Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-04-26
A FAMOUS PRISON.
NEwGATE JAIEs WEALTH OF
HISTORICAL INTEREST,".
A Dungeon Has Occupied tho
Present Site Since Ecudal
observation-disclosures OF
Notorious Criminnls.

Tho demolition of Ncwgate being
possible tho Saturday Rec.e.c describes
rs follows this famous prison: Though
the present building, that looks rs il
built by the same 1itans that erected
the Pala.zo della Signoria, the Palazzo
Strozzi and the Palazzo Pitt, in Flor.
encc, is little more than a century cd,
the site which it occupies has owned
Jail ever since the reign of King John.
!n fact, it is probable that even in those
days it was an old prison; for in the fol-
lowing reign. a. d.. 1919, Henry III.
commanded the sheriirs of the city OF
London to repair the Jail of Newgate,
and promised to reimburse their outlay
out OF his own cxchoquor. In hose days
tho gate housed above the great gates of
The city were habitually used as prisons,
and the records of y ork, Chester, Car
Isle and Newcastle show that the Gus
tom was II general one
From its earliest days there has never,
until quite recent. times been a good
word said for Ncwgate Jail. Foul,
nolsome, pestiferous. hotbcd of fever,
disease, und vice of all kinds, it was one
OF the most prominent plague spots that
adorned 'the good old times" The
"heynouse gaol of Newgato' is the name
given to II In letter which Mr.. Loftie
quotes in his History of London"
which exists in the Guildhall Library.
hat it was overcrowcd is but little won
DER IN The days when the fact of man
being pro" ed master ess" WAS sufficient
to throw him into JUL, and when Master
Roger lc Skilmisour, .'for keeping q
fencing school for divers men, and for
entic.ng ihither the sons of respectable
persons so rs to waste aud spend the
rropertic of their fathers and mothers
upon bad practices, the result being that
they themselves become bad men, was
clappcd into Ncwgate.
In 1884 an official INJURY was made
INTO The state Of tho prison, and few of
the horrors for which it was famous were
exposed. The keepers one idea was to
cxtort all the money they could from the
nniortunntcs committed to their charge,
and TO this cid the latter were threat
oned and eve tortured by their jailers
till they yielded. To lures of oil kinds
were rife and there was no discrimina.
Ion made among the prisoners except in
the case of those rich enough to my
heavily prisoners under sentence of u
lew days imprisonment were thrown
INTO dark. filthy dungeons, there to herd
"
Tor food. water and clothing the prison.
ers were dependent on charity. In 1887
S!r Ohm ulteney gave four marks q
year to relieve the wants of the Newuate
prisoners. sometimes ther food was
eked out by the bread OF light weight
VIII ch was seized by law and given to
the prisoners, land all food sold con.
trary TO the statues of the various guilds"
also came to them. Even the water SUP.
ply oil the prison was. according to
stowe, charitable gift Thomas
movies, grocer. sometime Mayor OF
London, conveyed the waste water
ut the cisteru near unto the
common fountain and chapel OF
st. Nicholas TO the ais OF Lud.
gate and Newgatc for the relief of the
prisoners" In 1881 the followers OF
Wat Tyler drake up the prisons of
NewSaic and OF both the Comp.crs, dc
siroyed the books and Sc. the prisoners
at Liberty" What amount of destruc
ton was implied in the term brake up"
is not very clear, but thai. considerable
damage was done is pretty certain, from
the fact thnt,ns soon after az the Mayor
atty OF burlington, the prison was al
most in RUNS, and it was thanks to n
Charitable lie Iueat in his will that CIV
gate WAS rclu.lt in 1929 by his exec
utors.
This bn lding lasted just 900 years, for
IN iGs' We find II petition frcm the
Jallcr to the King which has been kept
among The State papcrs), stating that
by reason of the great ruins of the
jan 1T is now in hand to be repaired"
lie ADDS that there is considerable danger
that some of the prisoners should at.
~ hi 81.
going on. and with nm eye to icsscninr
the number he is responsible for he Drays
directions to the i ord Mayor and the
Recorder to certify how many prisoners
are capable of his N aiesty's mercy, and
to the Attorney General TO prepare
pardons. That this prayer was grant ed
IS proved by the endorsement on this
document: reference to Recorder to
certify, and to the Attorney General
to prepare PARDON" which is fol-
lowed by recommendation from the
Recorder in question, Sir Hcneage
Finch, 10 release forty four prisoners.
This repairing" of Ncwga,e included
new front and anew face" which are
mentioned in I.upton's ..l.ondon Car
bonadoed," published in IL y.
Nothing further was done 10 Newgate
Tor forty years until the great fire of
London in lii'i made complete rebuild
ing necessary, which lasted about 100
years. and was rep accd by the present
magni'icently built prison, designed by
the architect Dance which even the
Gordon rioters, whose burning of New,
gate was SO graphically described by
Dickens in "Barnahy Ridge" failed te
destroy, though they eff ectualy damaged
every part Gle of wood and iron work ip
the building. The foundations alone
OF the present building cost
$50, 600: it was found necessary to
sink them to depth OF
40 feet, rs the site was that of the ditch
of the old London wall. The whole
building cost $ 90, 600, exclusive of 81.
coo which was spent on the Sessions
House of the Old Bailey. No one who
has visited the pre- sent bu lding can have
failed to be struck with the massi 20
strength OF the building throughout:
and apa:t from its wealth of historical
interest,", going back over nearly a thou.
sand years. the idea is forced upon one
that 1t would be well for the authorities
to think twice before DESTROYING so
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