly carried them
over the falls, where it would have been certain destruction.  While at anchor at the mouth of the
Congo river, Jim went on shore, wearing over his
shirt a navy coat ornamented with large brass buttons. The naked inhabitants of that region no
doubt thought the blue-coated sailor was some sort
of strange animal, akin to their own species, yet al



24              BIOGRAPHY OF
together too highly ornamented to please their cultivated tastes, and before he was well aware of his
situation, Jim found himself surrounded with dancing savages, howling what might have been his death
knell for all he knew. He ascertained very shortly,
however, that it was not so much his valuable person
that they coveted, but only the bright buttons on his
coat, and he readily sacrificed the article and escaped
with his life, thankful for small favors.
What they ever did with those brass buttons is
beyond Jim's conjecture.
While in the Mediterranean, they once landed on
the shores of Turkey, and at another time witnessed
a battle, which Jim insists was between a party of
Greeks and some of their enemies. Jim asserts
that the Captain would not allow much flogging, and
in his case punishments of this sort came very seldom, for, says the Captain, " Let him alone, he is
one of the Yankee cow-boys." During the war of
1812, the Shepherdess came back to the United
States, and made a trip up the St. Lawrence river to
Quebec, then back along the coast to New York.
At the time of the fight between the Chesapeake
and the Macedonian and Guerriere, the vessel on
which Jim sailed was off New York, and they met
a brig carrying English prisoners to Halifax to exchange, and received the news from them; a day or
two after, they saw the prize towed into New York
harbor, "And," says Jim, " you could run a barrow




PROF. JIM.              25
through the sides any where."  "Soon after, we
met a vessel with the news that Gen. Brock was
killed, and I tossed up my hat, and yelled,' Hurrah
for the Yankee cow-boys!'"
Preparations were made on board the Shepherdess to make battle at any time, but the mutinous
spirit which for some time had been secretly moving
some of the crew, incited Jim to make any efforts
he could, to injure the British cause; and he states
with a great deal of fun and mischief sparkling
from his black eyes, which even now have vim
enough to do a good turn to a younger body, how
he collected rat-tail files, fully intending to spike the
English guns if the time ever came when he should
be compelled to fight his own countrymen. His
patriotism was intense, and although he had been
impressed into British service, still he was staunch
and true to the Stars and Stripes.
The vessel made for New York, and anchored just
off the Highlands, at the entrance to New York
harbor. The sight of his own country so excited
Jim that he, in desperation, endeavored to sink the
vessel, and for the purpose procured an auger, and
having found a secure place, set to work to bore a
hole in the bottom, bound to sink the entire crew
rather than sail any longer in the hated concern.
Fortunately, perhaps, for him, his efforts were discovered in time to prevent the wholesale destruction
of the ship's men, and but for the intense excite3




26              BIOGRAPHY OF
ment of the times, and the immediate necessity for
the English vessel to make sail, no doubt Jim would
have received such punishment as would have at
least prevented the publication of this biography.
With fair winds, they reached the rocks of Scilly,
off the south-west coast of England, in thirty days;
the Captain of the vessel seeing fit to punish Jim
for his murderous intentions with but slight reprimand.   Here, at Scilly, they found it necessary to
procure a supply of provisions, and on making port,
eight men, one of whom was Jim, were sent on
shore, with a young boy to mind the boat, to procure what they needed. But we will let Prof. Jim
tell his own story. He says:
" I pulled after-oar in the boat, for I was always
the best oarsman there. It was about dark when
we were ordered ashore, andc  I asked the coxswain
(the boy mentioned before) if we might get some
beer; having permission, we went up to a corner
tavern and went in through the open door, and got
our beer. We were all very lame and stiff, for we
were not used to walking, but, thinks I to myself,
now's the time; so I gave the wink to the fellows,
and we just went for it, and hobbled out of the back
door as fast as ever we could. At the end of half
an hour, we heard a drum beat;. then said I to the
fellows,' Look out for yourselves,' and we all dropped into a ditch, and just in time, too, for we were
hardly still, before a party of men rode by on horse



PROF. JIM.               27
back, and so close were they to us that the dust from
the horses' hoofs was scattered over us.
"When the coast was clear, and no one seemed
to be stirring, we started on, lame and tired, and
moved forward till late in the night, till we found a
bright light ahead of us, and we walked towards it.
We found it came from a great stone house, which
was surrounded by a high stone-wall, and the only
entrance was through an arched gate-way shut up
by a high iron gate. I called and shouted at the top
of my voice, but only managed to stir up a lot of
dogs,who yelped, and howled, and' barked, with noise
enough to waken the neighborhood.
" A woman appeared and called the dogs away, and
asked us what we wanted.
"' Who are you?' said she.
"' Yankee deserters,' said I.
"And so she let us in, and stowed us up in the
garret, and there we stayed for three days. On the
third day, from the garret window we saw the Shepherdess sail away, and then we came down. I had
on a long blue coat and a pair of English breeches,
and the rest of the men were in their sailor dress.
"We went down to the wharf, and there was a
ship with good luck for us, for the lash-whip was
flying for hands, and we all went aboard and asked
if they wanted any help; they were bound for New
York.
"'You are Yankees,' said the Captain.




28               BIOGRAPHY OF
"'Yes,' said the men.
"'You are those deserters from the Shepherdess,'
said the Captain again.
"'Yes,' replied the men.
"' All right, then, go below and keep out of sight.'
But Jim stayed on deck, for he was an American,
and could only be taken by force, while the other
men were Irish, and called themselves Yankees be
cause they rather favored the cause of the Americans in the war which was just breaking out.
" Well," continues Jim, "when we had got out
to sea, about evening I saw a sail, and said I to the
Captain,' That's the Shepherdess.''Then hide, all
of you,' said he. The men were below, but I got
into a locker.  By-and-by the Shepherdess came
along side, and our Captain received the officers on
board. The British Lieutenant sat down on the top
of the very locker in which I was hid, but he didn't
know it, and I was all safe, and after a time they
went away, and I never saw them again."
The danger of the men who had escaped with Jim,
and of even Jim himself, was very great until he had
safely landed in New York. American seamen were
impressed wherever they could be taken on the high
seas, and Hildreth, in his History of the United
States, says that twenty-five hundred of these same
impressed sailors, still claiming to be American citizens, and refusing to fight against their country,
were committed to close imprisonment. In case of




PROF. JIM.               29
capture, then, Jim and his followers would have had
but a sorry chance; and he thinks himself that he
had a very narrow escape, for British imprisonment
was so severe that its mere suggestion might frighten
even sailors on board a vessel of war.
The vessel Jim was now in was the Caroline, and
she sailed directly for New York, where Jim left her,
and was shipped as powder-monkey on board the
sloop of war Hornet. Fighting had actually begun
to be a very earnest thing in the United States, and
Cooper, in his Naval History, gives a list.of the war
vessels which were equipped and sent out from Boston and New York at this time, and mentions the
Hornet as one of the fleet.
In writing the history of Prof. Jim's connection
with the Hornet, we find ourselves all at once thrown
into contact with statements which eminent historians have pictured in thrilling detail. Wherever
the war of 1812 is spoken of, we invariably find
that among naval battles of great interest mentioned,
the Hornet is made noteworthy.  These accounts
are taken mainly from official reports of the day,
presented to the authorities of government by the
commanders of the respective vessels engaged, and
as the statements are made by responsible persons,
we are inclined to accept them without further inquiry.
On the other hand, the present writer finds an old
man, wholly unlettered, and with the propensity of
3*




