Early days of policing in North Hampton

As North Hampton welcomes a new Police Chief, it seems a good time to reflect upon law enforcement in earlier days in North Hampton. The Constable position in North Hampton existed back to the 1700s. As described in the 1829 The NH Town Officer, a how-to-do-it book for town officials, the Constable, elected to a one year term, was responsible for serving summonses and subpoenas to appear in court and for announcing Town Meetings. There were many such meetings during the year. If someone was unruly during a Town Meeting, the Moderator would ask the Constable to remove the person.  

The earliest published Town annual report in our collection is for the fiscal year ending March 1866. In that year John S. Hobbs was Constable as well as Collector (of taxes). The 1884 report first mentions Police when John W. Dearborn was paid for his services as Police in “A.D. 1882 and 1883”-- $15; and “services as special police” -- $25. Irwin O. Wright was paid $25 for “Police service at beach.”  

The 1893 town report lists Constables and Police -- William J. Breed was both. The report gives his pay for the Taylor case, Dow burglary, and Baxter & Gates case. No details about this crime wave but I bet everyone in town knew all about them.   

Oliver Henckle shows up in the Town Report for the year ending January 31, 1922 as Police with a second man as Constable. Payments for “Protection of Persons and Property” included $233.37 for the Police Department, including care of tramps.  

Henckle (1882-1957) was in North Hampton as early as 1918. His World War I draft registration gives his occupation as Farmer/Fisherman and location Little Boar’s Head. We do not know his parents’ names or whether he was a Norwegian immigrant as some people seem to recall. 

In the 1945 town report Henckle is listed as Chief of Police. He also may have been the only policeman in town. From what we learned from older long-time residents, Henckle was a lobsterman in the morning before going on duty. The only known photo of him is at a fish house selling his catch -- that photo was used for the “Collecting” blog. 

A group of North Hampton natives met to talk about the town with consultant Lisa Mausolf when she was compiling the Historic Resources Survey for the Heritage Commission in 2018. Here’s a story about getting a driver’s license -- two others have related similar such stories.  

Cedric Dustin recalled, “I finally reached the age of sixteen so I could legally drive on the street when I got a license. I will tell you as a farm boy it was typical of farm boys to drive some of the trucks when they brought in hay. I had driven as far as maybe three miles on the road with a neighbor’s truck to bring hay in because I was the smallest one of the bunch and the men pitched it on and made the load, and I just drove the truck back and forth. At age fourteen or fifteen, that was a big deal for me.

“I got to be sixteen and I could legally get a license. In those days, we had to go to the Police Chief in the town and take a written test by the state. I recall my mother and I going down here. My mother drove and I rode in the car to Oliver Henckel’s home. [Henckle lived at 115 Atlantic]. I went in his house and at his dining room table I sat and took the test. He looked at it and said, “Well, you passed the test. Let’s go outside.

“I went outside with Oliver Henckel. My mother at that time was sitting on the passenger side. When she saw us, she got out of the car to get in the backseat so he could sit beside me while I drove. I remember Oliver saying, “Mrs. Dustin, you don’t need to get in the back seat.” She looked at him and says, “Well, I thought you were going to sit beside my son.” “Hah”, he said, “he doesn’t have to show me he can drive. I’ve seen him driving all over town.”

And one more from Cedric Dustin that explains the photo with this blog. “He had a 1935 Ford coupe. That’s what he patrolled the town - his personal car. I remember he was parked at a certain location and it was three or four of us together, and there was Oliver’s car parked there waiting for somebody go by at a high speed or whatever. 

“We said, “Wouldn’t it be kinda fun to chain his car to a tree. So I don’t know which one of the guys - it wasn’t me - it was too far from my house – somebody got a chain and we silently got it around the bumper (the unit that held the bumper on the car) very quietly got it around, and around a tree. So we sat back and waited. My golly, he found a speeder. He got about three feet and stopped. [laughter] We scurried, believe me.”