Mon, 02/15/2021 - 10:00am
February being Black History Month brings to mind the story of Pendy Gustus and Kezia Shiney, two Black women who over 200 years ago called Wiscasset home.
The women were servants to Moses and Abigail Carlton, two leading citizens of Wiscasset village, then a part of Pownalborough and a prospering seaport. Moses Carlton was a wealthy ship owner and for a time the richest man in town, living in a fine mansion overlooking Wiscasset village.
During one of his business trips to Boston, Moses Carlton found Pendy residing in the city’s almshouse. How Kezia found her way into the Carlton family is uncertain, although it’s possible she too may have once lived in a similar circumstance. An almshouse was where poor people went when they had no other place to go. Research compiled by the Colonial Society of Massachusetts reveals Boston’s Overseers of the Poor recorded 1,926 admissions to its almshouse from September 1795 to early 1801. Among the re
would you rather do, 20 years in jail or two years in jail with four days saying look, i killed someone. there could have been mitigating factors here, we re not about vengeance in this society we re about existing society. about what s appropriate and fair and reasonable. what are we going to do next, branding people s foreheads and saying you re a criminal. the fact is in a civilized society this is not a problem nor appropriate form of punishment. why is this vengeance? it s not vengeance, it s awareness, look, this is what can happen and you have the two glasses of wine, you think is a harmless dinneren get behind the wheel and boom, you don t react fast enough and you hit the brakes and there s tragedy. in in case there was tragedy, but how does this do anything? i think what it does, you have to look at things that the criminal justice system is about. it s about punishment and rehabilitation and it s about
deterrence. what s the word? deterrence. and this is a saturday afternoon, and you and i are walking through the town square wherever this is, and there s a guy basically in the stock cade, right? that s what this is. alisyn: modern day. tar and feather and we ve got the car, here is my 20, throw in your 20 and take a car service home. and i think i don t want to be there. i think everybody should do that, i don t think that people should drink and drive at all. the question, what is fair, what is reasonable? are we going back to the days in colonial society and where we tarred and feathered people in public. and put them in stocks and do you want to talk? not really, and you guys are doing a great job. let s hear from the defendant himself. do you want to say anything to the victim s family? i already did earlier. what did you say? i m sorry that the accident happened and i feel so sorry