30              BIOGRAPHY OF
his race to magnify and enlarge upon any topic with
which they may imagine themselves familiar, uttering statements which we are obliged to authenticate
by credible history to assure ourselves that they are
true. It is a point of great interest and satisfaction
to find his story verified; we tell it as we glean it
piecemeal from him, and add the same history
as it is given by standard writers like Cooper and
Hildreth.
As stated before, Jim was shipped as powdermonkey oln board the Hornet, but the Captain (Lawrence) soon found out the qualities of his new hand,
and that timidity was not his failing, and he soon
promoted Jim to a gun on the larboard quarter,
where he had an opportunity of seeing and hearing
what he would otherwise have missed. He says:
" We sailed to the West Indies, and off South America we had an engagement with the Peacock, a British vessel of war. We' sunk her in twenty-five
minutes.
" When the Peacock was discovered, another fellow and I were boxing up in the shrouds, and he
called out that there was a ship coming along; and
there she was, sure enough, and a noble looking
thing she was, sir.
"Well, pretty soon the balls began to fly, and I
tell you it was hot work; talk about your playing
ball, them were the balls as you couldn't put out
your hand to catch.




PROF. JIM.               31
"Well, we sunk her, and lost five of our men inside her, whom the Captain had sent on board to save
some of the wounded; but rum and tobacco got the
best of them, and as she went down all of a sudden,
that was the last of them.
"She came right off us so," says old Jim, holding
his hands parallel, but the right, representing the
Peacock, about a foot in the rear of his left hand,
" and we came so near together that for a minute
the yards locked, and there was an awful crash, and
the waves were running high. I stood on the larboard side, with what they called a tub' of pistols
and hand spikes, and at the first crash a hand spike
caught in my wrist, and that is the scar, sir," showing a veritable scar upon his hand. " As the Peacock passed, some man in our shrouds up aloft shot
her Captain, and he fell on the deck.
" The sterns of the two vessels were near together,
and the balls flew like hail, and I got struck by a
splinter on the knee, and was sent below, for the
blood was streaming down over my foot; but I
crawled back on deck again. Our wounded were
very few, but a gun'busted' and killed some, and
some were drowned in the Peacock. I remember
seeing some men up aloft when she sunk, and they
were taken aboard from there."
Cooper's report of this action will throw a little interesting light on Jim's statement. He says:
" The Hornet sailed from Boston on the 26th of Oc



32              BIOGRAPHY OF
tober, 1812, touching at the different rendezvous
(so without doubt in the Chesapeake Bay, where
Jim went on board) with letters, according to arrangement, arriving off St. Salvador on the 13th of
December, and the Hornet was sent in to communicate with the consul. She remained off St. Salvador alone for eighteen days, when she was chased
into the harbor by the Montague. It was late in the
evening when the Montague approached, and the
Hornet availed herself of the darkness to wear, and
stand out again, passing into the offing without further molestation. Captain Lawrence now hauled
by the wind with the intention of going off Pernambuco.
"While the Hornet was beating round the Carobana bank, a sail was made on her weather quarter
edging down towards her. It was now half-past three
P. M., and the Hornet continuing to turn to windward with her original intention, by twenty minutes
past four the second stranger was made out to be a
large man-of-war brig, and soon after she showed
English colors.
" As soon as her captain was satisfied that the vessel approaching was an enemy, the Hornet was
cleared for action, and her people went to quarters.
The ship was kept close by the wind, in order to
gain the weather gage, the enemy still running free.
At 5.10, feeling that he could weather the Englishman, Captain Lawrence showed his colors, and




PROF. JIM.               33
tacked. The two vessels were now standing towards
each other, with their heads different ways, both
close by the wind. They passed within half pistolshot at 5.25, delivering their broadsides as the guns
bore, each vessel using the larboard battery.
"As soon as they were clear, the Englishman put
his helm hard up, with the intention to wear short
routnd and get a raking fire at the Hornet; but the
manoeuvre was closely watched, and promptly imitated, and firing his starboard guns, he was obliged
to right his helm as the Hornet was coming down
on his quarter in a perfect blaze of fire.
" The latter closed, and maintaining the admirable position she had got, poured in her shot with
such vigor, that a little before 5.40 the enemy not
only lowered his ensign, but he hoisted it union
down, in the fore-rigging, as a signal of distress.
His main-mast soon after fell.
"Mr. Shubrick was sent on board to take possession. This officer soon returned with the information that the prize was the enemy's sloop-of-war
Peacock, Captain Peake, and that she was fast sinking, having already six feet of water in her hold.
Mr. Cormer and Mr. Cooper were immediately despatched with boats to get out the wounded, and to
endeavor to save the vessel. It was too late for the
latter, though every exertion was made.
"Both vessels were immediately anchored, guns
were thrown overboard, shot-holes plugged, and re



34               BIOGRAPHY OF
course was had to the pumps, and even to bailing,
but the short twilight of that low latitude soon left
the prize-crew, before the prisoners could be removed. In the hurry and confusion of such a scene,
and while the boats of the Hornet were absent, four
of the Englishmen lowered the stern boat of the
Peacock, which had been thought too much injured
to be used, jumped into it and pulled for land at the
imminent risk of their lives.
" Mr. Conner became sensible that the brig was
in momentary danger of sinking, and he endeavored
to muster the people remaining on board in the Peacock's launch, which still stood on deck, the fall of
the main-mast and the want of time having prevented an attempt to get it into the water. Unfortunately, a good many of the Peacock's people were
below, rummaging the vessel, and when the brig
gave her last wallow it was too late to save them.
" The Peacock settled very easily but suddenly in
five and a half fathoms water, and the two American officers, with most of the men and several prisoners, saved themselves in the launch, though not
without great exertions.  Three of the Hornet's
people (Jim says five) went down in the brig, and
nine of the Peacock's were also drowned. Four
more of the latter saved themselves by running up the
rigging into the foretop, which remained out of the
water after the hull had got to the bottom.
"In this short encounter, the Peacock had her




PROF. JIM.               35
captain and four men killed, and thirty-three
wounded. The Hornet had one man killed, and two
wounded, in addition to two men badly burned by the
explosion of the cartridge.
"The Hornet in the action mustered 135 men fit
for duty, the Peacock 130."
We quote thus at length, for as the whole battle
must have been witnessed by Prof. Jim, he himself
indeed, taking an active part in it, every item is of
interest to any one who is interested in the life of
the venerable janitor.
Cooper further adds, that Captain Lawrence, being
overburdened with prisoners and being short of supplies, sailed for New York, and this accords with
Jim's statement, that he went directly to New York,
where he left the Hornet and went on board another
vessel.
After leaving the Hornet at New York, Jim, not
yet wearied with sailor's life and hardships, went on
board the first vessel which offered itself. This
proved to be a pirate, although Jim asserts that he
had no suspicions of its true character till they were
fairly out at sea. She was called the " True-blooded
Yankee," and she sailed directly for St. Salvador,
Brazil, and Buenos Ayres, where she began a series
of robberies on any craft which chanced to fall in
her way; but no murders were committed, as the
captain only professed to rob, not to murder.
Leaving South America, they went over to the




36              BIOGRAPHY OF
coast of Spain, and plundered a number of vessels,
and in a measure felt that the trip had been very
successful, although at one time they narrowly escaped being run down by a Spanish seventy-four,
which gave them chase for two days and two nights.
They returned to New York, and having rid them
selves of their spoils, sailed again for the South
American coast. When just outside Sandy Hook, a
United States war vessel gave them chase, and pursued them some days, but did not overtake them.
The captain of the pirate knew the pursuing vessel
as the Wasp, one of the fleet which was fitted out
for the war at the time the Hornet was sent out to
the Southern coast.
As they neared the West Indies, they boarded and
plundered a ship outward bound from Havana, and
the following day captured two more. They pursued
a third when near St. Salvador, when a gun-ship
gave chase and drove them two days full sail out to
sea again.
Instead of returning to their first destined port
they sailed for Buenos Ayres, and had a narrow escape from a ship which they mistook in the fog anl
mist for a trader, but which they suddenly discovered
to be a large man-of-war, and they had to " run for
it," in sailor language.
Prof. Jim was on this pirate ship for seven months,
and at the end of that time made his escape at St.




