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Above all, they could exercise under the free air of heaven, in the long but narrow passage which bordered the gaol on the northward, and which was handsomely paved with Purbeck stone." No other prisoners could take the air: the master's debtors might stretch their legs in the hall ward; the master's felons in the high hall, a long gallery just under the chapel in which stood the stone anvil on which the condemned men's chains were struck just before they entered the Tyburn cart.

Enough has been said to show how desperate was the case of the bulk of the inmates of Newgate. The whole place except the press yard was so dark that candles, "links or burners,” were used all day long; the air was so inconceivably foul, that the ventilator on the top of the prison could exercise no appreciable effect. That malignant disease, the gaol fever, was chronic, and deaths from it of frequent occurrence. Doctors could be got with difficulty to attend the sick in Newgate, and it was long before any reg. ular medical officer was appointed to the prison. Evil was in the ascendant throughout; wickedness and profligacy pros pered; the weakest always went to the wall. Tyranny and oppression were widely practised: not only were the gaolers extortionate, but their subordinates, the inferior turnkeys, even the bed-makers, and the gate-keeper's wife levied black mail on the pretence of affording relief, and with threats or actual ill-usage when payment was withheld. Certain favored prisoners wielded recognized authority over their fellows. Unwritten but accepted customs suffered the general body to exact "garnish," or "chummage," from new comers, fees for the privilege of approaching the fire, and generally for immunity from persecution, the sums thus raised being forthwith expended in strong drink. The "cellarmen" were selected prisoners who could sell candles at their own prices, and got a percentage upon the liquors consumed, with other advantages. Other prisoners, were employed in the distribution of food; in the riveting and removing of shackles; even in the maintenance of discipline, and when so acting were armed with a flexible weapon, to the great terror and smart of those who dispute their authority." Into these filthy dens, where misery stalked rampant and corruption festered, unhappy prisoners brought their families, and the population was greatly increased by numbers of innocent persons, women, and even children, to be speedily demoralized and

utterly lost. Lunatics raving mad ranged up and down the wards, a terror to all they encountered. Common women were freely admitted; mock marriages were of constant occurrence, and children were frequently born within the precincts of the gaol. There was but little restriction upon the entrance of visitors. When any great personage was confined in Newgate, he held daily levees and received numbers of fashionable folk. Thus Count Konigsmark, when arrested for complicity in the murder of Mr. Thynne, "lived nobly" in the keeper's house (no doubt in the press yard), and was daily visited by persons of quality. When political prisoners, Jacobite rebels, or others were incarcerated, their sympathizers and supporters came to "comfort them" by sharing their potations. Even a notorious highwayman like Maclean, according to Horace Walpole, entertained great guests, and it was the "mode" for half the world to drive to Newgate and gaze on him in the condemned hold.

In sharp contrast with the privations and terrible discomforts of the poorer sort was the wild revelry of these aristocratic prisoners of the press yard. They had every luxury to be bought with money, freedom alone excepted, and that was often to be compassed by bribing dishonest officials to suffer them to escape. The Jacobites captured in "the '15" fared sumptuously; they had fish at exorbitant prices, early peas at forty shillings a dish, "venison pasties, hams, chickens, and other costly meats." Money was so plentiful among them that while change for a guinea was difficult to procure in the street, any quantity of silver could always be got in Newgate. Their leisure time was spent in, playing shuttlecock, or basking in the smiles of female admirers, some of whom were ladies of the highest rank. They kept late hours, collecting in one another's rooms to roar out seditious songs over endless bowls of punch. At times they exhibited much turbulence, and refused to be locked up in the separate chambers allotted to them. On Jacobite anniversaries they wore state dresses, drank the absent king's health, and comported themselves defiantly. Nothing much was done to them; and all this leniency is the more remarkable because the bulk of those within the precincts of Newgate were so disgracefully ill-used. One case may be quoted, that of the Rev. Lawrence Howell, a non-juring parson, who a few years later found himself in the gaol for publishing a so-called im

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proper work, and who was "slowly murdered there by the intolerable horrors of the place."

