The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-10-22
BarbarOus Treatment of Pris-
Oners Forty Years Ago.
AN INTERESTING OLD BOAT
The Success" is 1O5 Years Old and
Looks Every One of Them
Fascinating Old Hulk.
From the London Daily Graphlc.

From the London Daily Graphic.
The Cast of the convict huiks is now
lying at THE East India docks, and most
disrepubaIble old carcass she looks. From
lher brolken-nosed Agure-head to the peel
Ing woodwork of her stern she aaunte
squaLtd disrepute, She has been built
1OS years, and she looks every one OF
them; she has been sunk in Sydney Har-
Dor, and from AFT appearances she might
have just been taken up; she is a con-
vict, and nobody could imagine her any.
thing else. She has acquired a most
fitting local color.
None the less, the Success is q most
interesting od boat she has been brought
over here by company which has stun
ed her cells with wax figures, and In tho
process of adapting her interior to What
is imagined to be the needs of the pub
lie, HAS cleared UP and cleaned away
something of the dirt, and little-not
much-of the horrible construction of the
bottom row of this Ships cells. WhMe
the ship lasts, however-and 1t is likely
to last a good deal longer, seeing that It
is built of teak, as hard as iron and as
thick as the wallis OF a Norman church
1T viii not be possible to clear away all
the horrors Of the prison. However un-
imaginative you may be, you cannot
stand in the bottom tier of the honey
comb of cells without realizing the black
desperation of the convicts who were
chained there in the dark. They were
called the solitary sixty. They never
aent the strip as others of the convicts did
to work in the quarries. Most were in
ceIs feet by 7 feet. Some of the worst
were herded together in a common den,
where periodically Ithey thrott,ed one
another in the night. The SOLITARY
sixty, most of them, carried from twen-
ty to forty pounds weight of irons.
There are two cells which are feet s
inches wide, and are very nearly air
Tight man chained here to an iron
ring in the side could neither lie down,
nor sit down, nor kneel down. He
could not see, it was as much as he
could do to breathe, and the Interchange
IF blaSphenlles between himself and his
companions was the only thing that
preserved to him his reason. For the
blsiapllne, the trlangles, the necklace
| contrivance which kept row of men
standing for a day in the torture OF
'acking cnamp-the irons, the seventy
Iwo-pound leg shot, the fogging were
'owerlesS to subdue the indonitabte |
'pirit OF the solitary sixty. They show
'ou a cat o. nine tails among the relics
VI the Success-a weapon with nine SER
'ents of catgut, as thick as blind cord,
md twisted with wire. One of the
Ilxty has had his back scored and crossed
With forty Caslhes of this unwinclng, and
hen has turned round from the triangle
ffering to fight the best officer on board.
There Is fascination about the ship,
nut there is not a reckoning memory
bout 1t. The inspector-general of the
hip was John Price. Some Of the hull
onvicts wtho were Allowed to work at
he quarutes battered in his head with q
hovel. There Is a chapel on board
place that looks like cage for hyenas,
kept that 1t is darker. The chaplain
( the ship used to stand outside the
airs ami preach ait the twelve or four
cen most penitent rufffans aboard. It
Nas a reward for good conduct, and the
1en liked 1t as a diversion. The better
'dhaved prisoners were put In the middle
eck cells, which were only feet by A
eet, but permitted a glimmer of Iight |
The least refractory were put three to-
;etiher in styles feet by 7 feet. This
vas a device highly favorable to the |
ormation of mutines, Of which there
we're several; but they all ended in the |
tnooting OF one or more prisoners and |
he fiogglng Of the rest, together with a
Iescent to the dark cels. In these the |
Ioor Is worn away here and there by the
ubbing OF the fron9 as the convicts |
ried to find a position in which they
ould rest moro easily. There are two
ther facts about the Snip, among
of interesting ones. that are
specially remarkable. One is that she
ras only saved from destruction to re-
iain a somewhat scandaeous memorial
the treatment Of cOnvicts forty years
30 by an accident. The government,
selling these hu.ks. used 10 stipu:ate
lat they should be broken up. Tue
.lpu!ation was forgotten in this instance.
he other fact is that che was built "by
ie Old Mouomein PagOda. looking east
ard to the sea"