Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-09-24
From Harriet Martineau's "western Travelf'.
THE NOBLE GAOLER,

The first principle in the management Of the guilty
seems to me to be to treat them as men and women;
which they were before they were guilty, and will
be when they are no longer SO, and which they
are in the midst of it all. Their bumanit8s the
principal thing about them; their guilt is a tempo
rary state. The insane are first men, and secon-
darby diseased men; and in a due consideration of
this order of things lies the main secret of the
successful treatment of such.
The wonderfully successful friend Of criminals,
Captain Pills5ury, OF the Weathersfeld prison,
has worked on this principle, and owes his success
to it. His moral power over the guilty is SO re-
markable, that prison-5reakers who can be confn-
ed nowhere else are sent to him, TO be charmed
into staying their term out. l was told of his
treatment of two such. One was a gigantic per-
sonage, the terror of the country, who had plunged
deeper and deeper in crime for seventeen years.
Captain Pillsbury told him when he came, that he
hoped he would not repeat the attempts to escape
which he had made elsewhere. 1T will be best
said he, ',hat you and l should treat each other
as well as we can. l will make you as comforta
BILE as / possibly can. and shall be anxious to be
your friend; and / hope you will not get me into
any difficulty on your account. There is a eel
intended for solitary confnement; but we never
use it; and I should be very sorry ever to have tc
turn the key upon my body in it. You may range
the place as freely as l do, if you will trust me as
l shall trust you" The man was sulky, ard fol
weeks showed only very gradual symptoms oil
softening under the operation of Captain Pillsbury's
cheerful confidence, At length. information was
given to the Captain, Of this mans intention to
break prison. The Captain called him, and taxed
him with it: the man preserved a gloomy silence
He was told that it was now necessary for him to
be locked. up in the solitary cell, and desired to
follow the Captain who went first. carrying a lamr
in one hand, and the key in the other. In the
narrowest part of the passage. the Captain (who is
a small, slight man. turned round and looked in
the face of the stout criminal. Now" said he,
ri ask you whether you have treated me as | de-
serve? have done every thing | could think of to
make you comfortable / have trusted you, and you
have never given me the least confidence in return
and have even planned to get me into difficulty
Is this kind?-And yet l cannot bear to lock you
up. II / had the least sign that you cared for me-"
The man burst into tears, "Sir," said he, 81
have been a very devil these seventeen years; but
you treat me like a man." Come, let us go back,
said the Captain. The convict had the free range
of the prison as before. From this hour, he began
to open his heart to the Captain, anG cheerfully
fulfilled bis whole term of imprisonment, ~confdirg
to his friend as they arose, all impulses to violate
his trust, and all facilities for doing SO which he
imagined he saw VIZ $40 t-4 22f =.
The other case was Of a criminal of the came
character, who went SO far as to make the actual
attempt to escape. lie fell, and hurt his ankle
very much. The Captain had him brought in and
laid on his bed, and the ankle attended to every
one being forbidden TO speak o word of reproach to
the sufferer. Tho man was sullen, and would not
say whether the bandaging Of his ankle gave him