As a general rule the movement through Newgate was pretty rapid. The period of imprisonment for debtors might be often indefinitely prolonged, and there was the well-known case of Major Bernard and his companions, who were detained for forty years in Newgate without trial or the chance of it, on an alleged charge of being concerned in the assassination plot against William III. Some, too, languished awaiting transfer to the West Indian or American plantations by the contractors to whom they were legally sold. But for the bulk of the criminal prisoners there was one speedy and effectual system of removal, that of capital punishment. Executions were wholesale in those times. The code was sanguinary in the extreme. Male coiners were quartered as traitors, and females were burnt. Larceny, forgery, bankruptcy, all these were punished by death, and the gallows tree was always heavily laden.

The most scandalous scenes occurred on the gallows. The hangman often quarrelled with his victim over the garments, which the former looked upon as a lawful perquisite, and which the latter was disposed to distribute among his friends; now and again the rope broke, or the drop was insufficient and Jack Ketch had to add his weight to the hanging body to assist strangulation. Occasionally there was a personal conflict and the hangman was obliged to do his office by sheer force. The convicts were permitted to make dying speeches, and these orations were elaborated and discussed in Newgate weeks before the great day; while down in the yelling crowd beneath the gallows spurious versions were hawked about and rapidly sold. It was a distinct gain to the decency and good order of the metropolis when Tyburn and other distant points ceased to be the places of execution, and hangings were exclusively carried out in front of Newgate, just over the debtors' door. But some of the worst features of the old system survived. There was every element of callous There was still the melodramatic sermon, brutality in the manner of inflicting the in the chapel hung with black, before a extreme penalty of the law. From the large congregation collected simply to time of sentence to the last dread mo- stare at the convicts squeezed into one ment the convict was exhibited as a show, pew, who in their turn stared with mixed or held up to public contempt and execra- feelings at the coffin on the table just betion. Heartless creatures flocked to the fore their eyes. There was still the same gaol chapel to curiously examine the as-tumultuous gathering to view the last act pect of condemned malefactors on the in the tragedy, the same bloodthirsty mob Sunday the gaol sermon was preached. swaying to and fro before the gates, the Those men who had but a short time to same blue-blooded spectators, George live mingled freely with their fellow-pris- Selwyn or my Lord Tom Noddy, who oners, recklessly carousing, and often breakfasted in state with the gaoler, and making a boast that they laughed to scorn so got a box seat or rented a window op and rejected the well-meant ministrations posite at an exorbitant rate. The popu of the ordinary. The actual ceremony lace were like degenerate Romans in the was to the last degree cold-blooded and amphitheatre waiting for the butchery to wanting in all the solemn attributes befit begin. They fought and struggled desting the awful scene. The doomed was perately for front places: people fell and carried in an open cart to Tyburn or were trampled to death, hoarse roars. other appointed place; the halter already came from thousands of brazen throats, encircled his neck, his coffin was at his which swelled into a terrible chorus as feet, by his side the chaplain or some de- the black figures of the performers on the voted amateur philanthropist and preacher gallows stood out against the sky. "Hats like Silas Told, striving earnestly to im- off!" "Down in front!" these cries prove the occasion. For the mob it was echoed and re-echoed in increasing vola high day and holiday; they lined the ume, and all at once abruptly came to an route taken by the ghastly procession, end-the bolt was drawn, the drop had encouraging or flouting the convict ac- fallen, and the miserable wretch had gone cording as he happened to be a popular to his long home.

hero or unknown to criminal fame. In the first case they cheered him to the echo, offered him bouquets of flowers, or pressed him to drink deep from St. Giles's Bowl; in the latter they pelted him with filth and overwhelmed him with abuse.

