The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-08-16
PRIVATE PRISONS.
Establishments for the Punishment of
Reoalcitrant Sons.

With the death of Herr Muller recently
at Vienna a private prison which in the
course of the last thirty years had received
many occupants has closed its doors, SAYS
Tit-Bits. Possessing the reputation of be-
ing a thorough martinez, Herr Muller WAS
much sought after by parents of recalci-
trant sons who. needing punishment or
discipline, were conided to his keeping.
For faults of which the law would have
taken cognizance not a few delinquents
received their due In the house of Herr
Muller, preferring to undergo this unofficial
Imprisonment to being hailed before the
authorities. Scandal was thus avoided at
a moderate cost, while at the same time
the fault that had been committed re-
ceived its just corrective.
A somewhat similar establishment was
some years since kept at Birmingham by a
man who had a great reputation among the
poorer classes as a disciplinarian. Many a
boy reputed to be lncorrigible was contided
to his care, with the happiest result, for
there were but few instances In which Il
week or two's enforced s~ojourn under his
roof did not work the desired change.
e. p. Whipple, the American critic and
lecturer. used to tell of an eccentric New
York citizen who, having devoted his lei-
sure to the study of the religious orders
of the Middle Ages, WAS so struck by a
pamphlet on the punishment by immure-
ment that he resolved to, copy the proce-
dure. for which purpose he had a narrow
cell constructed within the walls OF his
house.
For this dungeon he procured an Occur
pant in the person of a pauper, who, in
consideration Of a handsome annuity al
lowed to his wife, consented to be confined
for four years as Il prisoner, whose sole
means of communication with the outer
world was an aperture in the wall barely
large enough to permit of the passage for
food.
hill to Bath William Beckford, the author
of "Vathek,' may be said to have been an
amateur jailer, as he paid a man 4 large
wage 10 undergo a voluntary Imprisonment
of some months duration, during WHICH
time he was neither to wash his body nor
cut his nails or hair. Another condition
was that his only sustenance should con-
sist of bread and water. barely sufficient TO
support his existence.
An amusing case was heard some time
back In the Bavarian law courts. when q
man accused his wife Of having incarcefa-
ted him in a cellar of his house. me
woman pleaded guilty to the charge, but
advanced In exclamation the fact that ths
good looks OF her husband had had Sncl q
magnetic effect upon the women of the
neighborhood that unless she had taken
strong measures her husband would nave
become the common possession OF all her
female acquaintanees and neighhors.
But Of all keepers of private jatls perhaps
the most singular is a rich landowner oI
Foggia, in Italy, who hnilt one solely i9r
his own use. Sentenced in 1873 tor ms
murder of his servant 10 ten years lht-
prisonmeHt, he managed to escape from
custody.
His whereabouts remained unknown until
lately. when the police raided his house
and effected the capture Of the iong-loir
criminal who was discovered locked mp IN
a cell which he had himself constructed
and in which, by his orders. one Of MS
servants held him confined on the usual
prison diet Of bread and water Already
has he thus served eight wears Of his sen-
tence. but It Is more than doubtful whether
this self-inhicted punishment VIII ne raken
into consideration by the authorities.