The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-11-12
BALTIMORE.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER IL, 1853.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER IL. 1858.
Tho frenuent removal of cases from Baltimore
,;., 70 Baltimore county, on the plea that fair
trial cannot he had in our City Court, renders it
necessary to alude to the reputed condition of the
Comfy JAIL and to the means adopted by the Sheriff
to secure the safe-keeping of the prisoners placed
under his charge. In ordinary cases, where the
offences for which criminals have been committed
are of light grade, and the term of Imprisonment
is short the convicts have no sufficient inducement
to attempt an escape by an attack upon the keeper
or by secretly breaking Jail; but where the crime is
fragrant one, and involves the almost certainty of
capital punishment, desperate men are very apt to
try desperate conclusions in order to evade the
execution of the law Under such circumstances,
il is pertinent question to ask whether the County
Jail may be relied upon as place of even tenn
porary detention for murderers and assassins ?
Let us see what has been officially stated The
Report made by the Grand Jury of Baltimore
county in December, 1856, through GEO. NJ. Hiss,
their Foreman, emphaticaly declares that the said
jail is unsafe for the purposes for which it was in
tended that it viii not be safe to confne prisoners
there "until a good and secure wall be built
"around the Jail, or constant guard be kept
''about the building night and day" They there
fore recommend that ''the same shall not be occu-
''pied, or brought into use as a prison, until made
imore safe and secure" This was the first Report
made by the Grand Inquest of the county; but its
comments and suggestions alike passed UNDECIDED
second Report was made at the March Term
1857, to which is appended the signature of
RICHARD WoRTHINGToN, Foreman. In this present.
ment, the jury regret that 'the size and plan of
''the building will not enable the Sheriff to pro-
'vide a separate cell for each prisoner, there
being at that time upwards of thirty prisoners dis
''trbuted in the wenty-four cells which the building
Contains" Of those twenty-four cells only
eight regarded as at all safe or fit for occupan-
ICY" The jury further report that 'the outer
"door, in the rear of the Jail, instead of being
''strong and substantial iron door, with every Dos
'sible security, is scooden one that soould
'be entirely unsafe and Insecure eUea If attached to
''one Of the cells in the prisonp' One half of the
cells are also stated to have common wooden doors.
The second Report, like the first concludes by ex-
pressing the opinion that ''the Jail is badly adapted
''for the purpose for which it was erected" and
that Kit can be only rendered safe by enclosing the
''same with substantial stone wall" The structure
TINS presented is commonly understood to be
faulty in its workmanship and it has even been as
serted that the stones so loosely put together
that they could be detached from their places by an
ordinary knife. Whether this be true or not. we
know that the belief in its insecurity is general
throughout the county, and we have already shown
that its frail and imperfect condition has twice been
made the subject, not merely of complaint, but of
severe comment, by the two separate and distinct
committees whose duty it was to examine and re-
port upon its fitness for occupancy. If then the
Jail presents obstacles that might not be easily
broken through by reSolute prisoner, there is
not, even now, anything outside of the Jail that
would detain him for single moment The ssub-
"stantial stone wall' so strongly recommended by
the Grand Jury, has never been constructed; there
is no armed patrol either by day or night; the
situation of the building is remote and Isolated
while the broken and wooded character of the adj
jacent country is most favorable to subsequent es-
cape and concealment in the event of an alarm
being raised and a pursuing party organized But
where, in such contingency, is a posse
to be obtained in time for useful service?
In Towsontown? Well, possibly a sufficient
number Of good men and true" among the
scattered inhabitants of that pleasant vicnage
might be induced to obey the summons Grant
that such would certainly be the case, how long
would it take before they could be reused assem-
bed, armed and sent in pursuit? By the time
they were ready to act, the fugitive, or fugitives
would be in Baltimore, safely concealed in some
OF those dens TO which they have the clue Or
ifnot in Baltimore they would he many miles
distant from the scene of their daring exploit.
Perhaps far on their way to Pennsylvania-who
knows? There is, moreover, another contingency
to guard against They may be rescued by their
friends from without. But it may be said that
even assuming the Jail itself is insecure, and that
there are no outer walls to be scaled, and that
there are no guards posted outside, there are
probably men enough kept constantly on the
watch, in the interior of the building, to detect
instantly and to repress speedily, any effort that
might be made on the part of the prisoners to
effect an escape. Never, if we are correctly in
formed, was there IN assumption more unfounded.
The garrison on permanent duty within this
rogues fortress, consists of one solitary individual
nephew of the Sheriff, and quite Young man
aided, it may be, by an under turnkey, and &C.
caSlonally reinforced by the presence of the Sheriff
himself, who resides, usually, with his family
elsewhere. Such is the jail of Baltimore county,
as it has been officially presented by two success
slve Grand Juries, and such, according to common
report, is its present condition and accessories.
We deem it necessary, especially at this time to
draw public attention to these facts, inasmuch as
their trathtulness, if substantiated, involves the
question of the safe keeping of such notorious
CRIMINALS as may elect to be tried for their
offences, either now or hereafter, in Baltimore
county. ,..