The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-12-05

Ne Gives . Description Of Ludlow stross
Prison.

carefully closed after you and locked py
means of an iron lock about the size OF
pictorial family Bible. You then remain on
the inside for quite SPELL You do not near
the prattle OF soied children any more. All
the glad sunlight and stencil condensing
pavemcnts aud dank haired children oil XIV
in ton street are heard no more, ana inc
heavy iron storm door shuts out the wal Oh
tho combat from the alley near by. Ludio"
Street jail may be surrounded By very
miserable and dirty quarter Of tho city, but
when you get inside all is changed.
Yon register first There is good pen
there that You can write with, and the clerk
docs not chew tolu and read a sporting paper
while YOU wait for room. He Is there 70
attend to business, aud he attends 70 IL. lie
does not seem to care whether you have any
baggage or not You can stay here Tor days
even if you don't have any baggage. All you
need is a kind word and mittimus from tue
court.
One enters this sanitarum either as
boarder or felon. II he decides to come N
as a boarder be pays the warden SO week
for the privilege Of sitting at bis table anu
eating the luxuries Of the market. You alSo
get a better room than at many hotels, ana
you have a good strong door With paddock
on it which enables yout to prevent the sudden
and unlocked for entrance Of the chamber
maid After few weeks ut the seaside at
S19 per day, think the room IN which am
writing IA not unreasonable at e.
Still. OF course. we miss the sea breeze
here.
You can pay $50 TO 800 per week here II
you wish, and get your moneys worth, too
For the hitter sum one may live in the bridal
chamber, 50 to speak, and eat the very best
yctuals all the time.
A boarder gets a good sized room, With a
wonderful amount CT seclusion, a plain bed,
table, chairs, carpet and 50 forth. From his
window one can see as far as the eye can
reach.
Heavy iron bars keep the mosquitoes out,
and at night the rooms are brilliantly lighted
BIZ incandesccnt lights Of one candle power
each. Neat suffers, consisting Of the thumb
and forehnger polished on the hair are 70 10
found in each occupied room.
Bread is served to tho freshmen and lur!or5
in rectangular wads. 1t is such bread as con
yicts' tears have moistened many thouiand
years In that way it gets quite moist.
The most painful feature about life ia Lud-
low street Jail is the confinement. Ono can
not avoid n feeling Of being constantly ham
pered and hemmed in.
One more disagreeable thing is the great
social distinction here The poor man who
sleeps in d stone niche near the roof, and is
constantly eloowed and hustled ont Of his
bed by earnest and restless vernin with a
tendency towards insomnia, is harassed by
meeting in the courtyard and corridors the
paying boarders who wear good clothes, live
well, have their cigars, brandy and Kentucky
Sec all the time.
The McAllister crowd here is just as eK-
elusive as it IS on the outside
But, great Scott what a comfort it is to a
man like he who has been nearly killed by q
cyclone TO feel the firm, secure walls and
solid time lock when be goes to bed at night
Even if cannot belong TO the 100 here, am
almost happy.
Weretire at $50 o'clock ct night and arise
at $50 in the morning, so as to get an early
start. A man who has five or ten years to
serve in place like this naturally likes to
get at it as soon as possible each day, and SO
he gets up at $50.
We dress by the gaudy light Of the candle,
and while we do so we remember far away
at home our wife and the little boy asleep in
her arms They do not get up at $50. 1t
is ct this hour we remember tho fra
grant drawer in the dresser at home where
our clean shirts and collars and cuffs and
socks and handkerchiefs are put every week
by our wife. We also recall as we 60 about
our stone den, with its odor Of farmer corned
beof aud the ghost Of some bloody handed
predecessors snore still moaning in the walls,
the picture Of green grass by our own door
way and tho apples that were just ripening
when the bench warrant came.
The time from $50 TO breakfast is taken
up by the average Of non-payinS inmate by
doing the chamberwork and tidying up HIS
stateroom. I do not know how Others feel
about it, but dislike chamberwork most
heartily, especially when am in Jail. Moth
ing has done more 10 keep me out Of jail, /
guess. than the fact that while there have to
make up my bed and dust the piano.
We go down TO the sink to wash our faces
and hands 1t is a pleasant sight, and re-
minds me OF q herd OF red legged geese in =
mud hole.
Breakfast IA generally table dhote, and
consists of bread. A tin cup Of coffee takes
the taste of tho bread out OF your mouth,
aud then II you have some Limburger cheese
In your pocket you can with that remove the
taste Of the coffee.
Dinner is served at II o'clock. and consists
Of more bread, with soup. This soup has
everything in 1t except nourishment Tho
bead on this soup is noticeable for quito =
distance. 1t IS disagreeable. There is every
thing in this soup, from shop worn rice up &c
meats foot oil. Once l thought | detected
cuisine In it.
The dinner menu is changed on Fridays,
Sundays and Thursdays, on which days you
get the soup first and the bread afterwards
IL tLis way the bread Is saved.
Three days liz the week at dinner each man
gets potato with q thousand legged worm
ia IT, At = o'clock comes supper With toast
ana responses Bread is served at supper
tine, together with q cup CT tea To those
who dislike bread and never eat soup, or do
not drink tea or coffee life at Ludlow Street
jail is indeed irksoIne. Bill Nye in New York
World