The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-06-29 00:00:00

A PRISON IN INDIA.

Me Times' Correspondent at Calcutta souls over the
folios, tog interesting letter—

About eighteen months ago I sent you a description,
from personal observatien, of Alipore Gaol- our great
gaol-worlehop—aud a few weeks ago I had to send
YOU some unpleasant particulars of an outbreak in that
gaol—a very alarming outbreak indeed. The ring-
leaders of the revolt were transferred to the Presidency
Gaol in Calcutta, and subjected to a much more
severe discipline. By the courtesy of the Governor,
Dr, Maekeozie, I was last week conducted over every
part of the PresideLcy Gaol, and I think there are some
features of it ai.d facts connected with its inmatss which
have cousidsrable interest. The average number of in-
mates is about a thousand, of alinoat every natioua-
lity. In the gaol yard, immediately on entry, we Coale
upon a great fat taboo, waking about with folded arms+,
and in the usual semi nude state of "a baboo at home."
"'that,' said Dr. Mackenzie, "is one of my few
failures. I have Hogged him till I can do so no longer,
have put him on short diet, &c., but he will not work.
At last I have had to give it up, and confine him
simply." A great man-mountain of flesh, with no
brain, but singular obstinacy, he had beaten all
the gaolers by dogged stupidity. I looked on him
more curiously nearly three hours afterward.,
when we returned to the yard, after seeing
some ferocious fellows who had been effectu-
ally subdued, while this stolid (and I believe
wealthy) mass—a "mild Beugalee "—had held out
and won. "Old criminal," are treated by hard work,
such as stonebreaking, or confined to task-work in
separate cells. A hundred or so of these were breaking
Stones; a great many more were in the still more
dreaded separate cells. The incorrigibles were on the
13 or 14 minutes on and as many off," a
terrible punishment in India, and seldom failing to
redu :e the worst criminal to obedience. Another
punishment is heavy mat making, the treadles of the
looms so heavy that it requires all the strength of a man
to keep them in motion. In this work several of the
rioters were engaged. They refused it at first, and
were taken to the "treadmill." They declined that,
and were put on the triangles and flogged, with a
cane (the instrument of punishment here). In
cases where the triangle failed there still remained
short diet and 131,11tarY cosilinement ; and in
one way or another the fellows were made
to work, and perform their " task " daily. The
" nowhabituals ' have different treatment. They are
employed and taught, where necessary, as weavers,
carpenters, blacksmiths, ironfounders, bookbinders
priuters, gardeners, &c., only with hard tasks. I
noticed particularly an intelligent Chinaman busy at
a lathe, and I could not help saying, "He never gave
you any tiouble." There was so much good Chinese
common sense lathe man's fa,., that 1 knew I was
right. "Not a bit." said the Governor ; "he was
entrapped into a robbery, caught, and convicted, and
he immediately made the best of his position. He is a
quiet, respecful, intelligent man." He spoke English
like an Englishman. There are several Chinamen in
the prison, and all of the same class. They are by far
the most " comfortable " men in it.

_
We Came to a long line of men seated on the ground
engaged in hand.spinning, and the fourth from one end
was the one to see whom, I believe, was the main
object of my visit tothe gaol. It was old Ameer Khan,
the Wahabee. Three or four years ago a friend of
mine, a metchant in Calcutta' called upon Anteer
Khan on business. My friend tells the story amus-
ingly. The house was in a dirty street, but within,
the ceremonial of a Prince's household was maintained.
The servants insisted, in a whisper, on the English-
man taking off his shoes before entering, which,
of course, he refused, and the point was waived.
Ameer Khan was seated on a dais, like a throne;
the servants by whom he WAS surrounded moved
obsequiously, and alb gether the air of the place wee
that of a palace. This is the man for whose acquittal
such extraordinary efforts were made. Mr. Austey,
I am told, alone would not be paid less than £lO,OOO,
and he was engaged only a very short part of the time
over which the ttial extended. Ameer Khan has no
dais bow but the bale ground, and a very unromantic
occupation. He in a tall man, I should nay nearly 70
years of age' stout, with fat flabby cheeks, a rather
tine forehead, and an extraordinary furtive eye, which
he never raised altogether frsm his work, but which
I caught, now and then, stealing a shsro glance,
which showed that he was mot so uninterested in our
presence as he seemed to be. Ile never ceased for an
instant, during the few minutes we were there, mut-
tering words An a whisper which I think his nearest
neighbour could not hear even the sound of, but the
manner in which he opened his mouth widely and
'then brought his lips together led me to thin!' that
whatever be was Raying—prayer or anathema, or what
it might—was a vet y emanst and concentrated arlair.
Another of the Wahabees was at a little distance from
him. . . .

