Excerpt from Historical Sketch of the Police Service of Hartford From 1636 to 1901: From Authoritative Sources; Illustrating and Describing the Economy, Equipment and Effectiveness of the Police Force of to-Day; With Reminiscences of the Past, Including Some Notes of Important Cases The pioneers of Hartford, under the lead of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, were on the ground and beginning preparations for the coming winter, November 9, i63s. The little group of settlers were God - fearing men and women. Brought into the wilderness of those days expressly to lead the sort of religious life they chose, and such a community did not feel the need of a police officer. So it happened that there was no officer of the law in Hartford until April 26, 1336, not quite six months after the settlement. Then it was that, in connection with other officers of the new settlement, Samuel \vakeman was chosen con stable, and he was the first man to do police duty in Hartford. His duties were not largely connected with caring for the crim inal class. For there was none, but in viewing fences, in carry ing out orders of the Selectmen, and in seeing that public wor ship was not disturbed either on Sundays or lecture days he was kept fairly busy. The office was by no means deemed to be of small importance, and the oath he took before entering upon his official duties was most solemn and impressive. It read. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.