Evening star., 1897-03-27

l
| fired in the penitentiary at Albany, y. Y.
| But the legislature of that state provided
last year that after the 1st of January,
| 1897, no person convicted elsewhere should
be confined in any prison of the state. 1t
| therefore became necessary for the De-
| partment of Justice to provide another
| penitentiary for the Incarceration of Dis
| trlct convicts. The department selected
the New Jersey state prison, situated at
Trenton, and to that prison persons con-
victed here of felonies have been seat since
the 1st of last January.
! TO the great majority of the citizens of
the District the change of prisons 14ecessi-
tated by the action of the New York legis-
lature was matter of little moment and
perhaps of but little more interest, but to
| those who contemplated, by force of cir
fcumstances over which they had little con-
troll, residence in such an institution the
change became matter of considerable
interest. Their interest in The New Jersey
prison became particularly great when i,
was rumored that the discipline there as
unusually severe. and the labor REQUIRED
70 be performed was particularly hard
Ihese rumors, a reporter of The Star dis
| covered last week, were not well founded
the discovery being made when, through
the courtesy of Warden Leonard of the
District Jail, The Stars representative was
| permitted to accompany the second latch
of convicts transported from here to the
| trenton prison.
| Varied Assortment
| Ihls batch Of offenders consisted of ten
| negroes, convicted OF larceny househreak-
| Hg, assault and like offenses, their terms
oi Imprisonment exceeding in no instance
more than two years. Their ages ran from
eishteen to fifty years. and while mos, of
t. tnsn were making their first trip to a peni-
tshtlafy, all OF them had done time here in
| toll 4
was going to the pen" for the third time
AS Is usual on such trips, the prisoners
were chained together in pairs at the
al kles and at the wrists the pairs in tIrn
pelng Kept together by means of a great
steel chain which passed between the
nandcnifs on the men. there being about
non,ats ieet ,p pL cram between each pair of
conVicts. Inc men were chained togthar
before they left the District Jail ana re-
aaa.9 aiaiiieu SO secured until they reached the
reception room Of the New Jersey prison.
Inc spectacle presented by the chained
| conNlctS was not pleasant one IN tba
olher occupants of the railroad car In
wnlch they rode to the prison. but. not
. WlthStandin2 the effect il had on o+bors
they seemed to glory in their nosj:ion and
/, constantly indulged in coarse tests at the
eApehse OF one another "A sentence of i'm
ras prdsonihent IN penitentiary they ccnsid-
ered mark of distinction and the ono
with the experience of two previous terms
was tacitly acknowledged to be a very su-
! Lerior being. an honor of which he was
were much pleased with the liEhtness NJ
, thelr sentences. Four of them had been
given eighteen months each for house
, breaking, and one of the four Remarked TO
. The Star man that they We're dead mckv
! Eff it had been Judge Cole" he explained.
= or Judge Bradley dat sentenced us. we'd
beeh III luck to git off wild eight or ten
, years Dat man Cole is certainly a terror.
q You KIN snifffe your head off, an saw dat
= | you is sorry. an make all sorts of promises
= but it don't go wild him. He jes' say de
n lyyy,I
better it will be for de res of folks an den
he gives you de limit. An dat man BRADLEY
am much better | hopes to Gawd dat
when L gifts out deyll be outer de Criminal
| Cote
Forgotten Kindnexs.
This hope met the unqualified approya1 of
the other convicts. but not one of them
seemed to appreciate the motive which
prompted Chief Justice Bingham to impose
light sentence upon them--that of their
possible reformation. They had forgotten
the great humanity and mercy he exhibited
and the words of kindly advice he had spok
en- to them. They simply remembered that
he had imposed upon them a very light sen.
tence. and congratulated themselves upon
the fact that they had appeared before a
judge who believes more in light sentences
than do perhaps. his associates on the
bench. They looked forward, therefore
not to realization of his hope of their
reformation. but to comparatively speedy
the hope not Of forgiveness, but with the
hope that they might never appear again
before other than the venerable judge
whose mercy and kindness of heart they
could not appreciate
The long ride to Trenton was without in
cident save that the chained convicts were
stared at and now and then subjected to
unpleasant remarks by their fellow pas.
sengers. all of which they bore with ap.
parent Indifference AT Trenton they were
placed in a large omnibus and RAPIDLY
l prison cd ha ont
skirts of the Jersey town. The prison oc-
cupies large square. being inclosed by a
stone wall 20 or 30 feet high. Viewed from
outside the great prison presents rather
| gloomy and forbidding appearance and
when the convlcts beheld it, then 1t was
they for the first time seemed to really ap
| preciate their position. My soul" ex.
claimed one. as the vehicle drew up before
the Egyptian-like entrance to the prison
''dere amt no gittin' out of dis place tel
dey let's you" Then the big doors of the
prison swung open and the prisoners were
hustled along into the reception room.
Reception ut the Prison.
There they were freed Of their chains
and as their names were called off from
the commitment papers by the prison
clerk they were ranged in line at one enc
Of the little room. While the clerk tooE
their names and pedisrees the warden o1
| the prison, Samuel s. Moore or keeper as
he is designated in New Jersey signed 6
! den Leonard These formalities over, th'
men were marched into the great rotun1a
of the prison and then into one of The
wings, where their heads were closely
cropped and their faces cleanly shaved. b,
convict barber, after which they donneC
n the red and black striped clothes require:
Il to be worn by every inmate. first being re
II | Quired to spend several minutes in a batl
N tub. That lone they were locked in thei
Y cells for tlle night there to remain unit
I summoned TO take their places in tn,
y workshops early next morning.
In company with one of the officials o
:, the prison, The Stars reporter made a tou
Of the institution. Special attention wa
paid to the cell houses and workshops, an,
1t at once became apparent that the dscip
line maintained at Jerseys state prison
far from severe. Indeed, In many instance
It was rather lax when compared with tha
maintained at other penitentiaries A
the Albany penitentiary. for instance
no prisoner is allowed to look up fron
his work or to speak to a feiloy
=. prisoner. violator of such rules bein
OF OF | punished severely. AT the New Jersey pris
on The Star man observed both laughin
and talking among the convicts in tn