St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-30
LIFE IN JAIL.
In Ouod and in Tiers--Free Grub in the
County Hotel--The Favored
Few.
The Hobo, the Workers." the Crook and
Tramp at Home--Their Slang and
Their Habits.
something About Their Most Salient
Characteristics--Ho How They ACT
and Talk.

To properly and clearly understand what
living in Jail is like one must be nluls I1id
au inmate and that for consIuelaD l
length of time. The chance Eisitoi go
nothing to give him any but the 1alhteSC
concenfions of what a continued residence
therein must be to any except ti.o inoIe
hardened and vicious OF manklIiu. IL
sometimes happens-but not Often til'tnh
Cod that 3 respectable, law-abldlng citl-
zan finds himself in .the grip OF Tie law:
and learns bv bitter experience now people
evist whom fate. persecution or crlmlnallty
hos nI.ced behind the bars. But the
bonest man. the temperate and
the Industrious man rarely or never hndS
himself in such a lamentabe case Hence
the readers of the GLOBE are as yet IN "
norance on the subject of Jail llfe-1ar De IL
from them ever to know 1t by oltter eH-
perience-and it is the purpose OF this artl-
Gle to enlighten them upon the matter.
Through the mistaken zeal of policeman,
the willfuI perversity of the court, the con-
timed and heartess conduct of the sheriff
in refusing tie leave the doors open, the
writer got into Hennepin county jail last
snring and was for several months unable
to get out. During this period OF coy
secIusion from the carking cares mcldent
to vast possessions and tremendo US respon-
sibilities. he made study OF
his surroundings, his fellow prisoners, their
traits. habits. ETC., and has thus prepared
himself to make public not only the routine
life in such an institution, but much quaint
and curious matter relating to the prisoners
idiosyncrasies. their crimes, their sayings,
WAYS and peculiar ideas OF meum ana tuuin.
Naught is extenuated, nor aught set down
in malice; but everything is exactly correct
fait lI
represented. In the subjoined epitome of
life in jail. the people OF Hennepm county
MAY see exactly what goes on, every year,
and every day in the year, within the walls
of at least one of her necessary but eXpen-
sive public improvements.
THE HENNEPIN COUNTY JAIL.
It may be well to state, in beginning,
that Hennepin county jail contains two
prison rooms for men, These are located
on opposite sides of the building. There is
all intervening space between. taken up by
rooms, past which runs passage from one
cell-room to the other. The cage which
contains the cells is built of iron, and on
each side occupies the middle of large,
stone-walled, granite-paved room or hall.
There are six cells i'll row, and they rise
one above another, three tiers in height, the
upper ones being reached by stairways
placed at one end. Along the front of each
tier runs grated corridor which is used by
the prisoners as a promenade during the
day. Here also they stand to converse
with such visitors as they may have, the
latter standing on narrow-railed gallery
Just outside the grating. Wateris supplied
to the building in pipes, and sink is placed
at the end of each promenade, for washing
purposes. When, stepping from the turn
keys Office, one enters the passage above
referred to between the two cell-rooms, he
turns to the right to reach the trampS
room. and to the left to find that where sus-
poets and indicted prisoners awaiting trial
are confined. Having thus placed the stu
alton fairly before the reader, l will now
proceed to matters less dry in the perusal
and of more entertaining nature gener-
ally.
THE INMATES.
These are usually comprised in four
claSSes-trampS, or ''bumS" as they most
commonly call themselves, those suspected
of crime awaiting the action of the grand
jury others already under indictment and
those who. having been tried and convicted,
are waiting to be taken to the penitentiary.
These last do not, as rule, remain long in
jail, but are generally taken to Saltwater
the next day after conviction.
THE HOBO"
The genus tramp, /. e., the s'bum' or
stHobo," is usuallysmade up of conglom-
Grafton of human outcastS, most prominent
among which are two classes; the
tramp from stress of circumstance,
and the bum from choice, who occupies his
mean place in the scale of creation by nat
ural selection. Tramps, whom misfortune
has driven into this nOmadic life, are COM
monty men oflittle force of character, whom
reverses or calamities have completely I'M
manned; in whom the last spark OF self re-
spect has been quenched; to whom steady,
untiring endeavor and persistent effort have
become impossible. They have no strength
to buffet the wave or stem the tide, hence
they drift. They are whirled about, hither
and thither like broken straws-poor bits
OF fotsam and jetsam on the great sea of
life, eddied here and tossed there by swirl
ing tide or pulsing surge, in
woful, helpless. weak confusion.
But the genuine, unref0rmable bum
the s'Hobo' by instinct, is altogether
another and entirely different animal. He
is first and last VOLTA beast of prey and
shiftless. faithless, lazy, lousy, filthy
vagabond; foul mouthed, coarse, sensual,
british. He is sui generis; he stands alone;
he is-himself. natural ''ne'er-do-well;"
and is the living embodiment of all that is
lowest and meaneSt Ill the race,
zone whose brute nature ne'er aspires
Beyond his own mere brute DESIRES"
From the ranks of these are recruited
nearly all the lesser crooks and thieves
which infest our Cities befoul the sweet air
of heaven with their fetid breaths and the
odor of their filth-reeking bodies, while they
people with vermin, ''in shoals an nations"
our lockups and jails.
THIEVES VOCABULARY.
The fraternity of trampS and thieves, as
well as all the lower order of crooks, have
lingo, or jargon of their own. not easily
understood by the uninitiated. For exam
pie: Your genuine tramp or a thief who is
down on his luck. broke, for short, never
begs meal or a loaf of bread; he ''bums
handout," ''dukey" or ''bit O punk"
He never begs of stranger for money, al
though he may ''bum bloke for half OF
''case"-meaning dollar. To the fra
ternity any one not of the guild is ''bloke. :"
81 worked the sucker for his stuff is the
way the bum relates the exploit of getting
some poor devil drunk and robbing him of
money. The crook and the tramp
look upon the rest of mankind as
''blokes'' to be ''bummed," and suckers
to be worked" In like manner this noble
army of workers never speak of their
peculiar transactions in that shocking plain,
coarse English which calls one who steals
thief, and speaks of crook or burglar
as criminal. Oh, no indeedy! None of
them ever burglarize house or safe;
they merely 'crack" them. No Hobo or
tramp, ever speaks of having stolen watch
Though he may have ''swiped super"
IT'S possible he may have picked some ones
pocket of handkerchief, but when he sol
EMMY AYERS that he only faxed a wipe, :"
e % loI.
rested, he is ''pinched;" if thrown into Jail,
he is '.slaWed in" If a man is talking