PROF. JIM.              37
Salvador, according to his own statement, somewhat
in this manner.
Tired and sick of continual plunder, and wearied
of the routine of privateer service, he made up his
mind, by this time somewhat disciplined by experience, that he would escape at the first port where an
opportunity should present itself. It chanced to be
at St. Salvador, Brazil. He did not run away the
first time he was sent on shore, nor the second, but
when his movements were least likely to be suspected
he took to his heels,leaving his chest, clothes, money,
and all that was due to him from his captain on
board the vessel.
He found at last that he could make nobody understand a word he spoke, and he began to be frightened lest he should find that he had chosen the wrong
time for making his escape from the privateer. He
walked along the street, gazing into store windows
or booths as he passed, looking for some face that
would give an intelligent smile in return, and would
have given up in despair and have considered his
case as hopeless, had he not at a fortunate moment
met a lady who could talk English, and to whom he
imparted his distress. She took pity on him, and
having provided food for his comfort, gave him an
old suit of clothes, put him on a poste diligence,
bound along the coast with mail for Buenos Ayres.
If the reader will trace out the line on a map of
Brazil he will find, as we did, that Jim's statements
4




38               BIOGRAPHY OF
are worthy of credence, for he mentions as towns
through which he passed on this long and tedious
overland journey, Rio Janeiro and Monte Video.
At the latter place he says, " we had to take a boat
and cross some sea, or river, and then we were at.
Buelos Ayres."  The " sea or river" was of course
the Rio de la Plata, and the only mail line that we
can suppose to exist between St. Salvador and
Buenos Ayres must have passed through the large
cities mentioned as lying on his route.
From Buenos Ayres he shipped in an American
vessel and returned again to New York.
Still of a roving disposition, Jim shipped again,
and this time on an American trader, Captain Lorie,
bound for China.
They went to Havre de Grace, and sold out their
cargo for the purpose of having ready money for
trade in teas and silks, but strange to say an old
acquaintance of Jim's crosses his path, when his
newly adopted vessel had hardly made way for its
eastern destination. It was four days from Havre,
and a sail made its appearance, which the captain
recognized at once, and that it boded him no good;
and it seems that the recognition extended to the
runaway sailor Jim, for it was the same pirate craft
from which he had escaped, the " True blooded Yankee." However, the usually successful privateer
this time missed her prey, and the China trip was
made in safety.




PROF. JIM.               39
The land of the Mandarin did not please Jim, and
although his opportunities for observation were
small, and his present recollection not at all vivid,
yet he states very clearly what he remembers.
He says they made port at Canton, but were not
allowed to enter the city at all, but all trading was
done outside a high protecting wall, around the top
of which odd sort of vehicles were driving, and
odder looking people walked. The sailors used to
venture as far as they dared inside the gates, but
were always driven back with great hullaballoos that
would have terrified any one, and no one could talk
with the Chinamen, for they didn't understand the
sailors nor the sailors them.
The lading was tea and silk. After remaining in
that port for a month or more, the vessel sailed for
New York, making the passage in somewhat over
130 days. Storms and trouble they encountered
without end, but after nearly five months voyage they
landed their cargo safely in New York city.
After returning from his trip to the East.Indies,
Jimi shipped on board the Harrison, bound for France.
During the voyage they encountered a terrific storm,
which swept over them for three whole days, leaving
the decks clear and the vessel scudding under bare
poles. Here Jim puts in a little anecdote, which he
relates with infinite gusto as illustrating his own bold
and impudent manner when in great danger or distress. The captain had given up the vessel as lost,




40          BIOGRAPHY OF FROF. JIM.
and as a last extremity had called the crew together
for general counsel. Pale and terrified faces surrounded the anxious captain as he looked wistfully
about this crowd of men, who had placed so much
confidence in him as to trust to his guidance over
the wide seas; after a few words, explaining the
great danger they were in, he asked if any one had
any plans to suggest other than had already been
tried, or if any one could suggest any means of
saving life, if any could possibly be saved in such
a raging sea. It seems that before leaving port the
vessel had been furnished with a new deck, and the
thought popped into Jim's head that this had not
perhaps occurred to the captain, and in spite of fear
and distress, creaking timbers and raging waves, he
shouted at the top of his lungs, " Stick to the new
deck, captain." The storm abated, and the crew
found no necessity for sticking to the new deck,
except as it formed a part of the ship to which it
belonged; but the captain lost no opportunity to
reprimand Jim for his unbecoming levity, exhibited
as it had been at a time when they could scarcely
call their lives their own.




III.
" A change came o'er the spirit of my
dream."-BYRON.
"A College joke to cure the dumps."-SWIFT.
4*








Several times Jim made this trip to the French
coast, and he became quite familiar with the French
people and their customs. He relates how once at
Bordeaux he ventured to walk out in the street with
one of the waitresses of his boarding house, when
they met the girl's lover, a "johnny arms," as he
calls him, (probably a gendarme,) and the irate lover
gave full chase to the offending sailor, "And," says
Jim, "I flew for ship board, and the way I ran was
just nobody's business, whew! whew!"
Professor Jim never learned the French language,
nor even the Spanish, although he had so many opportunities, but then he never could get hold of the
right moment for such things, and very calmly replies, if expostulated with, " Why, it aint no kind
o' use any how."
Foreigners of all classes he affects to despise, and
prizes the true blooded Yankee above all things, except when it proves to be a pirate vessel, and that,
one from which he has had to run for his life.
After this memorable voyage Jim began to tire of
the high seas, and settled down more to home life,
and for a short time acted as sailor, first in a packet




44              BIOGRAPHY OF
plying between Norwich, Conn., and New York, and
next as fireman in the steamer Eagle, plying between
Norwich and New London, and then his sailor life
came to an end. Jim left the water to become
a landsman, and found work in the stone quarries
at Portland, Conn., where he remained for two years,
and then for two years more he lived with a gentleman in Middletown as general servant, gardener, and
hostler. At the expiration of his service in Middletown he came to Hartford to live, as waiter in
the old City Hotel, (kept by a Mr. Bennett,) and
while there his active movements and his willingness to do a favor and to show himself ready at any
time, won the good will of Mrs. Brownell, who, with
the Bishop, was then boarding at the hotel, and he
finally became a servant in the Bishop's house, where
he remained for a number of years.
Bishop Brownell moved his family from New York
to Hartford in 1821, and Prof. Jim asserts that he
became a part of the Bishop's household almost at
the same time.
The College was founded in 1823, and the care
of the morning-bell fell to Jim, and it was some
years before the exclusive care of "dust and ashes"
fell to his portion.
Pretty well advanced in life, it occurred to the
janitor, now settled at steady employment, that the
delights of the home circle might as well be his own
as well as the comfort of other men about him.