The policy which had brought about the substitution of Newgate for Tyburn no doubt halted half-way, but it was cnlightened, and a considerable move towards the private executions of our own times. It was dictated by the more hu

progress. The plan did not find favor with him, but he enters into no particulars, and limits his criticisms to remarking, "that without more than ordinary care the prisoners in it will be in great danger of gaol fever." According to modern notions the plan was no doubt faulty in the extreme. Safe custody, a leading principle in all prison construction, was compassed at the expense of most others. The prison façade is a marvel of massive strength and solidity, but until reappropriated in recent years its interior was a limited confined space, still darkened, and deprived of ventilation, by being parcelled out into courts, upon which looked the narrow windows of the various wards.

mane principles which were gradually making head in regard to criminals and crime. Many more years were to elapse, however, before the eloquence of Romilly was to bear fruit in the softening of our sanguinary penal code. But already John Howard had commenced his labors, and his revelations were letting in a flood of light upon the black recesses of prison life. It is to the credit of the authorities of the city of London that they had recognized the necessity for rebuilding Newgate on a larger and more approved plan before the publication of Howard's reports. The great philanthropist made his first journey of inspection towards the end of 1773; in the following year he laid the information he had obtained before the House of Commons, and in 1777 pub- The erection of the new and commodilished the first edition of his celebrated ous gaol, as it is described in an act of "State of Prisons." As early as 1755 the the period, proceeded rapidly, but three Common Council had condemned New- or four years after Howard's visit it was gate in no measured terms; declared it to still uncompleted. This act recites what be habitually overcrowded with "victims had been done, referring to the valuable, of public justice, under the complicated extensive areas, which had been taken in distresses of poverty, nastiness, and dis- in prosecution of this great prison, and ease;" they had neither water, nor air, provides additional funds. In 1780, hownor light in sufficient quantities; the ever, an unexpected catastrophe hapbuildings were old and ruinous, and in- pened, and the new buildings were set on capable of any "improvement or tolerable fire by the Lord George Gordon rioters, repairs." It was plainly admitted that and so much damaged that the most comthe gaol ought to be at once pulled down. prehensive repairs were indispensable. But as usual the difficulty of providing These were executed in 1782. Many funds cropped up, and the work, though years were to elapse before any further urgent, was postponed for some years. alterations or improvements were made. The inadequacy of the prison was so ob- It was soon evident that Dance's Newvious, however, that the matter was pres-gate, imposing and appropriate as were its ently brought before a committee of the House of Commons, and the necessity for rebuilding clearly proved. A committee of the Corporation next met in 1767 to consider ways and means, and they were fortified in their decision to rebuild by convincing evidence of the horrible condition of the existing prison. A letter addressed to the committee by Sir Stephen Jansen stigmatizes it as "an abominable sink of beastliness and corruption." He spoke from full knowledge, having been sheriff when the prison was decimated by gaol fever. In the same year Parliamentary powers were obtained to raise money to rebuild the place, and the new Newgate was actually commenced in 1770, when Lord Mayor Beckford, father of "Vathek" Beckford, laid the first stone. Its architect was George Dance, and the prison building, which still stands to speak for itself, has been counted one of his finest works. Howard, who gives this historic prison the first place in his list, must have visited it while the new buildings were in

outlines and façade, by no means satisfied all needs. The progress of enlightenment was continuous, while complaints that would have been stifled or ignored previously were now occasionally heard. The wretched prisoners continued to be closely packed together. Transportation had now been adopted as a secondary punishment, and numbers who escaped the halter were congregated in Newgate waiting removal beyond the seas. The population of the prison had amounted to nearly six hundred at one time in 1785. According to a presentment made by the grand jury in 1813, in the debtors' side, built for one hundred, no less than three hundred and forty were lodged; in the female felons' ward there were one hundred and twenty in space intended for only sixty. These females were destitute and in rags, without bedding, many without shoes. In later years the figure rose still higher, and it is authoritatively stated that there were as many ight, nine, even twelve hundred souls immured with

strongly condemned in the report of the Commons committee. The chapel congregation was generally disorderly; prisoners yawned, and coughed, and talked enough to interrupt the service; women were in full view of the men, and many greetings, such as "How do you do, Sall?" often passed from pew to pew. No attempt was made to keep condemned convicts, male or female, separate from other prisoners; they mixed freely with the rest, saw daily any number of visitors, and had unlimited drink.

