Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1884-05-10
A Building that Has Witnessed Eight
Centuries of Crime.

Centuries of Crime.
Newgate as prison for it may for
some time to come be utilized as bar
rack or Il fortress S-haS a definite his
tory from 1886 to 1877. 1t was an old
practice, and one for which reasons
could easily be assigned, to place
prisons over the Gateways of towns,
and, if Stowe is right, the term "New-
gate was, in the first instance, used
to designate the gate made in the wall
of the city of London after the rebuild
inc ef st. Paul's, in 1886, when, the
original thOrOughfare from Aldgate in
the east to Ludgate in the west having
been blocked up by the bishop of Lon
don, fresh one to the north of the
cathedral had to be made. For some
hundreds of years, and, indeed, almost
still the Newgate calendars begin, the
records of the great prison are of the
scantiest. 1t may be noted, however,
that as early as the reign of Henry Ill.
Newgate had become "noysome "a
character which it had even within the
memory of men of middle age: that in
1881 it was broken into by Wat Tyler
and his men. and that, like almost all
the ancient institutions of London, it
received substantial blessing from
Richard WhittingtOn-tha most mag
unanimous of citizens leaving money to
rebuild it. NewgaUe had its full share
of the stormy hundred years of our his
tory that came to Il close with the
JacObite rising OF 1745, and among its
inmates were ''all sorts and conditions
of men" and women. 1t entertained
cavaliers and roundhcads and that
most famous and politically most i'm
partial of highwaymen, Jack COtting-
ton, or Mulled Sack. :" who is credited
with having relieved Cromwell of his
purse and Charles III. of plate to the
value of Il 800, 1t was burned dowr
in the great fire, and Wren is said tC
have rebuilt it, as he is said to hav,
rebuilt almost everything. 1t i:
we'll known how closely New
gate is bound up with the popisl
plot and the stories of Dangerfield anC
Oates. The Jacobte rising of 171i
filled it with prisoners, some of whom
: seem to have been allowed to lead q
riotous life, eating, drinking, and gam
bling to excess. At least two nOteC
JacObites succeeded in making theil
escape from the prison, probably will
the help of the governor, Mr.. Pitt
: Charles RatcGfle, the brother of tn
earl of fDerwentwater and Gen. FOrS
; ter, who played such a miserable par
2 in the Jacobite tiascO at Preston. FOrs
= ter got off scott-free, but Ratclitie
chiefly through his own imprudence
7 was recaptured and executed in 174d
| ''Noysome' NeWgate had been in TN
thirteenth century; what with over
/ crowding, there were sometime
a twelve hundred prisoners contine
5 within its three-quarterS ofan acre, e,-tilt
e and absence of ventilation, drainage
! and even of light, it became fever
/ den by the middle of the eighteent
o century. The jail fever, which haC
= indeed, been in the habit of staying il
e tens and hundreds within the priSo
n walls, carried off in 1870 and in rapi
e succession nearly fifty outsiders, incll
j. ding two Judges, the lord mayor, an
+ an alderman. The disgraceful cond
), tion of Ncwgate starvation (
some of the inmates, the debauchel
o. of others, need not be dwelt upOl
s for it lasted more or less till the mic
). die of the present century. In IL
IS Newgate was again rebuilt. TC
IS years later, and almost exactly fol
n hundred years after the exploit of W.