PROF. JIM.               45
About the same time that Jim came to Hartford
to live, a family living on Trumbull street had a
slave girl in their employ, who used occasionally to
visit some of the friends of the janitor, and there
Prof. Jim made her acquaintance. The courtship
was not of long duration, and the course of true
love ran smoothly, and says Jim, " She had no
friends in the world, nor had I, and so we were married," and the couple began housekeeping in a little
house on the lot adjoining the college grounds, where
the city park now lies.
Jim's attachment to the founder of Trinity College, and to his family was very strong, and he
speaks very feelingly of his relations with them all.
How he " toted" the children around; how he
"'tended to all the marketin', and would let the
Bishop do nothing at all. Why, sir, he didn't know
nothin''bout sugar and groceries, or meat, or vegetables, or nothin', but I'd'tend the whole of it myself."
At first the college consisted of but one building,
i. e., Jarvis Hall, then soon afterwards Seabury Hall
was built, and these two buildings formed the entire
college for a number of years.
During the time that Bishop Brownell was the
presiding officer, Prof. Jim was constantly at the
college, excepting one winter, when he went back to
the City Hotel, but. with the coming spring he returned again to his duties as janitor.




46              BIOGRAPHY OF
Prof. Jim's college life thus began with the birth
of Trinity-College, and it is now half a century since
that important moment. The most difficult part of
his biography to relate lies within these fifty years.
The life of a college janitor is, at the best, only
routine, and although during so long a time many
changes have taken place in the outside world, they
do not lie within the sphere which we are describing. The college bell has been the almost constant
charge of Jim since his connection with the college,
and the responsibility has been faithfully met, as
our own experience assures us, and even when " the
tongue was not thar," yet Prof. Jim has been on
time, and mounting to the belfry would hammer out
the call to students, laughing with the best of them.
His laughs, however, meant that he was yet even
with them.
During the earlier days of his career he was facetiously dubbed Professor, though when and by whom
he does not recollect, and the title adheres as firmly
as if he had in reality taken his diploma. He says
that it is "Dust and ashes" he professes! or in
plainer English, that the department of dust and
ashes is his peculiar right. Since however he has
been unable through the infirmity of years to superintend the " ashes," he has preferred to be called
the Professor of secrets, the whole force of this title
lying in one of his own sayings, viz: "What you
knows, I knows, and nobody else knows." Profess



PROF. JIM.                    47
ing that although he is fully aware of the mischief
inherent in college students, yet he has never been
guilty of informing the authorities when occasion
has presented itself.
His faithful attendance to the bell has been the
cause of several poetic effusions from rhyming students, to whom the bell has been a provoking reminder of the call of duty, and it was formerly the
delight of the Senior to shout from a window on the
morning after class day, while the bell was calling
the under class-men t0 their recitations, " Where's
the fire? where's the fire?"     One of these poetic
seniors contributed the following lines to an early
number of the Tablet, and we insert them in full.
AFTER CLASS DAY.
Strain well your time-worn hempen rope,
" Professor Jim," both bold and true,
And give your muscles ample scope;
Who cares for college bell or you?
There was a time I heard its peal
With quickened pulse and ravished ear,
But now-ring on, for now I feel,
That you may ring while I lie here
And snore away without remorse,
Or fear of Faculty or Law;
For I have done my College courseAm independent as a saw.
See how the trembling fellows run,
Juniors, Sophs., and Freshmen too



48                BIOGRAPHY OF
While I lie here and see the fun,
And care not, " Jim," for bell or you.
So pull away, my hearty man,
And make her peal out wild and free!
Pull, pull away, pull all you canFor all your pulling-wakes not me.
Next to the care of the bell it is Prof. Jim's duty
to summon students when their presence is required
by the Faculty.
Accustomed to dodges of all kinds, nothing will
discourage him, and he has been known to take a
seat outside the door of a student's room and to sit
there for hours, "bound to catch that fellow," if he
had to sit there a week, and he is usually successful,
for many years' experience has taught him how to
proceed with a sure chance of success.
Jim facetiously says that he is on the " war path"
when he is hunting for students who are to appear
before the Faculty to answer for some misbehavior.
He divided his time between the house duties at
the Bishop's and bell-ringing early in the morning
at the college, for a number of years, and assisted
the established janitor in the "ashes department,"
till finally he was himself advanced to the important
post of head janitor, which position he held faithfully for a period of thirty years; in later days he
began to feel the infirmities of old age creeping
upon him, and his labors have been materially lightened, and he at the present time rings the bells for




PROF. JIM.              49
recitation and for rising, as he did half a century
ago, and besides, lights the fires in the lecture rooms
and  blows " the chapel organ.
Many witticisms, sharp and original, have dropped
from the mouth of the aged janitor, and if it were
possible to collect a memorabilia of these bone mots
they would be as amusing as~ Joe Miller's jests, but
they are like flashes of light, sparkling for a moment and then lost forever, except when they recur
to the memory of some graduate, or to the amused
student as he recalls the occasion of the utterance.
Since its foundation there have been eight Presidents of the college, viz: Bishop Brownell, until
1831; Rev. N. S. Wheaton, D. D., from 1831 to
1837; Rev. Silas Totten, D. D., from 1837 to 1848;
Rev. John Williams, D. D., an Alumnus of the college, from 1848 to 1853; Rev. D. R. Goodwin, D. D.,
from 1853 to 1860; Samuel Eliot, LL. D., from 1860
to 1864; Rev. J. B. Kerfoot, D. D., from 1864 to
1866; and since 1866, Rev. A. Jackson, an Alumnus of the college.
Of each and all of these gentlemen Prof. Jim has
a vivid remembrance.
From 1851 to 1854 the theological school, subsequently removed to Middletown, was a part of the
college, and the theologians used to delight in the
discussions which Prof. Jim was always ready to
enter into. I am indebted to one of these same
5




50              BIOGRAPHY OF
theologians, now an eminent clergyman, for the following anecdote:
Prof. Jim was advancing the strongest arguments
against the use of ardent spirits, waxing eloquiint
over the assumed virtue of the patriarchs in' this
respect, when he was posed for a moment by a
student, who asked him "how it was in the case Qf
Noah?'
Jim's reply was soon ready, however.
"Oh!" says he, "there are a good many kinds
of intopsication, and Noah's was intopsication of
spirit."
Another time, while the Professor was in one of
the upper windows of a college building, a freshman
thought it would be an excellent joke to hide Jim's
wheelbarrow, and, unconscious that Jim was watching him all the time, carried it with great effort up
stairs, and piled wood from the wood-pile over it.
When he had finished, Jim's head came forward,
and in tones of withering sarcasm he said: "0, you
fresh!!" The mortified freshman actually carried
the wheelbarrow back to the place from which he
had brought it, and we would be willing to wager
troubled Professor Jim no more that year.
One of the earlier Presidents greatly enraged the
janitor by interfering, as he termed it, with his (the
janitor's) rights. Anger rankled in the offended
servitor's bosom, but he had no means of appeasing
the pain till on one occasion he shot the bolt directly




