Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-12-28

mnny criminals. IA yenfs eoHe ". hare ex-
uii.,esl their o&snaes. n beavy n,orsised
tinbers now .aken apafs and piled array
~ hexinp;pe 10 fAtl victims 70 dry rot ard,
: hsseref nay b Tie fs<sfe policy Of the
State in dealinx viii capital onenses. il ID
evident III his grim relic sili never again
reform ~ old-time functions. The three
last men % ewing from this gzllows
ve.e Wllkinson. - Englishman Who
shot ana kiIled ! Bah policeman Who
surprisexl him in the act Of burglary, and
| Capone an.i Sanssre. ITO Italians vho 5ra-
tally murdered for his money fellow coun-
trvnaeu. in Brewer. These crimes doubt
les, meri.ed the sererest penalty which the
| Law provided. vet the fact thst other mur-
,ferers were successful IN escaping
the rpse. while these three friendless
foreigners were made is victims.
| left feeling In the pahHc paind that capital
pu,sisksnent could not he made equitable IN
| It's application: that criminals with inaaen-
| ,iai friends, or those whs, were successful in
awakening public sympathy in their behalf
would escape the gailews while others, IKE
,s.e three referred 10, woald suffer It's pen
allies. The Justice or injcs,iee of this i'm
preston it is not the purpose Of this arsicis
10 discuss but il unacniaoiy existed, and
exercised great influence IN shaping state
legislation touching capital offences.
The Place whess the gailows used to b.
erected is beneath the platform connecting
the upper stories of twe work shops. be-
meath this temporary platform was erected
With the gailo,es. There have been many
melancholy professions TO this place in the
history OF the prison; but there seems nov
to be- little reason TO believe tina, i, viii
eYer again BE- used fer that purpose.
/ The harness shop is plsce always full
of interest 10 the visitor, and here the JorR,
| xAI man found some familiar faces, among
then, Doctor Thomas who went there from
\ Chelsea having been convicted Of Arson
/ Prison life, with its enforced abstinence. ap-
4 pears to agree with the doctor. The scribe
never saw him looking so well. He has
gained in flesh and was evidently in good
spirits. He said that he sang in the priset
choir, attended strictly TO business
and thought he was making ,
good record. Il don't let life worry me :
he declared. Il am well taken care of an6
my health is much better than it was whef
| came here. Then was actually insane
my head was very bad; but now I'm al
right-as well as | ever was. My pension
money is accommodating and when get ou
shall have three hundred dollars comm.
to me, enough to take care OF me in gooC
shape I'm glad to see you here. hav,
your paper and also your premium Barker
poems. have read it through great many
times and have got good deal of comfor
out of it. Tell the folks at home tha
II am getting along all right and shall
give good account of myself. Another
familiar looking convict here was Charlie,
Beal. He was busily at work at his bench
and dill not appear disposed to enter into
conversation. He is about as thin in tht
! face rs he was when he went to Th0masto,i
but has the appearance of being in much
better health.
The .'dog hole where refractory prison
ers are brought TO their senses, is another
point of interest. II is an ordinary eel
with tight door which, when closed, leave.
the prisoner in utter darkness. Two board.
nailed to a cleat, which lifts them about AT
| inch above the stone floor, are its only bed
and an ordinary bucket is the only furniture
that is ever permitted there. Inspector
Jones informed the Journal man that o
brief confinement in this place rarely failed
| to have subduing effect. Time seemed
very long in there. A prisoner recent,
complained to the inspectors that he had
been confined there for five days and night,
without anywhere near food enough foi
| that length of time. Investigation showed
that the actual length of his incarceration
was day and night; but the inspectors had
| no doubt but what the man honestly believed
he had been there the five days and fv,
nights that he claimed. Not long age
| Haynes, in an assumption of independence
/ informed the officials that he had workei
for the State of Maine just as long as h
proposed to. He was promptly given quar-
| tiers in the ''dog hole" He remained there
three weeks and at the eni of thai
time was perfectly convinced that moth.
ing in the world was quite so enjoyable
as honest toll His active mind no douh,
| found much to busy itself with but it is very
doubtful If it was equal to the task of even
suggesting an escape from those quarters.
An interesting feature of the prison man
agement is the famous Bertillon system OF
measuring criminals now in use there. II
is said that these measurements form the
best and surest means of Identification
that has ever been conceived.
While examining this system, convict
came in andsubmitted himself to the prison
doctor for the extraction of a tooth. 1t wa;
Foster, the accomplish of Whitney in tbs
Peter Bennett robbery--not a bad looking
man by any means.
The blacksmith shop is not the bus,
place it was before the passage of ths
law prohibiting the employment of more
than twenty per cent. of the prisoners il
any one industry. AT the present time
only thirteen men are employed there,
and about half Of the FORCES are
unused Most of the men in thi,
department are serving short sentences
yet under the skillful instruction that is Civ.
en- them they turn out some very fine work
From the blacksmith shop brief visit
was made again to the wood shop. As thu
JoURxAL man passed Haynes he was sur.
prised to have him look up from his work
with the abrupt query.
"Why don't you advocate in your paper
the doing away with tobacco in this prison:
.sThat would be rather hard on the Oil
smokers wouldn't it,"
''Well il might, but let them take the
tobacco cure. A great many of the young
men who come here contract the tobacco
habit after they reach the prison. ! did,
but left it Off seven years ago and have
been better for it,"
The scribe thought the suggestion a goo
one. but was too weary to think of the prac-
teal difficulties that would stand in the way
of its adoption.
At TIE time of the JOURNAL mans visit
Mr.. Marshall c. Percival had been clori-
cally engaged in assisting the inspectors
in their work. He occupies doubt
foN tte. e. al j..
able to look through the big grated window
and catch glimpse of the outer worl !.
Here the Journal man hal pleasant chat
with him He seems TO fail is
health under prison life. IT is evi-
dent that its monotony weighs heavily
upon him; but he bears his lot with rcsig
nation, and even with an attempt at cheer
fulness. A man of his impaired health anil
delicate sensibilities suffers. under such
circumstances, far beyond the capabilities of
suffering with the average run of prison con-
Yicts. Il large percentage of whom are pro-
fcssional criminals. The bronchial trouble
which makes it impossible for Mr.. PerciTal
TO raise bis voice above a whisper also makes
it very Painful for him to speak at ALL He
seemed gla! TO meet visitors and doubtless
found their presence an agreeable relief 20
prison monotony. II is to be doubted
whether he will live to serve out his term as
his tendencies appear to be ,consump,ivc, we
trust, however that such may be the case,
and that he may ye. be reunited again with
his family.
Entering the yari we paused to watch the
line of prisoners fling into supper from the
various workshops. As the line advanced
each man took one of a long row of prison
buckets which hung on iron hooks beside
the walk. At the entrance to the rotiinda
was a large wooden trench filed with slices
of bread, pausiuy before this each man se-