Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-12-30
ftning Bad vos gong to happen to me but did


thing BAD vos gong to happen to me Butt did
not think it would be anything half so phad as
this" He clasps his hands half convulsively
for a moment, then -weeps sorrowful tears,
which he wipes away with his discolored
handkerchief He still wears the checked
wooden shirt which he declares he wore on
the night of the murder. The wall Of his cell
opposite the door is covered with large rude
pencil drawings of ships, which he amuscs
himself in making during his leisure hours.
In another cell is a small, black eyed, sub
servient-looking man, who narrates how he
entered dwelling in the night time, and took
the pantaloons of the sleeping head of the
family, in which was a sum of money. 1t
sounds a little strange to hear one confess so
unreservedly his commission of a crime, but
years Of punishment for the deed have made
it needless to longer conceal the secrets con-
nected with it.
Here is the honest English looking face of
a man not far from fifty, who helped build the
suspension bridge at Montreal. He was an
overseer, man of responsibility and proper
ty, was a member of a church, and has wife,
and children. He was convicted of the crime
ofarson-an attempt-the Court said--to burn
years, and is the best man | ever knew" says
the overseer.
Thus the tour of the prison is made. At q
certain hour in the evening, the prisoners ex-
tinguish their lamps and lie down to sleep on
their narrow beds. The
NIGHT WArcHMAN
is then on duty, his shoes shod with wool,
enabling him to move noiseless from cell to
cell; he carries a dark lantern with which
from time to time he darts luminous ray of
light through the cell doors, into the faces of
the sleeping convicts, to see that call is well"
There is great diversity in the ornamental
ton of the cells by the occupants; some few
are carpetless and almost bare of ornaments,
others are thckly hung with pictures, fire.
quently with portraits of wife and children.
A few cells boast Of Brussels carpets. The
tastes of the prisoners are thus variously
manifested. Newspapers and books are al
lowed them, and some spend their spare time
entirely in reading. The costume or
DRESS OF THE CoNvlCTs
consists of two colors of wooden clsth-black,
and dull red or brick co!or--which are used
in equal quantities, each color for each half
of garment. One side or one-half of con-
Wet is consequently clothed from head to feet
in black, and the other half in dull dingy red.
The uniform is not beautiful
The prisoners are all kept at some useful
and
Productive EMPLOYMENT.
In the prison yard are several buildings in
which are workshops; crew is employed at
black smithing, another at shoe and boot max
ing, another at carriage and sleigh making
and painting, and still another, at harness
making. This labor proves productive of
several thousand dollars profit to the State
annually, after paying the costs of the prison.
The prisoners are required to work
STEADILY AND SILENTLY,
each crew being in charge of an overseer and
assistant; while at work they present picture
not dissimilar to ordinary crews of workmen
outside of the institution. The working day
in summer is ten hours, and in winter from
sur to sun. A fire recently destroyed what
was formerly the carriage shop, large, two
story stone building, the walls of which are
still standing. Behind or south of the work
buildings in the yard is an immense oblong
excavation, large enough to hold the hulk OF
the Great Eastern, made in former years by
Quarrying limestone. That business has
been abandoned, and the unsightly valley re-
mains a useless and ugly obstacle in the pris-
on yard. There is room in one Of the
buildings used as chapel where the convicts
meet on Sundays for religious services.
Everything about the prison is conducted in
q remarkably precise and methodical manner
the history of one secular day is that of all
the others of the year. The discipline is rigid
but
Is TEMPERED WITH KINDNESS,
and no prisoner ever leaves the institution
without invoking blessings on the Warden,
Mr.. Rice, and his kind hearted, accomplished
wife, who is especially beloved by the inmates
of the institution for her sympathy and innu.
merable kindnesses toward them. A visitor
to the prison is impressed forcibly with the
fact that the persons who have been sent
there by the laws, for their crimes, are still
human, and
l2 ENTITLED TO COMPASSION
and sympathy; many possess amiable traits
most have some good in them, mixed with the
evil that bore them downward. Even the
murderers, the mere mention of whose names
has many times caused the thrill of horror,
are not the bad featured and utterly aband-
oned creatures the popular mind is prone to
make them.
THEIR FACES LIGHT UP
at the sound of kind voice, and the grasp Of
friendly hand gives them pleasure
that is long remembered and be-
comes a sort of era in the monotony OF
their existence. Confined here-shut from
the world and arrayed in felon's garb, are
the young man of twenty and the old man OF
seventy, the husband and wife, and the father
and son Here, too, are business men whose
names were once respected in commercial cir.
Giles here also are the protested christian and
church officer, the once well-todo mechanic
the thrifty, industrious farmer, the trusted
clerk, the professional gentleman and the
universal vagabond. Some have been here
many years, and have yet many years to re.
main others are counting the days when their
sentences will expire. Several will never
again pass beyond the walls of the prison un'
til death sets them free.
The health of the convicts is good Almost
without exception they are feshy, vigorou.
and in good spirits. They seem to be in good
hands for their own best benefit, and they
certainly are for the benefit of society.
GENERAL NE VS..
John Hopkins. the wealthiest citizen of Bal
timore, died on Wednesday.
sta fho