PROF. JIM.               51
home in this way. The newly elected President accosted him one morning with, " Good day, James;
well, you have lived to see quite a number of changes
in the college since you've been here, - Presidents
in all, haven't you?"  "Yes," said Jim, " Yes, sir,
I've lived to see - Presidents over this'ere college,
and," drawing his form as erect as possible, " I hope
ta live to see another." He had had his revenge (!),
and it was very sweet to him, and he glories over it
to this day.
From the earliest records Prof. Jim has been a
prominent personage at Class-Day celebrations, and
it is an established custom to give the worthy janitor
some substantial memento before the class breaks
up, and the responses of Jim are among the pleasantest reminiscences of that crowning day of the
college course. Once he used to fill the pipes and
distribute the punch to the class while the literary
exercises were proceeding, but of late years he has
been obliged to yield these last duties to younger
and sprightlier assistants, and he retains his seat in
the circle with the class.
The presiding officer of the day tenderly escorts
the old grey-headed man to his post of honor, and
again escorts him to the scene of the ivy-planting,
every one present yielding a respectful deference to
the.years and the associations connected with this
faithful servitor.
A representative of the class, before the close of




52              BIOGRAPHY OF
the exercises, speaks the word of parting, and tenders a purse to Prof. Jim, and he, half in humor
half in sorrow, gives vent to words which must be
heard to be well appreciated. The mingled pathos
and wit with which the old janitor endeavors to express his gratitude, his sorrow at parting with friendly faces, and to give his advice which experience has
taught him all young men need ere they undertake
their journey by themselves, altogether, render the
production one of interest.
In the absence of all available data we are obliged
to content ourselves with those reports we have by us,
but scanty as they prove to be they are sufficient to
show the tenor of Prof. Jim's remarks.
We are pleased to be able to give in full two of
the speeches in which he responds to the well-wish
ers of the graduating class. The earliest account
we can find of a class-day entertainment is of the
summer of 1855, when a purse filled with gold was
presented to the venerable Professor by the class
graduating that year. The presentation and address
was made through Mr. Geo. A. Woodward, and Prof.
Jim is reported as replying " with much earnestness
and ability."
In the summer of 1863, a correspondent of the
Hartford Evening Press reported in full the response
of Jim after the presentation of the customary purse;
(it was not of gold this time.)




PROF. JIM.               53
J. S. Smith of Randolph, Vt., made the presentation and Prof. Jim replied:
"While I've got to be deprived o' these young
gentlemen, very near and dear friends, you, young
ladies, has got to lose your armor bearers! You
have treated'em so handsomely an' smiled upon'em
so sweetly, that you've kept them when they had ort
to be a studyin'
" I done all I could to have'cm study when they
ort to, but they cooden resis' your smiles. But I
won't put no more on you than you can bear.
"Gentlemen, you has been very kind to me, an' our
communion has been sweet together, our words has
been soft, an' what you know I knows, an' nobodyelse knows.
" But we've got to take our departur!  What will
become of you? the Lord knows. Some may go to
the sandy shores of Arabia, some on you to the tropical wilds of Africa-its your own fault if you ain't
fitted to travel to any part o' th.e state! The Lord
bless you-you knows I always felt a warm interest
in your soul's welfare an' worked for your salvation.
" You call me professor, an' so you may. I'm professor o' secrets. What you tell me I don't tell.
How you worked and studied all night arter you'd
been off, and worried for fear you wooden get your
conditions.
5*




54              BIOGRAPHY OF
" How you had to be dragged out by the heels from
under the bed, sometimes to go and visit the faculty.' How you got along nicely till you run against
chronics. Chronics was hard.
"But Chronics is gone and Eucly is gone. It's your
your own fault if your mind ain't furnished with a
good edication to go anywhere.
"I thank you for this purse. No matter how little
it is, no matter how great it is, it aint so precious as
friends. A man that hain't got a cent in his pocket
and has a near and dear friend, is rich-he's got
somebody that cares for him. If it's gold it will
canker; if it's silver it will rust; if it's copperheads
-you know what becomes o' them. But friendship
lasts allers, I trus you'll allers be benevolent-your
hand open always to resist the needy.
" Our communion has been sweet, but we've got to
take our departur.
" Where ere you go may the Lord bless yer-may
these sweet ladies keep the pairs o' gloves you give'em till you come back. You know I always had an
interest in your salvation-the Lord bless yer."
A correspondent to a Philadelphia paper, in the
summer of 1865, relating the events of class day at
Trinity, notes Prof. Jim in such pleasant words that
we quote them in full, feeling assured that they will
recall to every graduate of the college our hero in
propria persona.
" The Professor is one of the institutions of




PROF. JIM.               55
the College, and if you are not already acquainted
with him you ought to be and I will endeavor to
make you. He has been called janitor, bell ringer,
&c., for almost forty years; is a fine looking specimen of an ancient African, black as jet, grey-headed,
good-looking and intelligent. He wore on this solemn occasion a dress coat and silk hat, and carried
in his hand an enormous gold-headed cane, the gift
of a former class. His oration was at this, as at all
times, the most remarkable, if not the most classic
feature of the whole entertainment.
"The mixture of Ethiopian wit, piety, and eloquence was so droll that it was momentarily greeted
with perfect roars of laughter.  When he meant
to be most solemn, he excited most merriment. But
the old Professor, in no wise abashed, kept steadily
on, exhorting and thanking and counselling his
young frens," giving expression to whatever came
uppermost in his mind, without the least regard to
grammar, arrangement, or punctuation until he
had had his say.
" Among other things quite as good, but they have
escaped my memory, he referred very tenderly to the'canopy of time,''the shores of this College,'
and'this here beautiful canvass' (campus).
"He declared, in a very impressive manner, that
this would be his last appearance'upon that place,'
buf as he. has made the same declaration, just so solemnly too, every class day for the last twenty years,




56              BIOGRAPHY OF
the sentiment failed to excite the tears of his auditory.
However the end must come to the venerable
James. When it does come may he be kindly dealt
with and made happy forever."
From another correspondent we quote the speech
of the occasion in full.
SPEECH.
"Gentlemen of de class of'65: I'se very happy at
dis time to meet you. Let me say at dis time that
I have to regret the loss. I desire to know,'fore I
go any further, if the editor of the Times is here [he
stood within a few feet of him], I want to say, if he
is, that even a poor ignorant man like me might have
told him something better to write than he did las'
clas' day. (Laughter.)
" Gentlemen of'65: Your secrets is mine. What
you knows I know. Though you stopped up the keyholes with putty, an' froze up de bell, no matter. I
was bound you should'nt lose a recitation, if I had to
take the door off de hinges. I allers get through
somehow.
" Gentlemen: We never had no difficulty. All
you treated me as gentlemen. Ladies, you will
remember the class of'65-you'se got a good many
friends among'em.
"There sits ayoungman whose father entered college and graduated with honor and dignity to his parents, and allers instructed him in his duty.




