Presentation highlighted 135 years of UPD history

By Theresa Knapp 

On Nov. 20, the Upton Historical Society held a program featuring the first 135 years of the Upton Police Department. The presentation was led by Scott Garland, president of the Upton Historical Society, and current Police Chief Nicholas Palmieri. 

The hour-long program took place at Town Hall and featured old photos and detailed stories of days gone by. 

“Our first police chief [William Parshley] was appointed in 1890,” said Garland to start the presentation, adding that, “Prior to 1900, the department operated with a zero-line budget.” 

Garland said the town’s first prisoner lockup was two cells in the basement of the Town Hall in 1884 and was used until 1990. He served as an appointed jailkeeper from 1979 to 1989, and shared his experiences from that time. “The town dispatcher had no protection until the new police station was built” in 1990. 

Garland said “the most common crime in the old days was public drunkenness” which was an arrestable offense. 

“Chief Parshley was involved in a Keystone type incident on the evening of July 21, 1890,” Garland shared. “According to the Milford Daily News, two Milford men drove through West Upton in such an intoxicated manner as to attract general attention. In the course of an hour they raised such a havoc that Chief Parshley was called, and he was able to run them down on horseback overtaking them at Sharpe's barn as their buggy was only running on three wheels by that time…H.F. Pellett was called to care for the horse and the thugs were consigned to the cooler for the weekend".

Garland shared another story about an Upton Speak Easy raid in 1909. While Speak Easies were prominent during Prohibition (1920-1933) they date back to the late 1880s. 

Herbert Bagley was Chief Parshley’s right-hand man for 45 years, and was involved in many Prohibition raids during his career. 

“On April 26, 1909, Bagley was part of one the most notorious raids and arrests of suspected gamblers at an Upton Speak Easy. Chief Parshley obtained a warrant for illegal gambling activity at the Chamberlain Place on North Main Street (in the area of Clark’s barn). 

They had surveilled the property for five weeks. Bagley could hear the dropping of coins on the floor from the outside of the windows. A bell had been rigged from the house to the barn to warn of approaching danger. The police disconnected the wire and confronted the men who were still holding their cards. The gamblers were arrested for gambling on the Lord’s day and fined $10 each. 

Said Garland, “All that work, five weeks, a $10 fine.” 

In 1911, five raiding officers of the Upton Police Department, armed with a search warrant, swooped down on Joe Martin’s livery stable on Grove Street and conducted a search that resulted in 43 half-pints of moonshine found under the floorboards. Martin ran a Pony Express business out of the property and was the principal provider of horses to hitch the fire engine to get the engine to a fire. Martin was exonerated because the responsible party was a tenant who, without Martin’s knowledge, had been making moonshine at night. 

For more photos and stories, including the 1913 murder of Albert Grant Bradish, visit https://bit.ly/UptonPDhistory (one of four videos).