We came afterwards to a separate cell, the inmate
of which was a loese.jointed, mis-shapen, weakly.
looking, thin-faced native man, app orently about
25 years of age, though he nosy be any age from
18 to 40. In answer to a question, he squeaked. u
a thin voice some complaint. That man," said
my guide, "was one of the most daring deceits we
have ever had." I do not know what amount of
crime he had not perpetrated. Robespierre's fare
was not a greater deception. In a cell a few yards
distant from this there was a grave and venerable.
looking old man who had attained the very highest
degrees in his profession—that of a forger. He was
convicted at last in attempting to obtain money from
an officer I think the head —of the police, by
means of a letter purporting to be written by Mr.
Redly, the well-known detective. This was thrust.
ing his head into the lion's (len, but the forgery
was perfect, and no one could have disputed the
letter but for one small mistake ; the two initial
letters of Mr. Reilly's Christain name wers trans-
posed,—C. J. (or something) instead of J. C. This
interesting old gentleman, when questioned as to
the amount of work he had done that day, put his
hands together gravely and confessed that it was
far short of the task, and the Governor spoke sternly,
and threatened short diet. Evidently the old artist
was out of his vocation of slow, patient work. When
the same question was put to the &cuff—how many
bagel—he pleaded pitifully, "Only four, but do
40 to morrow." Forty is the number of bags to be
sewed per day. I donut know whether this is greater
small according to the rate of labour in England, but
here it is evidently deemed hard work. The stone-
breaker's task is 15 cubic feet per day ; blanket weav-
ing, 16 yards; mat making, 4 square feet; brush
making, 6 brushes; forging hammers, 6 for two men;
and so on through a long list of articles.
I was surprised to rind so many wealthy natives
among the prisoners, and sorry to find so many Eng-
lish sailors or soldiers, for deserting regiments or ships.
The men imprisoned for these particular breaches of
law are kept apart from the other prisoners, not being
counted exactly in the light of criminals. Some
of them were very fine fellows, and probably never
were in prison before, nor will be so again. An-
other class, also kept apart, are the vagrants,
hero called "loafers." There were sonic very re-
spectable-looking men among them, "turned away
from the railways, or brought from Australia in
charge of horses and then dismissed ; the most pro-
lific source of " loaferism " in India. Three men had
a complaint to make, and wished to petition the
Lieu,eriant-Governor, which, the Governor stated they
should do in the regular way. Any European found
without employment in India sal in poverty is at
once sent to prison. The wealthry natives are diffi-
cult to deal with ; they bribe poorer men to do
their work, and often succeed. One rich baria was in
for seven years. Five or six young native boys were
separated from the rest to try a reformatory process
with them. They have their ownyani, a little garden,
and order of work. One is cook. They were drawn
up in line and questioned, the cook first. "What are
ou here for ? " "Murder ; I struck another boy on
the head and killed him." "And you?" " Murder ;
I threw a child into a well." We went no further in
the list. . . .
An Indian prison, however, is marvellous for its
mixture of races. The Hindi.° cannot eat with the
Mussulinan, nor the Mussulman with the Hindoo.
To enter a cookhonse of the hitter is to defile it even
fr prisoners. And yet Dr. Mackenzie told rrie that
even Brahmins (if old offenders) begged from him the
office of "mehters " (sweepers—lowest menials) to
escape the harder work. It breaks caste, of course,
but they prefer that to working hard.
Such is the Bengal Presidency Gaol, with its stern
laws, swift and sure punialiments, its various races, and
its productive and useful labour. To European pn-
soners the life is dreadful. One or two of the long-
term soldiers spoke in a manner which showed that
the iron had entered into their souls.

In Maine, where they only permit a drink from the
said article turned on, a lady was detected by a policeman
having rum on the premises, lie discovered the faci
try
drinking at it three times to make certain. The prisoner
was called. "Did you have any liquor in your house when
the State constable called there ?" " Yes, I had some in ajar."
"How king had you had It?" 'About Hine 11301108." " Did
ye have It for sale?" "Oh, no I don't sell liquor."
"What did you keep this rum for?" "I kept it to wash
the baby," " Halt you ever washed the baby in this rum?"
"fib yes: I used to turn the rum cot in a dish, wash the
baby in it, ci then turn it b ick into the J ir. I have used
it f T this purpose for the last nine months, night and
Tiie St,is constable had all eyes turned MI him
at this point, and turned up his own, leaving the wart lea-
ns taint, amidst universal sareasnr.