PROF. JIM.               57
"Gentlemen: What is that, and that? (pointing
to the vacant chairs of Haynes and Lewis, draped in
black). There's something gone. Precious souls!
precious souls! Remember, gentlemen, you are now
in de flower of your youth. You're soon goin' to
leave this college, this splended canvas-don't neg —
lect to make acquaintance with the Supreme Being.
"Oh, my beloved friends, who has been instructed
in de class, in de canopy of Heaven, or on de shores
of Trinity College! (Sensation.)
" Gentlemen: I hold in my hand (lifting his goldheaded cane) something presented to me in 1864,
that I prize above all my heart. I stand before you
in my ignerance —'scuse me.
" O my beloved class, whar are you goin'? (Laughter and applause.) You may enter de ministry, you
may enter de lor-wherever you go, remember de instructions you received here. O these glorious walls
-the chimes o' dem bells. It's a wonder dey don't
ring out peace to your beloved souls.
" Gentlemen: I've had to dig de putty out de keyholes with my jack-knife. But, Prof. Jim, as you
call him, would go through de walls but I'd have
you out. It was a glory to me when you work all
night to freeze up de bell, thinking to lay in youlbeds in de morning, but I'd bring you out.
" Ladies and Gentlemen: I never had no difficulty
with a student. We allers run together. What
they knewknew new, and what they didn't know I




58              BIOGRAPHY OF
could tell'ein! This is the last Class Day I expect
to be here.
" Gentlemen, you are celebrating your last Class
Day. Whar are your faders and moders? Ar' dey
here to enjoy dis occasion so happy wid you?-to go
out wid you into a world of temptations and sin, and
guide you along? If not, I warn you of de temptatationls dat beset young men of your character.
"The high privileges that has been granted to you
and de benefit of a Supreme Being you ought to appreciate as gentlemen! Gentlemen, I bid you all a
final farewell; I could say much more, but time won't
admit."
The presentation of the purse this year was made,
by G. A. Coggeshall, of South Portsmouth, R. I.
The class of'69 presented him with a silver watch
in place of the customary purse. Jim's reply is not
reported, but it was said to be full of sly hits and one
of his very happiest. Mr. W. B. Buckingham, of
South Carolina, represented his class in this presentation.
So Class Day is a bright period in Prof. Jim's life;
and yet, as he truly says, there is every probability
that he will see but few more of these pleasant celebrations, and Class Day will hardly seem a Class Day
without him. It is a wonderful thing to see a living
servant who for fifty long years has faithfully fulfilled
his duties in one house or one family; and it is not to
be wondered at that the Alumni of Trinity feel




PROF. JIM.               59
proud of Prof. Jim, and that strangers learning his
history look upon him with profound interest. Such
a personage as he, will rarely be met with wherever
we may go, and every class for which this aged janitor has shown his respect and to whom he has given
his parting blessing will hold it among their fondest
recollections that" Prof. Jim " was a participator in
their Class Day.
One memorable event in the life of the janitor remains to be recorded.
In the campaign of 1867 he was duly nominated
Vice President of the United States, somewhat in
this wise. It was upon the occasion of a visit to the
college, of Daniel Pratt, the Great American Traveler. A local paper describes the affair thus:
" Daniel Pratt, the celebrated traveler, has again
honored our city with his presence. Yesterday afternoon, he spoke before a delighted audience at Trinity
College. The oration was a highly polished, scholarly affair, abounding in flowers of rhetoric and
striking similes. At the conclusion of his oration, he
was unanimously nominated for the Presidency in
1868. Mr. Pratt modestly accepted the honor and
proceeded to define his position, and establish his
platform.
"HON. JAMES WILLIAMS, commonly called' Prof.
Jim,' was nominated for Vice President. Mr. Pratt
was very uneasy about the nomination as he feared
Mr: Williams was not legally qualified, as to age, etc.




60               BIOGRAPHY OF
but on being assured that he was of a suitable
age, and that he had been a resident graduate of the
College for the last twenty-one years, he consented
to Mr. Williams' nomination. He further said that
in case anything should transpire still he could exercise his veto power.
" It is proprosed by some of our leading citizens to
engage Mr. Pratt, regardless of expense, to deliver
a course of lectures on American History, the potato
rot, etc. By his varied attainments acquired by extensive travels, Mr. Pratt is among the first orators
of the country."
We did not hear that Prof. Jim was elected.
As we close these few chapters let us review for a
moment the biography we have thus scantily passed
over. James Williams first appears as a slave boy
in the vicinity of New York City eighty-three years
ago, next a hostler, then a fugitive from his home
and a sailor in a trading vessel. Time passes on and
he is impressed into the British service, then runs
taway in a romantic manner and is afterwards shipped fn board a well-known naval vessel which figures extensively in the war of 1812. After this he
visitsin his travels, Spain, France, makes a long trip
to the East Indies, to China, and then returns to
New York. Before this he had been along the shores




PROF. JIM.               61
of Africa, both on the South Atlantic and in the
Mediterranean, then to Turkey and to Greece. He
visits South America as a sailor on board a pirate
vessel and makes a romantic escape at San Salvador.
He travels about from place to place and sees and
hears the most wonderful things, till at length we
find him settled as janitor at Trinity College, and
growing old with that institution, becoming himself
an interesting personage in its history. He saw the
walls of the College rise and, strange to say, lives to
see them taken down again. He has witnessed the
planting of many ivies which have grown from the
simple slip to the wide spreading vines, and he lives
to see them cut down at the roots and taken away.
He has witnessed the graduation of six hundred and
fifty students from his adopted home, and he outlives one hundred and thirty of that number. What
an experience his has been!
For a number of years he has been an active member
of the Methodist Society to which he joined himself.
In fact he was one of the original founders of the
African Zion Methodist Church in this city nearly
fifty years ago, and he feels that it is part and parcel
of himself; he is as revered and his counsels taken
as much to heart as if he were the regular preacher
to the congregation; and indeed the venerable. janitor is duly respected by every one with whom he is
acquainted. He is polite, and has a pleasant word to
say at all times.
6




62          BIOGRAPHY OF PROF. JIM.
Long may his memory live with those to whom
his name and face are most familiar. Wherever the
graduate of Trinity goes, wherever the memory of
Trinity College remains green, there we feel assured will linger a recollection of the Prince of College
Janitors,
PROFESSOR JIM.




ADDENDA.








After the manuscript of this work was ready for
the press a letter was received per the Editor of the
Hartford Courant from the Great Grandson of Col.
Robert, Jim's master. The letter is by permission
given here. It confirms Prof. Jim's statement fully
and adds one more witness to the reliability of the
aged janitor's memory. The letter is addressed to
the Courant, advance sheets of the biography appearirig in that paper in March.
NEW YORK, March 29th, 1873.
Editor Hartford Courant:
DEAR SIR.
I have just read with much interest in the N. Y.
Evening Post, copied from your journal, an account
of the whereabouts of Aaron Burr after the duel
with General Hamilton. I take pleasure in verifying Professor Jim's statements as far as my memory
serves me, from the frequent accounts given me by
my father, the late Philip Rhinelander Robert,
Pomora Hall, Yonkers, N. Y. I do not recollect
James Williams as he probably moved East before
my time. I however recollect Hannibal very well,
who was probably in the service of my Grandfather,
Col. John Robert, at the time Professor Jim was.
JOHN F. ROBERT.
6*




