Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-03-18
T0ILERS IN STRIPES.
SHOEMAklNG IN THE KINGS COUNTY
 N. YD PENlTENTlARY.

Turning Out Three Thousand Pairs Of
 Shoes Daily-wonderful Machines Elm ployed - Free Labor in the Building. Women Who Work and Never Smile.
 That immense stone structure on Nos trand avenue, near Prospect Park, Brooklyn, is the Kings County peniten- tlary, one of the most widely known and best managed institutions in the United States. About seven hundred men and women are confined there
 The most interesting part of the insti- tuition is the big shoe factory, which is | situated on the eastern end of the build | ing. It is a T shaped building, three stories in height.
 Here 500 convicts are engaged in making shoes for the Bay State Shoe and Leather company, a corporation which has made vast fortune out of convict labor. It gets it's shop rent, steam power, labor and all for about $500 month-about one-quarter of what it would cost the employer of honest labor.
 The men and boys who work in the prison factory range in age from 15 to 65 years. Some are ninety day men and others are long term men. They wear the rough, striped shoddy garb, the pop ular fashion in all prisons.
 MACHINES WITH BRAINS. Each man gets days task and he is kept at it until it is finished. Some. of the inmates are very expert and finish their share of the work as early as 8 | o'clock. Three thousand pairs of shoes are turned out of the prison every day . All the instructors and overseers are | citizens who reside outside of the peni- | tentlary. In passing through the shop they can be readily distinguished from the inmates, who are uniformed, shaved and close cropped.
 The factory is especially interesting. It is arranged and managed like any big factory of the kind. The machines used are of the most approved patterns. They | perform without exciting comment | things which would have been consid- cred most wonderful few years ago. They are especially adapted for the con- mon work which the company manu- | factures.
 There is one little simple looking ma chine which, as if by magic, chops and | changes thin little sheets of wood into | shoe pegs, and then drives them into the soles of shoes at one operation in so short time that the visitor is amazed. The cold machine works and throbs as if en- dowed with head, heart and intellig- | ence. 1 Another machine that is driving men out of the business was working away, guided by a convict mechanic. This machine attaches a heel to a shoe and then trims the heel as nicely as a human hand could do the work and much faster. It was powerful implement, and every time it moved it looked as if it was going to crush the shoe into pulp.
 One or two blows fastened the heel to the shoe. The turn of a crank set the trimmer in motion and it rapidly peeled the rough edges off the heel and left it ready for the burnisher-the man who polishes the edges of the heels or soles. l The reporter saw another noisy little machine in operation. It does a great 1 deal of work and does it we'll The ma chine not only punched the holes for laces, but drove eyelets into them at the same time.
 Another machine sent two needles l flying and they sewed a double row of stitches at one time. This reduces vamp- ing to one operation.
 The reporter was shown every ma chine. It is the custom of the prisoners to show every visitor a sample of the work they are engaged upon. They hand it without saying a word. The rules forbid any conversation on the part of the inmates. The reporter passed through the building without hearing a single word. The citizen mechanics and keepers alone are allowed to speak.
 SILENT AS THE TOMB.
 Some of the men become experts at some part of the trade. None of them ever can learn it all through, because machinery is supplanting hand work. When they become free they frequently manage to get good situations.
 Two keepers guard each floor, but in case of an outbreak, score of men would be ready for action in a minute. The prisoners there, however, as a rule, are we'll behaved.
 The keeper opened door and the re- porter found himself in room filled with bright, cheerful, chatting and neatly dressed girls. They were bent over machines or tables, working busily. They are employed on fancy work by the company. They go to the peniten- tiary every morning and leave it every night for their homes.
 The reporter was then escorted to a low frame structure in the middle of the yard. The scene here was altogether different. The room was bright and cheerful but it was silent as tomb, al i though forty women were in it. They were prisoners. Some of them had very hardened faces marked by an I-don't- care expression; others looked as if they had abandoned all hope. Only one