The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-02-20

cross rows, grill fashion The branches
are full of sharp thorns, which make
it impossible to stand, sit, or lie down
in comfort. Generally one night of this
is enough to make the worst case ready
for the WorkrOom, but there was n
girl who stood the extreme penalty of
three nights in this room, and still re-
fused to do d lick OF work. She was
d mighty pretty woman, Il had been
sent to the island for numbering her
lover. She made nothing but trouble
from the day she came into the Jail.
She wouldn't work, and nothing would
make her work, so finally they gave
her up as a bad job. and made her sit
all day long in the WOrkrOOm in mems
clothes on a sort of elevated Ounce
block. n day l got the superintend-
ent to give me her history. It's too
long to tell now, but it's enough to
make your hair curl. She'll never get
a chance to make one of the marriages
I'm going to tell you about, because
those are rewards for good behavior,
and h is the worst woman on the
island.
when they have maybe a dozen tick
et-ef-leaVe men and women. they have
a sort of matrimonial reception. If any
matches are made the couples are al
lowed to go w to the Nicobar group
some distance away, and settle on the
government land. There they get a
certain number of acres, q hut, and
some commissary stores, and are left
to themselves. h tickets of ave
don't a k them anywhere except to
the Nicobars, for they nearly all have
life sentences. These matrimonial re-
captions are the funniest things 1 eve
saw. The men are brought one by one
into a sort of reception room, where
the ONE are standing in a long row..
Thara are panarolx- GaxrapaT hraalrc IL,
the line, to separate those of different
castles and religions, for they are very
particular about that in India. Some of
these men haven't seen a woman for
ten years, maybe, and they look very
c%uriously at them. When a man is
brought into this room d statement is
made of his name, his history, his re-
ligion, his age, the crime he is there
for, and so on. There are, maybe, half
a dozen women of his religion on the
eligible list, and he is taken TO the first
II in the row. If, after talking with
her a few minutes, he doesn't think he
would like her, he goes on to the neXt
one. He is always coVertly casting his
eye along the line to see if there are
n further Town that he likes better
than those near the top. Sometimes he
sees n neal the end of the line that
k his fancy, n he will walk
straight by all the others TO go to her.
If she likes him, too, they go up to the
table and her history is read to him.
He may possibly object TO the crime
she was sent uD for. and if so the af-
fair is declared off; but, usually, there
is no trouble about that, for if a man
likes the looks of a woman he. doesn't
care how h came to be there. 1t
would generally be a case of the pot
calling the kettle black, nyway
If a man goes all through the lire
and doesn't find one that quite satisfies
him, he sometimes ant to take one
further ~ hat he has before passed
by as not quite good enough. But do
you think she Will have anything to
do with him then? Not much. She will
look at him as if he We're dirt. and hold
her neck as stiff as a poker.
THE BENEFITS OF MATRIMONY.
When they have paired off as many
as possible, the keeper lets the different
couples go out and walk about in the
grounds Cor the rest of the afternoon.
to get acquainted with each other and
spark a little, maybe. Sometimes they
don't make more than Il or two
matches in a whole afternoon, for they
are very hard TO suit. those conVicts,
though you would hin they'd be glad
get anybody or anything, just for a
change of life from hat in Jail.
These marriage parties always take
place on a Saturday. and just a week
from that day h man is allowed TO
visit the woman for an hour and con-
tinue their acquaintance. If, at the end
three Saturdays, they are still of the
mind, they are married and taken
on the boat down to the Nicobars,
where they begin their married life.
AS 1 said, they give them a hut, a few
acres of ground and some provisions,
and let them alone. These couples gem
orally get along pretty well together.
though sometimes they have a fight
and one t"'T - "+her. from mere force J