Daily south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1881-18??, 1884-10-04

same nicely; another sews the parts
together with wax thread, the thread
passing through heated metal horn,
which keeps it soft and warm; yet
another initiates hand sewing with yell
low thread, leaving an extended sole,
which is afterward beveled to look
pretty. The merit of this machine is
that the shoes it sews are pliable and
easy to the foot, and bring good prioS>
This does its work in eleven seconds.
The heels are made separately, ana
when finished have all the nails pro-
jecting half an inch below the bottom of
the lower sheet OF leather. A convict
puts one of these heels into metal cup
in press of great power, and over that
he rests shoe in the right position.
Then comes down a great bar ard
squeezes the heel and shoe together,
driving every other nail all the way in,
and leaving every other nail sticking a
little way out He takes the shoe out
pusS pretty heel tap in, puts the shoe
back, submits it to the pressure, and
then withdraws it and finds the tap
firmly nailed, with the nails not quite
through the tap, which presents
smooth, unbroken surface. The heel
shaving machines present to the heel
set of rapidly revolving knives, shaped
to make straight heel or guttered
one, or even a lady's French heel An
other machine cuts the front of the
heel square, and another trims and
smooths the edge of the sole. The edge
of the sole and the sides of the heel ara
blackened, and the edge is put under a
hot iron about the size of fat chestnut.
The iron moves to and fro with incredi-
BILE rapidity, in imitation of the motion
of the cobblers, who used to do the work
by hand. A large iron, also heated by
a gas jet, does the same thing for the
heel, and does it under such pressure
that cracks and unevennesses in the
heel are smoothed over, filled up and
concealed.
Some shoe uppers have eyelet holes
instead of button holes. There is a ma
chine in the prison for doing this work.
1t has two steel rods close 10 one an
other, and while one punches the holes
the other inserts the eyelets, which run
down little gutter, right side UP, ex-
actly into place to fix the punctures in
the leather, and TO have the edges
squeezed over by the other rod and the
piece that fits upon it. Twenty years
ago shoemaking machinery performed
only one-half this work, and did that
roughly. Now the shoes made in Crow
Hill prison are such as most persons
wear, and are in all respects shapely,
presentable and well finished. Some of
them retail at four or five dollars pair.
In this prison, side by side with the
scum of humanity, reputable men and
girls are employed. There are proba-
bly, two hundred girls in the female
prison, who live in Brooklyn, come
every morning, and are free to 90 home
whenever they present certain ticket
at the prison door. The Warden, who
is, in all probability, not consulted,
since these persons work for the con-
tractors, was asked what he thought
was the effect of such surroundings upon
the youths of good morals. He replied
that there used to be a general feeling
that the arrangement was improper and
dangerous, but it has not proved so.
Outside free labor has been employed in
Crow Hill eleven or twelve years, and
of all the hundreds who have thus come
daily to the prison. not one has ever
been sent there as a prisoner. The
outsiders do not have anything to dc
with the prisoners. They sit apart, and
never, under any circumstances, speak
a word to the convictS. Cuk
orator.