Big Scores · STOP 09 · Downtown
Captain Kidd was held on this lot in 1699 in sixteen pounds of iron, and the governor paid the sheriff weekly to keep him there.
In July 1699 Captain William Kidd was held on this lot in irons that weighed sixteen pounds, and the governor paid the sheriff forty shillings a week to keep him there. Another pirate in the same jail had already walked out, with the jailer's help, as was said. The jail is long gone. The building on Court Square wears the columns of the courthouse that replaced it.
This is stop 9 of Big Scores. Walk it - any two stops are free.
The plate
Collected on site
Bellomont's own version of the Bradish escape: the jailer was Bradish's kinsman, and said he had found the prison door 'wide open.' The jailer was dismissed and prosecuted.
More footnotes on the story card, in the app.
In these collections: Crime Scenes
Near Government Center · Near State · Near Downtown Crossing · Near Park Street · Near Bowdoin · Near Haymarket · Near Aquarium
Sources (7)
- Boston's Old Courthouse Jail on Court StreetWBUR · 2015-04-08
- Boston Jail in 1692 (Site of)Salem Witch Museum · n.d. (photos 2024-2025)
- Capt. William Kidd is arrested for piracyWhen and Where in Boston · n.d.
- America and West Indies: July 1699, 26-31 (Calendar of State Papers Colonial, vol. 17), item 680: Earl of Bellomont to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Boston, July 26 1699British History Online · 1908 (calendar); letter 1699
- Earl of Bellomont to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, 1699 July 8Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Blathwayt Papers (Omeka) · 1699-07-08
- The History and Antiquities of BostonSamuel G. Drake (Boston: Luther Stevens) · 1856
- Diary of Samuel Sewall, vol. 2 (1699/1700-1714), Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 5th ser., vol. 6Massachusetts Historical Society · 1879