in an area of about three-quarters of an acre in extent. We have the evidence of trustworthy persons that grievous abuses still continued unchecked. All prisoners were still heavily ironed until large bribes had been paid to obtain relief. All manner of unfair dealing was practised towards the prisoners. The daily allowances of food were unequally divided. Bread and beef were issued in the lump, and each individual had to scramble and fight for his share. Prisoners had no bedding beyond a couple of dirty rugs. Exorbitant gaol fees were still demanded on all sides; It was a little before the publication of the governor eked out his income by what the committee's report that that noble he could extort, and his subordinates took woman, Mrs. Fry, first visited Newgate. bribes wherever they could get them. It The awful state of the female prison, as was customary to sell the place of wards- she found it, is described in her memoirs. man, with its greater ease and power of Nearly three hundred women, representoppression, to the highest bidder among ing all crimes and categories, were the prisoners. Unlimited drinking was crowded together in two wards and two allowed within the walls; the prison tap, cells, where "they saw their friends, kept with the profits on sales of ale and spirits, their multitude of children, and had no was a part of the governor's perquisites. other place for cooking, washing, eating, All this time there was unrestrained in- and sleeping." They slept on the floor; tercommunication between the prisoners; many were nearly naked; spirits and the most depraved were free to contaminate and demoralize their more innocent fellows. Newgate was then, and long continued, a school and nursery for crime. It was established beyond doubt that burglaries and robberies were frequently planned in the gaol, while forged notes and false money were often fabricated within the walls and passed out into the

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strong drink freely circulated; the most frightful oaths and imprecations were on every lip. Everything was filthy, and the smell intolerably disgusting. The officials were reluctant to go among these terrible. unsexed creatures. Mrs. Fry was strongly advised to leave her watch behind her at the lodge, or it would be torn from her. What she saw when she entered baffled. description. To use her own words, "The filth, the closeness of the rooms, the ferocious manners and expressions of the women towards each other, and the abandoned wickedness which everything bespoke, baffle description." Three years elapsed between her first visit and her second. In the interval, the report last quoted had borne some fruit. An act had been brought in for the abolition of gaol fees, gaol committees had been ap

The disclosure of these frightful evils led to a Parliamentary inquiry in 1814, and the worst facts were fully substantiated. The prison was not water-tight, rain came in through the roof; broken windows were left unglazed; it was generally very dirty; the gaoler admitted that with its smoked ceilings and floors of oak, caulked with pitch, it never could look clean. The prisoners were not compelled to wash, and cleanliness was only en-pointed to visit and check abuses, and forced by a general threat to shut out something had been done to ameliorate visitors. Sometimes a more than usually the condition of the neglected female outfilthy person was stripped, put under the casts. The accommodation had been expump, and forced to go naked about the tended; mats had been provided; gratings yard. The poor debtors were in terrible erected to separate the prisoners from straits, herded together, and dependent those who came to visit. Yet the scene upon casual charities for supplies. Birch, within was still dreadful. Some women the well-known tavern-keeper, and others, were gambling, or fortune-telling, others sent in broken victuals, generally the begging at the bars for money with spoons stock meat which had helped to make the attached to sticks, and fighting for the turtle soup for civic feasts. The chaplain alms thus obtained. What Mrs. Fry took life very easy, and, beyond preaching quickly accomplished against such treto those who cared to attend chapel, min-mendous difficulties, is one of the bright. istered but little to the spiritual wants of est facts in the whole history of philan h's charge, and his indifference was thropy. How she persevered in spite of

prediction of certain failure; how she won the co-operation of lukewarm officials; how she provided the manual labor for which these poor idle hands were eager, and presently transformed a filthy den of corruption into a clean, white washed workroom, in which sat rows of women recently so desperate and degraded, stitching and sewing orderly and silent: these extraordinary results with the most unpromising materials have been read and appreciated all over the world.

