The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-21
FAMOUS PRISON.
Ludlow-Street Jail and the Sort of Criminals
Who Are Sent There for Confinement.

| go, it is lucky chance if the man who has
| heard of it does not make a more intimate ac-
quaintance with its interior than he desires. /
| went there myself the other dav-of my own
| free will however / was provided with pass
fortunately. because arrived there after the
! hours for visitors. There are various ways of
| going TO this establishment If you can afford
| the expense of being tripped up in some large
| financial transaction of dubious nature, you
| can be conveyed there in a carriage. Ipreferred
| to go there on foot To reach the place one
must branch off from the Bowery, or thread a
maze of narrow streets from the City Hall, in
| which Polish Jews. and dirty children, and
geese duly slaughtered by Hebrew butcher
abound. All at once. turning off from Grand
street. you come upon the tall, ordinary looking
brick building with lengnecked, giraffelke win
| dows protected by open iron-work. known as
Ludlow street Jail.
| 1t is not at all picturesque edifce, outwardly
1t faces west and south squarely, in perfectly
| interesting manner. But when you pass indoors
! you find picturesqeness enough of certain kind.
| You 60 through an iron latticed door; you step
across few feet of stone pavement and are
admitted through another iron lattice to narrow
stairway, which ascends to the second floor
| Here you face still another gate of open iron
| work, which a vigilant keeper opens for you,
having been Informed from below who you are
After that you are quite free to roam about the
| narrow precinct inclosiEg the cells. The prison
| ers are roaming about, too; some of them with
cigars or pipes in their mouths, others with their
| hands in their pockets. Still others are seated
In the library and reading room at one end of the
| corridor. There is informal easy going air
about most of them, as if they were trying to
convince themselves that they are not
| really prisoners; merely sort of anna
| teur prisoners, casually detained by circum-
stances beyond their control but intending TO
come out shortly. All except one man, who has
/ been confined there six years on a suit brought
| by the United States government. He alone
/ PAGES up and down in restless way, with set
resoiute, yet despairing look and a sudden
4 CLEAN from his eyes when he faces you which
has almost desperate quality, as if it would net
| take much more to drive him crazy. And yet
even he is perfectly calm outwardly with white
whiskerS and gray hair and the KEEN intelligent
expression of a welbred well educated bust
ness man. The idea of Ludlow-street Jail usually
received from newspaper reports is, that the
people incarcerated there have a pretty easy
time OF it and inhabit rather comfortable rooms
There is in fact a part of the prison where
pleasant quarters are provided for those who
are able to pay for them; but this part is not
shown to the average visitor, and the general
rule Is that prisoners occupy plain and simple
cells only little larger than penitentary cells,
though rendered more interesting by pictures,
| engravngs, books and any little ornaments that
the prisoners may choose to place there. Some
of the cells are large enough for two cot-5 beds,
with a marrow space between, aud these are
shared by room mates In one corner is plain
cupboard built or. to the wall A chair or two
and common light stand complete the furni-
ture. Opposite the door is window, opening
upon narrow open space between the cell wall
and the wall OF the prison building, pierced with
grated openings where it faces the interior
prison yard $50 you see. said one Of the inmates,
f1l Jc Of nnn1Ao n10 Ia
New York in summer. We can get draught
right through by opening the door and window"
Ascending another fight of stairs to the Sec
ond tier OF cells. ranged one above another, /
walked along the contracted gallery running in
| front of the monotonous doors Looking through
| the entrance to one OF the cells saw Mr.. Fish
"A ruddy faced, white haired, quiet and system
atlc-looklng inan-busily engaged in writing
within. passed on, and then turned back in
tending to continue my inspection, when gem
tleman of agreeable address came forward to the
| threshold of the room adjoining Mr.. Fish's, and
| invited me in He was wholly unknown to me,
but. after exchanging few remarks, informed
me that he knew nay name and had just finished
reading book which happened to write while
ago. Further conversation led to the statement on
| his part that he was a college graduate;
| and he proceeded to mention certain
persons whom he knew. To nay astopishment
L found that he was an acquaintance of
people with whom was myself closely connect
ed. we smoked and he told me in a general
come
present situation. ''Shali you he here if / call
again in week or two?" I inquired, learning
that he had already been there three months.
No, said he; Il expect to be out before that
But then he added. in half cynical half pa
thetic tone, 1--WE all expect that"
How did you happen to know my name97
Zone Of the gentlemen here mentioned it," was
the answer
But who is he9 And how did he know it2n
The gentleman was summoned and dac1inad "a
tell, stating that some one else who did not wish
to be further specified, had recognized me- So
here not only discovered in jail an associate of
old friends Of mine, but also ascertained that
had an acquaintance there who preferred to re-
| main unidentified Who he may be do not
know and cannot guess; but the discovery gave
me new and vivid notion OF the strange and un-
expected relations of life. When stepped into
that barred and bolted building had not the re-
| hottest idea that any link would present itself
joining existence to these to my existence YETI in
| a few moments came upon two such links 1t
is impossible to describe how dramatic and start
ling the discovery was, and if had set out with
plan. to invent something curious, should
never have thought of anything half so curious
as the reality.
One man, however, whom did think that l
might find there, was reported as having been
| released few days before. / had never seen
| him. but by singular chance his name and
history had reached me. Eighteen months ago,
long before he was landed in Ludlow street JAIL
| heard of his case. He was then outwardly in
| a fourishing state; lived handsomely, kept
/ horses, and carried them to Newport in the
summer. But in reality he was not worth q
cent Everything in his possession was secretly
| pledged to money-lenders, and he was often
| obliged to borrow from these same useful
4 individuals a few dollars to carry him over
| from Saturday to Monday. Even his pew
/ in church and his cemetery lot were
mortgaged, and how he managed to keep ND ap-
/ pearances was marvel. His rich acquaintances
did not suspect the truth Of course, the people
/ who gave me the information then knew that it
was only question of time when he should
| come openly to grief; but it was not until few
| weeks ago that the denouement was reached and
| the man was arrested and imprisoned
| by civil process in suit brought by
| his wife, whose property he had made away
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