Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-12-30
windows screened 81 an impassSble net wofE
of iron bars. If he has descended into the


the visitor will take stroll along the hard
cement foore-of the corridor and entirely
around the ponderous pile of masonry that is
filed with the cells of the prisoners, where
they are confined when not at work in the
workshops. These cells are in three tiers,
each tier comprising two rows facing in OPP
posite directions. The first tier rests on the
ground and the second and third are reached
by stairs and iron galleries. The cells which
are large enough for only one prisoner to &C.
cupy at one time, are uniform in size, shape
and strength, each having
Door OF Iron BARS,
woven so compactly that mans hand can
barely pass through. At the bottom of each
door is small place through which the food
of the prisoner can be handed to him. The
cells in the
WEST WING
are precisely like those in the east wing but
are fewer in number. Between the wings and
under the office or guard room above de-
scribed is the kitchen, where the food of the
convcts is prepared. Here are three or four
dingy, automatic looking men, silently at
work, getting ready the next meal of the
prisoners; q close inspection of their dress
will show in spite of the CRIME of the kitchen,
that they are prisoners themselves. At the
extreme west end of the prison is row OF
GLooMY DUNGEONS
for the punishment of the insubordinate and
unruly. Beyond their closed doors no sound
or ray of light ever penetrates, and the dark
ness, and silence and stifed atmosphere
quickly reduce to docility and obedience the
most obstinate felon. Above these dungeons
is the
PRISON HosPITAL
a narrow room, extending the width of the
building, divided into several stalls where
the cots of the sick are placed 1t is a COM
Portable looking apartment without distinctive
prison features. John Rogers is the hospital
steward, and, to his credit be it said. is at
tentive and sympathetic toward his sick
associates. Standing beside his cot is patient
with a boyish and painfully bloodless face,
who has come into the hospital for nursing;
in chair by the stove sits another, whom
nursing can little relieve from his pangs,-
he is suffering from a relentless form of
rheumatism; his limbs are twisted and bent
and his palld almost fleshless face is distorted
by the agony he cannot express. The visitors
sympathy is deeply aroused, and he forRets
that this poor, wrenched and tortured wreck
of humanity, shut from the world in his mis-
cry, is a criminal and convict.
Above the hospital, in a retired part of the
building, is row of granite apartments
termed ''Lazy Cells" whore conyicts SEN
fenced to solitary imprisonment, and also
those who violate the rules of the prison, are
confined.
THE FEMALE CoNvICTs
are located above the Office and guard room ;
| their apartments have little resemblance to
the rest of the prison, being simply ordinarily
finished and furnished rooms. This class of
prisoners must, however, be rather circum-
scribed in their diversions; they are three
stories above the earth, and the premises and
| surrounding country which might be seen
| from the windows are carefully hid by inter-
vening obstacles.
At present there are two female convicts,-
| both pretty young women one OF them has .
husband who is also a convict for horse
stealing, but from whom she is separated as
| effectualy as if thousands of miles interviewed
| between them. These females are primly
| dressed in the ordinary clothing of their sex,
their hair is deliberately and tastefuly frizzled !;
and their compilations which are fair and
| ruddy, have none Of the universal prison hue,
that prevails among the male convicts. Om-
| nIpotent fashion penetrates to these secluded
chambers, as the nobby attire, peculiar gait
and we'll rounded Grecian bend give unmistak-
| able evidence.
The visitor during his tour is impressed
| with the
SUPERLATIvE NEATNEss
observed throughout the prison. The floor is
| almost as clean and unsoled as when aew,
| and the immense area of wall is of milky
wilderness from frequent coats of whitewash.
| The cells also seem tidy and clean. The
prison is heated with coal burned in small
stoves in the corridors. If the visitor has
had the good fortune to be admitted to the
prison during the evening, he will find it in
| terestng to pass from cell to cell and take .
| look at each of the one hundred and thirty
one convicts who have been
LOCKED UP FOR THE NIGHT.
CHANGING first into the northwest corner
cell of the east wing, we see a man reclining
on his bunk, looking at paper BY the Light
| of small kerosene lamp-it is an Augusta
| boy, poor fellow who got intoxicated. stole
coat and went for four years; in an adjoin-
| ing cell is another Augusta boy who looks
| more like lad than criminal, who got two
years for an ill-advised venture in wool at
Loudon Hill; passing cell after cell, in which
| the occupants, each with small lamp, are
engaged in reading, writing, sewing, loafing
| or doing. We come to the apartment of
| Moore, the bank burglar, a large-eyed, not
| unpleasant looking man, who freely enters
| into conversation, lamenting his seven years
sentence while Litchfeld got but four. In
| another CELL distinctly visible in the dim
| light of his lamp, is small mild hammered,
| harmless looking man whose name has long
been execrated-Knight, the wife murderer,
who has been here seventeen years. Here
| is cell whose interior resembles miniature
| picture gallery, and at once arrests the eye,
being hung profusely with pictures, and por-
| traits Of mother and two or three beautiful
children, in neat and costly frames.
The occupant is of small statue, full beard
| ed, and not dishonest looking, but he is an
embezzer of money.
"Do your children ever come to see your"
was asked.
"No. Iwould'nt let them see me here"
at was ten thousand dollars, was it not2"
| "No, it was only eight"
A few cells beyond is the young man
Spaulding who was sent from Hallowell,-
sentenced for life; ga model prisoner" says
the officer. Close by is Hoswell, who beats
against his prison bars as fiercely as ever, but
continues fat and rugged in body.
| In another cell is a youthful looking pris-
oner, small in stature, who rises and comes
| close to his cell door.
| Good evening"
! csr 1t.,~s Il t1tl N lats