The Newtown bee., 1879-07-09
Life in LudloM Street Jail.

Life in Ludlow Street Jail.
 During the investigation of the charges of mismanagement made against the sheriff of New York by the Bar Associa- tion of that city, interesting testimony was given concerning the manner in which affairs were conducted at Ludlow Street Jail. MT. J. Edward Ireland, re- gently released fl om that institution, said that he was forty years of age and lived at Broadway and Twentieth street. He was arrested and taken to Ludlow Street Jail under a process issued by the sheriff of tine county of New York on August 30, 1878, and liberated on May B, 1879. He described the construction of the jail, and said that on the lower floor were two rooms which rented to wealthy pris- oners at $35 and $40 week, and another and handsomer room which brought $75 a week. The witness had paid at first $7.50 and afterward $15 a week for his | board in the jai{ As boarder he was l far better treated than the non-paying | prisoners. Each of the latter had in his cell an iron bedstead, a straw mattress | and pillow, a coarse army blanket and an iron slop-pail = nothing else; no sheets or pillow-cases. These prisoners were locked up at five o'clock in the evening and allowed to come out of their cells at six in the morning. Their cells were, for the most part, filthy, and one of them, belonging to an old man of the | name ot Frost, was so dirty that it made the witness sick to go near it.
 l z The paying prisoners, on the contrary, were treated like gentlemen" They went to the dining-room for their meals, and were waited upon by col ored attendant known as Marc Antony. They had clean sheets and pillow leases upon their beds, and were permitted to remain in the yard until ten and half o'clock at night, besides being allowed various other privileges. MT. Fitzsim- mons went around the jail every week to collect the board bills, and generally there was no delay in the payment.
 After time the witness ceased to be a paying inmate, and at once experienced change of treatment. His sheets and pillow-cases were removed, he was locked up at five and half o'clock in the evening, and the quality of the food furnished was widely different from what it had been. His friends, too, were rarely permitted to see him, and once, because a lady and gentleman who called upon him entered his cell, the half o'clock in the afternoon until seven o'clock the following morning. and de- prived him of his supper.
 The bill-of-fare for non-paying prison CTS, as he described it, was not succulent or delicate. On Monday, for breakfast, they got. dry bread, which was often sour. and concoction which was called coffee. Every morning, Sunday in- cluded, the same breakfast was served. On Monday, for dinner, they got what was facetiously termed an Irish stew, consisting of onions, little meat and bread, all being served in tin pail, without knife, fork, spoon, pepper or salt. On Tuesday, for dinner, a plenti- ful supply of beans, so strong and pun | gent that they made the prisoners sick, was ladled out. On Wednesday the Irish stew was served again; on Thurs day and Sunday corned beef and potatoes constituted the banquet; on Friday fish, and on Saturday the stew once more.
 For supper, throughout the week, a pint of bad tea and piece of hard bread were served. All the meals were carried around in tin bucket and ladled out in the cells.
 When the witness first became an inmate of the prison the floor of his cell and his bed were covered with coating of filth half an inch thick. He was un- able to remove it himself, and he had to pay to have it taken away.
 There were three or four female prison CTS in the jail, who seemed to be all boarders. They had free access to all parts of the prison and associated famil- iarly with the men. He once saw one of them having her supper served in a male prisoners cell. TIE E
 On the ground floor was cell called the bar cell" where liquor was sold The witness had bought very bad lager beer there at fifteen cents bottle, and scenes of drunkenness and debauchery frequently took place there