66               BIOGRAPHY OF
After receiving this letter an immediate inquiry
was made after " Hannibal," and on questioning
Prof. Jim it was found the individual in question
was a brother-in-law to the janitor, and that he lived
but a short distance from his house. An intelligent
man was found, polite and ready to answer as far as
lay in his power any questions that might be put to
him.
He had been a slave, the property of Mr. Blackwell,
the son of the gentleman who owned the property
known as Blackwell's Island. Mr. Blackwell's estate
was next adjoining that of Col. Robert, and it was
about two years after the death of the Colonel that
he became acquainted with Prof. Jim's sister whom
he afterwards married.
It was the second year after the estate had been
settled, and Jim and his sister had left Yonkers, that
they received news that Jim had run away. It was
supposed at first that he had gone to Nyack to visit
his father, but as he was not found there, opinions
were divided between the " East " and " the sea."
At any rate his friends neither heard from him or
saw him again till the year after the emancipation of
slaves in New York state, which was in 1817.
Profess6r Jim's father was a slave belonging to
Mr. Pugh, of Nyack, but he was allowed his freedom
when he was come of age, and for years worked as
stone cutter in quarries near his former master's
home. His children were allowed to visit him oc



PROF, JIM.               67
casionally and he saw them several times a week till
the family was finally broken up at the death of Col.
Robert, and the children were scattered. We are
able to get at Professor Jim's age more accurately by
relying upon the statement of Hannibal. His problem is worked out mathematically thus.
Hannibal's wife was one year older than her husband, ard he is seventy-three years old. He married the fifth child, and Jim was the third, and there
was a difference of two years between the ages of
the children. Prof. Jim is therefore eighty years
old.
A second letter from Mr. Robert still further verifies Prof. Jim's statements and adds a few interesting facts to those already given.
"The Robert estate at the time Jim was a part of
the Colonel's family consisted of 500 acres; the old
family manor " Pomora Hall" is now in the possession of Sidney B. Morse, Esq., (son of the late Prof.
Morse).
Mr. Robert very kindly sent to the writer two autograph letters written by Aaron Burr to the late
Colonel Robert. Their contents show plainly the
relations existing between the two gentlemen. We




68               BIOGRAPHY OF
have permission to publish them and are glad to be
able to, for they have never been placed in any previous collection of Burr's letters.
The first letter is dated New York, May, 1800, and
is not as clear to understand as the second.
DEAR SIR:
The letter from Mr. Prevost and the
paper inclosed by him will show you the intentions
of your adversaries. As there is no prospect that
the trial would come on, there would be no other use
in my attendance than the pleasure of passing a day
with you in the country. Unfortunately I have no
time for amusement. I regret your disappointment
and my own, and am always affec'y
Your friend,
A. BURR.
The second bears the date, New York, July 28th,
1802.
DEAR SIR:
My pasture is completely eaten up and
there being none on the Island that is good, I send
Harry with two horses to your care. Let them run
in some good pasture where there are some bushes to
brush off the flies-These singular look animals were
made a present to me in S. Carolina. They are fullblooded Arabians, and were -brought from the western side of the Mississippi. From their appearance
you would not suppose that they cost 800 Dolls.




PROF: JIM.              69
Yet such I am told is the fact. You may use them
in your phmton if you please, but pray take care that
they are not rode by negroes.
Your affec. friend and servant,
A. BURR.
COL. JOHN ROBERT.
Professor Jim remembers the ponies well and describes them as spotted red and white.
" Harry," mentioned in the letter was his mother's
brother.
"Now how strange," says Jim, "ain't it that
them ar' letters should be kept till this time, and
about them ponies?"
From among numerous letters received while writing this biography, the following is selected, for it
shows how in his station Jim's influence was exerted
in behalf of the College.
St. George'sSCHENECTADY, April 2d, 1873.
Dear Sir:
The lives of eminent men are often
barren of action and incident. If such proves to be
the casein regard to the distinguished individual, for
whose biography you request me to furnish some




70              BIOGRAPHY OF
materials, it will not be thought an argument against
his greatness.
It is a very humble memorial which I have to send.
But as Boswell thought it important to narrate his
first meeting with Dr. Johnson, and as Lockhart is
particular to describe Sir Walter Scott, as he first
saw him; so I may reproduce the occasion of my
first sight and knowledge of Professor Jim.
It was some years before I entered Trinity, or
thought of doing so, and in my native town, Chatham,
now Portland, Conn. Bishop Brownell, who had
then moved to Hartford and assumed the presidency
of the College, was to make a visitation to our Parish Church. On the Sunday morning when he was
expected, I stood, a mere boy, among the people,
who, as was then too much the custom in the country, gathered outside the church door, awaiting the
arrival of the minister.
This morning the number was, of course, increased
by the expectation of seeing the Bishop. In due
time he appeared, in the two wheeled carriage-gig,
it was called-in which he then, before the day of
railroads, made many of his visitations.
He was driven by Jim, sitting by his side. I can
see now at the distance of more than forty years the
grand style in which Jim cracked his whip over the
horse's head, and wheeled the gig as he neared the
steps of the door, just avoiding them, having in his
professional mind, perhaps Horace's meta fervidis




PROE JIM.                71
evitata rotis. And I shall never forget the selfsatisfied air with which he alighted, nor the ease
and grace of manner with which he afterwards assisted the Bishop out of the carriage and with a
wave of the hand passed him over to the Rector and
Church Wardens who were there to receive him.
Bishop Brownell was always a marked man in his
personal appearance. But, at that time, he was in
the prime of his bodily presence and manly beauty,
and the accompaniment of the graceful and deferential servant on that occasion, added much to the dignity and consequence of the Bishop in my youthful
eyes. Indeed I do not know but the little incident
had its influence in turning my feet to Trinity, when
afterwards I determined to go to college. I am sure
at least, there was a peculiar aesthetical charm about
the Institution, as it began under the accomplished
Bishop, who observed himself, and impressed upon
others, " the fair humanities of old religion."
Yours, &c.,
WM. PAYNE.
Mr. C. H. Proctor.
In reply to a letter written to Dr. J. Bernard Gilpin; Halifax, Nova Scotia, a graduate of'31, the following communication was received, which must be
of exceeding interest to every alumnus of Trinity




72               BIOGRAPHY OF
College; not so much because Professor Jim was a
janitor in the writer's day, in fact he seems hardly to
have been known as he was then the Bishop's servant,
but because the letter mentions incidents as they then
occurred, and persons. who since that time have
become widely known in cultivated circles as Bishops,
Poets, or Authors.
HALIFAX, 29th March, 1873.
DEAR SIR:
More than forty and odd years have
passed since I left Hartford. I joined in 1828, freshmen, third term, and graduated 1831.
My first year was famous for the great barring-out.
Some great depredations having been done in town,
the magistrates summoned by subpoeha every student and caused them to purge themselves by oath.
Taken by surprise they all submitted, except Hugh
Peters, son of Judge Peters, who resisted. Coming
back to college, the students became indignant,
thinking the faculty should have protected them
rather than have connived at it, and at eleven o'clock
lecture, barred college and chapel, allowing none to
enter. The Bishop broke down the sQuth section.
door with a fence pole from the west lane, and Dr.
Doane had a black suit ruined by dirty stuff thrown
from the windows. The attack ceased, but when
the evening bell rung all went to prayers as usual,
and no notice was taken of it. So illegal an act I
hope would not be tolerated by the public now.




