The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-06-03
JAIL FOR STUDENTS.
QUEER PHASE OF LIFE At HEIoEL.
BERG UNIVERSITY.


Some Of the Names Which Adorn th
Prison Register and the "Crimes' Fo
Which Their Owners Were Incaroerated
Tho Rules Of the Place.
In England the students body is com
mitted to prison only by the civil au
thority. In Oxford, it is true, the vic'
chancellor deals with undergraduate
naughtiness, principally in the form O.
debt and insubordination, for which b,
may impose momentary penalty, bu
he does not deprive the defaulter Of lib
erty. There is, or was, legend that G
certain apartment under the old Claren
don building was really the university
"quod," but for its authenticity it i:
impossible to vouch.
Cambridge has its spinning house fol-
female offenders-not lady students, but
ladies who might prove delusion and
q snare to the mere male undergrad.
There, if we except the irksome penalty
Of "gating" confinement to college or
lodgings after stated hour, our aca-
demio efforts at incarceration may be
said to end
In Germany, however, the academic
dungeon is very stern fact. The Hell
delberg career" is famous. Every read
or Of Mark Twain will recall his enter
tanning description Of the place and
how he contrived to visit it, even unwit-
tingly enlisting as his guide a Herr
Professor. His pretext was to see q
young friend who had "got" "a hours
and had conveniently arranged the day
to suit Mark-for the German student
convict goes to prison on the first suit
able day after conviction and sentence.
If Thursday is not convenient, he tells
the officer sent to hale him to Jail that
he will come on Friday or Saturday or
Sunday, as the case may be. The officer
never doubts his word, and it is never
broken.
The prison is up three flights Of stairs
and is approached by "zugang" as
richly decorated with the art work of
convicts as the cell itself The apart
ment is not roomy, but bigger than an
ordinary prison cell. 1t has an iron
grated window, a small stove, two
wooden chairs two old oak tables and
narrow wooden bedstead.
The furniture is profusely ornament
ed with carving, the work Of languish-
ing captives, who have placed Oh record
their names, armorial bearings, their
crimes and the dates Of their imprison-
ment, together with quaint warnings
and denunciations. Walls and ceilings
are covered with portraits and legends
executed in colored chalk and in SCOT,
the prison candle forming a handy PEN
Gil. Some of the inscriptions are pa
thetic. One runs, "E. Glinicke, four
days for being too eager a spectator of
a row." If four days were melted out to
a mere spectator, what, one wonders,
had been the sentence of the participa-
tors? 1t must have been moving sDeo-
tacle. g
Another record (also quoted by Mr..
Clemens) has the SAVIOR of a great name
to it. Of course it is the son that is
meant, not the father. The legend is,
"F. Graf Bismarck, 27-29. II. IA"
This Mark Twain interprets as q record
of two days durance vile for Count Bis
marck in 1874. Had 1874 been leap
year one might have been inclined to
interpret the numeral III" as February.
But the "29" makes this difficult SO
perhaps the humorist is right.
A third specimen is too tragic for
comment. Itsimply says, "R Diergandt
for love-four days." Ungenerous
successors to that sad chamber have
dealt harshly with their forerunners'
by ingenious substitution Of
hoinous crimes, so that certain prison
ers 60 down to posterity as having been
punished for theft and murder.
The prisoner must supply his own
bedding and is subject to various
charges On entering he pays about ten
pence, and on leaving a similar sum-
Every day in prison costs sixpence; fire
and light sixpence extra The jailer
supplies coffee for trifle. Meals may
be ordered from outside. Every prison
er leaves his carte de visite, which is
liked with a multitude of others Oh the
loor of the cell. This queer album is
glazed to protect the photographs.
Academic criminal procedure in Hell
lclberg is curious. If the city police ap-
orehend q student, the captive shows
lis matriculation card. He is then ask
I'd for his address and set Free but will
lear more of the matter, for the civil
reports him to the university.
The Oxford regulation, by the way, is
n certain cases almost identical. In
the university court try and
,ass sentence, the civil power taking
10 further concern with the offense. The
rial is very often conducted in the pris-
'ner's absence, and he, poor wight, may
lave forgotten all about his peccadillo
until the university constable appears
o conduct him to prison. But thither,
eeing he may choose his day, he always
epairs cheerfully. -London Sketch.