Sentence:  At the outset of the reformatory process in Pennsylvania, it was thought that a salutary effect would result from long continued, visible, or public punishment, by degrading labour in the streets or upon the highways ; ... and many persons, now living, can distinctly remember when convicts (sometimes called “<WSD>Wheel-barrow Men</WSD>”) were to be seen at work in the streets of Philadelphia with a chain and clog upon the neck or leg, and other badges of degradation and guilt. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A convict sentenced to hard labor in the 1800s, especially one sentenced to work maintaining the roads.