James Hamilton, Jr. (1793 - 1873), was born in and was a lifelong resident of Carlisle. His father was a wealthy attorney and James followed in his footsteps after graduating from Dickinson College. Beyond law, James was also interested in education, science, and history, and became an active philanthropist in support of those interests. His $1,000 donation in 1871 was the first American bequest to the newly founded Smithsonian Institution; it was to endow a prize for 'a contribution, paper or lecture on any scientific or useful subject.’ When he died in 1873, one of the provisions of his will was a $2,000 bequest to Cumberland County for a library and the land on which to build it. The land was a vacant lot on Pitt Street just around the corner from Hamilton's house and law office on High Street. Today his house is no longer standing and the lot on which it stood is part of Cumberland County Historical Society's parking lot. The Society acquired the land during an expansion program in the late twentieth century.
The oldest part of Cumberland County Historical Society's main building is the historical structure made possible by the Hamilton bequest. It is interesting and somewhat fitting that the land that is today part of the Society's parking lot is also linked to James Hamilton. The section of the parking lot that is located behind the High Street entrance gate to the property and which is bounded to the east the wall of the adjacent building is a palimpsest, a place with layers of history - the pavement of the parking lot covers over what was once the basement of the Hamilton house but also holds a much more sinister history. The Hamilton house was a brick row house with two front doors, one of which was a separate street entrance to Hamilton's law office. The building was conveniently close to the courthouse and was located along a row of buildings that constituted, before and during his lifetime, a premiere address in town.
The houses in this row gradually became commercial properties as the population of Carlisle grew and there was an increased need for centrally located shop and office space. By the time of Hamilton's death in 1873, the original character of that first block of High Street was quite altered and with no heirs to claim it, the Hamilton house was soon converted to business purposes. By the turn of the century, part of the building had become "Monyer's Restaurant."
This was a great location for such an establishment, again because of its proximity to the courthouse, offices and businesses. The post office was just two doors away and the office of the Carlisle Herald newspaper just beyond that. After a meal- "served at all hours" - patrons could slip into the billiard parlor next door for a quick game and a cigar. From law office and home to a restaurant was quite a change; Carlisle was becoming more commercialized than in previous decades and the cachet of the Hamilton period had faded away. By 1909, the restaurant in the Hamilton house had been displaced by a confectioner-ice cream parlor, owned and operated by one of the many newcomers to Carlisle. The former home of one of Carlisle's illustrious sons was to become the scene of a sensational crime.
Winters in New England are lengthy and bitter, and the college-age students at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) Training School (Springfield College today) in Springfield, Massachusetts in the early 1890s could become somewhat boisterous when weather conditions prohibited their going outside to participate in sports.
When Post Masters received letters, they listed the names in the newspapers of those to whom the letters were addressed. If the letters were not picked up by a specified date, they went to the Dead Letter Office.