New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-10-16

number Of deserters, thieves, and bad crimi-
/ mails OF the army sentenced by court martha
/ To hard labor for longer or shorter periods
/ They were confined in an old naval depot
known a. Fort Norfolk, and their hard labor
seemed 10 be, substantially, sleeping all day
and playing cards all night SO that the sen.
tence to hard labor at Fort Norfolk was
rather fayorite method OF passing their term
OF enlistment by the wicked and peryerse oil
the army; both may be comprehended under
the name of ''shirks." | looked around for
some suitable place OF confinement at hard
! labor, but found none. | have Yankee
horror of what is known rs the ''chain- gang ~
and therefore did not like ~ work these men
chained together. | was told that it was im
possible to make them work without paving
them wages. Upon that ! doubted. | agreed
that il was impossible IA make men work To
any effect without fear of the lash, or other
punishment, or the hope Of some reward. /
therefore sent to Massachusetts, and obtained
some Of our Massachusetts correction uni
forms, which consists OF Il gray.and-black
suit, half and half, cut down the centre, aud
scarlet cap. | clothed my prisoners in this
uniform, which, "a You Src, was very dis
tinctive. | put them under the charge Of the
proper officer and II superinteu lent, who had
at first some men to guard them, and put
them to work in cleaning up the street. and
alleys and lanes Of the city of Norfolk, much
of it very offensive and troublesome work.
| gave those that worked i'll the midst Of
nauseous effuvia and in unhealthy situations
ration of tobacco. | saw that they were
we'll fed with wholesome aud nouri.hing pro-
visions. They were taken to their cells at
night to sleep, and, after DAYS work Of ten
hours, they were quite ready to do 81. |
then directed the superintendent to keep a
rll N NJ tttn Of thaXr
informed, and empowered him to recommend
me to have.stricken of from the sentence not
exceeding ten days in each month, according
to the diligence and steaiiness with which
the men performed their duty; and in cases
OF great merit larger portion uf the specified
time of punishment might be RENTED. In
cases of refractoriness, solitary confinement,
loss of the ration of tobacco, and bread and
water were the punishment. The sequence
and perhaps | may say the consequence of
this was that a better gang of laborers, more
orderly and quiet, | have never known. |
never lost one by running away; | never
had but one attempt to get away, and he
failed, and after being shut up week, he
begged so abectly and persistently to be al
lowed to take his place in the working gang
again, that it was permitted, and he finally
got thirty-three and one, third per cent. of
his time of punishment RENTED for good con-
duct. | even took the gang out into the
swamp on the Chesapeake and Albemarie
canal to repair a break, and although the
country was overlooked, only lost one there,
and am uncertain to this day whether he de-
serted or was drowned. The prisoners, I'M
der this system, did work which at any rea-
sonable price and an account was kept with
the city of Norfolk of what they did do at Il
prce-would have been several times COM
pensated for the cost of their keeping. |
insisted upon three things: Perfect cleanli
ness and purity in their cells and places OF
sleep during the night nutritious and whole
some food three times a day, viz: before they
went out, at noon, and after they came back,
and di.igent, industrious, hard labor OF ten
hours each day, with a reward for labor that
was meritorous by renting portion of the
punishment l have long thought that the
system Of labor in our prisons, where the
laborer had no hope and nothing to labor for,
was upon wrong principle. My acQuaint-
ance with prisoners as a criminal lawyer
taught me so much. | had an opportunity
to try different theory, and awaited myself
of it, and that is ALL