Democratic standard. [volume] (Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio) 1837-1850, 1843-11-21
LIFE IN A PENIFENTiARY.


IN the Kaickerbocker Magazine for
October, the editor gives the following
graphic sketch ofa visit he recently made
30 Sing Sing-oue Of the New York
State Prisons:
"lf the unhappy young. man who has
recently filled the journals ofthe metTop-
oils with the details Of hisfosly and crime
could, before yielding to temptation.haye
looked in upon the state prisoners at Sing
Sing, as we did the other day, surely be
would have shrunk back from the vortex
before him. Poor wretches, in their best
estatsi How narrow their cells; how
ceaselsss their toll; what negstion Of
comfort is their whole condition.! Il was
a sweltering August day, breathless and
oppressive; but there was no rest for the
eighteen hundred unhappy convicts who
piled their never ending tasks within
those walls. Stealthy glances from half
raised eyes, pale countsnances, stamped
with meek submission, or cleaning with
pOwerless hate or impoteut malignity and
hard labor ia the fullest sense, were the
main features of the still life scence, as
we passed through the several workshops.
But what picture was presented as their
occupants came swarming into the open
court yard at the sound of the bell, TO
proceed 10 their cells with their dinner!
From the thick atmosphere Of the carpet
and rug shops, leaving the clack ofshut- |
tleslhe dull thump of the weaver's beam
and the long prospective of cords and
pulliss, and patterns, and mullitudinous
harness they poured forth, from. murky
smylhs, streamed the imps Of Vulcan,
grim as the dark recesses from which
they emerged from doors which opened
upon interminable rows Of close set bench.
es, burst forth the knights Of the awl and
hammer, the rub-a-dub Of the coopers
mallet, the creak Of bis Ahaving knife,
we're still; the stone hammer was silent.
and the court was full Of the striped crew
God of compassion! what sight il was,
10 see that motley multitude take up, in
gangs, their hnmiIiating march! Huge
negroes, swelIering in the heat, were
intersperssd among 'the lines,' hands
crimson with blood and murder rested up.
on the shoulders Of beings young, alike in
years and crime; the victim Of bestiality
pressed aghinst tho heart broken tool IF
The scatheless villain; and all were bleh-
ded in one revolving mass Oftrained sol.
diers of guilt; their thousand legs NOV
ing az one man, all in silence, save the
peculiar sound of the sliding tread, gra.
ting not less upon the ear than upon the
ground. One by Cne, they took their
wooden pals Of dingy and amphibious
looking 'grnb, and passed on, winding up
the stairs Of the different stories, and
streaming along the, narrow corridors 10
the SOLITARY cells. II was too much for
the heart Of poor E this long procession
Ofthe gangs. AS they passed on in slew
succession, her lips began to quiyer, and
one after er,anolher, drops Of pity rolled
down het cheek. 'AlI these said she
to the Keeper, had mother, who looked
upon their childhood, and blessed their
All! how infant feet softer
than vs!ve 10 the touch, have been pres
sed to ma algrnal lips, that now shuttle
along these prison aisles'' There spoke
The smothef, and with her gentle words
Of pity'w take leave ofthe State Prison
and itsunhapPy inmates"