The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1883-05-10
A PICTURE OF THE GOOD OLD
TIMES" WE READ ABOUT.
From McMaster's History Of the people
I-nifed State,

United States
II is pleasing to reflect that, while
our cOuntrymeE have been making
such astonishing progress i'm all that
administers to the comforts and con-
veniences Of life. they have at the
same time grown charitable and hu-
name. There il, indeed, scarcely q
scrap Of information bearing upon the
subject eXtant which does not go TO
prove beyond question that the gen.
Grafton which witnessed the revOlu
ton was less merciful and tender
hearted than the generation which
witnessed the civil war. Our ances-
tors, il is true, put up a just cry of
honor at the brutal treatment Of their
captive cOuntrymen in the prison
ships and huiks. So great was their
Indignation that money was to be
stamped with representations of the
atrocities Of which they complained.
that their descendants to the remOtest
generation might hold in remember
ance the cruelty of the British and
the suffering of the patriots. Yet even
then the face of the land was dotted
with PRISONS where deeds Of cruelty
were done, i'm comparison with which
tic IouIcSt dttS III TIC uuiAS
sink to a contemplate insignificance.
For more than fifty years after the
peace there was i'm Connecticut an
underground prison. which surpassed
in horrors the Black Hole OfCalcutta.
This den was known As the Newport
prison, was an old;worked- out copper
mine i'm the hills near Grauby. The
only entrance TO ii was by means Of
ladder down a shaft which led TO the
caverns under ground. There. in lit
tie pens of wood, from 30 to 100 cul-
prits were immured. their feet made
fast to iron bars and their necks chain
ed To beams i'm the roof Tine darkness
was intense; the caves rocked with |
filth: vermiD abounded; water trickled |
from the roof and ooZed from the sides |
Of the caverns; huge masses of earth /
were perpetually falling off In the |
dampness and the filth the clothing of |
the prisoners grew moldy and rotted
away, and their limbs became stiff
with rheumatism. The Newport pris-
On was perhaps the worst i'm the cOun-
try, yet i'm every county were jails
such ss would now be thought unfit
places of habitation for the vilest and
most loathsOme of the beasts. At
the cells were scarce
four feet high. and filled with the
noxious gases of the prIvy vaults,
which they were supposed to
be ventilated Light came in from two
thinks in the wall. At the Worcester
prison were a number Of like cells,
four feet high 10y eleven long, without
4 window or chimney, or even a
hole in the wall. Not a ray Of light
ever penetrated them. In other jails
IN Massachusetts the cells were So
small that the prisoners were lodged
nhammOcks swung one over the other.
In Philadelphia the keeps were eieh-
een feet by twenty feet. and so crowd
III that NJ night each prisoner had "A
'pace six feet by two Ia lie down in.
. The misery al the unfortunate erea-
lures eooped up in the cells, even at
he most hunIanely kept prisons, sur
nassed in horror anything ever record
ii in fiction. No attendance was
provided for the sick. No clothes were
for the naked. Such u thing
Is bed was rarely seen and.this soon
,ecame so foul with insects that the
owner dispensed with il gladly. Many
II the inmates of the prison passed
fears without washing themselves.
Their hair grew long. Their bodies
we're covered with scabs and lice, and
emitted horrible stencil. Their clo-
hing rotted from their hacks and eX-
posed their bodies. tormented with all
kinds Of skin diseases and yellow
lesh cracking open with filth. The
iesth rate often stood as high as sixty
n Loo As IL such torments were
Tot hard enough to bear. Others were
ldded by the half naddened prisoners.
No sooner did new conner enter the
ioor of u cell than the rush WAS made
or him by the inmates. who stripped
him for his clothing, and let him stand
tark naked till il was redeemed by
What in the peculiar jargon OF the
,lace was known As drink money. 1t
happened that the prison.
rs were in possession Of n carefully
preserved blanket. Then this cere-
nony called garnishing, was passed
'ver for the yet more brutal one of
In spite of prayer and
ntreaties the miserable stranger was
'ound, thrown into the blanket, and
ossed until he was half dead and
eady TO give his tormenters every
uperfluous garment to sell for money.
With the tolls thus exacted, liquor
ras brought, fiendi>h revel, was
eld. and when bad rum and bad to-
acco had done their work. the few
obef inmates of the cell witnessed
uch scenes IA would be thought
hooking In the dance houses which
luster along the wharves of our great
IN board towns.