Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-05-15
many POST IEfELLlGEECBR.
4 CENTTRY AGO.


A ricaure or The .'Geed Old Times
We Read Aipeat.
From McMaster's History Of the Peo-
Die of the United States.
n ia pieasinc to reflect that. while our
counfrymen have been making snch as
tonishinp progress in all that admins
ters 70 ths comforts and convenisncss
81 life, they have at the same time
GROWN charitable and humane. There
ia. indeed. scarcely a scrap Of inioraa-
tion bearing upon the subject when
does not 90 70 prove beyond q question
the generation which witnessed the
revolution was less mercifnl and tender
hearted than the generation which VII
nee.ed the civil war. Our ancestors, "
is true. mt up a just CRY OF horror
NJ the brutal treatment OF shef
captive cOunirymen IN the prison
aims and hunks. So great was their ia.
dionation that money was TO be stamped
Win representations OF the atrocities o!
which th.y complained. that their de-
scendants to the remo;est generation
MIGHT hold in remembrance the cruelty
If fine British and the sufferines OF the
natriots. Yet even then the face OF the
land was dotted with prisons where
deeds of cruelty were done, In coTup:fi'
son with which the fouiest acts commit
tad in the hulks sink into contemplate
insiguificauce. For more than nifty
years after the peace there was IN Con
necticut m underground prison, which
surpassed in horrors the Black Hol. tn
Calcutta. This den, known as the New
cate Prison, IVES an old, worked out
conner miuo. in the hills near CRANKY.
The only entrance to il was by ladder
down a shaft which led to the Governs
under ground. There, in little pens OF
wood, from 30 to 100 culprits were i'm
INJURED. their feet made fast to iron bars,
and their necks chninsd to beams III
the roof. The darkness was intense'
the caves rocked with filth. vermin
abounded; water trickied from the roof
and oozed from the sides Of the caverns;
hinge masses Of earth we're continually
falling of. In the dampness and nth
the clothing of the prisoners grew
mouldy and rotted away, and their
limbs became stiff with rheumatism.
This prieon WAS perhaps the worst IN
the country, yet in every county were
iaiIs such as now would be thought IN
iii places for the viIest and most loath'
some of beasts. At Northampton the
cells were scarce four feet high, and
nlied with the noxious gases OF the
pYiyy vaults through which they were
supposed TO be ventilated. Light came
in from two chinks in tho wall. Not a
ray Of light ever penetrated them. In
other iaiis In Massachusetts, the cells
were SO small that the prisoners were
lodged in hammocks swung one over the
other. In Philadelphia the keeps we're
eighteen feet by twenty feet, and 30
crowded that at night each prisoner had
n space six foot by two TO lie down IN.
"The misery Of the unfortunate orea-
lures cooped up in the cells. oven OF the
most humanelyakep prisons. SURPRISES
in horror anything ever recorded ia tic
ton. No attendance was provided for
the sick. No clothes wero distributed. 10
the naked. Such thing ~ bed was
rarely seen, and this soon became 50
foul with insects that the owner dis
pensei with II gladly. Many OF the in
mates Of the prisons passed years with
out 50 much ~ washing themselves.
Their hair grew long. Their bodies
were covered with scabs and lice, and
emitted horrible stencil. Their clsth-
ing r0tted from their backs and exposed
their bodies, tormented with all manner
of skin Diseases and the yellow flesh
cracking open with filth. The death
rate often stood as high IA GO in 1900.
As II such tormonts were not hard
enough 10 bear. others were added by
the half madded prisoners. No sooner
did a newcomer enter the door of cell
than rush WAS made for him by tho
inmates. who stripped him of his cloth
ing, and let him stand stark naked till
Il was redeemed by what In tho peculiar
jargon Of the place was known as drink
money. II sometimes happened that
the prisoners we're in possession of n
carefully preserved blanket. Then this
ceremony called garnishing was passed
over for the yet more brutal one Of
hlanketing. In spite of prayers and
entreaties, the miserable stranger was
bound, thrown iito the blanket, and
tossed till he Was half dead and ready
- give his torsnentors every superiiuous
garment 10 sell for money. With tho
tolls thus enacted, liquor was bought.
iiendish rcvei Was had. and. when bad
run and bad tobacco had done their
work, the few sober inmates of the cell
witnessed snch scenes as would be
thought shocking in tho dance houses
which cluster along the wharycs OF our
great aeab0ard towns.