History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

I
17&4.] FIRST SCHOOL-COMMITTEE—NEW COURT-HOUSE. 301
Fines for Refusing Stringent regulations were from time to
Town Offices. time adopted in reference to the service of
individuals chosen to fill town offices. The
colony laws prescribed the amount of fine to be collected
from those ])ersons who refused to accept office when elected,
and theoretically no man was permitted to shirk his official
duties without paying the penalty. Five pounds was the
legal price that was required to release a man from undertaking
the duties of constable, but notwithstanding this
heavy fine it was not always an easy matter to find capable
men willing to serve in that capacity. While cases are not
rare in which the treasury was enriched through such
declinations, many refusals to serve were condoned without
enforcing the penalty, and in a few instances the courts
of law were resorted to in order to compel the payment of
these fines. For many years the compensation paid to con-
stables was 20s. per year. In 1741, the constables " in the
body of the town " were paid £4, in bills of credit, and in
the new town 40s. This law continued in force till 1746,
when it was repealed, and the compensation fixed at each
annual meeting. After that date the usual amount paid
was 20s.
The Penalty Enforced. A marked iustauce of enforcing the penalty
for refusing to serve as constable occurred
in 1754. At the annual March meeting Cornet John
Hunt was chosen to that office. Immediately, before Cornet
Hunt had opportunity either to accept or decline, Lieut.
Caleb Strong (father of Gov. Caleb) moved that the town
should "determine what sum they would accept of any
person chosen to the office of constable in lieu of serving
in that office," and it was voted to "excuse the person
chosen, if he would pay down the sum of £3 lawf«ul money,
to be disposed of to the use of the poor." Evidently this
action on the part of Lieut. Strong was considered as a
thrust at Cornet Hunt, and his friends retaliated by electing
Lieut. Strong constable. In the afternoon, permission
having been granted him to consider the matter till that
time, Lieut. Strong declined to serve, "but," the record
reads, "he did not pay down the £3 lawful money or any
part of it, nor the sum of £5, the penalty in the law (in