Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-03-23
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IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.

IN SOLITARY CONFlNEMENI.
Taking the pencil he drew rough sketch of
the interior of the prison.
ssIt looks like you are in a we'll when you
stand in the centre,'' continued he when he
had concluded his drawing.
1.-The guard who stands in the centre there
can see everything that's going on down every
one of the galleries. Every one OF. those dou-
BILE marks is for gallery with cells along each
side and 4 man with a loaded gun at each end.
They keep twenty-four bloodhounds all the
time in one of the halls Every one of the
halls runs into the centre circle. SO man
has no chance. You can't find out how the
place is fixed when you get in, because you've
cot your head all tied up in the black cap. l
got more accustomed to it after | had been
there a year or 50, but it was terrible not to
have any one to talk to and to go from day to
day in the same cell. 1t breaks the best men
down. The brain goes first. railways affects
the brain. When man is broken down so
that he will die in a little while If something
is not done for him, they take him to the hos
pital and let him stay there until he getsstrong
enough to stand'it "a while longer worked
at the trade Of bottoming chairs ; some of
them make shoes and some cigars. They are
glad to work at anything when they have to
be shut up by themselves. There is no talking
allowed no whistling no unnecessary noise
of any kind. If the rules are violated two
guards come to the cell they drag you out :;
you have to hold your hands above your head
They catch you by the shoulders and throw
you down. Then they beat you with their
black jacks. They are clubs with ropes to
them. There is 10 beating allowed, but they
do it anyhow. Then you are put into the
cooler 1t is the deepest dungeon in the
place, with scarcely any light in it. You get
exactly three ounces of bread a day and quart
of water while you are there, and you stay
twenty-one days. 'ls that the only punish
ment ?" No, they have tight box they put
you in. 1t has water in it WHICH strikes you
Just uuder the arm-pits, and there is more
water running in all the time. You have TO
pump with your hands and feet as hard as you
can to keep the water from getting over your
head. l have seen men who were left until
they were broken down and who were nearly
drowned. / was 'sducked'' twice. That's
what they call it.
s'I was buried for nine years, and | nearly
forgot how to talk. My throat and tongue
got so I couldn't use them. When all but my
last year was up they let me out of my cell to
carry water to the other prisoners. had a
wife and child when 1 went in. One day in
1876 the keeper and another came to my cell.
They read me notice that my wife had mar
ried again. Before they got through, the
keeper looked at me and stopped. He pulled
the other man away. Stop, said he, ''he's $
hurt enough. He was right, but lived
through it. Every day the keeper would come,
open the trap in the door of my cell, put in my
food, talk to me for a minute OF two and 60
away 1t was the same thing for nine years,
day after day. The grand jury would come
into the prison occasionally and before they
came everything would be fixed up. But they
didn't see anything. We could count time
that way Once every month"; too, we got a
bath I,t last the day came for me to get out.
1t was December24 last, the day before Christ
mas. They took me to the door and told me
to CO. l stepped out and the fresh air struck
me. trembled like leaf A bootblack was
standing across the street. He saw me COM
ing and said, "Welcome out" had hard
work to keep from crying. Wandered around
the city hunting work. was resolved to
die sooner than go back. "-St Louis Repsbt-