PROF. JIM.               73
As regards our habits at that day, I can only say we
had three daily lectures; dined at twelve o'clock and
took tea at five. On Saturday morning the lecture
was before breakfast, only.
Saturday was usually employed by the students
at the various societies, where they discussed all
topics but religion. In after life I have often remembered the care, the writers, the compositions,
and the order of these meetings; but I was not of
them, and being an English boy, and then wearing
crape for the King (George IV) I could not stand the
washy floods of classic liberty and death to tyrants
which flowed out, I cut them and spent my Saturdays
in Summer in rambling over the hills with my gun, or
walking over Rocky Hill (as I now recollect it, an
elevation of Trap through Triasic sand-stone), or
bathing in the Connecticut. We usually swam
across it.
In Winter we skated on the Hog river. Mile after
mile have I glided on its reaches, with the red squirrel
following me on the banks. As winter wore on, we
took to the Connecticut.'Thomas Suckley (yet alive
I think) and myself, once left Hartford, on skates,
the bells as was the custom ringing high twelve,'went to Middletown, and returned. Opposite Mother
Bunce's at Wethersfield, twilight caught us, and
for fear of air holes, we walked into the city. We
considered we would have reached home by five,
as we timed ourselves at other times to fifteen min7




74               BIOGRAPHY OF
utes from Wethersfield home. We thought we made
fifty miles in five hours, or nearly.
The Junior exhibition, and parts of Commencement, were studied for with the greatest ardor, and
our orations, so called then, were spoken in black
silk gowns which were hired from Stockbridge the
tailor.... Notwithstanding undergraduates are not entitled to sleeves, unless King's scholars, they all had
the pudding or full Doctor's robe sleeve.
Of the undergraduates of my years who have arrived to fame, Park Benjamin might be seen lifted
on his pretty barb mare by his servant for his daily
ride.
Bailey, R. C. Bishop of Baltimore, was the handsomest and most gentle nurtured youth in the College. Vail, now I think a Bishop, joined, a weakly
boy, studied muscular Christianity and left a strapping fellow. He gained more than a good degree.
The Southern General Hill I think was my classmate. Cornwall walked off with the valedictory from
two or three of us who were bracketed number two.
Of the notable outsiders then seen in the. streets
of Hartford, Imley was the personification of wealth;
Wadsworth lived in good form at his mansion in
town, but his toy castle already wore the look of a
forgotten plaything; Mrs. Sigourney wrote, and tried
in vain to colonize her side of our river with squirrels
which abounded on ours; Prentice daily sat on the
steps of the U. S. Hotel, and " Fanny Fern " and her




PROF. JIM.               75
brother N. P. Willis were frequent visitors to our
city.
Dr. Hawes, even then was gray, but erect and
firm in his saddle, and might have been seen almost
daily putting his sturdy browncob with a crooked tail
through all weathers and roads. Miss Beecher, too,
had a good mount and often led a troup of fair
Amazons through pretty rough skies. The Governor's Guard with their Major at their head on horseback, in their cocked hats, long tailed coats and black
cloth gaiters to the knee, looked as if they might
have just returned from Still Water or Saratoga.
I send you also a yellow old paper with dates,
which describes the room of a student of that day.
I remain yours very truly,
J. BERNARD GILPIN.
Mr. C. H. Proctor.
DIARY.
My own room in College, 1830, Nov. 26.
Perhaps one of these days, looking back through a
tedious and ill spent life, I may esteem these days
happy which I am now in such haste to pass through,
and that whenever this takes place, I may have some
memorial wherewith to refresh my memory, I now
write a faithful and accurate description of my room,
No. 31 Washington College, Hartford, Conn., as
it is this evening.




76              BIOGRAPHY OF
It is a room perhaps 20 ft. by 12 ft. The bed
stands in a recess on the right side, across which a
curtain is drawn excluding it entirely from view; one
window looks out upon the west; directly opposite to
it is an open stove of the kind called' Franklin,' with
a high and broad pipe reaching within a few inches
of the ceiling where it enters into the wall. On this
pipe is depicted with chalk, a human skeleton. I
roomed alone and strange as it may appear, though repeatedly requested by the Profs. to remove this unseemly sight, I could never do it, it seemed as if I
should remove some old companion. The stove is
firmly based upon a hearth of brick, around and
upon which are lying a pair of tongs, shovel, poker,
broom, bellows, hammer, &c., in a state of disorder
which to look upon would. be death to a notable
housewife.
My furniture consists of half a dozen chairs, a bureau, and table; the latter stands before the fire,
upon it I am now writing. The books lying at this
moment upon it are Endfield's Philosophy, Political
Economy, Simson's Euclid, Tylton's History, Blair's
Chronology, Ramsay's Universal History, The
Bible, (I am reading Ramsay, and these last mentioned books have at different periods been taken
down from my book shelf as references when I met
with anything I thought misstated or not sufficiently
enlarged upon; once taken down it is some time before they find their way back,) an English and




PROF. JIM.               77
French Dictionary, an atlas, Morse's geography (in
criticising a classmate's composition some weeks
since I iad occasion to use this,) and lastly " Studies
of Poetry," containing extracts from Chaucer down
ward to Percival, Bryant, and Doane.
I am no great lover of poetry as this sufficiently
shows, to take up with extracts instead of the Whole,
yet thanks to the kind age in which we live, I can now
talk as learnedly of the ancient and modern poets
as the poor wretch who has delved through the
whole of them, for he will only talk of the finest passages and I have got them all in this book.
Now for my ornaments.
My walls are hung with prints, two of Peter Tertu's
two hundred years old, full of wild and unearthly
figures, with beasts and monsters. Another, artist
Unknown, allegorical of something connected with
the discovery of America,'I never could tell exactly
what. The heathen divinities are all there, and a
great stiff figure clothed in Roman armor, nevertheless with a full-bottom wig on; a head of the surviving Horatio, from David, and a languishing lithographic French beauty; these two hang near each
other and admirably set each other off, the one all
whiskers, beard and mustache, fierce and bloody
looking, the other entirely free from the least expression whatever.
Besides these I have several pictures; a head in
oils of an old man with a voluminous beard; a sketch




78               BIOGRAPHY OF
of the ruined tower of Newport, and two fancy
sketches valuable on account of the hand that delineated them. These last are not stationary occupiers
of the wall; in summer I move my table to the open
window, and they follow me to that part of the room;
In winter I get before the fire and they come too.
Two busts, Franklin and Washington, look down
from their respective pedestals. Several hanging
shelves hold my books and they are surmounted by
an ear of corn maize. I always liked the looks of an
ear of maize, considering it abstractly without thinking of its utility there is something to me beautiful
in its form, and so I plucked one from the fields and
placed it over my book-case and there it is now with its
husk all dry and withered.
A broken looking-glass occupies another portion of
the walls and near it is the plume of my late military chum, which occupied a place formerly in his
Phalanx cap; his pike is resting against the wall hard
by. At some distance from it are a pair of skates;
my shooting apparatus should be with them but I
have lent it. At the opposite side are sundry pairs of
shoes and boots; my hat, cap, and several pairs of
gloves together with a pile of books, a napkin, a
comb and several other articles cover the top of the
bureau; an umbrella stands near it. The window
seat is spread with some half dozen minerals I have
collected in my walks, a hair brush, a hone, a pair of
snuffers and two books, and my cloak lies over the




PROF. JIM.               79
back of a chair and a coat upon it. And this is a
faithful description of my room, save that I have forgotten to mention in their right places, a boot-jack
and a hickory stick. With what different feeling
shall I read this twenty years hence.
I forgot to mention the room was neatly papered,
and that some former occupant in a bit of patriotism
had written " Liberty " in characters broad and long
upon the ceiling.
J. B. G.