The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-11-22
AN OLD LONDON JAIL.
Demolition Of the Prison Of HorsemonaNr.
Lane. Something of Its History.

One Of the earliest prisons erected ac.
eording to the somewhat crude ideas Of
. model system that resulted from John
Towards philanthropic labors, Horsemon-
gerlane is one of the first jails doomed 10
demolition under the provisions Of the pris-
ons act recently passed. By act of Parlia-
ment, passed in 1871, q new Jail and SEES.
sions-house for the county Of Surrey were
ordered to be erected, and accordingly, on
n site In the midst of market gardens. there
arose the strong walls and sombre pile of
masonry since known as Horsemonper-lane
Prison. Designed by George Gwilt, on prin-
ciples that were then deemed perfect, he
vast quadrangular building was completed
in lT0S, and many prisoners were trans
ferred to it in August of that year, under
charge of one Mr.. Thomas Ives, whose sue
cessors as keepers Of the jail and represen-
tatives of the sheriff of Surrey have been
Mr.. William Walters, Mr.. John Walters,
Nh. John Keene, and his son, the present
Governor. Up to the end of the last CEN
tury the place of public execution for Grim
tnals~ condemned to capital punishment was
n barren plot of ground near where the
Church of st. Marks. Remington. has
since been erected. When the new Jail
was finished, however, the roof of the
lodge gates was utilized for this dismal
purpose, and since that time many men of
Infamous memory have expiated their
crimes there. The earliest case of histor-
ical Importance was that Of Col. Despard.
who, with 30 Others, was convicted of hiQh
treason, and doomed to the scaffold for
an alleged conspiracy to "overturn the
Constitution and destroy the King and the
rest Of the royal family" To the last Col.
Despard protested his innocence and ipno-
ranra af tho ,1af h.. H. -
him guilty, and on the 2ist of February.
1903, he and six of his companions in mis-.
fortune were hanged above the prison
gates. The next execution at Horsemon-
g~er-lane was that of Richard Patch. for the
murder of Mr.. Bligh, in 1906 but of all
the criminals confined there few have so
excited the hatred and execration of the
populace as the notorious Mannings. One
of the last publicly executed outside the
prison was the murderer Wright, and the
first person hanged within the Jail walls was
Margaret Walters. the infamous baby
farmer"
Since the abolition of imprisonment for
debt, Horsemonger-lane has been shorn of
one of its distinguishing features. In the
days when debtors were arrested by mesne
process and thrown into prison at the will
OF a merciless creditor, or on the false oath
OF an INSCRIPTIONS enemy, this place, like
the older Marshalsea and Fleet, swarmed
with im%pecunious occupants, who were
=" held to bail /" there until such time as the
tardy action of the law should restore them
to liberty or commit them to the Kings
Bench Even when this notorious system
ceased, and no debtor could be incarcerated
t after Judgment, the prison was seldom
without q goodly number Of insolvent ten
ants detained at the pleasure of the court
under the discretionary clause for a period
not exceeding six months or the still worse
offenders. who, for obtaining goods under
false pretences, might be committed to
DURANGO for q term of two years. Somany
were the sentences then under both the
discretionary and penal clauses that the
cells of Horsemonger-lan were frequently
over-crowded, and the infirmary or strong
room had to be converted into dormitories.
The new law, by which imprisonment for
debt has been practically abolished alto
gether, must have done marvels in raisina
the moral tone Of men in matters none,
tary, or must leave a wide loophole fol-
spectators to escape by, since the places
that once held 80 many fraudulent debtors
now know them no more. When the law
of the land permitted q creditor "to take
the body to satisfy the debt the unfor-
tunate insolvent had to T" walk it out" in
ooSA PAAooh5 Us IOr q
term of from 90 to 100 days II his debt wero
under 60 but If over that amount he could
only regain liberty by an appeal to the In.
solvent Debtors Court, and after an exami.
nation on oath. The incarcerated d~efaultera
were at that time divided into three classes
the master debtors, who paid for their
own food and were permitted to have any
luxuries at a price the common, and the
inferior debtors, for whose behoof presum.
ably Nell Gwynne's bounty was intended.
Besides receiving bankrupts and felons,
however, Horsemonger Jail has been a
house of detention for many distinguished
persons committed to the care of the Sheriff
of Surrey for political and other o~ffenses.
Here it was that Leigh Hunt spent the two
years of his Imprisonment for the heinous
crime of having described George ". o.
AN Adonis of 40 " here Rev. Mr.. Taylor,
Familiarity known as " the DEVILS chaplain
was incarcerated for two years on til.
charge of preaching sedition here Col. Val
entine Baker was imprisoned for a disgrace.
sui offense; and to its walls Rev. Arthu,
Tooth was committed for contemptuous dis
regard Of the ecclesiastical courts. The
days of Horsemonger-lane Jail are, however.
numbered. At tho close of the present
Surrey Sessions its gates will be finally
closed against prisoners, who will henceforth
be detained at Wadsworth, ~Clerkenwell, or
Holloway, to await thoir trial.-IHe Lon.