inate association of tried and untried, old and young, pure and hopelessly depraved. Lunatics were still mixed up with the rest. The state of the "middle yard," where the worst prisoners were herded together, was as terrible as in the darkest times. Matters were somewhat better on the female side, although the efforts of the Ladies Committee, instituted by Mrs. Fry, had sensibly relaxed. Still, there was now a resident matron and female officers, where previously the women had been under the sole control of the male turnkeys.

There was no one, unfortunately, to undertake the same great work upon the male side, and this is plain from a letter Well might the inspectors close their addressed to the Common Council by the report with an expression of poignant Hon. H. G. Bennet, who had been chair-regret, not unmixed with indignation, at man of a committee on the police of Lon- the frightful picture presented of the exdon. He had been a witness to the min-isting state of Newgate. istrations of Mrs. Fry, and he is keenly This report framed a strong indictment anxious that the city should cease to against the Corporation, who were mainly treat its prisoners “in a manner against responsible. The charges were unanwhich common sense and the most ordi- swerable, the only remedy immediate and nary humanity revolt.". "The misman- searching reform. As a matter of fact agement of Newgate has been for years various abuses and irregularities were put notorious," he says, "yet there is no real an end to the following year, but the alterreform. The occasional humanity of a ations, so said the inspectors in a later sheriff may remedy an abuse, redress a report, only introduced the outward semwrong, cleanse a sewer, or whitewash a blance of order. "The master evil, that wall, but the main evils of want of food, of gaol association, and consequent conair, clothing, bedding, classification, moral tamination, remained in full activity." discipline remain as before." But appeals, Year after year the inspectors repeated however eloquent, were of small avail. their condemnatory criticisms, but were Time passed, and there was a general im- unable to effect any radical change. For petus towards prison reform; the question quite another decade, Newgate continued became cosmopolitan; close inquiry was a byword with prison reformers. made into the relative value of systems of 1850, Colonel, afterwards Sir Joshua Jebb, punishment at home and abroad. Mill- told the select committee on prison discibank Penitentiary was erected at a cost of pline, that he considered Newgate, from half a million, to give full scope to the ex-its defective construction, one of the worst periment of reformation. Public attention was daily more and more called to prison management. Yet through it all Newgate remained almost unchanged. It was less crowded, perhaps, since relieved by the opening of the Giltspur Street Compter, and that was all that could be said. In 1836, when the newly appointed government inspectors made their first report, the internal arrangements of Newgate were quite as bad as ever. These inspectors were earnest men, who had made prisons a study. One was the Rev. Whitworth Russell, for many years chaplain of Millbank; the other Mr. Crawford, who had written an admirable State paper upon the prisons of the United States, the result of long personal investigation.

It is almost inconceivable that the old evils should have been suffered to flourish in view of the changes introduced elsewhere. There was still the old indiscrim

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prisons in England. Captain Williams, a prison inspector, was of the same opinion, and called Newgate quite the worst prison in his district. The fact was, limitation of space rendered it quite impossible to reconstitute Newgate and bring it up to the standard of modern prison requirements. Either great additions must be made to the site, an operation likely to be exceedingly costly, or a new building must' be erected elsewhere. These points had already been discussed repeatedly and at length by gaol committees and the Court of Aldermen, and a decision finally arrived at, to erect a new prison on the Tufnell Park Estate, in the north of London. And this, now known as Holloway Prison, was opened in 1852.

Newgate, relieved of the unnatural demands upon its accommodation, was easily and rapidly reformed. It became now simply a place of detention for city pris

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