Connecticut western news., 1882-09-27
AN ENGLISH PRISON STORY.
CHARLES READE AND HIS PRACTICAL
 PHILANTHROPY.
From the Gentleman's Magazine.l

CHARLES READE AND HIS PRACTICAL
 PHILANTHROPY.
 From the Gentleman's Magazine.]
 As Mr. Reade has made g great stir about what he calls the dark places of the land, it may interest his admirers tu learn that no appeal, either on behalf of. or direct from, 8 prisoner whose treatment in prison has been contrary to what the law demands, has ever been made to him in vain. Space will not allow me to attempt the details of the many cases he has investigated, nor the large number of persons he has relieved; but I will give brief description of the last case of official tyranny that came under his notice, and what he did for the poor victim. A man, whose name I am not at liberty to publish, for req sons that will be we'll understood, was discharged short time ago from one of her Majesty's prisons. He had been iDearcerated for nine months. His tffsnse was embezzlement of small sum of money. He had held frst-rate position, and one day he was tempted to pay pressing creditor with some of lis employers money. As is frequently the case, he intended to refund the cash at the earliest opportunity; but, like many more who have stuffed the voice of conscience with the same delusive hope, he never succeeded in putting back the amount abstracted.
 For two years he managed to keep the deficiency from the notice of bs employers. At length, when conceal ment was no longer possible. he ab- seconded, and began life afresh in an- ether name. He was steady man, and attended to his business therefore he rapidly advanced in his new vocation. Oae day, when the mistake he had made six years previously was far from bis thoughts, he was wanted" A de- tective had heard of his whereabouts, and ferreted him out. He was taken to the town where the offense was con- mitted, and, although the prosecutors pleaded for him, he was sentenced to nine months imprisonment with hard labor.
 The punishment itself was, no doubt, horrible enough to man who had led an active life, and it Is hard to conceive how any person with cultivated mind can exist in vile servitude but it IS, nevertheless, fact that many do sur vive their degradation. This man had some one to live for, and he made up his mind to do his best, even in a prison. He succeeded in gaining the esteem of the governor and the warders. There were, however, in the prison where he was confined two tyrants who were intrusted with the greatest share of power-the doctor and the chaplain. The former was brutal bully the lat. ter, wretch who practiced tyranny as 8 fine art under the cloak of religion. The chaplain preached abusive sermons told his unhappy bearers they were the scum of the earth" and if they wanted spiritual consolation he invari ably advised them not to humbug
 
 For bread he gave them stone.
 The doctor, whose power was abso lute, neglected sick prisoners until they reached the threshold of deatb. Wher 1t was too late he sent them 10 the in frmary, prescribed for them, and toI( them they could have whatever they fancied. Men who applied for medi cine were told that they were sbamming It was not until the wretched inyalid fell off the treadmill or were found Iyins unconscious on the stone flags of thei cells by the warders, that this brut would admit they were i'll and evel then he used to say, "There's no much the matter with you, or Your trying it on again." The man who's case came under MT. Reade's notic stuck to his work, and made no com plaints for eight months. Just fou weeks before the expiration of his ser tence he fell sick. The doctor WAS ser for, and the bully made the usual r' mark, "You're shamming." A secon time the surgeon was called, with tn same result. Tbe chief wander was nc go hard as the man of science he gay the poor fellow an extra blanket, an tried to cheer him up bit. A day (
 two later the man could hardly cray
 out of his cell, and the warden told tl
 surgeon that he must do something ft