Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-11-06
A DAY IN JAIL.

A WALK THROUGH THE CELLs-NoTED
soNERs-DErERMfNED ATTEMPTS
TO EscAPE-DEATH IN THE NIGHT
LIFE OF A FEMALE PRISONER,
&C., NC, &c.
A walk through the Staunton jail had
with aman who knows all about it, and can
tell YOU what he knows, will repay the WIS.,
itor. This reporter took the trip with Mr..
George Harlan, for eleven years the jailor,
and spent an interesting hour there. There
are now in the institution about Is prison.
ers. The record shows that from Jan.
To Nov. there have been 81 prisoners from
the county committed, while for the whole
of 1873 only 80 were committed. So far in
this wear there have been 155 commitments
of city prisoners, not including about 25
who were released by the payment OF
fine, after spending only night, in atom
ing for the popular infrmity known to the
medical profession as "tods." AS we
passed along the corridors through stands
of rare flowers with which the taste OF the
TAILOR has adorned them, we came to
CELL NO. 8.
which once held one Of the most deter
mined men to escape that was ever in the
building. 1t was in 1855. He was named
Lott, and to-day the visitor can see the
new fl oor laid down in place Of the one he
nearly destroyed. He had been sentenced
to the pententiary. and one night tried to
burn out through the floor. He fired the
floor, keeping the flames under with
blanket, and breaking through the flooring
as the plank became charred. He had
broken through fourteen pieces of flooring
before the volume of smoke which spread
through the Jail betrayed him. After the
alarm was made, the jailor took Lott out
of the cell with his eyes quite blinded with
the smoke, and, though blind, he made
desperate, effort to break away. His wife,
a woman remarkable for her beauty, was
devoted to him. and used to visit him III
jail, and when she kissed him through the
bars Of the door would Slip him note
through her lips, and finally in the same
way slipped him little file, with which he
cut his hobbies off, preparatory to another
attempt at escape; but one night the jail
was aroused by the cries OF prisoner IN
the same cell with him; and the jailor,
upon entering the room, found Lott was
ready to go, and twas trying to kill the
prisoner, who was giving the alarm. He
had bitten him savagely. AT the cars,
when leaving for Richmond, his wife gave
him a Bible in which d lie was concealed.
He escaped from the State Prison after
being there a short time, and has not been
heard of since.
CELL NO. 2.
The heavy dinis of croWbar on the
door Of this cell tell the story of tragic
death which our people have not yet for
gotten. Just after midnight Of q Monday
in April four years ago, Jailor Harlan
heard the trampling Of horses and cali
outside. The men answered TO his inquiry,
that q man named Kale had L prisoner
that he wanted to commit. The Jallor
had been told the day before that the
Jyncning of a horse thief named Hodges
had been threatened, and refused to open
the door He heard the CHATTER OF the
horses hoofs departing. 1t was but rev
moments when voices outside demanded
the jail door to be opened, and looking out,
he saw d long string OF men III the street,
with group at the gate. He refused the
REQUEST and there was short consulta-
ton among them, in which sharp voice
said "D-n it, men, you are not going To
falter Dow?'' The door was then burst
open. and the jailor was seized. but he re-
fused to give up the keys to the cell, and
his wife refused to tell where they We're.
The door of cell No. 2 was then priced open
with a crowbar, some of the men hold
inc a candle for their comrades to work by,
and some holding the jailor, one OF them
throwing cape over his head, and reply
ing to his s'Don't smother me!' with
EsNever mind, George, you won't be hurt.
In two minutes those who had entered the
cell returned, four Of them bearing Hodges
by his legs and arms. This was the last
seen Of him at the jul, but the next morn
inc he was found dangling to limb on
the Greenville road, two miles from town.
Citizens who had been out late Monday
night remembered a Gordon Of armed and
masked men drawn around the jail, who
had stopped all passers, but troubled no
one. and this was all any one knew about
it, It was the most secretly managed
piece of lynch law ever perpetrated in this
country, and to this day suspicion has rest
ed on nobody. The victim had been
horse thief, and he shot citizen who de-
tected him in the act. On the jail record
under the head, "By whom released, y the
,J,,,o
In this same cell, No. 3, was also man
named Smiley, charged with murder, who
was examined at the Coroner's inquest
next day, and told the story Of Hodges
being carried off, and shortly after Smiley
was committed to the Lunatic Asylum
maniac. The terrifying scene had been
too much for his mind.
JAIL DELIVERIES.
There have been several jail deliveries in
the institution. Gen. FL unter liberated 20
nris,,uers on his first rad to Staunton, 50
that w zen Sheridan arrived on his raid,
Mr.. Harlan< to avoid repetition, sent his
prisoners off 80 Lynchburg in advance.
When tile Jail Was crowded during the
war. some escapes occurred. One night,
when the door of cell was opened, Is
prisoners in it bolted, ali Of whom except
were recaptured, and OH one occasion IN
1868, got out.
ESCAPES AND ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE.
Besides these, there have been few es-
capes. One night in 1870 prisoner nanneo
Robert Mosly raised an alarm Of fireSand
when the officials opened the door of the
coll cta}, al q cOIored attendant named